Tag: Rennie Dyball
That Magic Click
BY RENNIE DYBALL
Leigh Nanda and El Casper won both the NAL & the WIHS Children’s Jumper Finals—after just a few months of showing together
Leigh Nanda was fairly new to horse showing when she got...
Ava Stearns on Her Maclay Finals Commentary: “I’m a Big Believer in Kindness”
BY RENNIE DYBALL
Equitation fans everywhere tuned in to the Maclay Finals live feed on Sunday to watch the best of the discipline tackle an impressive course at the Kentucky Horse Park.
In addition to the...
Body Protectors, Air Vests & and Other Safety Gear: What You Need to Know
By Rennie Dyball
There’s nothing like a pandemic to get people thinking about their safety. In tack shops and in online groups alike, riders outside of the eventing world are talking about incorporating an extra...
Pritchard Hill: A special horse, world-class wine, and a unique friendship
BY RENNIE DYBALL
Of all the messages Balmoral receives on social media, this one was a first... “Is Pritchard Hill the name of the beautiful jumper? Who named the horse and do you know why...
Secret Shame
By Rennie Dyball and Lauren Mauldin
Stephanie Ray Peters speaks out about the shame that permeate the horse show world—and what all of us can do to change it.
When Stephanie Ray Peters arrived at the...
How This Blind Jumper Rider Is Pursuing Her Dreams – and Paving the Way...
By Rennie Dyball
As Wren Blae Zimmerman turns toward the first fence in her jumper classic at World Equestrian Center, she isn’t looking for a distance. She’s just counting. Because while Zimmerman might appear like...
What My Horse Told Me Through an Animal Communicator
BY RENNIE DYBALL
These are strange days. To say we’re all living in some sort of alternate universe right now isn’t an exaggeration. We’re in an unparalleled, unprecedented time of working together (from a distance)...
Hyperion Stud: A Complete Approach to Sport Horses
By Rennie Dyball
Vicky Castegren considers herself a matchmaker in the world of sport horse breeding. Anytime a prospective client calls or emails her breeding operation, Hyperion Stud, she answers the message personally.
“I always...
EQright: Tiny Device, Big Potential to Improve Your Riding
By Rennie Dyball
Does your trainer tell you to “look up!” or “sit up!” every lesson? Do you jump up your horse’s neck from time to time? Find yourself looking down just to double-check your...
Exclusive Excerpt! SHOW STRIDES BOOK 3: Moving Up and Moving On
BY RENNIE DYBALL
We hope you are enjoying books 1 and 2 of The Plaid Horse’s new novel series, Show Strides. To celebrate the release of book 3, Moving Up and Moving On, we are...
My First Equitation Finals
BY RENNIE DYBALL
Three junior riders tell us how they made it this far – and how they plan to finish strong.
Fall is a special time for riders. It’s that sweet spot in between fly...
When You Fall and Don’t Bounce Anymore: An Adult Amateur Gets Back On
BY RENNIE DYBALL
I got back in the saddle the day I was cleared to ride.
Anxiety did its best to eat me alive on the car ride to the barn, but I blasted music and...
Show Strides Book Sneak Peek: School Horses and Show Ponies
The following is a preview of the first book in the Show Strides series, a series of novels about riding, horse shows, and what it takes to succeed in the sport we all love....
“I Don’t Think I’d Survive Without Horses”
BY RENNIE DYBALL
After a rare disease claimed three of her limbs (and nearly her life), Jessica Thoma is back in the saddle with big goals.
Jessica Thoma is a lifelong equestrian whose world got turned...
The Fit Equestrian’s Equitation Bootcamp: Can This Easy Workout Plan Actually Complement Your...
BY RENNIE DYBALL
With a month to go before my competitive local medal finals, all it took was the name of this workout to hook me. I’ll take all the shoulders-back help I can get.
I’ve...
Jumping in Jockey Stirrups: Steeplechase 101
BY RENNIE DYBALL
For most of us in the horse show world, the idea of guiding a galloping horse around at 35 miles an hour with your stirrups hiked up is a foreign, daunting concept....
Stronger Than Ever: How Battling Cancer at 30 Changed This Rider Forever
BY RENNIE DYBALL
Katie Taylor had just found one of those grooves in her riding where everything clicked.
It was October of 2017 and the 30-year-old trainer from Durango Farms in Orange County, California, was riding...
A One-of-a-Kind Family at Judgement Farm
BY RENNIE DYBALL
At a top hunter-jumper barn an hour outside of Chicago, as junior riders are preparing for pony finals and adults are in the middle of their summer show season, a beginner in...
Battle of the Sports Bras
BY RENNIE DYBALL
It’s a good time to shop as an equestrian – everything from breeches to show shirts and even hunt coats are being constructed with performance fabrics to keep us cool, dry and...
Body Image in Breeches: How We Can Move Our Sport Forward
BY RENNIE DYBALL
They say the only constant in life is change. But how does that apply to a sport rooted in tradition and some old-school tendencies?
Last month, an article on The Plaid Horse blog...
Adult Amateur Confessions: The Most Embarrassing Thing I Never Properly Learned To Do
BY RENNIE DYBALL
When I was first learning to ride as a kid, my lesson program was all about the basics. Before cantering, we had to be masterful at the trot. I’m talking months of trotting, even bareback...
Riders, Body Image and “The Look”
BY RENNIE DYBALL
A couple weeks ago, I went to my local tack shop for spur straps and somehow found myself in the dressing room, mentally debating whether to buy a new show coat that...
