The Quick Release Knot for Horses: Tie It Until It's Boring Aug 22, 2026 Ocean View Stables One pull on the tail of the rope and the whole knot falls out. That is the entire job description of the quick release knot for horses: hold a patient horse all afternoon, free a panicking one in unde... Groundwork The Leyden Method Read more
The Horseman's Lab Notebook: Keeping a Horse Training Log Aug 21, 2026 Ocean View Stables Two riders argue at the gate about a horse and a trailer. One swears he loads better than he did last month. The other swears he is worse. They are talking about the same horse, and neither has writte... Field Notes The Scientific Method in the Saddle Read more
Horse Licking and Chewing: What It Means and What It Doesn't Aug 20, 2026 Ocean View Stables The horse stops, lowers its head, and the mouth starts working: jaw loose, tongue pushing past the lips, a long chew on nothing at all. Somebody at the rail says it before you can. “He’s processing.” ... Reading the Horse The Leyden Method Read more
Movement Is Agreement: How Horse Herds Make Decisions Aug 19, 2026 Ocean View Stables Late afternoon, a dozen horses strung across a dry hillside, heads down in what grass is left. One mare raises her nose toward the water trough on the far fence line, stands a moment, and walks. Three... Leadership Through Horsemanship Lessons from the Herd Read more
Federico Grisone, Riding Master: The Renaissance Return of Riding Schools Aug 18, 2026 Ocean View Stables In 1550, a Neapolitan nobleman published a book about riding horses, and Europe could not get enough of it. Federico Grisone, the riding master whose name now anchors the story of modern equitation, c... History of Horsemanship The Old Masters & Classical Tradition Read more
Teaching a Horse to Pick Up Its Feet Without a Fight Aug 17, 2026 Ocean View Stables Ask a horse for its foot and look at the deal from its side of the exchange. A flight animal is being asked to stand on three legs, surrender its escape plan, and hold still while a predator-shaped cr... Grooming & Handling The Leyden Method Read more
If the Horse Pulls Back When Tied Aug 16, 2026 Ocean View Stables It starts small. A tied horse shifts its weight, feels the halter check its head, and something old in it says trapped. The head flies up, the hindquarters drop, and a thousand pounds slams backward a... Problem Solving The Leyden Method Read more
Teaching Feel in Horsemanship: Can It Be Taught at All? Aug 15, 2026 Ocean View Stables A student backs her horse down the rail, and for one stride everything changes. The poll softens, the rope goes light, a hind foot lands quieter than the one before it. Then the moment passes, unrewar... Leadership Through Horsemanship Teaching & Mentorship Read more
Horses in North America: The History of a Long Round Trip Aug 14, 2026 Ocean View Stables Dig in the right hillside in Wyoming or Nebraska and you can hold the tooth of a horse that died tens of millions of years before any human saw one. The horse is not an import to this continent. It is... History of Horsemanship Horses & Human History Read more
Soft Hands in Riding: Reins That Never Balance on the Mouth Aug 13, 2026 Ocean View Stables Watch a rider lose their balance at the trot, and watch the horse’s head fly up in the same instant. From the rail it looks like two events. From the horse’s side it is one: a hand just landed on its ... Riding The Leyden Method Read more
The Horse Respect Training Myth: What Horsemen Actually Mean Aug 11, 2026 Ocean View Stables Somewhere right now a horse is dancing at the end of a lead rope while somebody in the arena says he has no respect for you. The word does a lot of work in barns. Most of it is bad work. This is a fir... Field Notes First Principles Read more
Feel, Timing, and Balance in Horsemanship: The Three Pillars of the Leyden Method Aug 10, 2026 Ocean View Stables Every craft keeps a short list of words that hold the whole thing. Carpenters get plumb, level, and square. Horsemen inherited feel, timing, and balance. We did not coin the trio; it came down through... Foundations & Philosophy The Leyden Method Read more
