Skip to Content
Home └Course 103 — Applied Equitation
Course 103 — Applied Equitation

Course 103 — Applied Equitation

The final course of the Level 1 Foundational Horsemanship Certification. Everything you built on the ground now happens in the saddle: the pre-ride check, mounting safely, the independent seat and independent hands, steering with the direct rein and then the neck rein, transitions, and the stop, including the one-rein stop drilled until it is reflex.

The course ends where Ocean View Stables begins: riding out. Trail etiquette, hills, water, and the beach ride, treated as what it is, an extension of your horsemanship and not a casual excursion. Finish with your certification, then talk to us about the Student Assistant Program and where the journey goes after Level 1.

Soft is strong. Clarity is kindness.

Join this Course
Responsible Zachary Leyden
Last Update 07/28/2026
Completion Time 7 hours 24 minutes
Members 1
Intermediate
  • Before You Mount (empty)
    3Lessons · 27 min
    Section 1 of 6. The three minutes before your foot goes in the stirrup decide most of what follows. The cinch, the stirrups, the off side billet, a short groundwork check, and an honest look at your own state that day.
    • The Pre-Ride Check
      Cinch re-checked after walking, stirrups measured then counted on both sides, the off side billet checked every single ride, and three minutes of groundwork before your foot leaves the ground.
      Preview New
    • Mounting and Dismounting Safely
      Reins gathered before the foot goes in the stirrup, and the horse stands until asked. Block mounting by default here, ground mounts learned facing the tail, and both feet out before any dismount.
      New
    • Watch: Mounting as a Willing Partnership
      Mounting treated as something the horse agrees to rather than tolerates. Watch how long he waits.
      New
  • The Seat and the Hands (empty)
    7Lessons · 1 hr 22 min
    Section 2 of 6. Ear, shoulder, hip, heel. A seat that does not depend on the reins, and hands that do not depend on the seat. This takes months rather than weeks, and the rest of riding waits on it.
  • Steering (empty)
    4Lessons · 36 min
    Section 3 of 6. Eyes, weight, legs, rein, in that order, every time, with a full stride of waiting before the rein. The direct rein, the neck rein, and the honest test of whether you taught one or merely pressed a neck.
    • The Direct Rein
      The hand opens sideways, never crossing the withers and never pulling back. Nose, then shoulder, then feet, and the release comes on the thought rather than the turn.
      New
    • The Neck Rein
      Lay the new cue first, wait a second, then the known one. Hundreds of repetitions. If the neck is firmly pressed you are not neck reining, you are pressure training.
      New
    • Seat, Leg, and Rein Together
      Eyes, weight, legs, rein. Inside leg at the girth, outside leg back to hold the hindquarters on the arc, and one full stride of waiting before the hand does anything at all.
      New
    • Watch: From Direct Rein to Neck Rein
      The move from direct rein to neck rein, shown across a session. Watch the timing between the two cues.
      New
  • Gaits, Transitions, and Stops (empty)
    6Lessons · 49 min
    Section 4 of 6. Four beats at the walk, two at the trot, and a transition that starts in your body three strides before it starts in the horse. Then the stop, and the one rein stop, drilled until it is reflex rather than a decision.
    • Walk, Trot, and Sitting the Jog
      Walk, trot, and the jog, which is the same trot ridden slow and flat. Post the trot, sit the jog, and rise as the outside foreleg goes forward.
      New
    • Transitions: Upward and Downward
      Prepare three or four strides out at a named marker, ask seat first and hand last, release on the first response. The half halt is a downward ask cancelled before it lands.
      New
    • The Stop and the One-Rein Stop
      Drop the outside rein completely, grab mane first, slide down and anchor at the hip. Never both reins on a bolting horse. A rider who cannot do this on both sides does not ride out here.
      New
    • Watch: One-Rein Control
      One rein control demonstrated. Watch the anchor point, and notice there is no pulling once it is set.
      New
    • Watch: Martin Black — Rating Speed in the Circle
      Martin Black rode with Tom and Ray in Idaho. Rating rhythm and speed in circles is the foundation under every clean transition you drilled in this section.
      New
    • Watch: Warwick Schiller — Relaxation Under Saddle
      Martin Black gave you rhythm; Warwick adds relaxation, with an anxious horse that changed how he trains. Rhythm and relaxation together are what make every transition in this section soft.
      New
  • Riding Out (empty)
    6Lessons · 56 min
    Section 5 of 6. The trail is where horsemanship gets tested by things you did not choose. Spacing, ribbons, gates, hills, water, and the beach, treated as an extension of your training rather than a reward for finishing it.
    • Trail Etiquette and Awareness
      One horse length minimum, red ribbon means kicker, every hazard called down the line, and the pace set by the least confident horse in the group.
      New
    • Hills, Water, and Obstacles
      The head and neck are about ten percent of the horse and they are the balance lever. Long rein on slopes and in water, straight up and straight down, and never traverse a steep face.
      New
    • The Beach Ride
      Tide table before you leave, wet firm sand for footing, deep dry sand at a walk only. The one rein stop signed off on both sides is the price of admission, and nobody gallops on a first beach ride.
      New
    • Watch: Solving Jigging on the Trail
      Solving a horse that jigs on the trail. A common problem, fixed by changing the rider first.
      New
    • Watch: Bryan Neubert — Freed Up Outside the Pen
      Fence work and trailer loading as one continuum: the horse staying soft and free outside the arena. This is the groundwork-to-outside bridge your trail riding depends on.
      New
    • Watch: Julie Goodnight — The Spooky Trail Horse
      A full episode on fixing a horse afraid of its own shadow on the trail, with rider safety front and center. Watch how much of the fix happens on the ground before anyone rides.
      New
  • Long-Term Growth (empty)
    5Lessons · 2 hr 12 min
    Section 6 of 6. What a sustainable routine looks like, what Level 1 has actually made you, and where the road goes from here. Read the last lesson slowly. It is the one people come back to.
    • Building Your Routine
      What frequency actually does to skill retention, why progress falls off sharply below one lesson a week, and how to use the weeks in between.
      New
    • After Level 1: Where the Journey Goes
      What Level 1 made you, what comes next, the lope, the Student Assistant Program, and Level 2. The last lesson in the certification, and the one worth reading twice.
      New
    • Watch: Remembering Ray Hunt
      A fifty two minute interview on a lifetime with horses. Save it for an evening when you have time to sit with it.
      New
    • Watch: The Real Tom Dorrance
      The bookend to Remembering Ray Hunt above: a full hour on Tom, told by his close collaborator John Saint Ryan. You started Course 100 hearing Tom name feel, timing, and balance. End here, hearing what a lifetime of it added up to.
      New
    • Watch: Stacy Westfall — The Bridleless Championship Ride
      Where can this journey lead? Here: the 2006 Congress freestyle, bareback and bridleless, ridden on nothing but seat, legs, and trust. Every cue you are learning in this program, with the reins gone.
      New
  • The Certification (empty)
    1Lessons · 30 min
    The last gate in Level 1. Ten questions across the saddle, the trail, and the calls you have to make on your own. Pass this and the rest of your certification happens at the barn, in front of three instructors.
    • Course 103 Certification
      Ten questions across the saddle, the trail, and the judgment calls. The last gate in Level 1 before the barn takes over.
      New
  • Go Deeper (empty)
    4Lessons · 32 min
    The encore. Habits for the next twenty years, from people who were still learning after fifty.