San Diego Riding Academy

I have had the pleasure of working with the O'rourke family for many years. I trust them enough to have one of our customers purchase a horse from them sight unseen from 3000 miles away. With my daughter, Hannah Lavin of HL Select and Pond Hill Ranch we have an amazing young horse for a very special young lady!

Another common sense idea that isn't all that common is that a nervous rider should ride a calm horse, while a calm and experienced rider should ride and try to... help reschool and reassure the nervous horse. When the nervous rider climbs on the nervous horse, does anyone who knows anything about horses expect it to go well?

The term "soft mouth" is actually misleading, because it implies that horses slow down or stop as a result of pressure on the mouth, as if horses without bridl...es could not slow down or stop---Which they obviously can, even from a full tilt gallop, down a hill. The bit doesn't stop the horse. The bit transmits a signal to the horse's brain which puts in motion the mechanics of the body and legs that slow or stop forward motion. So the bit's action, when the training has been correct, transmits a conditioned response signal, which leads to a stop. The reason a hard galloping horse, like one out fox hunting or going upper level cross country, may need "more bit" is because the excitement of the gallop tends to shut off the ability to "read" the signal. It is not always possible to gallop safely without having better brakes, but the problem arises when the bigger brakes are used when the horse is calm enough or slow enough not to need them. Then all that stopping power creates a horse that gets scared of the hands, and pretty soon that conditioned response has been lost, and we say that the horse has gotten "hard in the mouth." He isn't actually hard in the mouth. He is too nervous or scared or deadened to be able to read and react to more subtle and gentle cues, so he FEELS dead in his mouth. Which leads to stronger and harsher stopping methods, and there you go----

Training is more important than genetics, train from the day you get an animal, not as a last resort. MOOSE TEAM, 1911. William Day had bottle-fed Pete and N...ellie as young calves. The young pair served as Day’s mail-delivery team. Pete and Nellie were used for local deliveries on Saturdays and even for some long hauls in areas around Athabasca to St. Albert, Alberta (Canada). During winter months, a sleigh was used. Bill Day carried a supply of candy for kids who wanted a ride. The team’s tack was interesting, and no blinders were used. See more

Poppy wants to know if you are going to come and ride? SDRA has a few openings for new students! Check out our webpage for more information.

Practicing lines for the home show on the 27th!

Justin the unicorn pony feeling frisky!!

Georgia and Her project horse Banksie having a lesson in long lining. At SDRA

Butters and Jack at the mounted games today!

Claudia and daisy show the young riders how to do the obstacle course today during lessons this Morning!

In an early morning jumping school Dominika and Elli working on developing the correct jumping gallop. Back to a 6am start this weekend to beat the heat!

6 AM start for lessons tomorrow and Sunday! Fun and games for the pony kids, course practice for the more advanced riders! Come check out the sunrise fun!!

We are looking for a stall mucked. We have 19 box stalls and 6 pipe corrals. $2 per stall per day to clean daily. Monday to Friday, no weekends. Additional work for the right person.

Caring for school horses, preparing for lessons, untack after lessons. Other jobs maybe offered to the right person.