ELK DOG
COMPETITIVE RIDING CO.
....and thats just what we do here at Elk Dog Competitive Riding Co, we get you involved. Whether you are a beginning intermediate or advanced rider, we encourage you to build a relationship with your horse. If you’ve never touched a horse, we can help you gain the confidence and skills required to handle them. If you haven’t ridden in years, we can help you regain your confidence. Most importantly, we teach you to understand your horses language and by doing so you form a partnership, which is essential to riding. Here's what we offer:
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin
WESTERN PLEASURE
This western riding style developed according to the needs of cowboys who worked cattle from horseback. The jog is a slow and relaxed gait that is slightly faster than the walk--originally great for following a herd of cattle. The lope is the western term for the canter and in the show ring is also slower and collected.
REIGNING
Reining is where the riders guide the horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins, and stops. All work is done at the lope (a slow, relaxed version of the horse gait more commonly known worldwide as the canter), or the gallop (the fastest of the horse gaits). Reining is often described as a Western form of dressage riding, as it requires the horse to be responsive and in tune with its rider, whose aids should not be easily seen, and judges the horse on its ability to perform a set pattern of movements. Some of the movements seen in reigning include sliding stops, spins and rollbacks.
TRAIL CHALLENGE
Trail challenges focus on building a realtionship and strengthening communication between horse and rider through obstacles. The horse and rider navigate through a course and are asked to calmly and correctly complete obstacles ranging from side passing through a log pattern, walking under and through tarps, ascending and descending difficult terrain, opening and closing gates ect. These challenges are normaly timed and have different levels of difficulty.
CONFIDANCE BUILDING
Have you and your horse had a major accident? Trust can be shaken between horse and rider when an accident happens. The post traumatic stress that follows the accident can be felt by your horse, through your seat, which in turn creates more stress, more accidents and less confidence. Regaining confindence after an accident, for both horse and rider, takes time and and patience, but it can be attained! Sometimes its the horse that needs more of the confidence building after an accident, but is something that the rider cannot help with because they were involved in the accident. We work on all of these issues and find out the root of the fear, once uncovered, we conquor it in the ring, one step at a time. Its time to be the team you used to be.