11425767_1135613333122135_2544840236101030467_nSocial media is funny. Every now and then I’ll write a blog that I think is AWESOME, really knocking it out of the park, and it’ll get almost no response. And every now and then, I’ll flippantly post a funny little photo on my Facebook orInstagram page, and it’ll go viral.

Such was the case with the photo of my Very Sophisticated Classical Dressage Training Technique to try and teach me how to ride Ella with my reins short and my hands down—a neck rope made of baling twine. I slip the twine under my finger holding the reins (which is why I prefer twine to a neck rope: less material in my hands) and, should I attempt to stick my hands up my nose, the twine will hit her neck and remind me to put them back down where they belong.

That photo blew up my Facebook page. TONS of comments, 200-and-counting “likes”… who knew that my redneckery was going to be such a hit?

The success of that picture got me thinking of all the other creative, and not-so-creative, ways that I help my students (and yes, sometimes myself) address bad equitation habits. Here are a few.

Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!