Practical Horseman

It presents step by-step training programs and showing advice from recognized experts in hunters, jumpers, equitation, dressage, and eventing, along with money- and time-saving ideas on health care and stable management.

Practical Horseman • VOL. 53, NO. 4, WINTER 2025

Take a Chance

Three Horses Showing Their Expression

Lengthen Your Legs and Relax Your Hip Joints • Longer legs and more open hips allow you to enhance your horse’s movement.

Be Clear With the Appropriate Corrections • Follow a sequence of aids to communicate with, and occasionally correct, your horse.

Effective Rider Aids for SUCCESSFUL JUMPING EFFORTS • Develop independent aids for smoother rounds with this figure-eight jumping exercise.

TAKING THE SHOT: Endel Ots on His Journey to Paris • The U.S. traveling reserve for the 2024 Paris Olympics talks about the special bond he’s developed with Zen Elite’s Bohemian, what sparked his fascination with dressage and why he connects so deeply with horses.

Trust Your Gut: DEALING WITH COMMON EQUINE GI ISSUES • Find out how problems from the stomach to the hindgut can affect sporthorses.

Making ‘Magic’ Happen • A terrible situation led to one woman finding the magical bond she’d been seeking.

Finding Her Stride • Kaylawna Smith-Cook talks about growing up with her eventing super-star mom, Tamie Smith, and how she’s forged her own path while chasing her dream to be a top U.S. eventer.

Laura Wilson and One Ear Wonder Capture Hearts as Winners of the 2025 Mustang Classic • After three days of competition, amateur eventer Laura Wilson and her one-eared gelding rose to the top to win this English-focused event for mustangs.

Osteoarthritis • Learn the signs of this chronic, progressive joint disease and how to treat and manage it.

PRACTICAL HORSEMAN’S TACK ROOM

To create a better connection from the horse’s hind legs to the rider’s hands …