A collection of articles discussing Standardbred rehabilitation and retraining, equine health and horsemanship.
Authored by Raising the Standards Founder Nicole Tassone, featuring guest commentaries from leading equestrian professionals.
A few months ago I found myself busy settling a couple of calves into our family. They are super cute and it’s was a lot of fun, particularly for my kids, to feed them their bottles and make friends. But, it was alsoMASSIVELY stressful for me. And I experienced some serious overwhelm. It turns out …
How Getting Cows Has Made Me a Better Standardbred Coach Read More »
Whether you’re riding through, or taking some time to become reacquainted with the comfy groove on the couch, here are Nic’s top tips for getting through this winter with a happy, healthy standy and a rider who’s ready to swing into the saddle come spring and do awesome things ?? Skidmarks: not cool in the …
3 Top Tips for Surviving & Thriving Through Winter With Your Standardbred Read More »
Last night, I pulled my standardbred out of the paddock, after getting the guilts from seeing his gorgeous pricked ears waiting eagerly at the gate. I’ll admit, with summer’s heat in full-force, I’ve found it hard to get motivated lately. Life’s been so crazy.Of course, I always end up stuck waaay deep in a grumpy …
I want you to imagine for a minute that you are a professional marathon runner. “Professional” in the sense that this is your career: a paid role which commands the majority of your time. A craft which you have perfected steadily over years of careful training. Each day, you wake and set about your training …
Well, Spring has well and truly sprung! Coupled with the gorgeous weather comes the urge for riders to dust off the boots, get out there and start doing great things with their horses again! With competition season in full swing, I thought I’d jot down five simple, but highly effective, ways to get the most …
Through the writing process as part of the development of our new Retraining the Standardbred: Track to Hack course, I’ve had the opportunity to really step back and think about what the key ingredients have been in successfully retraining so many ex-harness horses over the years. If I had to put it down to the …
Rider Reflection: The Secret to Retraining the Standardbred. Read More »
As a standardbred retrainer with nearly a decade of professional experience under my belt (and many more years of personal retraining prior to this), I have been privileged to share ideas, seek guidance from and collaborate with some amazing standardbred aficionados over the years. I recently got to thinking about some of the habits …
As a standardbred professional, one of the most common questions I get asked is: ‘how long does it take to retrain a standardbred?’ To this, my answer is an age-old classic: “how long is a piece of string?” There are just so many different variables and possible answers. As discussed in our Retraining the Standardbred: …
How long does it take to retrain a standardbred? Read More »
As a Standardbred-specific trainer and coach, I speak to a lot of riders about common issues, such as how to stop a standardbred from pacing and how to teach the standardbred to canter. These would be ‘the big two’ issues, in terms of working with the retired harness racehorse. Back when I was coaching …
Retraining the Standardbred: Slow & Steady Wins the Pace Read More »
Looking back on my childhood, I entered the standardbred space long before ‘cart horses’ were considered a popular choice of riding partner. I’ll get into more detail about my own journey in an upcoming post, but let’s just say pony club was a polarising experience. Having recently caught up with a few inspiring young standardbred …