With over 20 years working with horses, Jennifer has had the opportunity to meet, audit and ride with professionally known trainers. With each professional horse trainer, she has been able to take away several concepts in training. "I figure out what works best for the horse. What I have learned was that classical dressage has helped me become a better rider and the horse responds to the positive corrections and relaxation," says Jennifer. The horse must understand and be relaxed to enjoy his work. This idea works for every horse from a Mustang to a Warmblood. Even if a horse is not "built for dressage" the concepts and work ethic of dressage will help the horse become relaxed and enjoyable to ride in any equine discipline.

Jennifer likes to get on a horse that has had at least 12 rides on him already (get all the bucks out). Her training schedule is a monthly course. The horse gets worked four to five times a week. Generally the first two weeks of training is dedicated to ground work. This is where Jennifer begins to understand the horse's needs and attention span. During this time, she works on getting the horse to focus on her body commands and reward when he answers correctly. The main reward is rest and soft words. Although she uses treats at times, she follows that up with a clicking sound that the horse associates with the treat. Eventually the treats are removed and the clicking sound is the reward. This is very beneficial while on the horse's back.

The next step is the walk under saddle. The horse learns to accept the contact to the bit, relax and have an energetic, straight, four-beat walk. Bending (suppleness) is an important issue at this stage. Each horse learns differently. Jennifer doesn't push a horse up into a faster gait until he has mastered the gait below. The horse can't learn to trot balanced until the walk is balanced, etc. Within each stride the horse will learn to relax and balance himself and use the correct body muscles to get the job done and be happy about it.

Other things Jennifer likes to do with the horse are lateral work, speed adjustment, ground poles and riding outside (no walls) on trails and open fields. This helps challenge the horse and prevents him from becoming bored with arena work. Once the ground work and the walk gait are solid, the training includes a lesson per week with the owner/rider. Jennifer likes to get the rider on the horse as soon as the horse is ready. It is now the horse's turn to teach the owner what he has learned so far.