Instruction
“Working with April Reeves has been an absolutely amazing experience. She has an extraordinary amount of knowledge, and is more than willing to share it with me in order to further my riding career. Being able to learn and train with April has been incredible, and not only is she my riding instructor, but she has become a mentor in other aspects of my life. When I first began lessons, my mare Bailey had an extremely bad attitude, with a bucking issue, as well as a bad habit of taking off. Within 11 or so months, my mare and I had our first dressage competition. Not only did we place first and second in our two dressage tests, but I also won Adult Grand Champion. This was done with patience, care, and dedication, on both our parts. Furthermore, I had my second ever Hunter Jumper show, where I competed in Working Hunter and Equitation over Fences, and placed first in both classes. With April, I don’t just learn how to ride, but she teaches groundwork, the body movement of the horse and how the muscles work. She also teaches very in depth, explains everything very well, and gives the cause and effect as to what we are doing, and I believe that that is why Bailey and I were able to accomplish so much. I have been training with April for about three years now, and every lesson I learn something new. She is always encouraging me and helps me go outside my comfort zone; I don’t think I would be where I am today if it wasn’t for her.” Selina Rempel, Olds Alberta
Site
“April, this is such a marvelous site, and your coaching is thorough, easy to follow and understand, and makes perfect sense.. It’s clear that you are a pro in every sense of the word, and your passion for, and commitment to developing lasting connection between horse an human is so very, very important. Thank you so much for being who you are, doing what you do, and making a truly positive, quantum difference in the world.” Jo Spiller, Feb 3, 2017
“This comment is to THANK YOU for the online article “how-to-collect-horse”. I used your one rein stop drills to almost staggering success! My horse WAS almost always ahead of me on the trail, in lessons and while gaited showing. Now he has gotten so good at listening I can control his cadence out of my seat and NOT the reins and legs, we can stop completely from the seat without any rein pressure. The importance of this can not be overstated as his main duty is trail riding – we could not ride comfortable with slower horses especially my wife’s saddle breed and her friend’s quarter horses. We could not gait in lessons and shows without a lot of effort. I just finished a short trail ride with a friend that has a considerably slower gaited horse and we followed respectfully the full time with cadence control from the seat, BIG CHANGE! All the maneuvers he knows have taken on a drastically different feel and appearance – they are much more precise and disciplined. As a note my horse is a Kentucky Natural Gaited Horse a relatively new breed that is basically 75% Rocky and 25% Tennessee Walker, It has taken good trainer to bring his gait to a precision Rocky single foot gait and we do well at shows, BUT now I suspect we will do a lot better! Oh yes our last show was five firsts, two seconds and a fourth AND this was before your drills! My goal is a very well trained horse and rider that can perform at various endeavors. THANKS FOR A BIG HELP ALONG OUR JOURNEY,” Blazing Heart and Allen Parkes, May 13, 2015
“This is seriously one of the best posts I’ve ever read. I’m so glad I found it. The instructions are so clear, simple and to the point. Thank you for taking the time to share some excellent advice and laying it out very very well in excellent writing!!!” Jane Buffington, March 31, 2015
“Funny thing..I was looking for answers to the same question, and this answer though a little hard for it to sink in but once you close your eyes and visualize yourself doing this on your horse it totally makes all the sense in the world. I’ve seen so many good intention people do so much damage to their really good horses then blame the horse and get rid of them due to behavior issue’s. Thank you so much April that answer is worth a million dollars. (But I don’t have that) lol” Nicole Matthews, Jan. 17, 2015
“I have found this article to answer so many questions that I had and has fulfilled a lot of gaps that I felt were missing in my horses training program and I also found it easy to understand and follow. Thank you for this article I can now print it and make cards and work on exercises as I go and hopefully reach my goals this year.” Connie Leach, Dec. 24, 2014
“Great detail and wording for beginners and refreshers for an older person (me)!
Thank you, this will help a Friend of mine – who doesn’t want to take this same (but better worded) techniques and put them to use! And a great refresher for me and my 15yr. old quarter horse reiner turned barrel racer !
Haven’t thought of using counter canter in long time will be good to throw that at my boy!” Denise Shepherd, Nov. 7, 2013
“First, thank you for your replies and comments, they are so appreciated. Horses can and are a frustrating animal at times. I have been really working hard on my foxtrotter and his ground work is fantastic in the round pen. I keep reading over and over your articles and working on following them. Thanks so much, have recommend you many times to my riding friends.”
Judy Moyer, Oct. 24, 2013
