Joe Midgley Horsemanship

Today I received a delivery of two new saddle pads from Equinen! The coming season is going to be colourful!

Which one is your favourite?

It’s so important to me that I use the highest quality equipment with my horses, and all the horses I have in training! Equinen pads are the best on the market, offering two sides of 100% wool felt separated by proper spinal clearance. They are contoured, to fit to a horses back, not just a rectangle and of course they are absolutely beautiful too! I’ve been riding and showing exclusively in Equinen for the last year and I couldn’t be happier! The pads are gorgeous and the pad cleaning tools keep everything clean and prevent any rubs!

Have a look at their page Equinen and their website https://www.equinen.co.uk

Equinen pads are also stocked by Western Tack Trader if you need your saddle checking too!

Let me know your favourite!

Get in touch for the last few places!

Understanding biomechanics is an essential part of quality horsemanship.

If you’ve attended a clinic with me, you will have heard me refer to a few specific muscles and chains of muscles. Having some knowledge of these areas opens a great many doors in your programme for strength and conditioning, and using an exercise to strengthen a completely different area!

For instance, I love doing a variety of backing up exercises. Backing through things, backing obstacles, loading the weight back to work a cow, stopping and backing, dragging a log back, backward leg yields - the list goes on! It’s important that the horse backs up correctly, with softness through the neck and energy through the body - if you do, there are a whole bunch of benefits.

Doing a lot of this really builds the gluteal muscles! As well as the semitendonosus, and biceps most notably. Because the horse ‘sits down’ a little bit in the back up, the hind end really engages.

The follow up from this is of course, that the horses abdominal muscles have to engage to lift the back, and you create elevation in the pectoral muscles and all the muscles that make up the thoracic sling.

Imagine how a horse that has spent a couple of years developing these muscles on the ground will never feel the need to be on the forehand. Imagine how much easier learning new skills will be, when their body is physically able to do it with ease.

The argument of age and training usually comes up at this point. Obviously you have to be sensible in your work load in your young horses. But we can all agree that the structure that isn’t yet developed (skeleton) is supported by the muscles, tendons and ligaments that make up your horses posture. Personally, I think it’s vital in our horses physical development that they begin the strengthen that support. The benefits in bone density are a big deal too!

Now, imagine you’ve done lots of that… even with a young horse on the ground.

What do we want in a canter transition?

You could say we want engagement of the hind end? Lift in the front end? Core engagement and lift in the back?

We have to do these things to strengthen and develop our horses posture. If their posture is weak, we really DON’T want to be riding millions of 20 metre circles. Why? Because you’re going to strengthen all the muscles that are overworking, increasing the contrast in the strong and weak muscles - making the posture worse.

Backup and canter is just one example - but do try and identify what your horses physical weaknesses are, and adapt your work to suit!

Oh and be sure to put side reins on whenever you exercise your horses… joking - set those on fire!

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Please join me in wishing Gavin Robertshaw a very happy birthday!

Gavin was of course, your master of ceremonies at the Ultimate Horsemanship demonstration! You may also have spoken to him on my stand at the Horsemanship showcase, the horsemanship event of the year! He’s also one of my oldest and closest friends!

Happy birthday Gavin!

An introduction to cattle work clinic!

19th/20th June!

Working cattle from horseback is one of the best means of showing your horse the reason behind our training! There’s also something good for the soul in moving cows across open ground on the back of a horse!

This clinic will introduce you to the fundamental movements needed when working cattle. Learn to work as a team to move a herd from A to B, as well as moving an individual cow on your own.

As always, on Friday evening I will talk to you all about bits and bit fitting!

This clinic will be great fun, whether you’ve worked cows before, or whether it’s your first time!

Held at Sudbrooke Park Cattle Company - we do have some hire horses available from West Drive Quarter Horses

Please note the 19th/20th is a Friday/Saturday!

There are only 10 places available!

Drop me a message to book on

Places are £350 for both days plus pizza on Friday night! That includes your stabling, bedding and hay!

A full post is on its way following a fantastic first Ultimate Cowboy Camp!

Check out this fantastic photo of Magnus Rex at Dawn demonstrating to participants how to turn a cow on the fence!

What an athlete!!

A massive thanks to Lynn for this brilliant photo!

We have had a space come available on this camp next weekend! It’s going to be fantastic! Drop me a message for the full itinerary!