Top Line Sporthorse International,LLC

Tutti Fruitti Van De Fruitkorf
7yr old Mare by Cornet Obelensky x Cicero Van Paemel Z flying high in Florida
Congratulations to the Heyer family to the purchase and continues success in producing this exceptional talented mare from us earlier this year.

ISO schoolmaster/lesson horse Typ to teach a late starting adult rider the ropes of showjumping , 16.2-17h preferred with safe and honest riding qualities competing in adult equitation and jumper classes up to 3ft, must have lead changes , no bock, rear or stop.
Minor quirks are ok, but needs to be sound and passing a PPE
Lease or lease to own in the mid five figure range
Show me what you got:
(713) 898-1188 or [email protected]
Looking to find the right match locally asap

So true👍

I have taught a lot of riders over a lot of years. Talented ones who plateaued because they stopped being open to correction. Struggling ones who improved faster than anyone expected because they showed up every single week ready to try something different. Riding ability matters but YOUR attitude matters more.

Here is what being a teachable rider actually looks like in practice...

1. Show up ready to learn, not ready to perform.
There is a difference between a student who comes to a lesson wanting to look good and one who comes wanting to get better. The first one hears a correction and gets defensive. The second one hears a correction and tries it. One of those riders improves every week. The other one comes back for years without moving forward and never quite understands why.

2. Empty your cup before you arrive.
If you are coming to your lesson with your previous trainer's voice in your head, a bad day at work sitting on your shoulders, or a conviction that you already know how to do the thing I am about to teach you then there is no room for anything new to get in. Leave it in the car. Leave it at the gate. Whatever happened before you got on the horse is not useful to you in the saddle right now. What is useful is being present, open, and genuinely curious about what this lesson has to offer.

3. Be slow to react and quick to listen.
When I give a correction, the instinct for a lot of riders is to immediately explain why they did what they did "I know my hands are stiff because I am nervous". Probably true but also not the point. Listen first, try it first, and then ask questions after. The explanation of why something went wrong is almost always less useful than the experience of what happens when you change it.

4. Be willing to go backwards to go forward.
Some of the most important lessons I have ever taught happened when we put something down and went back to a simpler version of it. A rider who is willing to go back to trot poles when their jumping falls apart gets their jumping back faster than one who insists on keeping the fence up. Progress is not always a straight line and the riders who understand that are the ones who make it furthest in the long run.

5. Bring your effort even on the days you do not feel it.
You will have lessons where nothing clicks. Where your body is stiff or you and your horse are just not cohesive as usual and the exercise that worked last week feels completely foreign today. Those lessons are not wasted, they are just part of the process. Show up anyway and give it a try. The riders who push through the bad days without giving up on themselves are the ones still riding ten years from now.

6. Your instructor is on your side.
Every correction I give comes from one place... I want you to ride better. Not because it reflects on me but because I genuinely care about your progress and I can see what is possible for you even when you cannot see it yourself. Let that land and trust the process. The lessons that feel the most frustrating are almost always the ones right before something clicks.

The most talented rider in the arena is not always the one who improves the most, it is the most teachable one! So be that rider. Your horse will thank you and so will your instructor.

What is the most important thing you have ever learned about being a good student of riding?

Introducing jumping too early is one of the most common mistakes in lesson programs and the consequences are not just a bad experience. They are confidence damage that can take months to repair, horses that become defensive and tense over fences, and riders who develop defensive habits that become deeply ingrained and very hard to undo. The foundation that makes jumping safe and successful takes time to build. Here is what actually needs to be in place before the poles go up...

1. A secure independent two point that does not rely on the hands.
Not a two point that looks acceptable on a straight line. A two point that holds up through turns, through transitions, and over a line of ground poles without the rider needing their hands to stay balanced. The test is simple: can your student hold two point with arms outstretched at the walk and trot without grabbing mane or reins the moment something changes? If the hands come forward every time the horse moves unexpectedly the position is not ready. Build it on the lunge, build it without stirrups, and build it until it holds up under pressure before anything goes up on a standard.

2. Solid no stirrup work.
A landing over a fence is unpredictable and stirrups get lost at the worst possible moments. Before a student starts jumping they need to be genuinely comfortable posting trot, riding transitions, and holding two point without stirrups - not just surviving it but riding it with real stability and balance. Build no stirrup work into every single lesson from early in your program. By the time jumping enters the conversation losing a stirrup should be a minor inconvenience not a crisis.

3. The ability to ride a straight line away from the rail.
Most students spend the majority of their lesson time tracking around the arena on the rail and have far less experience than they realize riding accurate straight lines away from it. Before a jump enters the picture a student should be able to trot a straight diagonal, ride a clean centerline, navigate through a narrow set of cones or poles without drifting, and keep their horse between both reins on a line they chose rather than one the arena wall chose for them. Jumping is just flatwork with an obstacle in the middle and the flatwork has to be there first.

4. Extensive ground pole work.
This is the most underused jumping preparation tool in most lesson programs and the one that does more to prepare a horse and rider for their first fence than anything else available. A grid of trot poles. A flowing pole course with turns and straight lines. Single poles on a circle. Poles on the diagonal. Cantering over a single pole once the canter is established. Each of these asks the horse and rider to manage rhythm, straightness, balance, and adjustability in a low risk environment that tells you exactly what will happen when the poles go up. A horse and rider who flow through a pole course consistently and confidently will almost always jump well when the time comes. One that cannot yet manage the poles accurately is not ready for the fence.

5. Genuine willingness, not just bravado.
A student who says they want to jump but whose body tells a different story (gripped reins, held breath, braced shoulders at the sight of a ground pole) is not ready. Genuine readiness for jumping is physical and mental and both need to be present before anything goes up. A student who approaches a cross rail with a relaxed seat, soft hands, and genuine forward intent is far safer and far more successful than one who was talked into it before their body was on board.

There is no shortcut to a safe confident jumping foundation and the instructors who rush it create problems. The ones who take the time to build it properly produce riders who jump with a balanced position, a quiet hand, and a genuine smile because the work that got them there was solid enough to support what they are doing.

What do you require from your students before you introduce jumping?

Well analyzed , besides rhythmic feeling the rider’s balance comes from the right physical fitness which is very often lacking. If the horse is fitter and more athletic than the rider something is for sure off balance

Sometimes we keep correcting the same riding problem over and over when the real issue is not that the student does not understand what we are asking, it's because their body simply cannot maintain it yet.

The rider who repeatedly loses their two point after half a lap may understand the position perfectly but their legs and core may just fatigue quickly. The rider who starts gripping harder as the lesson progresses may simply be running out of strength and stability. This can happen with children, teenagers, adult beginners, returning riders, and even experienced riders who only get in the saddle once or twice a week.

Riding requires a surprising amount of physical capacity. Riders need enough core strength to stabilize themselves without hanging on the reins. They need leg strength and endurance to maintain position without gripping. They need hip, ankle, and hamstring mobility to sit correctly without forcing their body into place. They also need enough cardiovascular endurance to continue thinking, reacting, and learning once the physical work becomes harder.

That is why some position problems become dramatically worse toward the end of a lesson. At the beginning, the rider looks reasonably balanced. Twenty or thirty minutes later, the shoulders start collapsing, the lower leg becomes unstable, the hands get busy, the knees begin gripping, and every correction seems to disappear within a few strides. At that point, continuing to repeat the same correction may not accomplish very much as fatigue has become part of the equation.

This is where instructors can start looking beyond simply telling the rider WHAT to fix and begin asking WHY they cannot maintain the correction. Can they physically hold two-point for thirty seconds? Can they balance on one leg? Do they have enough ankle mobility to allow the heel to sink naturally? Can they stabilize their torso without bracing? Can they post the trot for several minutes without becoming completely exhausted?

Those simple observations can tell us quite a bit about what is happening in the saddle. This does not mean riding instructors need to become personal trainers, and it certainly does not mean turning lessons into workout but sometimes the solution is incredibly simple. A few minutes of mobility work before mounting. Short two point intervals instead of one exhausting hold. A couple of basic exercises for the rider to practice between lessons.

Encouraging students to walk, swim, bike, do yoga, strength train, or simply become more physically active outside the barn. Most importantly, explain the connection. Instead of repeatedly saying, “Stop gripping with your knees,” you might explain that the rider is gripping because their core and lower leg are getting tired. Instead of constantly saying, “Keep your heels down,” explain that limited ankle mobility may be making the position difficult. That changes the conversation from “You keep doing this wrong” to “Here is what your body needs in order to make this easier.”

It can also be incredibly encouraging for students. Sometimes riders become frustrated because they know what they are supposed to do but cannot seem to make their body cooperate. Understanding that strength, endurance, balance, and mobility can be developed gives them something concrete to work toward.

We should also remember the horse in this conversation too. The stronger and more balanced a rider becomes, the easier it is for them to stay with the horse's movement instead of bouncing, gripping, collapsing, or balancing on the reins. Improving rider fitness is not just about prettier equitation. It can improve communication, safety, and the experience for the lesson horse underneath them.

Riding absolutely develops fitness, but for many students, riding once or twice a week may not provide enough repetition to build every physical quality they need. Sometimes the best thing we can do as instructors is recognize that another riding correction is not the answer and that the rider may simply need to become physically capable of doing what we are asking.

Have you ever had a student whose position improved dramatically once they worked on strength, flexibility, balance, or endurance outside of their lessons?