There you are, enjoying your ride with your horse, when suddenly your horse performs the sort of spin around that would put a figure skating champion to shame. Without a word of warning, he is off and running in the opposite direction, leaving you either hanging on for dear life or wondering what just happened as you crash to the…
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder – and riding horses is no exception to this. Unfortunately, this ‘fondness’ is one of the big reasons many riders, on returning to riding, end up feeling quite underwhelmed very quickly when back in the saddle. If you have ever had to take a break from riding, planned or not, you will know…
I’m going to just assume that because you are reading this, confidence, or the lack thereof, has become a theme in your riding. If so, you are in good company. Unfortunately lost confidence is an all too common issue for a lot of riders. I say ‘lost’ confidence, because there seems to be an extra challenge in losing your confidence,…
More stability in the saddle – as riders we are all guilty of being a little like Oliver Twist when it comes to it; we want more, please sir! This is none more true than when it comes to jumping as it is often the activity that makes us feel most unbalanced and ‘wobbly’ in the saddle. As riders we…
Groundwork, when referring to horses, simply means working with your horse from the ground in order to train and increase communication skills. In this blog post we are going to focus on ‘Pressure and Release’ and how you can begin to correctly and fully understand the concept in order to further your horse’s training from the ground. This is part…
Coordination; It’s always a wonderful feeling when you can do something effectively without having to put too much thought or effort into it. Being able to cultivate this skill, regardless of what is being done, takes a large number of hours invested in practice. However in order for that practice to be beneficial, it must be correct or perfect practice.…
