Strides for Success

Tag: momentum

  • Stop Leaning to the Outside Round Corners when Cantering

    Stop Leaning to the Outside Round Corners when Cantering

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    The challenge is real… And, unfortunately, the momentum is as well! For so many riders, cantering is all well and good until the point where you have to turn! Cantering around corners can be so challenging for many riders for a lot of reasons. Here are 3 points to focus on to help you maintain your alignment and balance.

    1. Understand Momentum

    When cantering around corners, there are certain laws of physics at play!  One of the easiest ways to think about this is to use the example of a children’s merry-go-round.  When the merry-go-round is moving, it is much easier to remain balanced the closer you are to the center of the platform.  The closer you are to the edge, the stronger the force or momentum that feels like it is sucking or pulling you off the merry-go-round. Cantering on your horse is the same.

    If you are not actively positioning your body and your weight to help balance yourself, momentum will ‘suck’ you to the outside.  And with your horse moving to the ‘inside’ – that is not going to end well!

    2. Assess Any Potential Crookedness in Your Body

    If you have a tendency to lean or collapse through your body, this will become more amplified the more energy your horse creates when you ride.  Especially in the canter. Many riders don’t realize how much they collapse or they lean when they ride. Until they are asked to canter. And, even then, it is only really when they find themselves leaning to the outside around corners and through bends that it becomes a problem that urgently needs fixing!

    Start by assessing yourself in the walk. From here move into the trot, and then canter. Notice any height differences between your hands or shoulders.  Your knees as well. And also, how ‘equal’ you are sitting in the saddle…

    3. Correct Your Weight Aids & Position

    Once you have ‘straightened yourself out’ and really worked on developing symmetry through your body as you ride, now is the time to begin putting correct position and weight aids into practice.  So many riders have heard that they must ‘weight the inside seat bone’.  And this is not wrong.  It’s just how they are doing it that’s wrong.  They ‘lean’ to the inside using their shoulders – which only causes their inside seat bone to migrate to the outside of the saddle. Nope!

    Weighting the inside seat bone requires you to elongate and engage the inside of your body. Think of lengthening the inside leg and then, by positioning your upper body to ride through the corner, engaging your core.

    Leaning to the Outside in the Canter

    It is not an enjoyable experience.  However, it is one that can be corrected pretty easily if you are consistent with your approach.  By looking at the overall position of your body as you ride through any corner, in walk, trot, or canter, you will begin to do this without any thought.

    And when you can put the basics of position, weight, and straightness on autopilot, that is when you will find yourself, someday soon, not even thinking about this anymore in your riding.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

    More on This Topic:-

    Improve Your Canter

    The canter is a big topic for riders. There can be so much pleasure and joy found there. And, often, an equal amount of bumps, flatness, and non-starts! If you are keen on improving your canter in just 4 weeks, make sure you take a look at my program Improve Your Canter.

    You will learn what is happening and how you can best time your aids so that your canter will go from being hit-and-miss to smooth and connected.

    With audio horse riding lessons to listen to 4 days a week while you ride, all filled with different exercises for you to practice, Improve your Canter will help you finally ride the canter the way you want.  Every single time.

    Training For Riders:-

  • How Often Must You Ride to Improve Your Riding?

    How Often Must You Ride to Improve Your Riding?

    [fusebox_track_player url=”https://op3.dev/e/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/dailystridespodcast/1212_How_Much_Do_I_Need_to_Ride_to_Improve_My_Riding.mp3″ title=”How Often Do I Need to Ride to Improve My Riding?” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” tweet_text=”Are you spending hours in the saddle? Or do you not get enough riding? Here’s how to improve either way…” hashtag=”horsepodcast” twitter_username=”strides_success” ]

    Do you want to improve your riding skills, and yet finding more time to spend in the saddle feels an impossible task right now.  More time in the saddle means an even more ‘busy’ schedule!

    Or, perhaps, you’re experiencing the other side of this coin; you’re riding all of the hours, but you’re not actually seeing any improvement?

    It is important to remember that riding alone won’t improve your skills as rider… There are a lot of other factors involved as well.

    Not Riding Enough

    Let’s tackle the ‘I don’t ride enough to improve’ first. Yes, while it is true that in order to build and increase your skills as a rider you do have to spend some time in the saddle, the keyword to remember there is ‘some’. Hours and hours of endless riding are not entirely essential to improve your skills.

    Remember, the key to improving as a rider is to be very intentional with the time you do have to ride or interact with your horse

    This will allow you to focus on the things that will best move the needle for you in your riding. So, for example, if you are struggling with upward transitions, your time will probably be more valuable if you work on your self-carriage while riding.  Rather than simply practicing the upward transition.

    It is important to identify what are symptoms in your riding, and what are the actual root causes…

    I have a previous episode on this HERE that will help you to begin doing that.

    Riding All of the Hours

    The flip side to this is the rider who rides 4 or 5 hours each week but still fails to improve. If this is you, you’ll know how ‘hard’ you practice. How diligent you are at making sure you get those rides in… And, understandably, how frustrating it is when nothing changes!

    Doing more of something won’t help if the thing you are doing is not the right thing.

    As a rider, it is important to remember that your basic skills must be upgraded regularly in order to work with the ‘new version’ of you in the saddle. Meaning that whatever got you to this point in your riding, won’t get you to the next level.

    Letting go of older ways of doing things can feel uncomfortable. Especially if those things helped get you to the point you’re at now.  However, in order to grow as a rider, it will require you to begin doing strategic things differently. This can often be small tweaks that make all the different

    Okay, so you know which side of this equation you are sitting on. The next thing to do is to begin creating a strategy to actually improve.

    Get Clear On Current Priorities

    If you are not riding as much as you want right now, you need to ask yourself why? And be REALLY honest with the answer.

    Yes, there are some people who, due to the season of their life right now, simply can’t devote any more time to riding each week. And that is fine. If this is you, my advice is to improve your knowledge, your posture, your core strength, your coordination, and your emotional well-being and beliefs each day. None of these things require you to actually ride your horse.

    However, for most riders who don’t have ‘time to ride’, the issue is less about time and more about priorities. Horse riding is not a high enough priority on your list right now. Again, this may be a season. If so, follow the advice mentioned above.

    But, if this statement makes you feel a little uncomfortable – it is probably because there’s a grain, or twenty, of truth in there…

    Do a ‘Time Audit’

    Many riders who are not riding as much as they say they want to tend to overcomplicate things. They make riding out to be this great big, 4-hour thing that will suck up all the remaining time in the day. This is not true.

    30 minutes of quality time with your horse, on the ground or in the saddle, is more than enough to improve your riding – if you are intentional about what you are doing.

    The key is to have a plan. Know what you want to work on and then make it happen. Start with groundwork. 20 minutes here and 10 minutes there. This will help you to begin creating momentum and rhythm.

    From there, transfer this to lunging. It requires a little more of a commitment, but again 20 or 30 minutes here and there will make all the difference.  Until finally you are riding for 30 to 40 minutes a couple or more times a week.

    Keep in mind it is NOT the riding, the lunging, or the groundwork that will improve your riding. It is the plan and the intention you create going into each session…

    Stop ‘Clock In’ Riding

    Now, if you are on the flip side, in that your riding all of the hours but not seeing any improvement, this is for you. I am encouraging you to begin keeping track of your rides. What did you set out to work on? Why? How did it go? How much of the ride did you actually devote to this? And, equally as important, how many times did you get sidetracked?

    Clock in riding will not improve your riding. It will only serve to further ingrain bad habits and help you and your horse feel a little more ‘sour’ with each ride.

    As a rider, you have to begin taking responsibility for what happens inside of each interaction with your horse. This requires creating a plan and sticking to it.

    Making strategic tweaks to what you are doing and tracking the outcome.

    Only when you begin to approach your riding from the same perspective a trainer or coach would will you begin to see positive change. And, keep in mind, often things get a whole lot messier before they get better🙂 It’s a process. Be consistent, hold the course and you will begin to see positive changes.

    Enjoy Each Moment

    Finally, and I realize this is a little cheesy, but learn to be present with your horse. Rather than constantly berating yourself and him for not being further along, notice what you have achieved right now.

    Simply creating space in your schedule to be still with your horse for 3 to 5 minutes can be life-changing.

    The more appreciation you feel for yourself and your horse, the more that will shine through in your relationship.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

    Additional Links & Resources

  • Out of Planning & Into Action

    Out of Planning & Into Action

    Out of Planning and into Action
    So, are you still on track?  As I write this we’re officially one month into the new year, the new decade, and I am wondering if you are still on track with any goals you set for yourself four or five weeks ago.  If you are, give yourself a pat on the back!  I’m impressed.
    However, if you’re not, don’t panic.  Firstly you’re not alone and secondly, my goal is to inspire you to take some action in the coming 48 hours that will get you moving where your riding journey is concerned.
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    In my experience, so many people get caught up in all the energy surrounding the new year.  They plan and create goals.  They choose new habits they want to form and get specific on the ones they want to change or let go of.
    But, after all the planning is done and dusted; and when time marches on – as time will always do – they find themselves with lots of plans, but nothing to show for it.  They fail to take action.

    5 Actions to Your Better Version

    In episode 1129 of the Daily Strides Podcast, I explained how you can choose 5 actions that will help you show up as ‘Your Better Version’ where your horse and riding are concerned.  If you have not already listened to, and then took appropriate action, I suggest you begin there today.
    Once you have your 5 actions, you can then begin looking at what you are doing now in order to really make this goal or ‘better version’ a reality.  It probably won’t happen overnight.  However, the only way that you can hope to one day seeing this ‘version’ of you in the saddle is by getting started.

    Be Willing to ‘Tweak’

    So why are you failing to take action on the things that you identified as being important for you and your riding?  One of the reasons I see many riders struggle with this is because they failed to set the right goals, to begin with. If this is you, you need to rein things in a little bit.  That’s not to say you need to scrap all your plans and goals, but rather that you may need to tweak them slightly.
    Try to make it more realistic for your current situation.  This is probably going to look a lot different to what you would LIKE your current situation to be!
    An important question to ask yourself is; “After all the hype of the holidays if I’m being honest with myself, do I REALLY want those things?”.   Maybe you really wanted them a few years or months ago.  But now, if you’re honest with yourself, circumstances might have changed or you’ve changed.  This usually results in what you really want to make happen to change as well.
    So check in with yourself and think about if that is indeed what you still want.

    Creating Fun Actions

    From there, I suggest making things a little more fun and exciting in your riding than what they are currently.  Because if things were really fun and exciting, you would be getting those 5 things done wouldn’t you?
    So how could you add a bit more fun and excitement to your riding?  
    Exciting can mean different things for different people.  I want you to think about what’s exciting for YOU.  For you, this could be trotting without stirrups.  Or Cantering across an open field.  It doesn’t matter if your ‘fun’ thing is not that exciting for another rider.  I want you to focus on what you enjoy.  On what’s exciting for you!
    My idea of ‘fun’ has changed a lot throughout the years, but when I’m thinking about what I find fun, I think about what I’d most like to do with my horse if there were no restrictions.  
    And then I try to incorporate this activity into my day-to-day at the barn.  For me (now go ahead and have a little giggle to yourself), I find detangling tails to be so much fun at the moment. I’m not quite sure why, but I find it so satisfying.  I’m beginning to think that it could be because life has been a little ‘frazzled’ the past few years with bringing 2 new people into the world and moving continents, twice!
    Another thing that I really enjoy is lunging, I love it! I love the connection with the horse and seeing how far you can take it with your more subtle aids.  That’s my fun.  For you it could be jumping, perhaps ground poles? What is fun for YOU?

    Being Mindful of Your Day to Day Experience

    I think that this one ’tweak’ has the potential to change a lot for you and your horse.  Being mindful means that you are focused on what you are doing, and making adjustments so that you are really enjoying the experience.  Every minute of that experience… I know, pressure right?!
    Let me clarify a little.  What I really mean when I say ‘mindful’ is that you’re not thinking about the house that’s a mess, a project at work, the children’s vaccines, or any of the other one thousand and ten things that are inevitably going on right now in your life.
    When you’re with your horse, you should be thinking about your horse
    At the time of writing this post, I am also busy creating content for our Groundwork for Riding Program.  A big part of the program is mindfulness.  Just 10 minutes of being really focused, present and mindful about the little things that we tend to take for granted.  In this case, how we are communicating with our horse.  If done right, and when you really get into the nitty-gritty, 10 minutes can actually feel quite long!

    Stay Inspired

    I strongly suggest for you to keep circling back to ‘Fun and Excitement’ when it comes to your horse.  Couple this with simply enjoying your time with your horse.  By going back to basics and simply enjoying the whole conversation with your horse and how that feels, you are opening the door for so much more inspiration.
    This is really an investment of your time, and certainly not a waste of it.  Spending time being present with your horse (even if it’s only 10 minutes!) and making time to do the things you really enjoy, will pay off in the future.  It will spark ideas and help you understand what you really enjoy and what you really want in terms of your riding. And that can be great!
    Also, keep in mind that you can always change paths if you want to, in order to better align with the rider you are right now. Pay attention to what you enjoy and what inspires you to take action, and then simply make a point of doing more of it in your day to day riding. 

    Finally, Simply Go & Take Some Action!

    So, if you have been feeling like the handbrake was never really released for you in your riding, I am going to challenge you today.  I want you to make a commitment to yourself to get into the saddle within the next 48 hours.
    Remember, once you take action, momentum begins to build and it becomes a lot easier to keep moving forward.  My suggestion for getting you out of this stationary state, and into action is to simply do something.
    Even if this ’something’ is not truly aligned with the goals and plans that you have made, do it anyway.  This is simply to get into the saddle!  From there, look for what you enjoy and let that lead you to create goals, and from those plans, that will have you keen to take the next step.
    So I’m going to challenge you to commit to yourself to get into the saddle within the next 48 hours.  2 days, can you do it?!  Let me know inside of my free group HERE
    Happy Riding,
    Lorna

    Additional Resouces for You:-