Strides for Success

Tag: Rider

  • 3 Things You Must Work on to Become a Better Rider

    3 Things You Must Work on to Become a Better Rider

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    You know that feeling when you try something new and you get it right. Maybe your trainer or instructor is with you. Or maybe you just prepared. But, for whatever reason, you got it right. You feel like a better rider. Good feeling, hey?  Until the next time you try… Maybe on your own. A couple of days later. Aaaannnnndddd nothing!

    Whatever it was that allowed you to create the perfect circumstances before is now missing and you’re back to square one. And a thirsty square one, because now you have tasted the potential of this new thing!

    Leveling up in riding is a tough one for many riders. And I believe it is because they don’t take the 3 factors necessary to be upgraded into their approach. Emotional, mental, and physical.

    Conversations of a Better Rider…

    I think as riders, we often underestimate the conversations going on in our heads. We don’t take into account the ongoing chatter that our mind creates when we do ‘the thing’. Which can have a serious impact on what is happening in the saddle.

    You can upgrade the skills. Even upgrade the knowledge of what to do with these skills. But if you don’t upgrade what you think about it; nothing will change

    It is a harsh fact and one that holds so many riders back. However, mindset is just one element that can hold you back from becoming a better rider… And, as I said, if all 3 are not being developed together, it creates a ceiling for you and your riding.

    1 . Emotional

    I believe that confidence can be borrowed. This sounds a little strange, however, we see it all the time with schoolmasters (whether the schoolmaster is horse or rider). The more experienced team member can ‘loan’ their confidence in the greener team member’s abilities.

    I can bet that you have experienced having a trainer or instructor in the arena with you and feeling like you’ll ‘give it a go’ purely based on them telling you that you can do it…!

    This is borrowing confidence. This is you not feeling so hot regarding being able to do something, and yet doing it anyway because the other person, whom you trust, makes you feel like you can.  The key with ‘borrowing confidence’ is to find someone that you trust implicitly. “If they think you can do it, they’re probably right” sort of a person!

    Once you have done something a few times, this will allow you to build your own confidence in your own abilities. This is developing emotionally as a rider.

    2 . Mental

    Knowing what to do… It seems pretty obvious that this is important if you want to improve. However, this also needs to be revisited over and over again. New ways of doing things. Learning new things. Upgrading your knowledge. There are three key parts to this.

    1. What do I want to do? 2. Why am I doing this? 3. How do I effectively communicate this to my horse in a way that he will understand?

    If you want to ride the half-halt because your horse is becoming a little unbalanced around corners, it is important to remember the above. It’s not enough to merely know that the half-halt can benefit this. You must also know how to effectively tell your horse that you want him to half halt.

    Your job is not to do the thing. Your job is to ask your horse to do the thing. Then get out of your horse’s way while he is busy doing the thing!

    And as you develop as a rider you will learn more things. You will discover new ways to do things and different methods. And, you will begin to become better at figuring out what to do when for the best result. This is developing mentally as a rider.

    3 . Physical

    Doing the thing… So many riders ‘think’ they are doing the thing – but the reality is so far removed from the picture in the rider’s head! I see this a lot with different aids. The outside leg is a good example of this. So many riders ‘think’ that their outside leg is doing something. However, a quick look at a photo or video will show that it is, in reality, nowhere near that place at all!

    As you learn more and grow confident in your abilities, your body will be asked to ‘do’ more.

    A lack of suppleness or fitness will hold you back from actually putting what you know and what you want to do into practice. This can be frustrating for many riders. However, it is also one of the easiest to begin remedying.

    Spend more time in the saddle. Sit on an exercise ball during the day. Work out. Start a yoga practice. Stretch before you ride. Choose some ‘cross training’ activities and schedule them into your weekly.  Knowing what to do is not enough. You must also be able to effectively use and control your body to make that happen.

    And as your skills grow and you develop as a rider, you will have to also develop your body physically to ‘do the things’ you want it to do.

    A Checklist for Developing your Riding

    So, the next time you find yourself in an arena, struggling to do the thing that you thought you could do, run through this quick checklist…

        • How am I thinking about this?
        • Have I upgraded my beliefs regarding my skills and abilities as a rider so that I can do this?
        • Do I know what I want to do?
        • Why am I doing it – is this the right thing to do?
        • What is the most effective way to communicate this to my horse?
        • Am I physically capable of doing this?
        • Is my body doing what I think it is doing?

    Look for where you need to do a little more work and then focus on upgrading that one area. Then circle back and try again.

    This is an ongoing process to become a better rider. This is ‘the work’. And by taking the time to ensure you are developing in all 3 areas, you will soon begin to see the progress you want in your riding.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

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  • How Well Does Your Horse Understand Your Aids?

    How Well Does Your Horse Understand Your Aids?

    Have you ever become frustrated when someone is failing to understand and respond appropriately to your requests and communications?  Have you ever experienced this in the saddle? For many riders, they noticed that, even more frustratingly, this often occurs when they feel their riding should actually be improving.

    You’re not alone.  Many riders begin to feel this way after they have taken action to improve their skills in the saddle.  It could be that you invested in extra lessons, attended a clinic, joined Daily Strides Premium, completed the 30 Day Rider Fitness Challenge…  Perhaps you have studied a little more deeply as to the hows and whys of particular aids and the timing of them.  Whatever it is, you will have recently done something to take your skills in the saddle to the next level, but it actually seems that things are going backwards!

    The first thing that comes to mind for many riders is their horses responsiveness, or the lack thereof, when they apply their aids.  However, I want you to ask yourself, is it a responsiveness issue or a basic language breakdown you are experiencing?

    Often we improve our riding, but fail to update our horse on the fact that the situation has changed

    Now before we go any further, firstly I think it is fantastic that you are working towards better communication with your horse.  But remember, your knowing what to do and then you doing it is only one half of the equation.

    Your horse has not attended the same ‘study group’ and, if we think of our aids as a language, he has no idea that the dialect has changed…

    Part of improving your skills in the saddle is to effectively communicate with your horse in order to update his ‘responsive’ and ‘listening’ skills as well.  However, before you rush out and begin ‘retraining’ your horse, you need to first figure out exactly what he understands, and what has gotten lost in translation.

    I suggest starting at the beginning with the basics.  How effective are the simple ‘stop / go’, ‘steady’ and ‘turn’ commands working?  Very often we learn how to better control our seat when directing our horse, however our horse is still listening for the ‘old aids’.

    Next time you are in the saddle, work on establishing the basics again:-

    • Half halt
    • Moving forward and slowing down
    • Bending and turning

    From here, you will need to test how well your horse is truly understanding your aids.  Knowing what he understands and what is being ‘lost’ will give you a good starting point to move on from.

    • Test the walk to halt
    • Test the walk to trot
    • Test the canter transitions
    • Test the ability to adjust the length of the stride
    • Test how your horse understands the lateral aids

    Once you know where you stand with your horse, you can then look at how you can begin to educate or train your horse to understand your aids, giving you both clearer communication in the saddle.

    To help you with this process, I have created audio programs for you to download, for free, that will take you step by step through this process.