Strides for Success

Tag: Turning

  • Why Basics Aren’t Just for Beginners

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    Ever catch yourself thinking, “Seriously, we’re working on this again? I should be past this by now!” You’re definitely not alone. So many experienced and returning riders feel frustrated when asked to revisit the basics.

    But here’s the thing: The basics aren’t something you master once and leave behind. They’re the building blocks of truly great riding. And the more you understand and refine them, the more they open up your riding potential.

    Basics Aren’t Just for Beginners

    I recently had a chat with a rider who was feeling frustrated about focusing on what she called “beginner stuff.” She felt like she should be further along in her riding journey. Maybe you’ve felt that way too?

    Here’s what I told her—and what I want to share with you today: the basics are not a sign of regression. In fact, the most skilled riders—those who ride professionally or compete at the top levels revisit the basics all the time. The difference is that each time they do, they do so with fresh perspective. They know that their new awareness is the key to refining their riding and ‘feel’ in the saddle.

    Mastering the basics doesn’t mean checking them off and moving on. It means using them as a foundation for better communication with your horse, better results in the saddle, and a more confident, connected ride.

    Understanding the True Basics

    When I say “basics,” I’m talking about things like your position, your posture, how you’re using your seat and legs. It’s how your hands communicate with your horse. It’s transitions, turns, bending, and balance.  These aren’t ‘small’ or ‘beginner’ things. They’re everything.

    And yet, somewhere along the line, many of us start believing that once we know the basics, we should only be focusing on “more advanced” things. The ‘fancy things that impress us when we see other riders flawlessly or effortlessly make them happen. We forget (or ignore) that the only way they can do those ‘fancy’ things, is by refining the basics. Over and over again…

    Your basics will evolve as you evolve. What felt simple when you first started riding may take on an entirely new meaning and depth once you revisit it with greater awareness and skill.

    Why Basics Are the Key to Getting Unstuck

    Feeling stuck in your riding is frustrating—and common. But often, what looks like a plateau is really an invitation to go deeper into the fundamentals. If things aren’t working the way they used to, or you’re not seeing progress, it’s not because you need to try something radically different. It’s often because the foundation needs to be tweaked, strengthened, or adjusted.

    And your basics are your foundation. How high you go or how much you achieve will depend on how strong your foundation is. 

    This is exactly why I created the Returning to Riding Program. It’s a step-by-step system designed to help experienced and returning riders get back in the saddle with clarity, confidence, and purpose. It’s not about starting over—it’s about creating a strong, unshakeable foundation. You’ll revisit the basics not as a beginner, but as a rider who’s ready to evolve.  Want to be the first to know when doors open again? Join the waitlist here »

    The Myth of Mastery

    A big misconception is that once you’ve been riding for a while, you’ve “ticked off” the basics and can move on. But have you ever considered how elite athletes never stop doing their warm-ups? Their training is ongoing. And usually made up of a lot of the basics. Over and over again. Do Olympic sprinters stop practicing their starts? Nope.

    Most top-level performers across all disciplines spend most of their training time on refining the fundamentals. They only do the ‘fancy’ stuff every now and again. The rest of their time is devoted to refining the basics. 

    Why? Because that’s where the magic happens. That’s where you build consistency, reliability, and the kind of connection with your horse that doesn’t crumble under pressure.

    The Role of Position & Feel

    Your position is one of the most powerful tools in your riding. If your alignment is off, even slightly, it can affect every aid you give and how your horse receives it.  When riders say their horse isn’t listening or that things feel “off,” I often find that going back to something as simple as the rider’s posture, leg position, or balance creates the biggest shift. That’s how powerful basics are.  This is true no matter your discipline.

    Whether you’re schooling dressage, hitting the trails, or jumping a course of fences, your ability to clearly and effectively communicate with your horse comes down to your mastery of the basics.

    Oversimplifying the Basics!

    Another challenge? We’ve oversimplified the basics when we teach them to beginners. And that’s fine at first—but later on, those same riders believe the basics are “easy,” when really, they’re anything but.

    Take turning, for example. Most riders start off thinking they just pull on the rein. But later they realize that turning involves their weight, their seat, their eyes, their core, and only then the rein!  That’s not ‘easy’ at all. That’s complex. And incredibly rewarding to master and refine with your horse over time.

    3 Action Steps for Today

    If you’ve been riding a while, or you’re getting back into the saddle after a break, I want to encourage you to treat the basics as your ally. They’re not a sign of starting over. They’re your launchpad to the next level.  Let’s turn this into momentum with a few simple, focused actions:

        1. Identify and work on one specific basic that needs improvement. This could be your transitions, your seat aids, your turning, or your balance. Pick one. Focus on it deliberately during your next three rides.
        2. Sign up for the Returning to Riding waitlist.  This is your next step if you’re serious about creating real, lasting improvement in your riding. You’ll be the first to know when the program opens. Add your name HERE »

    You’re Not Behind—You’re Right on Time

    So let’s leave behind the idea that going back to basics is a setback. Instead, let’s embrace it for what it really is; an opportunity to grow, refine, and reconnect with your horse in a powerful new way.  The basics are not just where you start. They’re where you grow. Again and again.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

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  • Turning Your Horse versus Asking Your Horse to Turn

    Turning Your Horse versus Asking Your Horse to Turn

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    It seems pretty simple, navigating a corner or bend with your horse.  And yet, for many riders, this becomes a complicated task really quickly.  The issue is not the turn or the bend.  No, the issue is that they are trying to turn their horse, rather than simply setting things up and allowing their horse to turn.

    As the rider, you do not bend or turn your horse.  You simply set things up and ask your horse to bend or turn…

    In this episode, I want to dig a little deeper into how you can begin to make the transition from being the rider who is trying to control everything to the rider who is setting things up and allowing things to unfold naturally.

    What is a Turn?

    A turn or bend is whenever you and your horse deviate from a straight line.  You will meet them while in the arena, each corner for example.  They will also be part of your trail rides, even if it is just when you turn around to come home.

    All activities when we are with our horses will include opportunities to work on improving the basics through the correct riding of a turn or bend. 

    And that is what I want you to begin seeing each one as; an opportunity. So much can be learned from each turn and bend.  They will help you to understand where you are at that moment with your horse with regard to your training and development.  And, they will help you begin to work on going deeper or further in your training.

    Relaxation and Rhythm

    I suggest starting right at the beginning before you ever get to the turn, bend, or corner.  Think about how you can best set both yourself and your horse up.  Pay attention to your current tension (relaxation) levels.  Will they be sufficient to get you through the turn the way you want?

    Work on establishing the correct tension (relaxation) levels in both you and your horse before each turn.  Then, as you ride through it, notice if you both maintain this level.

    The rhythm is the same.  Establish it beforehand and then work on maintaining it through the turn or bend.  However, keep in mind that, very often, the rhythm will have already established itself… Particularly in the trot.  In walk and canter, you may need to work on it.  Once you have a rhythm you are happy with, pay attention to how well you can maintain it throughout the turn or bend.

    Outlining Your Track

    The next piece is often the one that so many riders forget about!  Strange, because it would naturally appear to be one of the most important parts of riding a turn or a bend.  Knowing where you’re going to ride…!  And yet, riders leave this one up to chance.

    Clearly map out your line or track.  If you struggle to visualize this in your mind, use actual physical markers to help you.  

    As you ride through the track you have chosen for you and your horse, you will see how suitable it is for you both at this point in your training.  Sometimes it can be too ‘tight’ and the lack of suppleness in either or both of you will be highlighted as you struggle to maintain rhythm and relaxation.  Or, it might be too shallow a track to ask any real questions.

    Only when you begin to actively ride specific tracks, can you begin using turns, bends, corners and circles in your training to move you both forward. 

    Asking for the Turn

    Now we are into the nitty-gritty.  This is often the first place riders begin when they make the decision to intentionally riding any bends, corners, or turns they meet.  However, hopefully, you can now see that this piece actually comes after a lot of other important things first.

    Often, asking for the turn comes down to how well your position and posture are at that point in the ride.  If either of the above is lacking, your aids will not have the same meaning. 

    You ask with a variety of aids.  Firstly, work on flexion.  This is like a ‘nod and a wink’ in the direction you’re planning on traveling. From here, think about how you can best communicate with your horse that you want an equal bend throughout his body as he rides through the turn.

    Pay attention to your aids, position and posture as your horse begins to bend.  You may need to make adjustments. 

    Allowing the Turn

    As your horse begins to travel through the turn, your job now becomes simply allowing him to do this to the best of his natural abilities.  Yes, you can help and support him if he is very green.  However, it becomes exhausting very quickly if you are trying to control his every footfall.

    Think of your aids as being a channel, funnelling the energy in the direction you want it to travel or move…

    If you feel that the energy is falling out, or leaking somewhere, correct and go back to being the channel.  Correct and allow.  Don’t ‘hold and control’.  If you do this, your horse will never learn to take responsibility for his own actions.

    Also, if you remain in the correct position, with good posture, you will be ready to ask for ‘more’ energy if necessary.  

    This can often happen if the energy that was present before or while setting up the turn has leaked out somewhere, perhaps through an outside shoulder.  Being in the correct place will also help you to reinforce the channel if necessary.  This is often useful to remember when it comes to the hindquarters and your outside leg.

    Straightening Out after the Turn

    Once you and your horse have successfully navigated the turn, you then have to turn your attention to riding the next part of the track.  This is usually back onto a straight line.  The same care and attention should be given to successfully doing this, just like riding through the turn itself.

    Pay attention to the rhythm and relaxation… If you compare them to what you entered the turn with, how do they measure up?

    What was maintained through the turn, and what was lost or is not quite as good as what it was, to begin with?  These are areas you can begin working on in your training with your horse.

    Every time you ride, you will be faced with a turn or bend.  My hope is that you can begin using each one as an opportunity to move the conversation forward for you and your horse.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

    Additional Links to Help You:-

  • Lightening Up on Your Inside Rein

    Lightening Up on Your Inside Rein

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    When we first learn to ride, turning is often explained to us as merely a ‘tug’ or pull on one rein or the other to turn our horse’s head. There’s a general consensus being that where his head turns, his body will go…

    However, anyone who has ridden a determined pony or horse will know that this is very often not the case… You can point the head where you ‘want’ to go. But, very often, your horse will crab along sideways, almost following his hindquarters. This is usually in the opposite direction; which 90% of the time is the same direction as the stable!

    Later as we become more accomplished in the saddle, what started out as a simple instruction in our first lesson, has become an ingrained habit.

    Something that we often feel nervous or anxious about giving up control over!

    Early Riding Lessons

    So why are we thought to turn this way if it is indeed incorrect? And why, later when we get into the nitty-gritty details of riding, are we constantly hearing about softening or lightening our inside rein?

    Lightening Up on the Inside Rein

    I think the reason that we are thought this initially is threefold…

    Firstly, we get a quick win under our belts which then leaves us wanting more (translate into booking more riding lessons!).  Secondly, even the best-coordinated person struggles when they first get into the saddle to use their different limbs and body parts in different ways all at the same time to produce the desired result!  And lastly, it’s a control thing and one that we need to learn to let go of!

    The Importance of the Inside Rein

    However, the inside rein is a vitally important part of riding, for flexion, support and balance.   Today I want you to begin thinking of your inside rein as having more of a supporting role rather than being the lead character in your riding performance

    Often we have become so set in our ways of depending completely on our inside rein, that the only way to get out of this habit is to go cold turkey before we can then begin thinking about and practicing lightening up on it.

    So, let’s think about being on a 20m circle to the right in the walk.  If you were to drop your inside rein, what would happen?  You will notice I said ‘drop’ here…  Yes, cold turkey means that – nothing; letting go; surviving and riding on without it!  You would probably think, well my horse will just begin walking large around the arena again… Or, he may even begin to track left!

    And initially, you may be correct, he might just do that.

    The key to getting over your dependency on the inside rein is to start thinking of all the other aids you have at your disposal to help communicate with your horse that you want him to continue tracking right on the 20m circle.

    A Balance of Your Aids

    Firstly, there is your seat and weight aids.  Think of sliding your inside seat bone forward and, in doing so, the inside seat bone becoming a little more weighted.

    Then, shift your attention to what your inside leg is doing…  This is particularly important and often the key to keeping your horse going in the direction you are looking for.  If you are only now holding your outside rein (which in this case is your left rein) your inside leg or right leg is the aid that will balance that strong or leading outside rein.  We can often see this better in action if you were to drop your inside rein while traveling down the long side of the school.

    Without the inside leg, your horse would completely bend to the outside, however your inside leg regulates the ‘pull’ of the outside rein.

    Then we have your outside leg.  This is probably the most forgotten aid of all in your toolbox.  Use your outside leg to indicate to your horse to move around your inside leg.  Again, using our 20m circle to the right, your outside leg being your left leg, it will literally pick up the slack from your inside rein and keep ‘indicating’ to your horse to continue on around the circle, or more to the point, around your inside leg.

    You may initially find that your horse is just wandering around the school or arena, but I really encourage you to keep continuing to try ride the circle without any use of your inside rein.  

    Your Mind is an Aid Too…

    I also advise having a quick ‘check-up’ with what is going on in your head and translating it to your body…  Are you feeling nervous about the ‘lack of control’?  It could be that you’re feeling a little stiff, wondering what will happen?  Or maybe you are trying to influence your horse with your upper body by leaning or shoving – please don’t!

    Or has your outside rein gone on vacation, across the withers, to the ‘other side’ in an unconscious attempt to neck rein your horse to the right?!

    Keep focusing on just asking correctly with your aids; seat, inside leg, outside leg and outside rein, and slowly you will begin to see that your horse begins to pay attention to what you are asking…  He may even begin to walk on a ‘circle’ (of sorts!).

    Remember to keep verbally rewarding your horse when he makes a move in the correct direction.

     Keep in mind that you have trained him to follow your inside rein and retraining him to rather look for other indicators and signals will take time, consistency and patience from your part as a rider.

    Work in Both Directions

    Once you have begun making progress on the right rein, begin working on the left rein.  Swap your inside for your outside and vice versa and then, letting go of your new inside rein (left rein), ask your horse to now pick up a 20m circle to the left.

    Continue to practice this on both reins until you have begun to believe that you can indeed influence your horse to turn without pulling on your inside rein.  I think believing you can do it, is a big part of overcoming your dependency on it!

    You can also, once you have mastered your circles in walk and if it is safe to do so depending on your level of experience and your particular situation, pick up trot and even canter on the circle.  You may notice that initially things may go a little haywire. They can when you factor more speed and movement into the equation!  But, again, stick with it until you can communicate to both yourself and your horse that the inside rein is not what is turning your horse!!

    Re-Introducing Your Inside Rein

    So, we mentioned at the beginning that your inside rein is a vitally important part of your riding.  Now it is time to invite your inside rein back on stage.  But keep in mind all the time that it merely has a supporting role in your whole performance.

    In riding, just like acting, timing is everything and knowing when and how to use your inside rein to influence and support your horse is vitally important.  A badly timed squeeze or softening of the rein can be the difference between your horse staying balanced and your horse falling onto his forehand. 

    This is due to the fact that the inside rein, when used, will affect the inside hind leg and your horse’s inside hind leg is where most of his forward propulsion and balance stems from.

    I would first suggest beginning to practice ‘timing’ this with a very loose inside rein where you really don’t have any contact.  Practice ‘allowing’ with your arm, more notably your elbow, and then taking it back or resisting.

    However with your inside hand, rather than thinking of resisting, think of ‘indicating’.  It is merely a suggestion rather than a hard and fast order.

    Influencing the Inside Hind Foot

    Your aim is to communicate what needs to be said when your horse’s inside hind foot is on the ground.  When he is lifting his inside back foot off the ground and bringing it forward, any pulling or resisting on your inside rein will result in the hind leg not coming as far forward as you would like. This will result in a loss of balance or impulsion for your horse.

    Said differently, your aim is to be soft or light with your inside rein as your horse’s inside hind leg is in the air and moving forward

    Your horse must be schooled, obedient and responsive to then follow through with that suggestion himself in order for your inside hand to truly be effective.  Again, this comes back to consistency on your part. And, also, saying goodbye to the dependency you may have built up on your inside rein.

    Creating Contact with Your Inside Rein

    Once you feel comfortable with giving and taking the loose inside rein, begin to develop a contact by shortening your inside rein.  Make sure you do this slowly, in gradual little increments, so as to not grab it and undo all the work you have just put in.

    Test your effectiveness while riding up the center line.  Can you flex your horse’s poll one way or the other using your inside rein, without losing any forward momentum or your horse stepping to the inside, which will happen if he feels unbalanced?

    You can also go back to your circle and using your other aids to maintain the circle, just use your inside rein to ask for flexion through the poll to the inside.  You should find that your horse will have a more active gait on the circle, have more balance and just be a happier horse overall!

    Remember your inside rein is only the supporting character and without your other aids, the whole performance is pretty much guaranteed to be a flop!

    If, over time, you feel that you are beginning to pull or depend a little too much on your inside rein again, take it back to riding without it for a few minutes in the arena to reassert your other aids again.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

    Additional Resources for Equestrians

    Lightening Up on Your inside Rein

  • Asking Your Horse to Bend

    Asking Your Horse to Bend

    Riding through a bend is something you will have to do every time you get in the saddle, whether it be the 4 corners of your arena or just the route you take to get from point A to point B.  It therefore makes good sense to work on your ability to navigate those bends successfully, without losing balance, rhythm, energy and focus each time you encounter a bend.

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    Riding a bend correctly will result in your horse having an equal bend throughout his body, resulting in the energy continuously being directed where you want it to go; forwards, and not out being lost anywhere along the arc from tail to poll.

    Asking Your Horse To Bend

    A good way of ‘seeing’ this equal bend, so you can visualize using your aids, is to think of a whip or stick being held at each end with your two hands.  Now, imagine closing your hands closer together…  If you use equal pressure from both hands on each side and gently ‘feel’ to make sure you are balancing that pressure and not overexerting the whip, the whip will have an equal bend all the way through.

    Now (without snapping your whip!) imagine what would happen if you pushed too hard or too much with one hand or the other, or try to force or ‘fix’ the bend; the whip would snap, leaving you with two straight lines with a break in the middle.  This is similar to what happens to the line from poll to tail on your horses back; often by applying too much of one or the other aid (usually hand), the result is a straight line from poll to withers and then another straight line from withers to tail, with a ‘break’ at the withers or shoulder where all the energy has fallen out of.

    Riding your horse correctly around a bend requires a balance of aids from you, which will allow your horse to navigate the bend to the best of his ability.  You cannot force him and you cannot fix him.  Your job as the rider to is guide him around the bend so he remains in balance and moving forward.

    When you horse rounds the bend correctly, his inside back hoof will stay on the track created by his inside front hoof, and the same applies to the outside legs, almost like train tracks, remaining parallel to each other around a turn or bend.

    In order for this to happen the horse must lengthen or stretch of one side (the outside) of the body, rather than a shortening of the inside.  Your aids will ask him to do this, however before we can discuss the aids, we must first become clear on the terms Inside and Outside with relation to riding and bending.

    Often when we are learning what is the inside leg or what is the outside rein, the instructor will use the analogy of a circle or the arena wall itself to demonstrate and when you are initially learning to ride, this generally holds true.

    However, as you begin to ride more complex movements, such as counter canter or leg yielding, the issue of inside and outside changes from where you are in the arena or what shape you are riding, to what way your horse is bending.

    This is the true meaning of inside and outside, the inside being the leg, hand and seat on the concave side of the horse, depending on which direction or way he is bent.  The outside being the opposite of the above on the convex side of the horse.

    So once you have decided which way you are going to bend your horse, begin by shifting your inside seat bone slightly more forward than your outside seat bone.  In doing so, you will feel that your inside seatbone is now a little more ‘weighted’ as well.  Make sure you are not leaning towards the inside with your upper body; this will have the opposite effect and ‘push’ your weight to the outside of the saddle.

    Your inside leg is applied on or at the girth.   This will help you continue to create forward energy and gives your horse something to bend around, rather than falling in and sideways.  In fact I have found it helpful to get my riders to think of their inside leg as a pole that their horse must bend around.  It helps visualise the bend, but it also helps to ensure that they are using their outside leg aid as well.

    When riding on a bend, your outside leg will move back slightly in order to control the hind quarters and, in particular, make sure they don’t swing out around the bend.  This is often evident on circles and when it happens the horse is no longer following the ‘train tracks’ that his front legs are creating.

    Your inside hand is used to indicate to your horse that you are asking for the turn, using a combination of arm, hand, wrist and fingers.  Very often riders will use only their inside hand to turn, and just like the whip analogy we spoke of earlier, using too much pressure from one aid will result in the ‘break’ of the arc and the energy falling out.  The use of the inside hand is very subtle and can be thought of as more of an indicator, rather than what actually bends your horse.

    Finally, your outside hand prevents your horse from over bending and helps to hold the forward energy created by your inside leg together.  Unfortunately a lot of riders forget about their outside hand when turning, however it is vitally important in holding everything together as you and your horse navigate a turn or bend.

    I suggest beginning by practicing first in halt.  Adjust your position to where you would if you were to ask for a bend while riding.  Notice how easy it is for you to move in and out of this.  Keep in mind that the movement should be fluid and that if you are having to really struggle to ‘hold’ something, you may in fact be over doing it.  You are only making small subtle movements that your horse will pick up on and respond accordingly.

    Once you are clear about how to ask your horse to bend one way or the other, you can ask for walk and whether you choose to walk large around the arena or begin to ride some different school figures, begin assessing how your horse bends and how you are using your aids to ask him and then ride him through the bend.

    Notice if you are perhaps dropping your inside shoulder?  Or maybe you are completely forgetting about your outside hand or leg.  Keep working on this in walk until it becomes second nature to you to ‘bend’ your horse around each and every turn, rather than use your inside hand to drag him around!

    From there you can begin to work in trot, where you may find that your horse falls in around the corners, or that the hind quarters are more likely to swing out rather than following the front end.  Notice it and then, begin by correcting your position and aids.  See what effect this has on your horse and work from there.

    Keep in mind that your horse may experience some stiffness on one side compared to the other.  If you experience this, create a plan for your ride that will incorporate a slight increase of work on that side, however slight is the key word here.  This will, with correct training, be corrected over time with consistent, correct riding and work.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna