Go with Your Guts!
I originally wrote this about 10 years ago when I was asked several times how my training methods differed from tradition. It is amazing how just in that time how ‘traditional mainstream’ are moving in the direction of the methods that I was embracing 20 years ago!
Every so often I will be asked how my training methods differ to the traditional main stream. I really don't see them as different! I have the horses welfare at the fore front. I am always open minded and not afraid of moving forward with a new idea if I think that is going to benefit the horse.
I grew up enjoying all Pony Club activities including passing my A Test. I then went on to examine Pony Club B Test candidates and I have coached students through to honours at Pony Club A test level. I have passed all the BHS exams up to Stage 5 (BHSI) and I still have many professional coaches come to me for training for BHS Coaching Exams including BHSI students with a very high pass rate. In my 20’s & 30’s I successfully competed in Eventing up to 3* international level (now 4*) and still enjoy competing in dressage and jumping. This is all very traditional mainstream!
A lot of the traditional training has served me well.
However, through my early years I had many unanswered questions, there have been many learnings from my early days that have served me well but also various aspects of the traditional training that have not made sense to me. There are many things that have been either been lost in translation or misunderstood over the years and like Chinese whisper it can get distorted over time or ‘always been done this way!’
There were various aspects that did not made sense to me; for example, the old term 'wrap your lower leg around the horse', I spent years trying to perfect this in dressage, relaxing my thighs, wondering how I could be clear with my leg cue/aid if the lower leg was always wrapping around the horses rib cage! I spent hours wondering how I could get my students to stop their lower legs moving, causing 'white noise' to the horse and devaluing the leg cue even more.
Thanks to Mary Wanless, I can now fix lower leg insecurities in my students and have found that the top level riders are not relaxing their thighs, far from it!
I’m sure this beautiful horse, Gooney Bird, would have gone better in the dressage at Blenheim if I had known what I know now but a good clear cross country was very pleasing!
Another idea that has puzzled me is why do we train all our riders to mount on the left hand side? Answer; because the military hold their swords on the left side so it makes mounting easier! How many of us carry swords when riding now?!! Surely it would be more balancing to both horse and rider if we encouraged them from day one to mount on either side. I practice both sides but still after many years of getting on from the left, as traditionally taught, it is still so much easier to use my left leg to lift myself up into the saddle!
Having found answers to many more questions from my early days of teaching, I now have the satisfaction that I can always justify the methods that I use for teaching and training, rather that just saying it because that’s what we have been told or because it worked for the last horse and rider.
Just since first writing this 10 years ago, I am pleased to say that teaching riding is changing, which I believe is very positive. We are now beginning to drop the military style of 'Instructing', where you were told and did without question! Now we 'coach' and 'teach' riding with a curious mind. This has to be healthier and encourages people to explore and learn. I’m sure that access to the internet has helped develop this too.
I still believe that the best teacher is the horse, if you listen and notice what they have to say, they will tell you when you have it right. This is what makes my coaching and teaching so rewarding, the fact that the horse gives such positive feedback.
I encourage my clients to make the training as simple as possible for the horse to understand, allowing the cues to be crisp and clear, I will often start the training Unmounted, in hand if I feel there needs to be more clarity. The complex area is how the rider carries their body weight against gravity, in balance, whilst matching the forces of the horses movement.
I will a give a lot of focus to the riders biomechanics, if they are riding well in body and mind they will gain confidence allowing the horse comfort, direction, confidence enabling the ultimate success and progress in leaps and bounds. Look out for my next blog on the benefits of yoga!
I am a great believer in setting the horse up for success, having ‘tick boxes’ and making sure you have a tick in each before proceeding to the next. Being patient to wait for it to happen, remembering that the horse has feelings, he needs to understand us and us understand him.
I encourage patience and understanding, each task has a checklist to get to the next stage of training. If you tick every box you are setting you and the horse up for success.
It can be very hard but so important not allow our egos to get involved.
“The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self.” Wayne Dyer (or your horses!)
“All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are” Pema Chödrön
I have been teaching for over 40 years. I continue to search for more effective and improved techniques. My ultimate aim is to successfully teach riders and train horses in the most ethical, comfortable and horse friendly way that I can, with a balance between achieving results with the horse without exploiting their generous nature. This is not always the easiest route for the human but the horses certainly approve!
I continue to learn, I study successful trainers of all animals, I love to watch how horses interact with each other. I study the anatomy and psychology of both the human and horse, how they move and interact with each other and the world around them.
It is great to watch the most skilled riders in action. They ride their horses so intuitively, often they don't realise exactly what they are doing because it comes so naturally to them. The body power, positive energy and intent they use to ride, it can be very hard for them to break down what they are doing to teach other riders.
I love my job, riding, teaching, training and competing horses as much now as I did when I left school 40 years ago. I continue to keep an open mind, each horse and pony that comes along teaches me something new. I have learned so much over the years, I know that there is still loads more to know and I continue to enjoy the journey that allows me to keep evolving.
Just as every horse and rider are unique, every day is different!
Remember we are all individuals, never be afraid to be different if it feels right. Go with your guts!
Every so often I will be asked how my training methods differ to the traditional main stream. I really don't see them as different! I have the horses welfare at the fore front. I am always open minded and not afraid of moving forward with a new idea if I think that is going to benefit the horse.
I grew up enjoying all Pony Club activities including passing my A Test. I then went on to examine Pony Club B Test candidates and I have coached students through to honours at Pony Club A test level. I have passed all the BHS exams up to Stage 5 (BHSI) and I still have many professional coaches come to me for training for BHS Coaching Exams including BHSI students with a very high pass rate. In my 20’s & 30’s I successfully competed in Eventing up to 3* international level (now 4*) and still enjoy competing in dressage and jumping. This is all very traditional mainstream!
A lot of the traditional training has served me well.
However, through my early years I had many unanswered questions, there have been many learnings from my early days that have served me well but also various aspects of the traditional training that have not made sense to me. There are many things that have been either been lost in translation or misunderstood over the years and like Chinese whisper it can get distorted over time or ‘always been done this way!’
There were various aspects that did not made sense to me; for example, the old term 'wrap your lower leg around the horse', I spent years trying to perfect this in dressage, relaxing my thighs, wondering how I could be clear with my leg cue/aid if the lower leg was always wrapping around the horses rib cage! I spent hours wondering how I could get my students to stop their lower legs moving, causing 'white noise' to the horse and devaluing the leg cue even more.
Thanks to Mary Wanless, I can now fix lower leg insecurities in my students and have found that the top level riders are not relaxing their thighs, far from it!
I’m sure this beautiful horse, Gooney Bird, would have gone better in the dressage at Blenheim if I had known what I know now but a good clear cross country was very pleasing!
Another idea that has puzzled me is why do we train all our riders to mount on the left hand side? Answer; because the military hold their swords on the left side so it makes mounting easier! How many of us carry swords when riding now?!! Surely it would be more balancing to both horse and rider if we encouraged them from day one to mount on either side. I practice both sides but still after many years of getting on from the left, as traditionally taught, it is still so much easier to use my left leg to lift myself up into the saddle!
Having found answers to many more questions from my early days of teaching, I now have the satisfaction that I can always justify the methods that I use for teaching and training, rather that just saying it because that’s what we have been told or because it worked for the last horse and rider.
Just since first writing this 10 years ago, I am pleased to say that teaching riding is changing, which I believe is very positive. We are now beginning to drop the military style of 'Instructing', where you were told and did without question! Now we 'coach' and 'teach' riding with a curious mind. This has to be healthier and encourages people to explore and learn. I’m sure that access to the internet has helped develop this too.
I still believe that the best teacher is the horse, if you listen and notice what they have to say, they will tell you when you have it right. This is what makes my coaching and teaching so rewarding, the fact that the horse gives such positive feedback.
I encourage my clients to make the training as simple as possible for the horse to understand, allowing the cues to be crisp and clear, I will often start the training Unmounted, in hand if I feel there needs to be more clarity. The complex area is how the rider carries their body weight against gravity, in balance, whilst matching the forces of the horses movement.
I will a give a lot of focus to the riders biomechanics, if they are riding well in body and mind they will gain confidence allowing the horse comfort, direction, confidence enabling the ultimate success and progress in leaps and bounds. Look out for my next blog on the benefits of yoga!
I am a great believer in setting the horse up for success, having ‘tick boxes’ and making sure you have a tick in each before proceeding to the next. Being patient to wait for it to happen, remembering that the horse has feelings, he needs to understand us and us understand him.
I encourage patience and understanding, each task has a checklist to get to the next stage of training. If you tick every box you are setting you and the horse up for success.
It can be very hard but so important not allow our egos to get involved.
“The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self.” Wayne Dyer (or your horses!)
“All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are” Pema Chödrön
I have been teaching for over 40 years. I continue to search for more effective and improved techniques. My ultimate aim is to successfully teach riders and train horses in the most ethical, comfortable and horse friendly way that I can, with a balance between achieving results with the horse without exploiting their generous nature. This is not always the easiest route for the human but the horses certainly approve!
I continue to learn, I study successful trainers of all animals, I love to watch how horses interact with each other. I study the anatomy and psychology of both the human and horse, how they move and interact with each other and the world around them.
It is great to watch the most skilled riders in action. They ride their horses so intuitively, often they don't realise exactly what they are doing because it comes so naturally to them. The body power, positive energy and intent they use to ride, it can be very hard for them to break down what they are doing to teach other riders.
I love my job, riding, teaching, training and competing horses as much now as I did when I left school 40 years ago. I continue to keep an open mind, each horse and pony that comes along teaches me something new. I have learned so much over the years, I know that there is still loads more to know and I continue to enjoy the journey that allows me to keep evolving.
Just as every horse and rider are unique, every day is different!
Remember we are all individuals, never be afraid to be different if it feels right. Go with your guts!