When I go into a lesson with a new student we inevitably cover all the things they can get their horse to do. But, thats not why they have called me out for a lesson. They have got me out to help them to achieve all the things they can't get their horse to do!!

And here in lies the challenge. As a rider we can be ticking all the boxes of the things we CAN get our horse to do, never to revisit again.

"Oh that's too easy, too boring, we can already do that"

But its in the easy, boring things you can already do that you get to find out who your horse is when they are relaxed, when they know the answer, when they are confident and self assured.

Your horse gets to see who you are when you are relaxed, know how to ask it of them and are confident and self assure. This is a completely different relationship dynamic to the experience of each other when you are pushing, pressuring for more, stretching for goals, trying to challenge yourself and your horse.

The place of confidence, self assuredness and relaxation is somewhere we have to visit to start and finish every lesson and quite often the whole lesson so that we know what it looks like when the tension starts to build, when the frustration and angst kicks in or the fear.

Constantly pressuring our horse for performance, we only get to see the part of their personality that feels pressured and stressed. And that usual the part of the personality we like the least.

If you're just training to tick the boxes of the things your horse can do you've missed the point.

The point is what are you learning about yourself and your horse as you implement those exercises?

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