Have you ever considered what skills you need to have to be a great rider?

Regardless of whether you are competing, your are rehabilitating your horse, or you are riding casually, there are six key skills that you need - and no, I am not talking about toes in or inside leg to outside rein!

Part of being a Connected Rider is managing your team - that team being you and your horse. So your skills must grow and develop in a way that supports one of your most critical team elements - your horse!

Our recent Ride With Heart workshop actually focused on one of these elements, but here are all seven for you to ponder.

1. You need to be able to create an emotionally safe environment for you horse, so you can both feel confident, safe and as part of a team;

2. You need to be able to activate your horses learning brain and avoid over-facing them, so they can apply themselves and not lose their "na-na";

3. You need to be able to "feel" what your horse is doing and thinking, because you don't have eyes all around your head and you can't always see what all four legs are doing;

4. You need to know how to structure your riding exercises so they compliment one another to build core strength and topline, to create a sound horse that enjoys movement and can progress, and to help them hold us balanced and willingly;

5. You need to be able to use bit pressure as a tool of communication that asks your horse to participate, not submission where you force the horse when they may not be mentally ready or structural capable;

6. You need to know how to ride in a way that means you are not inhibiting your horse's movement but in fact improving it.

It's the reason I put together the Self Carriage Program - so more students can see and expand their skills and become a truly connected equestrian and part of a willing, caring team.

Colleague and student of the Self Carriage Program Sarah & our school horse Gunner have recently joined group riding lessons - both are pretty green when it comes to riding with other people and horses.

With Gunner's drafty background, his response when he is overfaced is to become ignorant, ignoring aids and running through the bit, which of course is not ideal when you have a beginner or unconfident rider!

But because Sarah has worked so hard to be a Connected Rider, I knew I could place this challenge on her. Not only is she comfident with his personality, she knows how to scale down to baby aids when he stops listening, how to feel his focus leave and how bring it back onto his rider, how to structure his ride to put him back into that learning brain, and how to create wins that builds both their confidence and skills moving forward.

That might seem like a small challenge, but these small challenges that are achievable create wins and kick goals.

Not once did she have to "push him through it" or be the "bigger, badder, boss". All of this was achieved through emotional regulation, learning brain, understanding the foundation exercises, developing feel and starting to create communication through the bit.

So I have to ask you - are you ready to make a change?

• Are you ready to stop being worried about riding because your horse feels good when ridden, has learnt to manage their behaviours and enjoys being your partner?

• Are you ready to kick goals because you have structured your riding to progress - even if that means revisiting your foundations - because you know how to scale up and down based on what your horse needs and your horse has a willing, engaged learning brain?

• Are you ready to bring the joy back into your equestrian partnership because you are no longer fighting and using the "power over" model to get where you need to be, but embrassing a true partnership?

If that is you, it is time to take the next step in your adventure and join the Self Carriage Program.

Enrolments are only open for a short time - get in quick!