Pony Guilt - "Neglecting" your horse to prioritise adulting

Are you feeling the guilt’s because you are adult life is getting in the way of your pony play?

Ok, so its not true neglect but you know you should be spending more time with your horse. Their needs are met. They are well fed and cared for.

But you’re on a time budget and most days you only seem to be able to run in, feed them and race out again.

The older we get the more responsibilities we seem to accumulate, the more our energy is pulled in more and different directions, the less time we seem to have for ourselves and our horses.

While you may not be kicking goals with 5 x 1 hour training sessions every week, we can still bring our horses along nicely if we know what we are working towards.

Here are my top tips of making the most of your spare time with your horse:

Be realistic about where you are going with how much time you have.

If you are dreaming of the Olympics but only have 20minutes a week to spend with your horse, you may have to shift that goal out to a time when you can prioritise your horses. If however, you just want to take your horse out to local shows and even low level state events you can achieve that quality with just 2 – 3 ridden training sessions a week.

Quality over quantity.

This is not only in your time spent riding your horse but also time spend being with your horse. If you can spare an extra 10 minutes with your horse when you’re feeding them just hang with them quietly. Give them a pat if they ask for it otherwise just be with them. And leave the phone behind!!!

A good session doesn’t have to be a long session.

We can do a good quality training session in as little as 30 minutes (need help? Check out our lesson plans on pinterest). For prelim, novice and even elementary level dressage, this only needs to be done twice a week with some cross training like hacking out, poles or grids.

Block out a mental health break.

Horses are great for our mental health and just pottering around the yard can lift even the worst moods. It can be helpful to explain to your family you just need this time to be a better human. And then spend that time not putting pressure on yourself to do rush in, rush through your training and rush but actually do some relaxing with your horse. This can help with your overall all connection and therefore willingness with your horse.

Play games with your horse.

Another way to improve your horses willingness - and therefore resulting in less time needing to discipline your horse - is engaging them in games and positive reinforcement activities

Need help making more of the little amount of time you get to spend with your horse? Get on the waitlist for the Green to Self carriage Course. We lay out the ridden process so you know where you’re heading and where you’ve been so you spend less time going round and round in circles…. Literally!

Stop The Frustration of Your Riding Journey

When we set out on our adventure with our horse, we have a goal in mind.

That goal is the bright and shiny object that will believe when we achieve it we will be happy.

We don’t realise when we first start out how many things we need to learn to achieve the bright and shiny object. We think it’s gonna be a piece of cake. And when our first road block pops up we google “why is my horse…”; we get through that, then the next road block pops up we get frustrated and ask some friends, “why does my horse…”?

You go to a clinic that works on that problem and you get through that. Then the next road block pops up… cue the cry of frustration.

The next thing you know its 1 year, 2 years, 5 years later and you still feel like you’re no closer to your original goal. You feel like giving up on yourself and your horse, you’re never going to get there. Maybe you should just quit?

This is where we have to remember WHY we do this in the first place!

Your horse is your happy place and as much as they can drive you crazy they are also your sanity. You are at your happiest on the back of a horse. It makes your heart sing. If days go by and you haven’t spent time with your horse you know it… and so do the people around you!! So how do you find your happy place with them again?

You need to enjoy the journey and not make it all about the destination. Your riding isn’t about being the best but being better than the person you were yesterday.

That doesn’t mean that you need to give up on your goal. It just means that you need to let go of the result and enjoy the process. Allow you and your horse to achieve that goal when you and your horse are ready. Because let me tell you, the same day you achieve it you will say right that’s done, now whats next without even taking a second out of your day to reflect and be grateful for all that you and your horse have achieved together. 

So today’s message is let go, enjoy the process, be with your horse because your horse is what makes you happy, let the journey unfold and shape the person you will become and your horse into the horse you’ve always dreamed of.

Wish there were a way to fast track the goal? Download our free guide on the exercises that you can do the lead to a stronger bond with your horse here.

Do you feel like you are letting down your horse?

Looking out to your paddock, a whimsical flutter of hopes and dreams overcomes your heart. Your horse is grazing peacefully in the back corner of the paddock and lifts their head, noticing you coming towards them. They let out a soft nicker and start trotting up to you.

And then comes the guilt, you remember it’s been a week, a month or ever years since your last ride. You think your horse is wasting away in the paddock and because of you it won’t have a good future. I’m not good enough for my horse, they deserve more, they would be better with a different rider, I can’t be the rider they need, maybe I should sell them and get an easier horse to work with, maybe I should give up altogether.

This is such a common process for the hobby horse rider to go through… regularly, sometimes even every day. You convince yourself, no I’ll just try a bit longer and maybe it will all come together for me. Maybe I’ll try a new instructor, or go watch some other trainers on YouTube.

There are 2 problems with this scenario: we are attaching our own needs and desires to live a fulfilling life to our horse (really they don’t care if they don’t reach their full potential, working towards their full potential is fraught with hard work, stress and anxiety, much easier to just eat grass), and you’re probably comparing yourself with professional riders, that are on different journeys, with different road blocks. We think “oh if we could just do that one thing riding would be so much easier”. You dedicate months and months and when finally you achieve it, do you celebrate and congratulate yourself and think yes riding is easy now?! Of course not, you now decide there are 7 new things that if only you could achieve them riding would be easy.

As a professional rider it took me 7 years + the 13 years as a hobby horse rider (I’ve now been at this riding business 25 years and teaching for 13), riding hundreds of different horses, teaching hundreds of different students to truly grasp an understanding of what is going on and how best to support each individual horse and I’m still learning new things every day, with every new student and every new horse.

 What a professional rider knows that you don’t

•  There are always hurdles and road blocks that stop you in your tracks and can take months of diligent effort to work through.

• All horses have to go through the same physical development process just the same as all athletes and that requires patience.

• When to just exercise your horse and when to push.

• Some days, weeks or months your horse can just be off, and that’s ok.

• Your horse will never perform as well at a competition as they do at home and so you need to be training at least a grade about the level you’re competing at and even then you still need the moon and the stars to align for your perfect competition day and on that day the judge will decide they don’t like your horse or your last name.

• There is no one solution, only effort.

• You can’t be good at everything. Find out what you are really good at with your riding and get help with the rest.

• The path to success. The reason why you feel stuck at the level you are at is because you can’t see what’s next. You can’t see what’s next because you’ve never experienced it before. If you were to apply all the lessons you have learnt to date on a new horse, guaranteed will progress to this point quicker, however you will also have new road blocks and obstacles you haven’t experienced before and will get stuck at because you are applying the concepts you’ve learnt to a different personality and conformation type.

Don’t have the time, money and inclination to become a professional rider but need some quick and easy wins? Check out our 3 weeks to becoming a better rider mini course.

The art of riding

As with any discipline there is a science to riding and an art. The science is the biomechanical and psychological result of our training techniques and style. The art is the emotion and intuition we evoke in ourselves and others when we ride. It is the way the movement of the bodies in unison inspires the watcher and the way it can touch something deep inside and evoke emotion. 

A true artist needs an imagination and a belief that anything is possible. They can take a lump of clay and through their imagination of what that lump of clay can be they can transform it into anything from a vase, to a bowl, to toys and figurines, to pot plants. It is what inspires a wood worker to craft furniture and toys and a painter to transform a blank canvas into a vision. 

As a horse rider you need to be able to see a horse and transform it through your imagination of what could be and discipline conditioning into an athlete, a dancer and a gymnast. You use your imagination of what could be possible to inspire your horse to work with dynamic flow and lose itself in the art of movement. We use our innate ability to manipulate and shape energy and through applying our movement to the horses movement we can transform it into artistic expression of our bodies flow of energy vibrating in harmony. 

Tips to becoming an artistic rider

Pre-visualisation

Take the time each year, each month, each week, each training session to stretch what you think is possible. Our experiences create self limiting beliefs of what is possible and over time we stretch our goals less and only define realistic, achievable goals to avoid disappointment. But an artist is not confined to reality, they are the day dreamers that believe anything is possible. Stretch what you believe is possible to achieve the impossible.

Create room for magic

We like to create rules and structure so that life is easier to understand. When we define the rules of the game we limit the possibilities of the outcome. If for example, you've had a couple rides leaving you feel flat and unhappy and come into your next ride feeling the same way and expecting the same result, you will not be creating an environment or possibility for a successful ride. Magic and possibility need space. They need room to be brought into reality. Come into your training sessions without judgement, without preconceptions, without constraints of what is possible and allow movement to flow through you and your horse. 

Inspiration

Inspired action requires inspired thought. If you are just punching out the training sessions and finding no joy in the dance take the time to find fresh inspiration. The will power to stick to a regime is draining but inspiration is empowering and energising. Take time to remember why you started riding in the first place and let your heart sing with the joy of doing something you love. 

Flow of movement

The way that figures and movement flow into each other is an art. It can help to listen to some music when you ride that has a similar rhythm to your horses. Let each movement, each transition, each stride, each aid flow into the next and the next and the next to become a graceful expression of your relationship with your horse.

Let go of your ego

Our ego stops us from believing in magic, it stops us from being our selves for fear of judgement, it protects us in social situations from losing our identity and sense of self to other peoples choices. In the process of our ego protecting us, we don't feel safe to be who we are truly meant to be. If you are to lose yourself to the movement you have to first be able to let go of our ego.

Being an artist is about flow and feel and being an artistic rider is using the flow of movement of the 2 bodies integrating into a harmonic rhythm. Being an artist means to lose yourself in the rhythm and flow of your heart, allowing that song to inspire movement and flow through and energise you. Where 1 + 1 = 3. Where the horse and rider combination brings inspiration to the hearts of others and allows them to believe in magic. Because a good rider is magic in motion.

The Independent Seat (part 2)

Using your seat as a tool for communication

This article is best to read after you have done our course “3 weeks to improving your riding”. In this course we go into depth about the angles and lines we need in our posture that allows for maximum range of movement in both ourselves and our horses and also how to move and follow our horse. It includes 3 weeks of exercises designed by a personal trainer to help you hold this posture easier. This will also only work if your horse is working correctly in self carriage and connection. --Katie

Everything we are trying to do with our horses is to create more engagement, more self carriage, to create a stronger, more elastic top line so that our horse can move more freely, move with more power and agility, to reduce the concussion of the movement on their body and develop their core strength and soundness for a long and healthy riding career. The tighter we are through our thigh and the more we pivot at our knee and our hip in our dressage seat, even if we are trying to lean back to keep our upright, the more we are putting our horse onto the forehand. This is why all the angles and lines we discuss in “3 weeks to improving your riding” is so important. When we break these lines and angles we distribute our weight away from our centre of balance and then try to counter balance ourselves. Our horse then tries to counter balance our imbalance and both ours and our horses posture “shrinks and curls” to try and protect our balance. If we start with our center of gravity and work out, engaging the same balance points as we do on the ground we have the best opportunity of maintaining our posture and guiding our horse to maintain their balance, posture and center of gravity.

Once we understand how to do this and our connection is established we can then start to use our seat to communicate. This is our ultimate goal. The more we can communicate from our seat, the less we interrupt our horses flow and balance with our hands. If we do this exercise describe below without having established connection our horse will “jack up” and potentially also rear. Our horse needs to know how to sit into its haunches and lift through its tummy so that it is shortening its body in a way that lengthens the crest. Which is why we have our foundation exercises of self carriage that ensure our horse can first do all these things and that we also have an adequate feel of how to distribute the horses weight and balance effectively. Once these skills are established this is very easy. If these skills aren’t established your horse will let you know if you try this exercise. Make sure you listen to your horse and get help by someone who understands these principles if you are unsure.

Establishing a half halt with our seat.

Katie demonstrating the correct position in the saddle to improve your independent seat

First have all the prerequisites of self carriage established. Tempo changes, bend and changes of bend, transitions within the pace and pace to pace, shortening and lengthening the frame, rein back over a pole, trot poles and canter poles, introducing leg yield and shoulder fore.

Have the angles and lines of an independent seat as described in “3 weeks to improving your riding”.

At the halt:

• Cuddle your calves

• Squeeze your butt checks together like you are trying to hold a poo in

• Lift through and rotate through your pelvis like your practised on the fit ball in “3 weeks to improving your riding”

• Draw your shoulder blades together and open your chest

• Increase the angle through your elbows, taking your hands towards your hips gently, keeping a straight line elbow hands reins to bit.

The end goal is that the horse squeezes together and their head comes onto the vertical. Release the pressure for this.

To get this right you want to balance the amount of energy you are creating with your legs to the amount of wait you’re are creating with your hands.

Think about driving a manual car if you have the clutch out of gear it doesn’t matter how much you put your foot down on the accelerator the car won’t go. In a horse that understand self carriage and connection the contact is like your clutch you are balance the revs (forwardness from your legs) with the amount of clutch that is engaged (contact). If you don’t engage the clutch (contact) as you rev (legs) the car won’t accelerate with power (your horse will be strong out on the forehand). If you have to much revs (legs) to clutch (contact) your car will accelerate uncontrollable and do a burn out (your horse will take the bolt and spit you out the side). We are trying to find the balance between just enough rein add to say wait without stopping and just enough leg aid to say stay moving powerfully forward without rushing and this creates impulsion. When we go into this level of detail you can see why our foundations need to be so clearly established for both ourselves and our horses.

What we are trying to do here is establish this aid above which is our half halt by tightening and lifting through our seat to squeeze our horse together and lift the forehand.

We are not going to be riding like this all the time it is an add. We cuddle, squeeze, lift and draw our horse up and to us and then relax and allow our horse to move. We are creating a controlled tension which shortens, bounces and re-energises the stride and riding forward out of it.

As we ride forward our horse will going onto the forehead and we also have an opportunity here to create acceptance of the bit. As we relax and allow our hands forehand we are asking the horse to follow our hands forward out of the frame, to poke its nose out. Just before it gets to strung out, we cuddle, squeeze, lift and draw our horse in and up to us and then relax and slowly inch our hands forward encouraging our horse to poke its nose out seeking the contact. Rinse and repeat. This is your new half halt. The more often you ride this aid combination the stronger your horse will get through the chest and the shoulders and the more impulsion you will create.

This ability to shorten and lift into you is also your prerequisite to collection and why the transition from novice to elementary is so hard for some. If you have learnt how to get your horse into a frame by grounding them and putting them more onto the forehand you have to go back to scratch and relearn how to work your horse uphill into the frame if you are to achieve collection. The impulsion is a natural progression of self carriage that becomes collection.

Activating this seat aid is part of the puzzle. Your horse can only come uphill if you do first.

What do the Dressage Letters REALLY mean?

Recently, at our very first workshop, we were asked what the dressage letters mean. Or more specifically, why aren’t they A-B-C-D etc?

And it left us both a little stumped. Why isn’t it simple, and what do those letters mean? To start, let’s look at the dressage arena and the position of those letters.

In the 40x20m arena, the letters read A-K-E-H-C-M-B-F with D-X-G in the centre. In the 60x20m arena, there are a few extra letters: A-K-V-E-S-H-C-M-R-B-P-F with D-L-X-I-G in the centre. It’s certainly not straightforward, and no rhyme nor rhythm to the layout.

So where do these letters come from?

There are several theories as to where the letters came from, but unfortunately, the exact origin is no longer known.

The most plausible of the theories is to do with the Imperial German Court. Before 1918, markings where found on the walls of the stable yard of the Royal Manstall, which was used as an exercise yard and coincidentally measured thrice the length as the width – 60m x 20m! It appears these markings where to indicate the spot the groom would hold the horse in anticipation of his rider. The riders where (with the exception of A, which stands for Ausgang (exit) and C, which has no correlation):

• K – Kaiser: Emperor/King

• V – Vassal: Squire

• E – Ehrengast: Honoured Guest

• S – Schzkanzler: Chancellor

• H – Hofsmarshall: Lord Chancellor

• M – Meier: Steward

• R – Ritter: Knight

• B – Bannertrager: Standard Bearer

• P – Pferknecht: Groom

• F – Furst: Prince

There are no definitions for the centre line marker letters.

How can you remember the dressage markers?

When the letters have neither rhyme nor reason, it makes it difficult to imagine your dressage layout in the arena, and therefore your test. Unless you have a photographic memory (oh how I wish!), you may end up resorting to the use of a mnemonic – a phrase or short sentence that helps you remember initials or letters.

There are many examples of this, and feel free to share yours, but here are a few:

• Clockwise from entry: All King Victor’s Expensive Show Horses Can Manager Really Big Plastic Fences

• (or my personal favourite) All King Victor’s Expensive Show Horses Can Make Really Pongy Farts

• Centre Line: Doing Lots Xtra Is Good

How do you remember the letters?