I hope you had a nice Christmas, and got some nice presents for your horse…..

I usually take this time to reflect on my year and most importantly to look back on all the positive things that have happened.

I know it can be too easy to focus on what didn’t go well particularly if some significantly awful things have happened. However I find no matter what downs the year had celebrating the ups no matter how small can reframe your feeling about the year gone by.

I feel incredibly fortunate that 2018 has been an amazing year for me both professionaly and personally.

I’ve had the best time in my classes and with my 121 clients this year, seriously we have had way to much fun that I can’t believe it’s actually my job! It’s not all been messing about though we actually got results too and I’m really proud of the part I have played in everyone’s success this year from the cracking that rising trot to sorting out that wobbly shoulder or sitting more level you are all amazing working so hard to make yourselves better for your horse.

I’ve also had lots of fun teaching demos and clinics and hope to do more of that in 2019.

If you will follow my social media you will know that operation driving pony went slightly awry as PoppyMay got booted out of driving school! But sometimes fate is trying to do what’s best for you and instead I bought Douglas who is just the absolute best driving pony I could wish for and now we just need to get some transport to get us out and about next year! So turns out I achieved my driving pony goal just not in the way I expected, and PoppyMay is making a nice riding pony anyway ……

There have been loads of other great things that have happened and I’ve done lots of happy dances this year so I just want to thank all of my lovely clients, those crazy ladies that come to my classes I am blessed to have such an amazing tribe to work with.

I also want to thank all of you who have responded to me on my emails, social media etc. and those of you I have seen out and about-sorry if I look freaked out I forget people can see me on the internet! But honestly I am flattered you’re all still reading and watching.

So firstly I want you to have a think about all the positive things that have happened to you this year-not necessarily horse related but maybe you’ve finally got that bitting issue sorted, or got more Canter strike offs on the right leg than not-it’s the small stuff sometimes.

Secondly, how can I help you in 2019? What do you need help with? What would you like me to offer that can help you?

Let me know and I will do my best to deliver, now I’m off to scoot on my carriage!

Well, we are just days away from Christmas day-I hope you’ve done all of your shopping!

I also hope you are going to get some time off to spend with your four legged friend.

Do you get your horse a Christmas Present? I’d love to know what you get them?

I know this can be a really busy period for some people whether you are still working or just with lots of social events to negotiate, it can actually be really difficult to spend any time with your horse at all!

Don’t beat yourself up about that. If you do have time to ride but not much, just spending 20 mins schooling, lungeing or a stroll around the block is still a valuable use of your time spent with your horse.

Your horse also probably won’t mind a few days off. I think it does us good to spend a few days immersed in Muggle Culture –Y’know with hair free of hay etc. if nothing else to remind us why we would rather not spend all year doing it!

I find having a plan in place helps immensely though. So have a sit down now and go through the next week or so putting in social commitments and how you will fit in the essentials of feeding, mucking out etc. and if you might need some help have you got it organised?

That way you can party on knowing your horse is taken care of.

Those of you that do all the fun stuff at this time of year such as Fancy Dress rides, Boxing Day hunting etc. I’d love to see what you’re up too and if you send over some pics I might feature you on my Facebook or Instagram!

Have a lovely Christmas, my herd of Four Legged Fluffies Pearl, PoppyMay, Douglas, Bernard and Dan Send Best Wishes to your Four Legged Fluffies xx

I get asked a lot what the best exercise to improve riding is. This is quite a subjective question as it depends what it is you struggle with, as well as your current fitness level.

If you are incredibly fit but struggle with certain aspects of your riding then that area needs to be looked at individually, or you could be fairly unfit overall and that needs to be addressed to correct an overall picture.

That makes the most important thing to me Self Awareness.

In order to improve your riding you need to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses.

This can be done from just basic self- awareness as you ride, do a full body scan of how you are sat.

For a full alignment scan check out my video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgNplzeUObk

However I know lots of you like me want to be working on your riding when you’re not on your horse.

If it’s at home and keeping it simple you like then I suggest a gym ball. The reason being you can just sit on it and test things out. Can you lift your feet, can you kneel up etc. Of course this trains your core stability but most importantly it will tell you where your weaknesses are. Do you keep falling off the same way etc.  That will tell you which side you are weak on (the side you fall off) and over time will help you to learn which muscles you need to switch on to keep you on the ball which of course will transfer to which muscles you need to switch on when riding.

I also very much like Yoga for riders. This is because it encourages body awareness. Not just for asymmetry but also for areas you may hold tension or be not quite as strong or dextrous.

Why not put these ideas down as 2019 projects.

I don’t have any space on my classes currently but if you would like to be put on the waiting list hit reply.

I do have space for 1 2 1 clients  in the new year so of you would like to improve your riding off horse with full focus on your goals let me know!

Last week we looked at being equal left to right so this week we will look at equal front to back.

This one I think is looked at more often but can actually be more difficult to correct. You see often the problem of leaning forward or back comes from a deeper postural or strength issue-not always but most often.

I’ve mentioned before the importance of Neutral spine for both balance, shock absorption and injury prevention and the short answer is if you are leaning forward or back you aren’t in neutral spine.

If you don’t know whether you lean forward or back ask a friend to video you, or if you are on your own sitting in your saddle ask yourself whether your rib cage sits directly over your pelvis or whether your sternum lines up with your pubic bone. This is a good indicator of where you are sat.

I also like to visualise pushing your front to your back and then equally your back to your front; this encourages you to switch on the right muscles.

In order to maintain equal front to back you need to have equal muscle strength front to back. It is quite common for riders to be told to improve their core stability and for them to go away and do lots of ab work-what about your back?

Now of course you can train your front and back separately and that will improve how they work together, however you are busy people with horses to ride so we want to make it as simple and time efficient as possible.

I really like the kneeling squat exercise with the focus being on staying level on the up and down.

Also Bird Dogs both simple and lifted of you like an extra challenge. This focuses you on keeping the middle still whilst moving limbs-or in riding speak staying still whilst giving aids.

Look out for next week where I’ll share with you another tip for practicing this too.