Hi, I’m really excited to present an all-new personal fitness for equestrians blog!



Ride Better 1-2-3 is about simple exercises you can do off the horse to improve your riding, and to help you begin to achieve the same self-carriage, symmetry and stamina you expect from your horse.



Ride Better 1-2-3 is applicable to all disciplines and levels. Through the photos you post, I will be analyzing rider posture and examining your issues with strength, balance, flexibility, as…

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Correct Fundamentals help you "do the right things right".



As a rider, you need to put the fundamentals in place so that the right things happen by habit. Good riders ride well, because their right habits are so ingrained into their philosophy and their thought processes that they do routine things without thinking.



Developing the correct habits…

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Crooked Riders = Crooked Horses: Develop Your Awareness of Balance and Symmetry



Like many young girls, I grew up carousing around my neighborhood bareback on my pony. The saddle came out for 4-H, otherwise, I stuck to her sleek back like glue. In college, I went on to work for a dressage trainer, never thinking that moving with the motion of a horse could be a problem. In my mid-20s, lured north to the arctic, I quit riding. I moved with my husband to the Brooks…

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In 1733 F.R. de la Guérinière lamented that to bring out the beauty of our horse we need “an air of ease and freedom… a controlled yet supple posture...depth of seat” but riders weren’t working to achieve it.



And today? Despite knowledge of biomechanics and physiology elegance and control on a moving horse eludes many of us, Some riders don’t take the time to work on themselves. Others strengthen and stretch, yet they still struggle. Many think they just ride that way,…

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At some point all beginner riders have thier first fall. The fear of that fall can inhibit the riders growth for months or years to come. What are somethings that you found works to over come this fear.



I know that it takes ten falls to becoime a rider, as it takes 10 falls to psychologically able to get over it with ease. But I believe we can make this less if we provide the coping tools to young riders.



A few things that I found that work:

1) If the rider is…

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Everything we do offers a lesson; & every lesson gives us the opportunity to improve. The improvement could be in what we do, how we do it, or perhaps most importantly, why we do it. Over the years I've slowly discovered that horses have helped teach me most of the stuff that really matters.



These are just a few of the things that make me thankful I live in a world that has horses in it.



Have You Ever …



Had the sight of horses grazing in the early… Continue