I can still hear my early instructors barking at me. Like any novice, while I focused on keeping my horse going or identifying the right diagonal, my hands would elevate and bounce around. But the more I tried to force them down, the stiffer and more jarring they became. As a coach, I make it a goal to describe the importance of and specifically how to develop elastic…

 I learned equitation fundamentals to the repetitive tune of  “head up, heels down!” trotting around and around  the riding school ring. I aquired the “whats” of riding in those early years, but didn’t get good answers to my “whys!”  It’s a shame – if I’d grasped the logic and the science behind the skills, and how I’d use them in the future, I’d have been…