Daily Strides Podcast for Equestrians

Does the thoughts of riding shoulder in leave you feeling less than confident in your riding abilities.  Are you a little unsure about the angle, the bend, and the degree of collection required in order to successfully ride the movement? Shoulder in is super for encouraging suppleness and collection in your horse. However, if ridden incorrectly, things can quickly begin going the opposite way of y...

The half-halt is one of the most useful aids you have in your toolkit as a rider.  However, many riders are not utilizing this subtle yet powerful communication to its full potential. The half-halt should be one of the earliest things that riders learn to master when learning to ride their horse. It is a vital part of riding well and being able to perform accurate, balanced movements with your hor...

Does your normally relaxed, sane, and rhythmic horse turn into his version of a racehorse each time he rounds a corner and spots anything that resembles a jump when you are riding?  Your quiet calm ride turns into a flat-out gallop, resembling the rush for the finish post on the final furlong of Aintree...  (minus the cheering crowds!) Unfortunately, horses rushing or racing over fences is a commo...

Does the thought of any sort of prolonged periods of sitting trot fill both you, your bum, and your horse's back with a sense of dread?!  Perhaps the find the more you try not to bounce; the higher you appear to go?! Sitting trot is probably one of the most confounding things to master when you first begin riding. And often enough time is not invested at the beginning of your training to understan...

Feel...  A hugely important component of successful horsemanship and something that is often considered as a talent that you are either gifted at birth with or your not! From years spent helping and watching people ride, I do agree that some people seem to have a more natural feel than others. However, I have also found that, often, riders who seemingly lack natural feel can learn it. They can dev...

Have you tried it? For many riders, the mention of riding bareback is enough to see them running to the tack room for a saddle!  However, for those that pluck up the courage - it can change so much... Bareback riding is a super way to improve your posture and position as well as balance, skills, and feel. However often the greatest challenge we must first overcome in order to achieve these benefit...

Daily Strides | Podcast

There's always a desire among riders to develop their seat in the saddle. Most riders understand that developing this one aid is a key part of improving as a rider. But what does it really mean? And how can you start to do it? Developing your riding seat begins with understanding that your seat must be used to signal to your horse, not interfere or disrupt his natural movement.   In order for you...

Why is your horse falling in?  More importantly, how do you know if your horse is falling in?   The quickest and easiest way I can explain this is to imagine you are riding a circle that you have planned out beautifully in your head, but as your horse travels around it you seem to be getting more and more off track with each passing stride. In fact what started out as a 20m circle is soon resembli...

Is there a more frustrating and exhausting experience when riding to match that of being on a horse that is not paying you a blind bit of notice?!  You are on board kicking and pumping away.  And all the while your horse is just meandering along.  Ignoring you completely and acting as though he is on a relaxing Sunday outing. Training your horse to move off your leg will help you overcome the iner...

Have you ever sat down (no pun intended) and thought about how correct your rising or posting in trot actually is? Rising or posting in trot is one of the first aspects we learn when starting out riding a horse… We happily spend hours trotting around the arena or along the trail, up-down, up-down, up-down, without ever stopping to consider if the movement we are performing is helping or hindering...

Walking… Does your horse do it with a sense of purpose, or is he rather resembling a slowly rolling ball of jelly; going nowhere slowly?  The problem many riders have is when we ask our horse to 'walk on', he becomes tense and stiff… The walk, when it is a good walk, should be forward-moving, unrestricted, and natural. There should be a sense of purpose to it; evident in both horse and rider.  Unf...

I've often wondered what it is about the canter that makes riders almost seem to ignore it when schooling in the arena.  I see riders put so much time, care, and attention into the trot and to a lesser degree, the walk...  But the canter is more often than not relegated to a few 'laps' of the arena and then back to more of the same with walking and trotting... This week on the Daily Strides Podcas...

Do you find that when you ask your horse for a more expressive trot, he just seems to begin running onto his forehand with you, becoming heavier and heavier with each stride? You're not alone! Many riders set out looking to achieve an active, working trot... But due to lots of different factors, this can end up just 'running' around the arena. The horse resembling an arrow of sorts! The front end...

Your outside rein is a vital part when it comes to the balance of your aids.  It is the 'endpoint' with regards to the physical cycle of our aids when creating energy in the saddle. Read More... Additional Links to Help You:- Planning Your Rides – Part 1 Fun Planning Your Rides – Part 2 Partnership Planning Your Rides - Part 3 Training & Developing Planning Your Rides - Part 4 FREE Exercise & Plan...