Checklist – Run through yours

Tracy from New Zealand has been in touch – she says …

“There were 3 main things that have really helped me since subscribing to your blog. When I train I often catch myself in a state of ‘trying too hard’. This results in tension in me and also in my horse. Whenever I feel this happening I focus on just 3 things that I’ve learned from you that I know make a difference to my riding (and automatically improves my horse)…

• Relax and don’t hollow lower back. This really does help me get my leg down and on the horse’s side.
• Relax arms and let them hang at my sides. As soon as I do this my horse softens through the neck and jaw. And I also feel better because my shoulders aren’t creeping up and up and up….
• Un-clench my jolly buttocks! A favourite of mine, especially when I’m doing upward transitions or asking for more activity.

I learned as a teenager when learning to ride, to push with my seat. It is so automatic that I can’t help doing it but I instead I am now trying to squeeze with my legs and follow with my seat.

There are many other things that have been helpful but I find it hard to retain a lot of information so I just focus on those 3 things on my checklist, and then hopefully they will become automatic too”.

Cheers – Tracy Arrowsmith

Thanks to Tracy for her very positive feedback and for taking what essentially she sees as the priority key elements of her rider faults and locking into her psyche the tools she needs to deal with them.

The lesson from Tracy then is, with all this information at hand, pick what is important to you, use it, work with it, make it second nature and then move on to something else.

Well done Tracy, you’re clearly doing a great job!

Perhaps you could make yourself a small checklist for your next riding session.  Give it a go.

Patricia – The Dressage Tipster