Weather Stops Dressage, Right? … Wrong!
It’s snowing, my horse has an injury so no Dressage for me!
Actually, no, this is an opportunity for you to consider all the other element outside of the actual riding that you need to perfect. There are many things that you should work on out of the saddle – ground work, horse/rider relationship, mental strength and training reflection. The mental aspect of dressage is crucial. Spending time honing the ability to think about 100 different things at once is time well spent.
- Firstly try to replay your riding in your mind
- What was good about it?
- What was bad?
- What do you need to change?
- What do you need to practice more?
By doing this, when you are in the saddle it will teach you to focus on feeling what is happening so that you can analyse it later.
And I don’t mean whilst cooking dinner or fetching the kids from school, I mean take time out, sit down and replay the videos in your mind. You may look like you are sitting doing nothing, but these images are crucial to being able to visualise how it should be and that will help you get there.
