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Diana's Equi Training

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Diana's Equi Training

G'day, I am new in Brisbane and originally from Germany. Throughout my equestrian career, I have had the privilege of learning the basics of horse training.
(1)

My passion are horses, that's why I'd like to share my experiences in:

- training show jumping, dressage or leisure horses of any age and also showing them on competitions

- training you, to improve your riding skills; in English, Nederlands or Deutsch During school and later in my studies I worked with professional horse trainers and sport horses in the Netherlands and Germany. This journey has

included various aspects from introducing young horses to basic lunging and ground work techniques. I have also had the pleasure of riding highly skilled dressage and jumping horses at FEI level. My experience extends to working with horses of all temperaments, including those with difficult behaviours. In every interaction, respect, patience and understanding are important values to me. My most recent experience comes from a professional show jumping stable where I helped keep the horses in top shape. This included dynamics and agility training as well as improving the overall rideability and suppleness of the horses. I am a firm believer in the German Training Scale, a system that progresses logically through various levels of training: (1) rhythm, (2) suppleness, (3) connection, (4) impulsion, (5) straightening, (6) collection, and (7) thoroughness. It is a methodical approach that is the core of my training philosophy. Lunge-training has a special place in my heart as it complements my approach to training and is incorporated at least once per week. As I continue my equestrian journey, I've made the choice to prioritize safety and well-being. For this reason, I've decided not to ride horses displaying challenging behaviours like bucking, rearing, or other dangerous tendencies. 🏇🌟

16/08/2023

Jumping is exciting - jumping is my passion. The feeling of flying for those split-seconds is incredible. Beyond that, the bond with the horse is key, as well as mutual trust, courage and understanding. That day I wanted to jump much higher, since I had a great photographer on my side, but my horse felt a bit dull and not very energetic. So we just jumped smaller. Listen to your horse and put your own ambitions aside..

29/07/2023

Just found one more vid of that beautiful mare. She was the loveliest and most ambitious out of the 3 that I rode. It's the same session as below. Here you see how she tries to find a comfortable position. Fully concentrated - ears to the sides. The day before her whole neck was a broomstick, with very little chance for my hands to get through. In general, I try to keep my hands as steady as possible and just give slight, light and sensible massaging movements towards her mouth, to gain her trust and encourage her to seek my contact. My draw reins are relatively long; just to avoid the giraffe/cobra pose. I want to show her that down and low is the way to go. The day before we had no steering, look how much better she is already. I wish I could have worked with her more. She also enjoyed belly rubs and cuddles and would have followed me around half the day just to ask for more. She's just one of those horses you don't wanna leave.

23/06/2023

Chapter Transition – Competition Preparation #5

And more

where harder for him as you can see. He tried his best.

21/06/2023

Chapter Transition – Competition Preparation #4

Transition Transition - of any kind

Somehow, every horse you see, I just put back to training. The transitions are not 100%, but we train hard, step by step.

Make the transitions short first.

How long can you explosively sprint when you were out of training? Make sprints short, but as powerful as possible and increase the duration slowly.

17/06/2023

Chapter Gymnastics – Competition Preparation #2

As promised, I reveal my one out of two standard training techniques I apply on every horse.

The

Basics: apply it during walk on a straight line first before you go into a bend, like a 20 meter circle or smaller and a good meter or two away from the outside fence. The outside leg is key. Apply it the same way you would, if you’d bend your horse to the inside. Reins are necessary, but come secondary. It’s not about pulling the horses head to the outside. It’s about listening to both of your legs and reins – control at any time. The outside rein is the new inside rein and the normal inside rein is your new outside rein. Imagine, you ride clockwise / right-hand-side. Your left leg needs to ask for the bend as well as your hand with spongy movements, feel your horses mouth with as much sensitivity as possible. Your right hand keeps a steady connection and just goes with the horses movement. For me it helps sometimes to go with my left hand towards my knee, to show the way to horses, who are not used to it.

Once this works, you do the same in trot, canter on smaller bends, even down to 8 meter circles. It’s also a fantastic way to loosen up your horse when you start, jut use the same technique, but on a long rein.

I use this quite a lot and change hands doing it so an outside-bend becomes an inside bend or vice versa. Change sides, change bends and you’ll feel your horse becomes more and more flexible throughout the whole body.

The outside-bend engages the inner hindleg much more compared to a standard always-inside-bend riding-methos. It also strengthens as well as stretches the muscles on this side.

The advantage for a is that you are able to ride to any obstacle with a straight horse. It always helps to have the horse straight right before the jump. How do you do it? Ride the turn with a slight outside-bend and straighten up the horse in the last bit of the bend – voilà.

16/06/2023

Chapter Well-being & Mental Health #1

Well-being and mental health for me is key, in people, in horses, in all living beings. Unfortunately, this is not the reality of everyone.

The beautiful white stallion, called Zanana was a wedding present from the broom to his bride. He then was neglected for 8 years and only left the stable a few times per year, because the stable itself didn’t have the permission to let him out. Just before I arrived, he got the permission. So, I took care of him, let him run free and tried him out riding. He felt super nervous, with short in-and-exhale sounds, short steps, but he was suuuuch a good boy. He never took off and listened to me. I had to be my most sensitive self and breath as calmly as I could to keep him calm. You might notice my breathing in the picture. I’ve only been around for about ten days, but I did my best. I kept in touch for a while and the riding school was allowed to finally put him to work with their students. I hope he's well.

The brown mare was super feisty during our riding sessions, so a bit of bonding never hurts… I think, I hit the right spot.

My message today: always be kind, be in the moment, give the people and horses around you all your attention. Don’t be on the phone or distracted – you wouldn’t like it when you’re meeting a friend who constantly ignores you. To all the cultures which think that animals don’t have a soul and don’t feel anything – yea they do – please change your mindset – cheeeeers 😊

14/06/2023

Chapter Props & gymnastics #1

Why and how do I use ?

Imagine that you have already attended a few yoga classes and used some of the props in the form of ropes, straps, stones, blankets, chairs and so on. How did you feel? Were some of them comfortable right from the start or did you need time to get used to them? Did your yoga teacher assist you in using them properly? Could you hurt yourself if you used them incorrectly? Does your yoga teacher sometimes take you further by using hands and body to help you stretch? Does this help? Do you feel safe or uncomfortable? Do you communicate how you feel?

I could ask many more similar questions, but for now, imagine that I train the horse accordingly. I use props, give assistance, try to make the horse feel comfortable using a prop for the first time and listen to feedback to adjust my training accordingly. Every horse reacts and handles props differently, just like humans. Simply imagine a yoga stretching posture where you are sitting upright with your legs fully stretched out in front of you. The goal is to bend forward to reach your toes. Look around at how differently your classmates are doing it. You can't expect them all to ever do it, but you can try, use props or your teacher's helping hands. Back to the horses: same same, no difference.

What do I use? I often use draw reins and sometimes spurs. Before you give me a sh*tstorm, hear me out. Just as the wrong use of props hurts the human yoga student, badly used horse props have gone around the world and got a negative image. I use the draw reins to avoid the headshake of a horse soaring into the sky like a giraffe. I try to bring out the opposite, the relaxing way down to the ground (forward-downward principle), as if we want to vacuum the ground. Some horses have already been traumatised by previous riders and shake their heads or lift them up to fight back because they respond to trauma in the past. I don't have the strength in my legs nor arms to do it without the draw reins, and I would only cause more agitation. So I use the draw reins and have peace much quicker.

Spurs; why do we need spurs? Ideally, we don't need them. But in reality they can be useful. If you don't have your legs under control or your toes pointing at the fence next to you in Charlie Chaplin mode, you shouldn't use them! Only use them, if your toes point towards the horse's mouth, the leg is tightened to keep the heel low and you are in control of your leg!

I use them to make an insensitive horse more sensitive or to help a horse learn a better bend or side stride. Again, imagine the flat hand of your yoga teacher on the side of your ribs and imagine a light pressure. You're able to bend a little, right? Now imagine the same pressure but with one finger of the other hand putting extra pressure on your ribcage. Can you bend more easily or is it just uncomfortable? How little/much finger pressure is helpful?
I'll leave you with these thoughts and questions and post some pictures of horses I've ridden with and without props.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned – suggestions per DM are always welcome. I’m also happy to come out to your property and train you and your horse(s)

23/05/2023

This is the video of the last post's pictures.

23/05/2023

Chapter Competition #1

A lil’ success never hurt nobody. My secret: be well prepared! Surprise. I was lucky to grow up in Germany with very good, but also super strict trainers.

>

Sometimes I would finish a lesson thinking, am I good enough? Self-doubt often haunted me. But then I entered a competition where I usually ended up in the top three. Dedication, focus, hard work and ambition – Something I also want to see in my students. I have only started riding at the age of 12 and at 17 I jumped a course of 1.20m while training up to 1.35m. Various reasons unfortunately prevented me from competing more, including moving around a lot. However, the few competitions I have entered since, I have took the golden ribbon home; and I would love to do it again!

I am always happy when I get to train dedicated athletes. I remember one show where a friend and I competed in the same class, this time dressage. I helped her with the preparations.

We didn't have much time. A balancing act between being strict and her almost wanting to give up and a bit of psychological coaxing to keep her fire burning. On the day of the competition she felt well prepared, was happy with her result and finished in 2nd place - I had brought home the 1st place. Proud moments. Sometimes you have to push your limits. Reaching for the stars is not easy. I am strict, but fair. My training goes to the limits of horse and rider, never beyond. Positive discipline. Fun is still essential.

In the next chapters I will look at my basic training methods and how to become successful.

16/05/2023

Chapter Lunging #1

Why is important to me & what do I want to achieve?

One important goal for me is that the horse learns to listen – it’s also a bonding, respect and attention exercise. Thus: talk to your horse. Voice and body language are super important. I talk to my horses a lot – quietly, sometimes all the way through, mainly with young horses; sometimes not so much, once you feel in sync with your buddy. Reward by voice for eeeeevery tiny thing that went well. It’s such a reward, you’ll see. But also: listen to your horse.

I encourage lots of gear-changes – I already described it in the previous post while riding. I do the same on the lunge. I keep my horses busy – body and mind – attention is the key word here. Walk–trot-walk transitions are equally important as trot-canter-trot transitions. For good transitions within one gear, I walk with my horse, I usually use the whole arena to get this nice and active uphill trot and canter. I change directions every 7-ish minutes. I stop, ask the horse to wait for my sign, then ask it to come to the middle. I only change sides “on the fly” while having the horse run free and doing some join-up.

Different horses on different training levels and age etc. require different approaches:

(1) Picture 1: I once worked with a horse in Portugal. He was a former dressage champ, but out of work for a while. His back muscles where basically gone. What you see in the first picture is the result of lunging. I am not getting on a horse that has no muscles to support me and the work I’d like to do.

(2) Young horses get the chance to get used to me, my voice and the equipment, like a saddle, bridle etc., before a rider hops on. by giving the right amount of click sounds, I encourage to help a young or nervous horse to find the right tempo and consistency.

(3) To get a day off the riders weight and influence; I usually lunge at least once per week. Either as fitness and / or pole training or for relaxation. Sometimes the horse is too relaxed to pick up the feet – clonck. Also, when I do pole work, I don’t use the poles each round, just 25% of the entire training session. A bigger arena comes in handy.

(4) Another thing I do: on a Diana-free day, I go running once in a while; good for bonding, as well. In general, variety in training are the best!

What equipment do I use and why?

No matter which style of lunging – fitness or relaxation – I use something that encourages the horse to put the head down and low, but doesn’t pull on the bit or is stiff like side rains or harsh on the neck/pole (I never force the head behind the vertical!); basically, head up, like a giraffe means pressure, head down and low means no pressure. I want the horse to be able to bend sideways, to the left and right. I usually use long double rains and a lunging belt to be able to adjust the length of the rains. I put the lung line through the bit and attach it on the belt. With this, I am able to encourage the horse to bend inside and don’t pull on the bit, but also leave space so it can turn it’s head to the outside. I use the lunge line as arm extension. I want to have a steady connection to my horse – featherlight. Flexibility and elasticity is key; so I only use equipment that encourages that. I don’t want a stiff horse. I also use a whip. My goal it to have it over my shoulder as much as possible which means neutral position. Aiming towards the hind leg and wiggling it a bit means go, aiming in front of the head means slow-down. I try not to touch the horse or actually whip it. It caters as the extension of my arm – back to body language and voice. So both arms have an extension. When the horse goes around clockwise, lunge in the right, whip in the left hand and vice versa. I’m crossing my arms in case I need to hit the breaks and put the lunge in front of the horse.

Before this gets too long: I should take a video where you see me from the outside and hear what I’m saying. Maybe some live demos, with a proper camera and microphone. I am always keen to share my experience, just hit me up for a session.

Apologies for the video quality, it’s hard to hold a lunge line, whip, work with the horse and film simultaneously.

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Videos

First time riding and jumping a horse is always exciting... #showjumping #performancehorse #dressage #dynamicstraining #dynamichorse #agilitytraining #agilehorse #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse this is not a #thoroughbred but I'd be happy to help you with #pretrackwork #offtrackwork #pretracktraining #pretraining #flatwork #racerecovery #ott #fromtracktohack #younghorse

🐴 Showjumping Training Tips 🏇: During a training session, keep the rhythm, sit still, and aim for the center of the jump. When you're doing a figure of 8, make sure your horse is straight before it takes off. Use the outside-bend exercises to help here. Between a double, sit still and find your rhythm. After the jump, before you turn, make sure you go straight for 2-3 strides. In case your horse is very nervous, bring it to a stop. If you are more advanced, you can reduce the strides to go straight after the jump and make it a real figure of 8 instead of a bend-straight 2-3-jump-straight 2-3-bend. Happy riding! Hit me up, I'm happy to drive out to you anywhere greater #Brisbane area. #showjumping #performancehorse #dressage #dynamicstraining #dynamichorse #agilitytraining #agilehorse #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse this is not a #thoroughbred but I'd be happy to help you with #pretrackwork #offtrackwork #pretracktraining #pretraining #flatwork #racerecovery #ott #fromtracktohack #younghorse

#Racehorse no 3: he seemed to know #dressagework and was so pleasant to ride. Still unbalanced on the right and had difficulties to start canter on that side. As mentioned, I believe it is important to do #crosstraining / #balncetraining - just wondering; is there an English expression for #Ausgleichstraining ? Training muscles, stretching or the like to counterbalance / counterpoise / compensate whatever training an athlete does. For #equestrians for example: #stretching the backside of the body, especially the hamstrings, doing rotations with the upper body, creating a greater mobility for the upper body, especially shoulder blades; anything that is opposite to how we sit on a horse - which i quite static in most parts of the body. This destresses muscles and fosters a better seat and body control for the next riding sessions. It definitely makes us feel better, so why don't we also allow our #performancehorses to destress? I'm happy to help :-) #thoroughbred #pretrackwork #offtrackwork #pretracktraining #pretraining #flatwork #racerecovery #ottb #fromtracktohack #younghorse #dressage #dynamicstraining #dynamichorse #agilitytraining #agilehorse #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #performancehorse

Just found one more vid of that beautiful #racehorse mare. She was the loveliest and most ambitious out of the 3 that I rode. It's the same session as below. Here you see how she tries to find a comfortable position. Fully concentrated - ears to the sides. The day before her whole neck was a broomstick, with very little chance for my hands to get through. In general, I try to keep my hands as steady as possible and just give slight, light and sensible massaging movements towards her mouth, to gain her trust and encourage her to seek my contact. My draw reins are relatively long; just to avoid the giraffe/cobra pose. I want to show her that down and low is the way to go. The day before we had no steering, look how much better she is already. I wish I could have worked with her more. She also enjoyed belly rubs and cuddles and would have followed me around half the day just to ask for more. She's just one of those horses you don't wanna leave. #thoroughbred #pretrackwork #offtrackwork #pretracktraining #pretraining #flatwork #racerecovery #ottb #fromtracktohack #younghorse #dressage #dynamicstraining #dynamichorse #agilitytraining #agilehorse #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #performancehorse

Chapter Racehorse – Crosstraining #2 This beautiful thoroughbred mare is still actively racing. However, she has probably never experienced dressage training. This is day 2! Day 1: her neck felt like a broomstick and I had no steering. Da 2: we managed to go in circles without the help of the fence. She also managed to yield her pol bit by bit and stepped forward to the bit with more confidence. She tries very hard to get it right and to understand what my aids mean. It was hard work for both of us. Training both sides equally by engaging the hindlegs and bringing them under the centre of gravity as well as working through the whole body is crucial for a good muscles development and balance - also for running straight. I'm doing this through gymnastics on circles 10-20 m, changing hands a lot: going in serpentine or drawing a figure of eight. This would be the next training-step, after she understands steering a bit better. #racehorse #thorougbred #pretrackwork #offtrackwork #pretracktraining #pretraining #flatwork #racerecovery #ottb #fromtracktohack #younghorse #dressage #dynamicstraining #dynamichorse #agilitytraining #agilehorse #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #performancehorse

Chapter Racehorse – Crosstraining #1 Short Detour intro: Since 2006, I worked with many young and green horses in different professional stables. I don’t like the term < to break a horse in > I prefer the Dutch version < zadelmak maken > which translates to < make the horse ready for the saddle > or in better English < prepare the horse for the saddle >. Back to the topic: #racehorses were new to me. The horses that I rode were still young – between 4-6 years old, but already used to the rider and training and a challenging as well as noisy environment – I felt safe -phew. However, they’re still green when it comes to #dressagetraining They literally train one-sided. Think off a race course, which way around do they run, clockwise or anti-clockwise? The horses I rode were used to anti-clockwise, so left-hand. Which means that the whole muscular system on the left is trained more/differently, than on the right. My work here: improve #balance #straightness – so I ride them as if I ride a young and green horse and follow the #dressagetrainingscale #Ausbildungsskala 1 Rhythm - Takt 2 Suppleness - Losgelassenheit 3 Connection - Anlehnung 4 Impulsion - Schwung 5 Straightness - Geraderichten 6 Collection – Versammlung In all of them, you want to achieve Thorougness – Durchlässigkeit The first three levels are key for a young horse: forward riding with a light connection to first find their rhythm and balance. Think of riding a bike. Are you able to go straight if you go super slow or is it better to ride a little faster? Speed brings stability. Once they find their balance, they can relax and focus on something else, the connection with your hands and leg-aids for example. Are you ride or left handed? Try to do something with your unusual hand. Needs training, doesn’t it? Same with trying to start canter on the unusual hand. The horses I rode were used to left-hand canter, so trying to start them on the right hand took a few

Chapter Transition – Competition Preparation #6 The best training is where the beach is Zion is the horse from my #lunging chapter. After a few weeks, his #backmuscles were strong enough to support my weight and to get back into some nice #dressagetraining #onthebeach. This was our favourite training spot. He loves the ocean and is grumpy when you don’t go down to the beach with him. #letsgotothebeach Video credits @pipasosorio muito obrigada #intervaltraining #dynamictraining #agilitytraining #agilehorse #dynamichorse #trottransition #cantertransition #activecanter #mediumcanter #ridewithyourseat #Übergänge #Trabübergang #Galopp #Mittelgalopp #Aktivergalopp #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #competitiontraining #performancehorse #showjumping #younghorse #equestrian #equine #dressage #equestrianstyle #horselife #Pferd #Reitunterricht

Canter transition - Dynamictraining

Chapter Transition – Competition Preparation #5 And more #Transitions #Cantertransitions where harder for him as you can see. He tried his best. #workhard #dynamictraining #agilitytraining #agilehorse #dynamichorse #intervaltraining #trottransition #canter #activecanter #mediumcanter #transitionchangesidetransition #ridewithyourseat #Übergänge #Trabübergang #Galopp #Mittelgalopp #Aktivergalopp #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #competitiontraining #performancehorse #showjumping #younghorse #equestrian #equine #dressage #equestrianstyle #horselife #Pferd #Reitunterricht

Chapter Transition – Competition Preparation #4 Transition #Transition Transition - of any kind Somehow, every horse you see, I just put back to training. The transitions are not 100%, but we train hard, step by step. Make the transitions short first. How long can you explosively sprint when you were out of training? Make sprints short, but as powerful as possible and increase the duration slowly. #Powersprint #intervaltraining #transitionchangesidetransition #ridewithyourseat #trottransition #activetrot #mediumtrot #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #competitiontraining #performancehorse #showjumping #younghorse #equestrian #equine #dressage #equestrianstyle #horselife #Pferd #Reitunterricht

Chapter Transition – Competition Preparation #3 Transition #Transition Transition - of any kind – today canter-walk-canter We’ve just brought him back in training-mode. First transition was a bit imperfect, second already much better. Ride with your seat: your back, your hips, your legs and sensitive hands. #ridewithyourseat #canterwalkcanter #horsetraining #horsetrainer #sportshorse #competitiontraining #performancehorse #showjumping #younghorse #equestrian #equine #dressage #equestrianstyle #horselife #Pferd #Reitunterricht

Outside-bend-horse

Chapter Gymnastics – Competition Preparation #2 As promised, I reveal my one out of two standard training techniques I apply on every horse. The #outsidebend #Außenstellung Basics: apply it during walk on a straight line first before you go into a bend, like a 20 meter circle or smaller and a good meter or two away from the outside fence. The outside leg is key. Apply it the same way you would, if you’d bend your horse to the inside. Reins are necessary, but come secondary. It’s not about pulling the horses head to the outside. It’s about listening to both of your legs and reins – control at any time. The outside rein is the new inside rein and the normal inside rein is your new outside rein. Imagine, you ride clockwise / right-hand-side. Your left leg needs to ask for the bend as well as your hand with spongy movements, feel your horses mouth with as much sensitivity as possible. Your right hand keeps a steady connection and just goes with the horses movement. For me it helps sometimes to go with my left hand towards my knee, to show the way to horses, who are not used to it. Once this works, you do the same in trot, canter on smaller bends, even down to 8 meter circles. It’s also a fantastic way to loosen up your horse when you start, jut use the same technique, but on a long rein. I use this quite a lot and change hands doing it so an outside-bend becomes an inside bend or vice versa. Change sides, change bends and you’ll feel your horse becomes more and more flexible throughout the whole body. The outside-bend engages the inner hindleg much more compared to a standard always-inside-bend riding-methos. It also strengthens as well as stretches the muscles on this side. The advantage for a #showjumper is that you are able to ride to any obstacle with a straight horse. It always helps to have the horse straight right before the jump. How do you do it? Ride the turn with a slight outside-bend and straighten up the horse in the last bit of

This is the video of the last post's pictures. #horsecompetition #horsetrainer

Lunging horses

Chapter Lunging #1 Why is #lunging important to me & what do I want to achieve? One important goal for me is that the horse learns to listen – it’s also a bonding, respect and attention exercise. Thus: talk to your horse. Voice and body language are super important. I talk to my horses a lot – quietly, sometimes all the way through, mainly with young horses; sometimes not so much, once you feel in sync with your buddy. Reward by voice for eeeeevery tiny thing that went well. It’s such a reward, you’ll see. But also: listen to your horse. I encourage lots of gear-changes – I already described it in the previous post while riding. I do the same on the lunge. I keep my horses busy – body and mind – attention is the key word here. Walk–trot-walk transitions are equally important as trot-canter-trot transitions. For good transitions within one gear, I walk with my horse, I usually use the whole arena to get this nice and active uphill trot and canter. I change directions every 7-ish minutes. I stop, ask the horse to wait for my sign, then ask it to come to the middle. I only change sides “on the fly” while having the horse run free and doing some join-up. Different horses on different training levels and age etc. require different approaches: (1) Picture 1: I once worked with a horse in Portugal. He was a former dressage champ, but out of work for a while. His back muscles where basically gone. What you see in the first picture is the result of lunging. I am not getting on a horse that has no muscles to support me and the work I’d like to do. (2) Young horses get the chance to get used to me, my voice and the equipment, like a saddle, bridle etc., before a rider hops on. by giving the right amount of click sounds, I encourage #rhythm to help a young or nervous horse to find the right tempo and consistency. (3) To get a day off the riders weight and influence; I usually lunge at least once per week. Either as fitness and / or pole trainin