LWEquine Training

Should Junior riders learn ‘ connection’ and at what age? Recently I have had a few new junior coaching clients …… some of the stories that have come out from past ‘instructors’ boil my blood 🤦🏼‍♀️🤯. From some saying junior riders don’t need to understand connection to and I quote ‘ lock your arms down and saw’ 🙄💀🤯. I just have no words….. 😶! For me once a rider ( any age ) has learnt to control their own balance and ride with an independent hand they can learn how to connect a Horse/Pony. As long as it’s taught CORRECTLY…….. not using terms like how to get your horse/ponies ‘head in’ ‘make a shape’ etc. As long as it’s explained correctly and your rider ( again of any age ) has it explained to them in the right way and you ensure they fully understand, for me the sooner they learn the better 👏🏻. Below I ask one of my junior riders how to ‘connect’ her pony….. not only does she understand the question, her answer is pretty on point 👌🏻. If you ever struggle to understand what you or your child is being ‘taught’ please don’t be afraid to ask for further explanation!

A great exercise for helping improve engagement in the canter trans…… Short leg yield to the wall then directly into canter 👌🏻, make it easier for younger horses by riding the canter directly onto a 20m circle. Demonstrated here by rising 5 year old Teddy 👏🏻, this was his first time riding this exercise and I think he did a great job of it 🥳😍.

Stuck for ideas on a frosty morning? Last week quiet a few clients had frozen arenas so we opted for walk work sessions. Make it interesting with poles and lateral work, working on leg yield/turns on the forehand and quarters / rein back etc. So much can be achieved in walk and it’s often the pace most over looked. This week myself and clients are really feeling the benefit of those sessions as it’s really helped tidy up a few niggling issues 👏🏻.

Fabulous results from last weekend from clients Deborah and Spyder 👏🏻👏🏻 4th at their 3rd ODE. Massive well done guys 🥳.

Baby cob, backed and off home 💞

Big backer Jonty is back having some further education following a few weeks hacking with mum. #BFG

One of today’s lessons..... Inspired by the Rider Biomechanics Coach 👌🏻

‼️🦄 ONLINE DRESSAGE COMPETITION 🦄‼️ Tests Intro C Prelim 1 Prelim 17A Novice 27 Novice 34 Elementary 59 Elementary 49 Medium 63 Judged by a BD judge and PSG rider 🦄. Intro to Medium , all that is needed is for a clear steady video taken from C! Score sheets will be emailed to you Top 3 placings getting free entry into the next competition 🥳. £5 per test, entries close Friday 27th March. Message the page to enter

‼️💁🏼‍♀️ ONLINE DRESSAGE COMPETITIONS 💁🏼‍♀️‼️ Who’s up for it? Judged by a BD judge and PSG rider 🦄. Intro to Medium , all that is needed is for a clear steady video taken from C! Score sheets will be emailed to you Top 3 placings getting free entry into the next competition 🥳. £5 per test , message or comment if interested and I will set it up for this weekend 💪🏻💪🏻.

🦄 So some of you may have noticed the page name change...... 🐴Although my main focus has been dressage for the last few years, 2019 saw me heading back to my jumping roots more and more. Along with now being panel judge for TSR and SSADL 🥳, as well as a British Dressage Judge I decided a change was in order. So I am heading into 2020 as LWEQUINE Training 🤩, I will be looking at running some grid work clinics along with my regular flat work ones and opening my books to a wider range of clients. So if your looking for a trainer that will get down to the nitty gritty, not just blow smoke up your arse whilst helping you set and smash your goals for 2020 then just drop me a message. 🤗

So after my block work video the other day, I’ve had so many messages asking how we would progress from that. So here you are ..... we move onto this , leaning over then moving around above her and then wandering with me leant over. Shall we say she wasn’t very keen on wandering with me over the first time 🙄🙄, so we have stayed at this stage for a day or two untill she chilled. She’s happy as Larry with it now, so on we get tomorrow 🤗.

🔥 Block work when backing horses 🔥 A question I often get asked is .... ’ will I still need someone to leg me on when they come home?’ NO NEVER, when we back horses here they are done from a mounting block right from the start! The amount of times I hear about horses going off to be backed and coming home still needing leg ups/not standing still and not knowing how to stand at a block frustrates me. 90% of the time when someone sends a horse to a professional be backed it’s because they are an amateur who doesn’t have the knowledge or help themselves. So do they heck want to have to then have to rope in Jack and Jill once the horse is back home, to have to hold it and leg them up! They want to be able to get on and ride away on a confident balanced horse........ that’s what they paid for right? 🤷🏼‍♀️ So here’s a clip of Jazz who was previously deemed dangerous 🙄, doing some block work after her ground work session today. She was happy enough and not fussed about me being above her or bouncing about 🥳 So hopefully tomorrow I will be leaning over and going for some wanders 👌🏻.