Sproxton Grange Equestrian

15/05/2024

🐎🤓👌

Tuesday tip - Stretching the neck muscles 🐎

This is a great exercise to use as part of your schooling warm up or try it when you're out hacking.

Ask your horse for lateral flexion in his neck to one side, then ride straight, then ask for lateral flexion to the other side, then straight.

Pick a number of steps for each, for example, 10 steps with left lateral flexion - 10 steps straight - 10 steps with right lateral flexion.

As you ask for the bend it’s important that your horse maintains his rhythm, balance, and impulsion. If he struggles reduce the number of steps you ask for.

Try this exercise in walk first once you’re both happy and confident you can try it in trot and even canter.

Lateral flexion in the neck is good for:

✅ Core stability and balance

✅ Coordination and proprioception

✅ Developing straightness and symmetry

✅ Forelimb movement and expression

✅ Reducing tension and restriction in the neck muscles

✅ Muscular strength, control and suppleness

✅ Neck joint flexibility

13/05/2024

🤩👌💪🐎

This time last year Caroline Powell and Greenacres Special Cavalier packed up from a wet and windy Badminton Horse Trials having finished last place.

A year later, in the sunshine, they leave as winners.

Don’t stop believing.

06/05/2024

🤓🧠👌

Deep Breathing Exercises for Calmness

When performance anxiety strikes, take a moment to pause and focus on your breath. Deep breathing exercises can help calm your nerves and center your mind, allowing you to ride with focus. Breathe in for a count of 4. Hold for 4. Breathe out for 4. Hold for 4. Repeat. This is proven to reset your body and put your into a state of mental focus. 🌬️💫
Remember, you have prepared and trained for this moment. Trust in yourself, trust in your horse, and trust in the process to carry you through any challenge that comes your way. Ride fearlessly! 💪🌟

If Performance Anxiety and Nerves are really making you feel ill, causing your to withdraw or affecting your ability to perform then we have loads of tools and techniques as well as brain rewiring exercises that you can do to overcome the root causes and not just the symptoms of this debilitating issue.

Check out our proven online programs here https://www.flyingchangescoaching.co.uk/links

01/05/2024

We're closing the doors at 11pm TONIGHT to our Flying Changes Mindset Licensed Coach Programme who's in?

ENROLMENT CLOSES 11pm Wed 1st MAY!! Find out more and sign up here - https://flyingchanges.mykajabi.com/licenced-coach-sales-page

28/04/2024

You do not have to be a riding coach to become one of our coaches! People from any profession can transform their lives and that of their future clients by training with us. Our Licenced Coach programme provides a great new career or is a perfect add on for existing rider coaches.

"The journey with Jenni and FCM has been nothing short of incredible. It's not a journey with a defined endpoint but rather a continuous exploration with new adventures awaiting around every corner. I'm filled with excitement for what lies ahead, knowing that I have the support and tools to navigate any challenges that come my way" Jo Alderton Whitworth - accredited coach and BDUKCC3.

We are CLOSING our doors for enrolment on May 1st and only LIMITED PLACES remain, so drop us a message if you want to know more.

26/04/2024

Great exercise 🤩🐎👌

13/04/2024

🐎🤓👌

📌A great Gymnsatics exercise to improve your Trajectory as well as your horse’s Responsiveness!

HOW TO:
👉During your warm up in trot, start doing the poles in the circles.
👉Move on to canter and when you are ready practice the cavallettis on both reins.
👉Combine the whole exercise introducing the transitions.

THE EXPERT’S ADVICE:
✅The circle helps in bringing your horse back to a balanced and supple pace.
✅Remember to prepare your transitions in advance.
✅During all transitions it is important to keep impulse and balance, both during upward and downward transitions.
✅If your horse is not responding well simplify the exercise by doing a circle without the trot poles or by intruding a full halt.

⤵️If in doubt, drop a comment!
📌Un ottimo esercizio di ginnastica per migliorare la tua traiettoria e la reattività del tuo cavallo!

HOW TO:
👉Durante il riscaldamento al trotto, inizia a fare le barriere in circolo.
👉Passa al galoppo e quando sei pronto, passa sui cavalletti ad entrambe le mani.
👉Unisci l’intero esercizio introducendo le transizioni.

I CONSIGLI DELL’ESPERTO:
✅Il circolo aiuta a riportare il tuo cavallo in equilibrio.
✅Ricorda di preparare le tue transizioni in anticipo.
✅Durante tutte le transizioni è importante mantenere l’impulso e l’equilibrio, sia durante le transizioni a salire che a scendere.
✅Se il tuo cavallo non risponde bene semplifica l’esercizio facendo un circolo senza barriere oppure introducendo un alt.

⤵️Se avete dubbi, scriveteci nei commenti!

10/04/2024

🤓🧠👌

😫Feeling imposter syndrome or perfectionism stopping you from feeling good about riding or competing?

💪Here are some ways you can overcome it…

📝Find as many examples as possible of -

✅1- how you have improved, overcome issues or moved past challenges in your riding
✅2- how many times you’ve pushed yourself and had a positive outcome or experience
✅3- find 3 successes that you have had in riding- these can be anything not necessarily competition results
✅4- stop comparing and start being inspired. If you find yourself comparing yourself to others and feeling you aren’t as good, change that thought process. Instead look at how well that other person has done and find inspiration. How did they do it? What can you do too? Use it to fuel your fire instead.

09/04/2024

02/04/2024

31/03/2024

🛑 SLOW DOWN FOR HORSES 🛑
Are you aware of the Highway code changes. When you see a horse on a road, you should slow down to a maximum of 10 mph. Be patient, do not sound your horn or rev your engine. When safe to do so, pass wide and slow, allowing at least 2 metres of space.

28/03/2024

☀️ As the days grow longer and the weather warms up, it's time to step up our game in protecting our equine companions! 🐴 EIDS reminds horse owners, yards, and competition venues to prioritise biosecurity and hygiene measures, especially when travelling horses to events and clinics.

With spring in full swing, it's the perfect season to safely hit the road with your horse. Here's how you can ensure a fun and secure outing while safeguarding your equine friend from infectious diseases:

🚫 Avoid letting your horse interact or touch noses with unfamiliar equines.
💧 Bring your own water and hay while travelling, and only use taps to fill water buckets.
🧴 Carry hand sanitiser and regularly clean your hands.
💉 Keep your horse's vaccinations up to date.
🌡️ Monitor your horse's temperature routinely to detect deviations from their normal resting temperature.

Let's make this season a healthy and happy one for our horses! 💪

27/03/2024

💙💛🤍 Exciting news … we are open for arena hire from Saturday 30 March 2024 🐎🐎🐎🤩🙌👌

We have some extra bio-security procedures in place to protect our livery horses so please do follow these when you visit SGE:

🐎 Using hand sanitizer before entering yard building to use the toilet facilities
🐎 Staying within the cordoned off areas and not entering the livery only areas inc stables, turnout pens, wash areas, muck heap, kitchen and training room
🐎 Avoid touching other horses, avoid nose to nose contact between horses, bring your own buckets, equipment and water. Poo pick any of your horse’s droppings outside the arena and take them home.
🐎 Take your horse’s temperature before you come to make sure this remains within the normal levels and ensure your horse has no other symptoms indicating they are unwell
🐎 Make sure your horse’s vaccinations are up to date
🐎 Not allowing your horse to graze anywhere at SGE
🐎 We will be regularly disinfecting heavy use areas with Equine Bio Genie

Thanks for your co-operation to ensure all our horses remain safe ☺️🐎🙏🤞

Please DM if you would like to book a slot.

🤍💛💙

27/03/2024

🤩🐎👌🌟

We commit to the ethical and fair treatment of all horses and other equids under our care ❤

Today, we’re uniting with our member bodies and other industry leaders to endorse the highest standards of equine welfare, wellbeing and ethics under a new Charter for the Horse 🤝

The charter outlines the actions we all must observe to meet the mental, physical and behavioural needs of each individual horse, under six headings…
1️⃣ Empathy
2️⃣ Care
3️⃣ Respect
4️⃣ Consideration
5️⃣ Ethics
6️⃣ Learning

Read the full charter and find out more 👉 https://bit.ly/BEFCharterForTheHorseLaunch

Want to show your commitment to our horses? Download a copy of the charter via our website and display it on your tack room wall or venue notice board 📌

22/03/2024

🤓🐎🤩🧠👍

A timeless one from Molly Sivewright!
If you aren’t training your mind as well as your body then you are only developing a small part of you. In fact I’d go as far as to say if we are only developing physical skills and not mindset then we are setting ourselves up to fail. The mind trumps the body every single time!!

21/03/2024

🐎🤩🥰👌🙌

Horses = happiness 😍

It's that simple! 🙌

20/03/2024

🤓🐎🤩🙌

What makes a Champion?🏆

Taking aside the actual technical/psychical skills, these are some attributes that will underpin your system. Depending on your character, some will be more natural than others, and some will need developing.
Feel free to add more in the comments….

✔️Grit. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Things go wrong all the time (annoyingly), whether that be a run-out, a horse going lame or circumstances testing you, get stuck in and make it happen. Who are you when things go wrong?

✔️Open mindedness. ‘The second you think you know it all, you know nothing at all’. Always stay coachable, be willing to look at new perspectives, be open to feedback; whether you take it on or not is a different matter, but never stop trying to learn.

✔️Sweat the small stuff. Call it marginal gains, the 1%’s, world class basics, whatever you like but if you don’t care about the small details, you’re going to be leaving gaps in your training because ‘success is made up of thousands of small wins, not 1 giant one’.

✔️Train for the future. It’s all well and good to manufacture a clear round for this weekend, but without a doubt it will come undone at some point. Training long term is the fastest way to real success. Acknowledge what’s happened previously but don’t anticipate it.

✔️Accountability. Who are you when no one is watching? Holding yourself to high standards when you nobody else is watching or when you think you can ‘get away’ with a sloppy transition etc, is not going to help you long term.

✔️Logical. It’s important particularly working with animals and lots of moving parts, we stay process driven, logical, and do not become emotional. When we let emotions get in the way, we get erratic, loose control of our aids or the pressure, and nothing good comes from that. Rather than panic that the fence has gone up or when in a pressurised situation, stick to your training system. You are responsible for your horses welfare and education, and if something is going wrong, understand why, then find the solution.

✔️Expectation. Most people will speak about discipline leading to success but I prefer the idea of setting expectations for yourself and then holding yourself to account. What do you expect of yourself, your horse, that event, that transition, and don’t settle for any less. Be clear with your words to yourself, how many times have you joked about ‘just staying on’ or ‘getting round’, you’ve just set the expectation.

✔️Effort. Everyone likes the idea of improving, but will you actually go above and beyond to put the effort in? It is a coaches responsibility to teach you the technical skills to ride, it is up to you, the rider, to actually apply them, though hopefully your coach is inspiring you to want to put the effort in.

✔️No excuse culture. There is generally always a reason for something not going to plan. You can have an unfortunate pole, frustrating pole, annoying pole, but not an unlucky pole. Luck is about determination meeting opportunity. Did you give the horse every opportunity? Nobody learns anything from excuses, analyse what actually happened in a logical way and you’ll find a reason, a mistake or a gap in training, not an excuse.

✔️Self aware. ‘There is no self improvement without self awareness’. I think it’s really fun to link a mistake to a weakness, connecting all of the dots in your web, looking at X happened because of Y. Did you apply the correct aid? Was it at the right time? Was there too much pressure? This is one of the fastest ways to improve.

✔️A good loser. ‘When you’re not winning, you’re learning’. Every time something doesn’t quite go to plan, don’t label it as a bad day, use it as an opportunity to learn and make sure you don’t make the same mistake next time.

👊🏽

14/03/2024

🤩👌🙌🐎

Small steps outside of your comfort zone can lead to big leaps in growth 🐴🐎 🤩

08/03/2024

🤩🐎💪👏

🏇 Don't let negative thoughts define your worth as a rider. Instead, cultivate a growth mindset and focus on your progress.

Remember that improvement takes time and dedication. Embrace the learning journey, seek guidance, and celebrate your achievements along the way.

You are capable of more than you think! 💪

06/03/2024

🤩🧠🐎🤓🙌💪

Your goals may face obstacles, but it's your mindset that determines your success.

Don't let external factors hold you back. Cultivate a determined mindset, break down barriers, and find solutions to overcome the "things" that stand in your way.

You have the power to achieve greatness—believe it! 💪🌟✨

05/03/2024

💙💛🤍 Our interior barn stables are nearly finished 🐎🤩💪 We have four 12x12 stables with rubber matting fitted by Quattro Products Ltd and automatic drinkers 🐎☺️👍 We have also been painting, and installing lighting, cameras and saddle / rug racks. These will be finished very soon. We have two horses moving in shortly and then two remaining available on a full livery basis, please DM for details 🐎🐎👌 🤍💛💙

05/03/2024

💙💛🤍 Just a reminder that it can be a nice sunny day ☀️ amongst all the rain ☔️ 😂🤩👏 🤍💛💙