Loving Presence with Horses

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Loving Presence with Horses

Helping dressage riders ride with mindfulness for quality movements .

Grounded in 50+ years in the saddle, 35+ years in upper level positive-reinforcement dressage, 25 years with a Zen teacher, and training in the Hakomi Method of mind-body awareness.

30/10/2025

You don’t make yourself relax around horses.
You just do.
That’s horse-gifted mindfulness.

29/10/2025

People often think positive reinforcement is mostly about timing and treats.
Get the click right, deliver the treat on cue.

That’s part of it. But there's a part happens before you ever reach for the clicker.

It’s in how still you can be inside your own thoughts while your horse is searching for what to do. It’s in noticing the way her ribcage shifts when she takes a deeper breath, or how his ears flick toward you when he starts to understand.

These are little things that you do when you know how to be mindful. Otherwise positive reinforcement can get to feel like a checklist, click, treat, repeat.

Sometimes I still catch myself wanting to do more,
to help my horse get it, to fix, to move things along.
But then if I remember to be mindful and simply notice,
that’s when the training gets focused
and we get real success in training.

24/10/2025

I often notice that what people call good social skills (chatting easily, filling up gaps in conversation by making more comments, knowing what to say) - these things don’t come naturally to those who spend much of their time with horses.

Around horses, silence isn't awkward and you don’t need the right words. What matters is a special kind of mindfulness that I call horse gifted mindfulness, being aware of the quiet wonder of the being you’re with. It's something many horse people may not actually realize they’re practicing when they brush, walk, or ride their horse. It's a presence of listening that can come naturally in the barn, yet can feel rare everywhere else.

You step into the human world and suddenly the rules are different. You’re expected to smile more, talk faster, and act like you know what you’re doing. The wonder and quiet awareness you have around horses can feel out of place. But maybe it’s not.

Maybe being the kind of person who listens before speaking, who notices what’s going on before reacting, and who is comfortable in quiet company, be it human or horse, maybe this is the kind of social skill the world could use more of.

16/10/2025

The love for your horse runs soul deep. But sometimes it gets complicated.
Swipe to see if you recognize yourself ➡️

14/10/2025

Just breathe." Those familiar words before entering the show ring or anywhere you go that gets your nerves on edge. That quick breath that helps... for maybe a minute.

Taking that deep breath is important - it's your first step toward settling your nerves. But what would happen if there could be more to it than a temporary fix?

This is where Horse Gifted Mindfulness changes everything.

Instead of that brief moment of calm that slips away as soon as you step into the saddle, you discover a presence that stays with you:
➡️ Through your whole ride
➡️ Beyond the show ring
➡️ Even when the pressure's on, anywhere, anyplace

Horses show us this deeper way.

09/10/2025

Some canter departs go right and some go wrong. There’s a certain kind of canter depart that makes you smile… and another where your horse runs, resists, or pops their head up, and you're left wondering what happened.

Most riders try to fix messy canter departs by adding stronger aids—more half halts, more leg, more seat. But the real culprit might be balance. If you tip forward at the thought of canter, your horse feels it right away and can’t lift into a nice depart.

Test it for yourself: Trot along the long side toward F, K, M, or H. Plan to canter at the letter, but don't. Instead, just notice - does your body tip forward even a quarter inch when you think about cantering? That tiny shift could be messing up your canter depart.

Next, do the same thing again but this time, ask your horse to canter, staying centered and not tipping forward. If you don't lean forward and the depart still isn't right, Great! You've just ruled that out and know to look elsewhere.

Notice how this approach is different? Instead of adding more aids, you're developing awareness of small details you normally miss. This quiet observation becomes your guide for what to do next.

07/10/2025

The training scale missed something crucial - and it's why 90% of 'bad rides' have nothing to do with technique.

03/10/2025

Get the right bend!' they say. But if you're like most dressage riders, you've discovered it's not that simple. Even on the simple 20-meter circles.
Here's what usually happens to many many riders: Without even realizing it, your outside hand creeps across the withers. It’s like your outside hand thinks it’s the right thing to do, but all it really does is pull your horse's nose off center while their body stays stiff.

Maybe you keep reminding yourself not to do it, but how often does that work for you? Does it keep you from doing the same thing again in a few minutes?

I’m going to give you a simple little fix that comes from over 25 years of training in mindfulness alongside positive reinforcement dressage.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘅 : Give your outside hand a home. Rest it lightly against the outside of your saddle pad or saddle. You’re not pinning it there—you’re simply anchoring it so it doesn’t cross over.

This tiny change does something powerful: it retrains your brain and body to keep the outside rein in a position that actually guides your horse to bend.

27/09/2025

Want to know the REAL reason a dressage movement gets less than a “5”?

It's rarely because you don't know the aids to use.

It's something so subtle that most riders, even professionals, never even notice it.

It’s the difference between:
→ An aid that's a touch too strong
→ An aid that's slightly too weak
→ And an aid that's exactly right

That tiny margin is where the magic (and the “10” score) happens.
That's where you find:
- The perfect bend
- The effortless depart
- The seamless change

But this is what gets skipped over the most: You can't think your way to that perfect touch.
You have to SENSE it.

You can start doing this right now with the free 2 minute audio I created especially for dressage riders. Click here to get the free audio, Too Much, Too Little, Just Right — A Quick Warm-Up for Riders 👉subscribepage.io/wGkCX9

26/09/2025

Dismayed that your aids never seem to work quite like your trainer's do?
Inside leg, outside rein, half halt, you know the right aids and you're doing exactly what they say.

But your horse's response? Nothing like when your trainer does it.
Here's what I've discovered that makes traditional training even more effective: The difference isn't in the aid you use. The difference is in your ability to sense how much or how little to apply the aids.

Most riders are so busy thinking about giving the correct aids that their natural senses get clouded and a bit mixed up in the search for getting them right.

But when you practice sharpening your senses first:
Your horse responds like they can read your mind
Movements flow with unexpected ease
You finally experience a connection that feels like magic

How to practice sharpening your senses? You can do this right now with the free 2 minute audio that I created especially for dressage riders:

Too Much, Too Little, Just Right — A Quick Warm-Up for Riders

Click here to get it for free subscribepage.io/wGkCX9

25/09/2025

Ever watch your dressage trainer apply an aid and think: 'I'm doing exactly that, but it's not working'?

Here's what many dressage riders, even good ones, don't realize about dressage aids: The difference between 'too much' and 'too little' is often milliseconds and millimeters.

Your trainer doesn’t just possess a “better feel.” They've developed something very specific: The ability to recognize exactly when an aid is:

✔️ Too strong
✔️ Too light
✔️ Just right

But the problem is that most riders are told to just 'feel it' (Like that's somehow magically going to happen), instead of being shown how to actually develop the perception that makes the difference.

Want to start figuring out if your aids are not too much or too little and get them just right?

To download the free 2-minute audio, Too Much, Too Little, Just Right — A Quick Warm-Up for Riders visit here ➡️➡️➡️ subscribepage.io/wGkCX9

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