Joy of Riding

14/01/2016

I think this is THE most important exercise I have learned from Amanda Barton, during her inspirering clinics in Denmark :-)

Feel free to share if you know any rider who would enjoy this exercise :-)

En af de allervigtigste øvelser, jeg har fået med fra de mange kurser jeg har redet og været vært for, med inspirerende Amanda Barton :-)

02/02/2015

Many years ago I had a horse that gave me many concerns and challenges. Part of it was because the horse was misunderstood by the previous owners, who had been afraid of it. And part of it was because I misunderstood the horse and trined her too strict because I thought I just had "to brake her strong will".

That created a lot of unwanted behavior. The horse rears, bucked, kicked and struggled. And I could not load her into the truck or ride her outside the arena.

My horse became more and more wild, as I became more and more strickt, and soon we moved into a really bad spiral. I was frustrated that I could not load her into the truck and drive to the course, or just take her for a ride in the countryside. I was sick and tired that I had to plan everything in details and remember to finish my training session when the others had finished, because my horse could not be left by the other horses in the arena.

For several years I trained only dressage exercises and other "safe stuf" in the arena. I was in my comfort zone because I could not manage to work out all that was hard. And since it was not absolutely necessary to load her og ride her in the countryside, I failed to train it.

Only after many years I decided to change my thinking and I began training the things that was really hard, and by breaking the training into very small chunks and stay focused on REMEMBER to get them trained, we ende up being able to load and ride alone in the countryside.

The time with that horse, took a lot of time and energi from me because it was so troubled and I had way to many concerns. Therefore, I have since been very focused on not letting the problem grow that big again. I am now super conscious that I can bring my horse everywhere. And I want to be able to do it alone.

I dont want to depend on help from others, and therefore I have spent more time training traffic, leaving the other horses, truck loading and many other things that do not directly have anything to do with dressage, but will make it easy to bring my horse everywhere. Also to horse shows.

Yesterday I had the huge pleasure of bringing my horse from the paddock into the stable, saddle up and walking her alone in the countryside. And this despite the fact that she is young, not ridden much, and just had 3 months completely without riding practice.

That is freedom, and freedom is equal to joy if riding for me :-)

What is joy of riding for you, and do you remember to train hard things?

//Annette

14/12/2014

Welcome to Joy Of Riding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAvlZR-Hcnk&feature=youtu.be

04/12/2014

By improving your balance in the saddle you can gain better rider confidence no matter what disciplin or horse you ride.

A good balance will make it easier for your horse to carry you and riding will be more enjoyable for the both of you. The risk of falling off becomes smaller and you can keep a nice flow through exercises or jumping if you body is well coordinated..

This exercise is a fun way of training your body, improving balance and coordination..

Have fun and please let us know in the comments below how it works for you :-)

03/12/2014

Do you remember to fokus on the progress?

The other day I was riding one of my horse in the arena and she was absolutely wonderful :-) Så I asked my assistant if she would grab the camera in the stable and film us for just a few minutes..

I had some poles out and I was thinking I could shoot a little video to share some inspiration about polework..

I was working with the poles for a few minutes and then finished my riding, beeing a little dissapointed that it was not as perfect as I wanted it to be for a video..

And then my assistant put the camera away and was overly excited about how well my horse had handled the trot poles..
OMG she was fabulous, she said.. You can't even see she used to have a problem with trot poles anymore.. She has come such a long way!
And my assistant was SO right.. This horse has made so much progress with this work and it was only because I got caught up in the thoughts of making a demo video, that I missed to see how well she did...

My focus shifted back to the positive thoughts about her progress and I promised myself to keep that focus better in the future. :-)

How often does this happen to you? Are you good at keeping your focus on the progress or do you more often get caught up in the search for perfection?

01/12/2014

How can I become more confident at the horse shows and how can I train my horse to be more confident in the showring?

This was a question we recieved from Ulli, a young Austrailian rider, and in this video Annette is giving advice on how to work on the riders mindset and Susan gives advice on the horsetraining part.

How do I become more confident at horseshows and how can I train my horse to be more confident in the showring and not allways refuse the first fence. This w...

01/12/2014

Amongst all my bay warmbloods, I also own a little yellow Fjord horse...Nobody seems to understand why I keep him when, as they say, I use him for nothing.

But it's a lie! That I use him for nothing .. I'm using him to increase my quality of life and to remind me that I have chosen my lifestyle because I LOVE HORSES. I am passionate about training, learning and especially jumping. I am fascinated by the horse's body and how it works and I am excited to teach and find solutions that helps both horses and their riders become more relaxed and happier.

But I LOVE horses. It's fundamental in my life and my Fjord, Ludvig, reminds me of this

01/12/2014

Welcome to all of our english speaking friends :-)

Finally, after many requests, we have launched an english version of our popular danish site (rideglæde). We will be posting lots of free blogs, articles and inspirational videos, to help you stay motivated, keep your horse happy and avoid frustrations and lack of motivation in your riding and training.

We hope you will enjoy it :-)

27/11/2014

Being a jumping rider you might have a challenge on a specific type of fence?

Maybe your horse won't jump the liverpool, or maybe he refuses to jump the combinations?

Maybe you tried to jump another horse and experienced the same problem. And maybe another rider jumped your horse without having the problem. Bottom line...the problem is yours. Not your horse's.

This is quite common. Our problems often lie within ourselves, and not in our surroundings. "The world is not as it is, it is like we are." Which means that we see the world through our own glasses, which are different from the neighbor's glasses, and therefore the world becomes a reflection of our thoughts.

Our brain has a fabulous ability to distort what we experience, and gives that experience a significance which might not fit quite well to the experience. That is the reason why exactly the same situation can be perceived very differently by two different people. It can be quite inconvenient as completely innocent things can get a "dangerous" meaning. Our brain has simply turned a relatively harmless thing, into something very dangerous.

And that is often what is at stake when a jumping rider has a problem with a particular type of fence. The riders brain made the fence bigger and more dangerous than it is "in reality".

The good news is that since the brain can make a specific fence more dangerous. The brain can also make it less dangerous. By changing the image of the fence in you mind you can change your thoughts and thereby your feelings. And when your feelings are changes the problem might be solved.

It sounds like an easy game, and if you know about this problem you also know that is not that easy. It requires some action. Therefore I will give you a brief introduction to what you can do:

* Imagine the fence you have a problem with.

* Note the height, color, location and distance, and create a mental image of the fence.

* Turn down the colors of the fence.

* Make the fence smaller.

* Move the fence further away from you.

Every time you do this exercise in your head, your brain will begin to turn the negative association into a more positive one, and will slowly crumble your problem.

If you do not get the desired result, you might want to get help from someone who can guide it through it. Find a professional who has experience in the tool called "Mapping Across".

If you have any questions or experience with this issue we would love to hear from you in the comments below :-)

27/11/2014

Joy of walking ??

Have you thought about listening to your horse's pace when you take him for a walk on a hard surface?

We often walk our horses on hard surface for many reasons.

We get all kind of valuable information about our horses movement by listening to the pace.

But most importantly we really enjoy the sound and rhythm of our horses hooves on the asphalt. It is almost meditative and so nice to listen to while we get fresh air :-)

How often do you enjoy a good walk with your horse?