Helena Sodergren Equestrian

18/08/2024

I teach all my horses the parking spot. It seems like a simple thing, but it's of huge value since it lays the base of all schooling. It's an invaluable tool when teaching the horse life kills such as waiting, chill, relax and being able to calm themselves down and control their emotions. Being able to wait is super important no matter what discipline or level you aim for. It's also great way to connect and team building.

Dunstan tend to be a bit anxious so I practice the parking spot regularly, every time before we do any schooling. This gives him time to ease into the more challenging tasks and be able to relax in it.

This video shows how I work with the parking spot atm with Dunstan- before his schooling work.

07/08/2024

35 years ago I chose to take a different path in my horse riding. It was my horse Babsan who made me take the turn. She was very difficult and I almost gave up horse riding. That's when Karin came into my life. Karin showed me what true connection with a horse feels like, what true lightness is even high up in the dressage levels. She taught me what true self carriage is, what straightness and balance is and how to get there. She taught me how to help crooked, broken or injured horses recover and come to life again, no matter their breed or background.

This was the time when I gave up competing. The more I learned, the more crooked, unhappy, unbalanced horses I saw. I also saw that good horsemanship wasn't rewarded in competition. "Push and pull" was rewarded and i was already then astonished how little knowledge about biomechanics, straightness, self carriage and healthy riding was out there. The training approaches that were taught were "push and pull"- lots of leg and "catch with the hand". I never ever understood it. The more I learned from Karin, the more I understood that "push and pull" only creates tension- not self carriage, creates compressed necks, clinging jaws, tense shoulders, dropped backs and uneven hind legs.

It is mind blowing- however at the same time no surprise to see where what we used to call dressage has developed today. It's developed into its own "sport" and so far, far away from what dressage was meant to be. What we used to call dressage has turned into circus- a show for an audience.

Even though it's good that it's coming into light, I see so many misunderstandings around what has happened lately. It's not about the 24 whips that CD gave the horse during a minute. It's ABOUT THE WAY DRESSAGE TRAINING HAS DEVELOPED. Taking off nosebands, competing bridle less or without spurs won't make a difference. A complete new way of thinking is needed. A whole new mindset.

I was very lonely with the way I was training at that time, 35 years ago. I chose not to listen to people talking or laughing and just did my own thing, took the path that felt right for me. I'm still on that path and I am so grateful for that.

The article below highlights that it's not about the 24 whips CD gave the horse- it's about the training behind what you see in most of the Olympics riders right now- blue tongue says quite alot about the rider. And it's far from only one or a couple. It's a whole generation.

The equestrian governing body in charge of Olympic riding in Versailles has found pictures of horses with blue tongues caused by oxygen shortage during dressage competition.

21/07/2024

... and then Charlie takes his desensitize exercise one step too far and ripping the thing to pieces 😬

20/07/2024

Desensitized horses? I'm not a fan of exposing horses to flags, plastic bags and other stuff in order to desensitize them - unless they're already in a calm state of mind, mature and ready for the challenge and the aim is to help the horse learn how to handle his emotions and settle himself down. I believe in schooling the horse to build trust and create calmness and peace in mind to reduce stress and spookiness.

I've never worked on desensitizing my horses, and as you see in the video- they do a pretty good job themselves 😃 and my horses are pretty darn chill 😎 🥰

30/06/2024

My horses decided to go for a wander all by themselves. Eventually I found them in the neighboring (massive) paddock. I told them to go home and they did 😆 ❤️ - connectionisthekey

14/05/2024

I want to share this beautiful writeup from my dear many-year-long-student Cyndy, after our lesson yesterday. Cyndy is really putting her soul into her horse Kahu, and she's got the right mindset to become a brilliant rider. She understands that the path to becoming a great rider is long and slow, and that working through the basics is necessary to keep the horse happy in mind and body. She's learning to really understand what freedom in the shoulders of the horse feels and look like. Horses often carry alot of their tension (mental and physical) in their shoulders (similar to humans), and schooling is also a lot about being able to balance the horses mind and body, with freedom in the shoulders as a result. Thank you Cyndy for your wonderful way of putting words to your experience 🙏 ❤️ The photos are of Kahu before and after 🥰

"Thank you so much for our wonderful proactive lesson today Helena.. it has given me lots more to work with..
thinking and initiating in myself through my thoughts and body awareness, what is my intention....
fine tuning through the height and feel of soft quiet hands.
allow the outside shoulder space through my awareness of the outside rein...particularly my right hand.
Being aware of freeing kahus shoulder every step, using counterflexion when needed
initiate a feeling of lifting his inside shoulder and stepping across to help free him up in shoulderin while allowing space for him to step sideways through opening my outside hip.
Initiate when haulting a feeling of lifting his shoulders for him to sit with his haunches allowing space with my body for him to step under himself ..
Wow What fabulous learning all will be so helpful in moving forward.
Thank you ### kahu and cyn 🐎
your a star trainer Helena⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐"

16/03/2024

Another inspiring day in Oamaru/ Waimate/ Timaru/, so awesome to see everyone again. It's especially inspiring for me to come back and see that people have worked on their home works. Many of us have very busy lives and for some of us it's very tricky to fit in riding as much as we want to. I often tell my students that quality is more important quantity and that 15 minutes of intentional work is actually better than an hour just ploddering around. I'm feeling so lucky being able to get to know all these wonderful horses and people. I'll sort out dates for next time, looking forward to it.

24/02/2024

So awesome to see my Oamaru/ Waimate/ Timaru horse family again! I always feel absolutely exhausted but with a high stoke factor after a day up there with you guys.

I'm useless at taking photos, I'm usually too focused on my horses and people. I managed to get one this time of gorgeous team Brenda and Freckles. Freckles and Brenda have been enjoying some nice hacks this summer, which they both love. Schooling is super important for all disciplines, including hacking out. It was nice to see how much they still remembered from last time. We continued working on Brenda's seat, to help her be more balanced and "grounded" to be able to use tiny aids. Freckles is not the most forward horse, and especially for that kinda horse, less is more. It was really nice to see how he starts releasing his shoulders and move more freely- not as a result of pushing him forward but as a result of improving his balance and releasing his shoulders ❤️

Marnie wanted help with building up the topline of her fjord horse whose been out of work due to having foals. I suggested a few ground work exercises to help her improve the vertical balance, which in turn will help build the right muscles in her topline. Marnie has such a wonderful connection with her collection of horses, and it's awesome to see how interested she is in learning properly.

Tania and Ally Cat showed off their canter work- changes from left to right and right to left without difficulty. When I saw Tania and Ally Cat for the first time two or three years ago, Ally Cat couldn't take the right lead in canter. Schooling work has helped him become more symmetric and balanced, which helps his canter. We also worked on opening Tanias hips a bit more, to help her become more efficient in her seat and fine tuning their shoulder ins. I had a wee ride on Ally Cat and he really feels aw- nice and soft and balanced with good rhythm.

I saw Roxanne for the first time with a horse I've seen before- stunning Philly. Roxanne is recovering from a fall and we were doing long reining, which suits Philly very well. Philly gets anxious easily and we worked on keeping the energy levels low and get her to relax so that she could balance herself and stretch out her topline, which tends to be tied up. Roxanne is a perfect match for Philly, it was wonderful to see Philly relax her mind and body and to see how she appreciated being in that state and how Roxanne allowed her to be there. Roxanne is a dressage rider who hasn't really been guided in the classical approach of dressage before. It was a pleasure to coach her as she picked up things so easily and seem to totally understand what I talked about. I look forward to see these two progress in the near future 🥰

Thank you all for a wonderful day, I look forward to next session and I also looking forward to see those of you I missed this round 😊 🐎

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful horses and people 🐎 🎄 🎅 I'm having a white Christmas with family in Sweden this year but looking forward to see you all again old and new clients next year. Photo is from 1987, of me and my very first pony Rosita, in.a cold wintery Sweden.