Maureen Sterling Dressage

12/04/2025

All on point

This is a long one so buckle up and grab a cuppa.
Being a horse riding coach can be incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its fair share of challenges. Here are some common struggles:

1. Managing learning styles and levels
- Skill Levels: Balancing lessons for beginners, intermediate, and advanced riders is challenging, especially when students progress at different paces. We all learn at different speeds and styles so we need to adapt every lesson for each horse and rider.

2. Handling Difficult Horses
- Coaches often work with horses that aren’t perfect schoolmasters, which can complicate lessons. Teaching students how to ride challenging horses without creating fear or frustration is a fine line to walk.

3. Physical and Mental Demands
- Horse riding is physically taxing, and demonstrating techniques or riding for hours takes a toll. Additionally, staying patient, calm, and encouraging while teaching can be mentally exhausting.

4. Weather Challenges
- Working outdoors means dealing with unpredictable weather, from scorching heat to freezing cold or rain, which can impact both rider and horse performance, and it seems to always be cold and wet.

5. Safety Concerns
- Riding is inherently risky. Ensuring the safety of students and horses while teaching proper techniques requires constant vigilance and quick reactions to prevent accidents.

6. Financial Struggles
- Riding lessons often don’t generate significant income. Covering the costs of fuel, equipment, and insurance can make profitability difficult. For a lot of us, coaching isn’t our full time job, putting all hours to see you and your horses happy.

7. Burnout
- The job requires passion, but the long hours, physical strain, and emotional investment in both students and horses can lead to burnout over time.

8. Client Expectations
- Managing unrealistic clients who expect rapid progress, can create stress and strain relationships.

9. Balancing Education with Fun
- Striking the right balance between teaching correct techniques and ensuring students enjoy themselves can be tricky. Too much focus on either aspect can lead to frustration or lack of progress.

10. Competition Preparation
- Preparing students and horses for competitions involves a lot of extra effort, including fine-tuning skills, managing show nerves, and dealing with the logistics of getting to events.

Despite the challenges, most horse riding coaches pursue the job because of their love for horses, teaching, and helping others grow, seeing partnerships bloom. So my ask if that your appreciate your coach, give them a cuppa, at Xmas think of them out there late at night. Most of us always move our diary around to accommodate changes. We love what we do and we love seeing happy horses and happy riders.

Please share and tag your coach/trainer

12/03/2025

11/24/2025

I think this is my favorite staffle of all time. It’s on sale. A its a must for Christmas, for any distinguished (showing dignity or authority in one's appearance or manner) Dressage enthusiast!

Enjoy the exquisite model while you admire this flawless bridle.

A bridle designed for riders who believe beauty and performance should go hand in hand. Introducing the Lydia Snaffle — the elegant sister to our acclaimed Lydia Double. Crafted in supple, premium Italian flat leather, this bridle radiates sophistication in classic black. Black patent accents on t...

11/21/2025

A horse handleable by all?

I believe all horses, as much as possible, should be safe to handle in an emergency or in our absence. Someone should be able to go in and halter them, lead them out, put them on a trailer, or some simple thing.

I have helped teach horse handling to first responders in classes of large animal rescue (the rescue of large animals in emergencies) and quite often these first responders - the ones who will be leading your horse out of a barn fire or trailer accident - are not horse people. It's imperative that your horse be safe to handle in these situations, and that their training is not so complicated that an unrefined tug forward of a halter cannot be understood. A firefighter is not going to understand or even think about some complicated system of targets and pulleys and buttons -

BUT

Does this mean your horse needs to tolerate, on a regular basis, poor feel or rude handling? No, I do not think so. And in fact, I think this makes them harder to handle.

I am extremely protective of who handles my young stallion and how. I do not run a petting zoo, and so he (and my other horses) are not available for public entertainment. People have a way of approaching very rudely and for their own needs to be met and creating behaviors out of a horse who objects, which they then punish. I can remember a time a woman, who was asked to not pet my one eyed horse, approached him on his right (eyeless) side and poked him right in the mouth. He opened his mouth in alarm, and she immediately said "oh, what a nasty boy, he bites!" --This is why I do not allow the public to smear themselves rudely over my horses. I don't need them to have to defend themselves from rude touch, and I don't need them to learn how to avoid or go after people (even if those people deserve it).

I'm quite confident my young stallion would be easily haltered and loaded by a stranger. In fact, I have proven this by having him transported across the country by someone I had never met, who had never met him, when I was unable to be present. He got nothing but good reports for behavior. This was not created by a million sloppy and rude interactions with strangers - but quite the opposite.

He never learned how to nibble on people, push on people, or use his strength against people because there never was a necessity for it. And so it was not in his vocabulary - Could it be pulled out? Absolutely. But we don't need to do that. It's not fair to him.

I think it's very fair to expect your horse to be handled on a basic level by most. I do not think it's fair to expect your horse to tolerate ALL handling, especially when it is not necessary.

Think about it: there are levels of relationship. A basic handshake (halter and leading), all the way up to marriage. I can ride and produce from my own horses a certain level of feeling we have developed TOGETHER, like a marriage. I do not expect them to be robots for any and all people, just like I would not expect some sort of wife swapping to produce emotional intimacy. They are gentle enough that someone could ride them without being tossed, and get in the general direction they want - but the rest you have to earn. And I think that's more than fair, its their right.

11/21/2025

What a fun read… how darling💕

Bomb’s Blog

Well well well, howdy gang! 🤠

I hope you are doing well? I’m currently having a more chilled day than expected as my mum has been stuck in schiphol airport due to a cancelled flight - so I’ve had another day of hacking instead of working! 🎉🎉

Life has been pretty good since last I posted - had a nice few weeks of hacking after the Europeans which was 🙌🏻. I had a particularly peaceful few days while the young guns all went off to Nationals, and had a fun time afterwards hearing about all their shenanigans 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️ some definitely channeled their inner Bomb, and came home with halos intact, others embraced the ‘every day is a learning day’ philosophy and I suspect kept mum on her toes 😬 But it does her good to be honest - I think tooooo much winning is bad for her soul, so I told Eggsy in particular to keep his game sharp to keep making her get better. (Also, I think she appreciates me even more after their exploits so win/win 🙊😂)

In October I started training again and at the end of the month we went to a World Cup qualifier in Lyon, France. It was COOOOOL. I mean, the dressage and the jumping was like - same as normal, but it was HUUUUGE, and there were actual cowboys there! Loads of them! I wanted to go and have a go in the Western arena - but mum was all obsessed about my suspensory ligaments or something and said I wasn’t allowed to do any of the spinning and stopping from gallop stuff and I was just like 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😤 I even suggested the handy pony - but no - she wouldn’t do that either - apparently it could have been death by watering can 🤷🏼‍♀️

So focus on the dressage we did 💪🏻 and we didn’t do too bad ❤️ Grand Prix was ok - mum has proper lost her zigzag touch (I mean shhhhh - I don’t think she actually ever found it 😬) so that wasn’t our finest moment, but there were some pretty cool bits. Our music tho - it was 👌🏻 Obvs Sexy Zonic was there so we were second (🙄) but that’s totally cool as he is well fit 🙌🏻 (also - spoiler - a friend of mum’s has the same opinion about Zonic’s dad as I have about ZoZo, so )

After Lyon I had another week of chill and then it was time for a whole new experience- namely the behemoth that is Your Horse Live. Me and some of the other Kids went with mum, Aunty Kimmy and Aunty Anna, and while the other kids had to do a fair bit of work doing demos, I got to meet some of my amazing supporters - it was wild! The first day we did it I was just so excited, and there were so many treats and pats and I just couldn’t contain myself! Mum did actually have to have quite a word with me after I accidentally nearly ate a small child’s entire hand while trying to get the treat from her, no one was harmed and said child actually found the whole experience very entertaining 😅 But mum did feed me the treats on their behalf after that 😬
The second day I got to have a little work in the main arena early in the morning which was cool, and then I maybe had a couple of those yummy 🤥 syringes of 🪄 paste and did some trt before my fans arrived and I was a lot more ✌🏻✌🏻 No children were harmed although mum did treat me a bit like a large dog - growling ‘nicely!’ at me every time I was having a sweet 🙄😂

All in all I enjoyed YHL very much ☺️ thanks to everyone who came to see me - I think my meet and greets were the only ones that sold out…. 💪🏻💪🏻😂

Now it’s back home and back training - getting ready for the World Cup show in London. I LOVE this show so I’m well excited for it - really hope to see lots of you there 🙏🏻❤️

Lots of love
Bomba x

Ps, just heard mum’s rescheduled flight is delayed 😬😬 everyone send calming vibes towards schiphol airport please, otherwise some 💩 is going to hit a 🪭 somewhere 😬🙏🏻🙏🏻😂

11/18/2025

I don't see dressage as just a sport.
Though it's also not only an art.

It is a combat of character.

A battlefield where the enemy is our own impatience, our pride, our need to control what was only ever offered as a gift.

We take up no swords, yet we train like warriors. Spines straight as flags in the wind, legs steady as shields, hands quiet as assassins.

Our horses are not trophies.

They are keepers of an ancient power, descendants of the ones who carried gods and generals, and they do not bend for those who have not bowed to humility first.

We ride to break nothing except the parts of ourselves that refuse to listen.
We ride to conquer nothing except the distance between two species learning trust without a spoken word.

Let the world watch for beauty.
Let judges tally the points.
But we know the truth:

Some victories are too raw for podiums.

Victory is the moment your horse gives you his back, his body, his belief, and you are strong enough to deserve it.

We circle and circle, not because we are lost, but because pilgrims walk in circles
around things that are sacred.

This is not a sport.
This is not an art.
This is a vow paid for in mud, tears, and the truth.

To ride with honor, to train without force, to lead without breaking, to demand nothing we do not first embody.

If horses must carry humans,
then humans must become
worthy of the weight.

11/14/2025

The world can be healed if people learned to ride with honesty.
For riding is the art of meeting reality without resistance.

I learned that from Mr. Valecourt, a brilliant horseman who used to say things like:

“If horses must carry humans, then humans must learn to carry themselves.”

These are some memorable moments from his teachings:

Me: "He spooks at the same corner every day."
Valecourt: "Corners remember what riders forget.”

Me: “My horse won’t take contact today.”
Valecourt: “That is because you offer him your tension instead of your intention.”

Me: "He feels so against my leg today."
Valecourt: “Because you use it as a command instead of a conversation.”

Me (almost crying): “I feel stuck.”
Valecourt: “Good. Stillness is where horses finally hear us.”

Me: "My horse won't work over the back today."
Valecourt: “He stretches only into hands that are willing to let go of control.”

Me: "He won't stay in front of my leg."
Valecourt: "Then stop riding from behind the problem.”

Me: “How do I fix his tension?”
Valecourt: "By not adding yours."

On my last day with him, he simply looked at my horse, then at me, and said:

“Keep listening.”

I laughed because at first I thought he was talking to my horse.

It took me time to realize, he meant myself.

11/13/2025

11/11/2025

When we were kids, they told us, “you can be anything you want.”

That’s true.

But they left out the fine print.

They didn’t tell you about the price you have to pay.

The late nights.

The early mornings.

The failure.

The rejection.

The isolation.

The doubt.

The fear.

The struggle.

They lied about what it really takes to become that person.
..and they lied about how people will treat you when you start becoming them.

Nobody is going to clap for you.

Most people will only watch to wait for the moment you slip.

They’ll criticize you.

They'll question you.

They'll pray for your downfall.

Because when you start breaking out of the mold...

You remind them that they never did.

Let them talk.

You know the truth.
..and deep down...

They know it too.

Success was never reserved for a select few.

It's earned by a select few.

…and there is no reason you shouldn’t be one of them.

Andy Frisella