True North Equestrian

23/10/2024

“Stirrup placement is such an important part of a rider’s position. Having your stirrup in the right place on the ball of your foot is the foundation for the rest of your body as a rider and affects how you can properly use your legs, seat eyes and hands. Having elastic, following arms and hands are ideal, as is a correct upper body position going with the motion and staying in balance over the fences”

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity. This week....

06/10/2024

💙❤️💛 You can be champion anywhere, anytime. Excellence and progress = winning. 💕

www.TonyaJohnston.com

06/06/2024

Things my young horse has taught me about sport psychology

Success is not linear. Highs, lows, forwards, backwards. Buckle up.

Keep your head down but chin up by setting small goals. One foot in front of the other and you’ll be amazed to see just how far you’ve come without realizing it. You’re getting where you’re going, you’re just not there yet.

Progress is a reasonable expectation, perfection is not. Perfect often gets in the way of good enough.

The outcome is never within your control. Your effort and attitude are.

Mistakes are a good thing. It means you’re learning. Put your ego aside and and be coachable.

Appreciate the process. You get to do this, you want to do this, you don’t have to. Riding, especially competing, is a privilege not a right.

Emotional control is mandatory. Lose it on your own time, not on your horse’s time.

Ask for help. Learn something new. Try something different. It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

Resilience and confidence are flip sides of a coin. Exhibit resilience to grow your confidence, establish resilience by leaning into your confidence.

23/05/2024

Imagine you’re assigned a partner project in school. Only one of you gets to read the directions for the assignment, and then you have to explain it to your partner in a language that is secondary to both of you. You’d expect some miscommunications and misunderstandings, right?

That’s basically what’s happening while riding a horse. Whether in a lesson or a ride of your own direction, you as the rider are the only one who knows the assignment. It’s then your responsibility to relay that information to your horse, speaking through intention and cues that are a second language to both you and your horse. Your horse doesn’t understand what your trainer is saying he’s supposed to do - he’s relying on you to tell him.

Keep this in mind any time you’re riding and you feel like your horse isn’t listening, or you get frustrated with a missed distance or a sloppy transition. Remember that you’re the only member of this team who knows the assignment, and your horse is relying on you to tell him the game plan. Sometimes we make mistakes in our cues or our timing, we start thinking too many steps ahead or we forget to clue him into the next movement in time. Sometimes the horse is a little distracted, or tired, or not feeling it today. But most of the time, he’s doing his best he can with the information you’re giving him!

07/04/2024

19/03/2024

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.  This week...

18/03/2024

As show season approaches, I share my thoughts on the blog on why Equestrian Canada's coach status program misses the mark.

Last summer, I participated in a focus group in which Equestrian Canada requested feedback about their coach status program. When it was my turn to speak, I shared my concerns about the program. As a young professional with a small number of showing clients, the cost of licensing is prohibitive. If....