Virtual Coaching - Dressage Fundamentals

I want to help YOU achieve YOUR goals with your horse! It’s all about your dreams, and working through whatever your current obstacles are. That’s why I write these free articles and keep this blog. But sometimes that won’t be enough…

If you need more help solving a training problem or mapping out the path toward your goal, contact me for a private consultation.

I am part virtual horse trainer, and part life coach. You’ll get the support you need to do what you know you need to do, as well as mentoring as to what the next steps are with your horse. We’ll work together to specifically identify your goals and make them quantifiable, and then break them down into achievable steps. We can communicate as often as you need, via phone, Skype, email, or instant message. We can review videos from your ride, or discuss a tough decision you are trying to make.

ALSO- coaching for trainers, and those that want to be trainers. How to build your business, how to find new clients, how to help clients identify and meet their goals, how to find the right horse for a client, and how to deal with challenging clients and horses. It’s tough being a trainer in an often cut-throat business, but I’m happy to be on your team and help you through the challenges you’ll face while keeping you focused on the bigger picture and your own goals.

Offering One-on-One Consultations and On-Going Coaching in the Following Areas:

Problem solving, figuring out the next step, and trouble shooting rider confidence, rider’s goals, and horse challenges
Rider biomechanics, position, and aids – often uncovering how your position or saddle are preventing your horse from working correctly
Foundation training for young or green horses, or those coming from other disciplines
Guidance working with off track thoroughbreds, preparing them for any discipline
Guidance choosing a new horse that will have the conformation, movement, and mind for your goals
Helping you find the saddle, bridle, and bit that will work best for you and your horse’s current work

If you’re ready to make a longer-term commitment towards understanding how to train your horse, I’m setting up a program for you!

It’s happened more than a few times where I’ve had someone reach out from a small barn that doesn’t have a trainer. They want to learn, they have a horse they love, they’ve been inspired by what I’ve done with my horses, and they want to know if I can help them. Often too, the barn is either further away, or they are working with a more limited budget, or for whatever reason the frequency I’d be able to work with them is limited. I always go and meet a wonderful person and a horse so full of potential to teach that rider so much, and I just *wish* I had more time to spend with them, I see so many possibilities for them that if I could only coach them on a daily, or even weekly basis, so many things would fall into place for them!

Distance Coaching Program

So I’ve come up with a solution. Distance Coaching. From the comforts of your own barn (where ever that may be), and working within your own schedule, and around your other life responsibilities – jobs, kids, etc, I get it! – for the price of a single lesson each month you can get the benefits of working with me as a trainer on a regular basis!

Together we can watch a video of your ride and discuss what went well and what needs improvement, and I’ll give you specific exercises to do and patterns to ride to improve your bad habits, strengthen your position, or help your horse take his work to the next level.
I can help you identify your long term goals and break them down in realistic shorter term goals, and step-by-step immediate goals to work on so you can see the path forward towards reaching your goals.
We can discuss the suitability of your current horse, or a horse you are considering buying, or discuss how to handle a particular issue you are having with your horse or your riding.
We can discuss the merits of working with one particular trainer compared to another, or one barn compared to another. I’ll help you stay focused on your needs and your goals, and come up with ways to make situations work to best care for your horse and support you in the ways you need to go where you want with your riding.
Coaching on the mental and psychological aspects of riding… recovering confidence after a fall, creating a better relationship with your horse, and finding ways to fit your riding into your busy life, balancing work, family, and horse time without feeling guilty… this is all part of the journey!
Guidance on a fitness and nutrition plan to help you be the athlete you need to be to meet your goals, whether they are big or small! And the push you need to stick to it…
Even if you already have a trainer you work with regularly, I can help you structure your rides between lessons to be more productive and help you make more progress in your lessons, and I can help fill in the theory – the “why’s” and “how’s” behind what your trainer is having you do, something she probably doesn’t have time for in that limited time she has you in the arena. I am not a replacement for a regular trainer, I am a supplement to the regular trainer. There are some things best done in real-time in person, and there are other parts most easily accomplished without the distraction of sitting on a horse in a busy arena while we talk.

With all of these topics, we can have a single talk, or we can talk on a regular schedule if you need help being accountable for taking the steps you need to in order to meet your goals. The website I’m currently setting up will be loaded with tutorials on a variety of subjects, and enough arena exercises to keep you entertained and making progress for years! Contact me now to get started, or sign up for my email list to be notified when the site is live. (See form below)

How is coaching different than training?

In a perfect world, we’d all have school masters to learn on, and access to lunge line lessons as needed, and the free time and money to ride everyday. Trainers would all be well-qualified and honest, and they’d be readily available at a price we could afford at our local barns. Our horses would stay young and sound forever, and go happily in a plain old snaffle.

In the real world, this usually doesn’t’ happen. For many reasons, the riding journey becomes more complicated and we are forced to make compromises to fit it into our lives. With this in mind, it doesn’t even make sense to insist every horse go in a plain snaffle or every rider go in a dressage saddle, but the fundamentals of dressage ARE still beneficial for every horse and rider, regardless of the discipline they choose to pursue. By keeping an open mind, a rider can take the best from each discipline, incorporating cross training for her own skill and to benefit her horse’s mind and body. The tack that works best for the individual horse can be used, and the training approach that works best for the horse’s body type and temperament can be implemented. If the rider wants to show, she will have to find a way to work with all the equipment and rules required by the governing organization, but outside of that, she is free to choose whatever helps her and her horse have the most fun and make the most progress towards their individual goals, at whatever pace best suits her unique circumstances.

Towards that end, I have made a series of tutorials that cover the dressage fundamentals that help a horse and rider best communicate. These principals come from classical dressage and have been time-tested and master-approved, and guide the horse to work in the best balance his conformation allows and to carry the rider’s weight most comfortably. This balance preserves his own body as well as putting him in the best position to be most maneuverable and responsive to the rider’s aids.

My virtual training program is a personalized approach to guide you through these basics and towards a better relationship with your horse. Whether your end goal is a Grand Prix dressage test, a flawless hunter round, or a relaxing trail ride, this is the place to start.

We will discuss your goals, your horse’s background, your riding ability (both physical as well as conceptual), and the facilities and resources you have available, and together come up with a plan that helps you:

progress towards your goals at a realistic pace,
stay excited about your goals and your progress so you can keep up the motivation to stick with your plan (even the tough parts, like eating better or waking up earlier… whatever it takes to meet your goals!),
and uncover the knowledge and skills you need to improve your horse’s training and your relationship with him, taking you to a place where you both enjoy your time together.

This is where my psychology background comes into play. The actual dressage movements are not the hard part. Uncovering the blocks preventing you from riding the movements is the hard part. This is why riders can struggle in a traditional program for years without making progress. Most lessons focus on riding movements, and assume that if the movement is difficult for the horse or rider, continuing to practice it will make it easier. Sometimes this is true, but often it’s not. Oftentimes the movement is hard because something is preventing it from happening easily. It can be a gap in the rider’s understanding, it can be something physical in horse or rider, it can be tack related, and it can even be psychological.

I can help you find and overcome these blocks, allowing you to progress more quickly and easily in the program you are in, or if you don’t have one, using my virtual training program.
I can help you understand the psychology behind riding that makes dressage easy and intuitive, and the psychology of training a horse that will help you feel like you know what you are doing and know how to respond to your horse.
I can teach you how to ride like a trainer, with confidence, compassion, and knowledge.

This is the key to finding that missing piece you’ve been looking for, the piece that’s holding you back from the relationship you want with your horse… the piece that allows for that flawless performance of willing partnership, the piece that helps you reach your goals!

Contact me now and we can start right away!