After twenty years of studying the art of riding there’s something I have come to realize. Making real progress towards a balanced connection with the horse comes down to two things:

1. discovering the correct techniques.

2. working on those techniques for long enough to get results.

That sounds simple enough, and in an ideal world, number 1. would be taken care of by regular, mainstream riding instruction, as all teachers would be familiar with the basic principles of riding in balance.

Unfortunately this is not the reality. In fact very few riding teachers know how to help their students develop the techniques that genuinely bring horse and rider into balance.

I say this on the basis of my own students’ experiences of regular tuition, plus my knowledge of traditional, widespread teaching practices.

The Missing Link

I have spent the last decade teaching riders the correct techniques that allow them to connect with the horse’s movement harmoniously and then rebalance it effectively through the power of postural engagement.
Almost every single one of these riders said that the approach I taught them was totally different to anything they had learned before (read some of their feedback here).

Through short but intensive courses of teaching riders on the lunge from my base in France, it has been possible for me to introduce a powerful way of interacting with the horse that lays the foundation for that magical state all serious dressage riders are looking for (by ‘serious’ I mean those who aren’t just looking for ribbons!): the holy grail of engagement, lightness, throughness, perfect balance, or whatever you want to call it. Above all, achieving that state without controlling the horse through the reins in any of the multitude of ways that are commonplace in dressage riding.

However people were often getting back to me with the same problem once they got back from their visit: they could not find the support at home to continue developing the same approach to riding and training horses. They could not continue building from the foundations of correct riding that I had given them.

Effectively, I was providing them with the first requirement above – the correct techniques, but not number 2: the support over the long term to follow through with the evolution of body, mind and spirit that becoming an established, skilled and confident rider involves.

This is why I realized that the coaching approach could be an ideal solution for those who are committed to making a profound transformation in their riding.

Coaching is becoming more and more valued for the solutions it can provide in every walk of life, whether it be business, health and wellbeing or relationships. It is increasingly being applied to specific skills, sports and leisure pursuits as a way of promoting remarkable progress and results through expert and fully personalized advice.

How It Works

Coaching is based on the principle of regular one-one-one sessions where client and coach talk together over the phone, following a structured process of working towards results. The supportive, personal relationship that is created provides highly fertile ground for results to flourish.

To evaluate and keep track of what’s going on in your riding, I work with a unique combination of these personal coaching calls and video analysis. My clients take regular videos of their riding sessions and share them with me, allowing me to address exactly what is needed for progress during both our coaching conversations and in the written reports I provide. I make sure you have a clear plan of what to work on, and I provide tools to help you remember what to focus on when you’re working with your horse. Full details of how I combine these tools to give different options are available in the descriptions of my coaching packages.

The Benefits of Coaching for Riders

These are some of the advantages of coaching for riders that are not necessarily provided in the traditional teaching context:

• The time and the space to be listened to!
      There is no time for a two-way conversation in normal riding instruction, but discussion is something that is vital for a solid learning process without gaps and misunderstandings.

• Personal support, tailored to your own needs
      This is what puts coaching in another league from online video courses or reading material that is not taking into account your individual needs. Even trainers and riding instructors rarely give this level of devoted attention.

• Addressing the inner game of your riding, including confidence, centeredness and self-mastery
      Very often what’s really holding us back in riding is on the inside. Becoming an accomplished rider is a journey of personal growth with benefits that expand into all areas of life.

• Getting clear on your goals so you can focus on feel when you ride
      When you are in the saddle, it’s vital to be fully in the present moment with your horse. That’s why you need to have an absolutely clear idea already established of what you are working towards.

• The support you need to follow up on those goals
      Becoming a skilled rider is a tough challenge, there’s no denying it. It’s very easy to get discouraged when breakthroughs are just around the corner. That’s why positive encouragement combined with the exact advice you need is essential.

• The calm and relaxed context you need to fully grasp concepts and techniques and have all your questions answered
      There is an unavoidable level of stress in a riding lesson caused by the urgency of carrying out instructions and trying to do your best. However it has been proven that stress is not good for assimilating new information and skills. That’s why you can make much better progress in understanding important concepts and techniques OFF the horse, in a coaching call, then by applying the properly integrated knowledge to your riding calmly and in your own time, focusing on the feedback your horse gives you.

• Developing the skills to be an autonomous rider, not a perpetual student!
       This last one is where the real magic of coaching lies for riders! It’s so important that I want to go into a bit more detail…

I’d like to explain what I mean here from the point of view of my own experience.

Early in my riding career I became aware of a dilemma: I knew that the skills of an accomplished rider involved a strong inner focus on the ‘feel’ of what was going on between me and the horse, the self-discipline to make regular corrections in my position and aiding, and the mental clarity to decide what to work on in each moment of a schooling session, and how to go about it.

Riding lessons, however, were just about following instructions, one after the other. They showed me exercises to use and corrections to make, but they weren’t helping me develop any of those other skills of an independent, effective and feel-based rider. Instead they made me feel a reliance on the teacher to provide constant leadership and guidance.

Horses are amazingly aware of our energy state around this issue. Being herd animals, their survival in evolutionary terms has depended on their ability to suss out a reliable leader who is worthy of them putting their trust in. Horses are assessing us all the time in this way – when we are interacting with them in any way, including riding – and if we don’t feel the inner qualities of a calm, confident, independent leader, then our horse will know this.

Only when a horse perceives us as a worthy leader will they entrust us with their body in the way that gymnastic training requires. I knew I needed the guidance of riding instruction to know what to work on, but it felt like lessons were not giving me the space or the support to develop the leadership skills I needed to apply the techniques effectively. Studying books and videos helps, but it doesn’t provide a personal interaction – answers to questions, encouragement when you’re feeling down, clarification when you get lost in the fog of confusion and doubt.

Coaching provides all of these things.

It has the personal level of a one-on-one teaching relationship but with that all-important gap – the space that allows riders to grow into confident and independent leaders.

This is why I believe it is an excellent tool for riders to move to a whole new level – to make the leap from perpetual student to a confident leader that their horse trusts deeply enough to follow into a whole new way of moving.

I made this transformation the hard way – from years of being a frustrated passenger, lacking in confidence and skills, to becoming a confident rider with all the tools at my disposition to transform the way of going of any horse I ride.

It took years of determination and searching for the real solutions of riding that make sense and actually work, then working on formulating a system that works for any kind of rider.

Now my passion is to make that knowledge available to riders in a way that empowers them to be autonomous and to feel the joy of connecting to the horse in true balance.

• You want to improve your horse’s way of going in any context by means of regular schooling work.
• You are interested in working on your own riding skills in a dedicated way. By riding skills I mean the way you are connecting with the horse: your seat, posture, aiding – all of the ways that you influence your horse’s balance.
• You are passionate about dressage riding, just discovering it, or you practice another discipline but you want to use gymnastic schooling work to improve your horse’s balance and way of going.
• You are working with a young horse and you want guidance in preparatory work on the ground and in starting riding work.
• You are able to ride regularly enough to apply the advice you will get from coaching to make progress towards your goals – it doesn’t have to be every day, but several times a week is a good start. If you have other commitments and need to take time off during your coaching that’s fine – we always arrange mutually convenient appointments. 
• You are inspired by genuine gymnastic harmony in riding, and you realise that achieving this is a process that takes time and effort. My method is not about creating an appearance or training dressage movements for their own sake. Everything I teach riders to do is towards creating a real postural connection for unity in balanced motion, never using shortcuts, conditioning techniques or any kind of force.

BecomeOne Rider Coaching is accessible and totally revelant to ANY level or rider, from beginner to advanced.

That’s because, firstly, it adapts to your personal goals and abilities, and secondly, it uses techniques that are based on universal biomechanical principles, essential for all riders interested in achieving a balanced, harmonious and empowered connection with their horse.

‘I’m Interested, what do I do now?’

I have created an introductory mini-package so that you can get a taste of coaching for riders before deciding whether you’d like to go for a full package.

The coaching call that is included in the Balance Analysis – on top of a major boost of clarity and direction on the three fundamental levels of your riding – will also give you the opportunity to ask me any questions you may have about working with me.

***AMAZING SPRINGTIME OFFER ON ALL BALANCE ANALYSIS BOOKINGS NOW RUNNING FOR A LIMITED TIME!***

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