12 “lightning” while riding a horse

Have you ever had moments of “lightning” while riding? Maybe your coach said something and you suddenly got the hang of it, or maybe you were working on something new and suddenly you got the feeling that you were finally doing it right. The editors of Noelle Floyd asked their readers this question, and here are the answers they got.

⁃ @simplelifeofshaun Shaun Sellers: “As a beginner rider, the trainer always told me that horses don’t know how much they cost, and our goals are our goals, not theirs. In fact, it was a turning point when I stopped putting pressure on the horses and began to work with each of them as a person, without tying my expectations to their price or my ambitions.

⁃ Joelle Dionne: “The collected gait is not a shortened gait, but a higher one.”

⁃ @mikailaives Mikaila: “For years I was told to sit upright during dressage work. I always thought that my body becomes elongated, and at the same time my butt practically hung over the saddle. I’ve never had a deep seat. It was recently explained to me how to: straighten the chest and feel what it is like to be “drawn to the sky.” It changed everything. Now I can sit deep in the saddle and my seat bones connect in a high seat.”

⁃ @katherinefalz Katie: “You train a skill until it becomes automatic. Training always helps with difficult tasks, even if you get only a few paces right in seconds. Strength grows. Communication of physical and psychological, and vice versa. Understand how every movement of your body affects the horse, explain why it works, and learn how to control it all. Then work on something else, and then start all over again. In these moments, insight usually comes. ”

⁃ @kristinewhitewilliams Kristine Williams: “I experienced uncertainty when overcoming systems until I realized that the second and third jumps are just obstacles that are set at a comfortable distance.”

⁃ Lauren Zeleniak: “More recently, on a horse that could run around if you didn’t lead it with your foot enough, I suddenly realized that in order for it not to refuse to jump and I have enough leg to support it, you need the right seat. The realization of this became our joint victory. Also, for the first time, I realized that I have time to take a couple of deep breaths between obstacles, and I can compare this with my yoga classes.

Hand over Vogus: “The occasion is not the seat belt. Also, it’s not the steering wheel, it’s the brakes. You have to go by foot».

⁃ Brenda Yost: “Praise the horse for his efforts, do not try to achieve perfection right here and now.”

⁃ @zandradoucet Alexandra Doucet: “One of my friends, he himself is from a big sport, explained the position of the leg to me like this: “imagine that water flows along the back of the legs, from the hip to the heel. Now, instead of pumping my hips, I stretch my leg muscles, which completely changes everything. ”

⁃ Rhonda Peterso: “An active leg means less arm impact. For years I was tormented by hearing from coaches that I needed to soften my hand. When they showed me this, I had an insight».

⁃ Kaziah Mass: “Be with him in the jump, and he will jump. This insight came to me at the age of 12 and remained for life».

⁃ @donadt_dressage Ashley Donadt: Moments of insight. Last weekend I rode the Grand Prix (for the first time in my life) with my trainer Anna Buffini, on her Sunday Boy horse. It was an unrealistically rewarding experience to feel all the movements that we have been working on for several months, connecting them all together into a riding pattern. The ride itself was an epiphany for me, an opportunity to bring all the elements together and ride, moving from one element to another. It’s so cool!”

What moments of insight did you have? Write in the comments!