Tag: Horsewomen

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Let’s Get Deep About Your Seat

Ian Leighton on why your position is so important to your horse


Let’s Get Deep About Your Seat.

Learning how to use your seat is one of the greatest changes we can make to improve our riding, our horse’s willingness, his balance and carriage and to help him stay relaxed while using his natural energy.
Use your seat in a way that makes the horse feel like he can do what you are asking of him.
Often this is not explained well and is made much more complicated than it needs to be.
Like anything we do it’s not just a matter of learning the theory and everything falls into place but takes some commitment to become what your horse would like you to be as a rider.


If it takes that much effort to learn why would I want to, or why do I need to?

Imagine riding all day without getting tired or feeling like you are really working.
If we can learn to keep ourselves and our horse balanced and not restrict what he does or “get in his way”(a term that is often used to describe a poor or unbalanced seat) the amount of Continue reading Let’s Get Deep About Your Seat

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Keeping it Real

Real Women who Ride

Keeping it Real

I’ve been enjoying some travel time with Ian, teaching and supporting Ian’s training workshops as well as finding a bit more time for myself and our own horses.    I’m not much for annual resolutions, but taking some time out at home for the holiday break I’ve found myself thinking about what I set out to accomplish during 2017, and found that my path meandered along as I found new things to be inspired about.  I don’t believe that our path in life is straight, and it’s the winding bends that sometimes reveal the most amazing view.

View from the Spirit of Tasmania – Bass Strait

I have aspirations for my horsemanship, goals if you like, things that I am continually working towards.  It is only on reflection that I realise I’ve achieved more than I think I did.

There is no doubt that working with horses requires a great many qualities, both internal and external, but I think the most important is having an honest dialogue with yourself.  Regardless of your level of riding ability, we can all do little things to make a difference in our pursuit to be better horsemen and horsewomen.

This week I had thoughts that I had disappointed my horse – I set myself up for failure by not keeping the situation real.  My failure was small in the scheme of things, I lost my balance riding and had an unexpected dismount.  Nothing hurt, but I worried my horse during the process – on remounting I had to suck it up a little, find that inner confidence, and accept that I had created the situation and was accountable for what occurred.

Accepting that things don’t always go to plan is part of the process, there is an inherent risk in working with horses, and one that in order to progress we must be mindful of.   One thing I know, I need to work harder off the horse on my fitness, core strength and balance, so that on the horse these critical things are more solid.  This is never more evident as a mature rider than when returning to riding after a break, bringing horses back into work after a spell, riding young or green horses, or when building on training techniques which require me to have control over how my body operates so that I can more readily maintain and correct my balance.    I need to spend more time in the saddle, working on what needs to be worked on to get these things solid.  Never forget those foundations – the basics of softness, balance and relaxation, and allowing my horse to move forward encouraging these elements, and breathe so that I remain soft, balanced and relaxed.

One thing I am now more confident and secure with is keeping the whole thing real.  I am at where I am at physically, and acknowledging this as I work on being a more fluid, balanced rider is liberating.  Taking the realistic approach allows me to take a step back as I need to, and then taking that step forward with the knowledge that I am more capable and committed to doing the work that needs to be done.

This is where we need to keep it real.  To progress as riders, we need to be physically up to the challenge, and it can be a challenge.  This past 12 months I’ve worked steadily to be more physically up to the demands of riding, and in having this honest dialogue with myself, I need to do more.  This doesn’t mean signing up to the gym or running up mountains.  For me it means doing more exercise in a way that fits in with the demands of my lifestyle, and committing fully to the daily exercises set by my physio in order to have my body functioning in a more dependable way.   To life an active life, I have to be more active – and let’s be honest, working with horses is active.

I am fortunate to meet many riders in our travels, from many different backgrounds, with vastly varying degrees of ability, experience and fitness, each one balancing the demands of their life with their desire to improve as horsemen and horsewomen.   We all have one thing in common, our love of our horses and a willingness to do better by them.  Keeping our successes and failures real and in perspective is important to our growth as riders, and to do better by them we must work to do better by ourselves.  If you need a motivation to work on your fitness, remember how much it will benefit your horse and your riding.  Find those 30 minutes a day to do that something better, find them to feel better and live better.  If you need a reason to find those 30 minutes, look at your horse.

I will continue to work on this as we do everything, both on and off the horse – one step at a time.

Oh, and sometimes the view from home is the very best view of all.

Liz Leighton © January 2018

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Harder versus Smarter?

 

Liz enjoying a ride

Recently after a conversation with a wonderful friend, I started thinking about modern life and the common belief that to be successful you just needed to work harder.  There is no doubt, to be successful takes dedication, perseverance and commitment, but perhaps it also takes a rightly timed opportunity and sometimes just a little bit of luck.

I once heard someone in a position of professional influence state that if young employees wanted to get ahead in their career they would need to work harder and for longer hours for no more reward than their contracted wage or salary – that was the thing that would be recognised and the way professionally forward and up.  With an extensive career in organisations that supported this management style, I’d had some experience with the pressure placed on people and the stress and reduction in overall productivity that resulted.

From what was said, it could easily be interpreted the perceived act of working harder and longer hours was in some way more important that the substance produced.    How could an observer identify whether that time was used productively or efficiently?  A person could also take from this that even if they gave it their very best in fair exchange for what was being offered, why was the expectation for more the thing that would be ultimately rewarded.

Perhaps this is not what the speaker intended, however the management context in which it was said made me question this overall corporate and often adapted lifestyle ethos.    It set me wondering about how we interpret the concept of working harder and how we apply it to what we do.  Did quantity outweigh quality, and if they were to be considered equal, why was there an acceptance that more for no more in return was ethical.  How did it transpire that establishing an environment of inequality could still elicit loyalty, effort and ultimately success?

I am very aware of the consequence of working long pressured hours, and the resulting occupational disengagement, burnout and stress that results.   I am also aware of situations where this approach has been applied to horse training, and the consequences.

 

It made me think that if this speaker applied this approach to working with horses, how successful would they be? Could they believe working a horse harder, or faster, for longer periods, with little or no release or reward would extract more potential or achieve a greater training result in a shorter time?
 
If we trained horses the way many corporations manage people, how successful would we be?
 

I think most horse people would agree that this approach and mental attitude would not encourage or foster successful sustainable development or training.  Working a horse physically harder or for longer periods won’t expedite a more positive result – it would likely be detrimental to long term physical and psychological development.

I thought about my life and the capacity we have to influence others through our own actions.   It made me think about my personal professional philosophy of fostering and supporting a proactive and engaged team-based environment, and that a sense of contributory equality and maintaining this balance was the key to long term mutual success.

Horses and people have a lot in common.  Pushing either to the point of frustration or exhaustion is neither productive or conducive to long term success.    Expecting a result when neither has the developed skill set to successfully demonstrate or deliver the desired outcome is an exercise in futility, nothing will improve unless you ensure the foundations are in place.  And foundations are more than just the basics, foundations are everything accumulated through learning and experience up to the point we are at now.   This takes time, guidance and practice.  In fact, you never stop building those foundations.

Corporate management could learn a lot from good horsemen and horsewomen.  It’s not about how hard or fast or long, it’s about encouraging and creating solid foundations which foster and encourage a positive work ethic, and importantly recognising effort and rewarding it that makes good training.

There needs to be sense of equality between the parties.  Creating and maintaining a healthy balance as incrementally you improve on what’s already there is how you build success.  In fact, creating a healthy and sustainable lifestyle works the same way.

Sometimes this means working a little slower and removing the pressure, and taking the time to fully understand and get the task at hand done well.  You have to be consistent and fair to yourself, and others working with you, and apply yourself to the best of your ability taking into account the foundations also held by the rest of your team.

Perhaps if corporations managed people like the way we should be training our horses, they could have a more willing, engaged and contributing workforce.   Finding and maintaining that equitable balance, where effort is recognised and rewarded.  That really would be applying the more modern concept of working smarter, not harder.

Just a thought…………

Liz Leighton © July 2017