Things to focus on in riding lesson

[Fruitcake]

I know this is something that will be specific to individual riders and horses to some extent but I’m after some inspiration...

My instructor has asked me if I’d like to choose a focus / things I’d like to do in my lessons. (Usually, I tend to just ask her to give me a lesson and see what she thinks I need to work on but I’ve hit a bit of a wall recently).

What sort of things could I choose to focus on? I’m looking for things I could come away feeling I’ve improved with and feel a bit of success.

Would people mind sharing some of the things they focus on to give me some ideas? Thanks!

 

[blitznbobs]

Are you doing flat work or jumping?

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Adjusting length of stride within a pace really got me thinking.

 

[EllenJay]

You need to identify what your goals are, so you can structure your lesson with an aim to achieve that. I don't know what your level of riding is, so you goal could be getting 60%+ in an intro dressage test to jumping 130m.

Once you have identified what YOU want to do then you can break down what you need to learn. For example if you want to do a decent intro test, you may want to learn how to do a square halt, how to ride a 20m circle, how to keep your horse straight, how to turn across the school from B to E.

If you want a good hacking horse you may want to learn to cope with obstacles and spooking.

If you want to jump, it may be that you want to learn how to judge strides, how to lengthen/shorten at will, how to tackle different combinations.

Without knowing where you want to go, it's difficult to give advice on how to get there.

 

[Littlebear]

I teach and it’s so individual to the horse and rider you have in front of you.
What do you tend to do? Dressage / jumping ? Have you watched a video of yourself riding and felt there is anything you would like to see improved yourself? What do you think would make you a better rider? What do you aim for?
What’s your horses main weakness?

 

[Rumtytum]

Agree with all the replies. Depends on what level you are and what discipline you want to do. I’m not an experienced rider so started with Intro tests. Now doing Prelims. For me it’s so important to have a goal to work towards. Good luck!

 

[Peter7917]

Have a lunge lesson and focus on getting a tight tummy!

 

[Fruitcake]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll try to elaborate...

I don’t compete but tend to lean more towards flatwork / dressage than jumping. Level wise, after riding all my life, I should be basically well established (all basics with some low level lateral stuff, counter canter etc) but some days, I seem unable to get simple things I can usually do standing on my head. If something doesn’t happen as it “should” or usually does, I get disheartened and easily lose confidence in my abilities.

I’m not thinking so much of big riding goals to work towards (as that tends to end in more failure); more specific exercises / foci that might take my mind off the big picture and help give me some small steps of success and build my confidence in my abilities if that makes sense. I don’t mind going back to basics for some of these.

 

[F&B]

I find that focusing on my self, engaging my core and being aware of how each part of my body is affecting my horse, has the most benefit to my riding and my horses way of going. I have also been riding most of my life so I find unlearning some of my tendencies and replacing them with more useful/correct ones quiet difficult sometimes. For me this is the most rewarding particularly if it improves things for my horse.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll try to elaborate...

I don’t compete but tend to lean more towards flatwork / dressage than jumping. Level wise, after riding all my life, I should be basically well established (all basics with some low level lateral stuff, counter canter etc) but some days, I seem unable to get simple things I can usually do standing on my head. If something doesn’t happen as it “should” or usually does, I get disheartened and easily lose confidence in my abilities.

I’m not thinking so much of big riding goals to work towards (as that tends to end in more failure); more specific exercises / foci that might take my mind off the big picture and help give me some small steps of success and build my confidence in my abilities if that makes sense. I don’t mind going back to basics for some of these.

You need to tell your instructor this and they should work with you to help you set those goals. If they can’t then maybe an alternative instructor. It sounds as if someone like a Mary Wanless “Ride with your mind” coach would help you work on the subtleties of your position to get the right reaction from the horse. Not all instructors understand not everyone naturally feels it but they can learn it. It’s quite fascinating.

 

[Tarragon]

Perhaps working without stirrups as it will potentially show up issues in your riding that are masked?
Or have a go doing in-hand work using long-reins which gives a completely different view-point?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Any teacher, of any subject, should be able to work with you to suggest your next steps. You might have an ultimate goal but the teacher should be able to identify the steps that you need to work through, in an appropriate order. Now may be a good time to look for a new instructor.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

What about gear changes in the different paces and make sure you aren't leaning on their mouth etc. That can be done as a lesson and then you can take away to practice.
Slowing everything down is a lot harder than people think and it can show up as a missed schooling/balance aspect in the horse and you.

 

[Fruitcake]

Any teacher, of any subject, should be able to work with you to suggest your next steps. You might have an ultimate goal but the teacher should be able to identify the steps that you need to work through, in an appropriate order. Now may be a good time to look for a new instructor.

Funnily enough, I am a teacher so should be able to work this out no problem! 😀 The normal steps to planning a scheme of work- from the big picture, right down to the small steps of progress in terms of tiny elements of success criteria, don’t seem to work for me in this instance though! I think it’s precisely down to the fact that, because I see every small step as a step towards the ultimate goal, every time something doesn’t go right, I interpret it as a bigger failure in light of the bigger picture.

Also, I don’t really have a long-term learning outcome or goal as such, other than being able to ride consistently at the level at which I can on a good day and not get myself flustered about mistakes. (Very vague, I know!) My current plan (if you can call it as such) is to forget about any bigger picture for now and work on lots of individual, seemingly random, mini-goals / objectives to try to re-find my positivity.

I absolutely love my instructor: she’s patient, knows me really well and has been really willing to change things and work with me on this in whatever way I want. That’s not to say I’m not open to other advice though. 😊

 

[DabDab]

Is your horse green or experienced?

 

[SEL]

I find that focusing on my self, engaging my core and being aware of how each part of my body is affecting my horse, has the most benefit to my riding and my horses way of going. I have also been riding most of my life so I find unlearning some of my tendencies and replacing them with more useful/correct ones quiet difficult sometimes. For me this is the most rewarding particularly if it improves things for my horse.

I'm doing this right now with new instructor and its hugely rewarding.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Funnily enough, I am a teacher so should be able to work this out no problem! 😀 The normal steps to planning a scheme of work- from the big picture, right down to the small steps of progress in terms of tiny elements of success criteria, don’t seem to work for me in this instance though! I think it’s precisely down to the fact that, because I see every small step as a step towards the ultimate goal, every time something doesn’t go right, I interpret it as a bigger failure in light of the bigger picture.

Also, I don’t really have a long-term learning outcome or goal as such, other than being able to ride consistently at the level at which I can on a good day and not get myself flustered about mistakes. (Very vague, I know!) My current plan (if you can call it as such) is to forget about any bigger picture for now and work on lots of individual, seemingly random, mini-goals / objectives to try to re-find my positivity.

I absolutely love my instructor: she’s patient, knows me really well and has been really willing to change things and work with me on this in whatever way I want. That’s not to say I’m not open to other advice though. 😊

It sounds as if you and your instructor would do well to work on developing your confidence, which will help your consistency.

 

[Fruitcake]

Is your horse green or experienced?

Horse is very safe and experienced. (Professionally schooled years ago so knows his job). He is a saint although could do with a bit of lightening up (probably mainly down to me).

It sounds as if you and your instructor would do well to work on developing your confidence, which will help your consistency.

Yes, this is definitely an area I / we’ve been working on. I think if I can crack that, I’ll be there!

 

[DabDab]

Horse is very safe and experienced. (Professionally schooled years ago so knows his job). He is a saint although could do with a bit of lightening up (probably mainly down to me).


Yes, this is definitely an area I / we’ve been working on. I think if I can crack that, I’ll be there!

Maybe a few lunge lessons then. Have a chat with your instructor about the key things to do with your position that you think hold you back or bug you and then have lunge lessons just focussing on exercises to strengthen in those areas...?

 

[mossycup]

So I'm probably a bit like you in that I overthink/overanalyse and hone in on everything I'm doing wrony, rather than celebrating what's right. Sounds like you could do with just throwing caution to the wind and just having some fun - no stirrups, a whole lesson in light seat, pole work, gymnastic grids, jumping, flatwork to build forwardness/impulsion, lengthening/collecting, new lateral work you haven't done before - taking the focus on to the task at hand rather than your riding as such iykwim?

 

[Fruitcake]

So I'm probably a bit like you in that I overthink/overanalyse and hone in on everything I'm doing wrony, rather than celebrating what's right. Sounds like you could do with just throwing caution to the wind and just having some fun - no stirrups, a whole lesson in light seat, pole work, gymnastic grids, jumping, flatwork to build forwardness/impulsion, lengthening/collecting, new lateral work you haven't done before - taking the focus on to the task at hand rather than your riding as such iykwim?

I think this may be the way forward, actually! Switching the focus to the task / activity rather than the learning objective. The teacher in me says that’s totally the wrong way ‘round but I think you’re right: I need to re-find the joy and maybe forget about improving for now.

 

[Leam_Carrie]

If you enjoy flatwork / dressage pole work can be quite fun. Have a go at doing some exercises. Then you can practice what you need to work on.

Otherwise what about work on riding a intro / prelim dressage test. You could do elements of it each lesson.

 

[be positive]

I think this may be the way forward, actually! Switching the focus to the task / activity rather than the learning objective. The teacher in me says that’s totally the wrong way ‘round but I think you’re right: I need to re-find the joy and maybe forget about improving for now.

If you start to enjoy it then you should start to improve without trying so hard, half the battle is relaxing and feeling what is happening, not over analysing everything you do, I often find that those that try too hard to focus on the small things forget it is supposed to be fun and once they have a slight change of direction the details that previously eluded them fall into place without them really trying.
Be a bit bolder and have a go at something completely new to you whether it is some more advanced lateral work, acute transitions, even a play at changes will do the horse no harm and if you get even the odd moment where it happens you may find you have advanced with the easier things without thinking about them.