Tips for training success?

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I had a fab lesson today with Jensen where I explained to my trainer (now re-named after my recent thread....!!) that I realised over the Christmas break that I really needed to get serious about my riding if I was to get the improvements I am hoping for. J has started from just about being able to walk and trot in an arena when I got him on loan at the end of May 2016, to nearly winning his last walk and trot test at the beginning of December (2nd by 2 marks, aaargh!) with the intention of affiliating this year and hoping for BD Novice by the end of 2017.

Whilst my riding has come on no end since I started thinking about/reflecting on what I am doing, I had fallen into the trap of accepting less than good from J, which just isn't good enough if I really want to progress....

Just wondering if anyone (Milliepops??!!!) has any tips for continued improvement? I have weekly lessons booked, I try and think (NOT over analyse as I used to!) about my riding and the 'feel/results' I am getting when I ride, I am aware of keeping a balance between training and 'trying too hard' like I used to....

I am wondering about clinics, intensive training weekends, or getting out and about to different venues (although J is relatively well behaved when he goes out and about, and travel is difficult as I have to hire a lorry each time) - any thoughts please?
 
I think the most important things for continuous improvement are self discipline, consistency, and finding a system that suits you and your horse and sticking to it.
 
daffy44 said:
I think the most important things for continuous improvement are self discipline, consistency, and finding a system that suits you and your horse and sticking to it.
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This, really.

You need to formulate a plan. Go into the school with an idea of what you want to work on. Have a monthly 6 monthly and yearly 'improvement' plan.

Set warm ups and scheduling lessons, clinics and shows with plenty of time for preparation will help your mindset.

Read and watch everything you can. Books forums blogs videos clinics demos etc.
 
Always have short ( the next fortnight ) medium (the next twelve weeks ) and long term ( six months ) goals decide what they are then write down your plan to get there .
Always ride as perfectly as you can every moment you are on the horse ride it as well as you can always strive to maintain the perfect position for what your doing .
Never slouch riding or doing your yard work .
Remember practice makes permanent not perfect you need to be practising the right things .
 
As above, plus I would add: be patient. .. aim high, but remember that your horse doesn't share the same dreams so you can't be in a rush ;)

And don't let the bad days make you feel despondent. Even with everything planned to perfection there WILL be bad days where for whatever reason it doesn't work out. Some times you need to work through a problem, other days it's better to leave it to one side and come back later. And you won't always pick the correct option ;) but you can learn from everything and horses are forgiving :o
 
Not sure what sort of yard you keep your horse on, but my experience was that when I was the idiot on a yard run by 4* star eventers I really strived to reach their standards. When I was the 'big fish' (everything is relative!) on a yard with people who mainly hacked then I know that my standards slipped. Surround yourself with quality and it will rub off!

Keep a diary of all schooling sessions; write down at least one positive and one negative for each, PLUS your plan/ideas to overcome the negative.
 
Start off by remembering that 'Every time you ride a horse you change it. Make sure the change is for the better'
This includes hacking and competing, not just schooling.
Work on the big weakness and knock them off the list.
Make sure you know what you want to work on before each session.
Develop and keep a fixed warm up routine. Use the same routine at comps. This will help settle both horse and rider.
Don't set a time limit on a session. If you have achieved what you planned to in 20 minutes then finish and go for a hack. If it takes over an hour so be it.
Don't be afraid to just finish a session if it is not working. Some days it just doesn't.
Most important of all. If you keep doing what you've always done then you will get what you always get. Sometimes you will need to step back and think outside the box to get the all important break through.
 
I'll add it's better to ride 5 mins a day, rather than 30 mins just on a sunday. I have my horse on a schedule- Monday a nice long walk ride, Tuesday flatwork, Wednesday pole work/flat work, Thursday jumping, friday off in the field or a nice hand walk, saturday flatwork with poles, and sunday either a little jump school or a hack on some hills. That varies the week of a competition (I haven't started back competing since moving to the UK yet- aiming for spring!)- usually 1-2 days off after a hard jump.

No reason you couldn't work out the same system for dressage- basically building up from a long walk for 3 days, day off, then repeat.
 
I've found this thread useful as I want to improve and get out competing a bit. I'd add one other thing and that's surround yourself with knowledgeable people who understand and share your goals and believe they are realistic. If things do go a bit pear shaped, and they often do, you need a trainer who will pick you up and put you back on track, not just ignore the problem. Good luck, I look forward to seeing your reports and who knows, i might even have some of my own!
 
So sorry to post and run yesterday, of course i can elaborate, although you have got lots of good tips from others on this post. You need the self discipline to make sure you school regularly, two or three times a week is enough, but make those times count, do not accept sloppy with anything. For example, just something as simple as walk-halt-walk, the transitions must be clean, you must be able to use a single light aid,(no nagging!), a circle must be circular, straight must be straight etc, all those basics are absolutely essential.

You must be consistent enough to stay with these standards, if one day you want everything correct, but the next day you go for a hack and your horse needs leg nagging to move off, fidgets in a halt etc then you are constantly undoing your training and progress will be slow if at all. You need short and long term plans to help you set your goals, your trainer will be able to help you set these, and will hopefully also give you homework to work on inbetween lessons.

Sticking to a system, is also important, its fine to try a few trainers to find the one that works best for you and your horse, but once you have found one you like/works best for you, really try to go with their system, of course you must question anything you want, but try to work with a system and give it a chance. I think progress if often slower than it needs to be when people have too many different trainers with too many different approaches, it all gets confusing for you and the horse and things dont really change.

I apologise if I've said things you already know, but i hope something i've said helps, and please ask if you have any other questions, good luck!
 
Thank you very much daffy44, that is really very helpful :) Of course that also goes to everyone who has posted, I have really picked up some valuable ideas and thoughts which are really useful.

I am now struggling to set goals, which I had optimistically thought would be quite easy - luckily I have very helpful FB friends as well as the helpful people on here :)
 
I like to make plans (that I tend not to stick to, but I am refusing to give in this year).

So I've decided this year it will go:

Monday - Flatwork
Tuesday - Polework
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Lunge
Friday - Flatwork
Saturday/Sunday - Hacking

Hacking on weekends for me because I like company as my horse is still a bit jittery at the outside world (mainly just at road signs, they are the devil). Plus during the week still, its dark at night by the time I get to the stables and I hate riding in the dark (I'm scared of the dark ok?! I see more monsters in the shadows than he does). When we get into summer, I may take him out during the week for hacks and do schooling at the weekend, or clinics/shows.

I've worked it out for the flatwork and polework what I will do for each week. So for the first 4? weeks, I'm doing lots of bending work on Mondays and lots of collection and extension work on Fridays. Polework starts off as trotting poles and slowly builds to canter poles, if my nerve holds.

Flatwork after 4 weeks (or however long it takes to get him supple again and continuously moving in a consistent rhythm) will then incorporate some lateral work slowly of course, until we get leg yield and shoulder in are sorted. Then pick it up again with extension and collection and medium work too. Collection he's fine on really, getting him to extend is the problem, but I'm hoping the hacking will help when I get him to canter faster up hills.

Polework will build slowly up to small cross poles and small uprights, to small doubles of cross poles etc etc but that is going by my confidence levels, not his ability. He can jump far bigger with ease, but I need to work on not freaking out at how powerful he is over jumps. He pings over jumps in such an odd way to what I'm used to as well, so its about keeping my balance too. I dont think he is odd though, pretty sure what he is doing is correct, but I've only ever jumped riding school horses so in comparison he's gonna be weird.

Thats slower than what you need to be doing really, because we're building up our fitness first, although I'm further behind than him by a long way.
 
I got a good tip off Carl Hester. When teaching something new, do two days in the school on the run, but not a third. Day one is about teaching something and them having a go, they will make mistakes and expect that, by day two they often come out and have a lightbulb moment as they remember it from the previous day. Day three, do something different-a hack etc. Just one day in the school isn't enough to cement it into them. But three days is too much.

Depends on the horse, of course, but it's something I've found useful.
 
scats said:
I got a good tip off Carl Hester. When teaching something new, do two days in the school on the run, but not a third. Day one is about teaching something and them having a go, they will make mistakes and expect that, by day two they often come out and have a lightbulb moment as they remember it from the previous day. Day three, do something different-a hack etc. Just one day in the school isn't enough to cement it into them. But three days is too much.

Depends on the horse, of course, but it's something I've found useful.
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Or just doing something different on the third day is fine. I will do two days of schooling an exercise on the flat and then swap over to poles or jumping, or if it was really intense I'll do a day off. Hacking is hard in the dark :(
 
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