Today I was coaching a student and I was trying to get her to bend her horse more with an open rein aid, rather than pushing the rein into the horse’s neck. All my instructions seemed futile until I thought of a different way of saying the same thing and told her to imagine opening the door with that hand. Suddenly it clicked.

She was able to use the open rein aid to ask the horse to bend more correctly, which also helped in the turning. The horse was a lot happier as he was less restricted with both reins and now able to do what was asked of him properly.

Often, coaches tend to repeat the same phrases / instructions over and over again despite the lack of result or action from the student. It is then the coach’s job to try a different phrase or a different instruction, to see what works better.

Same same but different ; There are many different ways to say the same thing. It is about finding what works for your student.

In another lesson, I asked a student to own the space in front of her (above the horse’s neck) as she had a tendency to collapse and almost ride backwards, which made the horse back off even more. As soon as I said that, she could use her energy and her body language to ride the horse forward and be more in balance. Again the horse responded by less resistance and being softer over the back.

We can only expand our vocabulary and teaching tools by reading, researching, watching lessons, having lessons ourselves, etc. Owning the space was something I got off Ashleigh Sanderson in one of my lessons with her. With Google and so many resources now available online, the world is our oyster.

We only have to open up our shells and be open minded to learn!