Ridewell Trainwell

Wow! It's such a privilege to work with other coaches and I'm gob smacked at this review.
I have gained a lot of horsemanship tips from Amanda watching her work in the round pen at Equifest and I'm in awe of her style and acumen over jumps. One of these days I'm going to get the opportunity to have some training with Amanda too! But it won't be over jumps 🤣😜

Last week I had the opportunity to attend another incredible clinic with Julie Malcolm from Ridewell Trainwell, a biomechanics coach whose work has completely changed the way I think about our position in the saddle, and perhaps more importantly, what that position is communicating to the horse.

At its core, biomechanics is about understanding how the rider’s body influences the horse’s body. Julie teaches you to become incredibly aware of your balance, pelvis, seat, weight and alignment, and how even the smallest change in the way we carry ourselves can completely alter the way a horse moves beneath us.

What I find most fascinating is the subtlety of it. Rather than adding stronger aids or more pressure, Julie teaches you how to refine your own body so the communication becomes quieter, clearer and easier for the horse to understand. A tiny adjustment in the rider can create a remarkable change in balance, straightness, engagement and movement.

It also makes you question how often something we perceive as a training issue in the horse may actually begin with a position issue in ourselves (I know this has been very true for myself!).

If you ever have the opportunity to have a lesson with Julie, or even spend some time watching her teach, I couldn’t recommend it more ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A lovely parcel arrived from teQ this morning. Very swift as it was only packed yesterday!
Let's see what's in it!
There is also some black teqfit shorts for my spring/summer rider fitness workouts. I love the high waist and the just above the knee length!

Lovely morning at the West Auckland RDA indoor arena in Henderson Valley which included fine tuning a couple of young students for North Island Secondary Schools competition which starts next Sunday in Taupo.
Home to play with my ponies and Jezzie is not impressed he is not the centre of attention!

Gorgeous late winter morning in Whitford. I'm off teaching at Bartley Riding Academy arena this morning. The view from my kitchen window and Bartleys is under that mist!

Lovely stop on the way home this morning at Orakei Korako after a super weekend coaching in Taupo.
I got to sit with a troupe of fantail that were gathering insects from the steam terraces and remember my Mum who passed away early morning on the 17th (NZ time) two years ago (also while in Taupo coaching).
Big thanks to Lynley Price and Taupo Dressage group for organising the clinic and to all the riders who came along and embraced feeling weird, finding different feelages and of course all those lovely soft horsey noses. The Kaimanawas definitely stole the cutest nose awards..especially the lovely filly that came to hang arena side yesterday afternoon and was only out of the wild a couple of months ago.

Jezzie was determined to help me sort the electric fence standards, especially if it meant that I'd get the break up sooner so he could get munching. However I'm not sure he helped speed things up. He was very cute though.