Jean Harris, Riding Coach

The weekend is here, and so is the latest podcast! We ask Bill Noble your questions:

🐴 "I'd love insight to what Bill thinks riders over complicate when riding & also Non Negotiable's when Bill is training young horses"

🧠 "Tips for mentally transitioning for riding two different levels of horses, or two different attitudes and sensitivities of horse."

🏆 "Views on the level to compete at.. ie training and 70% competent a full level above your competition level, or perhaps giving a level a go, as perfect doesn't exist and perhaps you see your horse shining further up the grades"

✨ "Teaching piaffe and passage. Which comes first and why?"

🔁 "How often should you practice a canter pirouette? How often is too much for the horse's joints?"

📜 "What are your perspective on classical dressage vs modern dressage?"

Perfect listening in between rides or while you're on farm chores 👇

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5WZiPvDSEJ2DyivcoJ0Fl2?si=uMBzZVSSR_yvWyb7OY-mLA

Keep the questions coming - send us a message or drop yours in the comments for the next episode!

THE MYSTERIOUS BASICS. Everyone talks about how important the basics are, but what are THE BASICS?
FOR ALL RIDERS, in all riding disciplines, they are:-
- good balance and self awareness.
- a deep, quiet, central seat, that moves with the horse.
- a deep seat means the legs can relax out and around the horse, free to give aids at any moment. The upper body can influence the horse while leaving the arms free to be moved by the horse.
- understanding what an elastic contact is, and having the ability to keep it consistently at all times, no mater what the horse is doing.
- a clear idea of a simple system of aids and how they are given.
- ability to give the aids the same way each time, otherwise how is the horse supposed to learn them.
- teaching the aids to the horse, always getting a clear response.
AFTER THIS THE KNOWLEDGEABLE RIDER MUST.
- apply the aids to explain to the horse what is wanted. What speed, what energy, balance, direction and so on.
- know how much to ask, when to leave alone.
- ability to feel how the horse is balancing itself. (calm, forward, straight).
- understand the feedback from the horse at any moment. (Anxiety, stress, enjoyment, understanding, confusion, fatigue, pain, playfulness).
- also the rider needs emotional self awareness. Stay calm.

JUMPING RIDERS. need all of the above, and:-
- a well established two point position.
- lower leg stability over a fence.

Everything develops from these basics. Most of it is simple but takes time and nobody ever stops trying to perfect it.
-- (My trainers would add, steering with the outside rein).

With horses, if you train slowly you get there faster. Many riders think nothing is happening and don't have the patience.
Some think that the rapidity of the training is the guarantee of the quality. Solid training takes time. It is the effort and the time that are the guarantee of the training.
In the countries where I trained, riding was all basics. How quietly you sit, your co-ordination, your awareness of both your own and the horse's movements. What the aids were, how well they were given, how to help the horse understand the aids. Calmly going 'forwards', forever balancing. It didn't mater how advanced the work was, the basics were how you got there.

A FEW MORE CLUES. - Firstly. - A master rider/trainer will never call themselves a 'Master'. The best trainers are quietly respected and saying so invites instant ridicule among their colleagues. (Who are well aware of each others weaknesses). To most of us born and bred in the European cultures confidence and selling yourself seems fake. Quality is always understated, it does not need to brag.
Secondly. - There are two parts to riding. There is learning to ride properly, and there is learning how to school the horse. (Although they blend together). The top trainers need you to be able to ride well before you school a horse. They cannot have a clumsy, unskilled rider on their valuable horses.
Thirdly. - Master riders are not always men. Even these days women are not taken as seriously.
Fourthly. - Often when a new student arrives, the trainer takes a quick look at them and puts them on the longe. Where they may stay for the next two years. Perhaps less but possibly a good deal more. This is not a waste of time. The trainer has excellent standards and wants you to succeed. They are on your side. If you are serious about it, you will stay and work. Humility is part of the bargain.
Friends. - There are ways of developing a very good seat without being on the longe but every rider needs to eliminate unhelpful habits. That takes time and eyes on the ground. It continues your entire riding life. Students coach each other as part of their training. There is great camaraderie among everyone and lasting friendships.

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GOOD TRAINING. - It depends how serious the rider is, and how much time and effort one is willing to put into it. The serious student spends many years working for their trainer. This means living at the trainer's yard. Once you've found a good trainer the advice is to stay for, at least, 7 years, just to get a solid foundation. (Unless the rider has a backer of course, or lots of money to pay for horses and training). As well as learning to ride it then takes time to learn how to teach in different times and different countries. It's harder than you would think. Even now there are not many 'master riders' and few schools or individual trainers turning them out. If unable to work directly for a master rider, a novice rider can try to find someone who has been trained by one. They must look for a trainer who has worked many years for a master. There are some stunning riders about, but you cannot rely on them always being good trainers. Most novice riders will arrive expecting the trainer to teach them how to school a horse. Instead they will be taught how to ride. This can take a couple of years, or more. No trainer wants their well schooled horses ruined by unskilled riding. To get good one-on-one training the serious young rider may have to leave home, take risks, possibly go to another country and work very hard. Don't make excuses. If you really want it and you're free, you will find a way.

Most people begin to ride by getting on a horse or pony and, sometimes with a little help from an instructor of some kind, eventually manage to walk, trot, canter and jump. That's okay, it's how I started, - minus the instructor. In a crude way I could do a dressage test, jump things, win competitions and teach in a British Horse Society riding school. I was told I was pretty good, but at the back of my mind I knew I had barely started to learn to ride. Then, in 1973, I got a job with a Master Rider, trained in Austria (SRS) and my world changed. After 18 years of riding, at last I could start. The first requirement of a good rider is learning how to do nothing. Just sit on the horse in perfect balance, not disturbing the movement. Sitting, doing nothing but go with the horse until one is skilled at it takes time. For most people a lot of time. - Years. - With legs relaxed out and down, the rider must develop a deep seat that stays quiet and still, going with the horse no matter what happens. While developing the more perfect seat, the rider learns how to give aids on a trained school horse. These aids must be clearly and concisely given, using the right muscles, so developing rider awareness and co-ordination is important. Then the rider must learn how to explain the aids to the untrained horse. After that there are gymnastic exercises to develop the horses' strength, suppleness and other abilities. Doing exercises quickly or too soon, only causes damage to the horse. Everything takes time and serious discipline. A good trainer can guide the rider more thoroughly and quickly. The mindset changes from, 'get the horse to do what I want' to 'what does the horse need from me in order to make it easier for him?' JH