As we are still affected by the snow I thought I’d do a little brainstorm of activities to keep you motivated. We are all so good at keeping our horses warm, cosy and happy in the cold weather but do take some time off to reflect and plan. Tear yourself away from horse forums and researching matching sets and read on...
1) Have you set you and your horse achievable and appropriate goals for this year? Review them now, you always feel more motivated after a break and it’s a good time to up the pressure. Chances are your trainer is also having a quiet time at present with the bad weather, why not discuss your goals with them? Any good trainer should be happy to help. Do you have all your dressage tests for the next level? If not buy them now, its useful to know what you should be preparing for.
2) Plan your training for the forthcoming season if you haven’t already. Look into clinics and even residential camps for you and your horse. Many of them book up quickly so get organised now. Perhaps treat yourself to some schoolmaster lessons to give you a head start this season.
3) Look into starting up that hobby/career you’ve always wanted, whether its equestrian art or photography, taking your BHS exams, or maybe starting your judge training. There are also home study courses available or why not take the plunge and plan a trip to Germany or Holland and immerse yourself in the horse culture over there. Use the internet, do some research, make a plan and give yourself a deadline. Perhaps get a friend involved too. Get motivated now! Imagine what you could achieve this year if you put your mind to it.
4) Did you know that just imagining yourself riding and running through the movements in your head can create neural pathways that are just as effective in creating muscle memory as actually performing the action itself? Many top athletes use visualisation to improve performance. So go on,”virtually ride” through those dressage movements. It takes many thousands of repetitions to make something instinctive so you may as well start now, your horse will be grateful for it.
5) Find all of your unwanted items you could sell. If you photograph them now and prepare adverts, you’ll be ready for the influx of enthusiastic buyers as soon as the sun comes out. Alternatively look into local equine boot fairs, or organise one of your own.
6) Give all your leather a thorough cleaning and conditioning, you know once you start riding again it will be put off!
7) Join Horse Hero (www.horsehero.com), a really useful and inspiring website to watch video clips of top riders and trainers in action. Training your eye is one of the fundamental aspects in improving your riding and very few people get to watch top riders on a daily basis. Don't feel bad you aren't able to ride, watching is just as worthwhile. But always watch good riders who you aspire to be like, set your goals high, immerse yourself amongst the best. That is how you learn and constantly raise your game.
8) Do some stretches! Not riding for even a short time means a drop in fitness and suppleness. Make sure you are riding fit as SOON as you get back in the saddle and don’t waste precious time onboard having to regain fitness.
9) Get yourself some decent riding books and take time to brush up on your theory, it is definitely worth it. So often we don’t quite understand the goals we are trying to achieve and we could get so much more from our lessons if we did a bit of homework ourselves. There is an extensive reading list on my website.
10) Think about how you could use your skills wisely this year. It wouldn’t take much extra time to volunteer for the RDA, help out a local riding school or raise some money for an equine charity. Use your passion to make a difference, there are opportunities all around. If you’re more adventurous how about one of the charity rides abroad that the BHS arranges?
Don’t just read all this, go and DO IT! Good luck J
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