Coaching That Starts With the Horse

I’ve coached hundreds of riders over the years, and no two sessions are ever quite the same. The horse and rider in front of me shape the conversation.

I may arrive with an exercise in mind, but as the rider begins to work I’m watching the horse too. I notice their posture and expression, the rhythm and ease of movement, how they respond to the rider’s aids and what changes as we adjust an exercise.

For me, coaching that starts with the horse means allowing those observations to influence what we do next.

Sometimes we continue with the exercise. Sometimes we change the question, give the horse a little more time, return to something familiar or notice that they have already given us the answer we were looking for.

The Horse Is Part of the Conversation

When I’m coaching, I’m interested in what happens when the rider asks a question and how the horse responds.

An exercise might make something easier, reveal a moment of imbalance or show us that the horse has understood more than we realised. The rider may notice a different feel, or I may see something from the ground that gives us another piece of information.

We can use those moments to decide what to do next. We might repeat the exercise, change the preparation, ride it differently or move on because it has already done its job.

The horse’s response is part of the information we are working with.

What Does the Rider Notice?

One of the things I enjoy most about coaching is helping riders make their own observations.

I can tell a rider what I see from the ground, but I also want to know what they felt. Was the exercise easy or difficult? How easy was it to communicate what they wanted? Did something in the preparation influence what happened next?

Over time those conversations give the rider more information to work with. They begin to recognise changes in balance, understand more about their horse’s responses and notice when an exercise has helped them communicate more clearly.

That gives us something useful to talk about together and something the rider can use when they are schooling without me.

Coaching With Curiosity

My own riding continues to influence the way I coach. I know how different something can feel from the saddle compared with how it looks from the ground, and I remain curious about that difference.

That is part of what makes coaching so interesting to me. Horse, rider and coach can each bring information to the conversation. We can observe what is happening, try something, notice the response and use what we learn to decide what comes next.

For me, that is where coaching that starts with the horse begins.