The Questions We Ask Ourselves After a Ride

After a ride, while I'm making my horse comfortable, my mind is full of ideas, questions, emotions and fragments of the feel of the ride.

Whether I've been riding or coaching, I'm just as interested in these thoughts as I am in the ride itself. I know they'll influence the way I prepare for the next one. The questions we ask ourselves after a ride influence far more than we might imagine. They become part of the way we prepare, the choices we make and the experiences we create with our horse.

It's natural to ask why after a ride.

Why did that happen?

Why did my horse...?

Why did I feel like that?

One of the most valuable things I was taught as a rider was how to untangle them.

Instead of asking,

Why does my horse drift left?

I learnt to ask,

How does my horse drift left?

How can I support my horse so they can develop the strength and understanding to become straighter?

We begin to think about how we communicate with our horse, how we prepare for each exercise and how our partnership develops. One of the most important questions we can ask is,

"How can I support my horse?"

Learning isn't something separate from riding. It's about sharing the present with my horse, getting to know them better and finding the feeling where we are together. I know the feeling I'm aiming for. It's ease of movement, trust, harmony and the moments where my horse and I seem to arrive at the same answer together. That's the feeling I return to every time I ride.