Tips

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  1. Keep a daily diary – especially the key points from you lessons, this will aid your memory and give you a valuable reminder long after the lesson. You can note other thoughts you have, health and injury issues and observations.
  2. Question, seek to understand.
  3. Laugh
  4. Feel the movement, relax, breath!
  5. Remember your horse can’t reason or plan.
  6. Prepare your horse (for the next movement, for the next stage of training, where is his weight, where are his feet?).
  7. Ask him to do things within his capabilities.
  8. Offer your horse respect.
  9. Ensure his gear is well-fitting, safe and fit for purpose and that he is in good health, with well-tended feet and teeth.
  10. Accept his small offerings, and over time build to higher things (don’t overface him or expect too much too soon). However, also keep raising the bar of your expectations, and realise that achieving improvement involves incremental steps.
  11. If you feel angry or frustrated, hop off. If you lose control over your emotions, the best thing you can do is get off. There is always tomorrow. Our famous New Zealand olympian, Mark Todd says ‘hop off and have a cup of tea’. Bell Tea has remained a wonderful sponsor of horse events in New Zealand.