Ridden Training Sessions

Esther has developed her own style of teaching, combining the different methods she has encountered over the years. She follows a stepwise strategy in her teaching. The steps have a logical progression, build one upon the other in turn, and also link together in many ways. Each step is a prerequisite for the next one: without energy, you cannot take up a proper contact. Without contact, you cannot create flexion etc. All these steps together are part of riding which Esther then feeds into her concept of riding “in the box” when she is teaching.

A vital part of riding your horse is making sure you understand each other. It is unfortunately common to see a rider ask a particular exercise of a horse, and then for them to get frustrated because the horse is not doing what it is requested. Going back to basics often helps. Esther can help you find out:

• whether you are asking your horse the question you think you are asking
• if you are asking multiple questions simultaneously and the horse does not know which to answer first
• whether you are even speaking the same language as your horse
• if the horse understands the exercise at all
• if “noise” from other inputs is interfering

Once the horse and rider both understand and can perform an exercise, we can then try to fine tune and perfect it and hopefully use the newly acquired skills for the next step in the path to a continually improving partnership. 

All lessons can be combined with a rein pressure gauge or with the use of Franklin balls to make riders more aware of their body and the effect of their position while they are riding their horse.  It can be incredibly useful to start with a session on SIM and then to have a ridden lesson on your own horse to cement the what has been learned.

Esther can come to you for private lessons and group activities to work on balance, control of the horse, and effectiveness in riding aids.  She caters for all levels of riders, but always makes sure the foundations of understanding each other’s language or meaning are in place.

In addition to usual 1 to 1, or very small group, schooling arena-based lessons, Esther’s endurance coaching options can be useful to horses and riders of all disciplines.

Price for these lessons depends on several factors:

• Distance to drive to the location
• Number of people in one lesson: individual, shared or group
• Addition of rein pressure gauge or Franklin Balls
• Duration of lesson 

Please contact Esther with this information so she can give an estimate for prices.