Learning to ride is much more that taking a few lessons and driving the horse around like a motorcycle.  It is a process that involves learning to speak "horse" and also learning how you use your own body to communicate to the horse. I believe that it is essential to take time to learn some horsemanship skills and that will leapfrog you ahead in your riding progress even though it may feel a bit slow at first.

My unique approach to working with horses is that I combine natural horsemanship with dressage.  Many adults interested in dressage are intimidated by the complexity and have their trainer ride their horses.  They watch their horses move beautifully and then become very frustrated when they cannot reproduce the same results when they get on their horse.  This is because Respect does not transfer!  Respect begins on the ground and then you can create it from the saddle.

People like to focus on horse training and I think this is a start but real forward progress begins when you focus on yourself.  This requires developing self-awareness of how you use your body, how you learn and process information and how much time you have to devote to your art of horses.  Setting clear goals is a critical part of the equation to allow you to feel successful and to create a doable plan for both you and your horse.

I believe in continuing education and I pull from many disciplines and trainers.  It is amazing the point of view or approach you can learn from someone else.  One of my favorite trainers for groundwork is Clinton Anderson because he shows the problems as well as a correctly performing horse.

I enjoy riding with Sarah Martin because she has a strong ability to verbalize the why and how of an exercise.  When I am learning I prefer a teacher to a coach--what do you prefer?  How do you learn?

What is your philosophy?  Does your current training process and instructor align with your philosophy?