Equest Connect Clinic Level 2 – Horse Aware

This is a super fun clinic using many different teaching methods and drawing on all of the rider’s senses to give them a solid understanding of horse biomechanics, not just from a theoretical point of view but from a ridden perspective. This allows riders to know what they should be feeling if their horse is moving correctly throughout its body and to identify when and where their horse may be blocking its movement. This requires more than just a basic knowledge of the footfalls of each gait, although this is an important starting point. Riders should also know how, and which parts of the horse’s body is responsible for what they feel, while at the same time begin to appreciate how parts of their own bodies can hinder or positively influence/lead these movements. This paves the way to the ultimate goal of riding with seemingly invisible aids and changing from riding with very coarse, for want of a better word, peripheral aids to more subtle, central/body/weight/ pelvic/core aids.

The Horse Aware clinic begins with theory, before moving onto in-hand demonstrations and lastly ridden sessions. It includes:  – A lecture and fun exercises designed to help riders really understand horse movement mechanics  – An in-hand demonstration so riders can see a) how much movement there is in various body parts of the horse and in which planes,  b) where horses commonly tense, stiffen and block,  c) what they, as riders, are trying to absorb and  d) how their bodies can alter their horses’ movement patterns​-Ridden exercises to develop the all-important feel of the rider, linking what they have learnt in the demonstrations to how they will use this knowledge for their training in the future.

Please note that to be eligible to enter this clinic riders need to have participated in a Rider Aware Clinic which is the starting point for the entire Equest Connect Program.  More details about the program are on the website Equest Connect – Victoria Hamilton Equestrian