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Contact
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Challenge
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Starts March 19
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Contact 〰️ Challenge 〰️ Starts March 19 〰️
NEW 3 day Challenge
March 19-21
The Goldilocks Zone
Getting the contact ‘just right’
In this FREE 3 day training you will learn to discover the "Goldilocks Zone" of correct contact...
🌟 where it is not too much (behind the bit),
🌟 not too little (above the bit),
🌟 but JUST RIGHT ("on the bit").
We will share with you our no-tears approach to finding the right contact
using biomechanically-based principles and classical techniques.
🐻 No Gadgets!
🐻 No Rollkur!
🐻 No Horsie Bondage!
🐻 No Hold and Drive, No Spank & Crank, and No Sad Horses!
If you’re experiencing any of the following problems, then this 3-day training is designed for you:
1. Still struggling with getting your horse consistently on the bit
2. Still struggling with your horse dipping behind the contact, behind the bit, and behind the leg.
3. Can’t get your horse to stretch open and out, reaching correctly for the bit.
4. You find yourself falling into bad habits of working backwards with the reins.
5. You love the concept of the horse truly stretching into the contact but you don’t know how to create it.
6. You are a little confused because there is so much conflicting advice out there about what is correct.
7. It feels like you understand what to do, but it still doesn’t work. You’re missing something invisible.
If you’re a heart-centered rider who loves dressage, and wants to improve your contact, but you are disgusted by advice that just tells you to hold MORE and drive MORE, slap on the draw reins, or crank your horse’s head into position, you NEED this 3-day Challenge Experience….
PLUS, IT’S ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Course begins
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March 15
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Enroll Now
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Course begins 〰️ March 15 〰️ Enroll Now 〰️
The 2024 Aware Rider programme
live online course Combining an exploration of mind-body theories with the practice of Feldenkrais lessons.
How to ‘be’ with your horse so they really enjoy being with you.
In this, our fourth course of The Aware Rider series, Thomas, Shana, Catherine, Charlotte and Yvonne are delighted to continue the ‘conversation about the conversation you have with your horse’.
The 11- week course is all about how to ‘be’ with your horse so they really enjoy being with you. The aim is a happy horse who actively seeks contact with you AND enjoys the training process. And who doesn’t want that!
Combining an exploration of mind-body theories with the practice of Feldenkrais lessons, you will learn new and practical ways to develop your sensory awareness, be more present in the moment, and communicate with your horse so that they feel heard, respected and understood.
We will be concentrating on developing the particular qualities that create the foundations for a joyful partnership between horse and human. There will be six live meetings on zoom with Catherine, Thomas and Shana and, new for 2024, we will also hold two live panel discussions with surprise guests on The Aware Rider themes that most interest you.
In addition, Catherine will teach a second “Awareness Through Movement” Feldenkrais lesson, and Charlotte Rhonwen Zetterberg is creating a series of Feldenkrais audio lessons designed especially for this course called ‘Lose your Mind and Come to your Senses’. And finally, Yvonne Lübcke will be bringing her unique and invaluable insights to equine communication.
The Ritterize Membership
Infuse your Training with Ritterize - your monthly infusion of Ritter Learning. Click on the button to learn more.
March 2024:
Thrust vs. Carriage
A question that comes up in many of our Q&As is about the balance between thrust vs. carriage. So this month we will hold a Masterclass Training on Thrust vs. Carriage: How does this work biomechanically and how can we best work with this in the training of our horses?
The featured exercise this month is called “Super Sonic” and ties into the theme for this month. Even more so when you see that we will be putting two top riders on the Hot Seat this month: Charlotte DuJardin and Charlotte Fry. We will be analyzing two recent tests of theirs and breaking it all down into fine detail.
We had to reschedule last month’s mindset issue on Insecurities. It will be held on March 6th.
Regardless of whether it comes from someone who has belittled you, an accident or bad situation, or a deep-seated anxiety or concern that you are not “good enough”... there are some key mindset shifts that can help you to step outside of the habitual patterns of thinking that you have and explore new possibilities. Catherine McCrum will be joining us for this discussion and we are so looking forward to it!
At the end of the month, during our Hot Seats Session, we will review several members’ videos of themselves riding the “Super Sonic” exercise for this month and give tips and feedback. Whether we review your video or you are just watching, you are sure to come away with some tips that will help you in your riding.
Last but not least, you are going to love this month’s Feldenkrais lesson called “Independent Legs free Hip Joints”. In order to enable the horse to express their gaits, it is important that your seat can move freely with the horse while also simultaneously supporting the horse. This is only possible when you are truly independent with your hips. You’re going to love this lesson!
What a fun month we have in store for you! I can’t wait!
A way of training horses which honors the horse’s mind, body, and spirit equally. A way of viewing our relationship with the horse which honors the horse as a partner in the process.
A way of learning which allows you, the student to be in charge of your own learning and the hands-on training of your own horse. A way that empowers YOU as the one who “holds the reins” (figuratively and literally!!). A way of learning to ride which empowers you, the rider, with the tools to understand the why, the what, and the how.
A way of approaching dressage training which honors your unique authentic vision and choice of expression. An approach that gives you the tools you need in a way that is straight-forward and reliable. So that you can build upon that framework of tools and express what it is that dressage means to you through your work with your horse.
A SINCERE Approach
Our approach towards dressage is an optimistic way of looking at the training of the horse. It chooses to focus on the positive rather than the negative, and cultivate that good, then develop it, so that it builds upon itself.
Building upon that essential goodness within the horse, we connect to the horse compassionately and approach everything we do with the horse with empathy for the horse as a living, sentient being whose soul and intentions are inherently good. As a being who plays a vital role in his training through his willingness, cooperation, and sincerity.
By viewing the horse and our relationship with the horse in this light, our interactions are completely transformed because they come from a completely and radically altered perspective. One which doesn’t treat the horse as an object to be manipulated but as a partner with whom to collaborate.
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