Booralie Equestrian Centre

1 Spot available to join our lovely little community.. be quick!

Has Your Child Been Begging You For HORSE-RIDING LESSONS???
We are offering 2 day Introductory Courses for beginner riders in the holidays.
🐴2x 1.5hr sessions over 2 days
🐴2-3 in a group
🐴Learn to groom, tack up, correctly mount and dismount
🐴basic riding skills and obstacle negotiation
🐴ages 6-15
🐴various times and days available, or grab a couple of friends and we can plan a time!
ph 0414505093 for more info.

Was great to be out at NRC today for the showjumping with Emma, Sally and Whitney today! Whitney had her first comp on Jezzy (and first ever comp!) taking out 2nd place in both the poles and the 40cm! Sally made an incredible debut on Dutch to win her 50cm class! Not bad after a 25year Hiatus! And Emma put in a brilliant performance on Kingsley for 5th in the 60cm and a super round in the 70cm.. Very proud of the crew for braving the rain this am! And good to see we are making some new horse mums too 🤣🤣thanks Northside Riding Club for a great event 🙂

The most common mistake in rider development is not moving too slowly. It is moving forward before the current level is genuinely ready to support the next one. It usually happens with the best intentions - an enthusiastic student, a willing horse, an instructor who wants to keep the energy high or a pushy parent. A canter that was introduced before the trot was balanced is a canter built on an unstable base. A jump that came before the flatwork was solid is a jump that is going to reveal that gap every single time something goes slightly wrong. Foundations matter more than most students and some instructors give them credit for. Here is why...

1. Rushing creates problems that take longer to fix than building it right would have taken.

A rider who skips the foundational work does not just plateau earlier, they also develop habits and compensations that become increasingly difficult to unravel the longer they are reinforced. The chair seat that developed because the rider started cantering before their balance was ready. The death grip on the reins that formed because the rider was jumping before they had an independent seat. The horse that became dull, tight, or resistant because it was asked to carry an unbalanced rider through movements it was not yet ready for either. These are not minor inconveniences. They are structural problems built into the riding that require going back to properly address. Remember that it is easier to build a new habit than it is to fix an old one!

2. The horse pays the price when foundations are skipped.

A rider who is not ready for a skill does not just struggle with it themselves but they also communicate that struggle directly to the horse through unclear aids, unbalanced weight, and inconsistent contact. A horse carrying a rider who is not yet ready for the canter does not understand why the balance and communication that worked at the trot has suddenly changed. Over time a horse that is consistently asked to work with a rider above their foundation level becomes confused tense and eventually resistant. Not because the horse has a problem but because nobody set either of them up to succeed.

3. Going back to fix the foundation is not a step backward.

This is the one most students and parents struggle with most. Once a rider has experienced the canter or the jump or the lateral movement going back to walk and trot basics feels like regression. It is not - it is the most direct route forward available. A rider who genuinely masters the fundamentals at each level has something to fall back on when the next level gets hard, a foundation of competence and confidence that holds up under pressure rather than crumbling the moment something goes wrong. Every skill in riding is built on top of something else. Balance before rhythm. Rhythm before contact. Contact before collection. Each layer depends completely on the layer beneath it being solid. Rush the lower layers and every layer above them is unstable. Build them properly and each new skill has something real to stand on.

4. As instructors our job is to create the steps, not just the destination.

The students who get to the exciting milestones and actually stay there are the ones whose instructors built enough small achievable steps between where they started and where they were going that there were no gaps when they arrived. Not just getting them to the canter but also building the balance, the independent seat, the correct leg position, and the feel for the horse's rhythm that makes the canter safe and successful when it comes. Every step forward should feel like a natural extension of the step before it and not a giant leap into something the body and the horse are not yet prepared for.

Good riders are not made by how quickly they reach the milestones, they are made by how solidly they built everything that got them there. Take the time to build the foundation and the milestones will come.

How do you handle the conversation with a student or parent who wants to move faster than the foundation supports?

I think we discuss this a lot!

Understanding the difference between rhythm and tempo and teaching it deliberately is one of the fastest ways to improve the quality of everything your students do in the saddle.

Rhythm is the regularity of the footfall pattern within a gait. The walk has four beats. The trot has two. The canter has three. A horse in correct rhythm has an even consistent footfall pattern with no stumbling, irregularity, or loss of sequence. Rhythm is about correctness of the gait itself.

Tempo is the speed of that rhythm, how fast or slow the beats occur. Two horses can both be in correct trot rhythm but one is covering ground at a working tempo and one is crawling at a collected tempo. Tempo is adjustable. Rhythm should stay consistent regardless of what the tempo is doing.

A rider who understands only rhythm will maintain the gait but lose control of the pace. A rider who understands both can adjust the tempo - lengthen or shorten the stride, collect or extend - while keeping the rhythm completely consistent underneath those changes. That is feel and adjustability which is what separates a rider who has a gait from a rider who can influence it.

Many developing riders are focused entirely on staying in the correct gait and have no bandwidth left to feel the quality of it. They are surviving the canter rather than riding it. Trotting rather than adjusting the trot. The moment you introduce rhythm and tempo as concepts to actively manage rather than things that just happen the rider's relationship to the gait changes completely. here is how to teach it...

1. Counting out loud
The simplest and most effective tool you have. Ask your student to count the beats of the trot out loud (one two one two) while they ride. Then ask them to slow the count down without breaking to walk. Then speed it up without running. The voice gives the rhythm a physical expression outside the body and helps the rider feel when the tempo is changing before the gait falls apart. It also forces them to breathe which softens everything else automatically.

2. Clapping or music
Set a rhythm from the ground by clapping or use music with a clear consistent beat and ask your student to match their posting rhythm to it. This is particularly effective for riders who struggle to feel when the tempo is rushing or dragging because it gives them an external reference point to match rather than an internal one to generate. Once they can match an external tempo consistently start taking it away and asking them to maintain it independently.

3. Poles for rhythm
A grid of evenly spaced trot poles is one of the most honest rhythm tests you have. A horse and rider in consistent rhythm will flow through the grid. A horse or rider who is rushing, dragging, or irregular will tell you immediately by how they ride over the poles. Use a simple four to six pole grid at working trot and watch what it reveals. Then ask your student what they felt and where it broke down.

4. Transitions within the gait for tempo
Ask for four strides of lengthening followed by four strides of shortening, back and forth across the diagonal or down the long side. This is where tempo control becomes a real skill rather than a concept. The rider has to actively push the tempo forward and then actively compress it back while keeping the rhythm consistent underneath. When the rhythm breaks during a tempo change the foundation is not yet solid enough and you know exactly what to work on next.

5. Use a metronome
For instructors who want to get precise about it a simple metronome app on your phone set to the appropriate beats per minute for each gait gives you an objective standard to teach from. Working trot sits around 68 to 76 beats per minute depending on the horse. Walk around 48 to 55. Canter around 96 to 100. You do not need to be exact but having a reference point helps both you and your student understand what consistent tempo actually sounds like.

6. Scale it to your riders
Beginners start with counting out loud at the walk and trot, just establishing awareness of the beat and what changes it. Intermediate riders work on maintaining a consistent posting rhythm through corners, transitions, and direction changes without the tempo rushing or dragging. Advanced riders work tempo adjustments within the gait by lengthening and shortening on a specific stride count while keeping the rhythm absolutely consistent.

Rhythm and tempo are not advanced concepts reserved for dressage riders and competition horses. They are foundational to every discipline at every level. A western pleasure horse needs consistent tempo. A trail horse needs reliable rhythm. A lesson horse that rushes at one end of the arena and drags at the other is telling you the tempo has not been established and that the rider may not yet have the tools to set it..

How do you teach rhythm and tempo in your lessons?

In light of times and so much to do we will only run camp on the 8th April. Registration closes tomorrow. please email forms and contact me if u need them!

Don’t forget to register for camps! register before 31/3 to receive $50/day
off second child or more than one day.. !!

School Holiday Camps! Join us for oodles
of fun at our School Holiday Camps! April8/9/15/16.. 9am-3pm. Lessons, horsemanship, arts and crafts .. and the joy of spending the day with the ponies and other horse-mad friends! Suitable for 5-13yo.. beginner/intermediate riders.
pm your email address for registration forms. $300/day with discounts for multiple days/multiple kids!
ph 0414505093. located in Terrey Hills.