CM SportHorses & Equine Coach

What a day! 🐴✨

Another fantastic polework clinic complete!

We had lots of young horses today working their way through the range of exercises planned — learning from their mistakes, figuring things out and improving as each session progressed. Exactly what it’s all about!

It was lovely to welcome plenty of new faces alongside our regulars, with everyone hopefully heading home with a smile and a little bit of homework to work on. 💪

I absolutely love running these clinics, although by God does the day fly once we get started! 😂

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the refreshments too ☕🍪

Thank you to everyone who joined us today. We hope to see lots of you again for our September clinic!

📸 Don’t forget to tag, share or mention CM SportHorses in your posts — we love seeing your photos and videos afterwards! 💙💛

🚨 LAST SPACES AVAILABLE! 🚨

Our 23rd August Polework Clinic is nearly full!

🐴 1PM — 1 SPACE
🐴 2PM — 2 SPACES

📍 Derby College Equestrian Centre
⭐ NOW IN THE INDOOR SCHOOL

Be quick — don’t miss out!

🎟️ Book via HorseMonkey to secure your slot

This post recapping one of our clinics earlier in the year…

🐴 RAISED POLES WITH A PURPOSE

Working over raised poles in walk, trot & canter — a simple exercise with plenty of benefits!

✨ Encourages pelvic movement & rotation
✨ Increases hip, stifle & hock flexion
✨ Promotes greater hindleg engagement
✨ Builds core strength & stability
✨ Improves balance, coordination & proprioception
✨ Encourages better use of the back
✨ Adds expression and quality to the paces

Changing the pace changes the challenge — encouraging the horse to lift, engage and use their whole body.

Small exercise. Big benefits. 💪🐴

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

The next polework clinic is just about full with only TWO spaces remaining!!

Don’t miss out.

I will run a waiting list if all spaces fill.

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

Our 4th schooling session and only our 3rd ridden… and WOW! 🤩

This boy was absolutely impeccable tonight!

No little “mishaps” 🙈 — he remained relaxed, calm and focused throughout, really engaging with his schooling and staying with me without getting distracted.

Tonight we achieved:

✨ Using the whole school — even the scary bottom end!
✨ No distractions from the house or neighbours at the end of the arena.
✨ Accepted the contact throughout and felt much happier within his work.
✨ Worked a little more on his canter, focusing on keeping his body straight and balanced throughout.
✨ Tried his absolute hardest from start to finish.

Given the school conditions following this prolonged spell of dry weather, he coped incredibly well and remained relaxed and sensible throughout.

The biggest win was simply how happy and settled he felt in his work. He was an absolute pleasure to ride this evening.

Lots still to develop, but for only his 3rd ridden schooling session, there’s so much to like! 🥰🐴

So proud of this little horse. 💙

She was honestly the best she has ever been. She tried her absolute hardest, and so many of the key areas we’ve been working on at home were ticked off — for me, that’s the biggest result of the day.

Unfortunately, showing is showing and ultimately comes down to the opinion of one or two people on the day. We were disappointed with our placings, and it was reassuring to hear that quite a few people watching also questioned the result — but hey ho, it’s all part of our journey!

One thing I did find disappointing, though, was the apparent lack of attention during some of the individual show pieces. When riders spend hours preparing, training and presenting their horses, I do feel they deserve the judge’s full attention while they’re in the ring. It wasn’t just during our show either — something several of us noticed throughout the class.

Can you spot it?! 👀

Maybe I’ll stick to dressage… 😂 A slightly fairer playing field where every movement is marked individually and the judge has a writer, allowing their eyes to remain on the horse and rider throughout.

Regardless of the placing, I couldn’t have asked any more from this little horse. She did her job, showed how far she has come and made me incredibly proud. That’s what I’ll be taking home from the day. 💙