Bell Mountain Eventing

Yes. They keep us humble for sure. ❤️

The more you know, the more you know you DONT know! It’s one of the ways they keep us humble… 🐴🥰

⚖️ Balance is about keeping your centre of mass over your base of support- it’s not what you feel is balanced or what you normally do. The rider in both of these photos is balanced because of where their weight is distributed.

The biggest difference between the two positions is the height of the rider’s centre of gravity - not whether one is balanced and one is not.

Before the comments start, this is NOT saying riders should ride upright in a jump saddle 🤣

The point is that a rider should be able to smoothly move between these two positions while remaining balanced.

If a rider cannot move between them without the horse even moving, then they are unlikely to be able to control those same changes once the horse is moving underneath them.

And that matters because in canter, gallop, and jumping, the rider’s centre of gravity is constantly changing height and position.

A rider who cannot control those changes often starts compensating by:

* swinging the lower leg
* tipping too far forward
* bracing against the stirrup
* gripping with the knee or thigh
* losing stability in a half seat
* collapsing onto the horse’s neck

This is one reason riders can feel secure in one fixed position, but lose stability the second the horse’s movement increases.

A lot of riders are not actually dynamically balanced.
They are balanced only in one familiar shape.

That is a huge difference.

Yes - riders have different body shapes, mobility, and proportion but physics still applies to everybody.

Dynamic balance means being able to adjust your body position while remaining stable over the stirrups 🙌.

How balanced are you?

“This ain’t no dressage show, baby!” says Desi.

We ran Modified last weekend at Queeny Park Horse Trials and finished the best we could, on our dressage score.

Unfortunately, all three of the fellow competitors in my division encountered problems in the show jumping which resulted in elimination for them. This meant that Desi and I were the “Last Men Standing” and we just needed to complete XC for the win.

But not only did we complete it, we ran double clear and I am so proud of my boy for finishing the weekend on his dressage score and coming home sound and happy (the most important part)!

📸: J. Sweet Photography unless otherwise stated

Happy Motivational Monday, KCDS family 💙
Think about your riding journey like building a toolbox. Every ride, every lesson, every challenge adds a new tool. The longer we ride and the more experience we gain, the more equipped we become to handle whatever comes our way with confidence, steadiness, and feel for our horses.
But here’s the truth: the real growth doesn’t come from using the tools we’re already great at. It comes from reaching for the ones that feel a little uncomfortable… the ones we’d rather avoid. That “icky” point? That’s where the magic is. When we intentionally work through those sticky moments, we expand our toolbox in ways that truly make us better horsemen and horsewomen.
It’s easy to stay in our comfort zone and do what feels good all day but that won’t move us forward. Progress lives in the effort, the patience, and the willingness to try again when things aren’t perfect.
And as you reflect on your ride, remember this: choose self-reflection over comparison. Your journey is yours alone. Instead of measuring yourself against others, look inward. What did you learn today? What tool did you sharpen? What small step forward did you take?
Keep showing up. Keep building. You’ve got more tools than you think and you are capable of more than you realize.

Monday's training.

We should all be aiming to train our horse's to have a gymnastic way of moving.

Whether you do dressage, jumping, hacking, riding for fun etc.

It's not just dressage horse's who should be loose and supple.

Every horse should be able to do some leg yield or shoulder in to improve their suppleness, balance and straightness.

Any breed of horse can be light in their footsteps.
Any size of horse can be soft with their footfalls rather than loud and heavy.

With good correct training, by not cutting corners and taking your time this can be achieved.

Your horse needs to understand your instructions and aids.

You need to deliver a clear and simple instruction for them to follow.

Treat your training as a question and answer session.

You ask a question and see if you get the correct answer. If not then you need to spend sometime on repeating this or re wording your question to achieve the correct answer.

I hope you have found this interesting and helpful.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Happy riding.