MAY 2013
Overcoming Fear YRS TV - Trot-Halt Transitions From the horse’s mouth - Abe’s perspective Shauleen shares her story Natasha talks about having purpose Book of the Month And so much more!
Ebony Park Friesian Magazine www.yourridingsuccess.com
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JOIN THE DREAM TEAM! Members of the Dream Team Can: Create massive results and success in their riding and in their life Know exactly why, how and when to apply the different aids in their riding, therefore how to train successfully Enjoy being in a room full of like minded people Work hard, by using only resourceful success strategies to get results faster, quicker and easier than ever before Take responsibility for all their results and non-results Just imagine you could be riding confidently, calmly and focused, knowing what you had to do in your training, and in the competition, to get results you had only dreamed of‌
Click here to register your interest and for more information now! I look forward to meeting you and sharing the Dream Team experience with you, so that you can connect with a group of people to reignite your passion of riding and horses and completely transform your riding experience. YOUR RIDING SUCCESS MONTHLY | May 2013 | 2
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Welcome!! :) Hey guys!! What an epic month we have had here at Your Riding Success! We have had 2 Dream Team Workshops and a Breakthrough to Your Riding Success Workshop, and that was just on the weekends! Your Riding Success is having a bit of an overhaul, so that we can be bigger and better and get you those riding results that you dream of! Remember, if you have any questions - no matter how small - just ask! We are here for you! Enjoy the magazine and let me know what you think :) To Your Dreams Becoming Reality,
Kate Langdon
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
3
Welcome!
4
Tash TV
6
From the Horse’s Mouth
8
Mitavite Dressage Expo
9
Who is Ready For
14
the Opportunity of a Lifetime? 10
Overcoming Fear
11
Quote of the Month
12
Tash’s Thoughts
13
Your Gifts are
Member of the Month
15
Purpose
16
Book Review
18
Brag Board
19
Contact Us
Waiting! YOUR RIDING SUCCESS MONTHLY | May 2013 | 3
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YOUR RIDING SUCCESS TV QUESTION: THIS MONTH’S QUESTION IS IN REGARDS TO TROT-HALT TRANSITIONS - HOW DO I GET HALT WITHOUT THE HORSE COMING UP WITH HIS HEAD, AND HOLLOWING OUT OR CONCAVING HIS BACK? THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN A LOT OF DRESSAGE TESTS, AS IT’S THE FIRST THING THE JUDGES SEE AS YOU COME DOWN THE CENTRE LINE! So what are my tips for trot-halt transitions? By the way I LOVE this question. People are often so focussed on getting their horse down the centre line in a straight line, that they forget about doing an effective halt!
bit. This tells the horse that you are about to do something.
The first thing that you need to do when you want to get a good halt, is to actually let the horse know that you want to halt. You can’t just be trotting along, and use your hands to make him halt - you want to do little half halts by tightening your fist, or if you need a stronger half halt by moving your hand a little
So the second step is to prepare the horse to actually slow them down. You can get the horse to do a collected trot - you want to think of them trotting but almost halting.
If you are using these half halts enough, the horse will actually start to slow down.
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YOUR RIDING SUCCESS TV I know it is not possible, but have in your mind that the horse is trotting at halt speed, and you will be able to prepare the horse to halt. You don’t the horse to have less impulsion you actually want the horse to have more energy and more impulsion - you get the horse to be more of a bouncing ball beneath us, so that he is more engaged and more collected under us, so that when we actually ask for the halt, they can do this and stay in balance. What I see so many times when people ask for a halt, is that the horse is not balanced, and so it bears down on the forehand and throw all of their weight down on the front end, so that you have nothing else to do but slow them down with your reins. You don’t want to have to pull back on the horse.
“My best advice to
give you is that when you are asking the
horse to halt, don’t
use your hands - get the horse light first”
You want his energy on the hind end so that he stay light in the halt. My best advice to give you is that when you are asking the horse to halt, don’t use your hands. If the horse is heavy, get them light first! Remember it’s all in the training, so be ok with it not being perfect, be ok with almost halting a lot, and not actually doing the halt, until you can feel that they are getting lighter in the hand and reacting to my leg! Have fun - good luck to you guys, and make sure you have a super week! If you have any other questions, make sure you contact me - info@yourridingsuccess.com To Your Success,
Natasha To make sure you stay in the loop, like us on Facebook (click here) and subscribe to our mailing list to make sure you are on our mailing list and get the weekly blog and monthly magazine (click here to do that now)
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FROM THE HORSES MOUTH | ABE’S PERSPECTIVE Hey super riders! My name is Abe and I am Natasha’s superstar Friesian stallion and her one and only horse she likes to ride. I told her I thought it was very unfair that she was the only one to share how to ride - as lets’ face it... I’m the one that really makes it all happen - so this is my chance to teach you how to really ride a horse... with advice straight from the horses mouth!
Even though I am a bit naughty and lazy, I genuinely do want to make Tash happy and get high scores for her. So it’s really up to her to help me do that for her.
Halt Transitions Tash and I used to sometimes get a little bit confused when she would ask for transitions. We would be riding around I would be thinking about oats and that gorgeous black mare over in the paddock over there and suddenly - BAM! She would ask for a halt, I would get such a fright and wasn’t prepared for it at all, so I would stop my legs but lose my balance... and my head would lift and my back would stiffen. That would make Tash really upset, saying she is losing marks for her halt, and I would be like - well Natasha Maria Desiree Princess Althoff-Kelley... if you gave me some warning, and said we are going to halt, get ready, slow down... and... halt, I would have a much better chance at doing it well!
Now-a-days she is soooooooo much better at doing that, it is really important to us horses when you are riding us, to give us preparation. We don’t know the test, and we don’t know what’s happening. Sometimes it’s really boring - you are going around in circles - so sometimes we tune out and think about other things, so you need to keep us constantly on our toes, thinking about you, so we are prepared and ready to do what you ask. Abe’s Advice for how to do an effective halt transition: 1.
Tell us something is about to happen - I think Tash calls them half halts. If I feel on the outside of my mouth the slightest pressure I think - ok something is about to happen - with Tash that could mean - halt, piaffe, passage, trot, walk, canter, flying
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FROM THE HORSES MOUTH | ABE’S PERSPECTIVE change, half pass... or god knows what else! Sometimes it doesn’t mean anything except I need to work harder, lift my back more and become more active with my hindlegs. It just means to me - work, get in balance, get ready to do something with my body. 2.
Then what Tash does is collect and does what we call an ‘almost halt’ - so if I am trotting I almost halt, but stay trotting - or in the canter I almost halt but stay cantering - I need to work really hard here! If you are strong like me you are doing a collected trot or a collected canter. But if you are like me when you are young, you aren’t really strong enough to do that... so your rider is just slowing you down to prepare you for the halt... Also us lazy horses think when you do this, it’s a great opportunity to get heavy and go on the fore-hand and have you carry us.
The trick here is don’t use too much hand to stop! Tash knows if I am on her hands she is stuffed, because I am waaaayyyy stronger than her! She keeps me light and off her hand with half halts and that keeps me balanced in the halt and not heavy and on the forehand. Good luck with your halts!!!! To Your Success,
Abe
As awesome riders you have to stop us doing that! We have to stay soft, over the back, and not heavy - you make sure we don’t do the wrong thing here by lots of those half halts, which is quick pressure on the outside rein, then softening while using your legs sometimes Tash can give me 5 half halts in a second! 3.
Then simply sit deep, and close your hands and stop the movement. If we are with you we follow you and halt, we are soft in the hand, we stay round and we wait for your next command.
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Who is ready for the opportunity of a lifetime? An exciting opportunity exists for an energetic, motivated, driven dressage rider who wants a riding career with horses, including riding at Grand Prix level. Our young horse rider Loes is leaving us after 2 1/2 years to go back to Holland, so we are searching for our next superstar to join the Ebony Park Team!!!!!! Ebony Park is a Friesian horse stud with over 40 horses. We breed, train and ride Friesians to Grand Prix level. Currently we have two young stallions that are competing Preliminary and Elementary and need to be prepared for Novice and Medium level. We also have a Medium level and Grand Prix level Stallion on the property, and young stallions and crossbred Friesians needing to be broken in every year. Click here to find out what the position entails and for more information on how to apply...
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FROM THE EXPERTS | NATASHA ALTHOFF
OVERCOMING FEAR Fear is sometimes a limiting factor in our ability to ride our horses to their best. To understand it we need to look at what fear actually is. Fear is neurologically wired into who we are. It is there to protect us from not going to pat the saber tooth tiger and to limit our experiences and actions in case one of them threatens our lives. Doctor Dan Baker in “You’re only six steps away from happiness”, states “this fear system is the repository for past trauma and pain, current anxiety, fear of what its to come and archaic instinctual terrors.” Fear enabled us to spring into action whenever we saw or sensed danger and this is how we surrived. In the 21st century we no longer have all those dangers in our world but we still have this flight or fight response. So knowing this how do we then deal with fear when it comes along? We need to understand that putting fear ahead of our true desires is preventing us from living a truly full life. My husband has a favorite acronym for fear it is: FEAR – is False Evidence Appearing Real. This belief is based on asking yourself one question EVERY time you feel fear. What am I really afraid of? Is this really something to fear? How many times have your really feared something only to do it and realize the fear was nothing to be scared of, you even have a little chuckle at yourself and wonder what all the fuss was about. Lets say for instance you fear your horse bolting. You ask yourself the question “What am I really afraid of” The answer might be being out of control and falling, and you ask again and what is it that scares you about being out of control and falling and the answer might be hurting myself, and again what scares you about hurting
yourself, and it might be letting others down. Then we look at the EVIDENCE the REALITY of the situation. Is the horse likely to bolt? Are you likely to fall? If you fall are you likely to hurt yourself? And if you hurt yourself are you likely to let others down? When you have the answers to those questions you can then look at your options. So what can you control? Can you stop the horse bolting? Is there an instructor that can give you some techniques like a one rein stop to help him not bolting? Can you learn how to fall so if you do you won’t hurt yourself? Can you use another bit? Brainstorm all the ACTIONS and things you CAN control and can do to handle the situation. Then decide on the way forward from there and focus on all the good feelings and the things you can control rather on the things you can’t There are two paradoxes of fear, one is how many times do you wait for ‘courage’ or ‘confidence’ to turn up to help you overcome your fear? Unfortunately this is the wrong way around. You need to take action in the space of fear to give yourself the courage and confidence you can handle it. These things turn up later! We need to overcome the fear to realize the confidence, courage and any other resources are already within us. You need to understand the basic truth that you can handle anything that comes your way and everything you need is within you now. I want to mention just for a moment the importance of focus here. Isn’t it true the more you focus on not having something happen, the more often it does. If you spend the entire ride
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saying I hope I don’t fall off I don’t want to fall off and I better not doing anything in case I fall off all your focus is on that one thing. Compare that to a ride where you are focused on the day, what weather it is, what are you hearing, what your horse feels like under you, how much you love riding and enjoy it. The second paradox of fear is the more we try to escape our fears the more we experience them. So if we have a fear of falling perhaps we don’t jump, but then the fear doesn’t go away so then perhaps we don’t canter and then we will feel safe, and then we don’t ride in the wind and then we don’t want to trot, etc. It turns into a downward spiral where we become a victim of circumstance rather than step up and overcome the limits being placed on us. To overcome fear you need to get over your need to feel safe and certain of what is going to happen next. So I trust this has given you something to think about, I will leave you with a quote I love and live my life by: “Courage is being scared to death – and saddling up anyway.” -- John Wayne
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
HAPPINESS IS NOT AN ACCIDENT. NOR IS IT SOMETHING YOU WISH FOR. HAPPINESS IS SOMETHING YOU DESIGN. JIM ROHN
To Your Success,
Natasha
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DIARY DATES
TASH’S THOUGHTS Hello Superstar Riders!!!! :):):):)
Mitavite Dressage Expo 2013 Saturday 18th May Natasha will be giving a presentation on different breeds competing in dressage on the day!
Happy Marvelous May to you all!!!!! I am so excited about this month you would not believe!!!!! :):):) I have some Grand Prix competitions coming up, as well as a dressage presentation at the Mitavite Dressage Expo... as well as preparing for my new Dream Team FIRST Success Launch Day on the 1st June!!! :) So... lots going on!!!! What about you!?!?! I hope your riding is right where you want it to be! The thing is... if it isn’t what are you going to do about it? It never ceases to amaze me what people are willing to put up with. Bad jobs, bad relationships, bad riding, bad competitions. The fact is the answers are there. You can have the great job, great relationship, great riding, great competition. All it takes is you saying yes to you. And that I know... is the biggest hurdle for some people to overcome. I would like to welcome ALL my amazing new DT superstars that are a part of our team! I look forward to mentoring you all to the results you want, and look forward to supporting you and each other in pursuit of your goals! The definition of team is Together Everyone Achieves More! I am a big believer in that, and know we have a super team already who really will help each other and help each other up. If you are looking to join us and be a part of the Your Riding Success Dream Team - a program where you can connect with other like-minded riders and support each other in reaching your goals. Where you will learn the system and the path you need to know and follow, to get the results you want in your riding - then click here to find out more! I would love to have you part of our team :) I trust you enjoy this month’s issue of Your Riding Success Monthly and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you on your riding journey towards success!! To Your Success,
Tash YOUR RIDING SUCCESS MONTHLY | May 2013 | 12
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Your Gifts Are Waiting For You Now! Are you enjoying this months issue of the Your Riding Success Monthly? We also send out weekly blogs and we have even more Riding resources for you! Click on the picture below to go to our website and fill out your name and email to subscribe now and receive your FREE Ultimate Success Pack, which we guarantee, if you implement it, your riding will considerably change for the better!!
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MEMBER OF THE MONTH
!
!
!
Shauleen Rooney
My dream team journey has been a very personal journey so far, and has given me a lot of food for thought and heading in the right direction for me.
My riding is improving and I’m committed now more than ever to ride regards of being tired, or there is a slight drizzle of rain. I love Tash’s series on the riding and of course you can ask It has given me the chance to see the dream I her any time for help - the platinum days are truly want, the vision, and now the opportunity brilliant. Platinum is where you get to watch Tash ride her Grand Prix horse Abe, bring your to act on it. own horse and have her assist you with your I’m in the throes of starting/developing a riding :) business, wanting to get further with my riding, studying and have a family to look after as well This really is only the start of my journey and as work a normal job. The Dream Team has the Dream Team has given me the opportunity helped me to achieve what I want, helped to to dream big and achieve my goals. It’s only up see what was holding me back, opened my from here!!!! eyes to the fact that it’s OK to dream big, and Cheers, it’s OK if goals change. As for my riding, Tash is so encouraging and Shauleen helps you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and to have selfbelief - for this I am truly grateful. The team , Tash, Phil and Kate are truly there to support you and your goals, this I say is one of their outstanding qualities, and they are very genuine about it. I’m enjoying all of the emails of support, the list of things I need to do, I love the book list of inspiring authors to read, I LOVE my diary and this has been sensational for me to plan my days.
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NEED TO KNOW | NATASHA ALTHOFF PURPOSE Every day I jump out of bed and can’t wait to get going! Why? Because I have a purpose. My purpose is to inspire others to live to their full potential. I can be quite annoying to be around because I have no filter for excuses, can’t, shouldn’t’s wouldn’t, there are no reasons why I can’t have anything I desire as long as it is within my control to acquire it. So when I realised others don’t feel like that I uncovered my passion to inspire and show others how to have their dream life and live to their full potential. As I am a rider myself, I know how much riding dressage is a self discovery program. The horse is the mirror reflecting us. So anything the horse does well, that is you so congratulations! This also means everything the horse does not so well, that is also you and that also means congratulations! You see to change the horse, its easy! You are in control just change you.
Until then I had thought riding was out of my control – that I had to react to the horse and I was in the passenger seat! Scary being in the passenger seat … especially when your driver may not be the best! Now I know, it is all me! It starts with me, it ends with me. Ye s I a m s t i l l w o r k i n g i n partnership with the horse I react to the horse underneath me and constantly adapt and change what I am doing to ensure the best results. But I am the LEADER! I am the one that makes the decisions. And the horse follows me. To Your Success,
Check out all the Success Stories and Feedback we have received this month at YRS HQ!! Hi Tash, I have had an amazing few weeks. I had great success at the thoroughbred dressage challenge click here (check out the article. I'm now one point off HRCAV level 2, and feeling ready to move up. Did two unofficial novice tests on the weekend with great results. On competition day I feel very focused on my tests, both before riding them and during riding them. I am loving riding tests, and I can smile and enjoy the ride. Each test brings out new elements I need to work on. I was so excited after riding my tests Sunday (we didn't win but got 2nd and 3rd), for how far we have come and the improvements that will come in the future. A friend who has also been working on her sitting trot commented on how good mine was looking and how I was following the horses movement. A huge improvement for me in a short time. Will be doing level 2 at two competitions this weekend, and I just can't wait! Thank you for the great riding and success program, it has been a huge help to me and my riding. Lauren
Natasha Althoff
When I realised this my riding changed forever!
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BOOK REVIEW DRESSAGE WITH KYRA - Kyra Kyrklund & Jytte Lemkow Hello superstar readers!!!! How did you find the Krya book?!?!!? This was one of the first dressage books I read almost 10 years ago and to be honest... I didn’t really understand it! I liked it! Like I liked a system, and i liked the ABC’s. But a lot of it went over my head! Even now 10 years later... I know I am missing things. When I had a lesson with Krya recently last October, she helped me so much and taught me so much in just 5 minutes, but I was also painfully aware I was missing things, throughout her masterclass I understood things at a logical level... but I didn’t understand everything at that crucial ‘feeling’ level. You need to be ok with that. Riding cannot be taught just from a book. My husband cannot just read this book and then go out and ride Grand Prix on Abe. Riding is the connection between understanding something at a logical level, and integrating it into a feeling, into a moment, into a harmony of feeling and reacting... this takes time, patience and practice, so be ok with your journey. That’s the best thing about reading! You read it, you read it again, and you read it again and every time you are learning new things! Things that you swear you didn’t see the first time! :) I know from NLP we can only filter in 7 things at any one time so enjoy re-reading this magnificent book as you will pick up a new 7 things every time you read it! For now, let’s get into it ...
The first thing that hits home to me about this book is Kyra is very much putting the responsibility of the riding on the rider. You must have your mindset right, you must have your seat right, you must have your system worked out, you must be flexible. I love her line “even if a horse does not look like a million, almost every horse, regardless of breed, can feel like a million if it is ridden in the right way” I took that on when I read that as a 20 year old, and it still rings true for me today. It’s not up to my horses to be brilliant, it’s up to me to be brilliant so I can show them to their utmost potential. I think that is a really important message.
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BOOK REVIEW DRESSAGE WITH KYRA - Kyra Kyrklund & Jytte Lemkow So many people I know want to buy their next superstar... when perhaps they aren’t a superstar rider. For me I know I am not having Abe perform at his full potential ... when I get good enough, to get the best out of him, and then when that best is not good enough, then ok get a better horse. But right now I don’t deserve a better horse. My horse deserves a better rider, and I am so grateful to Abe for giving me learning opportunity after learning opportunity to do exactly that! Krya’s ABC’s are really the backbone to any successful riding system. She demands absolute clarity on the aids, and the horse must go when you say go from a light leg, and stop when you say stop from a light seat and hand. Her explanations of the basics stop, turn, go through to leg yielding, shoulder in, travers, half pass, flying changes, etc are brilliant. Really! Just do that! I know in my early days riding I would come back and back to the book - and like I said I didn’t really get it, but I would read, go ok, I’ll try that again tomorrow! I kept doing that and I encourage you to do the same. For now, you can go over to my Facebook page for the book club (click here) - if you have any questions you would like to ask or talk about the book go there and enjoy the community!
To
Yo u r
Reading
Success,
Natasha
P.S. - Our next nook is “The Simplicity of Dressage” - Johann Hinnemann & Coby van Baalen. If you would like to get yourself a copy, click here to purchase through Amazon now! :) P.P.S. - Click here now to head over to the Facebook page now and join the group!! - I have already posted the book for this month. Since it is taking so long to order the books... we thought we would give plenty of notice this one won’t be reviewed for a couple of months, so you have plenty of time to order it and read it so that you can share your thoughts! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts and share a book with you every month!
Wishing you every success in your riding journey with Krya’s help!
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We want to celebrate your successes with you, so please send in your pictures of the jumps you have conquered, ribbons you have won, dressage tests you have aced, and anything and everything else that we can celebrate and share with you! To submit your photo for next month, post it on our Facebook wall, or email your photo to info@yourridingsuccess.com
MEMBER GALLERY | BRAG BOARD
JoAnne McKell is back riding again after some serious injuries have had her off her horse for some time! Congrats!
Kellie Mitchell taught her arab pony to respond to her seat with no bridle after watching Natasha on Tambo!
Melissa Debnam and her off the track standardbred Cruise....
Nicole Lorenzetto on her very first ride on Meteor her new horse who is currently being broken in! Can’t wait to see you on him again!! :) YOUR RIDING SUCCESS MONTHLY | May 2013 | 18
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