Ruth Baxter kindly organised the Webinar on the “Biomechanics of Horse and Rider from a Coaching Perspective” delivered by Dr Russell Mackechnie-Guire on 4th Nov 2020. After a few anxious moments linking up to the Webinar which Ruth planned so well we were treated to a most wonderful 2 hours of research that is ground breaking to say the least! I sat riveted to my chair listening to and watching a fantastic revelation of knowledge that…

“Mental Fitness for Equestrian Athletes” So, some salient points from last night:  Firstly, how wonderful to get together with so many like-minded people with such a huge range of experience – and why ever don’t we do it more often?  It’s so stimulating and thought- provoking.  Charlie is a super presenter with endless enthusiasm for his subject and clear thought processes which are all very relevant to us as Coaches. We started by discussing what…

Our first day out for the F & I Association since the Annual course dawned warm and sunny as we made our way to Judy Harvey’s yard in Buckinghamshire. Judy has been a long time member and supporter and is generous in allowing us to watch and learn from her own riding and coaching skills. Covid 19 procedures were in place and we all socially distanced as you can see from the photograph, we all…

As I write this on the train heading back to Cheshire, I am reflecting on what has been a truly thought provoking day at The National Equine Forum. I firstly want to say a big thank you to the F&I Association for the opportunity for myself and Alex Wyatt to attend the forum. Having arrived slightly late due to train issues I arrived as Dr Richard Newton had started his talk on managing infectious disease…

This day was kindly organised by Talland School of Equitation. A group of eager F’s and I’s were welcomed by Pammy Hutton FBHS at Talland School of Equitation on a cold Monday morning. The group was a mixture of both riders and spectators. At 10am prompt, an action-packed programme began and the first of the 3 riders were given the arena and some younger horses to assess and critique. The horses were quality types with…

January 2020, Addington. What an inspiring two days. Corinne Bracken and Adam Kemp complemented each other, both in their methodology and in their delivery. For two days we felt totally torn between which coach to watch! The discussion section held on Tuesday was a brilliant idea and gave us a good insight to both coaches’ philosophy and experience. Overwhelmingly they spoke with a combination of common sense and passion. The discussion was fantastic – we…

The summer camp started on Tuesday 24th September where Eric Smiley FBHS was going to be doing gridwork sessions focusing on mental gymnastics. There was a line set up in the indoor arena, but Eric promptly changed the lay out. I was in the first group of the afternoon and you could tell straight away Eric wasn’t going to accept any “waffle”. We had to give him clear and precise answers and we were questioned…

As one approached the second fence on the Burghley 2019 course, the meeting point for the F and I course walk, it was hard to control the excitement at spotting “the flower bed” which was more like a raised bed for a giant.  It is only human nature to design courses which you would like to ride yourself and when walking the course you “must think of the psychology of the designer”, in this case…