Note: This is day 11 of my 30-day blogging challenge. What the heck is a 30-day blogging challenge? Read about it here.
In a perfect world, all riders would have the opportunity to ride at least one horse every day. We’d have a lesson with an expert trainer once a week at minimum. We’d cross train with a balanced mix of cardio, strength and flexibility workouts.
Yeah, I know.
I think all of us would at least hit the “ride daily” part of that if we could, but what if you don’t have a horse of your own? Or your horse is retired and can only be ridden minimally? (*raises hand*) Or you can’t quite fit weekly or better lessons into your schedule and/or budget? (*raises hand again*)
The British Horse Society’s HoofRide program is here for us with its new Resolution2Ride campaign. This campaign includes a video series with mounted and unmounted exercises to help you improve your riding. And so far, the mounted exercises don’t require a horse that can trot or canter for miles, which means mostly-retired-Snoopy can help me with this.
Time spent riding, preferably with occasional feedback from an educated observer, is the best way to become a better rider. But when you can’t have that, it’s not impossible to improve through other means.
Keep up with the campaign via the usual channels: YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Back to The Near Side
Leslie Potter is Sr. Associate Web Editor of horseillustrated.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LeslieInLex.
Leslie Potter is a graduate of William Woods University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science with a concentration in saddle seat riding and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. She is currently a writer and photographer in Lexington, Ky. Potter worked as a barn manager and riding instructor and was a freelance reporter and photographer for the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar and Saddle Horse Report before moving to Lexington to join Horse Illustrated as Web Editor from 2008 to 2019. Her current equestrian pursuits include being a grown-up lesson kid at an eventing barn and trail riding with her senior Morgan gelding, Snoopy.
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