Riding Lessons

I offer lessons and consultations for all levels of riders and the goal is to make you the best rider & handler that you can be on all the areas of interest to you.

The Philosophy of Lightness is the foundation of all the education I offer, however I break it up into achievable steps, starting with:

Basic Natural Horsemanship:

Here yspect from your horse through join up and follow up. We work on improving your leadership skills and personal boundaries and establish your personal space from the ground.

This allows you to always feel in control of your horse allowing you to stay safe in any situation. You will learn how to move the feet of your horse forwards, backwards, left and right to control each body part plus influence the mind achieving relaxation and a calm state of mind in your horse.

Straightness & Lightness Groundwork:

This is the classical groundwork that focuses specifically on teaching you how to teach the horse to use his hind quarters correctly to carry weight and unload the forequarters. Learning how you can place the feet of your horse from the ground greatly improves your ability to do so under saddle where you can no longer see what’s going on and instead have to feel. In these exercises horses are taught how to perform shoulder in, haunches in, half pass, leg yield, lift the withers, lower the croup etc.

Long Reining:

Here we develop collection and teach the horse how to round his back and step under without burdening him with the weight of the rider. Learning how to long rein your horse into higher and higher degrees of collection can surprisingly give you a deep feeling of being connected and many students often feel a deeper understanding and connection from long reining their horse than from riding them. Basically long reining is a form of riding your horse from the ground.

In hand work:

Here the horse is taught to respond to all the 4 aids i.e. inside rein, outside rein, inside leg and outside leg. The horse is in the bridle and no longer handled from the front like in groundwork, but now the handler is behind the drive line as he/she would be when riding. The aids are applied with the soft touch of a whip directing the horse into lateral movements, collection, piaffe, passage, canter pirouettes, different gaits, speed etc. in hand work is riding the horse from the ground and can be a very beautiful experience.

Riding in Lightness & Straightness:

Here you learn how to lift the withers from the saddle, achieve jaw flexion, neck extension and a forward stepping hind leg that transfers weight “straight” into the ground whilst reaching the point of weight to successfully support the weight of the rider. Higher and higher degrees of collection are achieved as we move through the levels of Lightness and in the end you should be riding on a cloud with no resistance and great balance.

Tricks & Liberty:

Trick training can be a great way to keep things interesting and develop a friendship with your horse by inspiring him and challenging him to think in new ways. It builds confidence in both the rider and the horse and can be tons of fun. Teaching tricks is a great way to expand the comfort zone of the horse and make him a safer ride in general. Developing this relationship into riding at liberty is just a wonderful feeling of being connected with your horse without the use of tools. The experience greatly improves if your horse already knows how to ride in lightness, respond to the lightest of aids and lift his withers.

For more info on Riding Lessons be sure to click on the “Lessons” tab in our menu or email “[email protected]” – We welcome all levels of riders from all disciplines!

Ride with Lightness

Celie xo

Ready to get the help you need and excel on your lightness journey?

Sign up for a FREE Lightness Strategy Session Online with Celie.

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