11/04/2026
Let’s talk about… RIDER RESPONSIBILITY.
After our clinic this weekend, there was something that became really apparent and that I think every rider needs to understand.
As your trainer I can teach you, correct you and give you every tool you need to improve. But I cannot do the work FOR you. For me, there are often two very different types of rider.
The first is the rider that when I walk into the arena, they're already working on something we've discussed in a previous lesson. Maybe they've dropped their stirrups because they know their lower leg needs strengthening. Maybe they're riding with a crop across their hands because they're trying to correct a twisting wrist. They're practising that one thing they struggled with last week.
Nobody has had to tell them to do it. Nobody is standing there reminding them. They've taken ownership of their own improvement. Not only that but they turn up to hack their horse. The really good riders not only practice on days when they don’t have a lesson - but they also come to me and ask if there are others they can ride too. If they can be at the barn to work, work and then work some more.
Then there's the other type of rider - the one who works when the trainer is watching, but the minute their back is turned, the effort disappears. The one who finds every excuse to avoid the difficult exercises, who takes the easy option whenever possible and who needs constantly reminding of the same corrections but rarely puts in the work to actually change them. They only ride in lessons, never turn up to put the extra work in and certainly never do more than they deem necessary.
Both riders might be having exactly the same lessons, with exactly the same trainer, but their progress will look completely different, and that’s because improvement doesn't just happen during your lesson. It happens in the rides between lessons. In the moments when nobody is watching and in the decision to practise something you're not very good at rather than spending your whole ride doing the things you already find easy. It’s failing, and doing it again and again and again.
It's so easy to say you want to be a better rider - I hear that statement almost everyday. But are your actions actually matching those ambitions? Many riders actions do not. As trainers, we can point out your weaknesses, explain how to fix them, give you exercises and help you understand what you're trying to achieve. But we can't make you care enough to practise. We can't give you the discipline to keep trying when something feels difficult. And we certainly can't want your improvement more than you do.
Being a better rider requires more than just turning up for lessons. It requires taking responsibility for what happens in between lessons.
This doesn't mean every ride has to be intense, or that you can't enjoy your horse. It means riding with purpose. Being honest with yourself about what needs work, and being willing to put that work in. The riders who make the biggest improvements aren't necessarily the most naturally talented. Very often, they're simply the ones who are prepared to be uncomfortable, to make mistakes, to repeat the boring exercises and to hold themselves accountable. Your trainer is responsible for teaching you. YOU are responsible for what you do with that teaching. So next time you get on your horse without your trainer standing in the arena, ask yourself…am I riding in a way that's actually going to make me better? Or am I just going through the motions? Am I drilling my horse instead of myself?
Ultimately, the rider you become is built just as much when nobody is watching as it is when somebody is….if not more.
