Douglas Hibbert!

In just one lesson Douglas has totally transformed my riding -  If you dont beleive me have a look at the pics - Duke is reaching, not fighting me : which is a first .... Douglas trains at all levels from beginner up to Prix St George and Olympic!  He has a great understadning of the dynamics of horse movement and effective riding - and most importantly he has the ability to communicate what you need to do to get the results in your riding.  Helping you build up a "toolkit" of how to ride with confidence and more importantly sensitively making riding fun for you and the horse ... one of the things we discussed during the lesson is how important our role of leader is so important.  The way we lead, how we lead how sensitive we are to our horse and how we make the horse feel during a schooling session is of the upmost importance.  Having taken up Tango recently my whole approach to riding has changed.  Having been led by a variety of men it is amazing to "feel" how different each person leads - someone who is too soft leaves you confused, unbalanced as to what you are supposed to do, someone who is too harsh makes the dance feel stuck, mechanical, constrained, too fast and its difficult to keep up and to slow and you fall in out of the moves, almost like there is no beginning or end to a move.  So like riding, the balance between a good dance partner who is sensitive to dance itself but with the strength to lead with confidence to an innefective dance partner is amazing,... and my job is to be the best dance partner I can be for my horse who is trying so hard to follow my lead! I am really really am looking forward to more lessons