Amberley Marsden

Do you set goals? Most of us do. Sometimes they’re very specific and ambitious, such as achieving a certain result at a specific show. Other times they’re more ambiguous and open-ended, such as “I’d eventually like to show at least Third Level.”  Photo Credit: Mutt Love Photography We can easily get caught up in our excitement and hyper-focused on goal achievement. Maybe we just got a new horse, or we had a super show season, or our training at home is going extremely well. Suddenly, our...

Riding is hard in every way. Obviously, physically it’s a challenging activity. All four quadrants of your body must be doing different things simultaneously, while sitting on a horse who has a mind of its own and is moving different parts of its body in different ways – sometimes unpredictably. Anyone who says, “You just sit there, the horse does all the work!” is showing their hand – we instantly know they’ve never actually ridden a horse. I deal with those comments by saying “Thank you! If...

What is the voice in your head telling you? The answer to this question will provide you with a lot of insight. We are almost always our own toughest critics. So often we worry about what others think or say about us, when we should really be focusing on our own thoughts and our feelings toward ourselves. Photo Credit: Mutt Love Photography Those of us who ride in a specific discipline, such as dressage, engage in riding as a sport. We set high goals and standards for ourselves. With that...