The Personal Training System from SoundRiding….

I have been teaching now for longer than I care to remember!

Spending hour upon hour projecting ones voice, often in difficult weather conditions meaning extra effort to be heard is required, means 2 things, one, you end up losing your voice (not ideal!) or secondly your riders not hearing you and often missing crucial instruction.

A couple of years ago I attended the British Dressage National Championships and while perusing the retail stands – as you must- I came across the SoundRiding System stand. We had a chat about the system and tried one out, my friend who I was with had never used one before whereas I had worn one with a previous trainer, she was very impressed with the system and purchased one for me to teach her with.

As mentioned I have worn one before so was familiar with how the rider felt receiving instruction, but when I was the trainer I could immediately tell the difference in how my friend reacted. The system however belonged to her, so it was pretty much a once a week usage.

I ummed and arghed for another year whether I should spend my hard earned money on the system, after all they are not cheap!

The nationals arrived 2014, once again I perused all the trade stands and found another type of system being launched but after a demonstration and a look at the system I found myself heading towards the SoundRiding stand…

Yet again I found myself trying one out, and once again being impressed! The decision was made, I purchased one!

There are one way and two way systems, I opted for the one way as I feel when you get into a “conversation” while training, the “moment” can easily be missed, although my riders feel it is more like I can’t hear them answer back!!

Since September 2014 I have used it on virtually every rider, from beginners to helping riders warm up at competitions, EVERY rider has confirmed that this has indeed made a big difference to their sessions, being able to react quickly before the “moment” passed, hearing every instruction clearly rather than having to second guess if I wasn’t quite heard and not having to have me stood in the “middle” to instruct or distract the horse, something which can happen when they are particularly used to voice commands, for example when I would say “prepare to trot” often the horse would lock onto my words rather than the riders aids.

The money I spent was a gamble, but 4 months on and I feel I couldn’t have spent it more wisely.

Some of the benefits of the SoundRiding system:

• Lightweight
• Easy to use
• Battery powered, standard AA type
• Riders are able to react quicker
• Horses aren’t distracted
• Excellent for use in Warm up arenas
• Encourages a relaxed training session
• Trainers keep their voices longer!!
• There are different channels to teach a group of riders but still keep it individual (each rider would require their own headset)
• Comes with a 3year guarantee

I can’t believe I left it so long to purchase it!!

Rocky’s Dressage Debut…

On a cold but bright January morning, the 11^th of Jan 2015 to be precise, Rocky and I made our Dressage Debut at Woodington Training Centre.

I entered Rocky for the Intro A class to introduce him to this thing called “Dressage”, but the main object of the day out was to build confidence and gain experience, so the Intro was ideal to begin his career.

One of my concerns was the warm up arena as working around other horses recently has been, well, exciting! Never in a nasty way, just a genuine excitement, so again, the warm-up was an ideal opportunity to “school” around others.

We have been doing our homework over the last week, hiring local arenas after work to school in and run through our little test, all of which paid       dividends as when we got to the show Rocky simply had a look around and I could almost see him working out “oh right were doing “work” again today".Excellent!!

Woodington Training Centre is a super friendly, local venue which I have previously judged at, but not for a good 2 years. The warm up is a large arena with mirrors and surrounded by a glorious log home, jumps, judges boxes, fields with grazing horses etc so clearly a lot for a baby horse to look at!

Rocky however entered the arena and yes had a glance around, yet was honest and willing to get on with his “job”. At this point we were in the Warm-up on our own, other horses were around but not yet in the arena with us, but not for long, we were joined by some beautiful horses and ponies, all getting on with their jobs too, Rocky quietly working around them and although a little look was given every now and then, he was attentive and responsive.

As it was getting closer to our turn, we returned to the trailer to change jackets etc, at which point Rocky was watching the other horses doing their tests, almost in a “OK so this is what to do then” kind of way!

Our test time arrived and as the previous horse was leaving the arena the steward let us in and off we went. Name provided to the judge and a trot around the outside giving Rocky chance to take the white boards etc all in.

The bell sounded and a deep breath taken, our very first Centre Line was happening!

Rocky felt a little introvert throughout the test, behind the leg and a little unsure, however he responded to every request, and I firmly believe he tried his heart out for me. We had one slight miscommunication on the final Centre Line, all my fault as I was too late preparing him for the turn and we lost balance, he came against my aids and basically we fell around the turn!! Arghhhh stupid jockey!!! However we regained our balance and finished our first ever test.

I had a quick chat with the judge on our way out, as had most of the others, she was thrilled with him, then asked if he was about 6yrs, erm, no, he is still actually 3, but in his 4^th year (which means he is now able to compete), at which point she almost fell off her chair as she honestly thought his attitude etc were outstanding for his tender age.

Rocky had his Nettex Tastytreat, then quietly stood munching his haynet and watching some of the other competitors while we awaited our score sheet.

We achieved 61.74% with better moments than others, (would have been better had I not have messed the final line up!!) with lots of positive comments, but this was immaterial, the whole idea of the outing was for gaining experience, and I feel Rocky had a very good experience which was vital.

So there we have it, our very first Dressage Competition was over, Rocky had exceeded all my expectations (yet again!) and behaved impeccably.

The diary is now out and our next outing planned....

Click HERE to view the test.