How has your riding gone so far? Where have you come from? What have been your significant milestones and what challenges you are facing right now?
This is YOUR vision after all. What does "Your Best Self" look like to you at this stage?
Cheski's 'toolbox' of coaching ideas will help jump-start your journey to Point B = 'Your Best Self'. You will work and train hard and, if all goes to 'plan', you'll be amazed at how quickly progress is made.
Soon you'll be setting new goals.
These updated goals will include extended plans and stepladders to success.
Cheski will involve you in making your own choices as to which tools from the toolbox you use and when. Your 'learning journey' will - no doubt - include moments when you enthusiastically step a little too far out of your comfort zone but Cheski will be watching and ready with a 'safety net' to help. You'll come to realise that it's OK, and very sensible, to achieve in small steps.
Have you ever had a breakthrough and wanted to share the enormity, thrill and pride of it? Cheski is available for you, via text, mobile and e-mail. We look forward to helping you enjoy and share these special moments, in posting them on our Abderry Facebook Page.
Question: What happens in a Coaching Session?
Answer: Quotes from our Riding Athletes
A: Leeshelle Small - 10 years old, riding since I was 3 years old.
Challenges: not being strong enough and being small, I don't have long legs to wrap around my ponies. Worried about getting the wrong striding and beating my other opponents.
Achievements: winning a rug, making it to HOTY, getting higher in my jumping. Qualified Tammy & Mindy for HOTYS 2013 in first show.
How a coaching session with Cheski works: Read what Leeshelle has to say
A: Andrew Luxmoore, 35, I’ve been riding for around 15 years,
Challenges: Until recently I’d never had any official lessons but had largely learnt on the go out hunting so had developed a style of my own which worked ok but was in need of some adjustments to enable me to progress.
I have recently decided that I would like to do some more serious showjumping and possibly eventing. Read more
A: Karin Gruber - A late starter in horse riding
Challenges: An elderly, un-educated horse as my first one, the journey was probably not as easy as it could be, for a learner rider.
My coaching session usually starts with: Read more
A: Sarah Fisher - 9 years old. I have been riding since I was four,
Challenges: Recently got a new pony who is young and has a lot more go than the last one.
At the start of each session Cheski always asks me what I want to do: Read more
A: Bobbie Fisk - 57 yr old female, riding since aged 6, hunted in UK and NZ,
Challenges: I believed I had no style, was not very “brave” and was only an average rider.
If one was to spectate at one of my coaching sessions, they would notice that I don’t get upset if: Read more
A: Laura Miller - 30yrs, Riding for 3 - 4yrs.
Challenges: Learning something completely different as an adult and overcoming the fears that go with that.
Achievements: Everyone thinks I've been riding since I was young.
Point A - Getting ready to move on to my second horse. Having had a bit of time off riding for exams - just trying to get confidence back - happy jumping 60-70cm, low level dressage
Point B - Confident jumping 80-90cm with aiming to get higher in future. Competition mileage. XC mileage.
First thing Cheski would tell me is: Read more
Paige Gudgeon - 14. Been riding almost 10 yrs.
Right now (point A) I have a reasonably new horse and am working with getting her to round & building towards competing this season & eventually bigger jumps.
Point B- eventing at pre training - training level with nice dressage test & having her rounded. 1m-1.05m SJ rounds (clear & rhythmical)
If you watched one of my sessions you'd see: Read more
Arna Clark - 42 year old lady returning to riding
Challenges: I fell off and broke my arm and this really made me apprehensive.
How a coaching session works for me is usually: Read more
You're never too young (or old) to be a Leader
Cheski loves 'growing leaders'.
She will set you challenges to discover how
you like to achieve and therefore gain confidence.
Rather than tell you what to do with your hands and feet every step of the ride, she'll encourage you to verbalize your own options to improve your performance, then she'll let you (as long as she feels you've chosen a safe option) decide which option to try first.
You'll be encouraged to analyse how you and your horse respond to each other and identify the consistent patterns that occur both when things go 'well' - and when things start to go 'wrong'.
You'll learn to work out - should your horse be evasive - is it because he's 'naughty' or because he's finding it difficult and or uncomfortable to do his job 'properly'?
The aim is for you is to understand why your horse reacts in a certain way. With this knowledge you can then make changes to your attitude and mindset and start to make things easier and achievable for both of you.
If you can achieve in persuading, not forcing, a horse to work
with you - you're developing your leadership skills.
After all - horses don't fabricate respect and are usually at least five times bigger than you!
The Training Environment
Your horse's way of going often reflects the the way you're thinking.
So if you're very tentative and unsure that your horse is going to react favourably you will probably be 100% right!
Therefore we'll start at the start, working on the things you know you can get your horse to do and we'll work at your pace.
It's your session so we'll concentrate on the things that are important to YOU. Having said this you'll be pushed and encouraged to work hard, but safely.
Cheski can understand how it feels to be unsure around horses but doesn't believe we loose confidence.
What some people call 'a loss of confidence' is what Cheski calls 'a gaining of wisdom' - now you understand the ramifications of being out of sync with your horse.
Training with Cheski is not judgmental, she'll encourage you not to argue with reality.
'What Is' may not be 'What It Should Be' but it is 'What Is'!
Coaching Style
Cheski asks lots of questions such as -
'What's your goal for this month?'
'What are you noticing right now?'
'What are you going to do next?'
'Did that work?'
'What did you learn from using that option?'
'What else could you do?
And probably the most important question of all -
'Did you ride that with the mindset of "Of course I'm Going to Achieve My Goal"?
Cheski intends to provoke your thought process.
The aim is to give you confidence - as long as you are in the right mindset, you
do know what to do.
This will help you know how to tackle challenges when by yourself, and don't have someone giving you instructions.
You will be given exercises and routines to work on between coaching sessions.
She'll explain how both you and your horse can be more tolerant of each other's fitness, soreness and anxiety levels. Cheski has spent over 26 years studying horse behaviour.
She has developed a real understanding of how we can make life easier for our horses (and therefore ourselves) and has simple ways of imparting this knowledge.
So many riders try too hard and are so concerned about 'doing it properly' and 'looking good', that spontaneity has been taught out of riding.
Cheski asks, 'So what, if the first time you do it, it isn't perfect?'
At least you've made a start, got a base reading and have something to work on!
You only make mistakes if you continue, over and over again, to keep using a formula that doesn't work. If you analyse your "mistakes" and then try a slightly different approach, they become training experiences which are wonderful things!
Hi Cheski
Wow!
Today was great, it feels like things are starting to make sense again. Mentally it has been a struggle jumping lately, but now I feel like I have a place to work from going forward. You really have made a huge difference to my understanding of where things are going wrong and opened my eyes to trying some options.
It makes such a difference having someone listen to your fears and not make a joke out of what you find hard. Just calmly helping you work thru the issues. I always come away from your sessions on a high. Looking forward to our next session. Will give you a ring in a couple of weeks and book one in.
thanks again
Heather and Muppet
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Credentials
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Cheski holds a BHSII qualification and is a registered ESNZ Performance Coach for Dressage & Show Jumping and a Coach Educator. She regularly attends ESNZ and SPARC Coaching courses and is an enthusiastic student of the learning process.
Her coaching experiences are varied and include stints as National Coach for the Singapore Equestrian team between 1975 & 1995. She steered the Singapore Eventing Team to Gold medal victory at the 1995 South East Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The South East Asian events were always run using borrowed horses and the teams had very limited opportunity to get to know their competition mounts
This necessitated a "what else can we do" attitude and plan to always have ready for implementation.
Just an hour after the SEA Gold Medal victory photo (upper left) was taken, Cheski was delighted with the opportunity to talk the talk and walk the walk - photo lower left shows Cheski (in red) at the start of the Mule race. She came from dead last - from a total braying standstill at the end of the first turn - to win by a head! |
Book a coaching session with Cheski now
