Anne takes you through her background from learning to ride as a child in California, to following her big Olympic dreams as the sport took her all over the world and brought her in contact with many amazing people and horses. She details the lessons that she’s learned through that journey, and what she’s learned about horses from riding and competing with so many incredible partners through the years. This is a chance to get to know the Olympian and international champion in a new way, through an intimate and personal one-on-one conversation.

Being a good rider starts with understanding how horses think, feel, and behave. It’s our job to support, guide, and encourage them to perform at their best. We can only do that with true knowledge and understanding of what makes them tick.From horse management at home to how we sit in the saddle, everything we do affects our horses. It’s important to take time and start at the beginning to educate ourselves to the best of our abilities.

From building your horse’s confidence through healthy boundaries and consistent correction to finding your ‘flow’ and becoming one unit, connection with our horses affects everything we do, from grooming to horse show performances. Similar to children, horses have complex feelings, thoughts, and emotions. To get the most out of our horse, we must first understand that. Second, we must make it our mission to build a strong, confident partnership.

The way that we ‘talk’ to horses while in the saddle is through the combination of our aids –– legs, seat, hands, and voice. In this lesson, we’re focusing on clear communication during our rides, through the use of our aids, our position, and our mental focus in the saddle. We’ll develop an understanding of the way we ‘talk’ to our horse while riding, as well as how our horse responds to us in a variety of ways –– from the way they sense our focus and moods, to the way they respond to pressure, release, and reward.

If you want to jump courses of any height, advance in dressage, or perform any type of athletic endeavor on a horse, you must first master the art of basic flatwork. Practicing deliberate flatwork and incorporating specific, accurate transitions and targeted lateral work allows us to develop a clear understanding of precisely how our bodies and aids interact with our horse and what their body feels like when they respond properly to our questions

When we hear people talk about top riders, they often describe the great ‘feel’ that a rider has. What they’re talking about is a sense of deep connection and understanding that particularly skilled riders are able to develop –– an extra sense that allows them to tune into precisely what the horse they’re riding needs from them to do their best.

A big part of ‘feel’ that most people immediately notice when watching very skilled, experienced riders jump is their ability to effortlessly find effective distances to the jumps. A lot of this comes from experience –– the more you jump, the more you’ll develop a sense of where you are. But there are ways to expedite this process and form those neural pathways, including the counting exercises that we’ll learn in this lesson. These work for all levels and can be done over poles to be suitable for all disciplines.

The way we use our bodies directly affects the way our horses respond and behave. Once we’ve mastered flatwork, transitions, and the counting exercises, we can begin to better fine-tune the way our bodies influence our horses in the air over fences, over poles, or in the saddle during complex exercises. The goal is to become so balanced that we’re able to not interfere with our horse’s athletic performance in any way, and to consistently maintain the connection with our aids.

In the previous lessons, we’ve discussed connection, communication, the use of our aids, understanding our horses, and developing a feel. Now, we’ll see how all of these elements come together in a real-life competition setting through a play-by-play film review that lets you learn by watching the best, with expert commentary.

Anne ties her teachings together into an easy to follow roadmap that will help you tie all elements of the Masterclass together to get real results with your horse. New tips and exercises are introduced as each lesson is covered, highlighting top takeaways and a roadmap is given for exactly how to put the lessons into practice in your daily riding life.