Improve your riding for your horse’s health
on our indoor simulator
Private lessons and group workshops
• Beginner to experienced
• Unlearn bad habits
• Learn without fear
• Become stable, symmetrical, and synchronised in the saddle
The way you ride not only affects how comfortable, stable, effective, and safe you are in the saddle, but it hugely affects your horse’s ability to carry you and move in comfort.
Your riding position and the way that you synchronise with your horse’s movement gives you stability and confidence, allows you to feel what your horse is doing, and improves the way you can communicate with your horse.
Whether you are a total beginner or an established rider, our mechanical Equisimulator allows for you to totally concentrate on your learning without having to worry about directing your horse at the same time. Then you can transfer your skills to your horse.
It is also possible when riding to tell by feel whether and where your horse is weak, stiff, or sore, and this is important for ridden horse welfare - know when you can work on helping them under saddle, and when to give them a break from ridden work and help them on the ground.
Asymmetry is uncomfortable and unhealthy for both you and your horse
Aligned and poised to absorb the movement and communicate
Tipping forwards and becoming unstable
Slouching and becoming heavy
This is for you if:
• You are a total beginner looking to get your first feel of riding
• You are an established rider wishing to improve your riding position, your feel, your timing, and application of the aids
• You want to learn how to tell if your horse feels asymmetric, weak, stiff, or sore under saddle to address this before they become injured
• Your horse needs time off from ridden work and you would like to practice and improve your riding skills during this time
What will you learn?
Learn as a beginner or improve your riding
• The fundamentals of a stable, comfortable, effective riding position
• How to move with the horse at different gaits to synchronise with their movement - this gives you security in the saddle and allows you to communicate with the horse
• How to address asymmetry or discomfort
• How and when to apply the aids so your horse best understands them
Improve your riding for your horse’s health
• Improve your current position and movement to synchronise with horse’s movement to help them rather than block them
• Bring your saddle and check whether it saddle fits you and allows you to move in harmony with your horse
• Improve your contact and aids so they are subtle, but clear and understandable to your horse
Read your horse
• Learn how to tell what your horse’s limbs and back are doing underneath you
• Learn what healthy, symmetrical movement with suspension feels like
• Learn what you might feel if your horse is crooked, weak, stiff, or sore
• Learn when and how riding your horse will be therapeutic, and when they should be helped by stopping or giving them a break from ridden work
How the Equisimulator works
The Equisimulator is a mechanical, spring-powered movement simulator that replicates the movement of the horse’s back and limbs at all gaits remarkably closely.
The rider drives the simulator by making the correct movements for each gait - if you are not moving correctly, you get instant feedback because the spring either won’t keep going and the movement stops, or it bounces and clunks!
It has two modes to replicate the different gaits - trot, and walk and canter.
In private lessons, you have 45 minutes one-to-one with Lily, including a demonstration, an initial assessment, some exercises to try, and some time to practice.
Group workshops run for a day and include a theory seminar, a demonstration and discussion, plus each participant gets a lesson on the simulator, we then do group or pair work, followed by time to practice and for more questions at the end. Refreshments are included but bring a packed lunch or visit the local cafe or pub.
Meet your teacher
Hi, I’m Lily, I have been a vet since 2016 and I recognise that riding horses poses both risks and amazing opportunity. There is risk of injury to horse and rider, especially if they are not synchronised together in movement and understanding each other via feel and communication. But there is also a magical, yet totally achievable, opportunity to detect potential problems early, address them fully, and achieve great harmony and therapeutic effect to both horse and rider.
During my years at vet school, I taught riding as a freelance instructor to make ends meet. I started to see patterns in people’s riding position and movement in the saddle, and the way their horses’ bodies worked, and vice versa. I wondered whether this could affect how much discomfort and dysfunction these bodies would go through during their lives.
Now I know that it definitely does. And the work of vets should be focused on prevention as well as cure. I help horses by addressing the deep roots of health and wellbeing, and feel strongly that our relationships with our horses are vital to this.
I look forward to meeting you!
Book here:
45-minute one-to-one lesson on the Equisimulator - choose your topic: Beginner; Improve your riding; or Read your horse
After you have paid, you will receive an email containing dates and times of available private lesson slots. If you have a date and time in mind, please email me at: lily@nurturingnatureequine.co.uk
Contained in this workshop:
• Improve your current position and movement to synchronise with horse’s movement to help them rather than block them
• Bring your saddle and check whether it saddle fits you and allows you to move in harmony with your horse
• Improve your contact and aids so they are subtle, but clear and understandable to your horse
Maxiumum four participants.
Runs 10:30-4:30pm - programme:
10:30-11am - Welcome and refreshments (included and available throughout the day)
11am-11:45 - Theory seminar and group discussion
11:45-12 - Break
12-12:30 - Demonstration and questions
12:30-1:30 - Lunch (bring your own or there is a cafe nearby)
1:30-4:30pm - Four slots of 45 minutes each participant on the simulator, combination of teaching, discussion, and practice
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
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Wear comfortable clothes, ideally the ones you usually wear for riding. You need to bring a riding hat, and sturdy boots with a heel. If you are checking the fit of your saddle, please also bring this and your usual stirrups. Bring warm clothing for lessons and workshops in winter. Bring drinking water and lunch with you for workshops.
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Add a private lesson or group workshop to the shopping cart, pay securely then you will receive an email confirmation. If you are booking a private lesson you will receive available lesson slots via email, or you can email me before booking requesting a particular date and time at: lily@nurturingnatureequine.co.uk. If you are booking a group workshop, pick the workshop type and date that suits you and you will receive an email confirmation.
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You will receive a full refund if you cancel more than 24 hours in advance of your booking. There are no refunds for cancellations within 24 hours of your slot. If there are too many cancellations to run a group workshop, you will be given the option of a full refund or an alternative workshop date.
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You can contact me at lily@nurturingnatureequine.co.uk to arrange bringing your horse with you and having teaching on the Equisimulator followed by a lesson on your horse. There is an additional fee for this service.
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I do travel for visits within Sussex, Surrey, some of Kent and Hampshire, however the Equisimulator is not portable so I do not offer Equisimulator lessons outside of my premises. If you are interested in hosting a day workshop or clinic at your yard, please email me at lily@nurturingnatureequine.co.uk
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Please seek the advice of a qualified medical professional for humans if you are not sure whether or not you should be riding and please let me know of any previous or underlying medical conditions I should be aware of before your lesson. You can do so at: lily@nurturingnatureequine.co.uk