Celebrating Wins and Learning from Mistakes: The Balanced Approach to Riding Progress

Why Reflection Matters in Riding

I had an interesting conversation with a client yesterday—an older, more novice rider who initially came to the rider physio sessions to work on her position, movement, control, and understanding of biomechanics using the simulator. Over the last six months, she’s been making incredible progress on the simulator, but she hasn’t always felt that her progress has fully translated into her riding lessons. Anxiety, nerves, fear, and frustration have made it difficult for her to apply what she’s learned consistently on a real horse. And whilst she is certainly improving, she can feel a bit down about her riding ability after lessons.

Physically, she is doing brilliantly—her posture, movement patterns, and aids are much clearer than they used to be when on a real horse. But emotionally, she often feels upset after her lessons, believing she should be improving faster and frustrated that she struggles with certain things so much.

Her riding instructor encouraged her to forget about the bad parts of the lesson, not to focus on the negatives, and instead highlight the positives by writing down at least one thing that went well and how she felt. Rather than thinking, "That was an awful lesson," the narrative becomes, "I am happy that I was able to maintain/achieve X/Y/Z."

And I 100% agree with this approach—celebrating wins (however small) is vital. However, I don’t think we should ignore the things that went wrong. Otherwise, how can we improve?

💡 Why Failure is a Powerful Teacher

Personally, I’ve been learning clay pigeon shooting, and I don’t mind missing (I don’t like it though!) because each shot I miss teaches me something. After my lesson, I analyse what I felt, what I was thinking, and how I was moving for each hit and miss. This reflection helps me spot the differences and understand what I need to adjust. Yes, I do a small amount of reflection during the session, but it's afterwards that I think about it the most.

At the start of every lesson, I talk it all through with my instructor. He listens to my reflections, and together we create a plan. As he says, “I can’t see through your eyes or feel what you feel—so your insight is invaluable to me as a coach.”

This is no different in horse riding (or any sport). If we ignore the bad parts or write off an entire lesson as “rubbish,” how do we learn and stay motivated? Instead, we need to be a bit more clinical: What went wrong, and can we work out why?

Tackling Trot-Canter Transitions

This rider was having trouble with her trot-canter transitions—something we’d worked on before in her simulator sessions, with and without reins and stirrups, and she was now able to:

• Stay upright without tipping forward.

• Move her pelvis correctly to allow the transition to flow smoothly.

• Isolate her leg movements to give clear and precise aids.

  
  

She’d improved these physical aspects significantly and felt that when she did everything correctly in her riding lesson, she was able to get a good transition. However, it wasn't happening as frequently as she wanted. Rather than doing more of the same (read about does practice make perfect) we chatted in more detail about what had been happening.

She shared that in a recent lesson, her first transition had gone really well, and she was happy with it. But after that, everything seemed to fall apart.

So, we dug deeper:

• Why did the first transition work? She realised that she’d felt relaxed and confident because, in the previous lesson, her transitions had gone well. She trusted her ability to get it right, which allowed her to stay calm, relaxed and focused.

• What changed in the subsequent attempts? She reflected that as soon as she tried to replicate the success (and she really wanted to!), she began overthinking. “How did I do that? Can I do it again? What if I mess it up this time?”

  
  

This overthinking triggered physical tension. She stopped breathing, tensed her upper body, tipped forward, and rushed the canter aid—all the previous habits she had been working hard to overcome. She also realised she was asking for the transition too late in the corner after a rushed trot, setting herself and the horse up for failure.

Instead of just practising transitions endlessly, we changed our approach to focus on the process leading up to the transition:

• Breathing Techniques: Practising steady, controlled breathing to stay relaxed and reduce tension.

• Focusing on the Trot Rhythm: Shifting her attention to maintaining a consistent trot rather than fixating on the canter.

• Counting Out Loud: Using counting to prepare mentally and physically for the transition.

• Visualisation: Mentally rehearsing the transition and identifying exactly where she would ask for it.

  
  

We practised these steps on the simulator, which allowed her to refine her approach without the added pressure of managing her horse. By breaking the process into manageable steps, she gained the confidence and control to start applying it to her lessons.

Now, if it doesn’t go to plan, she has the steps in place to think about. When it does go well, brilliant—she has that positive feedback to use again.

Jumping: Beyond the Fence

Another client I worked with came in for a follow-up session after working on her posture, lower leg stability, and jump position several months earlier in her initial assessment. She’d seen huge improvements and felt her jumping had become much more effective. However, she wasn’t seeing the consistency she wanted.

When we talked through her recent experiences in the ring, she realised that the issue wasn’t with the jump itself—it was with her approach. If the stride was perfect, the jump felt good, it was smooth and balanced. But if the stride wasn’t quite right, everything fell apart.

We broke it down further:

• Were certain jumps harder than others? Yes—those with tighter turns in the approach.

• What happened during the turns? She admitted that she lost the rhythm and impulsion, as she was too focused on the line to the jump.

  
  

This led us to assess what happens during her turns, using the simulator to replicate her natural movement patterns. It showed a significant difference on left and right reins and explained why her horse was reacting as he did—because her aids were telling him to (falling out through the shoulder, overbending in the neck, etc.).

So rather than working on more jumping, we focused on:

• Upper Body Rotation: Improving her ability to rotate through her torso smoothly and maintain balance.

• Rein Contact and Alignment: Refining her hand, arm, and shoulder alignment to ensure clear and consistent aids.

• Pelvic Rotation and Weight Distribution: Practising even weight distribution and better control through turns.

The Racewood simulator is ideal for isolating these elements because it provided a consistent canter rhythm, allowing her to focus entirely on her position and movements. Once she felt more confident, we simulated course work to help her integrate these changes into her jumping.

She felt that her mind is so busy when jumping in the ring that she now has several steps to think about with her turns and approach without feeling overwhelmed. By addressing the root cause—her balance and alignment in turns—she now has the tools to achieve more consistency in her courses with practice.

Summary

It’s important to focus on the positives and not dwell on the negatives in the sum total. However, using the negatives to reflect and identify areas for improvement can lead to even greater satisfaction when you achieve your goals. Celebrate the wins, but also be curious about what didn’t go well—because that’s where the real growth happens.

How Rider Physio Can Help

If you’re ready to take your riding performance to the next level, my video subscription service offers personalised analysis of your riding. You can send in videos for tailored feedback, along with exercises and strategies to address your specific challenges.

For those able to visit Cheshire, my mechanical horse simulator sessions provide hands-on, focused practice to help you refine your position, improve biomechanics, and transform your riding skills.

💡 Ready to focus on you? Let’s get started!