If you don’t live in a place where the weather is warm year round you unfortunately are faced with the challenge of riding, keeping fit and up to date on training during the winter. Or like many riders you unable to own a horse or ride as often as you would like. However, there are opportunities to improve your skills that will only cost you a little time and some dedication.
Books, Magazines, and DVDs
Magazines are a great way of finding discipline specific information at an economical price. There are numerous magazines that are for horse owners and lovers of all kinds that provide lots of information in small, easy to read articles. Magazines subscriptions won’t break the bank either, they usually cost anywhere from 10 to 30 dollars for a year long subscription. Books, especially horse related books, can be a bit more pricey option to magazines but they provide you with detailed training and riding information compared to the cost. Dvds can be the most costly of the learning materials but besides actual riding lessons they are one of the best ways to learn. There are also websites such as www.Giddyupflix.com where you can purchase a subscription for as little as seventeen dollars a month to rent dvds from a variety of trainers covering multiple disciplines and styles of riding.
Online Learning
There is a massive amount of information on horses and related topics available on the internet. Many trainers and horse association websites that offer free information. You can also learn a lot by watching other rider’s lessons that are posted on YouTube and live streaming horse shows. When reading or watching be sure to take everything you see with a grain of salt as anybody can post to the internet and all the information found there isn’t always correct. Another great source of information are online training memberships offered by numerous trainers. These membership are often affordable and some even offer free trials.
Join a Gym
Joining a gym will get you and keep you in shape during the periods of time where you may not be able to ride as often. The gym is great even if you are riding everyday as you can work specific muscle groups that you may not always use when riding. Cardio work is beneficial for any riding discipline as is develops your lungs and therefore your endurance when riding. The added bonus of cardio work is that it is free! There is no reason why you can’t take a 15 minute jog three times a week. The improvements in your riding and your health is worth the time and effort.
Plan for the Future
Write down your goals. Start with weekly goals and progress to yearly and five year goals that will keep you motivated when you feel frustrated. Make monthly budgets on how much money you want to spend on your horse and what you want to buy. Doing this ahead of time will get you a solid plan to which you can refer back to when prioritizing your money. Make a weekly showing and training schedule for the month. Tracking your progress can help you determine how fast your horse is learning certain lessons and help you plan for shows. Show dates usually don’t change from year to year making planning your schedule much easier.