Positive about riding and horses!
Welcome to Positive Riding, dedicated to helping riders understand more about horses and how to build great relationships with them. Whether you ride with affiliated competitions and professional exams in mind, or simply for pleasure, the partnership with the horse offers the opportunity to learn about yourself.
The site is led by Liz Morrison BHS-SM, BHSII, ICF-PCC, author of Simple Steps to Riding Success and co-author of Ride with confidence, both best selling guides to the subject. As an experienced and qualified instructor, judge and competitor, she is particularly interested in helping riders improve their performance and build their confidence, no matter what level they are riding at. She also wrote the first edition of The Veterinary Care of the Horse with Sue Devereux, who is now a leading specialist in using acupuncture and holistic approaches to support horses at every level.
The website draws on NLP based sports psychology and coaching approaches to build confidence, for riding is as much about mental and emotional awareness as it is about physical ability and techniques. It also includes examples of how important it is to think holisticly about the horse to solve problems. For when you are confident and happy, the horse can be confident and happy too, and you can both perform your best.
By using the tag cloud or search box, you can browse a series of true stories and examples that will get you thinking about your relationship with horses. These summarise individual aspects of the dynamic between trainer, horse and rider. Any professional trainer will assess ’problem behaviour’ and check that it is not due to back soreness, poor fitting tack or other sources of discomfort for the horse. They will assess the rider’s competence and balance and choose exercises that are enjoyable and appropriate for their stage of training. Please note that hypnosis and NLP techniques need to be used in context and with regard for horse and rider comfort and safety. Beware of working with these techniques with people who are not qualified – or insured - to train riders and their horses.
Positive Riding is part of Sporting Tactics Ltd of which Liz is a Director. The company provides individual coaching, facilitation of learning groups and other management resources for organisations. One popular aspect of this corporate portfolio is workshops using experiential metaphor – often outdoors and sometimes facilitated by horses – where the participants get new perspectives on their situations. See the Horseplay pages for more information.
Over the last couple of years Liz has been focusing on developing new skills by undertaking UKCC level 3 coaching training , studying action learning approaches through an MSc at the Universityof Bath, and developing experiential learning workshops which incorporate horses. She continues to coach some private clients in the Surrey and Sussex area as well as riding and competing her own horses and judging dressage. Following continuing requests she is now scheduling some one day workshops for riders and training for coaches interested in developing their approach to offer experiential coaching with horses. Please contact her if you would like to develop these skills with us.
Continuous learning is a core value for Liz and this site will include details of a range of other workshops and courses about different aspects of riding and horse care around the UK.
Recent Testimonials
“…I found the subject absolutely fascinating and came home with my head buzzing with thoughts and ideas about where my beliefs had gone wrong and what I was going to do about it !!!…”
“..For me the greatest thing is how much it affected my approach to everyday matters as well as my riding. I seem to see things so much more clearly and so I can accept and deal with them. I’m not in such a fog anymore and am so much more relaxed about things that used to get me really stewed up!..”
“…I find it amazing how excited I get just talking about and planning what I really want to do! It makes it feel like you are starting to work toward your goal and putting your dreams into action , which is really encouraging……..I look forward to the future!..”