The Back Lady

Roadshow

Dates for the Roadshow

No dates currently planned. Would you like to host a Talk, Demonstration or Clinic? I'd love to come to you!

Recent comments from the Lecture Demo at Millfield Equestrian Centre:

'Absolutely saw your 'conversation' with Solo today! what a pleasure to be there to watch the pleasure you get from him. So interesting and so clearly demonstrated, great afternoon, thank you both'

'Well worth the drive down from Gloucester! - We all had a brilliant time!'

The 'Roadshow' has come about as a result of my learning and study, both theoretically and practically over the past 18 months. It became apparent to me that there is a sad lack of understanding of how a horse moves well, and develops a good posture and collection, together with some innocently misguided attempts by many riders to obtain self-carriage and have the horse 'on the bit'.

So, rather than just grumble away to my friends about this I put some long and hard thought into what I could do in a positive way to address it. There is no point in labouring what is wrong, so I have aimed to present and explain what is right in an informative and accessible way for all riders whatever their ambition. Whether you are an Olympic contender, riding club competitor, long distance rider, Trekker or happy hacker your horse will be nicer to ride and have a longer, sounder life if you pay attention to good posture and movement in both of you. The elements of the 'Roadshow' aim to explain and teach how this can be done by all riders with all horses.

The most important thing I would like to get across is that YOU can do this with YOUR horse! And its fun

However, we need you as well to help get this stuff out there! If you or your club would be up for hosting any of the elements of the Roadshow you will not be disappointed!

If you would like private lessons for yourself and some friends, that can be arranged for you.

Please contact Dorothy on 0870 350 3025 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

There are three elements to the 'Roadshow':

• 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection - What Every Rider Needs to Know!'- A talk, that can be combined with a demonstration, and can be extended further into a workshop, with Dorothy Marks
• 'Improve Your Horse's Posture and Balance - What Every Rider Needs to Know! - An evening lecture demonstration with Dorothy Marks and Lynda Davey
• 'Improve Your Horse's Posture and Balance' Clinics that can be tailored to your needs, with Dorothy Marks and Lynda Davey

For more information about each of these, please scroll down to find the specifics, and detailed information for potential organisers.

Through a variety of sources of inspiration, which include Mary Wanless, Philippe Karl, Dr Deb Bennett and Dr Hilary Clayton amongst others, I have developed and written the talk entitled 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection - What Every Rider Needs to Know!'.

In this talk I explore what is a good posture for a horse and what we understand by 'collection'. I discuss why collection is important for all horses and riders and is not just a 'dressage' thing. I go into detailed anatomy, ie the bone structure, joints, muscles  and ligaments, that are important in a horse that is carrying itself well, and I finish with a demonstration of what happens in a live horse to cause this self-carriage, and show exercises done in-hand that activate and strengthen the necessary muscles.

The talk can be extended into a workshop where participants can bring their own horses and learn these exercises for themselves. In this there is no ridden work.

With a friend and colleague, Lynda Davey, we have taken this theme into an evening lecture demonstration - 'Improve Your Horse's Posture and Balance - What Every Rider Needs to Know!', where I give a brief insight into the 'anatomy' of good posture and collection, and demonstrate the same exercises in hand. Lynda then shows how the seat and positioning of the rider are vital for this to happen under saddle. We then have alot of fun demonstrating the concepts with our own horses, Solo and Tinks, and finish with a pas de deux.

Lynda is a very experienced Ride With Your Mind coach, and is a BHS Intermediate teacher.

Lynda and I also provide 2, 3 or 4 day clinics - 'Improve Your Horse's Posture and Balance' Clinics, in which we can go into all these ideas, both from the ground and in the saddle, with your own horses.

Previous Roadshow Events:

3rd July 2010, 'Understanding Collection' Talk Demo with Dorothy Marks, Ashen Equestrian Centre, Essex 

1st October 2010 'Understanding Collection' Lecture Demo with Lynda Davey and Dorothy Marks, Wiltshire BHS, Wilton

20th November 2010 'Understanding Collection' Talk with Dorothy Marks, Saddle fitters' weekend, Lavinia Mitchell

20th February 2011 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' Talk Demo with Dorothy Marks, Russell's Equestrian Centre, Southampton

5th March 2011 'Improve your Horse's Posture and Balance' Lecture Demo with Lynda Davey and Dorothy Marks, Millfield Equestrian Centre, Somerset

22nd March 2011 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' Talk and workshop with Dorothy Marks for Mary Wanless' RWYM Coaches' training

30th April 2011 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' Talk and demonstration with Dorothy Marks for BHS Devon County Group

17th August 2011 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' Talk and demonstration with Dorothy Marks for Heather Moffett's Enlightened Equitation Teacher Training Course

‘Understanding equine posture and collection – what every rider needs to know!’

with Dorothy Marks BSc DC AMC 

This presentation is aimed at all riders who have an interest in understanding, in detail, about how to  improve how their horses carry themselves. It is relevant for those who wish to enjoy hacking on a happy, responsive horse as much as to those who have ambitions to compete in whatever discipline.The presentation can take two forms:

·         2 - 3 hour ‘classroom’ based talk, followed by a 1 hour demonstration of exercises that activate a horse’s postural and collection muscles. This can be done in an indoor or outdoor school, or yard. The exercise are all in hand, there is no ridden work.

·         The talk and demonstration as above together with a further half day workshop where participants can bring their own horses to learn and practice the in hand activation exercises.The talk goes into detail of the anatomy of the horse, and what needs to happen, anatomically, for a horse to have good posture. Dorothy explores why we want good posture, and how good posture in a ridden horse is different from a horse in nature. This is especially important for horses that are less than well conformed, or naturally carry themselves ‘upside down’. The concepts of ‘collection’ and ‘dressage’ are discussed, and audience participation is encouraged. Dorothy shows how a good posture in the horse is the starting point for self-carriage and collection. There is plenty of time for questions, and Dorothy wants people to ask about whatever occurs to them.The demonstration can be done using Dorothy’s horse, or a resident horse at the venue, and shows a range of exercises and in hand work all aimed at activating and strengthening the horse’s ‘collection’ muscles In a workshop, Dorothy works with small groups of 2 or 3 horses and their owners for an hour each, giving the owners an opportunity to try the exercises. Dorothy will also advise on the most appropriate exercises depending on the individual horse’s conformation and needs.

Dorothy Marks is a Chiropractor, having originally trained to treat people, she took the McTimoney Animal Manipulation Course immediately on graduating. She now only treats animals, with a particular interest in horses. She has studied the anatomy and biomechanics of the horse in some detail, drawing from many sources, both theoretical and practical. She is also a saddle fitter, and teaches riding with the emphasis on rider posture using Mary Wanless’ Ride With Your Mind approach. She has also taught in a number of other fields including scuba diving as well as human and animal chiropractic. She is very good at explaining things in a clear and effective way.

For this presentation Dorothy needs:

·         Somewhere indoors to give the talk. Depending on the time of year this can be an indoor school or barn, but ideally a classroom or workshop room, especially in the winter months!

·         Access to a power supply for an overhead projector.

·         A school or yard for the ‘horse’ demonstration, again ideally indoors in the colder / wetter months.

·         If also doing a workshop, an indoor or outdoor school or large barn / yard area where 2 - 3 horses can safely work together. There is some in hand work in walk, so a school would be best.

·         Accommodation for Solo, if he comes along as the demo horse (this will depend on how far you are from Somerset!).

The fee for the talk and demonstration is £100 plus travel and accommodation where necessary, plus 50% of any profit.The fee for the workshop is a further £100.

Please contact Dorothy by ‘phone on 01373 834103, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it You can find more information about Dorothy on her website: www.thebacklady.co.uk  

 ‘Improve your horses’s posture and balance – what every rider needs to know!’

with Lynda Davey and Dorothy Marks

This presentation is aimed at all riders, whether their interest is enjoyable hacking or serious competition. There will be something to ‘take home’ for everyone. The presentation takes the form of an evening lecture demonstration lasting between 21/2 and 3 hours, depending on the length of a break and audience questions.The evening starts with Dorothy discussing what is good posture in the horse, and why it is important for all horses. She highlights the significant anatomical structures (bones, joints, ligaments and muscles) using both diagrammes on overhead slides together with her horse standing alongside. She uses specific ‘core’ exercises and stretches to demonstrate the spinal movements and muscle activity that contribute to good posture. She discusses how good posture is essential for developing balance, self carriage and, ultimately, collection.

Lynda then continues the first half by talking about good posture in the rider, and how we define this. She introduces the basic principles of Mary Wanless’ Ride With Your Mind approach to teaching riders what a good riding posture is, and how important this is to enable the horse to carry itself in a good posture in turn. She uses overhead slides and has Dorothy sitting on her horse to illustrate good alignment.

In the second half, Lynda and Dorothy ride their horses in a series of short sections which illustrate the purpose and interpretation of ‘dressage’. Dorothy focuses on giving the audience a demonstration of the difference between good and bad posture with her horse. She then goes on to show how school and lateral movements can be used to help develop self carriage and collection in a horse with a less than ideal conformation. Lynda focuses more on the rider alignment, core stability and posture, and how these can be used to influence the posture, self carriage and collection of the horse. She moves on to consider how these can be developed into the ‘ideal’ of what a dressage judge might look for.

Lynda and Dorothy conclude the second half with a short pas de deux.

The audience are encouraged to ask questions and contribute throughout the evening.

Lynda Davey is a BHS Intermediate teacher, and a senior coach in the Ride With Your Mind network. She is an extremely experienced teacher and rider, and competes with Tinks in dressage.

Dorothy Marks is a Chiropractor, specialising in horses and saddle fitting, and is a Ride With Your Mind Coach. Dorothy has experience of teaching and giving presentations in a variety of fields and is very good at making ideas and concepts clear and understandable. She has competed in endurance and trec with Solo.

Both are ‘ordinary’ riders with ‘ordinary’ horses. Their over-riding message being that refined riding with invisible aids on a collected horse is possible for everyone.

For this presentation we need the following facilities:

·        Indoor arena with space for audience seating. We need a minimum space for riding of 20m x 35m, ideally 20m x 40m or more.

·        Access to power supply for overhead projector and PA system

·        2 tables for overhead projector and screen

·        CD player / sound system For the pas de deux, we have music to play, and have BD music membership, however the venue also needs a music license for us to be able to play our CD. If the venue has no license, we will not play the music.