Margie Mitchell - Rider Biomechanics Coach

15/04/2026

WEIRD and WONDERFUL

I’ve met and helped riders who weren’t too sure what to expect from a biomechanics RWYM lesson, only that they knew they needed some help and guidance to improve their body balance/awareness/connection with their horse.

RWYM learning opens the lines of communication to your horse by offering an ethical approach to riding, improving technique, body tone (not tension), balance and awareness.

So, what to expect …..

The sessions are focussed one2one you-and-your-horse time.
Sessions start with the obvious introductions and then the rider settles into their ridden warm up whilst the coach observes and formulates ideas that could help the partnership.

Then there’s the question: what would you like to get out of this session?
This forms the focal point of the lesson and starts the collaboration between coach and rider to gain improvements.

RWYM learning values the rider’s feedback. As the session progresses and the coach navigates the rider and horse into improved balance/connection we are looking to find ways to make the new feeling ‘stick’ and be something you can work on yourself at home in-between sessions.
One of the best ways to achieve that is for the rider to give a word or expression to the new feeling. These expressions are very individual and unique to each rider. Often a new feeling feels weird to a rider compared to what they were doing previously. But weird can create wonderful. Wonderful new feelings of connection and balance with your horse. You’ll know it as soon as you feel the change in you both.

Finally, the session will wrap up with the rider being asked ‘what are the big take aways from the session’. These are the main points of learning and what the check list is to recreate those new feelings at home. The weird and the wonderful.

For my own riding it continues to be a wonderful method of learning and understanding what I’m trying to achieve. How using my body in a slightly different way can have such an effect on how my horse moves. The importance of releasing tension and creating appropriate tone in muscles is essential if you want to connect better with your horse. Embracing those weird feelings when you come across them and making them your new normal.

Each session is a journey to help the horse and the rider find improvement and in the midst of the concentrated learning, there are often smiles and light hearted moments.
Riding learning should be an enjoyable journey.

Contact me if you’d like to know more, or book a session to start your learning journey. Embrace the weird and the wonderful of riding. It will get you where you want to be.

There is a list of accredited RWYM coaches near you on the RWYM website

15/04/2026

7 part webinar series with Mary Wanless
"For equestrians who want to feel more, understand more deeply, ride more effectively,and achieve results that catalyse lasting change with their horses"

Check out fb post for more details.
Early bird prices available for limited time

Many riders find themselves stuck in a familiar pattern: they try harder, apply more corrections, and yet the horse still feels tight, inconsistent, or difficult to influence. Progress can feel fragile, and improvements often fail to last.

06/04/2026

03/04/2026

Love this. So true

Stopping what you are doing and doing nothing are two entirely different things;

When looking at behaviour change, tradition tells us we need to 'do' - because tradition looks at observable metrics for success. We need to feel like we are doing something with our horses, making them compliant, 'untraining' unwanted behaviours. 'Training' wanted behaviours.

But what many people don't realise is that all behaviour arises out of an emotion. And it is very rare that we train for the emotion because we are all training for the behaviour.

One of the most salient things I learned from completing Understand Horses' Trauma-Informed Horse Trainer certificate is about the relay between the amygdala and the hippocampus:

The amygdala is essentially the emotion centre in the brain - it determines how the horse or human feels;

The hippocampus is the memory cente in the brain - it compares the current lived experience with a memory which then helps the amygdala to assign an emotion to it;

Positive experience = positive emotion
Negative experience = negative emotion

From here, the body produces a physiological response (e.g. upregulate into fight/flight/freeze or downregulate into rest/digest)

This then initiates the behaviour that we see.

This is further enhanced by the horse's stress levels -

Increase in chronic stress = increase in negative emotion = increase in unwanted behaviour

Decrease in chronic stress = decrease in negative emotion = increase in the development of wanted behaviour potential.

This all then depends on what you choose to do with your horse:

Stopping your horse's training whilst you seek to reduce the chronic stress levels in their environment is NOT doing nothing.

Stopping your horse's dressage training whilst you develop positive associations in the arena with enrichment is NOT doing nothing.

Continuing to train your horse in the same way, to try to get a different behavioural response, even though your horse absolutely hates it IS doing nothing.

I cannot stress this enough:

You get the emotion you train - so if you can learn to read your horse, you can then learn to act accordingly.

I think thats quite empowering to be honest!

-

If you want guidance with supporting your horse, I have some things that may help:

Join my mailing list - for free bodywork and training tutorials.

Enroll in the Modern Centaurian Academy - to redefine how you see and work with horses.

Book a consultation - work directly with me in person or online.

https://www.yasminstuartequinephysio.com/

📸 Olivia Rose Photography

03/04/2026

This is bound to be a very worthwhile series of instructive and rider-helpful webinars.
Mary Wanless never knowingly short changes you. All yours to learn

Many riders find themselves stuck in familiar patterns: they try harder, apply more corrections, and yet the horse still feels tight, inconsistent, or difficult to influence. Progress can feel fragile, and improvements often fail to last.

This SEVEN-PART LIVE ONLINE SERIES starting May 14th reveals, in depth, how two bodies influence each other through an invisible web of connective tissue - the fascial net. By recognising the main lines of connection within this system, you can begin to understand where effort, resistance or misunderstanding may be creeping in and unlock a new level of progress for you and your horse!

You can discover where your fascia is distorted or snarled up, and how to restore linkages that let your body work more efficiently. As your linkages change, your horse responds within seconds!

Mary is excited to present this groundbreaking material to help you be the best that you can be, for the good of your horse.

https://www.dressagetraining.tv/join-fascia

30/03/2026

Canter and dolphins
Where else would you find that connection to your riding? Tonight's RWYM coaches catch up with Mary Wanless.
Discussing canter and how to help riders plug in and follow the movement with connection.
Lovely to link up with the RWYM coaches network
Thanks to for her dedication to help us coaches stay at the top of our game and to fellow coach for the dolphin analogy x

16/03/2026

SALT CONFUSION? 🧂🐴

? Plain table salt, salt licks, sea salt, fine or coarse grade, french or cornish, himalayan pink salt, black salt, grey salt, red salt, smoked salt, iodised salt, electrolytes, in water or feed, a teaspoon daily or two tablespoons, or no added salt at all?

You're forgiven if you're confused about salt for your horse.

I've had a number of salt questions lately, so I thought I'd share this again...

Here are some salt facts:
> Salt is used to describe sodium chloride which is an electrolyte compound made of two essential minerals for horses, and is important for fluid balance, heart, nerve and muscle function, transport of substances into cells, bile and stomach acid formation.
> Forages including grass, hay and haylage rarely supply enough sodium for your horse and most feed, balancer and supplements don't supply enough either. This is partly because daily requirements vary, and depend entirely on how much a horse exercises (and therefore sweats)
> A general guide is to offer a salt block for all horses then also add 1 tablespoon of salt (per 500kg) for horses in light work, adjusting up to 3 tablespoons for a horse in heavy work who is sweating substantially. Adjust for bodyweight
> You add salt into the FEED to replenish sodium. You add salt (or a combination electrolyte product) to WATER to help the horse replenish water (fluid) i.e.for rehydration
> The type of salt you feed doesn't alter the horse's body's uptake or use of sodium so it's down to your choice
> Most plain table salt (and some other types including sea salt) have anti-caking agents added to stop clumping and most of them are harmless mineral compounds
> Sea salt and mined salt e.g. himalayan will contain traces of other minerals so are less pure sources of sodium chloride. Iodised salt has iodine added and can be tricky to find in the UK - useful if your forage is particularly low in iodine and is fed as well as a vitamin & mineral fortified feed, balancer or supplement
> Black salt is a type of burnt rock salt containing sulphur and it's used externally as well as being fed. There is no good evidence of it's therapeutic use including for itchy horses -and the levels of other nutrients it contains are likely too low to have much if any benefit
> Up to moderate excesses of sodium are excreted easily by the body so if in doubt, feed a little over rather than under (but don't overdo it!)
> Adding salt is not an antidote to the high potassium levels in forage just in the same way as adding vitamins is not a 'tonic'. Salt provides sodium, which is an essential mineral the horse cannot do without and their diets are, generally low so they need supplementation

If you enjoyed this post, you will love the Equine Nutrition Learning Centre. Find out more on my website - see comments.

Feel free to share this post! 🐴🍏

11/03/2026

Straight rather than circles

When a horse needs strength, the last thing it needs to do is endless circles. There is an outdated idea that going in circles makes horses stronger. In reality, circles are for GYMNASTICS (suppling/coordination/balance) but not for CONDITIONING. Strength develops from straight, progressive loading through the whole body, where the limbs share weight evenly and a horse can push from behind without constant sideways torque or uneven load. Circles are not a weak horse's friend. To build strength you need:
- straight lines
-hills
-transitions
-poles
-varied terrain and paces

I realize I sound rebellious to glorify straight lines. But as someone who gets to help horses move and feel better every day, I have never seen them fail to make horses stronger. Trust me on this.

04/03/2026

Sunny spring morning.
Lovely to get Havana's rug off. He'll be 26 this year and has come out of the winter looking good.