Tara Shegogue: Becoming a C.O.R.E. Rider

Tara Shegogue of Mythic Landing Enterprises recently attended a C.O.R.E. Rider Clinic at Playland Farm, and she was kind enough to send us a report. C.O.R.E. stands for Centered, Organized, Responsive and Effective riding, and Glenda Player has been developing this clinic curriculum for some time. For more information on the clinics, visit her website here. Many thanks to Maya Kuntze Photography for the photos from the clinic.

Riders in the unmounted portion of the clinic. Photo by Maya Kuntze Photography.

Riders in the unmounted portion of the clinic. Photo by Maya Kuntze Photography.

From Tara:

I attended Playland Farm’s C.O.R.E. Rider Clinic on March 22, and had no idea what to expect but was pleasantly surprised! Playland Farm is a client of mine at Mythic Landing, and we have been watching Glenda Player develop the program through her many trips to Germany. So, needless to say, everyone at MLE was excited when we heard she was having her C.O.R.E. Rider Clinic debut!

I have been riding as long as I can remember, but have only been eventing for the last couple of years. I am a hunter-jumper convert, and so sometimes dressage is difficult for me. My brain tells my body one thing but old habits die hard, and sometimes find a way to creep back, making my body a living, constant debate. So, I am always looking for help improving my dressage position, and when I saw there was a clinic that advertised Get to the ‘CORE’ of your riding with these specialized classes,” I was sold!

The clinic started in the morning with an unmounted group session. We headed to a local classroom where we each took a spot on the floor to lie on our mats. Glenda talked us through a series of “yoga-like” movements followed by some very thought-provoking questions. For example, I was able to focus and become aware of the fact that I place more weight and pressure on the left side of my body, and that my mobility when doing movements to the right side was much more challenging.

This was a total light-bulb moment for me, as I find that when riding, my left is undeniably my stronger side. During the session, Glenda explained to us that C.O.R.E. is an acronym for Centered, Organized, Responsive and Effective riding, which promotes ease of movement, coordination and flexibility.  After we finished the unmounted session, everyone was able to ask questions and talk a little bit about what they felt during the movements.

Afterwards, we all headed back to Playland Farm to start the mounted lessons portion of the clinic. The first group of riders brought their personal horses that are at a more advanced level of riding. The riders really focused on minor adjustments to their position, which allowed their horses to open up and round more over their toplines. It was incredible to see how almost instantly, slight adjustments and awareness created such a difference in their horses’ strides! Glenda also did a wonderful job of including those of us who weren’t riding in the lesson. I have audited many clinics, but never before have I been to one that was so interactive!

When it was my turn to ride, I was really excited! I couldn’t bring my normal mount, so Playland was kind enough to let me ride one of their homebreds, PL Lucky’s Indy. With me, Glenda really focused on helping with my leg position for dressage. She did some stretches and helped me to reposition my leg to the correct dressage position. She also explained why my old position wasn’t working and how the new leg position would really allow me to be more centered and balanced over my horse.

At first, it felt so foreign and strange. I thought my leg was going to come right off! However, after some time, it started to feel more “normal,” and I was able to trot and canter around effectively with the new position. It really made a huge difference in the way I felt on the horse. It was also much easier to absorb the movement of the trot and canter and really allowed Indy to open up. Pretty cool!

Since then, I have been working on practicing my new leg position at home, and it’s been going very well!  I can’t wait to go back for the second C.O.R.E. Rider clinic on May 11 and become even more aware of my body so I can become a better rider.

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