Photo courtesy of Amelia Newcomb Dressage.
“I love riding, I love horses, and then of course, I love helping as many people as possible to really be able to enjoy their horses, to make progress and communicate with our horses and to have a really good relationship with our horses.”
Amelia Newcomb is well on her way to reaching as many people as possible; currently she’s teaching as many as 400,000 people via her social media accounts and YouTube channel. But unlike many dressage trainers, she isn’t in segmenting her student base to only professionals or just beginner riders.
Instead, her mission is Dressage for All.
With students literally across the globe, Amelia is teaching dressage to riders of all levels from a variety of disciplines in places as far away as Japan, the Middle East, and even Africa.
“Dressage really is the foundation that allows you to do all of the other disciplines, whether you’re on the trail or you’re jumping, or you’re chasing after a cow, or you just want to enjoy your horse as a pleasure horse,” Amelia said. “You want to have the fundamentals of dressage, you want your horse to be supple and relaxed and on the aids, so that you can stay safe and enjoy your horse. It’s really about helping people regardless of their level, or their horse’s breed, or their discipline. It’s about developing a connection with your horse, and then also teaching your horse to use and move their body in a way that’s really healthy and efficient for them.”
A Multi-Disciplinary Background
Coming from a multi-disciplinary background herself, Amelia practices what she preaches. “I started out riding dressage, and then I went to the Western world for a while. I had a horse who was really difficult and he was rearing and so we went back to doing groundwork and natural horsemanship stuff to kind of rehab him and get him back going. I did roping, reining, and cow horse stuff for a while. So I’ve definitely been in that realm as well.”
There’s a reason why many of the best riders out there are not the best teachers. It’s difficult to teach what comes naturally to you. Amelia’s journey to becoming a professional rider is probably what makes her such a good teacher.
“When I started riding, I was not a natural rider. I fell off a lot, I was very unbalanced and uncoordinated, and it was hard for me to really learn how to stay on and what to do with my body and how to develop my seat and my position,” Amelia said. “I have also had some really, really difficult horses. Horses that made me feel like I’m not a good rider, and I should just quit, and I should give up and this is too hard. And so I feel like it’s my obligation to give back and to help people through that journey, which can be so difficult and so hard, and so heartbreaking at times. If I can help them just that little bit to get through some hard times, or to figure something new about their horse or about their riding, then that’s really special.”
Now, Amelia has grown to appreciate the difficulties that come with riding horses. “One thing I love about riding and horses is that you’re never done learning. It’s endless. My husband says, ‘You can be frustrated for life.’ There’s always going to be a new problem or something that you need to try to fix.”
Amelia’s journey to teaching was sparked with a little support from her brother, Joseph Newcomb, who runs Joseph Newcomb Dressage. “So my brother actually had a YouTube channel, and he was like, ‘Oh, you should start one,’” Amelia said. “I started making one YouTube video each week and it started out really slow. But then I started getting feedback from people saying, ‘Wow, this video really helped me with my riding.’ It just grew from there.”’
The Benefits of Going Virtual
Originally I was admittedly skeptical of Amelia’s business model. Having only ever taken in-person lessons, I was a little confused as to how students could learn a physical sport online. It turns out, I wasn’t the only one who started off skeptical. “At first, I thought, ‘Oh, there’s no way that people could learn to ride online,’” said Amelia. “But the proof is there. I was at the Horse Expo last weekend, and I had people come up to me with tears in their eyes, saying, ‘You’ve changed my life.’ And I had never even met them before. It’s become something really special.”
Because she does all of her teaching through Zoom, Youtube, Facebook, and her website, there’s no geographic limit to Amelia’s student base, and she works hard to ensure there’s no financial obstacle either. Amelia promotes accessibility to the sport with various forms of free content. “One thing that I think is very hard about any horse sport is that it is very expensive and it can get very elitist,” Amelia said. “So that is also part of the Dressage for All mission. If you want to learn and you want to have a better relationship with your horse, I’m here to help you.”
Amelia’s 30 Day Challenges are likely her most popular program, and it’s easy to see why. With a chance to win cash prizes totaling $10,000 dollars, there’s a big incentive to not only join the challenge, but commit to it wholeheartedly.
“The challenges are really fun because they motivate you to work towards a goal,” Amelia said. “You have 30 days to improve your riding in a specific area. You submit a video at the beginning and at the end, and then we review hundreds of videos, which is kind of insane. But whoever improves the most wins the most.”
If you want to have a little bit more of that community feel that’s present in traditional lesson programs, you can join Amelia’s Dressage Club. “We do have an amazing community. We have a free Facebook group, which is called Amelia’s Dressage Club. It’s just a group of horse enthusiasts that are excited about learning. We work really, really hard to keep it a safe space where people can ask questions, and get positive and constructive feedback.”
Basics, Empathy, Respect
Amelia’s program is founded on the philosophy that most training issues can be solved by a return to the basics. “Oftentimes, when you run into a training problem with your horse, it’s when you’ve made things too complicated. It’s about really going back to the basics and breaking things down, step by step, and kind of using frameworks and using exercises to make it more understandable for you and for your horse.”
Photo courtesy of Amelia Newcomb Dressage.
Her background in natural horsemanship has impressed upon her a deep gratitude and respect for the horses she works with.
“What’s really important to me is helping the horses, because by helping the riders, I’m helping the horses to feel more secure and more confident and to understand what they want from their riders,” Amelia said. “Horses are such incredible creatures, the fact that they let us ride them and train them to do these amazing things is remarkable. We have to train our horses through understanding and kindness, rather than just forcing them and adding pressure. So that’s part of why I do it, too. It’s not only for the people, I do love all my audience, but it’s also for the horses.”
Learning dressage online is completely different from traditional in-person lessons, making it a good choice for dedicated students who want to extend their learning to outside the saddle. “When you’re on your horse, you have to be very much in the moment,” Amelia said. “What’s happening around you? Is your horse getting tense or nervous? What’s the rider next to you in the arena doing? What’s your horse going to spook at? Sometimes in the moment, it’s hard to digest new information. Your trainer might be trying to explain to you the theory of riding or a new exercise or where to put your leg, but you’re so wound up in what’s happening or what could happen, that it’s hard to process that information.”
Amelia recommends studying her content in a quiet moment. “Go home at night, sit on your couch, and hear that instruction again when you’re in a moment where you can really close your eyes and visualize and think through it. It really, really helps.”
It’s for exactly this reason that Amelia says trainers will recommend her videos and blogs to their students. “Their students are going home and studying and learning outside of their lesson time, it allows the student to make a lot more progress and to really maximize their time in the saddle.”
Dressage for Safety and Fitness
How often do you work on your dressage each week? I’m willing to bet there’s quite a large group of eventers out there who spend more time focusing on their show jumping technique or gallop sets. However, Amelia emphasizes that we should focus on our dressage not only to get ahead in competitions, but also for safety and fitness.
“I think that a big part of dressage is about getting your horse on the aids and developing communication and trust with your horse, and you need that when you’re out on cross country,” Amelia said. “If the footing isn’t perfect, or if you have a big fence, or if your horse gets spooked, you have to have that control and that adjustability to be able to keep you and your horse safe. First and foremost, dressage is about safety and having that control and that bond and that partnership.”
Amelia points out that you can’t exactly teach your horse to be more responsive in the heat of the moment as you bear down upon a large fence. Or, at least, it’s a lot safer if you teach responsiveness and adjustability before you find yourself in that position.
“Horses can only learn in times when they’re relaxed, and they feel safe,” Amelia said. “You always want to teach your horse how to respond to your leg, to your reins in a situation where they’re safe and they’re relaxed. You don’t want to wait to see if the aids actually work in a pressure-filled situation, like when you’re at a full gallop and you’re headed to a fence. If your horse isn’t listening– that’s not a good feeling. And that’s not going to be good for you or for your horse. It really is first and foremost about safety for you and for your horse.”
Photo courtesy of Amelia Newcomb Dressage.
Commonly referred to as weightlifting for horses, dressage can also help build our horses’ fitness. “It takes so long to build a partnership with our horses that to have to start over again because of an injury is just terrible and heartbreaking,” Amelia said. “A big part of dressage is the soundness, both physical and mental for the horses.”
With the right exercises, we can help our horses become more symmetrical, which reduces the risk of excess wear and tear and compensation injuries. “One thing that we always work on in dressage is getting our horses really symmetrical, and using their bodies in a way that’s efficient. If your horse isn’t supple, and they’re leaning in and counter bending, they’re going to be putting a lot of pressure on that inside front leg and that’s not so healthy for them long term,” said Amelia.
Amelia believes dressage can transform the event horse both in and out of the ring. “I think of dressage as kind of like gymnastics. We really want our horses to be both strong and flexible,” Amelia said. “It’s amazing how with consistent training, you start to feel your horse change in the way that they use their body. They use their body more evenly. They use different muscles. And you’ll even see that when you turn them out in the field, they’ll start carrying themselves differently.”
Since starting out with just one YouTube video a week, Amelia has built herself a significant online following. With a platform of 32,000 followers on Facebook, nearly 74,000 followers on Instagram, and 292,000 subscribers on Youtube, Amelia has a lot of eyes on her every move. “I feel like I have such an obligation now to be providing really good quality, correct content, and making sure that it’s the right type of content that’s actually going to help people.”
No matter how many followers Amelia gains, her end goal stays the same: to help horses and to help riders with Dressage for All. “Riding is hard,” Amelia said. “We all have days that we feel like we should just quit and give up. We need to be able to reach out and get the support we need, no matter who we are, where we come from, or in what discipline we ride.”
