The pleasure of riding

My riding career has been mostly for relaxtion purposes, doing a little bit of everything.

I started to take a liking in Dressage and wanted to refine this skill for me and my horse, James ( an ex race horse).

From the beginning it was quite a fight sure he had some physical issues from his old racing days. But we could barely do the basics in Dressage.

As a Dentist by trade, I also had my own physical issues. I work in an unnatural postion daily, which, generally left me in a lot of physical body pain, and this I started to accept as the norm.

On the riding front this led to me and James bodies fighting one another, and he used to constantly protest, making it, anything but a relaxing ride. Often leaving me demotivated and frustrated!

Horse riding was suppose to be my relaxtion, my happy place and destressor. However this was not the case, as some days I was in too much pain from either riding or working. Causing the 1 or the other to affect my lifestyle. This was a vicious cycle, escalating rapidly.

But to stop riding was out of the question! There had to be a better way.

I was introduced to weightless riding with Desiree du Pisanie in 2017. This aboslutely turned my world upside down!

It started with the most basic concept of life…..breathing….from there, she broke down every aspect of riding and explained it meticulously. Puzzling the pieces back together, making me aware of my body position, placement and by doing that, the horse has to mimic my body position. Her compassion shined through and was highly contagious.

All of a sudden a lot of pennies started to drop. This was so much more than just riding horses, it was actually a way of life. Riding simply does not start and stop when you are with your horses.

The lessons I was Taught by Desiree, I started to apply in my everyday life situation.

I started to become more comfortable in my own body, as pain was not the 1st thing on my mind everytime I had to do something.

Riding became easier, and James stopped challenging and resisting me.

In hindsight I realize now how much discomfort he had, whenever I rode him.

Instead of making him more comfortable, I caused more physical pain, to such an extent that he had to start protesting!

As soon as I started to work on myself he became more relaxed, and our rides together more enjoyable. We have been builing on this foundation. Breath by breath. Becoming stronger together.

And today I can truely confess thanks to Desiree’s input, riding actually makes me feel better and more relaxed.

I am even trimming my own Horses feet, without any physical issues, and my horses love it! We are even doing more than basic dessage moves, without any protests!

I love this concept of Weightless riding and would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Maryke and James