Our tuition caters for all levels, from beginner to advanced, and for all ages from 4 upwards. We hold group lessons at 10am and 11am every Saturday and Sunday for beginners, as well as at 6pm every Tuesday for advanced riders. Private lessons can be booked with a ‘Ride With your Mind’ coach weekdays from 9am – 7pm or weekends from 9am – 2pm.
At Russells we have been teaching riding for nearly 30 years. The technique we teach by is called Ride With your Mind. It is the modern method of teaching the principles of classical riding to the every day leisure rider. The inspiration to focus on the biomechanics of riding in our teaching stems from a visit to Portugal, where Carol was privileged to see riders performing the highest levels of dressage in an informal environment. She was encouraged to teach in an innovative way and found support for this from Mary Wanless BHSI, who pioneered the Ride With your Mind technique.
This technique involves teaching the rider subtle body awareness that so-called talented riders take for granted. It has elements of Alexander technique, Feldenkrais body work, martial arts and neurolinguistic programming, and it allows riders to achieve a good partnership with their horse beyond conventional expectations. Historically, the principles of classical riding produced the best fighters on horse back. It is a method that has been known for many hundreds of years. It involves placing the rider over the horse’s centre of balance so that the rider is responsible for their own balance. This means that the rider works in harmony with the horse’s movement instead of being a burden on his back. We believe this makes riding as much fun for the horse as for the rider. Certainly our horses seem to enjoy their work and live long useful lives.
Carol and Verity both receive ongoing training with Mary Wanless and we organise a twice-yearly three day riding course at Russells with Anna Gordon BHII, who is Mary’s protégé and a Ride With your Mind master coach.
We have three outdoor, flood-light schools:
• 60 x 20 metres, all-weather (rubber and sand mix surface).
• 25 x 25 metres, all-weather (rubber and sand mix surface).
• 40 x 20 metres (bark chip surface) for summer use only.
In addition, we have 12 acres of land with a small cross country course (for summer riding), access to the Itchen Valley Country Park adjacent to the centre where there is a bridle path and a further 30 acres of grazing for ‘rest and relaxation’.
Riders with special needs are very welcome at Russells. We can also accommodate groups who wish to have a taster session of riding. For many years Carol ran the riding for the disabled group known as “Black Farm” group and provided that the riders have plenty of support we can provide for most kinds of disability. Please contact us for further details.