Episode 14: Muscle Memory: habits & experience can improve your horseback riding skills

This week we are talking about muscle memory. I'm going to share my two different views on muscle memory and one way that you can fast-forward you're learning. Last week, I talked about muscle memory being different than your strength or fitness level. I think people get confused about these concepts because, in the beginning, they both come together. When you are learning to ride a horse, you develop new muscles and new skills. In this episode, I am focusing on the muscle memory side of learning to ride. Show Notes [01:28] Muscle memory is a type of habit. An example of this would be when we learn to write. [02:23] Repetition and putting enough time into riding is what's needed to form this type of muscle memory. [03:01] You need to put in the time and the repetitions in order to create a feedback loop. Once you create a feedback loop, then you have something that you can modify. [03:38] Repetition helps when you're trying to learn how to refine, hone, or sharpen a skill. [04:07] A lot of riders are uncomfortable with asking the horses for a lot of repetition. [06:26] Time plus repetition will create a feedback loop that you can modify. [06:52] Experience muscle memory (where you feel something) is important because it will enable you to fast forward your learning with horses. [08:10] Riding well trained horses can help with this. [09:17] By riding a well-trained horse, you get a longer opportunity to feel the muscle memory when a horse does a maneuver correctly. [10:36] When you know what it feels like in your body, you will better be able to reward a green horse when they do a correct maneuver briefly. [10:49] I would be willing to pay more for a lesson on a well-trained horse. [11:37] Training on a well-trained horse will help you have the awareness in your body to fast forward the training of your own personal horses. [11:46] Embrace the idea of repetition. [12:28] If you are taking lessons, ask to take a lesson on a well-trained horse. [12:49] Just one lesson on a well-trained horse can put some really cool feelings into your body that will make it easier for you to translate that and transfer it over to your own horse. Links and Resources: Muscle Memory