I was first introduced to Ride With Your Mind in 2001. Until that point I had never experienced how it felt to learn in such a way that I was not only able to understand the content of the lesson, but also to reproduce its results.  Even at school and college, I had sat at the back of the class, often confused and bewildered. The realisation (through RWYM) that I am a kinaesthetic and visual learner has had a huge impact on my life, allowing me to make the right career moves, look after my children properly (they are also kinaesthetic learners), and of course, to make changes and improvements in my riding. The ensuing improvement in the welfare of my horses’ bodies has made all of our lives far better. Mary Wanless has influenced my life in so many ways, and for that I am very grateful. In 2007, I realised my ambition to become a RWYM accredited coach, and this is now my passion. In 2008, I realised a further ambition and qualified my mare Razzle Roisin for Horse of the Year Show (see Picture).  I never tire of seeing how Mary’s approach to riding and learning has such a profound impact on the welfare of ridden horses! Sally.  

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I had my first Ride With Your Mind Lesson in 1986, and at that time, had become so frustrated with my lack of progress in learning to ride well, that I was desperate for someone to give me the detail that I knew I needed. ‘Sit up tall and relax’ just wasn’t making any difference to my riding or my horse and I knew that there must be something else that good riders were doing that they weren’t telling me. I was stuck at unaffiliated prelim, at the bottom of the class, and wanted to do so much more, but had no idea how! These days, I can look back at 25 years worth of my journey, and feel amazed at the level of detail that Mary has given me. Knowing ‘how’ in so much depth has enabled me to ride and train so many horses to levels I could only have dreamed of before, including my wonderful Irish Draught, Piper, who was my first horse that I trained and competed at Advanced Level. 7 years ago, I left my nursing career behind to concentrate on my RWYM work full time. I am now a Level 3 Ride With Your Mind Coach, (I have the best job in the world!), and thanks to Mary, I will never be stuck in my learning again, and hope that she will continue the journey with me with my future horses. Denise.