About
Everyone has a unique riding journey. No matter where you are in that journey, the right information can help you reach your goals, whether that is to be a more knowledgeable and confident pleasure rider or if you want to move up the levels and see how far you can go.
Welcome my friend.
I'm Michael Willham
Do you ask yourself these questions:
- How can I get my horse past this plateau we've had in our riding?
- How can I advance my knowledge and understanding of what to do in all of the different situations I encounter with my horse, both on the ground and while riding?
- What gear do I really need to compete?
- Is it possible to develop my riding or my horse if I don't have access to a professional trainer all the time?
If so, you've come to the right place! Whether you are an adult-amateur who rides for fun, a junior rider expanding their knowledge of the horse world, or an aspiring upper-level rider who wants to develop more before taking the leap into a full-fledged program or career, you probably want to advance your riding as far as you can on the limited time and budget that we all have. The good news is that advancements over the past many years have allowed a lot of horse knowledge to be passed along outside of the physical, time-intensive, hands-on approach of decades ago.
Here's How Michael Willham Eventing Can Help You Improve Your Riding... Right Now!
Once you have the horse and the tack, you already have everything you need to start improving your riding right now. The age old adage is definitely true: "You don't need a $25,000 horse and $5,000 of riding lessons. You need a $5,000 horse and $25,000 worth of riding lessons".
Well fortunately for you, modern technology has made it easier, cheaper, and less time-intensive than ever to get access to the $25,000 worth of riding lessons (at a much cheaper price!) and horse knowledge, right at your fingertips! While you can't become a great rider solely by reading/watching, 90% of riding is having the knowledge, theories, and tools to turn to at every step of the way. That's why Olympic Equestrians are often some of the oldest Olympians out of all sports. It isn't the most physically capable rider who wins, knowledge plays a massive part!
An Olympic level rider could take a break from riding for a decade and still get on a horse and ride it better than most of us, right? So we need to fill in the weakest part - our knowledge. But who wants to sift through thousands of books, magazines, interviews, videos, blogs, and online articles to learn the best methods for riding?
You'll get my years of riding, training, lessons, book readings, video watchings, clinics, and exposure to the world of horses and upper level eventing all distilled into the most proven methods, tactics, mindsets, and philosophies so that you can start making real progress in your riding and your horse!
Let Me Fast Track You On The Road To Better Riding
And the cool thing is, you'll actually get results.
My email subscribers get my best information, stuff I never post on the site, and they take action.If you are someone who takes action and demands results, then my material is for you.
There Are No Longer Any Excuses
As my past students will tell you, I sometimes have a unique way of looking at riding.
My passion is educating and empowering a new generation of riders to become more knowledgeable and more empathetic in their riding. But I also love breaking through the hype and social media comparisons that tell people they need to spend more money if they want better results. I also love inspiring others to break through the monotony that we as riders fall into where we start a cycle of plateauing in our riding, having that plateau make us feel defeated, and then letting that defeat lead us into riding ineffectively, sporadically, and without purpose.
I want to break down barriers that prohibit people with the ambition and the drive to become better horse owners and riders.
"If only I had this saddle. If only I had this horse. If only I had access to this trainer."
Nah, if you have a horse and a desire to become better, then you have all you need. You just need a new way of thinking.
My courses and content will change the way you think about horse care and riding.
If you're ready to get started, then sign up for the email list and let's get to work.
Learn
My courses cover a variety of subjects and more are posted all the time!
Apply
Take what we've gone over and transfer it to the barn. Whether that is techniques, mental performance, strategies, or more!
Grow
Over time, you will reap the benefits. Very few things with horses are quick and easy, but with diligence, you will be amazed at the progress!
Get Started Now With Your Free 5-step guide on how to master your warm up!
Join my email list and I will send you a free guide with exercises and explanations of how to strategize your warm up to get the best out of your horse for the rest of the ride.
My Story
I have been very fortunate to have had super supportive parents in my riding career who have helped provide the opportunities to turn my once-a-week riding lessons into a full-fledged upper level eventing career.
I've also sometimes been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the right connections. As I've spent more and more years near the top levels of the sport, I've come to realize that I have absorbed a great deal of knowledge from watching, training with, and competing against some of the world's best riders. Knowledge that is not widespread or accessible to many people and many locations, like in Ohio where I am based.
I have been extremely lucky enough to have trained under multiple different Olympians/5* riders and other top level riders in other disciplines. Just to name a few: Phillip Dutton, Bruce Mandeville, Doug Payne, Denny Emerson, Mike Plumb, George Williams, Terry Wright, Sally Cousins, and many more. The vast array of different riding and teaching styles have given me many different viewpoints to pull from to meet any situation.
I have been riding for almost two decades now, while seriously competing for over a decade of that. With immense support from others, I have been able to compete at the upper levels of eventing, reaching all the way to the 3* and Advanced level in eventing. I have also earned my Bronze Medal in USDF Dressage and am currently halfway to my Silver Medal!
My most proud accomplishment thus far has been my back-to-back wins in the Classic Long Format at Training level in 2015 and Prelim level in 2016, including winning Best Conditioned Horse. To get a horse around a Long Format takes immense planning and conditioning. It exposed me to an entirely new level of horsemanship and riding that I had not known before.
I love teaching and helping other riders, so when I realized I could take my passion from helping only a couple people on the weekends to potentially helping dozens, hundreds, or even more online, I jumped at the chance!
"Michael Willham is an excellent eventing coach. He is knowledgeable and insightful. My 2 teenagers have enjoyed his challenging lesson plans and have advanced their riding after just a few sessions. Michael is both accommodating and encouraging."
- Dr. Sandra Gebhart, DVM
"Michael has a way with sharing his knowledge and passion of horses so that everyone is able to learn from him. He cares about every horse he meets as his own-whether through training, clinics, PEMF treatments, or just helping another rider/student out. He values horsemanship and that is a great role model for the eventers/riders coming up."
- Shelly Ochoa
"I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Michael Willham for a number of years now. I have absolutely enjoyed reading and following along with his posts teaching others or recommending products and ideas. Most impressive!"
- Jim Abby
Why I Do It
I realized I could combine my love for teaching with this wealth of knowledge that I've built up over the years to help others! Whether you are new to horses and want to prepare yourself, or have ridden for a long time and want to progress your knowledge and/or move up the levels, I can help!
I want to be the resource for others that I was sometimes lacking in my own journey. I know the horse world can be vast and sometimes you don't know where to start or what is successful. The good news (for you) is that I've already made many of the mistakes that you may run into and I can help you to avoid them and be successful quicker!
As the handful of students I teach in my free time on the weekends will tell you, I have a passion for teaching and passing along the knowledge I have to others. (I'm not afraid to admit that I get a little teary-eyed when I see something "click" for a student!). Unfortunately, my time is quite limited to teach lessons after my full-time job, riding my own horses, and everything else. So when I realized I could make an impact on many more people with about the same time investment by creating content and videos online, I jumped at the chance!
Course Information and Teaching Style
For a full breakdown of types of content and course subjects, click This Link to go to the "Store Page".
Video analysis will explain not only the "What", but also the "How" and the "Why". I have always felt that the difference between decent instructors, good instructors, and great instructors who really make an impact is that decent instructors explain the "What" you are doing. Good instructors explain the "What and How" to do it. But great instructors explain the "What, How, and Why". For action without understanding does not accomplish much.
My content will try to break down the what, how, and why into understandable knowledge. I also try to aim to explain items from different angles and viewpoints, as I know not everyone learns and understands the same. I frequently have been told that my analogies should be put into a book!
I always tell my students: "I want to develop your feeling for what is going on underneath you, and give you the knowledge and tools to not only react/fix it, but also to preempt any issues and then go one step further and develop your horse. I may only be droning in your ear for one lesson a week or a month, so I want to give you the abilities to understand on your own and implement things for the other 90% of rides where I'm not around to tell you what to do."
My online content will follow these successful guidelines and delve into the finer details of riding techniques and theories. There is such a huge world of knowledge and expertise about riding and horses that goes beyond "inside leg on, sit up, shoulders back" that unfortunately does not make it through from many instructors. My goal is to expand that world for you.
My helmet cam analysis videos will feature insights into what my plans were for the specific questions and how well I did (or didn't) follow through on those plans, and why. Sometimes Plan A ends up actually not being the best plan and you have to adapt in the moment!
My interviews will be specially made with a focus on how things can relate to you, the adult amateur or junior rider.
My Q&A's will be open to all members to submit questions for me to answer.
My in-person lessons frequently feature me asking questions first, to get the riders to think about what they are feeling and what happened, and sometimes get them to come up with ideas on how to make it better before I just tell them what I saw and how to fix it. For these recorded lessons, I advise you to watch, try to empathize what the riding is feeling, and also attempt to come up with what went wrong and how it can be fixed.
My exercises are biomechanically designed to help you to develop your horse's gaits, straightness, suppleness, balance, and overall way of going. I will give you options to tailor the exercise to you/your horse's level, and how you can modify it to fit your needs.
And there is so much more, so I hope you sign up to let me help expose you to a plethora of information!
New content will be released periodically, so the library will be ever-growing. So be sure to stay up-to-date as new courses may be interesting to you and your situation!
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