matildes mind

matilde brandt, 21, oslo - alternative equestrian, high on life

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Do you believe in magic? Matilde Brandt + Batman the friesian 

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Red dress. Matilde Brandt + Batman Photography by Une Susrud

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You run like the river - you shine like the sun You fly like an eagle You are the one I've seen every sunset And with all that I've learned Oh, it's to you I will always, always return

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Warriors

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Now, bring me that horizon

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Take me to wonderland. Amazing photoshoot with the talented photographer Ada Vrolijk.

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My everything!

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Best day ever 

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Into the woods 

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I believe in fairytales 

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Dare to lose control to educate yourself: Why every dressage rider should drop the reins now and then

Dressage is about communication with the horse on a very advanced level trough small signals, we all agree on that one. It's like dancing together. It's both mentally and physically challenging for both dancers. To work together as a team to accomplish something beautiful. But when one of the dancers are in control of the entire body of the other dancer, we are no longer equals. The horse is the muscle and the rider the brain, some says. I disagree. Our mission in riding the dressage horse is not sitting there with the control panel - it should always be two-way communication between horse and rider. Unfortunately, many of us seems to forget that. It's so easy, just riding, using the reins without offering the horse a single thought, like a robot. But if we do so, it's getting extremely easy to not pay attention when the horse has something to tell us. Something that may be important. You have been practicing the half-halts for ages, but you does not improve. The horse may have been trying to tell you what the problem is many times, but with the focus on your own arms and reins and correcting it every minute, you have forgotten to listen.

When you remove the distraction, the reins, you will feel the horse communicate immediately. The small problem seems a hundred times bigger! Simply because you feel more. You suddenly realize that there is a tiny hole in the education causing big problems, and you have to go back to the basics to fix it. The horse does simply not take the half-halts from the seat (as it should do), it does it from the rein-signals. A well-educated dressage horse is able to be ridden completely bridleless - because a high level dressage horse is ridden by the seat, not the reins. It's a great test to take the bridle of to get a honest look at which level you are on. A rein-ridden horse is not a correctly educated horse; you shall never depend on the reins in any exercise. I think the reins and the bit is a great tool, but it's never something you should depend on. Remove the reins in order to educate yourself as a rider!

I do not have enough space in this caption to describe the miracles riding in cordeo every now and then did to me as a person and a rider.

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