I love those moments were riding feels like my horse is reading my mind and thinking is enough to communicate with the horse.

But in every day life we all know the feeling of our mind getting too busy and then it is hard to be focused and clear in our communication. I use meditation and awareness trainings to get centered and to free my mind. Only when my mind is clear I am able to feel and be focused at the same time. 

Using our energy and breath enables us to communicate  in a soft way with our horse. We can stay much calmer and listening in our seat and the emotional and mental connection will  be more present. 

Good breathing centers and vitalizes our body and helps us to let go of tension. The horse's motion will travel much easier through our body and we can become one with the horse.

Horses are professionals in body language. To me mindful riding means to look for solutions in our seat before using technical aids. Quite often we are in the way with our body without realizing it. When we learn how to listen and talk with the use of our body and mind we are on  the  way to become a mindful dressage rider.