Julia La Garde

Just over a year ago, for no apparent reason, I simply lost my confidence riding my pony. Whilst attending a biomechanics session with my other pony, with whom I have no problem at all riding, I met Julia.

I contacted her the following week and began attending sessions and working through my issues with her. We worked off the horse initially which was both enlightening and sometimes quite emotional.

A few weeks ago we had our fist mounted session which went brilliantly. I am now going to continue work with Julia to reach my goals. She is also an excellent riding coach.

She is patient, kind and has real empathy and I know without her help I would have not been able to get on my super pony. I cannot recommend Julia highly enough and will be eternally grateful.

I have really appreciated Jules instruction and coaching and seen improvements in my horse riding in a relatively short space of time.
I have some knowledge of NLP through my professional life/MBA and its use in 'business' but not experienced it in my leisure time and relating to horse riding.
Although I have various instructors and coaches for riding, Jules demonstrates effective use of NLP techniques.
I am a scientist by background so value Jules's evidence based approach to biomechanics -how the horse moves and how I ride. She breaks things down into smaller steps and has made sense of some aspects of riding that I have not grasped in years.
It is her use of NLP that I am impressed with. She recognizes how to use the right words, feedback and reflective time to get me to process what she is teaching. She plugs into how I think to be able to assist in what I need to do to change what I am doing and feel the changes. I have seen her be as effective with my friend who has lessons after me.... 'Look at your hands' for her visual learning style.
I have been a 'fan' of NLP in my professional life, but it is great to see what a difference NLP can make in having fun on a horse!

Julia is a talented and insightful NLP Practitioner and Coach. She is passionate about her personal and professional development and so is continuously learning and growing as a practitioner. Julia is an expert at meeting people where they are at and helping them get to where they want. She is super positive and supportive. i can highly recommend her.

I started training with Julia in 2012 and have learned so much about myself as a rider during this time and more importantly how as a rider I affect my horse. This knowledge now helps me to work through problems I encounter whether Jules is there or not. Jules is amazing at building solid foundations and passing on her wealth of knowledge in the areas of biomechanics and classical dressage as well as NLP. Explanations are always clear and make perfect sense allowing new knowledge to be absorbed and progress to be made every lesson. I love that after many years of working with Jules, I am still learning and always finish a session with another step forward. I have trained several horses in my time with Jules and my confidence as a rider is now much higher than I would've though possible, enabling me to train a young horse in a methodical manner to keep the horse fit, sound and happy.

My horse and I have been training with Jules for a couple of years, initially to facilitate his rehabilitation following injury. Jules is highly respected in the area of equine rehab and rider biomechanics and I’m lucky that she lives so near by. Little did I know that after the rehab period that we would still be working together and setting goals that I didn’t think achievable 2 years ago.
Not only has Jules got us back into the competition arena (dressage) but she’s helped me believe in myself and what I can do. She makes me think for myself (often resulting in brain ache), this then gives me confidence when I’m training on my own or competing, to be able to handle every eventuality I’m faced with.
We’re now training towards a level that I didn’t think we would get to, her experience in classical dressage is immense and means that as a rider I’m giving my horse the best chance to perform at his best, as well as hopefully preserving his body for many more years to come.
Jules really does offer the full package for me, my horse is fit, well and using his body properly, my mindset is positive and focused on what we want to achieve.........I just need to ensure we perform at competitions and produce the results we all deserve!

Julia has transformed my horse riding with her sports performance and confidence coaching. She is a very technical coach and uses a number of NPL strategies to ensure learning is cemented from every exercise in every session for both horse and rider!
She clearly breaks down techniques into chunks of clear concise details and instruction. Then builds them back up again to fit into the bigger picture. It is clear from this that Julia has modelled the techniques in such depth that she can coach them with maximum benefit.
During her sessions Julia has used anchoring, clean language, kinaesthetic, visual and verbal cues, visualisation, re-framing and pattern interrupt to name but a few strategies.
The sessions are always enjoyable and positive learning experiences with tangible work ons.

As a result of working with Julia my confidence has grown exponentially.

I can't thank her enough and highly, highly recommend!

I first met Julia around 3 years ago. Since then i have attended many of her horse camps as well as booking lessons with her. Julia has a great, as well as understanding, approach to horse management/riding/fitness/well being. The horse and owners happiness is paramount. Everything that Julia teaches me has sound logic behind it and it amazes me each time how one small change in what i do has a massive affect on how the horse goes. Every lesson/interaction we have a 'lightbulb' moment. Julia looks after my emotional needs as well as my horses. Her caring and sympathetic approach has really resonated with me. Every day is a school day. That moment when my horse and I achieve something new...well...its the best feeling in the world. I am excited about the journey we are on together, thank you Julia. I can't say thank you enough!