Pivo Meets: Kim Robare — Professional Trainer and Rider

Welcome to Pivo Meets, a series where we get real and chatty with the faces of Pivo. This December, we had a dialogue with Kim Robare.

A professional rider and clinician, Kim has a passion to help riders enhance communication with their horses. She maintains a holistic approach to each horse and rider based on confirmation, breed, gender, and life experiences. After studying with Linda LeGrande, she trained with Bettina Drummond and Manuel Jorge de Oliveira and now studies with Jean Barbier.

Her goal as a clinician is to help horse and rider improve balance, communication and a stronger partnership. She believes, if both horse and rider understand the conversation, anything is possible! With her extensive experience and education, Kim is able to offer uncomplicated direction that unlocks the treasures of classical training.

Here’s a peek into her successful journey, how Pivo has helped her with online lessons and everything that she has to share with riders.

Tell us how you started horse riding and what inspired you to pursue it professionally?

From a young age there was nothing else I wanted to do but ride horses. As a teenager, I had a regular job while cleaning stalls for lessons and eventually starting a boarding business in a rented barn. I wanted to make a difference for the horse, so I began my journey to find teachers that trained in a way that had the horse in mind.

What does your daily training look like, and how do you maintain balance between riding and coaching?

I teach and train full time, these days I have a small training barn that I manage myself, so each day I am feeding and caring for the horses, as well as riding and teaching. My day is split between riding and teaching, usually I ride 3 – 4 horses a day and teach another 3 – 4 lessons, split between in-person and virtual lessons using Pivo. The riding and the teaching are easily integrated because I am teaching what I ride!

How has Pivo supported you in your riding sessions and coaching?

I have always recorded myself riding, to reflect on and study. Before Pivo, I had to find someone to run the camera, which meant I was lucky if that was every 2 weeks. Now I record every day! It is a huge help to me as a rider. For my students that do not live near me, it has been a game changer! They used to get 9 lessons a year because I had to travel to them, now many of them I see weekly. The progress of horses and riders have improved because we can work together regularly.

What tips would you suggest to help riders enhance communication with their horses?

First, learn about the nature of the horse, how they think and what they understand. Then, find a method that explains to the horse what you want clearly. For me, that is Classical riding from the old masters. The horses clearly understand what I am asking them and they become strong mentally and physically.

What has been the most defining moment of your career, and why was it so impactful for you?

Finding that there was another way of riding from the methods that were being offered. I knew from a young age they were not good for the horse and there had to be another way.

I am also very blessed to ride with riding masters that pass on and share their knowledge with me.

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Share a specific example of how Pivo helped improve your remote coaching? And how it has enhanced or changed your online lesson technique with students who are far away and want to learn from you.

I regularly travel for clinics, I have been traveling to Oregon 3 times a year, for the last 5 years. While horses and riders were progressing, when we started using Pivo for weekly lessons in between seeing them in person, the change in progress was dramatic. It also allowed me ride their horses when I did see them to help educate their horse. In the past, I would not have wanted to take the little time we had together from them as a rider.

Who has been your biggest inspiration and how have they transformed your journey?

Nuno Oliveira. He showed me there was another way to communicate with the horse through his books and videos. I then began the difficult task of finding his students to learn from.

What is your future goal or aspiration as a coach?

To help people better understand their horses by giving them a clear, systematic method to bring out the best in their friend!

What advice would you give to aspiring riders and coaches?

Study the old masters, find instructors that study the old masters and take lessons from them. Make sure they are doing it for the love of the horse! Don’t ever tolerate disrespect as it indicates a lack of understanding on the teachers part and makes it very difficult to learn.

Looking ahead, how do you envision the role of Pivo’s technology in the future of horse riding and dressage?

Well, I’m pretty happy with it right now! I hope more people will try it for virtual lessons, it is a real game changer. You can choose who you want to ride with, with far less cost than taking your horse to your instructor which for many people, means affording more lessons. It can be a little intimidating at first, but it is very simple to use and I have many non-techie students that I see weekly.

Save 10% when you shop Pivo with Kim. Use discount code KIMROBARE

Connect with Kim Robare’s Classical Equine Solutions.

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