'In order to improve your performance – it is not a case of improving one thing 100% but much better to improve 100 things 1%'!

So, discipline, horsemanship and rideability were the watch words of the Yogi Breisner CPD programme delivered this week in the South-west and North-east of Scotland to 100 accredited professional coaches in all.

Yogi ran a mixed lesson, how to assess a combination, a private lesson, planning a jumping lesson and how to coach the elite during the day. Of all the thousands of interesting insights from his 17 years as British eventing coach that he imparted to everyone, it was the following gem that coached us all in our whole lives beyond the professional.

“What is the difference between humans and horses?” He asked – the answer is that we have the power of reason (well most of us have) and with that comes the ability to make decisions – we have a choice. We can choose in every situation how we are going to respond; therefore we can let go and not bear grudges.

For instance, we can take action, be kind, be firm, seek advice and plan goals. It never fails to impress me what clear thinkers and all round human beings Fellows of the British Horse Society are and it is surely one of the advantages of my job that I get to spend time with these gurus.

Talking of being proficient, we do live in a technical world. BHS Scotland recently attended the Road Safety Scotland Annual Seminar where a BHS colleague was presenting a slot on Dead Slow our ‘think 15, pass wide and slow’ driver education programme.

There, we learnt about the ‘culture of active safety’ on Scotlands roads where active travel – balancing the needs of vulnerable road users including walkers, cyclists and horse riders (we desperately hope) is part of a raft of initiative’s designed to improve road safety. Along with route design work, duelling work, innovation including the electrification of our highways, algorithmic detection systems designed to keep people awake at the wheel and public messages (including the BHS Dead Slow campaign).

There are so many new ideas and technological advances used to make us more responsible. We heard about 'smombies' that is ‘smart phone zombies’ who walk out into traffic as they text their way along the road and the distracted walking legislation that other countries are introducing. It’s amazing what you can’t see if you are distracted.

Back in Scotland, Police Scotland launched their 'Lose the blinkers' campaign part of which will be the production of a ‘police toolbox’, an internal resource ensuring that equestrian road accidents are dealt with consistently across Scotland. This campaign has had huge publicity and shows the value of being a partnership organisation for a small focused charity like ours.

We are so grateful to all the energetic individuals who help us continue to improve Scotland’s status as the best place to own, ride or be a horse in the world.

One of those is the equestrian campaign driving force, PC Lisa Coburn, from roads policing. She gave a wonderful presentation to riders where she cited our ability to observe and perceive hazards as such an important part of reading the road – and that applies whether you are a rider or a driver.

So, we all need to use our powers of reason and duty to be responsible to make better decisions for ourselves, our horses and others!