When I am working a horse, my usual riding routine mostly starts out the same. I mount, walk for a few minutes and then begin a brisk warm up with a working trot.
I digress... I'm brand new at this video thing, for some odd reason it looked a lot better before I uploaded it to iMovie, now it's pretty grainy.
I can tell a rider one hundred times how to do something or I can show them once and get the same results. When I was on the other side and taking riding lessons I used to watch my instructor demonstrate, and then as I would ride I would visualize her and emulate.
As your instructor this is what I would ask you to watch for during this demonstration:
- Rise and sit softly. I am not rising too high out of the saddle and then slamming down on the horse's back.
- Hands taking hold of the horse's mouth while remaining still and soft. I find the position that best helps my horse balance and collect, then I stay in that position with my hands gently and softly.
- Driving the horse forward and into the bit with my legs. I sit, squeeze, and then rise with the amount of pressure that particular horse needs to keep pace.
- I'm not sure if you can see it but I am looking ahead at in the direction of travel and not down at the ground or the horse. Don't have tunnel vision while riding, be able to look and see the whole area around you.
- Not balancing on the horse's mouth, body moves independently of the hands. Kind of like chewing gum, hopping on one foot, and patting your head at the same time.
- Be on correct diagonal at all times! (A major pet peeve of mine is seeing a professional trainer on the wrong diagonal.)
- Rider cueing horse to change direction by changing diagonal.
- Rider steering horse with legs as opposed to pulling the horse's nose around the turn.
- Perry is moving forward collected while reaching and extending her stride. This horse is extremely short strided and to get any type of reach out of her I have continually drive her forward with my legs more than I have to drive most horses.
- Perry is remaining pretty straight from head to tail while moving forward and moving her shoulder to turn as opposed to being heavy on the forehand and resisting me.
4 comments:
Deanna I am wanting to get my horse to collect her head like yours does in the trot. How do I do that?
Cheers Lorrie
Hi Lorrie,
Well, basically what you do is play around until you find the spot that the horse drops their head. When they put their head in the desired position you give a small release. The release is the key, it tells the horse that they are where you want them to be.
At the trot I don't ever really totally release all contact with my hands as I do at the other gaits. The reason being is that I want to drive the horse forward with my legs into the bit. The impulsion goes from my legs through the horse and into my hands. If I release totally the horse usually will end up nosing out (sticking their nose out) and get sloppy. When the horse is where you want her, that is when you really lighten up on the amount of pressure in your hands through release.
I usually hold a horse with about a half a pound of pressure (with my hands) when they are where I want them, but maybe I will use two pounds of pressure when the horse is not collected. Does that make sense?
It's all about working the legs and hands independently to do one job. Push with the legs, hold and balance the horse with the hands.
Once you play with it and practice a couple of hundred times it gets easier I promise! Just do it over and over and watch the horse's head. When it is in position, release..
I hope that helps!
Deanna
"I used to watch my instructor demonstrate, and then as I would ride I would visualize her and emulate."
That's about the most insightful sentence I've ever seen written about teaching horseriding. It's not about 'copying' but about getting into the feel. Visualizing and emulating are such perfect descriptions.
Wow thanks Phil, I think that is the best complement ever!
Thanks for the link on Twitter too:)
Deanna
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