Recently I put up a for sale add on craigs list for the fillies. I wrote this. "Well broke filly with a year and a half of training in western riding." My intention was to let people know what discipline of riding she was being trained in. What people thought I meant was that I had been riding them for a year and a half. They are two and a half and I got them as yearlings. They were not ridden as yearlings. For a year they had ground work 15 minutes a day. As two year olds they had very light riding. Less than 15 minutes and no hard work. I still consider their age when I do things with them. I am extremely conscious about how much I put them through and what affect it will have on their body.
I am truly impressed though with how many people care about what happens to other people's horses. What I am not impressed with is how many people sent me hate mail. I accept constructive criticism. If you don't like how I do things tell me in a polite manner instead of sending me hate mail. Thank you to the people who asked about the post.
Hello there. A concerned horse person sent me your link, I just thought I'd stop by and put in my two pennies worth.
ReplyDeleteI taught and trained for many years, equitation, hunters, jumpers, eventing and dressage. I did not ride western (except when I was a young teen), but I have several buddies in the blogging world who do, and they told me they and their horses benefited from my comments.
I'm retired now, but I still enjoy helping out where I can. I'm a bit confused by your style of riding. You are using a western saddle, but your stirrup length is English Hunt Seat, as in shorter than western or dressage. You say you jump over low fences, are you using your western saddle for this?
You're at a barn where someone takes dressage lessons. Very confusing :)
Anyway, you are at about an intermediate level in your riding. Your hands are not independent of your seat, and your seat isn't really there yet. The exercises you describe will help a LOT so please keep doing them. I read that your holding two-point and bending from the waist was Impossible for you. I would recommend NOT trying that, until you can hold your two-point easily, with and without stirrups. BUT, and this is where I hesitate to say anything else, since you are using a western saddle, two-point will be very uncomfortable. Do you want to ride english, or western?
Your OTTB mare looks quite uncomfortable right now, and since I don't know her history, I'll just say she's needing a bit of weight and a lot of relaxation. Try not to focus so much on stopping and cranking her head around. (That's true for most horses. Cranking a willing horse just creates the worst form of evasion, the dreaded "noodle neck", which is just about impossible to train out of them). It can be done, but only by riders that have perfect balance and coordination. Horses want to move, and to discourage that instinct too much when training is very bad for their little brains. Let her walk forward on straight lines, and don't circle and circle and circle too much. Let her stretch her head and neck down and forward. Then, when you ask her (this is true for any horse you are riding) to increase her pace, she'll have to bring her hind end more underneath herself, in order to move more quickly. She'll raise her head. Let her, and "follow" her head with your hands. This is the beginning of contact. "Contact" comes from a horse that is moving forward, using his/her hind end as the motor. Then, when you take a light contact with the reins AS you go forward, the horses' head "drops into form", the most natural head-carriage on contact being the most desirable, and is dependent on the the horses own unique conformation. Speaking of which, horses grow until they are about 4 to 5 years old. Some exercises you might ask of them could be very difficlut, depending on where they are in their growth.
Take it easy on youngsters, if you want them to last.
Jockeys and exercise riders have the strongest two-point position in the world, you know..
Oh, gosh, I hope at least some of this made sense, and I hope it helps a little. I'd be glad to answer your questions.
Good luck with your riding! Strive to keep your horses happy and healthy.
all the best for Christmas!
Yes I would definitely love the help with my riding!
DeleteStirrup Length: my stirrup length is the way it is because I prefer it that way. I ride barrel horses, and it's more helpful to have my stirrups shorter when going around a barrel. Even when I'm not training for barrels that's my stirrup length. Any suggestions? Misstack (my OTTB) is being trained in barrel racing although this time of year I give my horses a break from it until summer and work on other things. I don't jump in a western saddle. I don't even use Misstack to jump. Maybe one day, but I know next to nothing about jumping so I am unwilling to try and train her in it. I am not at a dressage barn. Usually every Sunday my sister and I will go to a woman's (Holly) house, and ride her eventing horses. She takes dressage and jumping lessons, and gives us her opinion when she can. We have gone with her to one of her dressage lessons, and I'm thinking about taking lessons when summer rolls around. I want to learn Jumping.
I have an English saddle, but it is for saddle seat. If it helps I will use that to work on my two-point. I do know that I have trouble with my hands. Holly comments on it a lot. She tries explaining it to me, and I sorta get it, and sorta don't. I get the concept and I am trying to work on it. It just needs more work. It's foreign to me. I don't usually have to worry about it riding western. I also know my seat isn't what it should be. Do you have any more suggestions as to how I can improve?
Contact: so when I start walking with Misstack I shouldn't have contact? Then ask for a trot and follow her head with my hands. As in my hands should be a straight line to her mouth, horizontal to the ground? Then pick up light contact and she should drop her head into form.
If you want I can send you a video of it, but it might be a little while, because right now it's zero degrees outside and feels like negative eleven.
I do take it easy with the fillies. I don't think I ask them to do anything they are physically incapable of doing, but I will remember that and be careful.
Hehe I will strive to have the two-point position of a jockey or exercise rider. Oh gosh. I think I'll just start riding Misstack in two-point all the time.