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glenatronLast night it rained quite hard and the wind blew a whole lot and this morning we suddenly found ourselves in England, or at least somewhere a little damp with grey skies.
Today was actually the first day we rode our full set of horses. My first horse was the little dun I rode last tuesday afternoon. He's only small but he's quite cute except that today we didn't have a lot of forward. It was my fault, I must have wobbled in a transition or something, but he just set his feet and didn't want to move. I ended up having to ping him on the bum with the tail of my lariat to back up my asks as all the regular stuff was proving absolutely ineffectual.
Having ridden a horse with no accellerator, next up I was riding Indy, a showy palomino who really likes to keep his feet moving. We had no problem at all with forward, but it did take a little while to get things set up so that he would stand long enough to get on. There are several components to that- you need the horse to be braced, with all four feet solid on the floor and you need to be ready to back them up at any point. It would have been very easy to teach him to move off when I was trying to get on because those feet are just shifting the whole time. By being ready to back up you can minimise the chance of the horse going forward, which they're going to need to do if they want to cause a problem. Also you can back them up if they start wandering before you get on, so you can show them you don't want them to do that. To get on that way you need the rein a little taut and to mount from the shoulder with your left hand well up the horse's neck so you can push their head away if you need to or take the rein to back them if that is necessary. In the end he wasn't going to stand so I hopped on while we were backing up gently. He was nice to ride- very forward and responsive.
The third horse of the day, after lunch was Daisy, a beautiful little Appaloosa. For some reason I've not really thought of them as an elegant horse, but she really is:
This was her third ride (? I think, perhaps her second, certainly her second off the lead) and her first one with the bridle. We started out on the halter, getting our turns right, with Martin helping me to free them up a little with his flag. He also got me throwing the rope over her head correctly for one-rein riding - I had been throwing it around the horse's head but he suggested I throw it straight forward to change rein. That way if the horse reacts to the rope passing their eye they will probably duck their head and the rope will have passed both eyes and be gone before it becomes a problem, whereas if the horse flinched from a rope thrown around they would risk catching it on their nose and causing a problem. I guess the difference with the way I've learned to throw around is that we tend to prepare for that from the ground whereas Martin likes to work from the saddle.
After that we got to riding gently around the arena, mostly in walk with a little trot. This little mare was an absolute pleasure to ride- so much try and beautifully responsive. I'm starting to see why some people say they would rather have a green horse than one with bad habits any day. If a horse can feel that good after a couple of rides it's a big responsibility to help them stay that way.
The last horse I rode was a bigger paint mare called Domino, who wouldn't look out of place on any english yard. She was a bit more experienced but wanted to pull away with the bit, so Martin showed me how to ask a horse to break at the poll by taking the rein short and resting both my thumbs on the back of the horse's neck a little bit down from her ears while we gently moved forward. this created a space where the horse could release for themselves by giving at the poll - it's a lot like the work that Tom Widdicombe or Mark Rashid would do but staying in motion and starting with a much shorter rein. It made a big difference to Domino and by the end we were trottting around the arena and she was going really nicely.
During this session Martin was riding a little strawberry roan horse who was very anxious about cantering and when he asked her to she pretty much lost the plot. What followed was one of the most impressive pieces of riding I have ever seen as Martin calmly and gently offered her an easy way out while she sprang around the place, spinning, sitting down, dancing backwards and generally being very panicky. He was having to change the feel he presented several times a second at least and he was doing it without thinking while staying with this horse. After a couple of real spins the horse began to get the idea and just offer a straight canter and although it wasn't perfect she was a lot happier by the end of the session. We saw some very impressive riding at the NRCHA event over the weekend but nothing that could touch that as far as I'm concerned.
Tomorrow I think we're doing some more serious cow work. Could be interesting.
Today was actually the first day we rode our full set of horses. My first horse was the little dun I rode last tuesday afternoon. He's only small but he's quite cute except that today we didn't have a lot of forward. It was my fault, I must have wobbled in a transition or something, but he just set his feet and didn't want to move. I ended up having to ping him on the bum with the tail of my lariat to back up my asks as all the regular stuff was proving absolutely ineffectual.
Having ridden a horse with no accellerator, next up I was riding Indy, a showy palomino who really likes to keep his feet moving. We had no problem at all with forward, but it did take a little while to get things set up so that he would stand long enough to get on. There are several components to that- you need the horse to be braced, with all four feet solid on the floor and you need to be ready to back them up at any point. It would have been very easy to teach him to move off when I was trying to get on because those feet are just shifting the whole time. By being ready to back up you can minimise the chance of the horse going forward, which they're going to need to do if they want to cause a problem. Also you can back them up if they start wandering before you get on, so you can show them you don't want them to do that. To get on that way you need the rein a little taut and to mount from the shoulder with your left hand well up the horse's neck so you can push their head away if you need to or take the rein to back them if that is necessary. In the end he wasn't going to stand so I hopped on while we were backing up gently. He was nice to ride- very forward and responsive.
The third horse of the day, after lunch was Daisy, a beautiful little Appaloosa. For some reason I've not really thought of them as an elegant horse, but she really is:
This was her third ride (? I think, perhaps her second, certainly her second off the lead) and her first one with the bridle. We started out on the halter, getting our turns right, with Martin helping me to free them up a little with his flag. He also got me throwing the rope over her head correctly for one-rein riding - I had been throwing it around the horse's head but he suggested I throw it straight forward to change rein. That way if the horse reacts to the rope passing their eye they will probably duck their head and the rope will have passed both eyes and be gone before it becomes a problem, whereas if the horse flinched from a rope thrown around they would risk catching it on their nose and causing a problem. I guess the difference with the way I've learned to throw around is that we tend to prepare for that from the ground whereas Martin likes to work from the saddle.
After that we got to riding gently around the arena, mostly in walk with a little trot. This little mare was an absolute pleasure to ride- so much try and beautifully responsive. I'm starting to see why some people say they would rather have a green horse than one with bad habits any day. If a horse can feel that good after a couple of rides it's a big responsibility to help them stay that way.
The last horse I rode was a bigger paint mare called Domino, who wouldn't look out of place on any english yard. She was a bit more experienced but wanted to pull away with the bit, so Martin showed me how to ask a horse to break at the poll by taking the rein short and resting both my thumbs on the back of the horse's neck a little bit down from her ears while we gently moved forward. this created a space where the horse could release for themselves by giving at the poll - it's a lot like the work that Tom Widdicombe or Mark Rashid would do but staying in motion and starting with a much shorter rein. It made a big difference to Domino and by the end we were trottting around the arena and she was going really nicely.
During this session Martin was riding a little strawberry roan horse who was very anxious about cantering and when he asked her to she pretty much lost the plot. What followed was one of the most impressive pieces of riding I have ever seen as Martin calmly and gently offered her an easy way out while she sprang around the place, spinning, sitting down, dancing backwards and generally being very panicky. He was having to change the feel he presented several times a second at least and he was doing it without thinking while staying with this horse. After a couple of real spins the horse began to get the idea and just offer a straight canter and although it wasn't perfect she was a lot happier by the end of the session. We saw some very impressive riding at the NRCHA event over the weekend but nothing that could touch that as far as I'm concerned.
Tomorrow I think we're doing some more serious cow work. Could be interesting.
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Date: 10 Feb 2009 23:09 (UTC)But that is a very pretty little horse!
How are the aches and pains going?