Some tips about padding
I recently was part of a discussion on the web about saddle fit and padding. The discussion came to an end, when several of the folks taking part decided that they would just stick with buying good quality and expensive gear, and so, make sure that their horses were well taken care of.
I’ve seen that mindset in action many many times, most recently from an older cowboy at my yard. He’d spent a lot of money on a new saddle. After using it for most of the summer, he took one of his horses home for R&R. After a month, the horse showed white marks the size of his hand on both sides of the withers.
You’d think that he might’ve taken a look at his saddle, and maybe changed some things around?
Nope… that saddle cost a lot of money. Therefore… It couldn’t possibly hurt his horse. Good quality expensive gear always fits. You get what you pay for, right? The huge white marks on his horse’s back must’ve come from the summer heat (even though nobody else’s horse seemed to be affected like that).
Be that as it may…
The fact remains that western saddles are built pretty much “One-shape-fits-all”. Yes, you can buy different sizes and widths, but the general shape of the saddle hitting your horse’s back will be pretty uniform from saddle to saddle.
So how do you make sure your saddle fits?
I own a mare with an unusual back. I’ve never seen anything like her. The muscle right behind the withers gets very prominent when she lowers her head and engages her back. And my saddle being… uh, just a usual saddle built out of wood, rawhide, leather and sheepskin, with no extra special transformation powers, tends to just lay on top of her back. So even though this mare is trying to collect and engage, my saddle can’t find the sympathy to get out of the way of that odd expanding muscle.
The mare, with a little more brain than the saddle, decided that if it was going to hurt to collect and engage, she would just not do that anymore.
Course, I tend to think that of the three of us, the saddle, the mare and me, I got the lion share of the brains. So I took a piece of egg carton mattress saver padding, cut two holes right above the expanding muscle, and continued to ride and train my mare. The mare no longer hurts, and went back to engaging and collecting.
Now… I used $8 bucks worth of cheap padding, which I will have to change out once a month or so. But my mare is happy, and she’s learning and coming along and getting stronger and funner to ride, so I’m happy too. All for just $8.
So, when someone tells me that since they paid $150 for their pad and their saddle cost a small fortune, they are sure everything fits, ‘cause it’s all good quality, I can only shake my head.
The sweat pattern is a good indicator for pressure points. After you ride, when you take the saddle off, notice if there are any dry spots where the pad used to be. Those dry spots indicate pressure areas that you will have to fix.
Now, when us humans think about something poking us in the side, we think we want to apply lots of soft padding to it.
But the saddle and the area it sits on is different. For pressure spots, Less is more. Think about laying in bed and having a rock under your mattress. More padding on top of that rock will not make you more comfortable. It will certainly dull the rock some, but will also make the lump bigger.
To even out the rock, you will want to build the mattress Around the rock up, so that the whole thing becomes even.
If you do notice pressure spots in your horse’s sweat pattern, take the pressure away by making the whole area more even.
Take a look at this diagram…
The area under the red rectangle is represented topographically by the red line in each of the examples.
The red line is always the same, representing the “one-size-fits-all” shape most western saddles have.
“A” would be a horse with a very prominent shoulder blade and not very strong muscling in his top line. These kind of horses don’t usually show up and pressure spots. After a season of riding you will simply find a white mark on top of the shoulder blade. Also, this kind of horse will be very dependant on a breast collar. The saddle will slide back all the time.
On this kind of horse, I would use a piece of foam that would fill in the hollow spot between saddle and back.
“B” would be a horse with a very nice strong top line, and small withers. This kind of horse will roll the saddle easily, and when loping the saddle will slip forward a little bit on each step.
On this kind of horse I would either use a pad with circles cut out to relieve pressure spots, or a ¾ pad, cut just short of the pressure area.
“C” is another one of those unusual cases I’ve seen. This particular horse was so fat and so strongly muscled that her withers looked like an indentation on her neck. I had to put her on a diet to get the saddle to even fit just a little bit. Of course, there is not much you can do for a horse like that, except for riding her bareback. You can alleviate her discomfort some, but probly not all.
| Some things I do
I always use at least a thin wool blanket between my horse and the foam padding. I prefer to have natural fibers for my horse’s back. I actually use up to four layers of padding, with only one of them being foam of any kind. I prefer lots of layers to one thick blanket. I think it absorbs shock better. I use memory foam to make an extra layer, but don’t use it to make bridges or hole blankets. I ride with a loose cinch sometimes to test how well my saddle wants to stay with my horse. It tells me a lot about the kind of padding I might have to make for adjustments. |
Smoochie2 is wearing three layers here. A felt blanket, then a memory foam, topped by a thin wool blanket. |
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Use Your Horse To Work With Cattle (Part 2)
Working cattle is really not something you can learn from a book or a set of tips like this. It’s even hard to learn when someone is riding next to you, trying to help you get better.
You learn to work cattle by noticing things. And by acting on your observations.
For example… I work with a man who prides himself in the fact that he’s been a cowboy for more than 25 yrs now. But honestly, I have never worked with a less effective cowboy in my life. He’s so afraid of screwing up, that he just won’t engage his horse, or his cattle. I don’t know what’s worse, the kid that runs nine-oh back and forth behind the bunch, or the old guy that won’t come close enough to move a yearling to the hay pile.
Working cattle is about noticing how the cattle react to you, and then reacting to them in turn. It’s not something you can learn from an instruction manual.
Having said that, let me put some observations, that have helped me, out there.
Last week, we talked about making a cow go or making one turn. In other words, we talked about moving a cow.
This week, we’ll talk a little bit about making one stop, or stay where he’s at.
Here are three positions I might use to actively tell a yearling to stop. All of these involve engaging the yearling, waiting for him to stop, and then disengaging him (in other words, fading away from him).
They all involve getting your horse's eyes square w/ the cow's eyes.
2 and 3 show easy positions on getting control of her movements after you stopped her.
The first one is parallell, and the cow has all kinds of choices from there. She can jet forward, veer out behind, back up. This is not a very good position for further control. It is the best one, however, if all you want to do is stop her. From there you can simply turn away from her, and go to something else, confident that she'll probly stay there.
The second one offers the most control for her movements after the stop.
The third is the most confrontational. It is never a good thing when a cow squares off w/ you. You wanna avoid going head to head w/ a cow at almost all costs. Stay diagonal to her, so that your can use your horse's position and head movements to direct, not to fight.
There is a way to stay neutral to one cow, giving you the chance to leave it there, while working another one. It mostly involves keeping your horse's face away from the animal you wanna keep in place. You can then maneuver all around him, stirring him very little. This is an essential tool for working cattle in a tight spot. I have used any of these positions to encourage a group to stay calm and put, while I'm trying to direct a wild one. The calm cows keep the wild one settled, making my job much easier.
In my work at the yard, I frequently have to get one cow out of the pen. I can either clear the space around the gate and bring the sick one thru this empty space, where he'll feel isolated. His most likely reaction will be to run back for the bunch, not to go looking for the gate. Only a confident cow will look for the gate and realize it's open.
To give him this confidence, I much prefer to leave as many cows around the gate as I can, then bring him right thru all his buddies and ease him out the gate. To do that, I have to know how to make a cow not move.
Take a look at #2. That is a position I use when I have to hold a cow in one spot. Should the cow behind me move forward, I'll use an aggressive backup to block his escape, while not disengaging the other cow I'm working with.
Here is one that actually happened last week.
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I was after the brown heiffer. As I brought her down the fence, she passed the black one. You gotta remember, the brown one is sick, she's thinking "I don't feel good. I wanna go hide in the corner w/ my buddies." The black one is healthy, she's thinking "Ooooh, look at that, the gate is open. Wouldn't it be fun to see what's in the alley?" If I stay in this position, I am a threat to both, and I will move both out the gate. No matter how quiet I work. So I used a hiparound (to the right) to maneuver myself to a position to stop both heiffers, which is a little further forward than is shown here. I did it quietly, and heiffers stopped nicely, not changing their own positions much. Then I used a sidepass (to the left) to get to a driving spot for Brownie. Both heiffers are thinking "She just stopped us. What's gonna happen if we move forward?" In this driving spot, Brownie is shielding Blacky from my movements. I'm a bigger threat to her. I take one step forward from there, starting Brownie toward the gate, while Blacky feels secure where she is, shielded by a slow moving buddy. I then used a sidepass (to the right) to stay in the same driving spot for Brownie. As Brownie's body moved past her, she continues to shield Blacky. But when Brownie's body passes her, Blacky realizes "OMGosh, there she is... really, really close!!!" My sidepass has placed me in the ideal position to haze Brownie out and to turn Blacky back. Brownie only has one place to go, out the gate. Blackie would've stood there really nicely if I'd've just walked past her out the gate. But my buddy was watching from the other side of the alley, and I wanted to show off a little. So I jet in front of Blackie, did a fancy turnback, sent her running for the bunch, did another fancy turnback the other way and run Brownie out the gate. And I got the Attagirl I wanted... LOL. |
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Use Your Horse To Work With Cattle
All of us grew up watching the old westerns on TV. Even my kids got a steady diet of the Duke, Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman. Just from the movies, we know that if we get behind a bunch of cows, go "Yeehaw" and "Woohee" a lot, they will move away from us. We can do that on foot, from a four wheeler and out of the window of the pickup. Shoot, even our dogs can do that.
What do we need these fine horses for then? Why do we appreciate the horses that "watch a cow"?
Horses are prey animals and as such their reaction time is much faster than our own. If we can teach them to react to a cow, their fast reactions will give us much better accuracy.
Also, their prey nature also makes them a lesser threat. Which means that a horse gives us the ability to work cattle much quieter and less stressfull than we humans would.
A horse’s ability to cover a lot of country enables us to work longer and harder around cattle. If our horses can work very precisely to boot, we can combine their legs and lungs with our brains.
The first thing you will find while working cattle is that the cattle aren’t watching you, the rider.
The cattle are watching your horse.
This very effectively puts Your Horse in control of the cattle, not you.
To get very precise… the cows will seek eye contact with your horse, and when eye contact is established you will find your horse in good control of the cow/yearling/bull.
Here are some diagrams about how a single cow will react to your horse and you, the rider. Notice that I have no arrows from the rider to the cow. That’s because the cow won’t be worried about you, the rider, at all. He will only react to your horse. The first two scenarios show how a cow will move away from you, but immediately turn around to find your horse's eyes. The third one shows eye contact established. The horse moves forward, the cow moves away, keeping her head turned on you.
Yeah, sometimes she has to watch where she's going, but as soon as she can, she will find your horse's head again. If you gotta move her a long way, you'll see that eventually she'll settle for keeping your horse's head in sight out of the corner of her eye. You'll notice an ear flicking towards you, checking to see if you got further instructions.
This next graphic shows three active positions to turn a steer quietly and easily. Again, this hinges on allowing your good horse to make eye contact with the cow. Once the cow is watching your horse, a simple shift of his (your horse’s) head will send the yearling into a new direction. In each of these positions, the actions of your horse determine how the cow will react. Specifically, how he turns his head towards the cow.
The lower your horse’s head is, the more he will be able to establish and use eye contact with the cow.
This seems to be a very hard concept to grasp. I have seen 25 yr veteran cowboys as well as up and coming hands manhandle cattle into what they called compliance. That doesn’t usually work very well. But since it’s easier to gripe about the “Wild ole’ rip” or “Stupid heifer”, than it is to learn something from a bovine, the cowboys just shake their heads and don’t learn a thing.
It’s easy to see when a cowboy attempts to manhandle a cow, there is usually lots of cussing and shouting involved, fast action, banging fences and equipment.
Not so obvious is it when a cowboy tries to work the cow or yearling from his own position, instead of his horses. There is a subtle wrongness about an otherwise logical situation.
Consider this graphic. The first pair is where the horse is guiding the yearling. The one right next to it is where the rider has put the horse far enough forward to where the rider is guiding the cow. This looks like it’s just fine, but the horse will be a little bit behind the actions of the cow, and his head will be very high. If he’s not allowed to guide the cow from his own instincts and his taught skill set, there is no reason for him to drop his head and try to make eye contact. His best bet is to have his attention focused on the boy riding him, seeins it’s the boy that’s controlling the cow (or maybe not controlling her).
If you are gonna use your horse to work w/ cattle, make sure that you Use Your Horse to work the cattle.
If you don't have a hole punch, this trick will get you by in a pinch
Sometimes I want to use a certain bit on a horse, but the bridle won't fit. If I don't have a hole punch available, I use this half hitch to get me by.
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Take the excess crown piece and run it through your buckle. Fold the buckle tongue as far over to the right as you can. Or, if it is loose enough, fold it down, against the cheek piece. |
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Take the long end of the crown piece and fold it around the back of the cheek piece. That will create a loop below the buckle. |
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Feed the end of the crown piece through the loop you just made next to the buckle. |
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Tug and pull on all parts of this knot to tighten it. I've used this knot for months on a bridle. It won't come loose. |
Just give yourself some room from the other side. In other words, the side of the crown piece that isn't broke... let it out a bunch. Then tie the half hitch on the side that is broken.
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This is another one of those lope lead tricks, that have nothing to do with training your horse right, or the foundation training that I stress so much. It is simply a way to let your horse's body and his own lack of training do the work for you.
These tips are tricks, nothing else.
But they work for that horse that is hard to teach.
As I said before... the most important part to using these tricks, is to let your horse stay in the lope lead that is hard for him as long as you and he can. Practicing that lead in long straights, or large easy circles is the only way he will gain the muscle and the coordination to use that lead.
This tip is for a colt that hasn't loped very much yet.
Your horse will still be fairly new at carrying you, dealing with the extra weight, added top heavy balance and trying to coordinate his movements with your wishes. And loping is one of the hardest things for a young colt to learn.
So when it comes time to introduce loping in an arena, I try to make him as comfortable as possible. Also, I try to be aware of the fact that this is not an easy feat for the little guy.
2 things will happen...
#1-- he will have a hard time negotiating the short side of the arena (unless your arena is 3 acres or better).
#2-- he will want to run/lean for where the other horses are, like the entrance of the arena. We will call that the south end.
I try to both use those 2 facts and be careful about them.
Step 1 After doing several walk-trot transitions, I ask for the lope in the second corner of the north end. That would be the corner, after which he will be headed straight back for the other horses/gate. The advantage of that is that I won't have to convince him quite so hard to pick up the lope. He will already be wanting to hurry back to the south end of the arena. I urge him into the lope, let him lope a few steps and gently pull him back to a trot, then walk. Then I praise him for loping a few steps in a calm manner.I repeat that a few times, till he clearly understands that loping is what I want. I then change directions and do the same thing to the other side. It'll be easier then. And that is usually all I do that day.
Step 2 The next time, I will ask him to pick up the lope heading away from the south end, and urge him to stay in the lope coming around then north end. This doesn't sound like much, but staying in a lope around a semi circle like that is actually pretty hard. Again, heading back to the south end, I will ask him to come back to the trot. I mainly do this to prevent the possibility of a run-off, and therefore a bad experience. I repeat this a few times, then do it to the other direction.
Step3 The third day, I will ask him to lope in a circle on the north end of the arena. You will really have to talk him into staying in the lope on the south side of the circle. And for right now, just getting it done any ole' way is going to be fine. Usually I just barely get the colt to turn the corner away from the long side, and then he'll slow down to a trot. It takes a few times of practice before the colt will actually turn a complete circle. Depending on the horse, I try to keep at it for another circle, or I transition down to a walk at the north end, and praise him. Again, depending on the colt, I change directions, or I wait for the next day to go the other way.
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If your horse has problems picking up one lead or the other, try this. It is the easiest, no stress method I have ever used.
Find a long side slope, preferably one that will let you up on a level spot easy enough. Trot along the side with the top of the hill to the side of the lead you want to pick up.In other words, if you want to pick up the left lead, you will have the top of the hill to your left, and the bottom to your right. You will be trotting along the side of the hill not climbing or descending. Ask for the lope. The way a horse's body is set up, it will be the easiest for him to pick up the left lead. If he is really set in the wrong lead, just pick a steeper hill.
Here is the important part...
Keep him loping on that lead as long as you can. Practice makes perfect for horses too. That is why it is good to be able to go to a flat place right after you pick up the lope.And if you can go uphill to get to a flat, it will be the easiest for him to keep that lead. For him to be able to pick up that lead easier the next time, he will have to practice loping in it for a while. So stay up there on the flat and lope big, wide circles for a few minutes. Then go back down below the hill and pick that lead up again.
Associate the signal
The horse's body and the way he manuevers the terrain do all the work needed to pick up the correct lead. But it's up to you to teach him the signal. So don't just ask for the lope... Ask for the left lope, or the right lope, whichever one you are working on.
Say I'm riding a colt, and I'm wanting him to associate the right lead signal w/ the right lead. I'd pick A to ask for the right lead, then let him lope large lazy circles on the flat at the top. If I'm riding a horse that I know has an issue picking up the right lead, I'd pick spot B to get him to grab it, then bring him up to the flat to let him practice loping in that lead. Every time I let him rest, I'd bring him back down to that spot to pick the right lead up again.
If I know my horse will not under any circumstance, pick up the right lead, I'm gonna bring him down to spot C to start the lope. At that spot, there will be very little signal time. I'm gonna mash him into the lope, get him to jump out of the creek bed, which will give him no choice but to use the right lead. Then I'm gonna let him practice on that easy flat above it.
The circles on the flat will do more for his ongoing training than learning that first jump into the lead.
In those circles, he would get to use muscles he hasn't used in yrs. Developing those muscles will help him get the right lead better than any lope departures. I'd use spot C a couple more times, but the next day I would definitely see if he couldn't graduate to spot B.
Another example for this series is Catching A Difficult Lope Lead
The accepted training method for these horses will be to kick the hind end to the inside, and to try to pick up the lope from a slow trot or a walk.
Ok… most of those types of horses wouldn’t recognize a lope signal from a walk to save their life, and even from a fast trot, you will end up kicking till your legs turn blue before you can pick up a lope. Let alone, trying to trot while keeping their hindend moved to the inside. This method works… but it takes a very strong rider to get it done.
How ‘bout, we let the horse’s body do the work?
As I lunged this warmblood mare, I brought the lunging circle too close to the fence. Now, every time she comes up to the fence, she has to turn a little corner. It’s not very obvious in this picture, but to turn this corner (with no rider on top to keep her balanced and collected), she’s dropping her inside shoulder. And when she drops that inside shoulder on this stride, the outside hindleg has to come forward and under a bit on the next one, or else she will stumble or fall. When that outside hindleg comes up and under, it is the perfect moment to ask for the correct lope lead, seeins it is the lead off leg.
Now… our horse, the one that won’t pick up the correct lead to save his life, he’s just going to trot a couple more steps, until he can balance himself to pick up the wrong lead.
Practicing the lope departure till he’s actually going to pick up a lope on command is not very helpful either, seeins you will probably just practice that on the lope lead he does like. He doesn’t need any more practice on that lead… LOL.
So… what can you do to help him?
You can drop that shoulder for him.
Use your weight, lean to the inside, as much as you can, and keep asking for that lope.
It helps to bring him towards a fence, like my Wish mare in the picture up above, make him turn a corner and then let him lope out of it.
It’s still not an easy thing to do. You still have to ride very strong and perfect your timing. You’ll want to drop that shoulder at the exact moment that he comes up to the fence. And you’ll want to be trotting fast enough to where all he can do is lope out of that corner to keep his balance.
And then, you’ll want to keep him loping in that unfamiliar lead for as long as you can. This thing will be about allowing him to practice what he hasn’t practiced in years.
Disclaimer: I am not saying that leaning to the inside for a lope departure is the correct thing to do.
I’m only saying that if you have a horse that will not pick up a certain lead, you can help him, by leaning to the inside to catch that lead for the first few times he tries it.
Here is another way to do the same thing…
If your horse has a real problem with one lead or the other, the most important thing will be to "force" him to pick up that particular lead, and then to stay in it for a while, so that he can get comfortable in it. After you got him to pick up that lead the first time and allow him to tootle around in it for a few minutes, it'll be much easier to pick it up the second time.
If you have to use the arena, here's how...
You have to know how to do a turnback. And your horse has to be very good at coming out of the turnback at a trot.
Place your lope circle so that you pass the fence each time around with about 4-6 ft of room. 1. Ride a fairly tight downward transition to walk and then stop...
2. And then immediately back a couple of steps, rocking your horse's weight on his hindquarter.
3. Ride the turnback, using very little rein, but lots and lots of leg. You want lots of lateral motion, especially from the front end.
4. At the point where your horse's head starts clearing the fence going the other way you want to pick up the lope.
Here's what it looks like...
1. After the backup, I'm asking for lateral motion towards the fence, and I'm already asking for an increase in speed. That is something you will have to gauge for your own horse. If the request for the increased speed causes him to loose his hindend and start swinging it out, instead of moving the shoulder laterally into the fence, you will loose the benefit of this exercise.
2. Wendy's head is just clearing the fence, and you can tell by my burried spur and her switching tail that I'm insisting that she lope. She's looking at the fence, saying "Where to?"
3. But seeins she's familiar with the turnback, the next lateral step brings her into the clear. Her hindend is already loping and the lateral frontend motion puts her into the only lead she has available... The inside one.
4. Instead of driving her into the lope, we pulled her into it from the front end, letting the bend of the turnback against the fence ensure that she has the correct flexion to pick up the correct lead. The result of that is that she ends up on her front end, totally unbalanced.
5. But she's on the correct lead!!! That make me the winner! LOL!! Once she gets used to loping in that awkward lead, and then eventually, gets used to obeying the request for that lead, working on balance and collection is much, much easier.
Whinnying, for example. If you ask 10 cowboy trainers what they do about a horse that whinnies for his buddies, 9 of them will tell you that you need to correct/punish him for it.This will result in a horse whinnying more, not less. I have seen horses that compulsively whinny at their buddies, even though they are punished every time. After many years of experience should’ve taught those horses not to, these horses will still make whinnying noises, or nicker, every time they see another horse. And get punished for it, again, every time.
Any green horse will whinny in a high stress situation. At first, he will holler and try to locate other horses when he is by himself. If that has no results (no other horse calls back), he will quit all by himself after a time.
But he will whinny with relief when he sees another horse.
A green horse will also whinny with lots of other horses around at a show type situation, where, again, the stress level is high. Most horses will learn with experience to settle and do their work. All it takes is time.
This whinnying is as instinctual and ingrained as flicking the tail at a fly. The horse can’t control it. It is as much part of him as running when scared. All you can do about it is let the process of seasoning educate the horse that his stress level isn’t as high as he thinks it is.
When a person meddles with that instinctual response, the horse will react exactly opposite of the desired result.
You punish a horse every time that he sees another horse, and you will raise his stress level. So now you got a horse that is not only glad to see a buddy, but also nervously anticipating a beating. And guess what… he’ll whinny.
Last week I brought a green horse into the yard. Of course, the little mare whinnied and carried on. My younger, much punchier fellow horse trainer, also brought a horse into the yard the very same day. And his horse acted like mine, carrying on and acting like an idiot. My buddy punished his colt every time he whinnied, and I just let mine know I disapproved of her noises. My coworkers, in a joking manner, let me know that I should probably be correcting that horse for her nickering. I just smiled and said “How often have you guys seen me do this? And how many of my horses still nicker after a week?”
Not quite a week later, my horse quietly does her work, while my buddy’s is now whinnying uncontrollably anytime the work gets hard or fast and furious.
Way to go, Buckshot.
There are exceptions to this rule. One out of a hundred horses will not give up on the nickering and whinnying. Those horses do need to be corrected/punished for a bad habit. That kind of whinnying is no longer associated with stress. It is just something the horse wants to do (like stopping to scratch his face when he should be walking along).
When you are dealing with a horse that has been pressured into whinnying uncontrollably, you will have to lower the stress level when he sees other horses. Talking to him reassuringly, diverting his attention with an extra circle or two, using your voice to warn him about the nickering you know will start any second now, will help. But by far, the most important part in correcting that behavior is the praise the horse should receive when he refrains from nickering. That is the key to teaching this kind of horse not to whinny.
The Trailer TrapYou might have turned your horse out for the winter, and now you know it's going to take every body and their mothers on four wheelers to get him caught again.
This trailer trap will help you.
1. Find a solid corner in the pasture fence.
2. Park the trailer as shown. The truck and the trailer should be about 6-8ft away from one side of the fence, to where they create an alley.
3. The back of the trailer should be just far enough away from the
other side of the fence, so that you can swing the trailer door open
and it makes connection with the fence. 4. Take a bucket of grain and coax your horse into the alley created by the truck.
5. When the horse enters the alley, have a friend come around the front of the truck. If your horse decides to turn around and leave again, your friend can block him and keep him in the alley.
6. When your horse steps into the trailer, simply walk to the front of
it, dump your grain on the trailer floor, and step out through the
escape door. 7. Your friend can then close the trailer gate, and your horse is caught.
A horse that has not been allowed to develop the correct foundations will never be as handy as he could be. If you think your horse is missing crucial fundamental training blocks, you might want to go back to the basics with him.
Whenever you see "Ride a Figure 8 starting to the right" or "Ride a circle to the right, then ride a circle to the left" your human mind will interpret that as a couple of 3/4 circles tied together by a couple of straight lines.
But in pattern language this actually means ... Two separate and independant circles. Judges want to see each circle started and each circle finished.
To smoothly guide your horse from circle to circle, you will have to take into account that he needs to change bend in the middle.
Riding two Ds, connected back to back, is a good plan.
Ride the first D to the finish, keeping your horse relaxed and rhythmic.
Ride the straight line and prepare your horse for the next bend. Then go into the next circle, hitting the opposing bend on the first stride of the new direction.
When I first learned how to put my circles together, I rode the Ds with a long straight in between them. I practiced that for a long time. Now my human mind is used to interpreting a Figure 8 correctly, and I hardly ever stumble over the change of bend between two circles.
Strengthening Key Riding Muscles
Not everybody rides every day, day after day, for several hours each
day. Half the reasons that things seem easier for me than for others,
is that my riding muscles are very strong. Last week I suggested some things for strengthening your thigh muscles during the winter non-riding months. You will find that tip below this weeks tip.
There is one more coming in this series. If you have friends that would enjoy and benefit from these simple tips, invite them to become a fan of the Slater Horse Training Page. Pass the word!!!
The Core
Muscles
Another set of Key Riding Muscles are your core muscles. Specifically
the ones on the side of your waist. Using this simple tip will not only
strengthen the muscles, but also make you more aware of how to control
your pelvis. The motion our hips have to make, to give us room to wiggle those gloves or that hat out from underneath us, is very similar to the range of motion that you should be using to influence your horse.
So... once, twice, three times a day, purposely throw something onto your seat and then get it out from under you. You will be that much more ready to ride in the spring.
Be sure to practice this to both sides, too.
Strengthening your Thigh Muscles
--
When you sit down, immediately get up again, then sit down
for good. If you do an extra up and down each time you are sitting down
to eat, at your desk, at the dinner table, in front of the TV, you will
go along way towards getting in spring riding shape. Keep your arms
close by your sides to work your legs even harder. And you won't even have to add an exercise program to your day.
--
Take every opportunity you can to push a drawer shut with
you knee. Even if they are high enough for your hands or your hips.
Lift your knee and push the drawer shut, and strengthen your outer
thigh muscles. -- Use your knees to hold on to things. Today, I had to find a spot for a hair dryer while I tied something else up. I put it between my knees, while using my hands to rig the two-by-four to I needed. Uh well, I was rigging the two-by-four to hold the hair dryer in place so that I could unthaw the water lines in the basement under the sink. That's actually what made me think of this weeks tip.
Anyhooo... Whatever it is that you need to put down for a bit, a pencil, a soda can, the remote… just put it between your knees and hang on to it that way. It will strengthen those inner thigh muscles.