My trainer was talking to me from her perch on my blowing pony. She'd just spent a half-hour on him, first softening him up at the walk and moving him around ("It was like his neck was just set straight and that's the way it is,") and then moving into the trot, and finally, the canter, where she moved him back and forth between moving forward in a half-seat and sitting down to encourage him to sit and compress the canter.
Although I don't have the feel she does, I learn a lot from watching her. Her hands are soft and stable, but they are constantly moving with purpose, having a conversation with his mouth. Her leg is around him - REALLY around him - especially at the canter. Her reins are longer than she typically prefers when she's working on getting him soft, so that she can reward him with a release that much quicker than she could if her reins were the regular length.
More Dressage work/suppling, get spurs, more conditioning. These are going to be the stories of my second half of 2013!
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| The combination of my trainer's good riding and clover slobbers led to some epic foam. |
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| Tired pony. |
Spurs are my best friend. Maybe for different reasons but hue seems to respond to them way better than just my heel and seems to understand more accurately.
ReplyDeleteI too love watching my horse get a good school in.
What kind of spurs do you have? I am shopping for them for the first time.
ReplyDelete"Never leave your spurs hanging on the fence." - some old horse guy. I always wear them unless it's the first couple rides on a baby. I don't have to use them but they're there if I need them.
ReplyDeleteI feel like our boys are very similar in that aspect and spurs are wonderful help!! I have never ridden in spurs but it has made a world of difference for us moving up to 2nd level. Collection work is really hard for our boys with how they are built so it just gives you that little extra squeeze when you feel like your legs cant squeeze any more!
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