This message is from: Starfire Farm <starfiref...@usa.net>
On 1/30/2012 9:35 PM, Julia Webb wrote: > Any differences with installing that one-rein > stop/disengagement of the hind-quarters with Fjords? I'm not the best rider > in the world, but as a thinking adult beginner, I've had many teachers, all of > which (to some degree or another) made sure I knew how to A) Get off a moving > horse as safely as possible, and B) Train that one-rein stop. This was Buck Brannaman's advice, many years ago during a colt starting clinic I was in, about teaching the one-rein halt..."Make it [the halt] a soothing place to be,"...so the horse gets security from it rather than being just a means of control. So, I don't think it is just about "flex, flex, flex." Sometimes if you try to teach a Fjord to flex "roboticly" (like some clinicians) you can teach the horse to fear and brace against the one-rein halt. Often, with a Fjord, one needs to break down a movement or request into smaller steps to help it understand what you want. Teach it to yield laterally to the bit (or, preferably to the halter) slightly first, then graduate to adding neck flexion, then add the disengagement. The rider's seat position and balance are also crucial in a one-rein halt. The rider's balance should be somewhat over the outside hip, but deep and grounded in the seat of the saddle, rather than what the body wants to do naturally, which is lean over the inside shoulder, weight out of the seat and over the rider's legs. Unfortunately, when the weight of the rider is over the shoulders, it makes the horse's weight fall onto the forehand and the horse could lose its balance, falling over its own front feet. A scary situation for both horse and rider. Fjords can have very strong necks, but setting that neck always starts with /mental/ strength or bracing. Under normal circumstances (meaning the horse is comfortable with the situation, etc.) their necks are extremely supple. In fact, I have found them to be extremely supple throughout their entire bodies! I have taught, and continue to teach, many Fjords (and other horses) to do a "one rein halt" /without/ reins, essentially teaching them to disengage when I "touch the hindquarter button" (my students will understand this! ;-) When you have that...you really have a connection that can be very reliable. Having said that, a horse that is truly afraid and is a true runaway cannot be bent with any amount of force, Fjord or otherwise. One had to chose whether to ride it out or jump off. If you ride it out, you have to wait until the horse "peaks" to try to make any effect with a one rein halt. Make that one-rein halt your horse's "little happy place" and you should have a tool that is reliable for both you and your horse. Beth -- Beth Beymer and Sandy North Starfire Farm, LLC www.starfirefarm.com Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH-L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
