On Thu, Jun 14, 2007 at 07:13:30AM -0400, Karen Thomas wrote: > >>> OK, here it is: http://iceryder.net/videogaitstjarni.html > > I keep mentioning the head nod on horses, but I don't know if everyone sees > it the same way I do. There's more to it than just a cool look. When a > horse nods his head, I can feel his whole back undulating at least a little.
i can always feel stjarni's back moving in my seatbones; he is never perfectly still through the back. (i spend a lot of time sitting on my hand, which is more sensitive, to get the hang of feeling that motion from my seatbones -- a centered-riding trick i learned from lucile bump :) > [show people and their ways of forcing horse movements] i don't know any "show people" really. i may take stjarni to the icelandic show in vermont next month, partly just to gawk at other iceys (i really enjoyed doing that at the clinic!) and i may enter him just in the trot race -- he has a VERY FAST trot that he loves to do, and i don't care if we win or not, it will be just for fun. (i think he also enjoyed spending time with other iceys at the clinic, but that's a whole different subject....) in the ring we divide up time equally among gaits, except the canter, which is both our toughest gait in the ring (it's a small ring and stjarni finds the corners a little intimidating, so we're working on that) and also gives him a chance to stretch and relax. on the trail we do more cantering and galloping, except we always walk the last mile or two to help us arrive more cooled out. > Vicka, if you want something specific to isolate to watch in Stjarni's > gaits, give him just a slightly looser rein for a while, and just observe > his head while he gives you his range. When the gaits get more lateral, the > head movement will become less of a up-and-down nod, and more of a > "V"-movement - the head will be up in the center, then down to the left, up > to the center, down to the right, up to the center.... what do you think of the more lateral gaits? he generally becomes more evenly four-beat if i turn him or half-halt when i feel him becoming more lateral (i feel it in my seatbones or hear it in his footfalls; i shall have to look for it in his head now :) are they a part of the best repertoire for a horse who does them naturally, or is it something that should be discouraged under saddle for some reason? i have lee's book, and i'm going to be spending a lot of time with that and this video, and more videos as i can get them (now that i know how to actually make the camera do that, and upload them to my machines, though it turns out i'll need to get my laptop fixed before there is much more of it....sigh.) thanks very much! --vicka
