This message is from: "Warren Stockwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Thank you Sarah, I'm not sure I totally get it yet it's clear I'm an old dog trying to learn a new trick. Kaari moves forward into the hand but if the hand is not holding on tight she will take the reins out of the hand and out goes the nose. So with my old school brain I see a horse looking beautiful for a good portion of the time as she moves off the hind end but I wonder if I am creating a hard mouth?? When I watch a dressage class I don't see soft I see tight heavy contact. I see riders that look like they have a "stick up the *****". I see horses that look wound tight like a spring, so how can that be a pleasure??? Again I don't know what I'm doing so I don't intend to offend, I could easily be mistaken. I clearly don't have an educated eye in this area I just need to watch more classes with folks I know, know what they are doing so I can see it in a different light. I'll be going to The Morgan North Star show this weekend for a while to watch some of my clients. Maybe I can get a visual of what I'm trying to learn. I just don't want to make a mess of my horses. If I ever need to rehome them ( heaven forbid ) it would be easier if they were trained for the average rider and easy to work with.This is going to be tough on my brain. Anyone want to take on a "old school girl" and help with retraining her brain (LOL). Roberta MN ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Clarke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 3:48 PM Subject: [?? Probable Spam] Re: Cantering > This message is from: Sarah Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Think of the horse as a spring. If you push on one end of the spring you can move it from place to place, but in order to make the spring shorter you have to push on both ends. Now, if you just hang on the horses mouth you will create tension, but if you teach the horse to go forward from the leg and be "received" by the hand, the horse will round his whole top line and be in balance and be very soft in your hand. (not tight!) I have been teaching two students canter work using Fjords. I found that it is really effective to longe them on the horse in side reins. I teach them how to make the horse go forward to the reins without them using their hands. then I teach them how to do a trot to walk transition without using the reins. Then a canter - trot transition (again no reins.) This really opens their eyes that downward transitions are about going forward, not about yanking on the reins! Rember that you have to train the horse to compensate for > your extra weight. The flat backed on the forehand posture that horses at liberty can use effectively doesn't work so well with a person and saddle in the middle of their back. It is also true that a horse can learn to carry themselves this way with less and less rider input, but they will always have tendency to "uncoil the spring" when you release the front end. > > > > The question is why is it important ( yet effective ) to > > have contact with > > the mouth?? It seems to me that if the horse is right you > > should not be in > > it's mouth but relaxed not tight in the body but > > relaxed??? I've always been > > taught to " leave 'em be when they're right > > ". I've been told to train your > > horse to collect rather than hold them in. > > The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: > http://tinyurl.com/rcepw The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
