Hot horses
I was riding this morning with my morning riding buddy. And she taught me an important lesson this morning when riding a hot horse. I thought I would share it and help myself remember it for tomorrow's ride.
Dublin is a very talented and willing horse, but he can be HOT. For those of you new to horses when we say "hot" we mean he is excitable and can work himself up into a frenzy, especially if he is trying to anticipate what I want. If you know that about your horse you usually can handle it.
Today we were back working on that counter canter serpentine and after the first loop when we were getting ready to start counter cantering, Dublin would pop up and switch leads and run off the right (we were on the left lead). This caused a bit of excitement and my riding buddy calmly looked over and said two important things, "lean back and get your legs on him".
We had already attempted several loops before this and I had anticipated the reaction and started leaning forward. Bad, bad, bad. This part I know and did the knock on the head "gee I should have had a V8" or in this case "gee I should get my butt in the saddle and my shoulders back" knock.
She also said, "a hot horse needs the security of your legs on him, put them on more than you normally would". So we went back to the rail, picked up the left lead, passed A and went into the serpentine. I got my right should back, my right leg behind the girth and on Dublin's side. My left leg stayed beside the girth but I got my lower leg on him tightly (not squeezing or kicking just there for support). And we got the serpentine. It wasn't beautiful, but it had a nice cadence and we didn't have a fit right in the middle.
What a lesson, sometimes the simplest most obvious things are the ones we forget and the ones that work the best. Thanks riding buddy!!!
Dublin is a very talented and willing horse, but he can be HOT. For those of you new to horses when we say "hot" we mean he is excitable and can work himself up into a frenzy, especially if he is trying to anticipate what I want. If you know that about your horse you usually can handle it.
Today we were back working on that counter canter serpentine and after the first loop when we were getting ready to start counter cantering, Dublin would pop up and switch leads and run off the right (we were on the left lead). This caused a bit of excitement and my riding buddy calmly looked over and said two important things, "lean back and get your legs on him".
We had already attempted several loops before this and I had anticipated the reaction and started leaning forward. Bad, bad, bad. This part I know and did the knock on the head "gee I should have had a V8" or in this case "gee I should get my butt in the saddle and my shoulders back" knock.
She also said, "a hot horse needs the security of your legs on him, put them on more than you normally would". So we went back to the rail, picked up the left lead, passed A and went into the serpentine. I got my right should back, my right leg behind the girth and on Dublin's side. My left leg stayed beside the girth but I got my lower leg on him tightly (not squeezing or kicking just there for support). And we got the serpentine. It wasn't beautiful, but it had a nice cadence and we didn't have a fit right in the middle.
What a lesson, sometimes the simplest most obvious things are the ones we forget and the ones that work the best. Thanks riding buddy!!!
posted by Dressage Princess @ 11:17 AM
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