Work is crazy, I've been driving around doing field work all week, so hence no Solo updates. But we've been doing a bit of schooling here and there. Had a good dressage lesson late last week where we began talking more seriously about staying in the outside rein. A concept I have known for a long time and understand in theory, but like just about every dressage concept, actually making it happen on a horse who doesn't know how is a whole 'nother basket of eggs.
So I played with it a little, using my usual amateur-rider method of trial and error (poor Solo). As it happened, there was a discussion on the Chronicle of the Horse forums in the dressage folder about this very thing. I read an interesting tip and decided to give it a try. And voila! We have outside rein connection and even MORE fun, after two years of really working on it, we finally have some lovely canter work coming out!
Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to know what this little outside rein tip is? Would you like me not to be cruel and leave you hanging? I would never do such a thing...
It's just a little body imagery. Imagine your outside elbow is super-glued softly to your side with a contact to your horse's mouth. Take a feel with your inside rein and do some flexion/leg-yield/shoulder fore to ask him to move into that outside rein. He might resist it at first and pop his nose up in protest. But then he will give in the jaw and flex at the poll oh-so-loverly at which point you do not open your fingers but just do a little soft give from the elbow -- do NOT throw away that connection.
I summoned up my super glue and it really did help. Before, I would get the connection but give too much and lose it on the next stride. Focusing on keeping my elbow back and quiet and not giving away the rein allowed me to KEEP that connection and I could feel Solo THERE in the rein. The hardest part for me about really learning how to keep a horse on the bit has been realizing that you have to give them a bit to be on. In other words, if you just have limp reins and keep giving the bit away away away, there is nothing for them to move and push into, nothing to harness and direct the energy from the hindquarters.
This also helped in our canter work and at the end of our school, I did a 15 m circle at the canter to set him back on his hocks and lift his front end, as assigned by P, then did a lap of extend the stride on the long side, collect it on the short side.
OH! All of a sudden, my horse was a delight -- his back was up and strong and he lengthened and shortened his strides from behind as he should without falling on the forehand or losing the rhythm of the canter. I believe I was grinning stupidly as we walked down to the barn. I like to think that Solo was rather pleased with himself as well...
So I played with it a little, using my usual amateur-rider method of trial and error (poor Solo). As it happened, there was a discussion on the Chronicle of the Horse forums in the dressage folder about this very thing. I read an interesting tip and decided to give it a try. And voila! We have outside rein connection and even MORE fun, after two years of really working on it, we finally have some lovely canter work coming out!
Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to know what this little outside rein tip is? Would you like me not to be cruel and leave you hanging? I would never do such a thing...
It's just a little body imagery. Imagine your outside elbow is super-glued softly to your side with a contact to your horse's mouth. Take a feel with your inside rein and do some flexion/leg-yield/shoulder fore to ask him to move into that outside rein. He might resist it at first and pop his nose up in protest. But then he will give in the jaw and flex at the poll oh-so-loverly at which point you do not open your fingers but just do a little soft give from the elbow -- do NOT throw away that connection.
I summoned up my super glue and it really did help. Before, I would get the connection but give too much and lose it on the next stride. Focusing on keeping my elbow back and quiet and not giving away the rein allowed me to KEEP that connection and I could feel Solo THERE in the rein. The hardest part for me about really learning how to keep a horse on the bit has been realizing that you have to give them a bit to be on. In other words, if you just have limp reins and keep giving the bit away away away, there is nothing for them to move and push into, nothing to harness and direct the energy from the hindquarters.
This also helped in our canter work and at the end of our school, I did a 15 m circle at the canter to set him back on his hocks and lift his front end, as assigned by P, then did a lap of extend the stride on the long side, collect it on the short side.
OH! All of a sudden, my horse was a delight -- his back was up and strong and he lengthened and shortened his strides from behind as he should without falling on the forehand or losing the rhythm of the canter. I believe I was grinning stupidly as we walked down to the barn. I like to think that Solo was rather pleased with himself as well...