Riding Thread for March

[luvmymorgan]

OK, I'll start this off for March. I didn't ride last weekend so this is "kind of" the first of March, right? I had a short ride yesterday, but Risty wasn't real responsive. I had a lesson with Holly today and, boy I'm so glad I did. She noticed a couple of tack issues I fixed or will fix. First of all, she thought his throat latch was too tight. I loosened it and it really helped a lot. That guy is so forgiving when I screw up. LOVE him! We worked on figure 8's, posting on the correct diagonal (I'm still not real good at feeling when I'm on the correct or incorrect one) and side-passing. Of course the problems I've been having getting him to side pass are something I've been doing wrong - pulling back on the reins, not his fault. Poor boy, I've been confusing the heck out of him! Finished with working on the canter and that's when the other tack issue surfaced. I've not been real comfortable cantering and now I know why. I was always reaching to keep my heels down. We had shortened by stirrups as short as they would go last fall, but they must have stretched. She said they looked too long. So after the lesson I got out my hole punch & went to work. I won't have another lesson for 2 weeks but will be riding next weekend and will see how the shorter stirrups work out. I hope I can keep consistent and schedule lessons at least twice a month. It sure helps me stay focused on such things as hand, leg & arm position, bent elbows, etc. It really helps to have someone watch & pick up on these things. Hopefully I'll be able to budget for twice a month. It is so windy here today and he did so good in the arena so I let him off easy and didn't go out on the trail. Fed him his apple and let him go back to his pen in time for lunch.

[cyndi]

I'm glad you could so some riding, LMM!! It is so nice to have another set of eyes on you and your horse while you ride. I hope the changes in tack all help!

It is a lot of work for me to concentrate on hand/leg/arm positions while trying to keep my balance in the saddle. lol I hope you'll be able to afford lessons every two weeks I would be happy with once a month at this point, but I don't want to ride until I get my new stirrup leathers so that I can shorten them enough. But I'm content to just be on the ground with Fanny right now.

[ghostrider]

I'd love to have help on side passing.
How do you all do it? I started out the way JL teaches which is to "open up" the direction you want him to go. Facing a wall or fence, take three of four steps forward and then open up your right rein (if you're going right) tip the nose to the left just a tad and use the left foot to ask to scoot right.
But with Buddy he'll only go 5-10 steps and then stops so then you have to start all over instead of just continuing to move side ways.

He does diagonals okay it's the side passing like in the arena or field without a fence or wall that he really sucks at. I don't know if he really doesn't know what I want or if he's just playing dumb cause it's too much work. You know?? LOL
I wonder if he'd side pass good if I had someone to touch his flank and move him over while I "opened" the rein up from the saddle? he is great on the ground with just a finger to move him over either direction.

[cyndi]

I'd say just build on what you are able to do. If 5-10 steps is as much as he'll do, then good for you! Keep doing that and see if you can get him to do more and more each time

You could also line him up facing a fence or wall and ask him to move sideways along that.

[MaryS]

I teach side passing by teaching it from the half pass (forward sideways movement). Nothing physically blocks out a wrong direction.

I get that at a walk really good. Then move to a trot and get that really good.

Then, at the trot half pass, ask for enough pressure to stop forward motion, but not enough to stop all motion. The horse takes a step sideways, release and praise. Repeat. Don't increase the distance sideways until you've done it lots of times (the more sideways you go, the more speed decreases).

Example: walk forward, have someone push you from the side when you walk. You get thrown off balance a bit and it takes less pressure to get that movement. If you did still, you can brace against it.

[ghostrider]

I'm assuming when you say a half pass you're talking about a diagonal? Buddy does diagonals good at a walk, we've never tried at a trot. Sounds like a good way to try though to stop the forward and ask for one step sideways.

Cyndi lining up to the fence or a wall is what I was talking about. It's when we don't have the fence or wall or panel in front of us that he just goes NAH!

[MaryS]

I think we're talking the same thing GR.

Horse moves forward, but diagonally. Nose points in direction you want to travel.

You can get side pass from either way the noise points, but I like how pretty it looks with my horse's nose pointed in direction of travel.

[luvmymorgan]

When I taught him to side pass before we did it facing a fence. Holly (teaches dressage too) said not to face the fence as you don't want to stop forward motion. He is getting better at it if we keep the fence on our left or right and side pass away from it. I know he can do it even facing the fence, I just need to get him back in the habit and listening to me when I'm sure I'm giving the correct cues.

[Deleted]

My horse knows how to side pass. Others do it on her. Her owner is too uncoordinated to do it! I think I'll put that on my list of goals for this year.

Cyndi....When my daughter was growing up she was eventing. I noticed early on that there are some eventers that are really effective riders, but not "pretty" riders. We hit the jack pot with the lady who taught her to ride all those years. I asked her to make sure DD was not only effective, but that she could "equitate". Well...she took that to heart and taught her to be such a pretty rider. Several years later I got the benefit of that teaching when Dd taught me! I am not the rider my DD is, by any means, but I do feel like I've got a good seat...unless I get scared then all bets are off!

I always recommend "Centered Riding". That is the basis Dd's instructor used, and I have enjoyed studying it. John Lyons is mentioned in her book, as a very naturally centered rider. The concepts make total sense, and once you put them into practice, you are more and more balanced and before you know it it's a natural reaction when you mount your horse.

[ghostrider]

nana I wonder if being a good balanced rider doesn't just come with time in the seat. I can almost always tell someone who rides once every month or two and someone who has spent a lot of time in the saddle. How can you ride a lot and NOT be connected right? and how can you be balanced because someone tells you what you should feel? like everything else it comes with experience. Looking pretty doing it may be a lot quicker if someone else is giving you pointers.

When you face the wall you're not supposed to be right on it. You're supposed to be 3 or 4 steps back and be walking at a brisk pace when you get to within a step then you open the rein and ask him to move sideways while still in motion. The quicker the motion the better you should get a side pass. Works good but only for a few steps I wish Buddy wouldn't "stop" side passing until I ask. It's like he just doesn't want to go any farther than a few steps.

I want to get a better side pass this summer as well.

[Deleted]

Everything is better the more you do it, but I've seen riders who ride a lot and are not balanced. I agree, though, with time in the saddle. Once someone gets an independent seat, though, that's hard to lose.

[MaryS]

When you sidepass, do you stand and/or rest after some steps? I found with thumb that it was easier to continue movement forward than ask for a stop after side passing. He quit deciding when to stop moving if he knew he'd not stand still.

For obstacles and competition, he'd get to take a pause because judges prefer that. It's just so rare that he gets to do that, he doesn't try to stop and stand.

[ghostrider]

Buddy decides how many steps before he stops and no amount of nudging will get one more step from him if I force it he'll get upset like he doesn't understand what I want and then start acting like a nest of bees is swarming around him! I swear he's such a pansy!
If I don't want him to get away with stopping I'll turn a circle approach the wall and ask for a side pass again or change and go the other way but it's always a "start over" never a continue.

[Kirk Martin]

Finally did some trail riding on Sunday. What a perfect blue and sunny day. Got to take my daughter riding on her 12th birthday (later received the "that was the best present I've ever gotten" thank you. I was riding Relen, a friend's bay Paso Fino and my daughter was on Deseada the chestnut Paso. We did a leisurely and sometimes not so leisurely 8.5 mile ride on wooded trails. Rode on the steepest inclines and declines I'd ever been on and the horse did beautifully. Relen once again didn't want to step in the mud to start but by the end of the ride, she was walking through 100' long puddles with no hesitation. Made it to the overlook showing a non-icy lake. Even the daffodils were starting to pop up around the trail. My daughter got to do some cantering and a little bit of galloping with my friend and did she ever have a grin when finished.
Love spring!

[ghostrider]

Good for you. My niece turned 13 in Feb this year. Last two years everytime we rode she'd get on and say "How long before we can canter?" Drove me crazy explaining to her that Boomer needed his muscles warmed up first.