June 2008 - Tips of the Week

Monday, June 23, 2008 6:55 PM

The best way for an average rider to check if their stirrup length is correct is the “armpit method.” With the hand touching the stirrup bar and the arm extended straight, the stirrup iron should touch the armpit. The second way is, when mounted, to drop the feet out of the stirrups. The stirrup iron should hit at the bottom of the anklebone, just under the anklebone – not an inch under it or on top of it. That’s the basic length. For dressage, you want to drop the iron, perhaps an inch under the anklebone. If the rider is going over big courses, it might be half an inch above the anklebone. As the jumps get bigger, the stirrups are shortened a little. So there might be a range to cover work on the flat, hunting, jumping, puissance – there might be a four-hole difference depending on the activity. But for the average beginner, as well as for the intermediate, there should be just one all-purpose length of stirrup. It should be at the bottom of the anklebone. Don’t shift stirrups until a student is pretty good at the intermediate level. Then you can go to two different-length stirrups.

Reprinted with permission from George H. Morris Teaches Beginners to Ride by George H. Morris, published by The Lyons Press

SHARE THIS POST:

Delicious

Facebook

MySpace

Digg

Yahoo! Buzz

StumbleUpon

Posted Jun 23 2008, 06:55 PM by

gmorris with

no comments

Filed under: Better Riding

Monday, June 16, 2008 9:14 PM

Building Trust

by hzantke

I think in all horsemanship a good trust relationship is of utmost importance, but especially so for carriage driving. We don’t sit on the horse. We really can’t make him do anything that he doesn’t want to do - not that I think we should do that under saddle, but we do have a little more power there.

To build that trust relationship I have a contract with my horses. The contract reads: I will never ask you anything that you are not capable of physically, mentally or that puts you in danger.

Physically means: I won’t ask you to do something for which you are not yet physically ready. For example, I won’t ask you to pull me up that steep hill for which you don’t have the muscles yet.

Mentally means, I won’t ask you to do anything that I haven’t trained you enough yet to understand my commands or that I haven’t explained it in a way that you could understand it.

Not putting you in danger means that I don’t ask you to do anything which would could harm you.

All of it also means, I am not asking you to do anything which you might think you can’t do because you might not be able to do it physically or that you think it might put you into danger.

Since I am human, I will make mistakes and sometimes ask for something which they think they can’t do or which I didn’t explain properly and in a way that they understood it, so that then they won’t obey me. Fortunately they are forgiving creatures. But they are keeping scores, and we cannot afford to have too many scores against us, otherwise we will not gain their trust. Good horsemanship means to be able to read my horses properly, to assess where they are and with that,keep such mistakes to a minimum.

I must develop the trust relationship with them,so that they trust my leadership enough to obey my commands.

Since horses can’t read, I need to prove to them that I stick to this contract. It will take time until they understand it and will trust me for it. Building that trust relationship is of utmost importance. As my horses learn to trust me, they will obey my commands, and with that I also will learn to trust them.

Building this mutual trust relationship takes time similarly, as in a human relationship. As a young man I wouldn’t give a new girlfriend my wallet on our first date - but after years of a good marriage I know that I can now trust my wife with it.

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 16 2008, 09:14 PM by

hzantke with

no comments

Filed under: Training, Horse Behavior, Driving

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 8:29 PM

Bit, Martingale, and Saddle Advice

by gmorris

Let’s start with tack and its adjustment. We’ll start with the jointed bit. With the jointed bit you will see a couple of wrinkles at the horse’s mouth. With a straight bit you will see only half a wrinkle, not two or more.

Now let’s go to the martingale. I don’t use or advocate a running martingale for young riders, either beginners or intermediates, because it gets them into a whole lot of trouble, acting on the sensitive bars of the horse’s mouth. What you want to use with beginners or intermediates is the standing martingales. It should never touch the throat, for that means it’s too long. I always advocate using standing martingales with beginners, but when riders develop to intermediate level, I let them work on the flat without a martingale. I always have advanced riders work on the flat without a martingale so they can learn to keep their horses on the bit without the aid.

As for saddles, nowadays we don’t like too much depth in the saddles, because that separates the rider from his horse. Nor do we want, with a beginner, a totally flat saddle. A Hermes is perhaps too flat a saddle for a beginner. A beginner needs a modified one with a knee roll or two. Make sure that the saddle fits proper length from the pommel to the cantle and proper length of the stirrup.

Reprinted with permission from George H. Morris Teaches Beginners to Ride by George H. Morris, published by The Lyons Press

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 11 2008, 08:29 PM by

gmorris with

no comments

Filed under: Training, Horse Care

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 3:29 PM

Getting a Better Feel of the Horse

by MaryT

One of the most significant differences between riding of any discipline and almost every other athletic sport that today’s adults engage in as a “hobby” is that we participate in this pasttime with another living, breathing, thinking and moving partner to consider. It is typical for anyone who is trying to learn something new or perfecting existing skills to focus extremely intently upon their own performance, but this approach in riding can quickly become detrimental. Today’s adult amateur riders, especially, are often conditioned from their professional lives to be introspective and self-critical in order to advance within their “real” life, but those traits can often be their undoing when it’s time to perfect their performance with a skilled and opinionated show horse for a dance partner.

One of the approaches that I’ve found useful to get my riders thinking about their partner as much as they do themselves is to correlate how they use their body parts with how they would like their horses to perform, and to train my horses to follow these cues. For instance, my hip movement controls my horse’s hip movement, my hand position can move a front leg, my lower leg influences a hind leg, and my rib cage and weight distribution controls where my horses take their rib cages and lean their weight. Speed is slowed by tightening the abductor muscles in the inner thigh and tightening the back, just as I would control my own speed were I moving too fast running down a hill, and increased by stretching the extensor muscles of my thighs and calves. With this kind of base I’m able to ask my riders to become part of their horse, rather then simply sitting on top of him, and to influence what they want him to do with his body by using the corresponding piece of their own body. The result is eventually a much greater “feel” of what’s going on underneath them, and a greater understanding of how we influence that.

When riders and I want to perfect personal skills so that they can communicate more effectively with their show horses, to fine tune pressures or change positions in the saddle, we return to the lunge line lessons on horses that are typically not as sensitive as the show horses, so that when the time comes that you need to focus solely on yourself, you don’t have a dance partner that’s screaming in your ear because you stepped on his feet too often! Happy riding.

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 11 2008, 03:29 PM by

MaryT with

no comments

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 9:01 PM

Preparing for a Class

by sflarida

Have a game plan before you enter the competition environment.

Make sure that the pattern is laid out in your head. Sit in the stands and visualize your pattern and what you will do with each maneuver. Make sure you have plenty of time in order to be prepared. Know the day before when you need to be warming up. Always make sure that your equipment fits properly and is not going to break. Try and have back up billets, cinches, headstalls, etc; just in case.

The night before know exactly when you need to get on your horse and what you are going to do in your warm up. Have a game plan before you enter into the competition environment.

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 10 2008, 09:01 PM by

sflarida with

no comments

Filed under: Better Riding, Success in Showing

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 8:27 PM

Training A Deaf Horse to Stop

by bpace

“Taking whoa and putting it in your hand.”

The deaf horse needs to be in tune with the rider’s hands. A rider needs to pay attention to what their hands are telling the horse.

To Start to train a deaf horse to stop the rider should start pulling and releasing, when the horse starts to stop, reward them for the correct action by releasing/giving of your hands. Continue to do this until the horse understands and “listens” to your slightest hand pressure.

Remember – Do not say ‘Whoa’ to a deaf horse, this will mess up the rider’s timing.

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 10 2008, 08:27 PM by

bpace with

no comments

Filed under: Training

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 8:16 PM

Riding Correctly

by pdutton

Horses are creatures of habit, so try to keep this in mind with your training. Always strive to ride CORRECTLY. It is not complicated. For your horse to go correctly he should be connected from your inside leg to your outside rein. Even going on a straight line, you should have this connection. The horse will not improve unless you repeat this over and over again so it becomes habit.

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 10 2008, 08:16 PM by

pdutton with

no comments

Filed under: Better Riding, Training

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:13 PM

Why Carriage Driving Horses Wear Blinders

by hzantke

Most people think blinders are for safety as light horses might spook when they see the carriage behind them. That should not be it. Horses should be trained to also drive in open bridles to be safe when they accidentally do see the carriage behind them. The real reasons for blinders are different:

The horses should stay focused on their work ahead of them. They should not be distracted by anything that is going on beside or behind them.

But the more important reason is that they should not anticipate the action of the whip, which is one of our most important driving aids. A rider has his legs and seat for many of his aids. The driver only has his whip, and to a lesser extent, also his voice for those aids. Thus he must learn to use the whip in many different ways: The whip is not for beating the horse. But it can be used as a forward driving aid. But in addition, it can also be used as a bending aid, as an aid to move the horse over, and even as a calming aid. All these different goals require different applications of the whip at different parts of the horse’s body and in different ways.

Without blinders horses start to anticipate when the whip is coming at them before the driver has a chance to apply it in the various different ways. The finer communication from the driver to the horse with the whip is lost then. Without blinders, pairs will start to travel crooked as they look backwards along the pole towards the whip. Without blinders in multiples, the more eager and high-strung horse will anticipate the whip coming at him and work even more when in reality it came forward aimed at his laid back partner to remind him to do his proper share of the work.

Most of the above applies to carriage horses. Driving draft horses is a different matter - they were not required to do dressage, go on the bit, or bend properly. Thus they were often driven in open bridles for pure drafthorse work and often without a whip in hand as well. We should not confuse proper carriage driving with drafthorse work.

When children ask me why my horses wear blinders, I used to tell them: ”For the same reason that your mom doesn’t want you to watch TV while you do your homework!” Many children can’t follow that argument anymore and are proud to”multitask.” I’ll have to come up with a new explanation.

SHARE THIS POST:

Digg

Posted Jun 10 2008, 05:13 PM by

hzantke with

no comments

Filed under: Driving