RI must have read my blog! I was so curious to see how I would ride today… that he decided that we should work an absolute new exercise… Long and Low (LL)!
Long and Low* - Carriage in which the horse lowers and streches out its head and neck, reaching forward and downward into contact on a longer rein. This is the carriage to be achieved when "letting the horse gradually take the reins out of the hands" is called for in the tests. *Glossary of Dressage Judging Terms
OK… but this LL thing has a reason… the horse I usually ride has been out of work all past month (just with some light lunging) due to back problems and I was the first person to ride him since the vet OK yesterday! So... says RI… we have to rebuild his back before returning to the things we were doing previously.
OK… but this LL thing has a reason… the horse I usually ride has been out of work all past month (just with some light lunging) due to back problems and I was the first person to ride him since the vet OK yesterday! So... says RI… we have to rebuild his back before returning to the things we were doing previously.
I tacked him with my saddle and a loose ring snaffle (usually he gets a double). First impression on the saddle… my legs must have grown!!! LOLO… I had to give one more hole to the stirrup leathers… I never had them so long before, but it felt very comfortable!
I started at walk with loose reins all along the sand school for both leads… and immediately felt a very “awaken” horse with a forward mood! I think this is positive… if he was still in pain he wouldn’t be like this!
After the warm up, we worked all time in LL… first at walk asking for bigger strides, in circles and along the school walls. Then trot transitions (rising trot) without loosing the LL position. The first transitions I didn’t manage to get them very well… the horse would rise his head and avoid contact, but shortly I got “the feeling” and they were ok!
He tried to rush sometimes when passing near the other horse, but I managed keeping a regular and balanced trot …. It was really a good feeling!
We did trot work in circles, serpentines, working on bending and counter bending and transitions trot / walk/ trot in circles and along the walls so the horse would get really relaxed and swinging… I think I didn’t do very bad… because he really felt very relaxed!
In the end the horse got two apples, cuddles... and was looking very happy!
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4 comments:
Sounds like a good lesson, you are lucky to have such nicely schooled horses to ride and learn from!
Do you do the little drawings in your blog? They are great ^_^.
Thank you for the kind comment :)
Yes, I really enjoy my lessons... I wish I could have one everyday!
Do you plan to have your own horses?
Your situation is so foriegn to me lol. Here, pretty much the only way to ride is to have your own horse, we don't really have riding schools. So what you do interests me.
Hi Anna,
I hope I will have a horses of my own again sometime in life, but for now my professional life is too stressful and the livery prices near where I live are quite expensive and most places I know don’t fulfil the requirements of what I think is a happy like for the horse.
Until last year I had a horse (for 5 years) it was an extraordinary experience (he was a rescue) but in the last year it was very hard to provide the horse the attention, care and I was very happy to find a very good home… this is what gives some rest to my conscience because it was really hard to part with him… and him with me!
Here in the country outside the bigger cities the reality is much as you describe … there aren’t many “good” riding schools and most of people that have a piece of land can easily have horses at home. But in the main cities all horse riding related activities are very pricey.
When I decided in keeping this horse I still didn’t have any schooling experience, but was a very confident rider… he improved a lot, but had several limitations that would require more horse schooling knowledge I didn’t have and I was always riding the same horse, so my riding progression wasn’t much during this 5 years and when I became “horseless” I really felt the need to really learn how to ride properly… that’s what I’m trying to do now!
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