Posts Tagged ‘Contact’

I’ve just never figured it out. And then same with the low neck, how do you train a horse to keep his head that low and off the bit? I’ve ridden english my whole life and all i’ve even known is how to give a horse contact consistantly.
I’m talking about a lope; were the horse is inbetween a trot and canter. How do you train a horse to do that? A lope couldn’t possibly be 3 beats.

Every little girl and boy who takes horseback riding lessons from me wants his or her own horse. Sometimes their parents are amenable to such an investment, and sometimes they are not, but if you think you might like to buy a beginner horse for your child, it’s important to think this decision through. Too often, I see parents run out and buy the first pretty piece of horseflesh they find, only to discover later that is was the wrong choice.

For one thing, most parents of horse-crazy kids aren’t very knowledgeable about horses in general. They don’t know how to safely shop for horses, and they don’t know what qualities to seek out. Consequently, they come home with a dangerous or ill-mannered or incapable horse that send their child home in tears every night. To avoid this, it is important to follow a few guidelines for selecting an appropriate beginner horse.

1- Get Advice

Reading this article is a great first step toward choosing the best beginner horse for your child, but you need more than words on paper if you don’t know the first thing about equines. A trainer, instructor or equine professional can make your buying experience much more pleasant, and you’re far more likely to choose an appropriate animal. In most cases, the trainer at your barn will be more than happy to assist you, but may charge a commission fee for their time.

Even if you don’t know a qualified individual, however, there is guaranteed to be someone in your city who knows about horses. Look through the Yellow Pages under “Riding Academies” or “Stables” to find equestrian facilities near you, then contact the owner to see if he or she can help. Again, you might have to pay a small commission, but it’s worth it in the long run.

2- Buy Close to Home

It is sometimes beneficial for an experienced equestrian to look for horses across the country, or even on the other side of the world. When you’re buying a beginner horse for your child, however, look in a small radius, and don’t buy a horse you can’t visit beforehand. Not only will this give you an opportunity to “try out” the horse before purchase, but it is a lot harder to get scammed by someone who lives virtually in your own backyard.

Additionally, you might also try to buy from someone you know, or based on a referral from a friend or family member. Working with people you know and trust will take much of the stress out of buying a horse, and you’re almost guaranteed to get what you asked for. Unfortunately, the scams in this country aren’t limited to credit card fraud and identity theft; they also extend to the equine industry.

3- Ride More than Once

You should never buy a beginner horse for your child without riding it first, but I advise at least two or three rides before you offer up a check on a silver platter. One ride might be stellar, but your child might discover in subsequent rides that the horse is harder to handle than he or she previously thought. Other issues, such as lamenesses or bad habits, can surface after “meeting” the horse several times.

In fact, I recommend putting a down payment on the horse and taking it to your barn for a week to “try out” before paying for it entirely. Most reputable horse dealers are more than happy to accommodate this request, and it simply adds another layer of security to the process. Generally, you’ll need to give the seller at least 50% good-faith deposit before you take the horse from their property, and you’ll need to return the horse in seven days if you don’t intend to buy.

4- Conduct a Vet Check

Just because your trainer says that a beginner horse is the perfect one for your child doesn’t mean that this should be the end of the road. Horses, like people, are susceptible to injuries and illnesses that often don’t materialize for months or years. A thorough examination by a veterinarian will turn up things like navicular changes and parasites. Have your veterinarian conduct this examination (called a vet check) prior to buying the horse.

If you’ve driven far to buy the animal, however, you can always write a check contingent on a clear vet check. This needs to be placed in writing so that you can return the horse if there are any significant health problems uncovered by the veterinarian.

5- Pay Attention to Demeanor

Unscrupulous horse dealers will actually drug a horse before showing it to potential buyers, creating an extremely dangerous situation. When you’re buying a beginner horse for your child, you want an animal that won’t try to hurt anyone, and drugs can make the feistiest, wildest, most unmanageable horse seem like a school pony. Therefore, horses who are overly lethargic or dull-eyed should raise a red flag.

If you think that something “just isn’t right”, don’t buy the horse until you’ve called out a vet. After the vet check, ride the horse again to make sure that he wasn’t drugged the first time you tried him.

Laura Thompson is a freelance writer and equestrian consultant from Houston, Texas. She provides assistance to equestrian professionals who want to enter or who currently work in the equestrian industry, and also conducts clinics and seminars in Texas and surrounding states. Her web site, MICA21.com [http://www.mica21.com], provides not only information about her services, but also free resources for equestrian professionals.

Author: Laura J Thompson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Electrical Pressure Cooker Online

When you are riding, one vitally important component is your seat. In this article, I would like to look at the seat and how important it is to make sure you are relaxed and confident, to assist in your perfect seat.

Just close your eyes for a moment and I want you to imagine your perfect seat. What does it look like to you? I want you to picture yourself as if you are looking at yourself. So how do you look? Are you still, poised and elegant? What are you ankles doing? Your thighs? Your stomach? Then I want you to step into your body and feel how it feels to have a perfect seat. How it feels to move with your horse in motion and go with the movement. What do you hear, what do you see and what do you feel?

Ok so “how????” I can hear you screaming at me!

Well, good question, but let’s first look at why?

To me seat is the single most important tool when riding a horse. When I am working with a client seat is at the fore front of my mind all the time. Lets say I have a client coming to me saying “my horse doesn’t keep his head still or stay to the contact,” I could talk about driving to the bit and engaging behind and riding the hind leg and I do… but I am also thinking are the hands still enough for the horse to comfortably and easily go into the bridle and stay steady on the contact. Still hands are vital for a horses head to be still. The hands can only be still if the seat is sufficiently developed to keep the balance, and not rely on the hands for balance.

The seat is also the core to effective dressage riding. You know when you watch the top riders and you are staring really hard… and you still can’t see them doing anything!!! And the horse is dancing underneath them. Well that’s riding with seat. Where you can go with the horse and influence the horse with your body. It’s almost like your thoughts become his and your back becomes his back.

So there are three keys to a perfect seat:

1. Balance – you must have balance first. You must be able to sit in the center of the saddle and not have to rely on anything to grip or get tight to stay in the centre of the movement.
2. Relaxation - to have a supple back that can swing with the horse you must be relaxed and not tight. The biggest mistakes trainers make is when they say shoulders back, or heels down, the rider if they are very eager will force their heels down or shoulders back using all the muscles they have to achieve this. This results in tight tired muscles and is not the point of a supple seat – the rider will never have the ability to go with the horse. Muscles must always be supple. Now that doesn’t mean soft and not engaged as the muscles do need to work. But with relaxation! I know it’s a paradox! Aren’t most things in riding?!?!?! When I am assisting clients with this I ask them to think of holding a glass of water, now hold it too tight with all the muscle strength you have in your hand and the glass will break, completely relax your hand and the glass will drop and break. There is a muscle tension in the middle ground that is enough to hold the glass. It’s the same for riding. Enough tension to keep you in the movement but not too much that you will become tight, rigid and blocked.
3. Going with the horse’s movement – you must be able to go with the horse and not be left behind. It’s about being the leader, always knowing what will happen next and being ready for it. This means you must have a braced back and an engaged core.

Once you have developed your perfect seat you can then use your seat to influence the horse, slow and quicken it only with seat and turn and perform lateral movements with your seat in conjunction with your legs and reins.

So remember relaxation is so important. It’s a must. If you are worried about falling, you will be gripping and be tight and your seat can’t go with the horse. If you are not balanced you will grip to stay on and your seat can’t go with the horse.

So work on your balance in the saddle, make sure you stay relaxed and supple with positive muscle tension and then allow your body to go with the horse. This is where riding in your mind can help. You can only do so many hours in the saddle practicing but you can do many more hours in your head. The best thing is in your head you never make a mistake and your unconscious mind can’t tell the difference between real and imagined, so all those neural connections are strengthened even if your not on the horse!

To your success,

Natasha

Natasha Althoff-Kelley
http://yourridingsuccess.com
Visit my website for your free 7 Keys to Your Riding Success – providing you with more advice and videos to assist you in your riding journey

Author: Natasha Althoff-Kelley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Buy electrical pressure cooker

I recently had a client that, due to medical reasons, could not mount her horse without a mounting block. Her fear was that if she needed to get down off her horse somewhere that did not have a object to use as a block, she would have to walk home or until she found something on trail to use. She asked about teaching her horse to bow for her to mount. Now I know many people that want to teach their horse to bow as a way of exiting a performance, but this was the first time someone had asked me about actually getting up that way. I told her we could give it a try and I did not see why it could not be done. So off we went.

Now there are two ways a horse can bow, with both legs forward or one bent with the knee on the ground. I could see a lot of stress on the horse trying to get up with added weight from the bow with both legs forward so I set about teaching her horse to bow with a bend knee.

This is the same procedure I will use on teaching any horse to bow, mounted or not. The main difference comes with where the cue is located. Obviously, if you are going to bow the horse from the saddle, you need a cue spot you can reach, but that is not where it starts.

I do not use treats and do not force the horse down. I use a full check snaffle with continuous round rope reins. I also use a soft lay rope (I like to use the leads made for rope halters with no clasps or hardware) to help hold up the leg on the side I am standing. Due to the repeated contact with the ground, find a place where the ground is soft and protect the legs as much as possible with wraps or boots. Please keep in mind it is not something you teach all horses in one day.

I will only teach this to a horse that understands how to pick up its feet and that also knows how to release to pressure on the bit. I begin by placing leg protection on the horse and placing the rope on the pastern of the leg next to me. I then ask the horse to give his foot. The cue I teach at this point is a tapping on the pastern with a crop while asking the horse to step back. When the horse lifts the foot, I stop tapping and keep the foot up with the rope. I continue until the horse lifts the foot on his own to the tap of the crop.

I then hold the foot up with the rope and ask the horse to lean back. As soon as he leans back even a little, I release, praise and let him put his foot down. I repeat the cues and ask the horse to rock back farther and farther until the knee touches the ground. Always stop the cue when the horse rocks back and allow the horse to come right back up.

When they are comfortable with that I start asking them to keep the knee on the ground a little longer before asking them to get up. It is here you start teaching the cue to get up so the horse will stay down until you give the cue to get up. A verbal OK or walking forward, whatever you’d like.

When the horse is consistent with touching the knee to the ground and leaving it until you ask the horse to get up, you will start teaching the horse a series of cues to bow. The horse understands to lift his foot to the tap, so we are going to expand that to the horse keeping his foot up on his own and bowing. You ask the horse to pick up his foot with the tap. When he tries to put it down, you will tap again. Continue this part until the horse understands to leave his foot up. You will then ask him to lift the foot and then ask him to lean back. Repeat the request for him to keep the foot up while leaning back if he puts it down. Continue until the horse will keep his foot up while leaning back. Release the horse on improvements and continue to make him wait to get up from the bow until you ask him. If he gets up before, simply put him back on the bow.

When the horse is solid with keeping his foot up and bowing to the tap on the foot, move the cue to where you want it. For the saddle and ground a tap on the shoulder is a good place. So, you will tap the shoulder then the foot (together) and release the tap as soon as the horse starts to bow. If he gets up at anytime repeat the tap on the shoulder and then the foot so he goes all the way down. Continue until the horse will bow off the tap of the shoulder. Back up the shoulder cue with the tap on the foot at any time until the horse is solid.

When the horse is solid on the cue on his shoulder you can start to add mounting. Start by moving toward the saddle and keeping the horse in the bow, move away and cue him to get up. Then place a foot in the stirrup, take it out, move away and cue to get up. Put weight in the stirrup, get down, move away and cue to get up. Finally, mount, dismount, move away and cue to get up. And finally, mount and cue to get up.

Remember, take your time, don’t be afraid to break the lesson into days, praise every improvement, release cues as soon as the horse complies, and most of all have fun.

Jodi Wilson is a recognized authority on the subject of horse training and has spent almost 30 years developing training techniques and solutions for horse owners no matter the discipline or breed.

Jodi is an Accredited Josh Lyons trainer, and is Certified in John Lyons training techniques. Her website, http://Jodi-Wilson.com, provides a wealth of information to improve the relationship between horse and rider. Jodi is also available for clinics and demonstrations as well as lessons, apprenticeships, and horse training.

Jodi has trained and competed in Reining, Sorting, Jumping, Dressage, English and Western Pleasure, Trail and Problem Solving.

Author: Jodi M Wilson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Creditcard Currency Conversion Fee

Some dressage horses don’t understand accepting contact with the bit and your hand. They are quick to go from coming above the bit to curling behind the bit. If that sounds like your horse, you need to be able to quickly and smoothly change your aids to help your dressage horse understand and accept contact.

When your horse comes above the bit, use connecting aids as follows.

1. Close both legs to send him forward toward a lengthening.

2. When you feel the “surge” of power coming from behind, close your outside hand in a fist to capture, contain, and recycle that power back to the hind legs.

3. If your horse starts to bend his neck to the outside, vibrate the inside rein to keep his neck straight.

As soon as he ducks behind the bit, send him “forward through his body”.

Here’s what I mean by that. Go on a circle in rising trot, close both legs and ask for a trot lengthening for 6 or 7 strides. Do this several times until it becomes a knee jerk reaction for him to go “forward over the ground” when you close your calves.

Then close your legs as if you’re going to do a trot lengthening, but don’t lengthen. This time you want your horse to go ” through his body” rather than “forward over the ground”. As you feel him go forward though his body and start to take a contact with your hand rather than curling behind the bit, praise him.

You might have to alternate a trot lengthening with asking him to take a contact with your hand several times. But once he understands, you’ll have a tool to use any time he comes too low in front.

This system works well for the horse that likes to go with his poll too low and his face behind the vertical, but if he’s curling so badly behind the bit that he’s ducking his chin toward his chest, you’ll have to be a bit more proactive as far as explaining correct contact to him.

If he’s curled behind the bit really badly, in addition to sending him forward through his body, you might have to raise your hands to place the bit out in front of him so he can step toward it.

The feeling is like putting a sheet on your bed. You lift the sheet up, and then let if softly drift onto the bed.

You can also think of it like doing “the wave” at a football game.

If you do have to raise your hands because your horse has dropped behind the bit, keep the following things in mind:

1. Always use your legs BEFORE you raise your hands.

2. Raise both hands evenly.

3. To the degree that you raise your hands, ALSO put them forward toward his mouth without losing contact. That is, if you lift your hands 2 inches, they must go forward 2 inches. If you lift them 4 inches, they must go forward 4 inches.

4. As soon as you’ve placed the bit out in front of your horse, put your hands back down. If you keep them up, he’ll curl behind the bit even more.

5. Keep a smooth, steady contact with his mouth throughout this whole process. Don’t let the reins get loose, drop contact with his mouth, and then snatch him up. That will discourage him from stepping toward the bit.

To sum up, for the dressage horse that alternates between coming above the bit and dropping contact to come behind the bit, smoothly switch from connecting aids to sending him forward through his body as needed until you’ve clearly explained the right connection to him.

Are you sick and tired of complicated and confusing training techniques? Are you frustrated by negative emotions like fear and lack of confidence? Would you like to be trained by a Three Time Olympic Coach? Learn how by going to http://www.janesavoie.com/ or http://www.dressagementor.com.

Author: Jane Savoie
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger