Posts Tagged ‘cow horse’

In my article “Supple Posture, a Depth of Seat: Discovering Skeletal Balance, Core Efficiency, and Supple Control” I wrote in general about the elements that allow riders to move with the motion of their horse. In this article I’ll explain what I mean by skeletal balance, or the ability of a rider to balance through the skeleton and adapt to the motion of the horse in a biomechanically correct position from seat bones to head . At the end you’ll find a movement lesson that will help riders identify the motion of their pelvis and how that relates to the whole spinal movement.

Skeletal balance means that a person uses the skeleton and only a minimal of muscle exertion to remain upright and move. It is the posture most of us have as children: easy, light, and adaptable to the environment. It is the posture we have before we begin to slouch, before injury or illness has affected the way we stand and move, and before society has imposed “correct” or fashionable posture on us. It is a natural, dynamic organization of the skeleton that allows the force from the ground to go through the bones and joints without shearing forces or undue impact on the joints of our hips or spine. It cannot be externally imposed on us or created through core strength or by tucking in our tummies with shoulders back. We can however, learn to recognize when we are balanced through our skeleton.

Skeletal balance is essential to ride in comfort and it is especially important for riders of horses that perform in dressage, reining, endurance, working cow horse, jumping and other high demand sports. When we are organized well through our skeleton, our joints are free to open and flex, our muscles are used only minimally for the task of balance. Our bodies are available for adapting and adjusting to all the various movements our horses send our way. Our spine is long and our back and abdominal muscles are not tense or shortened, our breath is easy because our ribs can expand in all directions, and our head is balanced softly on our neck. We respond easily to our horse’s motion, no matter what the gait. And we can communicate to our horse with soft aids.

It is important to realize that with skeletal balance our spine is long, elastic and stable, not ‘stabilized’ or held. Forces flow through our bodies, without being stopped at any particular joint and causing us pain or the need to protect our low back or neck. When we use our muscles to support an upright but unbalanced posture, we have to hold ourselves up with areas of tension. We do this when we habitually lean back and stand on our heels, slouch our shoulders, or stand with one hip cocked. If we sit more on one side of our pelvis or with our head jutted forward we will also use muscles to hold ourselves in this unbalanced position.

While sitting on a horse, riders typically create tension by leaning back, slouching, leaning forward, or sitting off to one side. None of these postures allow the energy from the horse to flow through the rider and horse or rider or both will suffer. The rider who leans back will pound on the horse’s back, unyielding. The rider who arches the low back will likely experience pain and discomfort and possibly injury. The rider who sits more heavily on one seat bone will constantly be trying to center the saddle and cause the horse to develop stronger muscles on one side to support the unbalanced rider.

The balanced rider is fluent, not stiff or guarding, and the forces coming from the horse’s back flow up through the rider. The horse can easily maintain a symmetrical balance. The rider’s muscles are ready to act to follow or influence the horse’s gaits and give the aids.

How do you find skeletal balance? By rediscovering the natural balance you had as a child, and re-educating your neural pathways to give up poor habits and adopt rider and horse-friendly habits of dynamic skeletal balance. Try the simple exploration below which will help you begin to discover the balance essential for sitting in unity with your horse.

Balance Through Your Spine
Spend about 20 minutes on this exploration. Do each movement slowly and from 8 to 12 or more times, paying attention to what you sense in different areas of your body. It is not important to make big movements, rather do this lesson in the spirit of learning about your own ability to move and sense yourself.

Sit on a firm, flat bench, your back not leaning against anything, thighs parallel to the ground or knees slightly lower, feet and knees hip width apart and feet flat on the ground.

1. Gently, make a small motion to round your back and come back to neutral. Repeat this about 10 times, bringing your attention to different parts of yourself each time.

Pause in a comfortable position, either leaning back or lying on the floor.

2. Again, sit with feet flat on the floor. Slowly round your back again and this time look down each time you bring the top of your pelvis back. Do this small movement 8 or more times. Then make the same rounding motion while looking up. Each time you look up think of bringing a different part of your face toward the ceiling.

Pause

3. Slowly and gently arch your back about 10 times. Feel the sensations on your seat bones, the bottom of your feet, in your chest.

Pause

4. Slowly arch your back again several times. Try looking up each time you arch. Do that about 6 times, slowly. Now look down each time your arch. A few more times arch your back but this time try looking up again. Has it gotten easier?

Pause, leaning back or lying on a flat surface.

5. Gently begin to alternately arch and round your back allowing your head to look down as you round and look up while you arch. Make this movement easy and light, there is no need to go to the furthest extent of your capacity. Arch and round several times, finding out how the movement has altered or if your perception has changed.

Pause

6. Again, begin to arch and then round. Now change the movement of your head so you look up when you round your back and look down when you arch your back. Do that several times.

7. Continue arching and rounding but again look down when you round and up when you arch. Has this movement become clearer or easier? Do you have more range of motion? Sit in the middle of arching and rounding. Can you sit here more easily than when you started?

Pause, leaning back or lying on a flat surface.

8. Once again sit with feet and knees hip width apart and feet flat on the floor. Begin again to arch and round. Make the movement light and easy. Now look straight ahead has you do this.

Pause again and then sit in neutral, finding out how it is to sit. Do you have a clearer sense of your spine?
Stand and discover if you stand differently. Walk around. Find out if you have a different sense of your spine and your balance.

Are you ready to follow the motion of your horse without tension, easily influencing his movement by giving light aids and getting a quick response? Are you tired of your instructor telling you to sit up, put your heels down, keep your hands or legs still? Have you bounced more than enough times, not able to sit the trot after years of riding?

You are not your habits and at any age your can become fluent in your movement and more effective in your riding. I have developed a unique program to teach riders an organic, natural way to improve their riding. With a combination of movement education, strengthening and balancing, and awareness building lessons you too can achieve the ride of your dreams!

My article “Seat Bones 101 – Moving in Unity With Your Horse For Greater Security & Control” has a walking seat bones exploration that will further help you identify your skeletal balance.
Michele Morseth, MA
Sit The Trot! Body Awareness and Movement Education for Equestrians and Everybody
Teaching clinics and workshops for all levels of equestrians through the nation.
Sisters, OR
http://www.SitTheTrot.com

Author: Michele Morseth
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Panasonic Lumix G2

Do you own a reining horse or young reined cow horse prospect? If so, you know how critical a good stop is to your horse’s success in the show arena. In this discussion, I’m going to talk about reining horse sliding stops. And specifically, ways you can improve your horse’s sliding stop.
We have a lot of ground to cover so let’s get started. There are several factors that influence the length of a horse’s slide.

They are:

#1. The horse’s natural ability and aptitude for stopping.

#2. The ground the horse is stopping on.

#3. The way the horse is shod.

#4. The horse’s rate of speed when going into the stop.

#5. The way the rider cues the horse for the stop (how the reins are worked, rider’s posture, etc.).

I’d like to talk about each of these factors and explain how they effect your horse’s slide.

First, let me make it clear that just about any horse can do a nice little two foot slide on good ground. It’s another thing altogether for a horse to slide 15 or 20 feet. If you want big time stops you need a horse that has the ability and desire to stop.

You’re not going to get the job done on just a so-so kind of horse. And if you try to force a non-stopper into becoming a big-time stopper you may find your training sessions becoming too harsh.

How do you know if your horse has the aptitude to be a good stopper? If it was relatively easy to get him to stop well at the trot or slow lope, chances are you won’t have much of a problem advancing the stop. (Providing you do it gradually and the horse has the necessary strength to hold a hard stop).

On the other hand, if you had hell getting him to stop at the trot or slow lope, you’re going to have more hell trying to get him to stop from a faster pace. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it to put yourself or the horse through that kind of ordeal.

Let’s talk about how the ground affects a horse’s slide.

It never ceases to amaze me how normally intelligent people can’t figure out that a long slide ain’t gonna happen on bad ground. So, for the sake of clarity let me describe what good sliding ground is. Good sliding ground consists of a hard, packed base that is smooth with two or three inches of loose, fluffy dirt on top.

The advantages of this kind of ground are obvious. The hard packed base gives the horse something solid to slide on. Without it the horse’s feet would dig in the ground too deep thus shortening the slide. The base must also be smooth. If there are any ruts in it a horse’s feet will catch in the rut.

Again this will shorten the slide or worse, injure the horse. It’s important the ground on top of the base be fluffy and loose. Here’s why. This top ground needs to soften the concussion of the feet entering the ground and hitting the hard base. Without a soft cushion to absorb the shock the horse will get sore.

Another reason you want the ground loose and fluffy is so the horse can easily plow through it while sliding. If this top ground is too deep or too heavy it makes it too difficult for the horse to slide very far. He’ll need to be awfully strong to hold a slide in deep, heavy ground.

Here’s a tip for improving your sliding ground. Add rice hulls or shavings to the dirt. This will really fluff it up and make it light.

The way your horse’s hind feet are shod will have a lot to do with how well he slides.

Sliding shoes are advised. They are made of tempered, flat bar iron, one to one and a half inches wide. The wider the shoe the less friction (or grab) on the ground and the longer the slide. There are limits though. I prefer not to go wider than one inch wide shoes.

Again, for less grab, the toe of the shoe is rocked up a quarter inch like the front of a ski. This prevents the toe from jamming in the ground while stopping. The quarters of the shoe should come almost straight back from the toe to allow dirt to easily flow out the back of the shoe.

The trailers should extend all the way back to the bulbs of the foot, but no farther. You also should have the horse’s hind feet trimmed with a little longer toe and a little lower heel than normal. (Normal means the angle of the hoof is the same as the angle of the pastern).

This creates more surface area and makes for a more effective ski. Do not go to extremes with this. The idea is to have the angle of the foot so there is no danger of the horse stubbing his toe in the dirt, knuckling over and hurting himself.

If he’s trimmed at too steep of an angle (heels too high) he’ll knuckle over while stopping and pull a tendon. Trim the heel too low and he’ll strain his ham strings while stopping.

Horses who’s hind legs are straight with feet pointing straight ahead, have an easier time of sliding far. Their hind feet will stay together while sliding and make a nice set of long, straight “11″s. A horse who’s hind feet toe out will have a difficult time sliding far.

Because he toes out, his hind feet will start to spread as he slides. The farther the slide the more he spreads until he’s forced to come out of the slide to bring his feet back together in a more comfortable position.

This horse’s slide tracks will look like a “V”. You can help this by turning the shoe on the foot so it’s pointing more straight ahead. And it sometimes helps to rock the toe a little to the inside of the foot.

The speed your horse is running when going into the stop is one of the major factors dictating the length of the slide.

In other words, if he’s not going fast, he’s not going to slide far.

Let’s say you are going to run down the length of the arena and ask for a sliding stop about of the way down. It’s important to start the run-down real slow. Then, very gradually build speed as you go down the arena and reach the point where you ask for the stop. Do not lope slow almost to the end then bust him into a run.

Gradually means to increase speed a little with each stride. It’s critical to ask for the stop while the horse is accelerating. Why? Because his shoulders are more elevated and his hind legs reach farther under him when he’s building speed (necessary elements for a sliding stop).

Just make sure you time the rate of acceleration so he’s not going too fast when you reach the mark. Otherwise he may run right through the stop. All horses have an optimum running speed where they will still try to stop.

If you run him faster than that optimum speed he just thinks about running and forgets about stopping. Or maybe he’s not strong enough to hold a stop past his optimum speed and refuses to try. You’ll have to experiment to find out just how fast you can run him and still get a stop.

Another thing. Don’t ask your horse to stop from top speed very often. You’ll sour him if you do. And remember to put skid boots on him so his fetlocks are protected.

A lot of riders build speed too quickly, then start to slow down as they near the end of the run-down. They ask the horse to stop while he’s decelerating. The result is usually a disappointing stop. It’s also important for the horse to be running straight when you ask for the stop.

His body should be straight from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. If he’s crooked he’ll stop out of balance. Also, his path down the arena must be straight. If he is zigzagging or trying to veer off while making the run-down, his stop will suffer.

The way you “cue” your horse to stop is vitally important.

Using the reins correctly, proper riding posture and timing is what enables your horse to perform a long slide. But before I explain the right way, let me tell you what not to do. Contrary to popular belief, pulling the reins harder does not make for a longer slide. It actually shortens the slide.

Why? Because the hard pull makes the horse jam his feet in the ground too deep. It also causes his hind legs to spread out too much to slide far. And maybe worst of all, a horse can’t keep his balance for a long slide when he’s being pulled on.

OK, that takes care of what not to do. Now let’s talk about how to do it right. On a reining horse there are three different techniques I’ll use to handle the reins. The techniques are different but the principle of why they work is similar.

Why do I use different techniques? Because different horses respond differently. I’ll use the technique that works the best on that particular horse. Let me give you a brief description of the three techniques of using the reins. Then I’ll go into more detail on the one that works on the majority of horses.

The ultimate way of stopping your horse is to just say whoa, slack the reins, then sit there and let him slide. This technique will often times produce the longest slides. Why? Because you’re not interfering with him.

With no pressure in his mouth, he feels free to slide as far as he can. The only problem with this technique is that your horse has to be the kind that really wants to stop. It’s pretty hard to get the average horse to consistently stop this way.

Another technique I’ll use is to say whoa, tighten the reins to apply light pressure, then sit there and let him slide. It’s important to note that the pressure is light, only a pound or two. It’s also important not to pull the reins. Once the pressure is applied, your hand is set solid with no pulling or slacking.

This method works fairly well on horses that don’t want to stay in the slide. The down side is horses usually won’t slide very far with this technique unless you can get away with using very light pressure. Also, if you pull on him instead of setting your hand, he’s going to pull on you and dump on his front end.

Here’s the method I use on the majority of horses I ride. As I’m galloping the horse down the arena I’ll say whoa, wait a split second, then apply rein pressure and set my hand. The horse will go into the stop. My hand is set for only a fraction of a second, then I slack the reins. The horse will continue to hold the slide.

As he’s sliding, if I feel him start to come out of the stop, I’ll set my hand again. Then immediately slack the reins again. This process of setting and slacking the reins goes on throughout the whole slide until the horse is completely stopped. It should be noted that when I slack the reins I don’t give a lot of slack. Only an inch or two.

Let me explain step by step why this sequence of cues works so well.

After I say whoa, giving the horse a split second before the reins are set gives him a chance to go into the stop on his own. This lets him enter the ground more softly and smoothly. (If the reins were used at the same time I said whoa, this would startle the horse causing him to abruptly jam his hind feet in the ground too deep for a long slide).

Once the horse enters the ground, I give him a short, little set with the reins just to remind him to stay in the stop. I immediately slack. Slacking the reins lets him know he’s allowed to slide as far as he wants. (Without the slack he’d get too deep and stop much more abruptly. He also might pull on me or get rigid).

If he tries to come out of the slide I’ll set and slack the reins again. As long as the horse is sliding, I won’t set the reins again unless he starts to come out of the stop. Considering a 20 foot slide takes only a couple seconds to complete, this set and slack sequence is happening pretty rapid. It takes concentration and feel to get it just right.

There is one more element in this stopping sequence I want to talk about… your body posture.

As you’re loping down the arena, you’re using your body to generate energy to keep the horse moving forward. When it’s time to stop the horse, your body also has to stop it’s energy. In other words, you have to completely stop riding and sit down in the saddle relaxed.

Let your back, shoulders and thighs go limp. This is a major stopping cue all horses instinctively respond to. But make darn sure you keep riding until you say the word whoa, otherwise the horse will start the stop prematurely and ruin the slide.

This “body posture” stuff is extremely important and your horse will never stop as good as he could until you get it.

I know I’ve probably made this sound too complicated and difficult. But, you can do it. It just takes some concentration and practice. If you don’t get it immediately don’t get discouraged and give up. Relax, be patient and you’ll get it.

Resources:

There are two training videos I recommend that are detailed enough to show you how to get your horse stopping well. They are:

Teach Your Horse to Stop Light and Collected, volume 1.5

Teach Your Horse to Stop Light and Collected, volume 2

Alright, that’s all for now.

Have fun training your horse.

Larry Trocha,

Larry Trocha Training Stable

Author: Larry Trocha
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable pressure cooker

Learning how to ride is a very rewarding experience, but it can often be a bit confusing as to which type of riding is most suited to your goals with regards to what you want to do with your horse. A good place to start is by talking to experienced riders. Find out what they like about each style and see which fits you the best. You’ll find that whichever style you choose, you’ll have to comit a good amount of time to learning the basics, and even more if you want to be a competitive rider.

If you are going to compete, knowing what you want to do in the competition is essential before choosing a riding style. If you like the more formal style of dressage, hunt seat and saddle seat, than your choice will be the English riding style. On the other hand if you want to compete in less formal events where jeans and western style shirts are the trend then rodeos or trail riding, endurance events, cross country rides, gymkhana, western pleasure riding or any type of working cow horse event then your only option is to learn to ride western style. You can ride for pleasure on the trails with either style of riding.

Besides just what events you can compete in there are also differences to the actual riding styles. Western riding tends to be more casual with the rider somewhat relaxed on the back of the horse, longer stirrups with less posting during riding and more firmly affixed to the back of the horse to maintain balance. Western riding also has the reins held in one hand, leaving the other hand free for using a rope. With English riding the rider has shorter stirrups that keep the rider erect and forward in the saddle with reins in both hands. Some English riding will require double reins, one set to direct the motion of the horse and one set to control the head position. English riding also has several different styles including hunt seat, dressage, saddleseat, and endurance. Each of these disciplines has their own style of tack – a dressage saddle, jumping saddle, all purpose saddle, and so on.

Whichever style you choose, proper safety equipment, especially a helmet should be part of your routine. Proper safety equipment is a must for all junior and novice riders. When you select a style you can always decide to learn the other style at a later date, after all your horse can certainly learn another style, but learning both at the same time is overwhelming and can lead to confusion.