Posts Tagged ‘Exercise’

Learning to feel when your dressage horse is straight is always a challenge.

Probably the best way to learn to feel straightness is to always riding your horse in what’s called First Position. First Position isn’t an exercise–it’s just a straight horse that is bending the joints of his inside hind and carrying weight behind.

If you think of your horse as being on 3 tracks in shoulder-in, think of First Position as being the “thought” of shoulder-in or a very slight shoulder-fore.

If you were riding down the long side straight at a person, that person wouldn’t be able to see the outside hind leg because it would be directly behind the outside front leg. However, she’d see half of a hoof’s width (about 2 and 1/2 inches) of the inside hind hoof stepping to the inside of the inside front leg.

This is a VERY slight displacement of the shoulders toward the inside of the arena so in the beginning you’ll need a mirror or a ground person who can say, “That’s too much angle. That’s not enough angle. That’s just right.”

When you track with the your horse’s hollow side on the inside, you might have to counter-flex (-1) him FIRST before you ask the shoulders to come in. Otherwise, your horse will just bend his neck in, and his shoulders will still be glued to the rail.

Ride around in First Position on long and short sides, circles, corners. Then do some upward and downward transitions maintaining First Position before, during, and after the transitions.

Once you get used to the feel of how much angle your dressage horse has in First Position, you’ll know when he’s straight because any extra displacement of the haunches either in or out will feel weird or wrong to you.

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: Credit card currency-exchange fees

Your horse comes to the gate happy to see you, then he spots the wormer tube and he prepares for battle. When you finally catch him and get the halter on you begin the event of deworming. If you are lucky, most of the wormer will not only end up in his mouth instead of your shirt, but it will also stay there and not end up on the ground. On bad days, you have to nurse your bruised feet and take a shower to get the wormer out of your hair. If this sounds remotely familiar then I have some lessons that can help you both in this simple process.

Over the years there have been many products developed to help with this procedure. There dewormers that are fed to the horse with his grain on a daily basis, different flavors of pastes and gels to make wormers more appealing to the horse and even ‘worming halters’ that help insure all the paste gets in the horses mouth and in the right place so it stays there. Now you will be able to teach your horse to accept paste.

We do not start with the goal, as that is the fastest way to get into a wreck, as your toes will attest to. We will start with a basic lesson that teaches your horse to put his head in the correct position to accept the wormer and leave it there until we ask him to move it. You can use a halter or bridle for this lesson and can do this in about any enclosed area. It is a good exercise to work on in the stall when you cannot go outside as well.

Start by standing on the left side of your horse and place your right hand on his poll with your fingers between his ears and your left hand about where the noseband of the halter lies. You will first teach your horse to lower his head to the pressure on his poll by placing light pressure with your right hand. Leave the pressure there until you see his head drop even a quarter inch. Do not add pressure if he raises his head. If he raises it too high for you to reach with your hand, then use the lead rope or rein and exert the same downward pressure. Remember to release the pressure as soon as his head goes in the downward direction, no matter how high it went and how little it goes down. We have to keep in mind we are teaching the horse to lower his head, not to put it where we started. Be sure to praise your horse for each correct guess with either a rub or encouraging voice.

Once the horse will lower his head each time you apply pressure and leave it lowered, you are ready to teach the horse to bring his head around to the side. First, bring the horses’ head down to a comfortable height with your right hand. Now, with your left hand apply pressure to the side of his nose at the point where the halter nose band would lay as if you were going to pull his head in front of you, but don’t pull. Just apply pressure and wait for him to move away from the pressure bringing his head to the side toward you. Leave your right hand at his poll and apply pressure if the horse raises his head during this part of the lesson. Always get the head at the correct elevation then ask to bring it to the side. When the horse raises his head, he is telling you he is uncertain and is tensing up. A good rule to follow is to go back in the lesson until you get the proper response then build on the correct answer. Again, release the pressure as soon as the horse moves away from it and praise the horse. When the horse understands to both lower his head and bring it in front of you, we will begin teaching the horse to leave his head where we place it.

Bring the horses head to the correct position using pressure and release. Release his head as soon as it is in the correct position. He will want to put it back straight so, when he does just bring it back. Count how long he leaves it to the side and try to build that time in small increments. When your horse will leave his head to the side for one minute, start messing with his face a little at a time. Allow the horse to put his head back forward when he does well. It can make the horses’ neck sore to keep it to the side too long so give him breaks, switch sides, and practice the same lessons on the other side. Rub his cheeks, nose, mouth, etc. and when he is comfortable with that start rubbing the sides of his lips where the wormer will be going.

Use extreme caution when working around the horses’ mouth that you do not place your fingers where they could be easily bitten. There is a gap between the incisors and molars that has no teeth. It is also where the bit rests. This is the only place you should put your fingers actually into their horses’ mouth. If you choose to do so, the horse will try to spit your finger/hand out with his tongue. Use extreme caution that you do not allow him to draw your finger/hand into his teeth where he could mistakenly bite them.

Place your right arm under the horses’ head and bring your right hand to the spot your left hand had been on the bridge of the horses’ nose. Now with your left hand carefully rub the insides of the lips and while lifting the lip out of the way with your right had, rub the outsides of his bars and gums until he is comfortable. Take small steps and if you meet a lot of resistance go back to a point the horse is comfortable and start back at that point and move forward slower.

When the horse is comfortable with one finger, move to two, then three, and so on until the horse will allow you to place your entire hand in his mouth at his bars, staying relaxed and calm. Your horse should also allow you to hold his tongue to the side of his mouth as well. When you place your hand, at the bars, into his mouth, he will try to spit it out, gently take his tongue and pull it out to the side.

We have now taught the horse to accept us working around and in his mouth and we are ready to introduce the worming tools. We will start with an empty wormer syringe. Bring the horses head into position in front of you and take the empty syringe and begin by rubbing it all over the horses’ face, mouth and lips. When he is quiet for that, rub the syringe along the inside of the lips where it will be used later. When the horse is calm with that, insert the syringe into the horse’s mouth as if you were going to administer the wormer and push the plunger. Continue with this until the horse accepts the empty wormer.

Now find a paste substitute that your horse likes such as syrup, applesauce, baby food, etc. Place a small amount into the wormer syringe and administer it to the horse. Do this daily until the horse looks forward to the wormer. Now we are ready to pull a fast one on them. Take your wormer and without hesitation, administer it to the horse. Later that day dose him again with the substitute that he likes. If he is hesitant back up until he is calm and administer the substitute until he looks forward to it again. The next time you are ready to worm him, go in with the wormer and administer with out hesitation.

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: How Electric Pressure Cookers Work