Posts Tagged ‘quarter horses’

Whether you are looking for a new horse or considering breeding or buying young stock, there are certain qualities of a good horse that you should be aware of and look for. Here is a list to consider in order of priority:

1) Temperament.

This is absolutely the most important quality in a good horse. Whether you are a trail rider, dressage rider, hunter/jumper, reiner, barrel racer or just a person on a horse, temperament is key. You can have all the talent in the world, all the looks, all the moves, but without a good temperament, you have nothing. When the going gets tough, the horse with the better temperament is more likely to see the job through.

2) Willingness.

Two months ago I would have put this into the same category as temperament, but recent experiences have taught me otherwise. I just had a horse in training with an amazing temperament. Nice to work around, loves to go new places and do different things, no problems there. But putting her to work was a whole other story – she just didn’t want to work. I didn’t understand it at first, and it took me awhile to figure it out. Although temperament-wise she was a solid character – no bucking, rearing, or bolting, she would have none of working. I have another horse that is hot to trot! Likes to show off and throw a little buck into the mix, just for fun. However, he loves to work! He is excited to come out everyday and try his hardest. That is what makes him a champion, willingness to do the job and work needed of him.

3) Conformation.

This ones a bit tricky and there are exceptions to the rules. Some horses are just made to do the job. They have powerful hind quarters, strong loins, sloping shoulders, straight legs and good neck sets can make a rider’s job a lot easier. Things like solid bone and good feet also help a horse stay sound. Different breeds are designed to accentuate different conformation qualities based on the discipline that breed is made to perform. For example, quarter horses are low set to the ground, are compact in the body and have very powerful hind quarters. They are built for sprinting short distances and fast turns, ideal for working cattle, running barrels and reining.

4) Bloodlines.

Tried, tested and true. For centuries bloodlines carry the genes that indicate successful show horses that go on to reproduce champion after champion. They act as a guide line for qualities you may want in a good horse and there are still risks when buying a young horse based on bloodlines alone, but your odds are considerably better when choosing a performance horse from a proven pedigree than from all the rest.

5) Health

What are the horse’s physical capabilities? Does the horse have endurance, stamina, power, longevity, soundness? There are lots of horses who possess all of the qualities above, but lack the physical soundness to perform to the highest levels of sport. Health can still deteriorate, but with proper nutrition and development your horse is more likely to stay sound and healthy. Other hereditary factors such as osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) and navicular can stop your horse in his tracks. X-rays can determine these complications and are always recommended when doing a pre-purchase exam.

There are also others factors that make one horse better than the other, but this list is a good guideline to follow when you are looking for or breeding your next performance horse. You will often also see horses that look like camels and donkeys out performing the best of the best. This is because they have the temperament and willingness to do so. Every horse is different, but in the end, a good horse is a good horse and this list of qualities of a good horse will help you find exactly what you desire!

Terry Christoph is an author who writes about a variety of equine topics including dressage, natural horsemanship, barrel racing and the best methods to Sell Horses.

Author: Terry Christoph
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are as many horse facts as there are breeds of horses and fanciers to raise them. The smallest of horses is called the Fallabella Miniature Horse, and it can be housebroken and kept as an inside pet. Outside of this breed though, a horse is a horse, not an animal like a big dog.

All horses on the Earth today can trace their ancestry to the Arabian horse. These majestic horses used to live with their owners in tents in the desert, and they are still a breed that is hardy and forms close attachments to its people. The Arabian is a hot-blooded horse, though, and when American farmers needed horses to pull plows and not just carts, they needed something bigger.

They learned from what their European cousins had already done, and bred the Arabs with larger horses called cold-bloods or drafters. This not only developed into a bigger horse, facts confirm, but it also calmed the temperament somewhat, since Arabs can be high-strung.

For racing, the best horse, facts state, is the Thoroughbred. This is arguably the fastest horse, unless you’re racing a quarter of a mile. The winners in short races like this are usually American Quarter Horses, whose very name comes from the race it was bred to win. Quarter Horses also make great cattle horses, with a cow sense that can tell them what a calf will do, before it does it.

For those who enjoy the beauty of different and unusual colors of horses, there are breeds who carry genes that insure colorful patterns in their young. The American Paint horse and the Pinto Horse both have colorful coat patterns of black, brown, or other colors and white. The Paint horse must have both parents registered as Paints, Quarter Horses or Thoroughbreds. Pinto horses, on the other hand, are any horses with the pinto markings. Their background may be of any breed.

Appaloosas are also colorful. They make have a blanket and spots on their rump, or they may be speckled and spotted all over. There are different patterns of Appaloosas, and they can be very striking. Their patterns include snowflake, blanket, leopard and semi-leopard. In build, both Paints and Appaloosas are built normally like the typical Quarter Horse.

The Morgan Horse, facts say, is another breed that most people agree was founded in this country. He is perfectly suited for hauling carts or small wagons, and he is a hardy breed with sound feet.

The main Draft horses used in the United States are the Clydesdale, the Percheron and the Belgian. Clydesdales are usually bay in color, and are the most well-known draft horse breed, thanks to the Budweiser Clydesdales of St Louis, MO. Percherons can be gray, black or white. They are born black and get lighter as they age. Belgians are usually blond in color, and they are the main work horse for Amish farmers.

The Amish also usually use a special breed for pulling their carts. The Standardbred is generally dark brown, bay or black in color, and they have a choppy trot that it useful for pulling but difficult to ride astride. Amish horses are usually hardy, and you’ll rarely see them blanketed, even in the coldest of weather, since they allow them to grow thick winter coats.

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Author: Jenny Styles
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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LOL.

I’ve only ever ridden two part Quarter horses. Never a full Quarter horse as they are very rare in New Zealand! I’ve always wanted to! And I swear we don’t even HAVE Tennesse Walking horses here!!!
Thoroughbreds are most common for people who compete. A lot of people who pleasure ride/trek own Standardbreds. We do have most other breeds. Cross breeds are what most people look for here.

If Paint is a Quarter Horse with excessive white, what is a Quarter Horse? A Quarter Horse is a Thoroughbred outcross. A Thoroughbred is an Arabian outcross.

When the Foundation Registries started up, I was amazed to learn that Poco Bueno was a foundation sire. I thought that he was the great grandson of a foundation sire. Some of the leading Paint sires of our time are Quarter Horses. Painted Robin, Triples Titan are just two that come to mind. In today’s registry, they could be registered as Quarter Horses but not in the Regular Paint registry. Why? They do not have one registered Paint parent.

Appaloosa breeders have the same background. Bright Eyes Brother, Hall of Fame sire is by a Quarter Horse, Billy Maddon, out of a Quarter Horse mare, Plaudette, who produced a Quarter Horse Champion Running Mare, Maddon’s Bright Eyes. Plaudette was by a Thoroughbred, King Plaudit out of a Peter McCue mare.

When the Thoroughbred was first being developed, they were the products of three Arabian stallions. You could not have a Thoroughbred without being able to trace back to one or more of those three stallions. The three were the Byerly Turk, the Godolphin Barb and the Darley Arabian.

The Byerly Turk’s most prominent descendant was Herod. The horse, Matchem, was a grandson of the Barb and the Darley Arabian sired two great horses that went on to out produce themselves, Flying Childers and Barlett’s Childers.

Up to 1940, the Arabian Registry was part of the American Studbook maintained by the American Jockey Club in this country. Which brought up some interesting complexities in later years. Remember that a Thoroughbred produced some of the leading Quarter Horse stallions and mares. There was an Arabian stallion in Colorado who produced Arabians, Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. He had an AHR number and a JC number and so his get were able to be registered in several registries depending on the mare’s breed.

The Saddlebred as we know it now did not exist a century ago. The history of the breed starts in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. Much of the development was done in Kentucky and so they were known as ‘Kentucky saddle horses’. Most of the earliest registered horses had some Thoroughbred blood crossed on trotting and slow pacing mares.

They were able to walk, trot, canter and they also were capable of racking, doing a running walk or fox trotting or slow pace. I bet you thought that only Tennessee Walkers did that. Those saddle horses that did the running walk are the foundation of today’s Walking Horses.

One of the foundation sires for today’s Standardbred was a Thoroughbred named Messenger. While he did not produce any trotters himself, his son Mambrino produced Abdallah a noted sire of trotters in America. Another sire of trotters was the stallion, Justin Morgan. Justin Morgan is recognized as the founding sire of the Morgan Horse. In some circles, he was also thought to be descended from Thoroughbred breeding.

Today’s foundation breeders are for the most part trying to revert to the past when the horse was used for a variety of jobs. He pulled the plow or delivery wagon all week and on Sundays was the family buggy horse or was at the bush track running against other horses.

The breed registries are starting to realize that most of horses, people own in today’s world, do a multitude of tasks. They are used to work cattle, teach the kids how to ride, barrel race for Mom and rope for Dad and still look good enough to show at halter in the morning and do performance events in the afternoon.

In the market, these horses are still bringing decent prices as compared to the one-event horses where the demand has dropped dramatically. I monitor several sales across the nation and have watched what used to be really hot breeding, sired by leading sires, bring less than the stud fee. If you have training and upkeep added in, you really have a loss that the IRS is going to question at some time about your profit motive if you have one.

As one person put it, you need to get rid of ones that you are just feeding and buy one or two really good ones. If you are breeding because you have mares and a stallion and are selling the results for canner prices, you may want to change your program completely. From a business standpoint, and the IRS’s, that will make more sense than holding on to what you have and trying to make a profit. I have heard all the stories about how the public does not know a good horse when they see one but who else is going to buy the horse. That applies to those horses that are foundation breeding (?) as well as the ones that are not.

When something first gets hot, lots of us get lucky and do really well at first. Then the market becomes more educated and shifts to a more realistic view of things and everything shifts back to normal. At that time, if you have been watching and listening to the buying public, you will have upgraded your program and still be able to break even, in most cases.

I don’t have a problem with foundation breeding because at one time or another in my life with horses, I have bred, trained or sold horses that are considered foundation in today’s world. But as the market shifted, I had a choice, either to make a living or to find new employment.

If you are profit motivated, you will continually be looking for ways to improve your profit margins. If you are a hobbyist, you may not care at first but at some time you will want sell or trade your horse(s) for a different one. One always wants to recoup some of the investment that you have put in the horse and the only way to do that is to have something the public wants to buy.

M. R. Bain has been a horseman all his life and a professional trainer since 1955. He is an owner and breeder and has been employed as a breeding and stable manager. His intent on writing these articles is to educate horse people on how to operate a successful horse business. You may contact him at MRBAIN@msn.com with your questions and comments. Also, look for his upcoming book, The Business of Horses–Creating A Successful Horse Business

Author: Ralph Bain
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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It is thought, by some, that the foundation American Quarter Horse stock has at its roots Arabian, Turk, and Barb breeds. Others believe that the breed began with the acquisition of Chickasaw horses which were likely of Spanish extraction. Their history seems to begin around 1690, when horses exported from England were bred with native horses in America. The result of this cross was a small, stocky horse which was extremely fast in the quarter-mile sprint which the colonists loved to participate in during their off-time. Even when pitted against Thoroughbreds, this little horse came in first more often than not. Thus, the horse became known as the Quarter Horse.

In the 1800s, when the pioneers began to move west, they wanted a horse that could endure the rigors and was always willing to work. Their horse of choice was the Quarter Horse. They quickly found that the breed was excellent to use when working with cattle. Cattlemen soon preferred this animal because it seemed to know ahead of time what the cattle would do, and naturally moved to direct the herd where the cowboys wanted them to go. Even after the automobile was invented, Quarter Horses were still used almost exclusively on many ranches.

In 1940, the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) was formed. From that year until the present, Quarter Horse breeders have worked diligently to perfect the bloodlines. The Association has set forth strict guidelines with regard to registration of American Quarter Horses. AQHs are allowed to have limited white markings on their faces, and below their knees. If there are white patches or spots anywhere else on the horse, it is considered to not be a true Quarter Horse.

The AQHA recognizes 13 colors as acceptable for the breed. The most dominant color is sorrel, which is a reddish-brown. The other colors are bay, black, brown, buckskin, dun, gray, grullo, palomino, red roan, and blue roan. What is called a gray is what most of us perceive as white. But, there are no “white” Quarter Horses.

There are two main body types which are acceptable for registration as Quarter Horses. The “stock” type, which is shorter, more compact, stockier, and well-muscled, yet agile. The “running” type is lighter and is bred and trained for sprinting.

Because this breed is very versatile, bloodlines are built with specific tasks in mind when producing the offspring. For AQH’s shown “at halter”, the line is bred to have a heavier body appearance, because these horses are incredibly muscled. For horses used as “reiners” and “cutters”, the build is usually smaller and the horses possess cat-like, quicker movement and powerful hindquarters. Those bred for Western pleasure riding have a level “topline” and smoother gaits. Those which will be used for racing have longer legs and a leaner body build and those bred as show hunters have a similar build to the runners, but their bloodlines will include traits which are suited to horses used for hunting purposes. The whole Quarter Horse breed possesses speed, stamina, power, and an inherent willingness to please.

This horse is usually 14 to 16 hands (56 to 64 inches, or 142.24 to 162.56 centimeters) at the shoulder. The weight can vary drastically, depending on the purpose for which the horse was bred.

The American Quarter Horse is the most popular breed in the United States. And there are approximately 3.7 million registered American Quarter Horses worldwide, making it one of the most populous breeds in modern history.

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Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Horses [http://horse-guides.com/]

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Author: Michael Russell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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In shopping for a horse there are a few basic rules to meet success. Do yourself a favor and read this guideline if you want a smooth transition into your next purchase of an equine. All buyers interested in horses are interested for different reasons. The most important thing you can do for yourself is know yourself. Knowing yourself will ultimately lead you to understand what you need to aim for in finding the “right” horse. For instance, if you have never owned a horse before don’t buy a untrained horse or a young one for that matter. The market right now is such that you can find a well broke experienced horse for a good price. Also understand a horse will not train you, you need to find someone to help you learn how to become a good rider and a responsible horse owner. A well trained horse makes this transition a lot smoother if your new at being a horse owner.

Here are some steps to go by.

1) Figure out exactly what you want in a horse. Figure out the breed your aiming for, the level of training you want them to have, their age, their past experience, mare or gelding, and what you want to do in the future with this companion. If you are buying your ten year old daughter a pony will the pony still fit her in four years? Will she be able to compete with her like friends when they all have quarter horses? What is in her best interest now and in the future.

2) Start looking around to see what meets this description. Look locally, look on the Internet, ask a local barn that specializing in your area of interests.

3) Once you find a prospect start asking questions. Lots of questions. Past history, vet check-ups, how they do in a trailer, how do they respond to a bath and most importantly how often is this horse worked with? How do they respond to vaccines? What do they feed him or her? Are they in a pasture, a stall, a horse facility. What do they do when they are in a stressful situation? Bring a friend that is horse savvy with you. This is important, because it will give you a different perspective.

4) Make the owner ride the horse first and watch how the horse responds and how the owner complies with the horse. Ask the owner of the horse to load the horse in the trailer just to see how the horse responds. Pick up the horses feet. Lead the horse around at a jog to see how they respond. Then if your comfortable take a ride yourself, but wear a helmet. Have a friend video tape it and if your concerned about anything take the tape to a respected trainer and ask them what they see. Suggestions they might have?

5) Ask for vet check. It is worth the investment. If you buy a horse and it ends up lame in a week your “new” horse won’t be worth as much as you paid for it. Also it will allow you to see if the previous owner has been up to date on teeth floating, trimming, ect. It will also give you a little time to really think about the decision your about ready to make. If the horse passes with flying colors I would recommend having the vet back out to give the horse it’s vaccines and worming it before it’s transported. You will be responsible for the bill so be prepared for that.

6) Ask the owner of the horse if they have sold any other horses in the two years. If they have get the name of the buyer and call them to see if their transaction was positive. Ask if the owner was honest about the horse.

7) If everything lines up then this is the one. I might wait a few weeks to make sure the vaccine becomes active and then it’s time for safe transport.

Prior to pick up ask if the horse comes with anything. A records book? A halter (do you need to bring your own), a blanket, anything? So you are prepared when it’s time to pick the horse up.

9) Once your horse has been purchased. Ask for all their vet records. If their vet has them ask for a waver so you can access them today and in the future.

10) Have the owner fill out a bill of sale and get a signature and date. Head on down the road. You got yourself a pony!

Understand that you can not predict everything when you buy a horse. That you can only do as much as you can to ensure that you made the most knowledgeable decision possible.

Fiona Stone of StoneRidge Farms

[http://stoneridgefarms.org]

Author: Fiona Stone
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The jury is still out on whether the American Quarter Horse is the first breed to be produced on American soil. Regardless, if it wasn’t the first horse to be bred here it was certainly one of the first, and its history traces back to before the earliest days of the American colonies, back to the official royal breeding farms established here by the Spanish.

Today, according to the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), there are more than 4,000,000 Quarter Horses registered worldwide, and approximately 150,000 Quarter Horse foals registered each year.

The Quarter Horse has a rich and varied pedigree, including Spanish Barbs, Colonial mid-Atlantic Quarter-Pathers, English Thoroughbreds, Andalusians, Mustangs, and Rhode Island Racing Stock, to name just a few.

While the Quarter Horse was established before the English Thoroughbred could have a significant influence on early breeding, the greatest influence on early Quarter Horses was Sir Archy, a distance horse to whom many of the greatest 19th and 20th century Quarter Horses can trace their lineage.

While Quarter Horses were initially used to race in shorter style races on the eastern seaboard, the longer, four-mile heats that came into fashion in the 1850s pushed the Quarter Horse to the sidelines while leggier horses such as the Thoroughbred prevailed. The Quarter Horse may have all but died out if settlers moving West hadn’t capitalized on the strength, quickness, and athleticism that made them naturals for pulling wagons and plows, managing livestock, and doing ranch work. As cattle ranching became in indispensable industry in the United States, so did the Quarter Horse.

Quarter Horse range in height from 14.2 hands to 17 hands, and typically weigh 1,000 to 1,500 pounds. The Quarter Horse is known for its short, fine head with small, alert ears and alert eyes set wide apart. The profile of the Quarter Horse is usually straight. The neck of the Quarter Horse is well-muscled, well-formed, and a bit arched. Well-defined withers are set prominently into a short, straight back. The croup is usually strong, muscular, and rounded, and drops subtly to the haunches. The wide, deep chest and long, muscular, and well-sloped shoulders are other characteristics of the Quarter Horse. The legs of the Quarter Horse are usually solid and well-formed, with very muscular thighs, gaskins, and forearms. The joints are broad and clean. Quarter Horse feet are usually strong and sturdy, though they can sometimes be smaller than body size warrants.

The most common color for Quarter Horses is sorrel, which makes up about one-third of all registered horses. The AQHA also recognizes bay, black, brown, chestnut, dun, red dun, grulla, buckskin, palomino, gray, red roan, blue roa, bay roan, cremello, and perlino.

White markings on the face and lower legs are not only permitted, they are quite common. AQHA does not allow white above the knee or hock, and white body patches are also not allowed.

The fact that Quarter Horses started out as short-distance race horses on the East Coast, moved to the West to specialize in ranch work, and now excel in every discipline imaginable is testament to the breed’s amazing versatility. While the breed is still best suited for ranch work, short distance racing, cutting, and reining, you can find Quarter Horses in the hunter jumper, dressage, park saddle, pleasure, and trail disciplines. Quarter Horses also have wonderful, willing, and calm temperaments and are good for riders of all ages and abilities.

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Ron Petracek – Raised in southern Idaho, Ron loves horses and the outdoors. If you would like to join in and learn from the vast resources at our equine forum please visit http://www.horsechitchat.com Looking to buy, sell or trade something equine realted? Just visit our huge network and get 12 sites for Free! Click here => http://www.Click4equine.com

Author: Ron Petracek
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A lot of riders struggle to develop trot lengthenings with their first level dressage horses. What follows are 7 quick tips to help your horse with his lengthenings.

1. THE AIDS FOR TROT LENGTHENINGS

When you’re ready to ask for an upward transition from working trot to a trot lengthening, apply the aids simultaneously, as follows:

* Seat: use a driving seat, as though you’re pushing the back of the saddle toward the front of the saddle.

* Legs: press lightly with both legs to signal your horse to express his energy forward over the ground in longer strides.

* Reins: soften your hands a bit forward, but keep a contact with your horse’s mouth, and a bend in your elbows. Do not ‘throw the reins away’.

2. TROT LENGTHENINGS develop suppleness.

Here’s an image that will help you understand the type of suppleness you’re developing when you practice lengthenings with your First Level horse. Think of your horse’s body as a rubber band that can easily stretch and contract. Not only will this quality make him more athletic, but it’s also extremely useful for all disciplines of riding. Take showjumping, for instance. Just think how many jumping faults could be avoided if your horse’s stride were easily adjustable like this!

3. MAINTAIN THE TEMPO OF THE WORKING TROT

As with most new work, when you begin to incorporate lengthenings into your training at First Level, you start in the trot. It’s a bonus if you have a horse that can naturally lengthen his trot. Many Warmbloods and Arabians have this ability, but I’ve worked with a lot of Thoroughbreds, Connemaras, Morgans, and Quarter Horses who really need help developing their trot lengthenings.

If you ask your horse to lengthen in the way I’ve described and the tempo gets quicker because he runs with short, fast steps, you need to systematically develop his lengthenings. Part of his difficulty may be purely physical. He may lack the suppleness and strength that he will gain in time by basic dressage training. But part of the problem may be that the horse just doesn’t understand that he is to take longer strides in the same tempo. He actually thinks he’s being obedient when he rushes off because he feels you close your legs, and he responds eagerly by immediately going forward.

I often find that I can help him understand that he is to lengthen his strides without speeding up, by asking for the trot lengthenings while going up hills. Once he gets the idea, I go back into the ring and see if he can transfer this concept of lengthening in the same tempo on the level footing.

Sometimes I do something unusual with the horse that tends to quicken his trot tempo when asked to lengthen. Since it takes time to develop the trot lengthening, I go out in a big field, or I go all the way around the ring and round off the corners so that I don’t have to slow down for them. First, I take up a heavier contact than normal. In this way, I can temporarily act as the horse’s fifth leg and purposely support him so he doesn’t lose his balance. Then I ask for a lengthening in posting trot. While posting to the trot, I rise very high and stay in the air a fraction of a second longer than normal. I pretend that I can hold the horse in the air with my body. And, in my mind’s eye, I picture him floating over the ground with his feet never touching the ground.

I ask my horse to give me a greater and greater effort and eventually one of two things will happen. The first is that he realizes that his legs can’t go any faster, and he ‘shifts into overdrive’ and takes some longer, slower steps. At this point, I immediately stop, praise him, and let him walk on a loose rein.

In my experience I’ve found that the first time, I might have to go all the way around a ring once or twice before I get a couple of longer, slower steps. But after the reward, the next effort yields results much sooner. And the same for the next attempt.

The other thing that might happen is that he loses his balance and falls into the canter. This isn’t the disaster it seems to be. If my horse hadn’t lost his balance and cantered, his next trot step probably would have been a bit longer. So I re-establish and immediately ask for a trot lengthening. It’s in that moment that I’m most apt to get a longer stride in a better tempo. And once again if I get even one or two better steps, I stop and praise him. The reward helps the horse to understand that by doing something different, even if initially he doesn’t understand what it is, he’ll be praised.

Once I get two or three better steps as soon as I ask for the trot lengthening, I leave them for another day. During each session the horse builds his understanding of what’s being asked, and over time he physically gets strong enough to lengthen in a good tempo for a greater number of steps.

4. HEAR THE TEMPO

Use some good auditory images to help you while you’re teaching your horse to do a trot lengthening in the same tempo as his working gait. Pretend you’re standing by a paved road and your eyes are closed. Because the tempo stays exactly the same, you can’t tell from the sound of the footfalls whether your horse is in the working gait, lengthening, or doing the transition in between.

Here’s another auditory image to help you teach your horse to lengthen the trot in the same tempo as his working trot. Pretend you hear a metronome ticking. The tempo stays exactly the same both when you’re in working trot and when you’re in the lengthening. (Even though I’m discussing trot lengthenings at the moment, you can use the same type of auditory image if your horse quickens his tempo in a canter lengthening. ‘Hear’ the tempo as if your horse is moving over the ground with big, ground-covering bounds in slow motion.

If your horse still tends to quicken his tempo when you ask him to do a trot lengthening, overcompensate by imagining that you ‘hear’ the tempo get slower. Pretend that the tempo gets slower because your horse stays suspended in the air for a long time. If you’re doing a posting trot, try rising and sitting more slowly to see if you can be the one to set the pace rather than automatically posting at the speed that your horse chooses.

5. USE FIRMER CONTACT FOR SUPPORT

Don’t be surprised if the contact with your horse’s mouth during trot lengthenings becomes somewhat heavy. Remember that lengthenings are developed out of the working gait at First Level, and the weight in your hands is somewhat firm to begin with. In addition, while your horse is learning how to balance himself during trot lengthenings, his center of gravity might shift even a bit further to his forehand. Don’t be alarmed by this. It’s a stage of his training, and it’s fine to temporarily support him by maintaining a firmer contact. Later on, if you decide to go on to more advanced work, you’ll develop ‘uphill’ extensions out of collected gaits. Because the horse will have a greater degree of self-carriage when he’s in a collected gait, the contact will be lighter.

However, there’s a fine line between a solid, supporting contact and one in which your horse is leaning so heavily on your hands that your arms ache. Here are some things you can try to improve a contact that is too heavy. Before you even begin to ask for a trot lengthening, make sure you drive the horse’s hind legs more under his body by closing both of your legs. In order to carry himself, your horse needs to have his hind legs underneath him. If his hind legs are trailing out behind his body, he can’t support himself in the lengthening and he has no option but to lean on your hands.

You can also ride some quick transitions: from trot to halt and back to trot again, or from the canter to the walk and back to the canter again. This will help to re-balance your horse and make the weight in your hands more comfortable.
Another reason the contact can get too heavy is that you may be asking for too many lengthened strides at one time before your horse is ready. Doing well-balanced trot lengthenings with his hind legs underneath his body for only a few strides at a time is much more valuable for your horse than lengthening for many strides with his hind legs pushing out behind his body. Remember that when you do the downward transition back to the working gait, be sure that you close your legs to send his hind legs under his body. It might feel natural to ask for the downward transition from the lengthening to the working gait by just using the reins. But, as you know by now, if your goal is to rebalance your horse and improve the contact, you need to add hind legs while doing the downward transitions.

6. ALLOW THE FRAME TO ELONGATE IN TROT LENGTHENINGS

In trot lengthenings, the front feet should touch the ground on the spot toward which they are pointing when each leg is at its maximum extension. When a horse has to draw his front legs back toward his body before placing them on the ground, or his toes flip up in front, it usually indicates that he hasn’t been allowed to lengthen his frame.
Sometimes a rider makes it difficult for the horse to lengthen to his utmost. Although I said earlier that you shouldn’t be concerned in the contact is a bit too firm, you want to be sure that you’re not making it heavy because you’re cranking his neck in. If you keep your horse’s neck short by restricting him with strong or non-allowing hands, he has to draw his foreleg back before putting it down. Allow your horse to lengthen his neck and point the tip of his nose more or less forward. To help you to do this, think about ‘opening the front door’ by softening your hands a bit toward your horse’s mouth and by cocking your wrists upward in a way that allows your little fingers to go more forward.

7. SIT UPRIGHT

When you use your driving seat to ask for the transition into the trot lengthening, don’t try to ‘help’ your horse to lengthen by leaning back. Even though you might feel that you can drive him forward this way (and I see many dressage riders doing this in lengthenings and extensions) you’ll just end up driving his back down and making it hollow. Stay vertical at all times.

I learned this lesson about sitting correctly in trot lengthenings the hard way while trying to qualify for the Olympic Festival with Jolicoeur at a competition that was being held at Knoll Farm in Brentwood, New York, back in 1987. One of the finest international judges in the world, the late Mr Jaap Pot, was there. He was a stickler when it came to the correctness of the rider’s seat. I remember Jo and I doing huge extended trots for him. I thought we had done really well until my score sheet came back with extremely low marks for the extensions and the simple comment – rider leaning behind the vertical. Believe me, it made an impression.

Author: Jane Savoie
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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