. Have you ever found yourself out on the trail needing to reverse? Or even in the arena, knowing that your horse reversing in a calm, quiet fashion would be a really useful achievement in that particular moment? You ask him to go back. However, rather than the smooth, no-fuss reverse you were imagining, it rather feels like you left…
You halt, salute, and exit the arena from your latest dressage test. Your best ‘free walk on a long rein’. Now, your thoughts turn to your scores; how well your dressage test went… That one circle may have looked a little more on the triangular side… But, on the plus side, you aced the canter leads each time and you’re…
The bend is approaching and you begin preparing both you and your horse to ride straight and accurately through the turn. However, as you ‘shift’ your seat bones into ‘position’ your horse begins, well, almost side stepping… The further you get through the turn, the further your horse is from the path you had planned; in fact, he has derailed…
You have spent the past few months diligently improving your young horse’s standard of education. A lot of time invested on the basics of moving forward in a balanced rhythmic way. He is happy, you are happy and the next natural progression is to ask for the canter. However, it seems all those carefully cultivated hours in the arena fly…
You turn the corner and ask your horse to lengthen the stride in canter a little. But, instead of covering more ground with each passing stride, it feels like his legs have begun to move nineteen to the dozen. Flashbacks to pony riding are flying through your brain… And the rushing and racing is becoming more intense with each passing…
Left – Right – Left – Right – Left – Right… The horse’s head turning one way and then back the other. Every single stride. A misguided attempt by the rider to achieve ‘on the bit’. Have you ever seen this? The horse looks like he is auditioning for the role of the bobblehead in the back window of…
