Friday, June 17, 2016

How to keep your horse straight by adding your lower legs. Walk. S3 Dres...




"Are you ready to finally... ask your horse to stay connected from your seat and legs at the walk?  What does that mean?"


There comes a time when a rider and horse are ready to go to a new level of balance and communication. This is Trudy's horse Melody.  Melody had some serious issues in the past. It has taken us several years to bring her  to this point and now it it is time to ask her to connect between Trudy's rein and leg aids. We would like her to "round up, connect, get packaged"  (there are so many words for this). This is still new to Melody and is the perfect opportunity for you to watch what happens when a rider first begins to ask a horse to connect between the reins and the legs of the riders.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Half Halts at the trot. Is your horse listening to you? Adding the breat...





"Can Your Horse Feel Your Half Halts at the Trot?  What can you do to improve your half halt and become more aware of when your horse is responding?"


In this session Susan practices the half halt as taught by Robert Dover.  To do this, she breaths in deeply.. bringing that breath up her chest and back into her shoulder blades. She finishes by bringing her seat forward, hugging her legs and closing her fingers on the reins.  This entire process takes only 3 seconds.  Beau  has been doing half halts but has never really been thrilled with them. (for what ever issues he might be having that day)  Since he is now competing in 2nd level we need to be able to balance him more than ever so that he starts to "engage" his back end and shorten his body from the back to the front.  Lucky you as you get to watch him go through the process. This is their warm up trot and Susan is already asking Beau to listen to her half halts.  By the end of this session you will see that Beau is starting to get it. 

What have you been doing for your halt halts?  Is your horse really responding to them or are you hoping that it is?

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Half Halts at the canter. It's time to connect and balance for 2nd level...




"The canter. Is your horse responding to your half halts? Watch what happens as Susan asks Beau to stay connected even more at the canter"


In this "blast from the past"  Susan practices the half halt as taught by Robert Dover. To do this at the canter she feels when Beau starts to disconnect. When Susan feels that happen she breaths in deeply.. bringing that breath up her chest and back into her shoulder blades. Susan finishes that breath by bringing her seat forward, hugging her legs and closing her fingers on the reins. This entire process takes only 3 seconds. As those of you who know Beau expect... He is not thrilled moving up into the balance he needs for second level. This is a time of great change for Susan and Beau and I am so happy to have caught it on film as most riders never get to see what can happen as a horse is asked to balance and connect at a new level. 

Can you see how Beau started to understand the half halts better?

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Canter Trot Transitions. Adding the Shoulder In and Leg Yields for better connection an balance.




"Would you like to improve your Canter Trot Transitions? Try adding the shoulder in and leg yield movements! "

In this blast from the past we focused on getting Beau more balanced in his canter trot transitions. At that time, Beau had the tendency to flip his head up, and dropping his back as a result, in the canter trot transitions both up and down. To balance Beau for the transitions we add shoulder ins and leg yields to get him to be in a better balance.
Can you see how Beau's transitions begin to change as Susan prepares him in different ways to see how to get the response she is looking for? Can you see how this could help your horse?

Friday, June 10, 2016

Canter Trot transitions. Timing of the Riders Aids. Is your horse really connected to you?




"Would you like to improve the way your horse changes its gait from a trot to a canter?  Than it's time to think about the timing of your aids and your Steps to Connection. Watch what Susan does with Beau in this blast from the past"  


In this session Susan is riding the transition from the trot to the canter, and the canter to to the trot.She is focusing on the timing of her rein and leg aids and how Beau is responding to them. Lucky you as you will get to see a horse as it is learning how to re balance at a new level.  This was the 2nd session where we focused on keeping Beau connected at this level" 

Can you see the difference in how Beau is moving as he works through these exercises?  

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Transitions and Half halts. Riding Position. Is your horse responding? ...





"The secrets to the half halts and Steps to Connection. Everything you need to get started on connecting your riding position to your horse when you ride"

On this day Trudy asked me to isolate what she was doing with her riding position for her half halts and to improve how she is connecting (The Steps to Connection) with Ani. For the first time, we started the process in the warm up. Now you can see the steps that we are using as we continue this series into the trot and canters.

Are you ready to try this on your horse? We would love to hear how these techniques are working for you. This is also a great place to ask any questions that you might have about these Horse and Rider Awareness techniques.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

The Rainbow (in a horses neck)at the trot/canter transitions. Is your horse really connected?






"The Rainbow...  An easy way for you to know if your horse is connecting the way you want it do.  Check out this easy to use technique to see if your horse has a "Rainbow" in your trot/canter transitions today to know if your horse is really connected or not"



For most of us, keeping our horses balanced and in connection is important. We like the way it feels when our horses connect with us at that level.  An easy way to be able to "see" (yes, sometimes we do look down) is by keeping a "Rainbow" in your horses neck.  Of course, it is much more than that... However, this is an easy technique that will let you know when your horse is really on the aids/in front of the legs/on the bit, round, packaged, the beginning of self carriage.



The next time you ride, check to see if you have a "Rainbow" in your horses neck.  Let us know how it works for you!


Friday, June 3, 2016

Contact. The beginnings. Walk trot. The Steps to Connection. S4 dressage




"What if... you have finally come to the point in your horses training where you are ready to ask them to stay connected from your leg to the reins (contact). What should you expect and what should you do?"


When a horse is learning how to stay connected they are not sure what is going on. Especially if this is also new for the rider. Now you can watch what happens as I use the "Steps to Connection"with Trudy to show her how to keep Ani focused and connected walk halt transitions for the 4th time.

Can you see how important understanding the Steps to Connection are to what you are doing with your horse?