notpoodle
30th Jul 2007, 07:34 PM
ha! i think i am beginning to finally get this reins malarky (ive only been riding since i was 9. im 28 now, ahem ...)!
pony has a knack of going off the track, bending the wrong way and then proceeding to 'brace' herself and set her neck which can make steering quite err tricky!
i have now established (with a little help!) that this behaviour is mostly caused by me (no surprises there!) ie. i was gripping on the outside rein and almost forgetting the inside one (which i obviously need when i want to go into a corner or on a circle. doh!). after this was explained to me in great detail, i spent a whole ride in utter confusion, now near-gripping both reins and not allowing pony *any* room to manoevre where I actually wanted her to go. result: confused and cross (dont blame her) pony and very frustrated me.
tried again today and made a conscious effort to not grip the outside rein rigidly and squeeze on inside rein as we bumbled along. lo and behold! pony stayed ON the track and went INTO the corners (she wasnt impressed but soon cottoned on to the idea quite nicely!).
next stop: notpoodle tackles her dodgy weight distribution ...
Julia
x
(sorry this is probly quite boring for 99.9% of you, but i just wanted to share and make the point that you never ever stop learning with this riding malarky!)
pony has a knack of going off the track, bending the wrong way and then proceeding to 'brace' herself and set her neck which can make steering quite err tricky!
i have now established (with a little help!) that this behaviour is mostly caused by me (no surprises there!) ie. i was gripping on the outside rein and almost forgetting the inside one (which i obviously need when i want to go into a corner or on a circle. doh!). after this was explained to me in great detail, i spent a whole ride in utter confusion, now near-gripping both reins and not allowing pony *any* room to manoevre where I actually wanted her to go. result: confused and cross (dont blame her) pony and very frustrated me.
tried again today and made a conscious effort to not grip the outside rein rigidly and squeeze on inside rein as we bumbled along. lo and behold! pony stayed ON the track and went INTO the corners (she wasnt impressed but soon cottoned on to the idea quite nicely!).
next stop: notpoodle tackles her dodgy weight distribution ...
Julia
x
(sorry this is probly quite boring for 99.9% of you, but i just wanted to share and make the point that you never ever stop learning with this riding malarky!)