Shinka
21st Jan 2004, 05:57 PM
I have always been a bit guilty of “pulling back” with my hands when trying to school on a contact, no matter how hard I try not to (bad habit learnt from poor instructor, what can I say). Last night I used an analogy I saw on another thread, about imagining having to keeps your hands outside of an imaginary doorframe just in front of the saddle. It worked well, the horse did stay “round” and very light. However, I think I’ve gone too far and I’m now giving the contact away. Either that or the horse managed to evade by dropping behind it…its so hard to tell from where I’m sitting and I’m no expert. In canter though, the horse was doing this odd movement of jabbing his nose forward at each stride, quite deliberately as though trying to escape discomfort (not just head bobbing of gait).
I have a nasty feeling that although I’m trying hard to keep my hands and wrists light and NOT to pull back, that I still have horrid hard and unyielding elbows, so in fact it was ME jabbing, not him. He put in a buck or two to get his point across, sometimes we need to be told don’t we. He occasionally goes deep of his own accord, but equally he could be falling onto the forehand as he tries to go into a contact that I’m not consistently providing.
I want to do my best by the horse but he is not mine, so I am not in a position to go barging in like a big fat know-all and offend the owner by asking if his back, teeth and tack are all okay. He is a sensitive and excitable soul but has been in the many years she has owned him, he is a super well-mannered horse who is a pleasure to do, and is a credit to her. I would like to achieve the best I can with what I’ve got and what I know.
As I 100% assume that our problems are due to my lack of riding skill, does anyone have any ideas as to how I can develop a bit more “feel”, or any other useful analogies/exercises/methods?
I have a nasty feeling that although I’m trying hard to keep my hands and wrists light and NOT to pull back, that I still have horrid hard and unyielding elbows, so in fact it was ME jabbing, not him. He put in a buck or two to get his point across, sometimes we need to be told don’t we. He occasionally goes deep of his own accord, but equally he could be falling onto the forehand as he tries to go into a contact that I’m not consistently providing.
I want to do my best by the horse but he is not mine, so I am not in a position to go barging in like a big fat know-all and offend the owner by asking if his back, teeth and tack are all okay. He is a sensitive and excitable soul but has been in the many years she has owned him, he is a super well-mannered horse who is a pleasure to do, and is a credit to her. I would like to achieve the best I can with what I’ve got and what I know.
As I 100% assume that our problems are due to my lack of riding skill, does anyone have any ideas as to how I can develop a bit more “feel”, or any other useful analogies/exercises/methods?