Self Carriage

[Silver1]

Do to my knee, I am officially banned from riding until it stops hurting, I had walk as an option for awhile but it made my knee worse so here I am on the ground. :(

Fortunately, I noticed some problems Mear seems to be having, and I think I've found a way around it! Mear falls apart if you ask her to do more then 20 minutes of riding consistently, any more and she becomes grouchy and has a sore neck. I think it might be that being asked for self carriage for that long a time with a rider on her back is causing her to become sore, and today I tested it...

If any of you read last months Horse and Rider magazine, you'll have seen the lunge lesson involving a butt rope, that teaches the horse to soften in the jaw, yield at the pole, round his back and bring his legs under himself. I decided to try it with Mear, and discovered something interesting.

Mear sweats more working for ten minutes with the butt rope on at a walk, then ten minutes trot and canter with out the butt rope. So I'm wondering, how much effort does it take for a horse to learn how to use their bodies? And how much work on the ground do you think I should do to build the muscles up before I try her in the saddle again, and how long in the saddle at a time when I start riding again? And is there anything else I can do to help her build her topline while I'm 'grounded'?

[dressage1anja]

hey sorry this is short right now.. have to leave soon! :D

well..you are absolutly right.. when you asked how much do i have to build up muscles.. i was just about to explain you have to build it up before you can think of self carriage.. but im glad you realized that! :)

Well.. my thought is that your doing Long Lineing?? If so, yes.. that is a very good way of building up muscles.. because when you are on the ground.. its much easier to like supple and do stuff like that.... because your not worying about the movement.. plus.. he might be sitting on his hind end more on the long lining.. thats a great sign.. a horse that can sit on hind end will go far! ;) lucky girl! :D but umm.. it does take a horse quite a while to be able to do self carriage very well... You might not want to be asking him/her to do stuff like that until he/she is ready....thats all for now..

GLAD TO HELP!-

Jaclyn:)

[Silver1]

The problem is, she is doing it voluntarily while riding, I'm not that great a rider and anything I communicate to her is instinctive, she does it while out riding, and then she gets tired and sore and I want to avoid too much soreness. :o

Yes I am long-reining, I do that a lot, but I was also doing a technique mentioned in this weeks H&R. I really don't want to do too much, and I thought, since she is doing it herself while I was riding, it might be easier if she built the muscles with out trying to do push-ups with 150 pounds of person and tack on her back.