Greentchr
1st Aug 2006, 11:51 PM
I rode my son's arab for the first time (for longer than a few minutes, that is) today. She needed to be sorted out with her refusal to leave the yard on her own. We got through that with a lot of 1-rein stops, hundreds of head-gives, backing away from the drop-off beside the road a 'zillion' times... OK, I'll quit whining:) At least we got that problem sorted out. And then, I thought I had better keep riding her for another hour or so, and we went across the way to ride up and down the hills... and here I found that all my self-rightous directions to my son of "when she goes too fast, pull back and release as soon as she slows" was as effective as telling the horse to fly to the moon.:rolleyes:
So here is the problem: she has a a lovely walking gait up hill, and after a lot more head gives and stops and pivoting and all, she finally slowed down enough to walk on the flat also. We started at 3 steps at a walk, and finally got so she was walking consistently- until we start going downhill.
As soon as she comes to a downwards trail, she starts this bone-jarring walk-trot that is terribly uncomfortable for the rider. It is an up-and-down gait that is almost like prancing. I cannot tell if this is a natural way for an arab to move, or just a habit for her. Whatever it is, it has to change (says my aching back!).
What I did was the minute she broke into the gait, I did a 1-rein stop, made her stand still for a minute, then walked several steps uphill before again turning downhill. It took me over 1/2 hour to go 100 feet. She would not give more than 1 or 2 steps at a walk before breaking again. I also tried zig-zagging across the trail (actually an old farm road, so fairly wide), and though she fought me on that, it did slow her down a bit- but even in the few steps across the path, she broke out of the walk again.
So, what the heck do I do about this? Was I on the right idea, but did not follow through long enough?
So here is the problem: she has a a lovely walking gait up hill, and after a lot more head gives and stops and pivoting and all, she finally slowed down enough to walk on the flat also. We started at 3 steps at a walk, and finally got so she was walking consistently- until we start going downhill.
As soon as she comes to a downwards trail, she starts this bone-jarring walk-trot that is terribly uncomfortable for the rider. It is an up-and-down gait that is almost like prancing. I cannot tell if this is a natural way for an arab to move, or just a habit for her. Whatever it is, it has to change (says my aching back!).
What I did was the minute she broke into the gait, I did a 1-rein stop, made her stand still for a minute, then walked several steps uphill before again turning downhill. It took me over 1/2 hour to go 100 feet. She would not give more than 1 or 2 steps at a walk before breaking again. I also tried zig-zagging across the trail (actually an old farm road, so fairly wide), and though she fought me on that, it did slow her down a bit- but even in the few steps across the path, she broke out of the walk again.
So, what the heck do I do about this? Was I on the right idea, but did not follow through long enough?