keeping the outline - Update & pics

orbvalley

orbvalley

Well-Known Member
Jan 15, 2008
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France, South
I've been struggling for months and months to keep Cocaïne in an outline. She'll take up the contact but I can't seem to find the ideal dose for keeping her there. My RI's teaching me to "give/soften my hands" when she takes up the outline but as soon as I give she opens out again.
Its not lack of muscle on her part as my RI has ridden her with me watching to show me that sh can very easily and comfortably ride in an outline. This is at walk ad trot, she is not muscled enough to ride in a contact at canter yet. I can do it in walk very easily its the trot thats puzzling me.
My RI has checked all my aids, position, body weight, seat, hands etc etc and has exhausted all possibilities of faults until we come down to the final option that "its a private conversation between myself & Cocaïne thats not working out" ! What she means, I think, is that every rider and horse have an almost invisible different way of working things out together and I just need to keep trying different ways until we reach an agreement.
Phew! its really really hard!!
Any help pleeeaaaaseeee...................
 
Have you tried on a very long rein?
I was working on this in my lesson yesterday....all done in walk. We did the first part of the lesson asking for contact, bending , lateral work etc until he was working steadily in a contact, then lengthen the rein, so he could stretch down and had to reach for the contact, got a lovely natural outline after a while, shortened the reins back and his carriage was lovely.
Took a while to achieve and I’m sure it won’t happen instantly next time we ride, and will be something that we have to work at every time for a while, but may be something for you to at least try?
 
Yep worked her on a long rein stertching down into the contact which she does well at the end of a workout. I do this after most sessions.

Forgot to add - the week before last I actually managed to keep her in a beautiful outline and thought I'd cracked it, got on the next time and oh no back to square one again:rolleyes:o_O!
 
Not terribly helpful, but relax & stop trying so hard. Sometimes we try so hard we end up blocking the very thing we're after & also forget to listen to the horse.

Think about what you do to get the outline you want, and what you do once you've got it & are trying to maintain it? What changes? What changes in her when she comes into an outline? I'd tend to agree with your RI that it is a private conversation & at some point it will click, so much of it is feel & I find that almost impossible to explain.
 
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Tried an idea yesterday that I'd read about online - got my RI to ride her for 10mins or so to settle her into the mould of a permanent outline then got on my self hoping the mould would stick! Which it did:D So we had a lovely ride and lesson at trot just concentrating on keeping the outline:):):) So - I need to find the buttons in order to do this from the outset myself. Hmmmm.....where to look though! we're wondering wether Cocaïne's just got the measure of me in that when I school her myself she thinks she's on holiday and thats that:rolleyes: There again trying to figure out what a horse is thinking is a bit of a useless search really, for all I know she might not be thinking anything!
 
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interestingly i went to a BD demo recently with paul hayler. At the lower levels he was constantly telling the riders to widen their hands to help the horse and also to set their tummies/hold, as in engage your core. Ive always thought a strong core and how you use it influences the horses way of going hugely. I also think that some riders , espc someone who is very fit and riding a lot, dont even realise how much they are using their core and so find it difficult to pass this on for someone else to replicate.
 
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