Providing he's being ridden reasonably well do you like watching your horse being ridden? Do you find it useful?
Last week & this week my back has been far too sore to ride Jim & so I've had my RI ride him 3 times. I must admit I like watching him - though I sometimes think he takes the mick a bit - & I've picked up a few useful pointers. For instance:
I can now see that his biggest problem with lengthening his trot is he lacks confidence in his balance & so backs off, this is more noticable as my RI supports him slightly less than I do & so only tends to get bigger strides coming out of lateral work when she has him more together & he feels more secure
he really is very good at putting a rider into a position where he can "misunderstand" instructions & do what he prefers!
he can work long & low at the start of a session if you just spend long enough refusing to pick him up
he's come a lot further than I thought - his ok work is now actually a lot lot better than I thought
However we took him out for a hack yesterday. Hacking isn't his thing & he tends to suddenly get very tense for no obvious reason so I walked while my RI rode. Everything was going very well then suddenly something wound him up & he wasn't going to relax. Watching it start to escalate I suddenly realised just what a huge powerhouse he is & how sharp. RI coped very well (no surprise there) & we got him home without incident but it was quite daunting to watch him bunching up until at one point he seemed incapable of going forwards, turning or do anything other than bounce on the spot looking increasingly wild . I'm amazed I ride him - watching that I'd never say I was that brave or capable! No wonder my poor RI sometimes looks a little pale & uneasy when we have "discussions" in the school & it certainly explains why she tries very hard to avoid getting him hot when she's on him - he looks impressive but not at all rideable.
Overall it's been very useful though & I must do it a little more often. We do ride slightly differently & it's interesting seeing the different reaction. I think my approach works better with Jim (but that may in part be because he's such a mummy's boy) but her slightly softer, subtler approach is definately better on Little Un & I'm hoping to save up some money so I can afford to have her do a bit of schooling on him in the spring because I'm afraid he winds me up a bit in the school & that's not going to help either of us
Last week & this week my back has been far too sore to ride Jim & so I've had my RI ride him 3 times. I must admit I like watching him - though I sometimes think he takes the mick a bit - & I've picked up a few useful pointers. For instance:
I can now see that his biggest problem with lengthening his trot is he lacks confidence in his balance & so backs off, this is more noticable as my RI supports him slightly less than I do & so only tends to get bigger strides coming out of lateral work when she has him more together & he feels more secure
he really is very good at putting a rider into a position where he can "misunderstand" instructions & do what he prefers!
he can work long & low at the start of a session if you just spend long enough refusing to pick him up
he's come a lot further than I thought - his ok work is now actually a lot lot better than I thought
However we took him out for a hack yesterday. Hacking isn't his thing & he tends to suddenly get very tense for no obvious reason so I walked while my RI rode. Everything was going very well then suddenly something wound him up & he wasn't going to relax. Watching it start to escalate I suddenly realised just what a huge powerhouse he is & how sharp. RI coped very well (no surprise there) & we got him home without incident but it was quite daunting to watch him bunching up until at one point he seemed incapable of going forwards, turning or do anything other than bounce on the spot looking increasingly wild . I'm amazed I ride him - watching that I'd never say I was that brave or capable! No wonder my poor RI sometimes looks a little pale & uneasy when we have "discussions" in the school & it certainly explains why she tries very hard to avoid getting him hot when she's on him - he looks impressive but not at all rideable.
Overall it's been very useful though & I must do it a little more often. We do ride slightly differently & it's interesting seeing the different reaction. I think my approach works better with Jim (but that may in part be because he's such a mummy's boy) but her slightly softer, subtler approach is definately better on Little Un & I'm hoping to save up some money so I can afford to have her do a bit of schooling on him in the spring because I'm afraid he winds me up a bit in the school & that's not going to help either of us