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Reflections on Riding

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Reflections on Riding

Category Archives: Training

Mind the gap – the synapse of the aids

18 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Katie in Training

≈ 13 Comments

The American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines synapse as “the junction across which a nerve impulse passes from an axon terminal to a neuron, a muscle cell or a gland cell.”

“Interesting!” you might say (or might not), “but what on earth does that have to do with riding?”

“Good question!” I say.

Understanding the concept of a synapse, in structure and function, can help us understand how horses (especially green horses) process the aids.  When we understand the way in which our horses understand, we can more effectively apply our aids.

Mind the gap

When we apply an aid, there is a delay from the time we apply it to the time the horse is able to respond.  That delay — the synapse of the aids — doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.  It means only that the horse is processing our request and then coordinating his or her body to comply with that request.

Even a highly trained horse must still physically recognize our aid and translate that aid mentally into a physical reaction.  The more highly trained the horse, the smaller the synapse.  The greener the horse, the larger the synapse.

With the highly trained horse, the synapse may be so small that we don’t perceive it.  The time it takes for the impulse to travel across the synapse may be a fraction of a second.  With a green horse, it may take a second or two seconds or more.

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Work at the walk – for the horse

11 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by Katie in Training

≈ 7 Comments

A couple of months ago, I talked about work at the walk for the rider in this post.  I promised I would follow up by discussing work at the walk for the horse.  

Given the delay, I’m glad you weren’t holding your breath.

Speaking of holding your breath, you’re less likely to be holding your breath at the walk than any other gait, because of the lack of stress involved, and so is your horse, for the same reason.

That is, unless you’re working on the collected walk, prematurely or incorrectly.  As I’ve said before, there are great advantages to working at the walk for riders and horses, but it is not without its perils.  Creating a pseudo-collected walk is one of those perils.  So if you feel that your horse is behind your leg or stalling beneath you at the walk, it’s time to revisit the post I linked above, which has practical advice that can help you.

We’ve been talking about the negatives of working at the walk (that’s what happens when you start speaking of perils), but let’s move on with some positives.

The Washington Redskins cheerleaders and the Wizard Dancers performing for the troops in 2002

There, that’s better!

There are so many benefits to working at the walk for your horse:

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Post Olympics

08 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by Katie in Equitation, Horse Care, Training

≈ 6 Comments

It’s post-Olympics and, although I’m out of synch

London, Picadilly Circus 1903

it’s time to post at least a few of my thoughts and impressions about the equestrian events.

I was afraid that I wasn’t going to have time to watch the Olympics at all, but I made the decision to eat into my already abbreviated sleep time to go to nbcolympics.com to catch what I could (rather than blog).  Kudos to NBC for finally giving us a way to see everything and anything we wanted to see on our computers, whenever we wanted to see it.

From the comments following last Wednesday’s post, I know that there are prominent proscratinators among my readers.  If that predilection for procrastination kept you from watching the coverage, you’re in luck.  You can still see it — and see it all — here.  I doubt whether this will be the case forever, so if you want to catch what you missed, you might want to put your proscrastinating on hold temporarily, just this once.

There sure was a lot to watch.  It took me days just to get through the eventing dressage.  And then I watched the rest of it.  I watched almost all of the dressage and almost all the show jumping.  The parts I missed weren’t at the end of the competition but rather throughout the competition, randomly and frequently.

Increasingly frequently as time went on.  Early on, I optimistically expected that disappointing rides would somehow magically improve rather than remain the same or detriorate further.  Realizing that my optimism was unfounded, as rides went on, I made the decision to use my curser to fast-forward.  That saved time, which was important because sleep deprivation is cumulative in its ill effects.

Overall, I think the horses outshined and outclassed most of their human counterparts.

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Work at the walk – for the rider

05 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Katie in Equitation, Training

≈ 12 Comments

The walk is sometimes called “the learning gait.”  I agree, although the reason may be that it is usually the easiest place for riders (rather than their horses) to learn.

It’s also the easiest place for riders to ride, which makes it the easiest place for riders to teach their horses, although I think some things (like collection) and some horses, are better taught at the trot.

Be that as it may (or may not), let’s begin by talking about the advantages to working at the walk for riders.

At the walk, riders are usually the most secure and well-balanced, so it’s easiest to have clear and consistent aids.  Recovery of the rider’s position and composure from a misstep or a misunderstanding is often quicker, for the same reason.

It’s easiest to teach something to a horse who is relaxed, and most horses are relaxed at the walk.  It’s also easiest for horses to remain relaxed at the walk, so it’s the easiest place to work through problems, protests or resistance (which are most often no more than a misunderstanding on the part of the horse).

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Personal space

15 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Katie in Training

≈ 3 Comments

For the wise man looks into space…and knows there are no limited dimensions.

The wise words of Lao Tzu apply not only to outer space but also to the personal space we want with our horses.  There is no absolute answer to the question of what personal space is appropriate, because, of course and as usual, it all depends on the horse.

I have to thank one of my readers, Net, for raising this interesting topic in her comment on my Relapses post, which followed on my Lovely Manners post. Here is an excerpt from her comment:

“…I now allow him to cuddle…To me, he’s still being respectful – he is not allowed to push me and knows this…Some people, though, think I’m a fool and this is bad behavior to allow.  Given he still walks properly, doesn’t shove into me, and respects my authority I tend to disagree…”

If you want to read Net’s comment in full, simply click on the comments link above the Relapses post.  In her comment, Net asked me what I thought, knowing full well, I’m sure, that I would have lots to say.  I’m not going to disappoint her.

Let’s start by throwing some briquets on the grill (it’s grilling season, after all):  I find it interesting that aside from professionals who assist horse owners with handling problems, it is often those people who choose to have little personal connection with their horses (aside from riding) — who focus on the importance of personal space.

Personal space isn’t an issue for these two New Forest Ponies. Photo by Jim Champion

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Relapses

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by Katie in Training

≈ 5 Comments

Last week, I wrote about the new horse’s lovely manners.  Specifically, I stated:

Yesterday and today (I can’t guarantee tomorrow, but I have a good feeling about it), the new horse demonstrated lovely manners.

Let’s talk about the tomorrow part.  That was the part that hadn’t arrived yet at the time I wrote my blog post.

I did have a good feeling about tomorrow, which is now several yesterdays ago.  Good feelings are good to have, of course, but they don’t determine the outcome of anything.  Nor do negative feelings, all New Age beliefs aside. Things happen.  We don’t control them.  We can influence them, but we are only one, small influence in a greater cosmos full of other influences, large and small.  If that were not the case, who’s to say that Bob in Wichita, if he’s really concentrating on a certain outcome, isn’t the one determining your tomorrow?

All that aside, the new horse had a small relapse (actually, he had two sequential relapses) in the lovely manners department.

My Yankee-Irish horsewhispering boyfriend hadn’t yet had his rotator cuff surgery, so he was helping me.  We discussed the plan in a few words, as we do when we’re training.  I would take the new horse and he would take my retired Thoroughbred.  Even though they were late going out, it would be straight out to the paddock, no grass.

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Lovely manners

02 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by Katie in Training

≈ 1 Comment

Manners used to matter.  And they still do in certain circles (halter classes and cotillions).

I like the horses I own and work with to have good manners, but I don’t expect perfect manners.  There are some horses who need to express themselves and sometimes that translates into less than perfect manners.  The same is true of people.  To be perfectly polite you must be inauthentic, and that’s not a good trade in my book, with people or horses.

Those who have been following my blog for some time know that I have a horse who is happy to express himself rather rudely and with whom pressure-release techniques or reprimands are largely ineffective. I’ve been clicker training him despite the fact that my least favorite new obligation is making sure that I have treats in my pockets.

This is especially challenging when what I’m wearing doesn’t have pockets. They don’t tell you that you’ll need a new wardrobe when you start clicker-training or that you’ll have to wear an apron all day as if you were a Cold War housewife or one of those dreadful fanny packs (I don’t know what was worse, the design or the name) that were once so popular with foreign tourists in big American cities.

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Soak

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Katie in Language, Training

≈ 4 Comments

The problem with living in the present is that it’s easy to forget what we promised to do in the past.  On October 16, 2011, for example.  That’s the date on which I told you in this post that I thought it was important for people and horses to let things soak, and that I’d expand on the topic later.

Seven months certainly qualifies as later…and I want to apologize for having taken so long.  If you’re one of my faithful readers, you know that I’ve had other things on my mind…

This week, the new horse and a hose reminded me to revisit the concept of “soaking.” Lest you misunderstand, the water involved has nothing at all to do with the concept of soaking.  That’s just a coincidence.

I first came across the word “soak” in Roger and Joanna Day’s book The Fearless Horse, and when I did, I stopped saying things like, “Let it sink in” or “Give her a minute or two.”  It was interesting to hear Buck Brannaman use the same word and employ the same concept.

Rather than speak of it in the abstract, let me share with you how soaking helped me bathe the new horse.  As I’ve mentioned before, he’s one of the bravest horses I’ve ever met, but he’s afraid of being sprayed with water. My guess is that at some point in the past, the water was too cold, he was scolded or punished in the process, or he didn’t have time to figure out what was happening and became overwhelmed.

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Why I love to teach

08 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Katie in Training

≈ 2 Comments

I’ve spent more time in the last week with my hands on the wheel than with my hands on the reins.  I traveled to give an an intensive, multi-day private clinic in a neighboring state…then drove east for a client who’s moved to a new barn just a little further away than I normally travel…and then drove south for a new client, who was willing to cover my extra mileage in order to have a new set of eyes on the ground.

The rewards of my travels are great, and far outweigh the monotony of sitting in a car rather than on a horse.  That’s because I love to teach.  I live for the smile on a rider’s face, the look of enlightenment on a horse’s face, the happiness that comes from a partnership that’s deepened in interest and understanding.

My rewards this week included finding the right bit for a horse that was bracing, in large part because he didn’t really love his bit.  I followed the advice in this post, and instinct, and the first bit we tried was one the horse embraced.  With flexions in hand, mobilization of the jaw came quickly and continued under saddle.

The horse clearly demonstrated that mobilization of the jaw leads to flexion of the poll leads to release of the back.  Now that the horse isn’t bracing, the suppling work will be far more effective.  With a bit that he loves, the horse can also accept more subtle actions from the rider’s hand.

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How to decrease your horse’s energy without pulling

27 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by Katie in Equitation, Training

≈ 8 Comments

My prior post on how to increase your horse’s energy without nagging led to this post, which is the flip side — how to decrease your horse’s energy without pulling.

If the problem is that you’re riding a hot horse, I’d like to direct you to another prior post, which has lots of great advice for riding hot horses.  If that’s not your problem and your horse is simply too strong or not listening, I invite you to read on.

Here’s my advice, for those times when you want to pull but you really don’t want to pull:

1.  Stay centered in the saddle with a vertical torso and a straight line from shoulder to hip to heel.  Are you tipping forward because you don’t want to get left behind…or you’re trying to avoid having a driving seat by making yourself light in the saddle…or you just got dislodged?   If so, you’re telling your horse to go forward.  Most horses instinctively try to align themselves underneath their riders.  If you’ve shifted your center of gravity forward, that’s exactly where your horse will go.

Staying centered is the best way to help your horse stay centered.  It also gives you the maximum stability to be able to use your rein and leg and weight aids independently.  The exception to the rule?  If you can do so without a driving seat or increasing leg pressure, simply shifting the balance of your torso slightly behind the vertical can make your horse slow down (if you’ve trained the Buck Brannaman way, it’s sure to happen).

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