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The UK Summer is Coming to an End

By August 18, 2018One Comment

There are now only a few weeks left to my U.K. schedule. To date we have had 17 horses come through the 2 young horse modules and the courses have all gone well and been well attended. The horse below was one of the horses that came through the last intake of horses, the image was taken on the 9th ride.

During the courses of late I have had a few discussions about being more effective on the end of a lead rope and not having to resort to the flag all the time and timing up with the feet.  (There is nothing wrong with the flag, just don’t get dependant on it. ) I have also spoken about riding more with your seat and legs and trying to do less with our reins.

Riding with your seat and legs, and having more feel both on the ground and in the saddle does take time to develop. For some riders things  fall into place vey quickly and for others not so. The sensitivity the horse has is amazing if we get that to working for us, it has to be great thing. While at times it may seem like we are in the slow lane, equally we should look at it from the perspective of where we would be if we had not started. I think that we would all agree that we are better off having started on the horsemanship road than we would otherwise be.

We also try and have a little bit of fun on the courses. Having me behind the bar at a steak house is always going to be fun.

For a brief moment I thought that I was in the movie Cocktail , I probably have more the Bryan Brown look than Tom Cruise. There was no hippy hippy shake going on either.

 

One Comment

  • Cat says:

    This article resonates with me. This year, i have removed the spurs whilst riding my grey horse. Although i agree it is not the spurs as much as the legs attached to them, the ride has been smoother without them. Somehow, removing the spurs has made me focused on my seat more and foremost, then the legs. If he does not response to the leg, i use the stick. For the acceleration and deceleration, i hardly have to use the leg now, he listens to my seat and weight distribution better now. Of late, my grey horse has been a pleasure to ride if not a revelation at times. Lovely article.