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[RC] Fw: Slowing down speedy horse - Connie Owens----- Original Message ----- From: "Connie Owens" <koinsavvyup@xxxxxxx> To: <patchworkfarmshorsestuff@xxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 2:37 PM Subject: Slowing down speedy horse Hi Sarah, Here are a couple of ideas for you that have worked for me when I want to stay off of my horses face and yet accomplish some slowing down. I suggest you practice these exercises at home before you get on the trail. 1. Horses tend to speed up while going in straight lines so I will ride serpentines back and forth across the trail until my horse relaxes enough and almost begs me to walk in a straight line. Sometimes it may take a mile of going in S curves before this happens. When you ride serpentines down the trail you are still allowing the horse to go forward (which is what they want to do in the first place) but you get to direct all of this energy in a bit more effort for the horse (the hindquarters wind up doing a lot of turning around) so that the horse decides *on their own* that slowing down is a bit of a better situation. If I am on a single track trail that doesn't allow me to travel in S curves left or right for a few strides I will ask my horse to go sideways for a few steps, then turn on the hindquarters to do straight and then go sideways the other side for a few strides then turn on the hindquarters to go straight and see if my horse wants to relax and slow down when *we go straight*. I just keep this exercise up until my horse mentally has a change of plans and wants to slow down on their own (without me getting all in their face) when we are traveling straight and forward. 2. Have your horse develop a good backup. Try to be able to have your horse go from walk to backup without much of a stop in between. In other words, don't think that it's walk, stop, backup, think walk and backup, allowing your horse time to shift gears so to speak. The idea is to get your horse to direct the momentum from forwards to backwards, not to stop the movement in between transitions. That way on the trail, you can ask your horse to think about backing up but not necessarily going through the backing up, so the horse has a chance to think about redirecting their energy. Of course if you have to, you can ask for a backup for a few steps and then walk off. 3. Build a good lateral flexion with your horse. Can you travel in a straight line being able to tip the nose either left or right (not yank the nose but just lift the rein and tip the nose) and then ask the hind foot to swing away from your leg for a few steps for example, if you pick up the rein turn your palm down and out to tip the nose to the right and then put your right leg on the barrel behind the girth will your horse swing the right hip(leg) to the left (away from pressure) or just speed up forward even more (undesirable). This is a method of seeing if your horse will mentally check in with you instead of just ignoring you and getting caught up in their instinct of running in front of the herd! One of my main goals on a ride is for me and my horse to finish *together*! Also, if we are in tuned with one another throughout the whole ride, I can help my horse find the best pace for her so that she and I are in good shape both physically and mentally however long we are out on trail! Best of luck to you and your girl! Connie Owens =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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