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[RC] Equitation - rides2farOne of the reasons I love NATRC is because theequitation of the rider is judged. I am far from being a good person to critique NATRC, since I have only ridden drag a few times for them, but I have ridden with a NATRC judge whose personal choice of "equitation" was to stand in her stirrups at all times on her tip-toes. Since I knew she was a judge, I assumed that what they were judging as "acceptable" was not necessarily what would win you a ribbon in a ring. Watching a Hunt Seat class, the ribbon winners will generally be very stiff with hollow backs. Again, what is "the goal" is not a good choice for endurance equitation. I spend most of my time just trying to put pieces together and figure out what is going on. There are some riders who are far from being "correct" in the show ring world, but they are balanced and relaxed. They tend to do well in a "passive" way. When my horse is going well, this is probably the best I can do, but I have enough clues of imbalance like one stiff foot, one shin splint, horses tend to always be lame on the same leg, saddle occasionally feels off center, that I know the tendency is there. However, the best I can do is pretty much stay out of my horse's way. If I can study some dressage, hopefully I can teach my horse to carry himself better which is the other half of the "better equitation" bonus. Stagg did Josie a huge favor in letting her ride Super. She came back telling me how well he yielded as you went down the trail, how, even though he put blisters on her fingers wanting to go faster, he stayed balanced and how that felt so "together" going downhill. It made a huge impression on her. After the 2001 Pan Ams Melissa Crain sent the silver medal horse Charbiel to our house for Josie to ride and that was the first time she felt a horse that knew so much. It made an impression on her and her goal has been to have a horse of her own that was trained in that manner, she's a rediculously lucky kid to have ridden 2 of the 2001 medal winners, and no coincidence that those are the best two "dressage" horses she's been on. Her goal since then is that her horse will know these things. She spent most of the money in her savings buying a very nice dressage saddle recently, and has worried a lot that while training her horse from scratch that she has not had enough knowledge to teach her own horse Cade these things. I have worried that we're taking too long to get miles on him. He did 4 50's last year but will only get one in this spring. (she's supposed to ride Jody's mare in the 100 at Biltmore and prom is the same day as Million PInes). Now I'm thinking here's our opportunity. We've gotta get that horse in a ring! NATRC will not do what we're looking for here, though they would probably recognize the results and applaud them. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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