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You might need to work on your elbows for a very long time. Elbows are often not something that we worry about, but when it comes down to it, there are many factors that go into having still upper arms but flexible elbows. Good control of your elbows play a key role in developing and then keeping a supple yet effective connection with the horse's mouth.
Quite a lot of flexibility is required from the joint; the opening and closing of the elbow, in relation to your horse's movement is something that can only be achieved through enough practice to develop muscle memory. Of course, different disciplines have somewhat different requirements. For example, jumping requires a reaching forward of the arm in order to give the horse's neck plenty of room to extend over a jump. In dressage, the elbows need to stay fairly stationary and supple without coming off the body.
We'll focus on dressage elbows here. Put simply, your upper arm should hang vertically along your torso. In theory, it shouldn't be ahead of the body, nor behind the body. Here's the tough part: it should stay there.
When done correctly, it looks like nothing. But there are a lot of factors involved in keeping vertical, supple elbows. If you squeeze your elbows too tightly, your arms become rigid and the hands end up being too wide. If you turn your wrists down, your elbows come off the body ("chicken elbows"). 🙂
If you reach too far forward, your elbows straighten too much and your balance is compromised. If you hold your elbows sideways off your body, they move with the horse's gait and the hands "bounce".
The elbows are easy to forget about because after you've developed some muscle memory, they will feel like they are vertical when in fact, they aren't. It helps to have a ground person describe what your elbows are doing while the horse is moving, so you can learn to feel them and know when you need to change something.
You'll have to ride with awareness, noticing your forearm and hand positions, and then relate them to the elbows. Feel for the elbows on your sides, notice how tight or loose they are and focus on opening and closing them as needed in the movement of the horse. Use these specific tipsand get feedback when you can!
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!
Horse Listening – The Book: Stepping Forward to Effective Riding
Personally signed books available! Give the best gift for the horse lover in your life (or for yourself! ). Send me a message for more information.
From the first book in the Horse Listening Collection: Horse Listening, The Book
"There are many reasons why we enjoy riding horses. Maybe one of the most appealing facets of riding is the sense of freedom: freedom from our own limitations, freedom from gravity, freedom to (literally) roam the Earth. Time stands still while we have the privilege of feeling movement from the back of our four-legged friend.
Riding gives us the place to just be.
Of course, there are other purposes too. Some of us revel in the challenge of learning the skills required to becoming a good team member of this unlikely duo. Riding is like no other sport or recreational pursuit simply because of the equine partner that must not only carry us, but also do so effortlessly and gracefully. As we develop our specific skill sets, we also grow as human beings in character, emotional maturity and mental acuity.
But there is one other motivation that drives some of us to persevere in the never-ending learning process that is horseback riding: improving the horse. As your own skills develop, you begin to realize that not only can you meet your own needs through riding, but also that you can even become an instrument of benefit for the horse."
And so begins the book that reflects the most important learning I have had in all of my riding years: that I want to be the best rider I can be for the sake of my horses.
This book is geared toward the rider:
- the rider's motivations
- the essential skills for the rider
- some specific strategies
- solutions to common problems
- and the results: the great horsey moments we get to experience
Along the way, you will find chapters that discuss everything from the seat to the leg aids to the reins, discussions on half-halts, imbalance, halts, straightness and more!
Special in this book are the "In The Ring" sections that give specific suggestions based on the preceding chapters. Take these to the barn to try with your own horse!
This is where all riding begins, even if people tell you otherwise.
The seat is the main contact area with the horse. While we often speak of contact through the reins, we often neglect to think about the amazing power of connection you can have with your seat.
The seat is responsible for:
your balance
your horse's balance
half-halts
driving aids (bigger stride)
turning aids (point the seat in the direction of the turn)
transition aids (up or down)
maintenance of the gaits
"harmonization" (because if you can release through your seat, the rest of your body can follow)
Unfortunately, because we often want to just get going on the horse, we tend to focus more on the leg and hand aids simply because we want to have control and safety around the horse first.
However, if you ever have the opportunity, developing your seat aids and coordination before anything else is the quickest, most efficient, and more importantly, most effective route to control, safety and balance. There is no replacement for lunge lessons, if you can find them, because it is only by being lunged that you can focus on developing the muscle memory in your core - the type of movements that you really have little control over and can't will into being. It's purely physical, and by allowing someone else to control your horse, you can just work your body until it can do all the micro-adjustments on its own.
Off the lunge line, you still need to begin every aid and movement from the seat. Want to turn? Turn from your set (and then your upper body and legs can follow). Want to trot? Trot from your seat first (and then your legs can aid as needed). Want to stop? (Stop your seat and only after that, take pressure on the reins if you have to). Need to ride through a buck or over-exuberant duck-and-turn? Release through your seat and let it stick on the horse - the rest of you will follow!
I'm sure you can think of many other purposes for the seat, and I will list a few articles below that I've already written about it through the years. Suffice it to say that any riding on horseback must start with the seat. There is no other way!
How have you developed your riding seat? Comment below.
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the new Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
Now is the time to re-evaluate your goals and path to riding success!
If you’d like a structured, but personal tool to set goals, take a look ourGoal Setting for the Equestrian: A Personal Workbook. The pages are designed for you to set and keep track of your progress over the course of a year.
Included in the book:
design your overarching goals
long- and short-term planning,
debrief your special events such as clinics or shows
reflect on, plan and evaluate your goals
sample goals and pages
The Workbook is available for instant digital download so you can print the pages right off your computer. There is also the option of a paperback version if you’d rather have a professionally bound book to hold in your hands.
How often have you heard that term? Sure, it sounds like a pretty simple concept until you try it - from coordinating your aids, to helping your horse develop an understanding... it can be more complicated than it looks.
I find it helps a lot to think of this as one whole movement, rather than breaking it down into little bits. However, to gain a true understanding, and to begin to train your body, you may need more information in order to develop the ability to make it all happen in one movement. So let's break it down.
Final Picture
As it can get complicated, I'm going to start with the final picture to give you an overview of what it is and looks like.
The action of "inside leg to outside rein" is meant to create and then maintain bend, without running forward or drifting out. In theory, the horse should respond to your active inside leg by moving away from your leg (in the rib cage area), thereby stepping out toward your outside rein.
Your outside rein can then become an active actor in the movement by either limiting how far the horse can step outwards (as in stopping a leg yield from happening) or half-halting (to keep the horse from speeding up or falling to the forehand).
The horse should have a banana-like curve in the direction of the turn. (It is important though to realize that the horse's spine doesn't actually "bend" that much - the bend we feel is the result of the hind end and front end stepping into the turn). The degree of the curve is dependent on the circumference of the circle - the larger the circle, the smaller the bend. A deeper bend will happen on a 10-meter circle or smaller, but this is usually reserved for fairly educated horses (2nd level and up in dressage).
The Details
Here is a more detailed breakdown.
Rider's Torso: Turn your core toward the turn. Look in the direction of the turn (not past the turn though). The smaller the turn or circle, the more you turn in yourself.
Inside Seat Bone: Weight is on the inside seat bone. This is because you are going into your turn and want the horse to step up and under your weight.
Inside Leg: The inside leg applies pressure (from below the knee down) to the horse's side. The horse should step away from the pressure.
Outside Rein: The outside rein "fills up" when the horse steps away from the inside leg. Now, you can use the outside rein to turn the horse (apply pressure as a neck rein), or half-halt (to slow the leg speed or maintain balance) or just accept the bend with no further activity.
Outside Leg: The outside leg has a job too. It asks the hind end to also step away from pressure, to the inside. This means that the hind end should be the final component to the horse "wrapping around" the inside leg. The hind end can almost do a very small haunches-in to achieve that.
Inside Rein: While this rein should be fairly inactive, it will open slightly into the direction of the turn (not so much that your arm comes away from your body). It can act as a guiding rein for less experienced horses, or ideally, it will just "flutter" and not have a whole lot of pressure on it at all. It may need to come into play to maintain flexion if you have too much pressure on the outside rein, or the horse just turns his head to the outside naturally.
The Cheat Sheet
There is a way to make all the above happen fairly organically. Do this on the ground. Stand straight with your weight evenly distributed on both feet. Hold your hands like you're holding reins. This is what straight feels like.
Now, turn right as if you are going into a turn.
Start the turn from your middle, but let the rest of your body just do what it must do in order to allow the turn to happen. You'll notice that as you turn right, your inside rein will "open", your outside rein will come closer to the neck ("neck rein"), your inside leg and knee will soften and come a little forward, and your outside leg will automatically slide a little further back and tighten (to the horse's body if it were there).
Straighten again, and do it all in one motion. "Swoop" to the right. Then swoop to the left. Everything should just move along in tandem. This is what you want to achieve on the horse's back.
Common Problems
Most horse and rider combinations go through several stages of mistakes as they develop a really good "inside leg to outside rein" feel.
The first thing that will likely happen when you turn your body in to the direction of the turn is that the horse will just lean in and "fall" to the inside of the arena. This is where your inside leg comes into play. It may take some time to teach your horse to step away, not into, your leg pressure. Don't despair if it takes several weeks or more. Your horse will get better over time.
You might shift your weight to the outside. This happens all the time! While we focus on using our inside leg, we tend to try to move the horse to the outside by throwing our body in that direction. Just catch yourself doing it, move back to the inside seat bone, and continue.
The horse will likely speed up when you first apply your inside leg. This is when an outside half-halt will be useful. Be sure to be crystal clear in explaining that pressure from your inside leg doesn't mean "go faster," but rather, "step away."
Another common problem might be that you have to learn how much pressure you need from your leg, and how much from your outside rein. In the meantime, you might end up with a horse that weaves left and right, looking like a squiggly worm! Don't despair! It's so much about coordinating body parts, and it will take time for you to adjust each part as needed. Just keep trying, feel for the worm, and steady your aids.
I hope this helps you a little on your riding journey. Let me know in the comments below what your experiences with "inside leg to outside rein" have been.
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the new Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!
Click to learn more.
Horse Listening Book Collection - beautiful paperbacks with all the excellence of the blog - in your hands! Click on the image for more information.
By following simple, useful exercises, you will be able to develop a better understanding about many topics including:
Somehow I blinked and five years scattered along their merry way... and it turns out that five years ago, I gulped down the inevitable frog-in-my-throat nervousness and hit "publish" for the very first time.
Little did I know, as the sweat subsided (just because of that little publish button), that I would not only be writing consistently, at least once a week for five years, but that people would actually READ what I wrote, comment, and become part of this community that has become Horse Listening.
Little did I know that step by tiny step, word after word... I'd work my way to writing and self-publishing books, getting published by equine magazines, having my own column inThe Rider, an equine magazine that I'd been reading for over a decade, and even getting a moment of air time on one of my favorite online horse radios, the Dressage Radio Show (click here to listen if you like).
It sure has been an amazing "wild ride"!
In celebration, I've prepared something that I hope you'll enjoy. I've put together an ebook of 20 of the most popular articles from the site to date, and would like to share the digital version exclusively with you for a reduced "anniversary" price of $5.00. The paperback version is also available if you'd rather have something you can hold in your hands. Click here to learn more.
Thank you for reading, commenting, liking, sharing, and emailing - this blog would never be what it is without your kind words, shared expertise and encouragement.
We just had our first taste of real cold weather this weekend, and I was reminded again about the "Blanket Rule" video I did last winter on Periscope, which was subsequently deleted within 24 hours! Many people tried to watch it later and couldn't, and so I decided to write the story into the blog so it's here for future reading.
The reason I decided to actually use video that day was because of the weather conditions. The sky was gray and dismal - with a very fine misty kind of rain that you only find when you walk beside the Niagara Falls! It wasn't quite rain - just a steady, consistent mist. It wasn't cold like it is now, and the ground was soft and muddy. But the mist did a great job to illustrate my reasoning behind my blanketing practices.
Like you, I'd seen the Facebook articles and comments about letting horses be horses, and sensitive "city" owners who cover their horses because they can't take the cold themselves. Those thoughts had made me second-guess myself but I still stuck to one rule that you can count on: listening to the horses themselves.
I used my two geriatric horses, Annahi and Kayla, to demonstrate for the video.
First off, we looked at Kayla. She is 34 years old and although her teeth are going and she is now a little rickety in the hind end, she's the picture of health. In her youth, she always grew wickedly wild mammoth fur in the winter. Kayla was tough and fast to ride, no-nonsense and safe.
I never needed to blanket Kayla. I was THE anti-blanket girl (plus, let's face it - blankets were rare and fairly expensive at that time). Horses need to grow winter coat, I thought! It was the healthiest way for them to live, and I wasn't going to interfere with nature.
In fact, those were the "good ol' days" of riding outside in the chest deep (to her) snow, riding only as needed in the worst of the cold, and otherwise not doing much of anything during the winter. We'd ride a bit in the indoor just to keep them moving and some of the horses would come in at night as part of their regular routine.
She never seemed to care about living out in the elements. She ate constantly, rolled in the snow, napped when the sun came out. To this day, she has the kind of fur that stands on end in the cold, and because of its length and thickness, it can actually keep the falling snow off her skin. She is the poster girl for the image of a horse that is completely covered in snow, calmly blinking the ice out of her eyes.
The video showed what I meant because that misty rain literally sat on the ends of her fur. There were tiny little droplets forming but they did not get to her skin. Most of her fur was still dry (maybe also because of the oil that gives her coat the great shine it has).
But these days, she's wearing a light winter blanket. When she was 28, I noticed that she seemed to be a little more tense through the real winter cold. She had lost a bit of weight and condition the year before, so I decided to borrow one of my other horse's rain sheets and put that on her, just to help break the wind and keep her dry.
The following spring, during their annual shots and teeth check-up, the vet commented on how good she looked. She did! She was shiny, she was shedding out nicely and she had good weight on her. I hadn't noticed much though, and when he asked me what I had done differently this year, I told him I hadn't done anything! The feed was the same. The turnout was the same. The herds were the same. Nothing had changed!
Until I thought about it. "Uh -- I did put a blanket on her in the winter," I said.
"That's it!" he said. "She just needed that extra bit of warmth to keep her condition up. She looks better this year than she has the last three to four years." And so I learned that even the toughest, most natural horse might actually need human support under certain circumstances.
Then I bought Annahi.
Annahi is the exact opposite of Kayla. She is thin skinned and thin coated. She doesn't eat much at any time. She is a ballerina to ride and sensitive to the aids. She's also sensitive to bugs in the summer, and weather in the winter.
She introduced me to horse-style shivers. The kind that happen over the whole body. The knee-knocking, large-muscle shaking tremors that look alarming if you've never seen such a thing. Most amazingly, she would present her shivering frame in mild temperatures, just because of a wet, breezy weather change. As I was the "au naturel" girl, I waited through a few such episodes to give her opportunity to grow out her fur, and toughen up. Surely, all horses acclimatize to cold weather!
Well, Annahi was the one to teach me otherwise. She continued to shake in rain, in snow, in windy weather. Her coat never grew much - great for our indoor arena rides, but not so much for outside turnout. And so I familiarized myself with horse blankets. The instant I put one on her, her shivering stopped. Completely. And her coat gleamed. And she rode better - well, no wonder, as her muscles didn't have to be so tense during turnout.
She told me that some horses just weren't bred to live comfortably in our extreme weather changes - hot or cold. She taught me that some horses would actually lose condition based on the weather outside, that some horses need turn-in so that they can be their best when we ride. Well, I also became "blanket girl."
The video was the perfect vehicle for the illustration. Annahi's coat was opposite to Kayla's on that fine misty-rain kind of day. Even with that limited bit of moisture, her coat was soaked! The fur was flat. The skin was wet. There was absolutely no insulation quality on her neck area that was exposed to the rain.
In years since, I've learned that all horses have their own needs, and you simply can't decide what is best for them. They will tell you, if you listen carefully enough. And they will thrive. It's all about management and understanding all the options out there.
So I chuckled when I saw those articles and comments - because, really, there is only one blanket rule for blanketing horses: it depends. 🙂
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the new Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!
Click to learn more.
Buy the book for many more riding tips! Horse Listening – The Book:Stepping Forward to Effective Riding
I was out tonight in the "super" moon - what a beautiful, crisp pre-winter evening. Diamond stars in the sky, almost-crunchy grass underfoot, and a cozy warm barn to walk into for night turn-in. The "girls" were out back bathed in moonlight. Their deeper-than-darkness figures slowly made their way to the gate. Us humans don't have the best night vision and I had to almost look a little sideways to see them as they moved ever so quietly in the colorless depth of the night.
But that moon! They say it's thebiggest and brightest moon that we've seen since 1948. As I walked around getting ready to bring the horses in, the moon seemed to be my personal spotlight, sending rays of pale moonlight ahead, behind and all around me. I could see my own shadow as I went to halter the horses.
The shadow.
I remember the first full moon shadow I ever had the pleasure of experiencing during a night ride - 26 years ago or so. Maybe it wasn't a super moon, but the glow it radiated sure was enough to fully light my way as I rode through the trails on my own beautiful horse, Kayla.
Night-lover Kayla,
Wide bright eyes surely seeing more than any human can.
Knowingly stepping with confidence over the familiar trail
now bathed in a color-bleached blanket of light
from the super full summer moon.
Nighttime ambiance dampens the sounds around us save for rhythmical breathing
and occasional snort. Legs speeding up now, electricity radiating through her
body, Kayla says, "Let's go!"
I feel at once my insignificance and her power.
There is nothing to do save
give my seat, back and whole being -
trust -
to the little bay mare who now wants to canter in the open field.
The shadow stalks us ever faster.
In this visually limited space,
everything is amplified:
- the clippety canter clop of the hooves
- the quiet of the earth,
- the speed
- and resulting breeze.
I feel.
The sway of Kayla's canter strides,
the landing on the hardened mid-summer earth,
the breeze meeting my face thanks to Kayla's determined efforts.
Time stands still until I realize I must breathe.
Honestly, the moon, the shadow that flittered over the earth as we rode along, and Kayla's love for movement was something that's been etched in my memory ever since. Thanks to Kayla, I learned that I would never be afraid of riding in the dark, especially when there was a moon to light our way. This first ride paved the way for many more such moonlit rides. In fact, for some years, I looked ahead on the calendar to figure out when the moon was going to be out so I could plan my night rides. Have you ever done that?
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If you’d like a structured, but personal tool to set goals, take a look our Goal Setting for the Equestrian: A Personal Workbook.The pages are designed for you to set and keep track of your progress over the course of a year.
Included in the book:
design your overarching goals
long- and short-term planning,
debrief your special events such as clinics or shows
reflect on, plan and evaluate your goals
sample goals and pages
The Workbook is available for instant digital download so you can print the pages right off your computer. There is also the option of a paperback version if you’d rather have a professionally bound book to hold in your hands.
Top 6 Reasons Why Horse Lovers Love the Earth: Caring for and riding horses must be among the most earth-dependent activities left to us (aside from farming and other such activities).
42 Ways to Learn, Play and Grow With Your Horse: Horses give to us in countless ways. We play, learn and grow with them, making horseback riding not merely a sport (which it truly is, like no other), but so much more.
5 Common Horse and Riding Myths: Do you regularly find yourself explaining/educating/justifying/rationalizing/defending your “horse habit”? Then this article is for you!
You're the one who wants to ride horses but still has so many responsibilities to juggle in the meantime. Life can take you by the hand and in the blink of an eye, you're out of school, well into a family of your own, nurturing a career on the side... and only now, you can finally afford to fulfill your lifelong dream of owning your own horse.
Or you've ridden before and finally have enough time and money to get back into it.
So you take lessons, part board a horse or eventually buy your own favorite equine. It's something you've always wanted to do and the more you get into it, the happier you are. The barn is your chance for a little "me" time. Riding requires you to drop everything and just do, be in the moment and spend time with a magnificent animal.
The thing is, your many responsibilities keep you away from your barn more than you would like. You find you can't always get out to ride in a regular schedule. Your goals get lost to the wayside and your fitness level is never quite where you'd like to be.
Despite it all, I'm here to tell you that there are so many reasons why horses and riding are still not only worthwhile to you, but also a huge benefit to the horse as well. Here are 8 ways you can feel good about your horse ownership and riding decisions even though it may not be the ultimate arrangement.
The guilt factor.
Don't beat yourself up over missed rides. It happens. Sometimes, life just gets in the way and despite your well-laid-out plans, you have to ditch the ride you were so looking forward to. But you know - it's ok. Your horse doesn't know any different and in the grand scheme of things, one missed ride is not going to make or break your entire training program.
Ditto if something urgent happens and you have to leave your horse for a week or more. Honestly, your horse will be there when things settle down for you. Just adjust your expectations and realize that you might have to re-condition both your horse and yourself in that case.
Your horse is glad to be your horse.
Trust me on that! If you're around the horse industry long enough, you will likely hear about the neglect cases and the kill buyers at the auctions and all the other rotten things that can happen to "livestock." If nothing else, you can provide food, shelter and a safe environment for your horse, and he is lucky to have you to make decisions on his behalf and pay for his keep. Many horses aren't so lucky.
Take more breaks but do your best.
If you find that you are less than adequately fit for riding thanks to lack of time and the abundance of hours spent at the office, just change your perspective of what it takes to make a "good" ride. Don't feel that you have to ride for an entire hour, or that you are committed to doing a whole lot during a riding session. Just get that saddle and bridle on and head out for a quick ride. Make your ride shorter. Take longer walk breaks.
Even during the shorter ride, be there, give it all you've got and work hard. Stay focused, listen to the horse, and respond accordingly. But give yourself some slack when needed.
Listen to your body.
Walk more often and catch your breath. Take it easy if you have an existing ache or pain (post instead of sit trot, for example). Know your limitations well enough so that you can ride within them. It's no good if you hurt yourself just for the sake of a ride.
Set realistic expectations.
Sometimes, we want to achieve more than we can realistically do with the time we have. Adjust your riding goals and expectations based on your other life responsibilities. If you can only ride once or twice a week, you'll have to consider that your goals might take longer to reach, simply because of the limited practice time. That's just fine.
Be patient.
Realistically, goals will take longer to reach. Your horse will be less fit. You will be huffing and puffing sooner than later. This is to be expected. All you have to do is patiently work at your goals and know that it might take longer to hit those milestones.
Get help.
Help might come in many shapes and sizes. If you can't ride often enough, consider getting a part-boarder. If you need help keeping your horse's exuberance down to a manageable level, consider hiring a trainer. If you want to improve your skills, join a lesson program. It's all about surrounding yourself with the right people at the right time.
Enjoy the ride!
Well, because that's what it's all about, really. Don't get too caught up in the missed opportunities or the longer timelines. I suspect that most of us are in it for the love of the horse, and for the sheer enjoyment we feel whether in a lesson or on the trails or in the cross-ties, just beautifying our four-legged friend.
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!
Stop printing off the articles! Your favorite training articles are compiled in this beautifully bound paperback book. Have everything at your fingertips - this book can be taken to the barn as a quick refresher or leisurely read at home.
From the Book:
"Regardless of discipline, what would be the most significant effect a rider would want to have on her horse?
We all want our horses to improve in their athletic
development, skill acquisition and connectedness. Much of our rider development and training efforts go into working toward our show or personal goals....
But the best riders aspire to do one essential thing each and every day, regardless of goals and lesson plans: they work hard to improve their horse’s way of going.
Because proper balance and weight carriage is essential to a horse’s longevity. Each and every minute of each and every ride has the potential to contribute to your horse’s health and well-being.
Or not."
Just as with all the Horse Listening Collection Books, this book is focused on helping the rider improve for the sake of the horse. But this book goes deeper into the best training articles from the blog - horse-centered theory, strategies and ideas you can try with your own horse.
The book begins with the horse's hind end (!), considers the horse's back, moves on to rider development, and fills it all in with the fundamentals of horse riding so your horse can be:
Hands up if you feel you're ever perfect while you ride!
I bet even our best international riders would agree that there's always something to develop, something to improve, a more subtle aid, a quieter seat, a more harmonious movement. In fact, one of the most agreed-upon tenets of riding (especially dressage) is that
"...riding is, therefore, an ongoing, never-ending, challenging process. That aspect makes riding so intelligent and significant an effort. One merely strives, one never arrives." (That's a quote from one of my all-time favorite authors, Charles deKunffy.)
***
"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."
Even Vince Lombardi himself, who is often quoted as the originator of the above quote, qualified his statement by saying, "Perfection is not attainable but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." This makes much more sense to me.
So how does perfect practice relate to us non-Olympic-bound, job-and-family-restricted, ride-only-a-few-times-a-week riders?
I have a theory. But perfection is only a tiny part of it.
The Horse Listening Rider Learning Cycle
Start at the bottom.
This learning scale is based purely on personal observation. There have been no formal studies done! However, I can tell you as an educator and a riding instructor and as a riding student that most people go through similar phases as they work their way toward "perfection." Let's break it down.
1. Recognize
This is the first part of any learning. Before you know something, you have to begin to recognize it in the first place. This is what "developing your eye" is all about. As you learn more about riding and the intricate nuances that go into each movement, you'll be able to observe little things that other people might completely miss. For example, can you actually identify the moment a rider applies a half-halt? Do you know the difference between a "good" trot and a "not as good" trot?
2. Emulate
Once you know what you're looking for, you will have a better idea on what you need to do. Think of Morpheus' quote in The Matrix:
Ah yes, walking the path. One might take it quite literally in riding!
While you may be able to see what is happening from the ground, it is entirely another thing to be able to do it in saddle. At this stage, you are probably putting a lot of effort into your tries, and making a lot of mistakes. Trial and error is exactly what should be happening at this stage (please apologize to your horse as needed).
3. Feel
This is when things get exciting! Those first "feels" are golden moments, especially because suddenly everything comes together and you momentarily float together with your horse in an effortless cloud of movement.
This is normal too. After you know what you are feeling for, you will be inspired to try, try again to find it again. You'll do it until you think you have it, then lose it again, only to find it even better and more confidently as time goes on.
4. Reproduce
Sometimes sooner, sometimes later, you'll suddenly realize that you can in fact get what you want - quite well, almost all the time! This is when you've learned something so well that you can do it on different horses, under different circumstances (shows or clinics, anyone?) and in front of an all-knowing audience (but you feel confident enough, thank-you-very-much).
This is the stage where you feel so established that you might not want to get out of your comfort zone anymore. I think this is where many of us end our learning journeys simply because everything comes fairly easily and we're safe much of the time.
5. Consolidate
This stage is for the lifelong learners. It's for the perfectionists. It's also for those aspiring riders who do want to perform at the highest level that they can.
This is also where I believe "perfect practice" comes into the scheme of things.
Have you ever done something a million times, only to find a deeper, clearer or better understanding in the million-and-first time? This is the consolidation stage.
You're already fluid, fluent, utterly comfortable - but suddenly, you learn something that changes your whole understanding and/or feel. Just when you think you know it all, you discover how much more there is to learn. But because of your already impeccable skills, you can and should refine, reduce, become more subtle, be more effective, move less... and still work to you and your horse's highest potential.
You can't really get to this stage without aiming for perfection. Even while the concept of perfection might be different between person to person, or within differing riding disciplines, being able to do something really well over and over again is an art to itself indeed.
***
I called it a learning "cycle" because I believe that each and every skill you develop goes through these learning stages over and over again. Every time you learn something new, you start at the bottom and work your way to the top. Some skills may take longer to develop than others, of course.
Perfect practice is not something we can start at the beginning of the learning cycle. We can only begin to perfect our skills once we've achieved a certain level of accomplishment in the first place. And in the end, especially in horse riding, I think it's better to think to work toward excellence - not perfection. Because such a thing surely does not exist.
Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!
Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the new Horse Listening Practice Sessions.
This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.
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If you’d like a structured, but personal tool to set goals, take a look ourGoal Setting for the Equestrian: A Personal Workbook. The pages are designed for you to set and keep track of your progress over the course of a year.
Included in the book:
design your overarching goals
long- and short-term planning,
debrief your special events such as clinics or shows
reflect on, plan and evaluate your goals
sample goals and pages
The Workbook is available for instant digital download so you can print the pages right off your computer. There is also the option of a paperback version if you’d rather have a professionally bound book to hold in your hands.
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I was out tonight in the "super" moon - what a beautiful, crisp pre-winter evening. Diamond stars in the sky, almost-crunchy grass underfoot, and a cozy warm barn to walk into for night turn-in. The "girls" were out back bathed in moonlight. Their deeper-than-darkness figures slowly made their way to the gate. Us humans don't have the best night vision and I had to almost look a little sideways to see them as they moved ever so quietly in the colorless depth of the night.
