This week in lessons

This week in lessons we are going to  work on corners, where you, the rider, control the corner. Who else would control the corner you ask? Well, for most of you, I think it is the wall. The horse either sees the wall and decided to drop its shoulder and turn early, OR the rider holds the horse into the wall to get a deep corner, but the wall is definitely what is keeping the horse from falling out. Basically the wall is acting as the outside leg/rein!

To practice this on the flat, we will be turning down the centerline, and leg yielding to the 1/4 line, then keeping the horse straight using our outside leg solid on their barrel to send them forward and straight, and the outside rein, solid against their neck. These outside aids act like a wall, balance the horse, and control the shoulder from dropping.

We will then ride the end of the ring like it is a 1/4 circle, straight line, and 1/4 circle, rather than a funky loop with maybe a straight step at "A" or "C". Think of good corners like the brown line on the left, and the typical end of the arena ridden line the red line on the right. The red line is just someone letting the wall steer the horse, the other end is a 1/4 circle then a straight line. (I drew a full circle so you get the idea that the 1/4 circle is a 1/4 of a 10 meter circle...all horses should be able to do a 1/4 of a 10 meter circle, and better trained ones should be able to go smaller!)

 

In jumping lessons, we are going to be doing a full course, seeing if you can carry forward the skills we have been working on to do a smooth and pleasant hunter course. We will carry forward the flat work exercise, and we will be paying special attention to the corners, and to making sure it is the rider not the wall balancing the horse in the ends! This will also help with lead changes.

 

Karen