Centered Riding Book 1 Exercises

I am starting to review and practice the Centered Riding Book 1 Exercises, one exercise
or group of exercises a week.
 

Chapter 1: Introducing Centered Riding, where Sally Swift talked about herself.

Chapter 2 Exercises:  Pretend you are a horse.  The rider gets down on all fours and has someone
rub, squeeze or massage your back as you stand and walk.  How do you think the horse feels?

Chapter 3 was a review of the Four Basics, Eyes, Breathing, Centering and
Building Blocks and a few exercises of each basic. More on that tomorrow!

Chapter 4 Exercises: Learning and the Brain.  Use your hard eyes and left brain to think through the exercise/pattern/what to do and use Soft Eyes and right brain to feel the ride.  Learn to ride with one brain then the other brain. Don't dwell on one problem... Your body will respond will less effort.
Chapter 5 Anatomy Exercises.

1. Find the hip joint by lifting your knee up and down while searching for the
bend with your fingers.

*** You can rotate the thigh using a lot of muscle and tension OR you can use
soft eyes, play the internal videotape and see the greater trochanter move
"forward" through the muscles. Use SOFT EYES and see the motion inwardly.

I find that anytime I ride, I exercise the hip joint! This helps me to be more
flexible in my riding. This keeps my hip joint from "catching" or "cramping".
I start out by doing simple leg exercises, just rotate the ankle and lift it up
an down. Swing my lower leg up and down at the knee. March in place starts to
relax the hip joint. Then I swing the leg, back and forth, from the hip, and
not bending the knee. I can't swing the whole let too far, but even a couple of
inches will start to get the hip joint released and working.

As always, do a little at a time, and only what you can do so you don't get sore
muscle.

The review of this part of the chapter is on my chat, Horses Are Our Lives. Click on the link below to join. Read along and/or discuss this and other books with me. I'll soon be back to talking about riding and training tips, health issues, grooming, feed and nutrition, etc.

Join the Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group to learn more of the exercises at:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

"Embrace the Journey!"
Brenda

The First Western Dressage Group Lesson

Last Friday evening was the first Western Dressage group lesson. There were only 3 of us, Sandy, Virginia and me. This was actually an extra group lesson, as most of the riders will come this Friday.

We had a great time, learning to keep the horse traveling correctly in the bend of the circle. We parctice "threading the needle" exercise, moving along the rail, riding a circle, going straight, then doing a half circle, riding the rail the opposite direction, doing a circle, etc.

The horses were responding, giving at the jaw, stretching down into the bit, strengthening the neck, learning to lean on the bit. The basics of dressage. Small steps.

I had an individual Dressage lesson last Tuesday with Shaggy, a few days before the group lesson.  My third dressage lesson ever and my first with Dara.  She is a wonderful, kind instructor who teaches in a coaching atmosphere.  She explains what to do clearly, she tells you the moment she sees a response in the horse, and when something is confusing, she explains it another way.  She shows exercises that will help a horse to build up his topline.

"Relaxed Tension" was one way for her to explain how much contact needs to stay on the reins.  I hold with contact, and that is where the change in me is starting.  I hold with a give and take with following hands and elbows.  Dara is teaching that at first, really give so the horse feels no contact when the horse gives.  Yet, there needs to be tension on the reins at other times so the horse knows to go into the bit and search for the bit, not quite leaning on it but feeling it.  So much a fine line to teach the horse where to go and to teach the rider how much or how little to hold.  I will try to explain this more as I learn the steps.  Letting totally go when the horse gives, to maintaining some contact, to eventually have the horse carry the bit.

For now, Shaggy is a fast learning.  We worked on keeping the bend in the circle, leg yielding out, then circling.  He picked up on this and stays in the bend.  Then we worked on having a slight bend, while traveling straight, and asking for a leg yield out. This is a little more difficult for him to give the ever so slight bend and maintain traveling straight. He would start to travel at a faster trot, and I would half halt, with my inside thigh and my seat, and bring him down to a slower trot.  Other times, we would come down to a walk or a halt when he becomes anxious and wants to travel faster. We will work on this a little each day.

Shaggy worked hard on Friday.  I didn't think we were working too hard, and it wasn't even an hour, when he decided he was done.  He showed a little frustration, then decided to go faster into a canter to complete his exercise.  I slowed him down to a walk, left him relax, and we completed one more exercise, then we were down.  I wanted to get him back to a working, relaxed mind, do a simple job, then walk off relaxed to tell him he was done.

He settled down and hung his neck out on a very relaxed long rein.  We ended the moment on a good note.

This Friday is another group lesson and I'll have more to share!

How Good Riders Get Good

You MUST get this book. I sat down tonight (really, I did), after chores, with
an ice tea, and outside on the lounge chair. I thought, ok... I'll read the
book cover and intro to see what this book is about. An hour later, I did NOT
want to put the book down. The first chapter even had me leafing through the
book to check out the other chapters. I especially checked out the chapter on
personal characteristics! LOL

"How good can you really be? It's up to you and your choices?"

Are you going for what you want? Find the riding sport that is right for you.
Life circumstances get in the way, what is your support team like, how does your
riding body feel, are you searching for more horse knowledge, is your horse the
right horse for what you want to do,

There are 9 character traits of a successful rider.

It is a nuts and bolts book. Real Life. Tell it how it is. It sounds very
familiar to how I used to be, and somewhere along the way, I've lost something.
This is what the book makes me think, already! I need to get back to my true
self, how I really am, and go for what I really want.

I am anxious to read more tomorrow!

Are you reading this book now, or have read it? What do you think about the
into and the first chapter?'

If you want to join in on my chat, Horses Are Our Lives, request an invite on the chat or at:
messickquarterhorses@yahoo.com

Brenda

Training Tips: Ground Manners

On my chat group, Horses Are Our Lives, last week we discussed Training Tips on Ground Manners. Below is some of the discussion.

Let's talk about ground manners. We should have lots of ideas to what we do with the horses. There are many, so just pick one to talk about each day. Today - how about the beginning. I would like to start with bonding with the horse. I love to free lunge to get the horse to bond with me. This not only teaches the horse to bond, but also shows the horse that I am the leader. Horses want to have a leader. They want a horse to alert them to danger, to take them to water, to let them know what it is ok to rest. I want the horse to look at me to be his/her leader and to trust me. With free lunging, ground manners start as it teaches the horse respect. To have good ground manners, you need the horse's respect.
What do you do to bond with your horse?

Discussion followed, with my answers:

Yes, I think we all should do things a little different with each horse, as they are individuals also.

Terri, as I respond to your email, I am just going to answer as if I'm talking to the group, not to you specifically. I'm just going to talk about some of your thoughts! Thanks for your insight!

Some horses can take more pressure, some can't. And pressure comes in many forms. As you work with your horse, watch that you don't give your horse too much pressure. Watch for when your horse becomes uncomfortable as you are doing anything, and if you see that discomfort, back down to something easier.

I like that - loving energy in my hands. I also rub a horse at certain times during training. I can't say at a specific time, just at a specific "feel". I sense when the horse relaxes/is comfortable/wants a buddy, and that is when I rub between the eyes.

I'm sorry you were off today. Something was different today for you. Yes, it is important to center yourself, and that is one lesson that I have really learned this last year. I have found a calmness, but it hasn't stayed with me every day. Remember, as women, we do have hormones to deal with, and when I'm feeling off, I take a step back to find out what is going on inside my body. Maybe we need to do the same things with the horses, when they are a little off??? Something to think about.

Definitely listen to your gut. Even when conditions aren't perfect, we can ride, but stay safe. Sometimes, I forget that I can get ahead with slow work just as I can condition a horse with fast work.

You had a bonding ride with that filly. That was neat. Building trust is important. I'm sure the next ride is going to be even better. Once your own the road where everything is going right, it just keeps spiraling upwards. That's because we know when not to pressure the horse, but keep it easy for the horse to succeed!

Next topic - leading! I don't like a horse that steps almost on top of me when something spooks it! I want the horse to lead with his head a little in front of me, so that we are eye to eye. I want him over a foot or so. I think this is one of the hardest things to teach.

I have seen trainers who want that horse behind them and they want the horse to stop when the trainer stops. I can teach that, as each time you stop, you turn and make the horse back up. But most of the time I see this in practice, the horse is being intimidated and frightened that if they don't do what is being asked, then will be swatted with the lead rope. And I want to see the horse that I'm leading and not give it a chance to jump over me if something scares it from behind.

A lot of time when you first start leading a horse, the horse is leaning towards you. I do a lot of turns away from me, to the right, so that I am walking around the horse as I'm reversing the horse. This teaches the horse to move the shoulder away from me.

I also start to lead with my arm out to the side, keeping the horse a foot away from me. As the horse leads at that distance, my arm becomes more relaxed and I have some slack in the lead rope.

Then practice walking with that horse! Keeping the horse from jumping on top of the person leading it is a huge ground manners lesson.

Some additional thoughts after some discussion on the chat group: the eye and shoulder are in the same line so the horses head is at or a little forward of this line. For the height of the head, I like my horses to lead with their head also at the shoulder area - not too high or too low. I guess I never thought of exactly where - just an area.

Everyone should consider their bubble and where they want the horse to be and
not be. In Centered Riding, we ride in a bubble also.

Right now, I'm teaching some young horses to lead. What a chore! I just give
and take with the lead rope, to get them to follow the forward pressure on the
lead rope. Sometimes, I can tap behind me with the end of the lead rope to touch
the horse on the side, and that is incentive to get the horse to move forward.
Shaggy does not like that at all. With him, I think it is just going to take
time to get him to move out and walk beside me without hesitating.

How many of us have our horse's face in our face, or their mouth on our arm, or pushing us with their head? Is your horse mouthy?

I don't want my horse to do any of these. We showed showmanship and that horse needs to stand quiet all the time. We start in the stall, tie up the horse (always high, at least at eye level, but I am always tying higher than that). As we groom, and the horse reaches around to touch us with his/her mouth, we gently push the head back to face front. As the horse keeps reaching around, then the elbow is ready to lift and hit the horse, gently at first, under the jaw. The elbow hit becomes stronger until the horse learns to not turn his head. Remember to work equal lengths of time on each side of the horse. You may want to start grooming on the side of the horse that seems harder for the horse to stand still, go to the other side, and return to the first side.

I don't feed treats from my hand, and I don't have trouble with horses being mouthy and looking for treats.

If I'm leading a horse, and he/she turns towards me, I'll use my elbow to bump the horse's jaw or side of head to keep it away from me.

Don't bump too hard with the elbow - you don't want a sore elbow! That horse's head is hard!

What do you do to teach your horse to not be mouthy?

I’ve enjoyed the discussion this week. Come join us at:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

Brenda
“Embrace the Journey!”

Centered Riding Topic: Dancing Knees

On the Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group, I talked about Dancing Knees.

I love this Centered Riding exercise. As you are trotting, go up into 2 point position. You will be 2 pointing with relaxed knees, allowing the knees to move with the movement of the trotting. As you are relaxing the knees and going with the movement, you will soon realize that your ankles and your hips are more relaxed. You will be able to ride longer periods of time without any joint pain or tiredness or achy knees.
Let me know how it works for you and have fun with this exercise!

At first, you can have a lot of movement. I had asked this very same question! "ALLOW" your body to move with the horse. When you get comfortable with the exercise, your body starts to do the movement in the knees without effort from you making the body move. This may take months. The key is to allow the body to move, then slowly don't help the body to move. I left my body move all last summer, for 3 months, then slowly started moving less. I am going to an update clinic in June, and I will let everyone know if my movement is too much at this point, a year later.

Chat Group TrainingTip: 2 Point Position

I started a chat group, Horses Are Our Lives, to talk about Centered Riding and Training Tips. I would like to talk about what we are doing with our horses and what we hope to do. And we’ll talk about our rides, our achievements and our troubles.

If you would like to join the chat group, Horses Are Our Lives, go here:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

and ask to join. If you don’t get an invite, than email me at horsesareourlives@yahoo.com

Last week we talked about the 2 point position as a Training Tip discussion. We also talked about the Centered Riding topic of Dancing Knees, which I will share tomorrow.

Normal body alignment while riding at the walk, is sitting with a straight back, with a straight line from the back of the ear, through the shoulders, in line with the hip and heel. A straight line from ear-shoulders-hip-heel. You maintain this line while posting. (Remember that I have been taught the QH English Equitation on the flat for shows, and I'm sure that you jumpers out there will have more suggestions to help achieve a balanced 2 point. I welcome all suggestions!)

In 2 point position, the body lifts out of the saddle slightly, and you lean slightly forward, keeping your back straight. You raise your hands slightly up the horse's neck to help maintain balance. You keep your feet on the "bubbling spring" of the foot, which is slightly behind the ball of the foot. I will talk about how to find this spot this week. The alignment in the body is a straight line from shoulders-knee-toe. Ear-shoulder - knee-toe.

Once again, as you raise up into 2 point, raise your hands slightly forward and up, to maintain balance. If this is difficult, hold the gullet at the front of the pommel with one hand and a shorten rein with the other hand. When things get out of control, sit down gently, pick up both reins, get control of your body and your horse, and start over.
Let me know if this helps, and where you are having trouble. Keeping the body relaxes is easier said than done, sometimes, but the dancing knees will help that.

Have fun practicing!

After some discussion on the chat group, here were some additional thoughts.

I tend to have too long of irons when I ride, but I think shorter irons help moving up in to 2 point. With your legs out of the irons, your irons should hit at the back of your ankle joint, maybe slightly higher. With western stirrups, you just lift your toe and that is the length of stirrup.

If you feel too short, try 1 hole longer, and remember that when we post or go in to 2 point, we do not need to come out of the saddle a lot, just enough so that there is a little air under us. The alignment should stay the same. You may have to go back to practicing with leather lengths if you wonder if your leathers are too short. I also goggled "English riding 2 point position", and try doing that also and reading a few descriptions on position and leg length.

Jumping position is 3 point (I said that wrong on the chat group and Sara corrected me). I will look through the books again, and see what I can find on position, and get back to you about where they talk about it in the book. The trouble I had when I goggled position is that they go in to jumper mode, and the rider is up and over the horse's neck, getting ready for the jump. Yes, the jumper has a shorter leg, and jumping is not my expertise at all, lol.

I'm probably using 2 point to a lesser degree than the jumpers. We won't lean up and over the horse's neck, as Jumpers stay parallel to the neck as they go over the jump. We will not be that far forward, unless you are going over jumps!

Another discussion that popped up last week was about the feel of different bridles with the same or different bits attached. My thoughts:

I get the same feel with any type of bridle, but I do have different feels with different bit (It doesn't matter if that bit is on a different type of bridle).

THIS IS MY OPINION: I have only heard a few old trainers say this: I have always believed that a snaffle bit isn't always a kind bit. Both my daughter Sara, who is on this chat also, and myself have seen the effect of taking a snaffle out of a horse's mouth and put a light curb in the horse's mouth, and the head tossing is gone! I know some horses have too sensitive mouth for a snaffle, as the snaffle "bites" the tongue. The curb gives relief to the tongue. The snaffle may hit the roof of the mouth at a point, where the curb may hit in in a gentle arch or not at all, depending on how high the curb is. Yes, checking the teeth is always a first thing to do. I would change to a mild low port curb. There are snaffle bits that are curbs, the kimberwicks, and I would try on of those on the English headstall.

Let me know if a different bit helps!

On the Horses Are Our Lives chat group, there was more discussion on the feel and use of Snaffle bits, Kimberwicks, and Curb bits with loose and solid shanks!

I hope you can come and discuss some ideas with us!

Hope to see you on the trail, and on a journey with your horse.

“Embrace the journey!”

Brenda