Bending and Counter-Bending October 31, 2007
Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse)
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Today was my lesson on Rasyn, and it was really cool. First of all, the temperature was in the high 30’s low 40’s and the ground was covered in a layer of frost. At first I thought it was really cool. Then I realized that this meant slippery footing in the arena. Luckily, half the arena is covered, so half of it wasn’t frosty. That gave me about a 60′ by 60′ area to work in which is tight but doable.
Cindy (my instructor) suggested that we work on an exercise that she’s been using with her other students, especially on cold days when the horse is particularly stiff. The idea is that you start off in counter-bend around a 20m circle. It takes a little while to establish it, because a) Ray is still learning what the heck I’m talking about and b) it is a lot more challenging that being in a true bend, so a lot of horses will try and avoid it if possible. Once we got a counter-bend consistently, and were able to get him to relax and reach more into the contact, we would switch between true bend and counter-bend, focusing on keeping the rhythm and tempo consistent. And if that weren’t enough, we added in leg-yielding in and out of the circle. The result was a beautiful, free, smooth, rhythmic trot that just made me grin from ear-to-ear. It was a great lesson.
We have decided that Ray is a little bit of a princess. While riding around a drip from the ceiling fell on his rump. He very delicately kicked out as if to say, “Eeewww! It’s runing my hair!” Dork.
Workout:
- Type: Other
- Date: 10/31/2007
- Time: 10:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
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