You have to bend to straighten… December 11, 2007
Posted by kimayars Uncategorized
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If you ride balanced seat equitation, you have heard this a million times:
“You have to bend the horse to straighten it.”
The unfortunate thing is not only is it hard to understand, but it’s true. And it works. This is what we spent our time on today. Bending. So we could be straight. Sort of. I mean, it’s not REALLY straight. A horse will almost always have some degree of bend. But like most things in the horse world, they’re more confusing than simple.
Take half-halts for example. If you ask someone for a definittion, 9 times out of 10 you’ll see a pained look on their face. A half-halt means different things to different riders and different horses. My half-halts on Ray are much different that the half-halts I used on Delta (my previous horse). AND, they change with the situation. To describe it in generic terms would be a combination of driving and restraining aids to help rebalance the horse. But to quantify the intensitity and type of aids is nearly impossible. But I digress…
I’m always amazed at how much I have to bend Ray to get him straight. Today was a “counter-bend” day. I used counter-bends a lot to stretch him and get him supple. I had one moment of “straightness” where for four strides I really felt his shoulders free up and he literally felt like he was floating. Yup, nearly 30 minutes of bending to get 4 strides of “straight”. It is a labor of love. Maybe next time I’ll get 6 strides. Then half the arena. Then full arena. Eventually, it will be second nature.
And finally, an update on the foot: It hurts like Hell. I’ve been religiously icing it, but still no real improvement. I’m starting to get grumpy. Tomorrow I’m going to try and call a kind soul who offered to help out. I think her hubby has gone through something similar, and might be able to provide some advice.
Comments
Hey Kimm — Don’t use ice on your foot. Ice should only be used for the first 48 hours to prevent swelling and inflamation from the initial injury. After that, ice just slows healing (ask me how I know this!
) You should use heat now, gentle stretching and massage. Give it at least 10 days from the initial injury–that’s about how long soft tissue injuries and bone bruises can take before they start to feel better.
Advil is your friend!
BTW, I’ve been reading your blog since the “Pooh Critique”!
Ann
Sorry about the foot. Injuries are just plain annoying! I wish you a rapid recovery.
Although I’ve done a lot of work with horses, its been many years. And, I don’t remember all this bending to straighten stuff. Its interesting to hear about it, but its frustrating not to really understand. Can I ask? Is the bend that you work him into a bend in the neck? Is it upward/downward or side2side? Or maybe I’m totally not understanding. Maybe I should finally make that date to connect up with you and meet Ray and see for myself ;)!
Best of luck with the foot, you don’t realize how much you use something until it hurts!
I agree with the massages and heat. I’m not an expert, but I did something bad to my foot back in April (okay an obese lady stepped on it with her high heel, full force!) and it didn’t begin to heal until I started the massage/heat therapy thing.
I hope it heals quickly! Glad to know it’s at least not keeping you off of Rasyn.
Hope you’re having a great week!
I’ve had a similar sounding injury and it turned out to ne micro tears in the tendon in my heel. It took a long time to heal, but it didn’t always hurt thank goodness. Anyway, I was told to roll my foot on a rollingpin or a can and to do the alphabet with my foot. It sounds crazy I know, but it did really help.
At least you can still ride though!