A Glimpse Into the Future April 28, 2008
Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse)
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Today I had a massive headache and knew that a ride wasn’t going to happen. When I told my trainer she got a gleam in her eye and said, “Let’s long-line him!” Sounded good to me!
Long-lining is similar to ground driving. You have a surcingle around the horse’s middle, and veeeeery long reins that attach to the bit in the horses bridle, through the surcingle, and then to you. You are on the ground, and the horse is in front of you. (How far you ask? About as far as they can kick…) I inserted a video at the bottom of this post which I have watched a few times to figure out what’s going on.
To my knowledge, Tigger has never been long-lined before, so this was probably a new experience for him. He never really panicked, but did try and spin a few times. My trainer is really good at this, so in a short amount of time she had him going quite nicely. It was so cool to see him from the ground without the interference of a rider. I saw what I hope was a glimpse into the future with him: Piaffe. It’s not stellar, but it’s regular in it’s rhythm and it’s there. Maybe someday I’ll experience it under saddle.
SPEAKING of saddles, one of the saddles I checked out from the consigment store worked! It fits him pretty well except that it tips forward just a hair. Since he’s pretty hollow right behind the withers still, with more conditioning that should fill in. Until then I’m going to put a shim under the front to raise the saddle up some. That should do me just fine. And in case you are wondering, it’s a Neidersuss Olympik with a 43cm seat and a medium tree. I’ve had one of these saddles before and I love it.
Tigger’s back seems to be just great right now. I didn’t find any hint of soreness when I was grooming him. I might just be able to get on him on Wednesday!
Here’s the long-lining video:
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