From the beginning of our Saturday morning lesson, we tied our reins in a knot and worked on steering with our legs at the trot on the rail. What I find hardest about this is not the steering itself but the way the horses love to run up on the butt of the horse in front of him. Hi guys, personal space is a thing. I'm sure someone with excellent equitation could avoid this, but I had to cheat a little and pull Calvin away when he did this.
We then worked on going over jumps without reins, while clapping. Once we were trotting straight to the jump we'd drop the reins and, while popping over, clap our hands. It helped us keep our back straight, staying up instead of collapsing, as well as not rely on the reins for balance. On the cross rails I had no issue and it wasn't until we were at 2'6" that I found myself grabbing mane at some point over the jump out of cowardice. But overall, this exercise gave me HUGE confidence over "bigger" jumps. If I could stay on without holding on, I really wasn't going to go flying off! Ok, duh, but awesome!
The one thing I do need to work on is to keep the horse straight after the jump. They all fall into a pattern of circling back after to re-join their friends (and because it becomes a pattern) and it means I'm not in control. It's also they way I fell off last time, going over a jump, not sitting back up soon enough, and flying off when the horse abruptly turned left.
We then worked on going over jumps without reins, while clapping. Once we were trotting straight to the jump we'd drop the reins and, while popping over, clap our hands. It helped us keep our back straight, staying up instead of collapsing, as well as not rely on the reins for balance. On the cross rails I had no issue and it wasn't until we were at 2'6" that I found myself grabbing mane at some point over the jump out of cowardice. But overall, this exercise gave me HUGE confidence over "bigger" jumps. If I could stay on without holding on, I really wasn't going to go flying off! Ok, duh, but awesome!
The one thing I do need to work on is to keep the horse straight after the jump. They all fall into a pattern of circling back after to re-join their friends (and because it becomes a pattern) and it means I'm not in control. It's also they way I fell off last time, going over a jump, not sitting back up soon enough, and flying off when the horse abruptly turned left.
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