Muscles coping with horse's big movement
Posted by Irina Yastrebova on Friday, August 31, 2007 11:55 PM
My friend visited me today and rode Colonel who has bigger trot than her own horse.
Obviously it was a challenge for her to ride him. Her muscles were not prepared to control such big movement and she was losing her balance.
To compensate she started leaning too much forward, grabbed the reins for support sometimes and her thighs couldn't rotate in enough to make
her feel like her legs are under her. We shortened
her stirrups and I have explained the situation to her. She worked really hard and made very nice progress by the end. Trot became more steady and organized.
However, transitions created the same problem all over again. I have explained to her that her body didn't get enough practice. In the same way we are awkward
if we are right-handed and eat with our left hand. No matter how hard we try we will not be able to get precise movements and ease of our right hand.
Sometimes her muscles were too tense, sometimes too relaxed, making her own movements either too big or too slow. This of course confused Colonel and prevented
him to make precise downward transitions. I'm sure that riding Colonel made her see that there is a room for improvement which will help her with her own horse.
Riding more schooled or more challenging horses is very beneficial to get a clear picture of how much more there is to learn.
Happy riding...
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