photo by Philippe Oursel on Unsplash
Stories & Inspiration
Do You Know WHERE Your Horse And You Are Going?
Do you know this one?
You have just mounted, you are riding away from the mounting block, but you haven’t really decided where you are going. So your horse just wanders of until you realize that that’s not where you wanted to go.
And you are already having the first disharmony or fight.
This is one reason why I find that the first and most important thing to focus on when riding is to lead your horse onto the Line you want to ride on.
That could be a circle line, following the rail, or any pattern you have chosen.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN! – That’t the important part: before even riding away from the mounting block, you need to have decided where the two of you, your horse and you, are going next.
With a lack of plan where you actually want to go, your horse is left to his own devices.
If you are not clear about the line, it’s guess work for both you.
This is also often connected to a loss of balance because your horse is probably drifting this way or that way.
Doing this right is a chance for you to show gentle but clear leadership.
So, try this instead: Next time you mount, take a short moment to plan WHERE you want to go. You don’t need your entire lesson planned out.
You just need to know if you are leaving the mounting block on a straight line, a circle or whatever.
You might have to convince your horse to stay on the line you have chosen.
Especially if you are not usually doing it this way, your horse might want to make his own decisions.
Horses think along lines. In the wild they travel e.g. from grassland to water holes, and they know exactly where they are going.
When riding, that’s your responsibility: Decide on the line, lead your horse onto it and move along it, and then you can think about the next point, the energy level (more about that next week).
I know it’a chicken and egg thing. – When you have enough forward, it’s easier to stay on the line. But without a clear idea WHERE you are going, everything else will be hard (or impossible).
Let me know how it goes.
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