Exercises To Boost Your Pony Balance

In the films, even beginners jump onto horses and ride them away expertly, at warp speeds. In the real world, a novice who attempts something similar to that will find himself biting dust in awfully short order. What you see in the flicks is pony riding expertise which has come with years of practice.

Balance is the most vital ingredient of top riding talents; if you don’t have balance, you will be biting dust every other minute.

I’ve got some proposals below for you on exercises that may help you perfect your sense of balance. These exercises are most constructive for beginner riders.

Almost all newcomers receive their first riding lessons on saddled horses. Ever done bareback riding, without saddles? I know of plenty of trainers who think about this to be the swiftest and most productive way to boost rider balance. Though it can appear to be a little bit of a dangerous venture, it is actually pretty safe when It is correctly supervised. These trainers really believe in beginning novices off on horses without saddles.

Saddles create a area of comfort that makes riders just a bit sloppy. The riders have tools they can depend on, like stirrups, cantle and saddle horn. These tools help them stay on the pony, without really doing much to boost his sense of balance.

When you are bareback riding, there is no buffer zone between you and the pony, and you have got to learn the difficult way to stay on top as the pony moves. Lose your concentration and lose your seat.

Here is a practical guide on the way to improve balance.

When you start bareback, your trainer begins your first lesson by steering your pony through a smooth, straightforward gait that will let you adjust at your own speed. The slow easy pace will be maintained until you are completely happy with it.

You ought to be sitting straight, with your heels down and eyes looking ahead. You could have some notion of how your muscles work to maintain body balance. You should be relaxed and at ease.

Try to absorb the flow of the horse’s movements. Go with its rhythm, let it influence the movements of your very loosely held body so you do not get tensed. You’ll have some problems to begin with, but with continued practice, you will get a grip on it.

Another advantageous exercise while on horseback is stretching your arms out like they’re wings. When you do this, you are forced to utilize your hips more to balance yourself, and this is a useful lesson for you. It helps you sit straight, without mooching or leaning onto the horse’s neck or making a grab at its mane. Once you feel comfy riding with your arms out, go to the next level by moving your arms in circles (not so massive) and swinging them from one side to the other.

Sooner or later, your tutor will put your pony on quicker gaits, and each time this occurs, repeat your arm exercises. Keep it up with the trot and the canter. Each gait’s speed will decide its difficulty level.

You can also do some ’round the world’ exercises which are really fun. Try them out under your trainer’s supervision when the pony is standing still. Switch from a forward-facing riding position to facing one side, then the rear, the opposite side and back front again. As you get more experienced at it, you can begin to do it while your pony is in motion; you obviously start with the walk and work your way up.

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Tips To Efficient Towing Of Horse Trailers

You would be wise to pay heed to the tips given below if you are new to, or comparatively unskilled at, traveling with a pony trailer in tow.

1. Exercise patience! You cannot drive as quick with a trailer in tow as you can drive without, so accept that fact and drive appropriately. Give yourself a lot of time to get to your destination, and ensure your scheduling includes some time for contingencies. Don’t subject yourself to the pressure of having restricted time to get to your destination, and don’t let traffic on the road pressure you in any fashion. If you see a traffic tail-back behind, pull over where you will find a convenient spot and let the congestion go by.

2. Cars with manual transmission allow better driver control. Use your gears strictly in accordance to the terrain, the slope and speed regulations. If you will be traveling over rough country, a 4×4 would be preferable.

3. Stick to the lower gears if conditions are wet and slippery.

4. You’d be far better off driving a diesel-driven auto. Diesel powered engines give you more torque at low speeds.

5. If you find your trailer rocking, swaying or snaking from one side to the other, or alternatively giving an unbalanced feel, establish that your load is evenly distributed regarding weight. As far as possible most of the weight should bear down on the trailer’s axles.

6. Be certain to permit sufficently for trailers that are broader. Don’t forget there is a greater probability they may bump the kerb or drop off.

7. Make all possible arrangements for improving your sight lines when you’re towing a trailer. You ought to have larger rear view mirrors on the towing automobile to help see better past the trailer.

8. Before hitting the road, you should have 1 or 2 other ways to get to your destination planned out. You don’t need to get stuck in a bottleneck or road closure. Have contingency plans for break downs and unexpected emergencies. Make sure your spare tires and tire changing hardware are in full working condition. Superior preparation means superior coping capability.

9. Plan and execute regular breaks on extended journeys. During the breaks, carry out a thorough inspection of the trailer and its contents.

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Difference Between A Horse Running And Lengthening Stride

I often see confusion in people over horses ‘running’ and ‘lengthening’: they can’t tell the difference between the 2. In this post, I’m really not only going to explain these 2 terms, I will also shed a bit of light on 2 other terms: ‘medium gaits’ and ‘extended gaits’.

Running

When your pony reacts to your cue to lengthen frame and walk and the result is that his speed (rate at which the rhythm repeats) gets quicker, your horse is not increasing. He’s running.

Increasing

When your horse lengthens effectively, he’s essentially stretching out his frame and stride as much as he can without changing his rhythm or speed, at a slightly early part of the coaching (the 1st level or thereabouts). What this achieves is that each stride covers more ground.

Lengthenings derive from working trots and canters. The horse is usually in what could be called ‘horizontal balance’ while on working gaits, and he is going to remain that way while extending. By ‘horizontal balance’ I mean that the horse’s topline just about is parallel to the ground.

Medium gaits

At a medium gait, your horse will have lengthened his frame and stride moderately without changing rhythm or tempo. A medium gait falls between a collected gait and an extended gait where length of frame and strides is concerned, and has a rounded movement as compared to extended gaits.

Medium gaits arise from collected gaits and therefore the horse’s balance differs substantially from what it is with lengthenings. The horse’s topline is more curved than it seems with an extending. More like a compressed spring being held in the front with leg driving the hindquaters forward.

Extended gaits

When your pony is in an extended gait, he has lengthened his frame and strides to the maximum, without changing rhythm or tempo.

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Conquering Horse Riding Fear

Invariably, fear rides with you when you’re horse riding. You may not be aware of it, but it is there. And why shouldn’t it be there? If a rider weighs a median of 150 pounds (wild guess), a horse weighs an average of 1,000 pounds. I want you to understand and accept that in feeling fear, you are just one of a group. There’s very little unique about you, but be aware that courage isn’t the absence of fear. Bravery is the conquering of fear. Courage is doing something that has to be done in spite of the potentially paralysing results of fear. Your battle with fear should not be aimed at eliminating it, you can’t. Your battle should be directed at conquering it.

What is it that you can do to stop your fear from excluding you from enjoying your equine experiences to the maximum? I’ve got some answers for you below.

Fear makes you fret about what is going to happen, which implies you are projecting into the future, instead of concentrating on the present. You are more focused on what might occur, instead of what is happening. At such times, do you bother to remind yourself that that 99% of people’s fears never come to pass? It makes you wonder why folk burn so much energy and stress themselves out over issues that have the barest of outside prospects of coming to be? Your simplest way to combat fear is by staying in the here and the now.

Stick to the current time by engaging as many of your senses as your are able to. Open your ears to the relaxing rhythm your horse’s footfalls create. Let your eyes banquet on the scenery moving by. Allow your hands to feel the reassuring texture of your reins. Wrinkle your nose over the smell, and let salted sweat pucker your mouth!

Rub in some emotion, too. Think of times past that had you in rapture, that relaxed you, calmed you, made you feel confident. Whatever it was, a sunset, a morning jog, your pet dog squirming with pleasure as you scratched him, live it over again in your mind’s eye.

Recreate that joy and experience them once again by utterly opening up your senses and adding some positive memories to the mix, you’ll rid yourself of the temptation to think about the future (an activity controlled by your brain’s left side, which is also where fear resides) and keep both your feet forcibly planted in today. Keep the right side of your cortex engaged.

This system of shutting out the future and so shutting out fear can be used with practically any activity aside from pony riding. Make it a habit that you use whenever you feel fear, uneasiness or nervousness.

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Counting Horse Strides When Jumping

A question that I receive often from my scholars is: when do we start counting strides? When used right, counting strides is an especially practical tool that can help you and your pony make light work of a sequence of jumps. I indoctrinate my scholars to follow this rule of thumb for counting strides: do so when you come across related lines of maximum eight strides. Lots of jumper/hunter courses include several jumps of this length. Hunter courses typically are comprised of a couple of related distances requiring counting. You do come across courses in big jump fields with lengthier lines that really must be counted, but they are mostly designed for top bracket horse riders.

Jumper courses differ moderately from hunter courses where stride counting is concerned. Jumper courses permit more creativity on the issue of the amount of strides you take with your pony. The maximum 8 rule typically applies; nonetheless jumpers can add strides or subtract them dependent on their horses’ stride spans, the event type and the class of competition. Usually horses need to gallop in jumper speed classes, and this lengthens their strides, and thus, decreases their number.

Judgment is subjective in hunters, and footage signs, if provided, can help define the number of strides required of any pony. When a course planner shows a line to be seventy-two feet long, he intends that horses take 5 strides over that line. Judges are conscious of this and use this info to help in determining the standard of competitors. A pony that appears to zip down a 72′ line would always have a shorter stride than a horse that appears to ramble down. At these events, stride counting is an absolute must because it helps you adhere to what the judge will be looking out for. You know where you stand when you do 6 strides in a 72′ line and fail to pin well.

There are numerous interpretations to bending lines where there is no footage posted. Where there is no footage posted in long lines, judges will undoubtedly anticipate that competitors may vary significantly in stride totals. The same line could see rivals totalling nines, tens and even elevens. In unmarked long lines, judges often do not hold competitors to any prescribed number of strides.

The complicatedness of horse riding events has grown as time goes by. Stride counting is pretty much a requirement in today’s world of equine events. In this post, I have hardly covered the fundamentals of stride counting. I would stress on learners it’s essential they get together with knowledgeable instructors to ‘walk courses’ riders get experience from every course ridden, and soon they’re going to reach the stage where stride calculations become 2nd nature.

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Barn Planning For Maximum Utility

When you’re adding to your old barn, and particularly when you are building a new barn, you ought to be paying attention to some main elements. The 1st factor relates to the position of the barn, which is a matter of elementary seriousness. I have some suggestions for you below.

Situation: Before completing the size and situation of your barn, think about what the future suggests. Is your barn large enough to serve you for the foreseeable future? If not, is there enough space around to allow any growth that could be obligatory?

Zoning issues: Lots of cities and counties prohibit the quantity of horses you can keep at one location. You ought to be conversant with the laws that apply to you, and you must go along with them. These restrictions are designed to prevent the likely penetration of odour and run-off into neighbouring properties and sewers.

Building codes: Sometimes, if you are outside municipal limits, you may not have to worry yourself with building codes. You need to have your site checked out by the most relevant authority if you are located within city limits.

Slope: You may be required to install a slope of between 2 and 6 degrees to ensure efficient drainage from structures, coaching tracks and arenas without causing any erosion.

Soils: You need to define your property’s soil type or types with some soil tests. Your soil types will determine the type of grass that you can grow. You might be able to get soil testing done with a little help from your local county authorities.

Water and sewage: Most towns stipulate that you need separate water and sewage systems for rural properties. While you could be allowed access to civil sewers, you could be required to set up your own lateral links and septic systems.

Area usage: You have to have clear plans made out, with proper indications of proposed sites for facilities like your arena, your training track, your pens and the like. Your plans should clearly show the proposed routes and locations of your water, sewage and electronic hardware. They should also clearly show the locations of suggested slopes and creeks together with any trees and ponds you plan to put in. You must make really sure that your plans permit sufficient room for future expansion.

Structures: Structures should be sited on high ground to help efficient drainage. There should be satisfactory provision for draining round pens and arenas. Have clear plans on where to send run off, as this can be of real help in avoiding mud hole event with the resulting chance of injury and illness. Your structure planning will have to be such that it does not adversely affect wildlife preserves, wetlands and riparian areas.

Sun and Wind: Get professional help when necessary to design the best layout of your barn to guarantee minimum intensity of direct sun and maximum possible natural air ventilation.

Landscaping: Plan areas full of trees and shrubs such that they improve the final look of your land and also provide you with windbreaks.

Traffic planning: Segregate clear areas for animal traffic and for motorized traffic. There should be no overlapping, so you leave no room for possible misfortunes.

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How To Boost Your Horse’s Ground Action

You will have many opportunities to earn the deep respect of your horse as you train him. A horse’s world is herds, with leaders and followers; and when training your target is to consolidate your position as the well regarded leader in your horse’s world.

Without even pondering it, horses obey their herd instincts. They follow the dominant Alpha presence in the herd and carry over these instincts to their dealings with humans. If you are able to build your predominance from the first day, your horse will follow you eagerly as long as you show the cardinal virtue of giving and earning respect. The esteem that you get will reflect itself in all of your dealings with your horse, beginning with your groundwork coaching. Be certain about one thing: if your horse does not respect you while your feet are on the ground, he won’t respect you with your feet in the stirrups.

And be aware of another thing: ‘He who blinks first loses’

It’s a rather contrary part of the pony nature that he is ever willing to take advantage if given an opening. If he senses any weakness in you at all, he will try to snow ball you. You can’t afford to let the tiniest of his transgressions remain unseen; while it’s not required for you to hurt him in the corporal sense, you definitely have to let your disaffection be known. You can’t teach him effectively unless he’s fully acquainted with and accepts the fact that you are the leader.

Getting into the middle of it

– Make sure you train in an area with heaps of open space. A pen is fine for the purposes. The area should have a completely flat ground surface freed from stumbling blocks, litter and diversions; ensure there’s very little around that may compromise safety.

– Both tutor and trainee should be in a positive mindset, and the rapport between them should have been well established.

– Be aware of the subtleties of ineffective communication with your horse. Your body language, vocal signals and even unconscious minor motions can send across any quantity of signals. You don’t wish to signal that you are nervous or uncertain in any way in any way. Make sure you know where you want to be in relation to your pony, speaking in physical terms. Know where to exert pressure to get the horse to respond. Props like whips or sticks may serve handy purposes, though not for administering bodily punishment. They should be used only as tools for emphasis.

– Reward your horse for everything he does right. Give him all the positive beefing up you can.

– Keep oral cues to the minimum, use body cues as much as possible.

– Learn and gain experience in ‘hooking up’ it is a smart way to make your pony stop and stay rock still at your cue.

– Keep fully connected to your horse’s signals. Be sensitive to whatever he’s attempting to convey, if it is joy, trouble or exhaustion, if he is signalling boredom or fatigue, stop the training. It is always possible to continue another time.

Your horse may consider ground work to be a sort of play with you. Go along with him to the extent it doesn’t negatively affect the efficiency of your coaching. Leading him just a bit in his playfulness will essentially pay off, as long as you don’t allow it to go too far.

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Your Horses Their Whiskers And The Barber

Most mammals I know of have whiskers, and maybe one or two non-mammals, as well , like the catfish. Dogs feature whiskers, as do cats and cows. And horses, too , have whiskers. You could just about say that nature gave each mammal whiskers with a purpose, whatever that purpose could be. Science has it this purpose is for whiskers to function as a kind of antenna, particularly in natural blind spots or in the dark. Be that as it may, whiskers are as much a normal part of mammals as warm blood, bones and skin.

So why on earth do we insist upon clipping whiskers on our horses?

I have looked into this matter in great depth, and I can find no reason that seems sensible. On the contrary, I get the feeling we do our horses a great disfavour by clipping their whiskers. Whiskers are part of a horse’s survival mechanism, endowed naturally. Whiskers enable a pony to feel things it may not see, like when it is grazing, of drinking water. Whiskers also help horses when they are eating hay or grain and when they are nuzzling each other. Like with other mammals, nature endowed horses with whiskers to make for visible blind spots at the ends of their noses.

Through whatever we are able to trace of horses’ history, all thru their evolutionary progress to the glorious animals they are we see assorted modifications in body size and conformation. But whiskers were an enduring feature. They were there right at the start, and they are there now. Does that let us know anything?

If they served no purpose, evolution would have disposed of them.

As a relatively veteran horseman who has done her share of pony whisker clipping, I am able to claim that the only reason horse owners clip their animals’ whiskers is to pretty up their horses. That of course implies that whiskers aren’t conducive to good looks, a statement that may be debated. I was an inveterate whisker-clipper before one fine day, out of nowhere, I questioned just what I was doing and what I was hoping to achieve as I was clipping a pony. There’s simply no connection in the slightest that I could make out between clipping whiskers and health, ease of life, or any other factor that would contribute to the animal’s well being.

I also doubt if any horse owner has ever asked his pony for an opinion about getting clipped. Ideally, since horses can’t talk, you might take a horse to a mirror, let him look at himself before and after clipping and let him express his viewpoint. I am happy to bet the pony isn’t going to have anything complimentary to say of getting his whiskers clipped, and he will potentially wish to sue his owner for infringing on his natural rights.

Maybe it is time we gave some significant consideration to the pros and the cons of clean shaving our horses. Even better, perhaps we will just let Mother Nature have her way.

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What Is A Scopey Pony

Puzzled by the word scope in the context of horses? So was I, before I got to understand what it meant. The only meanings for scope I knew were optical instruments like rifle scopes and telescopes and the extent of an activity or probability.

When horse riders speak of scope, they’re talking about a horse’s fence jumping capabilities. A horse is said to be ‘scopey’ when it takes jumps effortlessly.

As you can understand, scope is invaluable in the show world, particularly show jumping. Pony owners, trainers and riders are constantly on the lookout for exceptionally scopey horses. They want horses that negotiate the largest obstacles without raising a sweat. Heights in some classes can surpass 1.60m, therefore the scopier a pony is, the better its possibilities of coming back home with one or two certificates. Gifted, truly scopey horses are uncommon, and can be particularly pricey. Great equine athletes are just as rare as great human ones. A human Sotomayor comes along once in a lifetime or 2, and so does an equine Genuine. Both are incredibly scopey.

Get one thing straight, though. Not all horses are scopey to the same extent. Not all horses are of Olympic class in their skills. You can make judgments on a horse’s scopiness only in the context of its classes of competition. You could be referring to a pony which has established a name for being scopey in children’s jumpers without quite having the talent to move further. Everything is relative.

Nonetheless scope is just one of the pre-requisites for good jumpers. They also must exercise due care. A pony that exercises due care is a horse that makes an attempt to jump cleanly, without hitting the jumps. Scope without care is like speed without direction, something like a disaster waiting to happen. The converse holds good, of course: care without scope is like direction without speed. You won’t be getting anywhere.

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A Complete Set Of Tack For The Amateur

Are you a life long lover of horses? What about considering purchasing a horse of your own? Should you be contemplating being a new horse keeper, there are several items you first should know. Definitely you ought to know of the type of tack you need to use and what would perform the best for you.

To start with, here are the necessities. You will need a saddle, a bridle, and a halter, especially if perhaps you are a first-time rider. Saddles could be purchased in two styles: English and Western. While you are just trying to learn how to ride a horse, Western saddle is perfect. There are various factors behind this. To begin with, Western tack type saddles are created with a horn, a square seat, and a vertical back. These saddles can be kind of quite large. I’ve used Western saddles which weigh near forty-five pounds. This is sometimes a problem for younger riders aiming to tack up their horse.

It’s not always that English saddles don’t have their very own benefits though. Additionally it is stress-free to make use of these types of saddles because they seat you a a bit more naturally than Western saddles and present better contact with the horse. Nonetheless, the principal reason why English saddles is encouraged because quite simply, they are more leisurely. Not to mention, the fact that they have easily-removed stirrups which is definitely a fine safety function should your foot slips too far into the stirrup or if you happen to fall off the horse, the stirrup will come off, avoiding you from being pulled.

Along with saddles, you’ll also need bridles, bits and reins as a method of managing the horse. Again there are differences between the English and the Western styles. English-style bridles include extra straps, along with a noseband and a brow-band. Some western bridles use these features yet others don’t. English and western riding bits are usually snaffle bits. You will at times see western style bits with an additional bar, or curb, on the outside of the horse’s mouth.

You are likely to need a halter. They are absolutely essential for every rider, irrespective of how skilled of a rider you are. Riders use halters to lead their horse and as a means to restrict the horse. The sole difference between different styles of halters is mostly ornamental.

An additional yet non-compulsory bit of tack you can use is a blanket. These are generally used with horses that are secured outdoors or in an unheated stall. Blankets include a waterproof exterior and a warm inside.

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