Cari Swanson

Accurate Riding

Improve your riding skills regardless of what level or disicpline you ride. Test yourself eveyday to determine if you are riding with purpose or simply meandering around the arena or countryside. Take whatever excercise you are working on and experiment, slow it down, lengthen the stride, test your balance. Remember, practice makes perfect and it takes thousands of repetitions to change a bad habit.

Study a video of yourself riding and determine what you would like to improve. Almost without fail, relaxation and harmony are common goals. Clarify your weak points and develop a plan to improve them. It is vital to keep a training journal of your goals and progress.

Most importantly, be gentle with yourself. Riding does not ever improve with tension or temper. If you make a mistake, stop, regroup and try again. If your horse makes a mistake, ask yourself if you created that error or did he simply not understand what you were asking. A wonderful rule to follow is to smile and count to 3 before attempting to correct the movement. A smile relaxes your body and lightens your thoughts. Try not to overanalyze the situation. The most beautiful riders appear effortless and light, dancing in perfect harmony with their horse.

Ride with the Best Clinic at the Equine Affair

Explorer 007, aka Bond was a featured horse in the Ride with the Best Clinic at the Equine Affair in West Springfield, Mass. last month. He enjoyed performing in front of an audience with Cindy Sydnor as the clinician. Although the footing was slick, he danced around the arena with such lightness and energy that it felt like magic. Horses are so connected to energy around them which was clearly shown when he threw the most expressive explosive hissy fit at the exact moment everyone turned to leave.

Walking the Cross Country Course

Riders should always walk your course several times before your actual competition. The day before competition is when you will first walk the course and plan your ride. Remember, preperation is the key to a successful event. Try to walk the first round with your trainer so that you can discuss all approaches and options. Sometimes if this is not possible, follow behind another professional and listen to their tips taking into consideration your horses strengths and weaknesses. Find some time to walk the course at least 2 more times on your own to mentally prepare for your ride. If possible, watch several riders on course to see how the horses are handling the obstacles. The more you prepare and focus on your ride, the more successful you will be.

Always consider the footing, the terrain and the light on the fences. Remember, the day of the competition will be much more electric with spectators walking around the course, banners on jumps, and the loudspeaker bellowing while you are galloping around the course.

When the approach to an obstacle is at the bottom of a hill, keep your eyes up while riding down the hill with a balanced canter which will naturally be collected as a result of the terrain. Many riders slow down too much or look down creating problems at the obstacle. When galloping up a hill to approach a fence, maintain your rhythm with your horse in front of your leg. The danger here is to slow down too much and stall before the jump.

Consider the footing, mentally note where the ground is hard, muddy or rocky. Walking the course several times will give you an excellent mental picture of your ride. Also take note of the jump if it is hidden in a treeline creating a darker fence. Some horses are sensitive to jumping from light to dark and may back off the jump as a result. Prepare your approach by over riding just in case your horse wants to duck out.

Most importantly, do not take any fence for granted. It is often the most simple obstacle that creates a problem. Approach every obstacle with confidence and determination to succeed. There is nothing more exciting than galloping around a cross country course clean within the time allotted. Go out and have fun!

The Horse Report

Every week you can listen to the Horse Report on virtualhudsonvalley.com. In this weekly report, I discuss many aspects of the horse world and how it relates to the equestrian activities in the Hudson Valley. If you know of any upcoming events or clinics and would like to share this information, please contact me so that I can report on them.

You will also hear from Leslie Land, the garden expert, Alex Tuller, the cooking expert, Ilana with The List, and Dean Temple, our host who will have you laughing every week.

Check out virtualhudsonvalley.com and send us your feedback on the entire program. We are always looking for ways to improve the content for our listeners, so we need to hear from you!

Improve Riders Position

The rider must influence the horse effectively with clear communication from the saddle. When the horse does not perform correctly, the origin of the problem is almost always with the riders postion. Therefore it is important to understand the correct position and how to fix any misalignment. The rider’s postion should also make the timing and coordination of the aids easy and harmonious with the movement of the horse. Some common faults are:

The arms are too straight which results in a loss of flexibility in the elbow joint.

The elbows fall behind the riders back, or the reins are too long resulting in the loss of flexibility in the shoulder.

The shoulders are raised and pushed forward resulting in the loss of flexibility in the shoulder joint.

The elbows are sticking out causing loss of flexibility in elbow and shoulder joints.

The head is pushed forward losing alignment with the spine.

The waist is weak and wobbly creating loss of straightness in the back, as well as overall strength in the vertical postion.

Gripping of the knee causing loss of flexibility in the hip and knee joints.

The lower legs are too far back causing loss of balance and flexibility in the hip and knee joints.

The toes of the inside foot are pressed down against the iron and the heel raised, to give more strength to the leg aid and allow the use of the spur causing loss of flexibility in the knee and ankle as well as losing the lateral postion in the saddle.

The outside of the foot is lower than the inside, the ankle bulging outward causing loss of flexibility in the hip, knee and ankle joints.

By now it is clear that the riders position in relaxation and alignment is critical to effective communication with the horse. Check your position the next time you ride and learn to experience when you are out of balance or out of alignmnet. Without a doubt, your horse will perform more effectively when you correct your position.

Children’s Clinic to learn about Horses

Last week, a class of 32 children came to the farm to learn about horses. Mosts of the children were 4-10 years old, a few had ridden at camp or on vacation. They learned about the history of horses through time. There is evidence that man began domesticating horses as far back as the Neolithic times some 10,000 years ago. Although the time reference was difficult for the children to grasp, they understood that horses and man have coexisted forever.

We discussed how important horses have been for transportation, growing crops, communication, carrying man into war, and most recently as companionship and sport. For some reason, man has always been fascinated by horses, watching them move, listening to them, trying to understand them.

My Mini Hop, a miniature horse served as the demo horse to show how to groom a horse, how to work around him, and to discuss his nature. Horses need to drink up to 10 gallons of water a day and are naturally forage animals. That is they have a small stomach the size of a football, and over 100 feet of intestine so that they must eat small amounts of food all day long in order to stay healthy. We walked around the paddocks to look at the various horses of differnt sizes, color and breed. The children were thrilled to feed them carrots and watch them run around the fields.

Each child had the opportunity to ride a horse and feel his movement under the saddle. One young boy asked eagerly, was this pony in a war? I was amazed they were paying attention to the lecture. These were astute children who all loved horses. It was a fun day for them to experience the country and learn about one of their favorite animals.

SePTEMBER 22 CLINIC: Critical Control

Critical Control is the ability to place the horse anywhere you want him to go. Here Ruben demonstrates how to teach the horse walk across a bridge from very large to medium to small. He initially asks him to place his front feet on the bridge, then the hind feet and finally all four feet. When the horse resists, Ruben makes him work very hard backing up or going in a small circle.  The horse is only allowed to rest when he is on the bridge.  Finally, the horse choses to be on the bridge where he can rest and conserve his energy.

SEPTEMBER 15 CLINIC: Different Controlling Techniques

Regal with Ruben taking the tongue Ruben is demonstrating the important technique of taking the tongue of the horse. The mouth is one of the defense mechanisms of the horse, when there is danger he can bite. By taking the tongue it shows the horse that the trainer has the authority of this weapon. This is also very pleasureable for the horse once he accepts giving the tongue, he enjoys the massage and it calms his entire being.

Dennis under saddle: Lateral and Longitudinal Control Ruben is demonstrating lateral control and teaching how to read the many signals of a tense horse and how to alleviate the tension by using lateral control. He first allows the horse to take a few steps and controls the movement by flexing the neck to one side, releasing when the horse flexes in the poll and is relaxing the neck. By increasing the time the horse moves longitutadally before taking the lateral control, the horse learns to listen to the riders aids and will be less likely to perform bad behaviour such as bucking, rearing or bolting.

SEPTEMBER 12 CLINIC: Passive vs. Active Training Techniques

PASSIVE: Riki with the ball hanging in the stall teaches the horse to accept being touched by the ball randomly and desensitizing the horse from panic. This is an example of passive training because the horse does not associate the ball with the trainer and yet learns a very important lesson of accepting movement around him without panicking.

ACTIVE: Active training can be demonstrated by the image of Regal with the whip, he learns that the whip is an extention of the trainers arm and is faster than him so he quickly learns to conserve his energy and stand still whilethe whip moves to either side and above him. This is an important excersise for a horse prior to mounting because he learns to accept movement above his head and to both sides which is where the rider will be.

SEPTEMBER 8 CLINIC: CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN

Rescheduled to Sunday September 12, 2p.m.