photography by Glenn Hunt Photography whose outstanding work can be seen at http://www.glennhunt.com.au/
Remember to practice schooling your cross country jumps with rhythm and balance as the basic criteria when approaching a fence. You must also be straight to the jump and coming at it with an appropriate speed. Practice makes perfect, so be sure to take your time and do your homework.
As Spring approaches, the show season is just around the corner. Now is the time to consider a program to bring your horse to optimum condition considering your discipline of dressage, jumping or eventing. It is critical to consider the age and amount of activity your horse has had in order to create an effective plan of conditioning. Horses who are turned out need a shorter warm up than those standing in their stall or small paddock. A progressive warm up allows time for the muscles to reach their optimal working temperature (during warm up the muscles rise by about 1 degree C) before increasing the excercise intensity.
After a warm up phase, move into the workout which pushes to horse just beyond his ability to build muscles and stamina. It is important to work the trot and canter in an active rhythm, thus working the skeletal muscles hard enough to stimulate an increase in blood circulation. The main objective is to achieve relaxation in all gaits. Next should come the suppling excercises of lateral and bending movements. Remember wet saddle blankets make good horses.
Finally, an important element of your conditioning is the warm down period. This is a time to allow the horse to recover from the workout and helps him release muscular tension and possible soreness. A walk on the long rein is a great finish to this workout. Slowly build your horse back up to his optimal fitness, allowing several weeks to reach your goal. Careful systematic training will help build solid muscles and a happy fit horse.
I have been taking dressage lessons with Cari on and off over several years. Although I ride on my own and with trainers in other disciplines, I love to come back to Cari on a regular basis to take advantage of her keen eye, insightful critique, creative exercises, and diverse group of well-trained horses.
Cari always quickly finds the minor (and sometimes major!) irregularities in my body and posture that I was forgetting. She is very clear in pointing out how those problems are affecting the movement of the horse. She is rigorous and demanding, but maintains a sense of humor, making lessons invigorating and fun.
Cari has an amazingly broad repertoire of exercises and metaphors to draw upon, and I find she can always find a fresh way to explain what I am doing right and wrong. Sometimes it is that fresh explanation that makes all the difference in learning! Because of her own experience under a variety of instructors and in several disciplines, Cari has many different methods of teaching to draw upon. Lessons are never repetitive and dull. I can count on Cari to pull out a new and interesting challenge just when I need it!
The diversity of horses available for lessons is also helpful to me. Riding a horse with different movement and different “buttons” from my own horse is guaranteed to help me be more balanced, precise and deliberate as a rider. I value being able to learn from her schoolmasters, who are, after all, great teachers themselves.
-Ona Kiser
Sharon, CT