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MASTERING
THE ART OF STRAIGHT LINES AND CORNERS
By SUSAN
DUDASIK
In the
two previous articles we began transferring our ground training
cues to the saddle and covered teaching your horse to turn on
the forehand, to "get over," by moving his rump to
the left or right and teaching you to feel how to ride in a
straight line. Now we are going to combine those two skills
with an exercise that sounds easy, but when done properly, demonstrates
a very advanced level of communication between horse and rider.
The pattern is simple, basically a rectangular figure 8, but
the challenge comes in making the corners perfectly square,
not round. To accomplish this, you will use a series of straight
lines and turns on the forehand. This is a great exercise to
work on while you're cooling down your horse after a workout
or trail ride or as a warm-up before entering the showring.
Aside from
giving you more control over your horse's movements, this exercise
will benefit you in the showring by teaching you to ride deep
into the arena corners. Doing this can provide valuable space
and keep you from being buried in the crowd. If you see a group
of riders bunched in front of you, try riding deep in to the
corner. It works every time since most riders cut corners, this
will give you at least a horse's length of extra room.
To help
you visualize the pattern, you might want to place two poles
in the center of the figure 8 and four cones or markers at the
corners of each rectangle. To begin the exercise, simply walk
your horse through the center poles then turn left at cone #2.
Walk around the outside of the cones and at #4 turn left again.
Proceed through the center and at cone #5 turn right. Continuing
to stay on the outside of the cones. At cone #7 reenter the
center pathway. Sounds easy enough, but now, let's put the past
training techniques to work.
Starting
a short distance from Cones #4 and #7, walk your horse in a
straight line between the two cones and the poles. At cone #2,
stop your horse squarely with his front hooves about 6 to 8
inches in front of the cone. Now ask him for a quarter turn
on the forehand. Just his rump should move. When he is parallel
to the cone, proceed in a straight line toward cone #1. Stop
and ask for the turn on the forehand. Proceed to cone #3 and
then #4. At cone #4, turn left and proceed through the center
poles to cone #5. Turn right at cone #5 and repeat the process.
While doing
this, remember to ask for straight stops and smooth movements.
Concentrate on staying about 6 inches to a foot away from the
cones when riding your straight lines. Don't stare at your markers.
Sit up straight and look where you are going. Focus on an object
high in the distance and ride toward it. This will help you
learn to feel whether your horse is moving straight or drifting
from side to side. Work on keeping your horse straight by using
your body weight and legs rather than the reins. Remember, this
is quiet work and should be done slowly and precisely. Take
this time to really feel what your horse is doing under you.
If he's drifting to one side, re- analyze your body position.
Are you staring at the ground and forcing your head to tilt
to one side or are you leaning too much to one side, thus giving
your horse a cue to move away from your leg pressure? These
are the little differences between riding and horsemanship.
After a
few tries, you should begin feeling a difference in your performance.
This is a fun exercise that should be used often, three or four
times a week, but never bore your horse to death by doing it
ten times in a row, only a time or two each day. It will take
time before you are doing it well consistently. Your goal is
simply to improve a little with each try. Don't overdo. Once
or twice each session is enough.
Once you
get the hang of doing the above pattern, you can modify it by
using only one rectangle and making an X through it. This will
require different turns on the forehand. Begin as in the first
exercise by riding through cones #4 and #7, through the poles
and on to Cone #2. At #2, stop and do a quarter-turn left. Ride
to #1 and do a 3/8 turn left so you are headed to cone #4. Stop
at #4 and do a 3/8 right turn to cone #3. At # 3, do another
3/8 right turn and head toward cone #2. This exercise will allow
you to vary the amount of steps you ask for when doing the turn
on the forehand and will vary the directions you turn.
By adding
these simple but challenging exercises to your training program,
you and your horse will become more in tune with each other
as well as developing a deeper understanding of the art of horsemanship.
Susan Dudasik
Shadow Rider Equine News
srider@salmoninternet.com
Member: Idaho Press Club
North American Saddle Mule Association
Idaho Representative for American Trail Horse Association
srider@salmoninternet.com
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