So the Warmblood that’s been here is about to go back to his real life. His rehab is done on my part. Now he needs to move closer to their home for continued flat work before he, hopefully, goes back to being an Open Jumper.
The mom has been bringing him along to strengthen his hind quarters and now that he is feeling better, he’s getting to be too much horse for her.
He was green to start with. Since his injuries, for the last several years the daughter has been riding finished horses in shows both here and in Europe. She got back on him and expected to ride off into the sunset on a finished horse. NOT!! I had to remind her that he is still green, even though he is nine.
It was a rude awakening for both of us. “He’s drifting. He’s bulging.” Me -“He’s Green!!! you need to ride him with your legs, keep him between both your hands and your legs!” Her heels weren’t down, her legs were moving way too much and he was getting frustrated, tossing his head and swishing his tail. Okay, lets go back to square one. I got her legs stretched, and still. He quieted down, dropped onto the bit and relaxed. A week ago she kept smacking him with a bat on his shoulder because he wouldn’t relax. Okay, this makes sense How??? Made her drop the bat. He settled right down. Got her still, and by the time we finished with the lesson, he was doing a beautiful working trot on the buckle (dropped rein). This horse insists on a quiet rider, and if you’re not, he’s going to tell you all about it.
I like horses that tell on a rider. My Desert was like that. If I taught a lesson on him, and the rider wasn’t giving him the proper cue, he’d stop and say “She’s not doing it right.” I’d laugh and the rider would just be so confused as to how I knew.
My point is this – students these days are not taught the basic riding skills. They are put on top of finished horses that carry them around a course. They win and the instructor/trainer looks good. Bottom line is that the student doesn’t really know how to ride. Instead of teaching them how to work with the horse, when that horse breaks down they just sell them and get a more expensive, finished horse. The trainer will reschool the other one and sell it for more money to someone else. That’s really sick.
So the young girl came to me and asked if I would give her lessons in order to ride her horse, how I trained it.
It’s so sad that these kids are not being taught how to ride. In one lesson I showed her how to be still, and how to move the horse off her leg. This is basic Horsemanship 101, well maybe 201.
We spoke about how in a show you are allowed to sit lightly on a horses back. I watch these kids going around the ring smacking a horses in his back with every stride. I told her that her horse will not allow this. I asked her when she rode bareback did she sit and ride with the horse or bounce on his back. The answer was sit and move with the horse. So why do they “post” to the canter? Because people do not want to take the time to learn how to move with their horses. They just want to get on, ride, and win. We have fast food restaurants, now we have fast food riding. That’s why we see so many horses with bad backs and tons of shock absorbent pads under the saddle.
The barn she is going to, to finish off his rehab, has a Dressage Instructor. Now this girl is an Open Jumper rider and most of them look down their noses at Dressage. I told her to go and learn her basics in Dressage (which is what we all do whether we know it or not) and it will help her to be a better Jumper rider. Instead of moving his front end over (and hoping his back end will follow) to go straight into a jump she will learn to use her legs to gently move his whole body in alignment to go straight into her fence. We practiced that and she understood what I was saying, and she had a good time doing it.
My way may not be in fashion any more, but my way makes a happy horsey.