Intermediate: Practice Rides

So you’ve either just decided to part-board (or some variation thereof) or you’ve actually gone and bought your first horse and *finally* you’re allowed to ride without a coach. Oh how much fun you’ll have! Except that after about 20 minutes, you’re out of ideas. What do I do next? And here we have riding independently!

Step one – read and *know* basic arena rules (see beginner!). Seriously. If you haven’t ridden on your own, no matter how good a rider you are, read through that. Or else you’re really going to annoy those who *do* know what they’re doing and have to ride around you. Most experienced riders are totally kewl with steering around beginners or those just starting, but if it’s clear you know what you’re doing, it’s expected that you behave accordingly. Unfortunately, if you’ve learned to ride entirely in the school environment you may not have a clue! Yikes.

Ok so assuming you can ride in a civilized fashion with other people the next thing is, what are you going to do. Well really, that’s entirely up to you; after all, that’s the whole point isn’t it? But before you go out you should have some idea of a plan. Then you should follow the plan. But remember, the plan is always flexible. And yes I realize entirely those last two contradict each other – but such is life. >;-P

Go in the ring, get on in the middle (remember the rules!), and warm-up your horse. No matter how fun and exciting it is, getting on and cantering around is not the best plan. At least not if you care even slightly for your horse. Walk for five – ten minutes. This walk should be a power walk (go somewhere!) not just meandering around the ring. Remember, the idea is to warm the horse up! Conversely, if it’s a particularly hot horse, it’s a great idea to teach them that they *always* walk when you get on and that the first ten mins of any ride is always calm. This can be a huge help when you go somewhere exciting and your horse feels a little like she swallowed dynamite for breakfast. Ok back to the moment -- it’s also a good idea to use this walk time to do some stretching (both you *and* the horse!), some lateral work (if you’ve learned this already) – leg-yield, shoulder-in, flexing in/out, circles of various size (make sure they don’t go so small you lose your rhythm!), etc. At this point not only are you warming your horse’s muscles up, but also his mind – and yours. By the time you’re done you should have a pretty good idea how he’s feeling and have installed/refined steering, breaks and gas. Then your trot warm-up – remember rhythm is first (we’ll do another Thursday on that). If she’s high and bouncing around you might need to devise a warm-up with lots of interesting things to keep her attention; if he’s lazy and would prefer to still be hanging out in the middle, this is when you’re going to make a difference. Get him going now, so later you have something to work with.

Rinse and repeat in canter. Again, rhythm is first! Just going around and around and around the ring mindlessly might warm-up your horse physically, but neither one of you is going very far mentally. Think about what you’re doing and where you’re going. Your jobs: Pace, Path, Position. How fast you’re going, where you’re going, and effectively you’re balanced while you’re going there. Keep checking these as you go.

And while you’re doing all that, mix it up! I recommend never going more than half way around the ring without doing something. Could be as simple as a half-halt or as complex as writing your name (if you’re a student of mine who hasn’t done this one yet, just wait :) but either way, something should happen. Circles, serpentines, transitions (either within the gait or between gaits) are all easy things to keep life interesting. Remember to change direction regularly. But do keep in mind when doing any of said changes where the other horses in the ring are. It’s really frustrating when you’re working really hard, focused and in the zone, and the horse in front of you abruptly stops for no apparent reason. Avoid doing it to somebody else!

If you’ve actually done all the above in your warm-up (yeah right – I know you’re really just trotting around chatting with the other rider in the ring!) you’re more than ready to go to work. Now is time for the all important plan. Remember that? The plan? The plan you made before you ever got on? This plan might be to practice something you learned in your lesson, it might be an exercise you read about and thought would be interesting to try (depending on your experience you might want to clear this with your coach first), it could be working on practicing something you know needs work (those brutal transitions, circles that are actually round, lengthening that’s actually different from the working gait, etc), or it could be focusing totally on you, your position, and exactly what you’re doing while you’re hanging out up there. Whatever the plan is – give it a go. Start easy and build it up. ie) if you want to go from 8 strides to 5 in a set distance, aim for 7 consistently then 6 then 5. And when you’ve accomplished it, go back and see if you can repeat certain numbers on command. Or whatever the equiv is for your plan of choice. Shoulder-in? Start with leg-yield and 10m circles first.

Now the only catch than can exempt you from “stick to the plan” is “the plan is flexible”. Hahaha seriously – at some point, you will come out planning to school piaffe only to find out your horse is on speed and only willing to go round for as long as it takes to get extra power in her buck. On these days, the plan must be flexible, sometimes *very* flexible, because your horse is a living critter who may or may not have ever agreed to the original plan! On these days you have to let it go, because really – it’s never going to happen and trying to force it will make it worse. So revise the plan to something accomplishable – which some days may be as basic as a quiet trot. And be thrilled when you reach it, cause it was probably more than the original plan would ever have been on a good day. And remember, we’ve all been there.

Then, of course, remember to cool out your horse. Trot on a long rein, letting your horse stretch down, switching directions once in a while. Finish with another ten mins of walking (which can be on or off the horse) and make sure pulse and respiration are returned to normal before you put them away (more on that another Thursday!)

Have fun!