Balancing act: Forehand vs haunches, side to side, work vs R & R

Our primary training focus right now is balance. Well, I guess really it is balance and rhythm, since those always go hand in hand.

Lola has been getting so good about not leaning on her forehand and plowing along, but we still have to address this when we venture out of the 20 meter circle. We’re working on not getting to heavy in front before and after fences. “No, Lola, plowing through the gymnastic is not correct!” Also we’ve been working on not losing balance or speeding up going down hill. We’ve got just the slightest slope to the jumping arena, and although you don’t see it, you can feel it.

Then we have the side to side balance. Lola, like most horses, isn’t the same on both sides. She tends to, if left to her own accord, over bend her neck to the right and pop her left shoulder, thus taking her to the outside when going on a circle to the right. She drifts left. So of course, going to the left she again drifts left, but this means she’s falling into the circle with a straight-ish to counter bent neck. We’re constantly working new exercises to help her warm up out of this, and develop the muscles to work more correctly through her body.

We’ve mastered these, at least passably, at the walk and trot, but the canter is the new focus. This means we’re doing many of these same exercises, but now they can be absolutely exhausting. She has certainly built up a lot of strength in the canter, and she can lift her back and take nice big relaxed strides, but when you add in work that pushes her to use that inside hind leg more and more, and bend enough to pick up the inside should instead of leaning on it, it means a ton more work!

So we come to the third balancing act. How much work can my little mare handle? More work when she’s already sore and tired doesn’t encourage her to work harder, it encourages her to cheat and avoid working. Working in the arena, whether it is dressage or jumping, can be both physically and mentally hard on a horse, you have to push past the spot where they’re comfortable, in both fitness and training, to reach the next step. So how do we keep pushing her forward without pushing too hard? I try to balance this with variety.

Lately we’ve been very regular with lessons, one jumping and one dressage a week. These days we’re pushed to work much harder than we would on our own. This is good for both of us. The days that we’re working really hard are guaranteed to be very correct work. Usually that means that she’ll be a little sore, so I limit us to one other jump schooling later that week, always at a really relaxed tone, and much shorter. I want to work on what we can do correctly and comfortably. We do at least one other dressage school in the week to work on the little bits of wisdom that we can remember from the information packed dressage lesson. This should leave three “flex” days. Sometimes I just can’t get out at all, so one or two of these maybe full days off. But really Lola does best with work, so we find ways to make work into rest and relaxation.

On an ideal week her flex days would be: 1) Lunging in the surcingle and Vienna reins- this is a complete workout on its own, and gives her back a break from saddles and my weight, plus it lets her work on stretching down and lifting and swinging through her back. (I do still lunge before riding as a warm up, but it is different with the more steady side rein, and our focus is to have a relaxed warm up to prepare for the ride). 2) Hand walking down the road- a little mental work encountering new things, but physically stress free, and encourages a marching, swinging, over-tracking walk. 3) Trail riding at the lake- this is our long conditioning ride each week, usually an hour and a half. Physically this means mainly walking, some hill trotting, working about ten minutes on a twenty meter circle on the beach in order to pick up the canter then canter down the beach a tiny bit. Training wise we’re trotting over whatever driftwood we find, crossing numerous streams without leaping wildly over them, crossing ditches, going up and down steps, and keeping control in an open and busy environment.

The routine has been working marvelously. The hand walking I can do on lunch break, and it means that I at least get 45 minutes of exercise too! Lunging can happen at lunch as well, so that helps to free up some evenings to actually see my fiancé! Trail riding is a much bigger time commitment, but it is never very hard to convince myself to do it. With the weather so nice, I’m literally sprinting out the office door to get out to the barn! Here’s a little of why….

The trees are green…

The sun is shining, which makes the lake look so inviting…

The wild flowers our out in full bloom…

My little red mare has turned into an AWESOME trail horse! We did our Sunday ride with the reins at the buckle. She was relaxed, confident, and conscious of where she placed her feet, even on a completely loose rein. I think we must be balancing training and fun pretty well, because we're on a roll!