On The Bit

Hello, everyone!

Last Sunday I had a really lovely lesson on my favourite horse, and I have to say that I don't remember a time when he has moved better.

I had a different riding instructor, and she had me really thinking about what it is for a horse to reach for the contact, rather than artificially holding their head in an outline. Bails has a habit of holding his head up, so when you ask him to go on the bit with your hands, he's using the wrong muscles to carry his head. I hadn't really thought about it before, but my instructor pointed out the lack of muscle on his topline compared to the muscle on the underside of his neck. There is quite a difference!

So I spent the lesson teaching him to respond to my leg. There was lots of praise when he responded, and before long he was really engaging his hindquarters. By the end of the lesson he was reaching down into the contact, and I could feel that his entire body was working. Perhaps most importantly, he was powering himself from his hind quarters, rather than leaning on the forehand.

The thing that was most challenging for me was keeping my hands in the right place. I was working with a longer contact than normal to encourage him to stretch, and so my hands kept moving away from each other. It was also difficult for me not to tighten my hold on the inside rein when he was drifting out of the circle we were on. It was almost a lesson of opposites!

It was such a fab lesson and now that I know how he moves when he's really engaging and paying attention, I have something to work towards each time I ride. I'm not sure how well it will pan out in group lessons (if he's not at the front/behind a faster horse, he won't have anywhere to surge into when I ask him for a little bit more energy), but I'll certainly try because it felt fantastic!

On another note, have you ever encountered horses that dislike other horses in the stables? There are two such horses where I ride. Leading Bails in, one of them pinned his ears back and the other looked as though she kicked a back leg out whilst also snaking her head over the door! It amused me (once Bails was safely out of their reach, anyway!).

Until next time.