The 2017 U.K. summer has now almost come to a close. The last intake of horses is going home this weekend, after the handover course. Then there is a couple of courses left before I leave for sunnier climates. A big thank you to Tina and Total Horsemanship in organising the courses and horse intakes and to all those that come along to courses and the weeks at Dudgeley in Shropshire. What is really pleasing to see is the progress that all have made over the many years. I wish all well and look forward to when we next catch up, below is a small horsemanship article that I hope all enjoy.
When writing these blogs I try to leave readers with something that will help them with their horsemanship. I am not the first to emphasise the importance of having your horse in balance both on the ground and in the saddle. Many look at balance as being longitudinally, you must also consider latitudinally and this is just the physical. The horse may be out of balance and or pushing on you for a number of reasons from fear to learned behaviour and or for other reasons. Some time ago I heard it said that until your horse is in balance your horse will not be emotionally stable. In cases where you horse is pushing on you or rushing and are are out of balance, while you can back them up etc, if you do not get the horse back in balance and the weight right, then the horse may not make a mental change and as a result continues to push on you.
I may not have found all the right words here to explain the above, but hope these words are insightful in some way and wish all well.
It was a pleasure to bring Little Ed to your Wiltshire clinic again this year Dave. Despite us both being totally not ‘riding fit’ !
There have definitely been some positive changes since, which we will continue to work towards improving over the winter months. So thank you, have a good ‘summer ‘ and look forward to seeing you again in 2018. Lavinia
It was very good to see you Lavinia and very pleased to hear all is progressing.