CC on my riding and my horse *video*

tonitot

tonitot

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 February 2009
Messages
2,525
Location
Newmarket
Visit site
I'd be very grateful if some of you could watch this video and let me know what you think of my riding and my horse when she's worked. I'm used to riding race horses so riding 'properly' still feels really odd for me :o
Ethel is a 4yo TB mare who was trained to be a racehorse but never raced. I've reschooled her myself and we have had a lesson with Tanya Larrigan who helped me with getting her to accept the bit more and come into an outline. It's still a work on progress and we still have a way to go but I think she's coming along nicely.
The faults I think i have are that my hands are too low a lot of the time and I turn them inwards and my lower leg is too far forward but I somehow manage to tip my body forward too.
Sorry about the rabbit thing at the begining of the video, an ill rabbit was sitting at the side of the field and we nearly squished him.
Also, please let me know how sound you think Ethel looks, it's a bit hard to tell properly because we're in a field which is a bit bumpy. I don't know why but I get really worried about her being lame and me not being able to tell, I always ask people who are around if she looks okay.
Right, here's the video!!

Okay I can't work out how to post a link from YouTube onto here whilst i'm on my iPod, so just go to YouTube and search "alfieforever12 ethel movie" and it should hopefully come up. If someone could post the link for me or let me know how to do it on an iPod it would be very much appreciated :)

Please be honest, but don't rip me apart, I'm a sensative soul :p
 
Little bump :D

She's looking good! Haven't seen her in video-form before, she looks very sweet :)

My only CC (which as you know I'm NO expert) would be that you need to sit a bit more central in the saddle/shoulders back - as you get on I tend to find rolling my shoulders backwards and sort of keeping them at their lowest point helps :)

As for Ethel she could perhaps go forwards a smidge more, and I think a little more inside bend and bending from your leg wouldn't hurt either. Doing lots of little exercises in walk like shallow loops/serpentines and half loops etc all to just get her thinking, relaxing and bending :)

Hope she hasn't copped you in the face any more.. :D
 
She looks lovely and you ride her well.

She looks quite similar paced to my horse. My only cc is maye try to get her lengthening through her back and stretching her stride out. Shes quite short and choppy behind.

My instructor has us walking initially to get mine stretching and loosening up his stride, then the same in trot. Try widening your hands so they sit hip width apart. When she starts to rush bring her back to halt with contact on the bit until she submits then back to walk/trot.

Well done though she looks nice and honest :)
 
The video is not the best but the horse seems to be fighting you with her mouth? Cant see properly though. Nice horsey. Possibly the ground is quite uneven.
 
Thanks guys :) all the things you have pointed out are the same things I thought but thought I'd post to see if there was anything else. She doesn't bend very well at all and I'm a bit stuck on how to sort this. We do tons of circles and serpentines of all sizes but she doesn't get any better. Any advice?
Kaylum- yes she is fighting for a bit at the start of the video but she always does this when we start as she takes quite a bit of convincing that bringing her head down is more comfortable :) I know the video isn't great but my phone is pretty rubbish and it wasn't the nicest day. The ground is uneven as it wasn't initally intended to be use as a school as far as I'm aware.

Fleabite- no more face incidents thank god, she's settled in a lot more now :)
 
Nice mare who appears sound!! You are a nice qiet rider which suits her and my cc is as above raise and open hands a little, remember to keep thumbs up which also helps keep elbows in and helps with opening the shoulders too. Lots of quiet transitions and half halts so she becomes more relaxed and less choppy. Good luck you have some super raw material there x
 
Hi. I think you are a very nice quiet rider. I notice that your saddle appears to be on her shoulders though, or is that just her? I'm not an expert though so feel free to ignore me, lol
Ethel looks sweet!
 
You need to ride her more forward into the contact. She isn't on the bit and as a result is fussing in her mouth. I am sure that with some lessons you could sort this out.
 
Sov n Dom - actually looking back at the video it does look too far forward, probably a result of being used to tacking the racehorses so I'll make sure I put it back a bit :)

eggs - I agree she isn't going forward, at the moment I'm finding it hard to get her going forward without rushing. We do need lessons but I'm still trying to sort them out with my instructor as I have moves yards and haven't been able to get hold of her.
 
It almost looks like she is a bit stressy, as my pony moves like her, and i find that it gets worse the more stressed she gets. I think you should try riding her forward into a more long and low contact initially to strengthen her back muscles, then to pick up her up a bit more once she has relaxed, so she isn't getting stressy about the contact. Have you tried giving her something like a magic calmer supplement? sometimes it just settles them enough so they can concentrate a bit more on what you are asking :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top