constantly having a conversation with your horse whilst riding?

Billy the kid said:
sorry not really related to your post..... the title just made me laugh as there is a lady that competes locally to me who literally has a full blown conversation with the horse as she goes round.....'slow down now, its slippy here' or 'Right its the water splash now, your going to fast!' Hilarious to watch, but i guess its her way of telling herself.
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I do this!
 
I despair! Why on earth do some RIs teach people to niggle at the reins all the time? As for leg yielding into corners, ride straight into them and use your LEGS to turn, supporting with the reins. Whatever happened to riding from the inside leg to the outside hand?

And yes, I talk to my horse a lot, especially if we are hacking on our own.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I despair! Whatever happened to riding from the inside leg to the outside hand?
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I agree with you about the niggling, but disagree about the inside leg to outside hand on every turn. Surely every corner has to be ridden depending on how the horse is reacting? Some horses are at different stages in their training and you can't just automatically use the same aid on them, it doesn't work on all horses.
 
Yes, every horse should be ridden as an individual but ime, if the horse starts to cut in and miss the corner, it is likely to be in response to the rider's position or aids. I used to have lessons with a RI who put an obstacle in each corner, just inside the track. The obstacle had to be ridden round, that can't be done by leg-yielding
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Yes, every horse should be ridden as an individual but ime, if the horse starts to cut in and miss the corner, it is likely to be in response to the rider's position or aids. I used to have lessons with a RI who put an obstacle in each corner, just inside the track. The obstacle had to be ridden round, that can't be done by leg-yielding
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That's a bit simplistic though, there's a lot more variables depending on the horse. With one of mine, I don't want to encourage his habit of leaning on my leg for bends or balancing on the outside rein, so I need to lighten the outside contact and it invites him into that rein more. A dressage trainer gave me lightbulb moment when she said a horse like him has to be ridden like a bike handwise, as soon as I did he was more balanced around corners and more independent. As he matures things will change, but for now that teaches him to be more balanced independently. Each horse is different and has to be taken on an individual basis
 
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Pearlsasinger said:
Yes, every horse should be ridden as an individual but ime, if the horse starts to cut in and miss the corner, it is likely to be in response to the rider's position or aids. I used to have lessons with a RI who put an obstacle in each corner, just inside the track. The obstacle had to be ridden round, that can't be done by leg-yielding
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Yes it can
 
I tend to yield around obstacles.
I ride her straight, but if there's something she doesn't like about a corner she just doesn't want to go there! !
 
haven't read all the replies, but I had a long chat with an instructor the other day regarding contact. I said I hated feeling like I was nagging - she said maintaining a contact and expecting the horse to yield to it isn't the same as nagging. Rather than question and answer, question and answer, it is more subtle, but still *riding* continuously. Hard to explain rather than feel...
 
I sing to my horse to calm her down. I actually think it has more to do with keeping a rhythm with your breathing. She is a total psycho and feels like she is constantly on brink of bolting when we hack out. You can't really let your leg graze her side and she will go up if you put to much pressure on her mouth. Once she gets into a rhythm, she tends to settle a bit and I find singing helps.

So I am the crazy lady, singing happily away while the horse rolls it's eyes and jogs hysterically.
 
khalswitz said:
haven't read all the replies, but I had a long chat with an instructor the other day regarding contact. I said I hated feeling like I was nagging - she said maintaining a contact and expecting the horse to yield to it isn't the same as nagging. Rather than question and answer, question and answer, it is more subtle, but still *riding* continuously. Hard to explain rather than feel...
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I love it when people ride with long reins like it's effortless, but maybe the contact does make your horse feel like you're always there? I do feel like I'm constantly yielding and half halting!
 
LadyGascoyne said:
I sing to my horse to calm her down. I actually think it has more to do with keeping a rhythm with your breathing. She is a total psycho and feels like she is constantly on brink of bolting when we hack out. You can't really let your leg graze her side and she will go up if you put to much pressure on her mouth. Once she gets into a rhythm, she tends to settle a bit and I find singing helps.

So I am the crazy lady, singing happily away while the horse rolls it's eyes and jogs hysterically.
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Haha love this. I too sing sometimes, mainly to keep my breathing steady 'good girl... trot trot trot. You are not going to spook lalalallalala nothing scary here lalala' mental!
 
Haha! I have my "it's not going to eat you" song. You can adapt the lyrics to whatever presents itself; bag, hose, plant, car, flower. I sing it to the tune of JJ Cales Senstive Kind. Lassie likes the blues :-)

It's not going to eat you, it's only a plant
It's not going to eat you, it hasn't so far...
 
I think it's really important to have a physical 'conversation' while schooling. ie, half halts, rebalancing, a little tweek of the rein etc so your horse is always on the aids. I know a lot of folk don't talk while riding but I speak to mine all the time, she Defo listens to me as I use her ears as a gauge. I'm actually positive she understands everything I say now after asking her the other day while tied up, if she wanted a sweetie & she responded ears up looked straight at me & did a squealy little knicker..... Better watch what I'm saying round her now! ........,
 
tanyajade said:
I love it when people ride with long reins like it's effortless, but maybe the contact does make your horse feel like you're always there? I do feel like I'm constantly yielding and half halting!
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There is still a contact. Whether the reins are short, long or loose. There's still that conversation going on, even if the contact is only the weight of the reins and the aids are subtle.
 
I am one of those people who has running commentary, probably to the annoyance of anyone sharing a ring with me but at the moment, that is usually no one. If the horse is going well, it's along the lines of, "Good girl. That was a very nice transition. That is a very nice frame. Good girl. Now lets try a half pass here..." ad infinitum.

If things aren't going well, I can put Malcolm Tucker to shame.
 
Billy the kid said:
sorry not really related to your post..... the title just made me laugh as there is a lady that competes locally to me who literally has a full blown conversation with the horse as she goes round.....'slow down now, its slippy here' or 'Right its the water splash now, your going to fast!' Hilarious to watch, but i guess its her way of telling herself.
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I had to check your location then to see whether you could be talking about me! A lady stopped me once when I came out of an SJ round to say "just to say it was so lovely to hear you talking to him all the way round!" I dread to think how loud I must have been for that to be true - I always thought it was under my breath! :D:o Apparently she and her partner especially appreciated my "who's a good boy, there's a good boy, there's a good boy, there's a good boy..." as I tried to steady the canter...

When schooling, I have a constant verbal conversation - usually I repeat phrases from lessons to myself ("don't fix your hands against her neck, carry your hands" or "don't drop her on this turn, sit back and maintain it") which in turn means I communicate to my horses more effectively (I hope!). Sometimes, of course, I just say whatever nonsense comes in to my head...
Lady waggles her ears when she's listening to me. She has lovely huge donkey ears, and the more she thinks about difficult concepts the more she waggles... It's like radio antennae desperately trying to find signal! If something is easy, she will relax both ears forward. OP, sorry - back to your original point - keeping your horse occupied will help. It could be done through little half-halts down your reins if her gaze just occasionally wanders elsewhere, or what about using your seat to slow/increase tempo to make her focus and think? Or a change of direction/lateral work? Keep a feel through your legs - not a constant squeeze; just be aware that you should be able to feel her against both thighs/calves at once, especially when your legs are relaxed. If she suddenly feels stronger/heavier against your left leg, e.g., it's likely to be because she's looking to the right and therefore her body has moved left. (It's not always this exaggerated, but it's possible if she is lifting/turning her head to look out across a paddock).
 
I wish I could wait for her to start looking outside & get her attention back. But sometimes she's just too quick, she doesn't stare first, she just spooks.
Thanks for your advice everyone!
 
tanyajade said:
I wish I could wait for her to start looking outside & get her attention back. But sometimes she's just too quick, she doesn't stare first, she just spooks.
Thanks for your advice everyone!
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unless its something sudden that she genuinely spooks at (like an unexpected gunshot or something) then with most spooks she thinks about doing it before she does it. she's lost concentration in you and she's moved her awareness away from you to outside. so mentally she has thought it before she has reacted, and you have to really read and feel what the sign is that that has happened. with my lad its the ears, a tension in his back and a slight stiffening in his neck. Like one of the other posters said, if the horse is bending relaxed and correctly it is less likely to spook.

If I just trot my horse in a straight line down the side of the arena without doing anything/no aids, he will spook cause he's bored and feels like i've abandoned him and left him alone. I have to be constantly in conversation with him so when i'm going down the arena in my head im asking him for better rhythm in the trot, rewarding him when he responds, different bend/reward, changing speed of trot/reward, better balance. constantly asking him questions and rewarding him when he gets the answer right. he really enjoys schooling now and once he is happy and occupied the spooking stops. its really a case or riding and concentrating for every step tho!
 
Thanks Paddi. It's confusing to me that my RI said 'stop concentrating on what she's doing'. When really, I should be listening to her every step.

What do you use as a reward? Softening the reins? Verbal? Etc
 
the ri probably meant to stop concentrating on the spooking or anticipating it. concentrate on what you DO want her doing. listen to her steps as the answer to what you are asking her.

its the difference between you thinking 'oh god she's speeding up a bit so might spook, is she gonna spook at that corner'
and
you thinking 'i want her trot more rhythmic, so i'l slow my rising, gather her under me by hugging her with my legs and maybe sponge the rein slightly to get her to soften, she's slowed slightly so i reward her'

to really ride her you need to gently demand her concentration be on you, instead of you anticipating what she is going to do.

think of it like a grumpy toddler in a supermarket. you are on an aisle with sweets on the right hand side and you know she's going to want to run over and grab some some, you know once she sees it she will start crying and have a tantrum. you wouldn't walk towards the aisle anticipating 'oh no shes gonna see those sweets and then she will grab some, and she's gonna to have a tantrum if i don't give them to her!' You are in control of the situation, so you'd take her hand, distract her by drawing her attention to something else on the other side of the aisle, and distracting her by talking to her. In other works you choose positive actions that lead her into a situation where you both win. she follows your actions, not the other way around.

as a reward for my lad i say good boy. I also soften the contact (but don't drop it!) or give him a quick neck scratch. My lad is a complete bimbo and he responds really well to praise. so in my head when im schooling im always asking him a question and if he gives the right answer i reward him.
 
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