Responsibilities?

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Sort of following on from the LN thread about Eleanor Brennan (
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What responsibilities do you expect your horses to take when ridden?

I mostly have youngsters that I teach from scratch, but from them I expect that they will:-

- To carry themselves, and not expect me to do it for them
-To go off the leg immediately
- To come back from the hand immediately
- To see their own strides into fences

On my side of the bargain, I try to do as little as possible to interfere, especially when it comes to seeing strides
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. I know if we have a disagreement on a striding then more often than not the horse will be right, so I just tend to let them get on with it
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Now perhaps they are all rubbish at dressaging and will never be SJers, but across country they all have a fifth leg and will always get me out of trouble...

Things always do tend to go a bit pearshaped for me when I get let loose on an older horse that has always been told what to do and has never had to think for itself, so I tend to avoid those now
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So, what do you expect and what discipline do you do?
 
great question!
for eventing, xc, i expect them to listen to my input, not argue with me on the way to a fence, but cope if i miss, because i try to keep them balanced, with their engine running, and then let them think for themselves. but i can't stand the sort of horse that locks onto a fence like a missile and ignores my input - i know what's on the other side of it, the horse doesn't cos he hasn't walked it before! so, arrogant horses that ignore my aids are a big no-no for me. i hate that passenger feeling.
on the flat i want them to listen, wait, let me ride them. it's a very delicate balance between accepting the leg and being off it. in turn, i concentrate on being as equal and balanced as possible, and on keeping them sweet and enjoying their work.
for sj i like the ones who clear the fences even if we are a bit wrong! same as xc, i want them to listen and accept my input, and be careful when they get there.
i never ask my horses to go in an outline to a fence, i ride them in a completely different way with a different contact to on the flat, and try to give them the idea that "the ball's in their court" on the way to a fence, so that if they do decide not to go on the stride i've seen, they retain a bit of brain and self-preservation.
hope that all makes sense!
 
hmmm, i must admit that if a horse slips and skids into a fence, say, or if i get it absolutely horrendously wrong, i want it to have enough self-preservation to do a safety-stop, rather than think "i MUST jump" and turning turtle.
 
Interesting. I'm not an eventer, but have trained horses in SJ and Dressage. I'd say the vital things are:

- to go off the leg immediately and to keep going until told otherwise.
- to carry themselves and to move as straight as they can without relying on the rider for balance.
- to go forwards at all times in an even rhythm.
- to shorten and lengthen as required, when asked, immediately.
- to move sideways off the leg without running through the opposite shoulder.
 
Quite similar to Kerilli then..

My approach is probably quite crude, but I find that once a horse is coming back off the hand immediately and going off the leg immediately, everything else pretty much falls into place... just not stylishly!
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To add to that I would also expect them to learn from their mistakes - ok, cock it up and hit something hard, but please, don't do it again, that's just dumb!

So whilst I don't mind them having a crack at something and hitting it, I would expect them to engage brain in the future.
 
Agree 100% with that!
On a first outing everything is absolutely cringeworthy as I let them make their own mistakes, but from then onwards there has to be improvement.

Hence my post in the hunting forum about wondering how many fances we'll crash through instead of jump... I've not really gotten around to jumping him yet, and I have a horrible feeling that as an ex-hurdler he will be under the impression that everything is collapsible!
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He's got to learn sometime....
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[ QUOTE ]
to go off the leg immediately and to keep going until told otherwise.
- to carry themselves and to move as straight as they can without relying on the rider for balance.
- to go forwards at all times in an even rhythm.
- to shorten and lengthen as required, when asked, immediately.
- to move sideways off the leg without running through the opposite shoulder

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree with madmare in turns of what I expect from the general 'going' of a horse.

For SJ I would expect a horse to be able to think fast and be confident enough to take the decision on striding for himself but also be willing to listen to the rider on top.
 
I expect them to try to do what I ask when I ask it, whether on the flat or over a fence (and be honest enough to get me out of trouble if I c*ck up); I see my responsibilities as to be consistent with them, try to keep them forward and balanced and not betray their trust in me!

The "Ok, I'll give it a go" attitude is for me the most important attribute in a horse, I can forgive almost anything if I feel they've tried their best for me.
 
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