Advanced English Riding. Sharon Biggs
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Advanced English Riding - Sharon Biggs страница 6
Название: Advanced English Riding
Автор: Sharon Biggs
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Биология
Серия: Horse Illustrated Guide
isbn: 9781937049430
isbn:
• Your lower leg should remain lightly on the horse throughout and ready to send him forward again. As you feel the horse make the shift down, apply your leg aid, soften your spine, and move forward again.
The rider responds to the horse by softening the contact. The horse has halted well.
Here the rider applies the half halt just when the horse’s outside foreleg is forward.
The most effective moment to apply the half halt is when the outside foreleg is going forward. That makes the outside foreleg take a slightly shorter step.
The Wrong Ways to Half Halt
Riders commonly make the following mistakes when using the half halt:
Making the half halt last too long. Riders often eliminate the middleman of softening the spine by continuing to brace against the horse and continuing to pull on the rein. They wait for the horse to give before they give. The half halt must last no longer than a stride, whether it works or not. If it hasn’t worked, repeat it slightly more emphatically in another stride. If you hold too long, your horse will begin to fight you by leaning on your hands, rushing off, or resisting your aids. At best, the half halt lasts no longer than one stride. If it doesn’t work, stop asking, then repeat it.
Focusing too much on the reins. Many riders wrongly equate the half halt with pulling on the reins. The old tug-and-release method to slow down is a crude approach to riding. However, if you feel that your horse is barging through your hand rather than pulling on the reins, reconfirm the contact by closing your fingers within your hand, much like wringing water out of a sponge. Think of riding the horse forward into an already halted bit, rather than bringing the bit backward to halt the horse.
Not thinking ahead. Riders have to act before things get out of hand. Sometimes it’s too late to do a half halt: the rider has waited until the horse is really on his forehand and moving too fast. Then the momentum is so great the rider would need a half halt strong enough to stop a bus. Some horses need a half halt even in the first stride of the canter or the trot. If you ask for the half halt right away, you set the balance for the new gait so it doesn’t get out of control. If you’ve lost control completely, halt the horse and start the transition again.
Performing the half halt mechanically. Many riders apply the half halt too technically, which means it’s clumsy and it takes too long. Horses are “push into pressure” creatures, meaning that if you put pressure on the horse without knowing and communicating its purpose, then the horse is going to resist you. The aids are meaningless unless they are supporting a clear idea. Riders often get wrapped up in the physical mechanics of the aid without having a concept of what the horse should feel like after they apply the aid. Try not to become obsessed with how exactly you’re supposed to do it. Focus on how the horse is feeling to you. If you can’t get it, ask a knowledgeable friend or instructor for help.
A rider avoids overthinking the half halt by paying attention to how the horse feels.
Forgetting to customize the half halt. Riders must keep in mind that every horse is different. They may think that they are doing the half halt correctly, but it may not be effective for that particular horse on that particular day—or in a particular situation or even at that moment. Sometimes the half halt has to be incredibly subtle to avoid ruining the (particular) flow. Sometimes it has to be repeated in a more emphatic way until you get a response.
The half halt is principally the same no matter what style of rider you are. Although hunter and jumper riders don’t sit the same way as a dressage rider does, the theory is still the same. The legs engage, and a split-second resistance through the rider’s body is carried into the reins. The horse still feels the momentary lack of flow through his rider.
Riding Within the Gaits
Riding in the beginning stages is all about the working walk, the trot, and the canter, but as you advance in your skills, everything becomes more complex. For instance, you must learn how to move seamlessly from one gait to another. You need to include paces in your repertoire; for instance, the walk paces include the free walk, the medium walk, the extended walk, and the collected walk. While jumping, you must learn to adjust your stride within the speed of your canter, hand gallop, or gallop, depending on the style of fence. Advanced riders also need to learn how to advance a horse’s knowledge with a method of training. In dressage, this is primarily the training pyramid or scale. Because this is a universal, integral concept among riders of all disciplines, I urge you to incorporate this technique into your own training sessions.
Transitions
A well-ridden transition seems a simple thing. After all, in essence you are only switching gears: walk to trot, trot to canter, or trot to walk. But many things that appear easy are in actuality very hard to do. What people see in that easy transition is a horse that smoothly changes rhythm; for example, from a one-two, one-two beat in the trot to a one-two-three beat in the canter. Nothing else changes: the horse should continue to move forward with the same energy (unless you’ve halted), remain on the bit or accepting the bit, and stay balanced. But what brings about the shift in gaits is indiscernible to observers. That’s the rider’s job, to make his aids invisible to spectators and obvious only to the horse—to make the whole thing look easy. A great transition is one that is prepared and well trained, but most of all one that shows the true harmony and partnership between horse and rider that has developed over time.
If you’re a dressage rider, bad transitions will keep you stuck in Training Level because the further you advance in the levels, the more important transitions become. If you’re a hunter or jumper rider and you can’t pull off a transition on the flat, you’ll be in trouble when it comes to jumping because you won’t be able to gauge your distances. You’ll come into the fence too deeply or chip in an extra stride. Your hunter won’t make the proper strides between fences, and your jumper will most likely pull rails.
A common fault in the downward transition is that the rider leans back and braces against the horse and uses his stirrups as brake pedals. Or he leans forward and lightens his seat. Because there is no preparation, the result is an awkward transition, or the horse either braces back and ignores the rider completely or responds by going faster. When riders brace and fall to the back of the saddle, their seat drives the horse on and makes her go faster. Everyone instinctively leans back to stop, and that’s good if you’re a beginning rider and you’re going to fall off, but not at this stage in your riding. The answer is to keep your position through your transition.
Using the bit for a brake is another common fault. If this is your issue, go back and review your half halt and make sure you are applying it correctly.
Making an upward transition by chasing the horse until she reaches the required gait is also a common error. For example, instead of simply moving from the trot to the canter, riders gun the horse forward from the walk to a fast trot and then to the canter. In this error, the rider’s seat has shifted too far forward, and he СКАЧАТЬ