On the road!

Marti Szczur

 Toby and I took off today for our adventure. 😀😀



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 15: Straight, tempo and tarp day

Marti Szczur
Image
Another big day of learning. Linda had us working on a pattern to help with straightness and maintaining an even tempo. We used a metronome and posted to the beat that matched our horse’s trotting gait. Toby was 143 BPM (beats per minute.) We trotted along the long side of arena, but not along the rail. Focused on a spot at end of arena that is 4-5 feet off the rail and rode the line straight. Sitting trot around corners and then back to rising trot. Not as easy as it sounds. Reminder to self … keep elbows back and down, so there is a nice contact with Toby’s mouth without momentary slack in rein and keep it slow. Legs long, sit tall and don’t squish down in saddle when posting.   Afternoon was a continuation of blue tarp crossing. Toby was much improved. I moved the tarp to 6 different locations to build his confidence. He did so well, that we ended on loading onto a couple of trailers, which he finds easy.
Read more

April 14: A Bit about Bits

Marti Szczur
Image
Rainy morning, so we had a Theory Day, while Toby dried off in a stall with hay to munch. The theme was “bits.”   There are two types of bits … those used for direct contact or indirect contact.   A direct contact bit (e.g., a snaffle) is used for lateral flexion and power (which comes from horse taking the bit. Also allows for horse to become round in back and flex.) Considered “direct” because w hen you apply pressure to the reins of a snaffle bit, the horse feels the same amount of pressure in their mouth.     An indirect contact bit (e.g., curb bit in Western and in English double bridle) is designed to be used when you want to gain more vertical flexion, straightness and elevation. . Single curb bits are designed to be used for riding with one hand, not two hands, as they are not designed for lateral flexion movements. The curb bit is considered “indirect” because  it is a leverage bit , meaning that it multiplies the pressure applied by the rider. Unlike a...
Read more

April 12 -13: Practice, practice, practice and Toby gets a Pedicure

Marti Szczur
Image
Continuing to work on my position and doing bending exercises. I am getting more upright and finding it easier to keep legs draped and feet pointing straight ahead. Still a work in progress, though.    Linda introduced “leg yield made easy” where you don’t even need to use your legs! Swivel the headlights on your knuckles, while keeping wrists straight, in direction you want to go. Feeling is sort of like sliding the whole horse over. Horse needs to stay straight (parallel to rail) as does the rider.    Did some canter departs, which Toby does quite well. For some reason, I have no problem keeping my upper body upright when cantering. Linda will tweak a few things later this week or next to get it more refined.   In the afternoon, Tony Vaught, who is Linda’s farrier, and gave a talk at the HHHL Conference on April 2nd, came to Happy Horse Haven. He was nice enough to take time to look at Toby and give him a trim. I learned a lot from watching and asking question...
Read more