h.) Clinic # 8: Riding from the Ground Up

Clinic #8: Riding from the Ground Up

Finally! We’re going to be looking directly at riding. I say directly because throughout these courses you’ve been working on riding. Think back to the details I fussed in that very first lesson where you held a target out to your horse, clicked and then fed him a treat. I didn’t let you feed him any old which way. I had you pay attention to your balance and his.

You learned to feed with your left hand on the left side of your horse and your right hand on the right side. You learned to move your feet as needed so you fed, shoulders-over-hips-over-feet in balance. You were having a riding lessons and so was your horse.

When you delivered the treat, you paid attention to where you held your hand. It was click for behavior - feed where the perfect horse would be. In “grown-up are talking” the perfect horse is standing in good balance. That means you’re delivering the treat so he lifts up from the base of his neck. He isn’t falling forward, leaning on his forehand. He isn’t twisting to the side to reach for his treat.

The initial instructions were feed where your horse’s neck looks pretty to you. It’s okay if that changes over time. Food delivery is dynamic. As your eye for balance develops, it may well influence where “the perfect horse” is.

Through these lessons you and your horse were normalizing good balance. It’s so very sneaky. You’re working on one thing related to an immediate task on the ground, but when you include these handling details you are also connecting the dots to riding.

So we’ve been working on riding throughout all these clinics. After all ground work is just riding where you get to stand up and riding is ground work where you get to sit down.

Well in this course you get to sit down! We’re going to ride.

But I don’t want you to get on business as usual and throw away all the work you’ve been doing. What was your horse’s previous riding experience? Did it leave him with some unwanted baggage?

In Course #5 Managing Energy and Emotions, you learned how much the environment influences the behavior/emotions you get. So if you get on and pick up the reins as you have always picked up the reins, you will be right back in the context of stiff, defensive riding.

So in this course we’re going to change your riding cues. You’re going to begin at the beginning with single-rein riding.

I’ll be explaining what this is, how it works and what it will do for you and your horse.

We’ll begin with the basic core single-rein riding lessons. These are designed first and foremost for safety. Perfected they take you to riding heaven.

In the previous course, The T’ai Chi Walk and Lateral Work, you learned about two powerhouse lessons: 3-flip-3 and hip-shoulder-shoulder.

In this course I’ll show you how to incorporate them into circles and turns to develop a beautifully engaged, collected horse.

The lessons begin with basics and take you to the stars!

Beautiful balance - physical and emotional is always a delight to ride.