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| Arena envy is a real thing |
What did I learn:
- Use the softest bit in the world and only work up from that if you need to (DUH! Who doesn't know this? I saw him swap out countless harsh bits for less severe ones.)
- If a horse can warm up long and low, awesome. If not - don't stress out about it. Just let him loosen up without forcing a frame. (This was a good thing to hear as that's what I've been doing with Gav.)
- Fancy horses don't necessarily equal clinic favorites. It was allll about the rider. His favorite pair was a 13 year old girl riding what had to be a welsh pony.
- Know your strides (I would be chopped liver in these clinics)
- Inside leg to outside rein is (and I quote) a VIRUS infecting the thought process of all riders.
Wait... what? Let's expand on this last point. Basically he said that the inside-leg-to-outside-rein mantra was created by George Morris to keep riders from overbending their horses. The problem with it, is that people have oversimplified and bastardized it. People are now riding too much with only one leg and one rein. Ridiculous (says Bernie)! We have two hands and two legs and we should use everything we have for effective riding. He said that to push a horse out on a circle, you should shift both your inside and outside rein further to the outside (basically, inside rein against the neck, and outside rein out away from the horse's neck). Think of the motion of the horse like a river. The river flows between your two hands and two legs. If you move both hands to the outside you are displacing the motion and moving their shoulders out (shoulders move out, body will follow) and with the inside rein against the neck you will create slight bend to the inside (bend through the neck, not necessarily through the body - body bending requires human leg action).
Okay. So I get all of that. And I decided to try it on Gav. It went really well, and seemed to get rid of some of our shoulder bulging, corner cutting issues.
So umm... here's where it gets embarrassing and sorta feeds into Viva Carlos' blog hop about being young, stupid, and believing anything. I think I've had outside rein wrong my whole riding career. I've always assumed that when a trainer says outside rein, what they mean is exert backwards pressure on the outside rein (aka - pull back slightly on the outside rein). I don't know where I got that - I've just always thought it and this action has NEVER been corrected by a trainer. Now I'm wondering if what outside rein has always meant was outside rein to the OUTSIDE (outward motion NOT backwards motion). Anyone? Anyone?.... Bueller?...
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| My new favorite thing is Gavin's new SmartPak halter/Graycodesigns lead rope combo |
Hm I'm not super familiar with that clinician or his methods and I'm certainly no pro, but that doesn't sync up super well with how my trainer(s) direct me. I can agree that "inside leg to outside rein" is often over simplified and ppl can forget that it isn't step 1 in the training process - rather, you need inside rein (and both legs) to help begin educating the horse and whatnot before they can learn to go into the outside rein and bend around inside leg. But regarding hand position, my trainers (none of them hj acolytes who would be taking their cues from GM) want my outside hand held in a relatively fixed position, low near the wither with elbow near my body. Inside hand can be more mobile (for instance opening away from horse) but outside stays fixed to the point where I've had one clinician tell me to actually hold the saddle pad. Another example of this would be the Spanish riding school horses who do their in hand work off a single long rein that connects through the outside bit to a surcingle.
ReplyDeleteNot sure any of this is useful or in line with what you saw tho!!
I've been taught basically as you have been (where the outside rein is steady, almost fixed). I guess - my question is, when a trainer says "outside rein, outside rein, outside rein". What are they telling me? What is the action they're wanting from me? Is it outside rein fixed (I don't think so - seeing as how it's almost an action cue I'm getting), is it outside rein pulsing pressure (what I've always taken it to mean), or outside rein to the outside (what I'm now wondering).
DeleteHe did preface the whole conversation with "this is a totally different school of thought than a dressage rider". So I could be just getting all mixed up.
I've been taught as Emma describes, but maybe with a little more emphasis on keeping my hands together. However, if you want to move the shoulders over I've been taught as Bernie mentioned. Useful for those jumper turns and shoulder in, etc, but not something I use unless I need the shoulders more mobile or they're drifting.
ReplyDeleteHi T - I'm going to copy a lot of what I said to Emma as I'm hoping to ask you the same thing.
DeleteI've been taught basically as you have been (where the outside rein is steady, almost fixed). I guess - my question is, when a trainer says "outside rein, outside rein, outside rein". What are they telling me? What is the action they're wanting from me? Is it outside rein fixed (I don't think so - seeing as how it's almost an action cue I'm getting), is it outside rein pulsing pressure (what I've always taken it to mean), or outside rein to the outside (what I'm now wondering).
I can only tell you what my coach means by it in my situation - B LOVES to drift out through the outside shoulder, so when my coach is shouting "outside rein!" at me I keep a strong feel and move the outside rein into her neck and bring the inside rein slightly inward. The reverse would be true if her shoulders were falling into the circle - she'd have me move my outside rein slightly off the neck and my inside hand into the neck. None of these are huge movements...the visual described to me is I am funnelling her shoulders, neck and head in a straight line between my legs and hands.
DeleteThis sounds a lot like what I just heard at this clinic (I may not have done it justice when I was trying to explain it). It's funny - I've never been taught that in my years and years of riding. Thanks for giving more feedback.
DeleteI have ridden dressage and trained with lots of top trainers and have never, ever heard anyone mention moving both reins. Not saying that I know everything and Bernie is wrong, but it is shocking to me to hear something so....different from one person compared to everyone else. I am 100% for doing what works for you! But I don't think you were wrong in assuming outside rein means pressure, not an outward motion.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting clinic for sure... certainly some different ideas than what I've heard!
ReplyDeleteI've always thought about "filling up" the outside aids around a corner or on a circle. For weaker and/or greener horses I will open up an outside rein to encourage them to move into the open space more (as I'm adding inside leg and some inside rein too). But as the horse becomes stronger and more educated, they don't need the opening rein as much and I can focus on having steady contact through the outside aids.
ReplyDeleteLove this description, this is what we started with, and now we are in a middle ground where I still open or close my outside rein slightly when my girl is not straight or otherwise uneven between my aids.
DeleteThanks to both of you for discussing a bit more. It sounds strange, but I went from western neck-reining to straight dressage when I was around 14 (not eventing dressage, or any h/j work), and I'd never learned the in the corners opening of the outside rein and slight closing of the inside rein. I can tell you that for me personally, learning this and seeing it demonstrated has opened my eyes a bit to me overbending in the corners.
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