Sunrise Farm

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Sunrise Farm

Sunrise Farm is a full service lessons, boarding and training facility located on 35 acres in beautiful Pelham, NH just a few miles off the highway.

All adult facility offering lessons, full boarding and training specializing in problem horses, and excellent care for your equine partner.

Operating as usual

01/03/2022

With all my students in my 35 years of being a professional riding instructor I have yet to see anyone that can actually have a relaxed and soft sitting trot.

Most instructors teach the trot by having the rider trot more . One cannot learn correctness if one is practicing incorrectly. Simple logic!

First the sitting trot is one of the most relaxed and effortless way to ride a horse. Also one should have an effective sitting trot to be able to get a nice smooth canter depart. If the rider does not , the why should the horse give the rider a smooth canter transition?

Start train you and your horse by through doing a nice slow walk. This is done by relaxing your hips so they actually move with the horses back. By learning how to do this your horse will learn how to relax his/her back and be able to swing the horses legs better underneath the horse. When you relax your hips do make sure you are not pinning your knees . Remember relax your lower legs also. Your lower legs should be lightly around the horses barrel. . your entire body should feel like it is jello. You should not have any stiffens in your entire body.

Yes that includes your ankles. Your ankles should feel like they are relaxing down , not being pushed down. (If you are pushing down your ankles to get a deep heel you will be pushing your self off the saddle and not relaxing your hips. ) To simulate the feel of deep relaxed ankles you can stand on steps, with your toes on the step , holding on a railing or something to keep your balance,the slowly allow your ankles to deepen or get lower . Look and see how low the ankles can get while staying comfortable. Are your ankles the same angle as you ride at the walk? If they are good . If not then how do you expect your ankles to be relaxed when you are actually riding ? (Hint... This is also a good exercise to be able to relax and stretch the muscles , tendons and ligaments for riding. )

Getting back to the walk. Now walk on a straight line, or as straight you can walk in a relaxed manner, and tighten or stop your hips from moving . Your horse should slow down , some horses will actually stop . They stop because the horse's natural flow of movement has stopped. Now relax your hips or release your hips . Your horse should walk more fluidly forward . This simple exercise can also be used to slow your horse down instead of using a half halt with your hands or arms.

Now once this relaxation and stiffening or slowing your hips down is accomplished you are ready for the next step.

Look at the horses inside shoulder . When the horses inside shoulder is back softly squeeze your inner calf on the horse's side. When the leg starts to move forward slowly release your leg to the relaxed position or as I call it a neutral position of relaxation. Then look at the outside leg and watch when the outside shoulder is back also. now squeeze your outside calf lightly on the horse side and slowly release your calf on the horses side to the neutral position.

With this accomplished now squeeze and release your inside leg when the inside shoulder is back and then squeeze and release the outside shoulder is back. This will create a tempo for the horse to listen to and will start to move a little more forward. The fast the correct tempo (see the above) if the inside and then outside leg the faster the horse will walk forward . If you use to much leg the horse will trot. Be careful not to use too much leg.

Once your legs can find a tempo of slow and then fast and then slow the horse will start listen to the tempos the rider has created.

Now your hands should have light straight line contact with the horse's mouth , Contact should be just the the amount of pressure to hold the reins straight . Squeeze release your inside hand and outside in same tempo of the inside and outside leg . This informs the horse not to trot and will also soften the horse's mouth . This will also start to tell the horse to listen to the tempo of the rider's fingers.

The next step is when the rider is squeeze and releases the riders calf slowly shift your weight to the side you are using your calf. This gets the horse to re balance the horse's stride and engage the inside and outside legs. It will also teach the rider how to re balance the horse and to step side to side softly at the trot.

Most riders only think of the up and down movement of the horse as they bounce around on the horses back . The horse has four different movements at all gaits. Front to back and side to side. It usually is the side to side motion that creates the bouncing on the horse's back.

By now you are probably wondering how the walk,creating the tempo of the horse and stepping will help the sitting trot.

The rider must educate the horse on these aids to best be able to control the trot. I have found the reason why most riders do not have an effective sitting trot is because they are too busy trying to hang on and stay in the saddle.

With the rider's aids of hands , the stepping side to side softly and legs creating a tempo the rider can practice a forward tempo and then a slower tempo until the this can be accomplished easily.

Slowly increase the horse tempo , or speed (not really speed but length of stride) , at the walk until the horse "accidentally" starts a slow trot . Just sit to the trot a few strides and slow the tempo down with the riders hands , slow stepping and legs . The rider may need to take a little more contact on the horse's mouth to slow or downward transition into the walk.

Notice I have not ever spoken about a transition much , There is one piece for the walk trot transition I have left out. That will be gone over once the slow sitting trot is accomplished.

Make sure once at the trot the rider only trots a few strides . Once a few strides are easy, for the horse and rider team, then keep the forward tempo maybe 2 more strides. Then slow the horse again by slowing the tempo , using all the correct aids . Do this until it is again easy for the team.

If at any time this becomes difficult then go back to the start of the article and practice again from the beginning. One or both of the team members did not get the memo of listening to the tempo.

Once the rider can take a few more slow steps then go a little further . Do not get carried away and do this until you fail. If you do this then the team will need to go back to the start of the article and re learn the correct steps.

This takes as long as it takes to stay slow , calm , quiet and relaxed of both horse and rider team.

Do not rush this !

Once you can accomplish this slowly then increase the tempo slowly again for a few steps. So go a little more forward / faster and slow the horse . Do this until you can do a relaxed slow or forward sitting trot.

In summary create a tempo in conjunction with the horses legs. The tempo is found by using the rider's aids of inside and outside squeeze and release of the rider's calf , inside and out side stepping and inside and outside squeeze and release of the fingers . Make sure the contact of the reins are only the amount of holding the reins straight not tight or pulling/holding.

This is the foundation of all the movements of dressage or as I call it correct riding.

Ride and train well

04/06/2021

Riding Tips!

If it was good enough for Genghis Khan, it's good enough for me (and you)

Using your legs, knees, weight and hips as aids to help your horse's performance.

Position of the rider's legs for dressage work:

The rider's legs should be extended vertically down. The length of rider's stirrup leathers/irons should be at a length that the rider feels safe and comfortable. Too short of the irons will create (most of the time) stiffness of your hips. Too long of the stirrups will leave the rider insecure and reaching for the irons, whereby they will not be able to use their legs properly because the rider is afraid to relax. That fear is because the rider is afraid of falling off.

Now most will say "Then the rider should ride without irons." By riding without irons the rider will be gripping with their knees to stay on. By doing this the rider will rarely have a secure seat/leg. Also the human being's body is not built to have their knees in contact with the saddle and still be able to have a lower leg contact.

I never suggest anyone ride without irons. Most people that I have seen that have ridden without irons get stiff and are afraid to move. This is also included in being lunged without irons. Same fears. Sometimes worse because the rider does not control the horse's movements. Also the horse is always bending (or trying to bend) to stay on the lunge circle. Then the horse does not stay balanced and the rider is not secure. Not being secure = fear.

When speaking with students some say they can ride better without irons! I tell them they make irons to help us; not to hinder us.

In an article
"Mongolia’s biggest breakthrough – metal stirrups"
By https://americanequus.com/history-of-stirrups/

In " History of Equestrian Stirrups"

Genghis Khan claimed the largest land empire under his rule and many historians believed that the power of his mighty cavalry was due to a technological breakthrough: the metal stirrups.

The metal stirrup allowed Mongolian riders unrivaled mobility, stability, and balance thus giving them a great advantage in any fight.

If it was good enough for Genghis Khan to almost rule the world by having stirrups then who am I to argue??

When I hear "I can ride better without Irons" this means to me that the rider is not relaxed in the irons and their legs are banging on the horses sides and are not being used properly with irons.

The rider's legs should be relaxed.

Now another mortal sin .... the riders knees should be slightly open off the horse. This allows the rider's lower leg (calf) to rest softly on the horses sides.

(I could never figure out how the lower leg was to be on the horses sides while my knees were pinned to the saddle. The human body does not bend like that!)

This position will also allow the rider's seat/hips to relax . By relaxing the hips, the rider will be able to control the hips by stiffening them to slow or stop the horse's movement. Then if the rider relaxes the hips this will allow the rider's hips to flow with the horse's movement. This allows the horse to have more freedom of movement, thereby allowing the horse to have a longer length of stride.

The rider's knees should be able to open and close as the rider needs. By doing this the rider will control the "lateral lean" of the horse and control the horse's shoulders.
The lateral lean of the horse can easily be seen when one watches a barrel racer. The horse is severely leaning close to barrel. In dressage movements this can be used in the canter pirouette, shoulder in, haunches in, or when the horse is actually strong enough to balance on each section of the turn (or each quadrant) of a circle.

The inside leg (the leg facing the inside of a circle) should be at the girth and the outside leg should be slight forward of the girth. The leg at the girth controls the horses entire body. The leg forward from the girth control the horse's shoulders. When the leg is placed behind the girth, it controls the horse's haunches.

This is simple physics. Imagine if the horse was a straight board hanging from the center and balanced in the air. If you put pressure on center of the board, the board moves away from the pressure. If you put pressure on the same board forward of the center (in front of the girth) of the board, the front of the board moves away from the pressure and will move the front of the board to the outside. If you put pressure behind the center of the board (behind the girth) the back part of the board (hindquarters) will move away from the pressure.

How the lower leg (calf) should be used is a light squeeze and release of contact on the horse's side. The most important part is the release of the pressure. This release is the reward for the horse moving from the lower leg.

The pressure from the lower leg should never remain "on" the horse. If the rider does have the lower leg constantly pressing on the horse to send the horse forward then the horse will not have self carriage. The rider then has to keep the horse going.

Instead, softly squeeze and release the lower leg. If the horse does not respond to the soft queue then the horse should be disciplined. (Remember Disobedience = discipline + one. Do not have an argument with your horse. A discipline should actually be a discipline.) This should be repeated until the horse learns how to listen to the soft queue of the lower leg and move from that queue. After all, the horse can feel a fly on its side and responds to the fly. Why can't the horse listen to your soft lower leg appropriately and move from it?

Using your weight when riding depends upon how well trained and skilled the horse and rider team is. For example, when first working with your horse on a turn, the rider's weight should be lightly to the outside. The reason behind this is that the rider's weight to the outside will lighten up the horse's inside hind leg and allow the horse to engage (bringing the hind leg under the horse and between the horse's 2 front legs) more easily and allowing the horse to bend it's back and make an arc.

As the team improves, the rider's weight can be in the center of the horse. As the team becomes more skilled in riding a turn (an arc) and the horse becomes stronger and more balanced around a turn, then the rider's weight can go to the inside and have the horse's arc be even tighter while the the horse stays balanced on the arc of the turn.

An example of this is when the rider is able to ride a 20 meter circle. The circle is actually ridden as a square. At each point of the square, the rider makes a balanced turn arcing around the corner of the square. The horse's body is then arced in the shape of the 20 meter circle. The rider then can put his/her weight to the inside of the circle and then use the outside leg (outside leg is in front of the girth) to round the horse's back more, arcing around each point of the turn.

Using the rider's weight doing upward and downward transitions:
When transitioning the horse upward and downward the rider's weight should lighten in the seat; not deepen. If the rider's weight becomes lighter the horse is able to round the back, reaching under himself/herself more easily and have more power for engagement.

When you deepen your seat, the horse U's its back and makes the distance of engagement longer and therefore has less power. In addition, the horse has to lift its head and leg and thereby fight the bit.

This is a simple version of using the riders aids. The rider must always feel where the horse's balance is and then appropriately respond with whatever aid is needed.
Every horse wants the rider to stay as much out of the horse's mouth as possible. Use your fingers (see our earlier article) and complement the fingers with the corresponding leg and weight aid. Instead of using one hard queue (aid), use a combination of soft queues so the horse is not overpowered by one heavy queue.

I hope this helps. There is only so much one can explain in writings.

Happy riding !

Address

375 Windham Rd
Pelham, NH
03076

Telephone

(603) 635-7631

Website

http://sunrisehorsefarmnh.com

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