SPURS thought of the day 7

SPURS
Thought of the day 7

Relaxation

The thought of riding a relaxed horse is appealing to most of us. In fact, anyone who has ridden a horse that is both relaxed and energetic will understand the point of good dressage.

Let’s concentrate on encouraging our horses to develop relaxation while we work. We can do this by designing our lesson for today around a few simple principals.

1. We all like to do things that we are good at.
Start your ride with simple exercise that your horse can perform easily. Execute this exercise 5 times each direction.

2. When we are bored with our work we do not perform to our best ability.
Introduce a more difficult version of your exercise and execute it 4 times each direction. Take a short break and let the horse walk. Repeat the exercise one time each direction and expand the exercise a little bit more and repeat 3 times each direction. You should finish your work with a simple cool down that includes walking on a loose rein.

3. We all get anxious when we are required to do something that we are unclear about.
If your horse gets anxious at any time during the work, go back to a simpler version of the exercise until they are relaxed about the work.

Your homework is to write back to me about your lesson plans including the figures or exercises used. Tell me how things went and what you will change in the future.
Feel free to e-mail me directly at dressagepeacock@gmail.com.