Thursday Fluidity I Days Four and Five

Due to the conference taking up day 5 of the Fluidity I course, we had a very busy day covering two days worth of topics, Riding the Gaits and Impulsion.

Riding the Gaits (or Fluidity) simply means to ride without rigidity mentally, emotionally and physically. We watched Linda on the Success Series DVD and then discussed the different gaits' requirements for fluidity:

Walking requires the rider to be on their balance point, to pedal for the hind legs, to mirror the front legs and to match the energy.

Sitting Trot requires the rider to be on their balance point, to be able to place the palm of their hand on the horse's flanks and to pedal.

Rising Trot requires the rider to be on their balance point in the pushing position, not to brace in the stirrups, to squish with their butt, to push out and flex the lower back and to allow the horse to push the rider up out of the saddle.

Canter requires the rider to be on their balance point, to be able to place the palm of their hand on the horse's flanks, to have a following seat, to mirror the front legs with the leading hand, to sit on your thumb and to flex and push out with the lower back.

Note: Our horse can only be as fluid as we are! Anywhere the rider feels pain, the horse does too and it indicates a place of brace!

The signs of harmony (or fluidity) in the horse are a low head, a round top line, willing/asking, smoother gaits and rhythm, blow out cobwebs.

Impulsion was the next topic. Simply put, impulsion means whoa equals go...... A 'long' horse tends find the go easy and the whoa harder, whereas a 'short' horse is the reverse. To help long horses shorten we use circles and to help short horses lengthen we use straight lines.

A short horse will give feedback such as bucking and tail swishing (back end) whereas a long horse will rear, head toss or chomp the bit (front end).

Tactics to help a long horse could be to match them then add 4 ounces - for example if your long horse wants to trot fast, ask for a faster trot so they offer to slow down and then you take their offering (reverse psychology). For the short horse, you need incentive, so play point to point between clumps of clover!

Remember straight lines are not straight - they are simply a route with a start and finish, so a trail ride could be a straight line. A circle is not simply a circle - it could be a spiral or a route between obstacles where you circle before moving on. Be imaginative with your straight lines and circles!

Play with Roget went very well today with the pre-requisites to riding going smoothly again! So today I rode! I played pushing passenger inside the round corral and then follow the rail outside (after practicing the one rein stop and disengagement lots!). I didn't have a saddle on him (as I didn't really believe we would get that far!) so only the bareback pad for our first ride! Unfortunately, I now have to wait until Monday to ride as we can't ride during conference for safety reasons ;-(