January to February in my area when you don’t have an indoor is really not a bad time at all. Phoenix and I have been working on in hand work (which is going poorly) and lunging (which is going much better) since a week after my dressage saddle left. I used my hunt saddle for a week, but it was clearly hurting Phoenix and becoming more and more painful each day so after I had a lesson with my trainer sat me down for a nice talk about training a horse in all areas and that even though I love to ride, Phoenix and I have a lot of issues that need some ground time to be fixed. So we have been getting some ground work done when the weather is nice. This weekend though the weather is not so nice. The high all weekend is going to be in the 20s. Since Phoenix and I do not have an indoor that means that the foot is going to be frozen, and since I don’t want to kill my baby horses legs that means that saddle or not Phoenix would have had off this weekend. I should be getting my saddle back sometime around Valentine’s Day. Of all the times of the year to go without though this was not a bad one. This weekend is out, and next weekend is not looking good either. Normally that would frustrate me, but without a saddle it means that I have tons of time to things like re-organize my tack trunk and clean the pile of tack that has been waiting for me.
Of all the times to go without a saddle…
January 30, 2010 by onthebit
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two words:
ground poles.
you can lunge and lead over them – helps every little bit.
You’ve probably heard me preach this before but I’m a BIG believer in ground work for any age horse. I know showmanship isn’t a big thing in the dressage world but watch some YouTube clips and teach Phoenix showmanship. I promise you will have a better relationship with him if you really work on it at least 10-15 minutes a few times per week. Building that side by side trust with him on the ground, he will trust you so much more on his back.
In our show circuits showmanship is one of the first classes. I can watch that class and pick out who will do well in the riding classes based on what they do in Showmanship. Rock on the ground – rock in the saddle.
First I want to tell you how much I enjoy your posts. Your honesty and sense of humor make your blog the first horsey blog I check every day!
Secondly, as an amateur rider myself I want to encourage you to fall in love with ground work! Not only will it continue to build on a great relationship with your horse, it will allow you to do things that you may not be able to do from the saddle.
When I was first learning to ride dressage 15 years ago, I had an OTTB. I spent a lot of time doing ground work with her and ground driving, longeing, etc. I wasn’t anywhere near a good enough rider to improve her from the saddle, but I did amazing work with her from the ground. In turn, when I was in the saddle it was almost magical the difference in how we worked together.
Rachel
…and Zazou too!
Ground work is great stuff. I swear by it. I can sure do more of it that I do too.
Agreed..although it’s not my favorite-ground work is great and I will be needing to start there with Laz when he comes out of his laminitis…like starting from our ‘first day’ together all over again. I do think that ground work does make your riding that much better!
So funny that you mentioned cleaning tack..I cleaned some old bridles that I was given recently and got blisters from undoing everything! But cleaning tack to Oprah, was actually do-able. Now, I have to grab my saddle, etc and bring that home to clean it too.