Critique us both? :)

igloo

igloo

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Sep 15, 2007
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quite nice riding, however, you need to work on keeping your hands still. then you can work on incouraging your horse to bend to the inside. this will help balance him more.

then you can work on getting him to move more between hand and leg, at the moment he is just ambleing along, (i know it was snowing and you had to take it easy.)

also, try to keep you leg stiler, it was difficult to pick out the canter aid from the rest of the little nuges he was getting. the horse seemed to understand fine though, so its not bad just looks alittle messy.

over all, the horse seems happy and understanding. he is obeying nicely. now he needs to move up a level, learn to bend and take a contact forward. you ride nicely and not stressing the horse out or pulling his head in which is good.

once he is consistant in his bend, you can start to ask for long and low and then take this up to a novice outline. looking nice so far.
 
Thankyou very much for your helpful comments :)

You've picked up straight away on my main issues - keeping my hands and legs still :p
He takes quite a lot of encouragement to move on from the leg and my body automatically tries to rectify this by constantly nudging rather than squeezing (too many years of doing 'get on, stay on' riding ;) )

We've been gently working on an outline and he will now work quite nicely in one in walk and we're slowly getting there with the trot. However, due to my crazy hands I've got going on at the moment, I'm taking it down a notch so as not to overface him and we're going to work more on establishing the correct bend like you said.

Thankkkksssss :D
 
I would shorten your stirrups two holes and insist you wear good boots and half-chaps. I think you're reaching for your stirrups, and I don't think the boots are helping you to keep your lower leg stable.

Try more bend in your elbow. Longer reins, elbows loose. My dressage lad, who is a Nutter about Horses, tells me that my arm from shoulder to elbow belongs to me, but from the elbow forward, it's part of the rein. That's quite a nice visual that works for me.
 
Thats a very good visual actually. Not heard it worded quite like that before :)

Yeah I never ride in wellies... but i didnt want to put my tootsies in cold boots :D I hold my hands up guilty :p Thanks for the help. I'm constantly being told to lenghten my stirrups but I do find it incredibly difficult to hold my feet in them at that length as I usually ride a good couple of holes shorter.
 
I think your stirrops are too long and theres too much movement up top, in your arms, try and bend them a bit too as they are too straight. ditto wearing proper riding boots
 
Try bending your arms and not your wrists and keep your hands MUCH stiller.

Apart from that good !
 
what a lovely forward going horse your on (sorry forgot if you said whether or not it was a mare or gelding)

It was quite a short vid, of only one rein so quite tricky really to add anything of any substance!

Anyway, position wise; An instuctor that comes to our yard is MASSIVE on postition and insists that if it not correct the horse cannot perform correctly, which is fair. So what I would say is, reins a little longer, so that would make you sit up a little taller (I think you tend to balance onthem a tad) hence they move quite a bit. When you rise out of the saddle think more of tucking bottom in, rather than swinging forward - keep hands still (as previously said with balancing) hands must be a little wider apart and MAKE sure you have your thumbs on top. Literally. Elbows must be at your sides at all times (not fixed), so think of the reins starting at the bit then going straight to your elbows, and your hands happen to somewhere inbetween.

So straight line from the bit to your hands - As with the lower leg, again as I said you seem to swing a tad your leg is a tad too far forward, as if you are pushing them forward to stand up. Think more about keeping the weight back through your knee (which will automatically push the weight in the lower leg. So don't think heels down (this makes you want to push the weight forward) think weight down in the knee, which will push the rest through the back of the lower leg.

The horse looked lovely and as he is young the things you really want to make sure is being is forward and responsive and indepant which he seems. I would consider some half halts though now, to gather up the implusion you have and to start to get him in a more relaxed and controlled temp/rythm as whilst he looked great, he seemed to me just moving forward without any collection or shape.

These are just my ideas and thoughts and I am not an ''expert'' so please forgive me if my ideas are of no use.

Goodluck though - x
 
Thankyou all for your comments!! You've all picked up on faults straight away :p oopsie!

lottie.dot - He's actually really quite difficult to get going, i have a tendency to get all 'pomyclub kicking' which drives my instructor mad. But once he gets going he's fabulous!

I definately lean forward slightly when riding, which is strange as i used to have a fab upright position. :rolleyes:
I call it my 'defensive position' as the horse I always used to ride was VERY forward and strong and I used to have to literally lock my arms to calm her down at the start of her training.
 
Stirrups need shortening as you're reaching for them. Shorter stirrups will give you a more secure lower leg and allow you to wrap your legs round his sides. Shorten your reins and keep your hands up and in front of you. Try not to tip forward in transitions (this is my worst habit!). :)
 
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