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Post by suewhitmore on May 22, 2007 15:42:10 GMT 1
Another little trick we learnt on the CR course in Switzerland recently was to think of the movement your seat bones describe once you are following the movement. .....- say an egg, tangerine, orange... .... It's fun to see how much you can influence stride length with just your seat! Jenny, that is a fabulous analogy, I love it, it's going into my toolkit. My acid test is "could I teach this to a very young child?" and yes, I could, especially with the added dimension of "scrambled eggs! and "grapefruit juice!" if they lost the movement. Sue
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Post by jennyb on May 22, 2007 15:44:57 GMT 1
Lol, that's a good one! I think I got orange juice a few times when I was practising! ;D
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emi
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 3,237
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Post by emi on May 22, 2007 16:01:27 GMT 1
Sorry to kind of hijack Toni's thread, but I gave the walk thing a go this morning and it was fab. I was on my own, but I'm positive I got the "feel" and when I incorporated this to the aids I definitely noticed a difference in Connor's walk - it definitley lengthened. I spent about 10 - 15 minutes playing with no stirrups and loose reins which is usually a good remedy to send Connor to sleep but today he was really active when I started asking for more energy. Thanks! I'll give the Orange/egg thing ago tomorrow. Connor's really responsive to the seat so I'm hoping for good results !
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Post by arabheaven on May 22, 2007 17:52:01 GMT 1
YAY thanks so much sue and jenny!!! hacked out this afternoon and leant to one side watching his legs move in walk so i could link the feel to each leg when his hind leg came under, my side 'dipped' eg left hind = my left bumcheek sunk lol so i then focused on my seat aid size and then when his hind leg came under (my left bum sunk) i added a left squeeze, then right squeeze. repeated a few times then stopped when he walked on. had to repeat a few times as he quickly slowed back down but by the end of our hack i had a LOVELY walk!! so no i just have to keep it consistent but wowe, i was smiling walking down the road LOL thanks ;D his walk is normally 5-6kph so cant wait to get the GPS back on him and see how much it has improved! ;D
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Post by arabmania on May 22, 2007 19:00:37 GMT 1
Lets hope he can now keep up with his mum on saturday in ................................................walk!!! ;D
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Derek Clark
Grand Prix Poster
Olympic Poster
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Post by Derek Clark on May 22, 2007 20:54:47 GMT 1
Hi all,
Great post from suewhitmore! Absolutely spot on. The only thing I could think of to add would be this:
When you use the aids as described and get what you want, see if you can do even less the next time you ask. If no response then you can back up the aid either with your legs or (better) a tap with your stick or wipwop. If I shout at you, you will eventually stop hearing me whereas if I whisper...then you'll really start paying attention to hear what I'm saying ;D
Have fun!
Derek
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Post by suewhitmore on May 22, 2007 22:12:39 GMT 1
hacked out this afternoon and leant to one side watching his legs move in walk I had to laugh at the vision this conjured. The idea is *not* to look (ever), but to get really confident of your feel, so that you never ever have to look down to check legs. This makes correct diagonals at trot a doddle, and means that you can get very accurate transitions. Still, good start, enjoy! I agree with Derek, the idea is to make the aids less and less each time. Once your horse understands you are really asking, it's not just an accidental movement, you will be surprised at how reactive he becomes.
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Post by Louise C on Jun 25, 2007 11:16:13 GMT 1
Ah found it Sue!! Very good thread!
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kofihorse
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Oh,such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you
Posts: 1,454
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Post by kofihorse on Jun 26, 2007 7:14:51 GMT 1
Yes! Excellent!
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Post by heather on Jun 26, 2007 9:26:35 GMT 1
I am very much looking forward to meeting Sue at the breed show- her ideas on riding/teaching are so similar to mine. It is truly a pleasure to meet a kindred spirit!
Heather
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Post by suewhitmore on Jun 26, 2007 13:41:13 GMT 1
It is truly a pleasure to meet a kindred spirit! You are being far too complimetary. You'll see!! Your skills and achievements compared to mine are the equivalent of playing in the premier league compared to playing in the Sunday five-a-side league. Sue
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Post by rj on Jun 26, 2007 14:25:58 GMT 1
Stop all this mutual admiration society stuff!!! Actually, really good to see that Kelly, Heather & Sue are all in accord, and that people have taken so well to the descriptions given. Also somewhat shocking that it's not being taught like that in the mainstream, But I think we knew that! I was taught how to be a train, so walking with no stirrups and no reins, you move arms )with forelegs)like pistons & legs back/forward in time to horses stride. Another thing which may help a walk or any gait be more active. Lots of downward transitions (with barely a feel on the reis, just breath into them); so walk to halt to back, then straight to walk, with a firm focus and a feel of going forward. You are not thinking of trying to make your horse go faster, you intend to go faster; look where you want to go & make it purposeful. That can make all of the difference.
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Post by lucitania on Jun 26, 2007 16:04:29 GMT 1
I will bookmark Sue's long reply for future use- many thanks! My instructor also teaches in the same lines, talking about alternate leg-aids and seat bone movement- she is also older than this CR thing we have here now. (she is the one I whinged about a while back.... I have since had a few really good lessons with her and her advice has made a huge difference, so I guess I will be sticking with her for now. ) Connor also goes hum-de-dum when he walks, although he can walk nicely when we head back home, so I know the feeling, Toni. He also easily switches off, so I use going up and down banks to get his interest back in his legs and get him moving forward. (he thinks he is going XC and it excites him, bless him) In the school I sometimes use walk poles to stretch his gait and also to keep his focus. I quite like using trot to improve the activity of walk; ask for a downward transition from a nice trot, but only allow him to walk as long as he can keep the nice walk, say 5 strides to start with, then straight back into trot. The trick is to ask for trot before he starts to shut down in walk, then to build up on the walk steps in between. This worked with Max very well, as he was nicely schooled but a bit dead to the leg and tended to switch off. Connor finds this exercise quite hard and the 5 strides are not quite enough for him to organise himself, yet.
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Post by jennyb on Jun 26, 2007 16:11:10 GMT 1
"Older than this CR thing..." - ouch!!! Sally Swift (founder of CR) is well into her 90s, so I suggest that CR has perhaps been around longer than a lot of instructors who are teaching now - it's just not been all that popular this side of the pond until recently. It's been going in America & on the continent for years. And of course, Classical Riding, which is what CR aims to teach, has been around a lot longer than any of us on this board!
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Post by lucitania on Jun 26, 2007 16:21:42 GMT 1
But I get the impression that CR as a 'flavour of the month' in this country is a fairly new-ish thing. As you say Jenny, it hasn't had the mass appeal here as long as it may have done in the US, for example. Sorry to sound a bit cynical, CR itself makes a lot of sense, it is just the way a lot of people swear by and get all keen on the latest 'fad' .... only to replace it with something newer and 'better' in the future, that annoys me a bit. It happens in all fields of speciality, I guess that is just human nature.
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