Horses naturally feel more energetic as the weather gets cooler, so you need to be prepared for any unruly behavior.  First, be careful when you’re turning your horse out, for a frisky animal will sometimes spin around quickly and let out a buck as it runs into the field.  You can be kicked as this happens if you aren’t to move away fast enough.  Instead of walking into the paddock or field with your horse, closing the gate, then releasing the animal, it would be wise to turn your horse around to face the gate, then wedge yourself in the small gap of a nearly-closed gate and release the horse from this safer spot.

As for the bucking, which is commonplace, and rearing, which is not, it’s important to know ahead of time how to deal with these issues.  For bucking, the correction is to keep the horse’s head up and drive it forward with your legs.  A horse can only buck you off if it’s able to get its head low enough and rear end high enough that the saddle can serve as a launching pad.

Conversely, you want to keep the horse’s head low when you’re dealing with a horse that wants to rear.  It’s important to have very quick reactions to a rear in the making, for the higher the horse lifts its front feet off the ground, the more the rider is going to slide backward in the saddle.  (Worse case scenario is if the rider’s sliding weight pulls the horse backwards, where it falls onto the rider.) If the horse starts to lift its head and front feet, lean forward and hold one rein down toward the point of the horse’s shoulder, while holding the mane with the other hand. Drive the horse forward adamantly with your legs, for the more forward motion you have, the harder it is for the horse to rear.

If you’re having lots of trouble with bucking and rearing, longe the animal before you ride to take the edge off a little.  (There are detailed instructions for longeing in the sample chapter of my book. Click on this link to go there: http://annamullin.com/BookChapters/longeing)

Fall weather is usually the best time to ride, so enjoy the next few weeks!  Talk to you later–AJ

For those of you interested in how hunter and hunter-seat equitation classes are judged, I want you to know that my newest book, The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing and Judging, includes the most recently updated version of  Judging Hunters and Hunter Seat Equitation, which has been endorsed by the USEF as a companion to the Rule Book since 1984.  The stand-alone version of the book on judging will no longer be published because it is available within the larger work, which also includes in-depth information on training and showing.

The compilation of a book on training, showing, and judging procedures seemed to be an easy way to help people understand the judging standards in the United States, as well as develop themselves and their horses to meet those standards.  Too often, people have gaps in their equestrian education that lead to frustration in competitive situations and even to horse abuse and accidents.  I’m trying to help fill that gap with The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing, and Judging, just as the USHJA and USEF are trying to address this issue with educational programs for riders, coaches, and judges.

In today’s society, tidbits of information are disseminated through the fast channels of the Internet, while books have tended to fall by the wayside.  A quick transfer of information is fine for the “quick fix,” but if you’re really going to be good at this sport, you need a comprehensive view of it.

When I was young, my first horse was pastured in Atlanta, GA, far away from the top equitation coaches at that time, most of whom lived in the northeast.  For a short while, I had no instructor other than my mother, who would sit by the riding arena, holding a book by Gordon Wright and telling me, “Your leg is farther forward than the person in this picture,” or “Your hands look too high.”  She was comparing me to a line drawing of a man on a horse, demonstrating a rider’s correct position.  (I believe the drawing was of the famous Olympian, William Steinkraus.)

My mother had never ridden a horse, but she had read Gordon Wright’s book, studied the pictures, and tried to get me to do the things suggested in the text.  It was sheer brilliance.  When Gordon Wright came to teach a clinic in Atlanta, he said, “Who is this child’s teacher?’  When he found out it was my non-horsey mother who had helped me develop such a sound leg position, he could hardly believe it.

Gordon Wright’s book made all the difference in the world to me, and I’m hoping The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing and Judging can do the same for you.  It was written for riders working on their own, trying to improve in barns all over the country.  It was written for parents who pay large sums of money for their children to compete and want to be assured that there is an honest judging standard; and it was written for coaches and potential judges, who must continually strive to comprehend the larger picture of this multi-faceted sport.  In the end, it is understanding the big picture that leads to greatness.  So don’t settle for a few “sound bites” on training, showing, and judging, but really make an effort to thoroughly learn your craft.  Talk to you later!–AJ

Many riders seem to forget that they are sitting on another living being when they’re riding their horses.  I often see riders gathered in a group, chatting with each other while their horses are still confined into a frame by the riders’ hands.  The riders are taking a break, but they’re not letting their horses have one.

Also, I notice riders clashing their aids by applying conflicting pressure.  For example, if you try to bend your horse to the right by applying your right leg in an at-the-girth position, then you must relax the pressure of your left leg so that the horse can displace its ribcage to the outside of the bend.  (See “How to Bend a Horse” in the “Horse Articles” section of this site.)

The same goes for applying the hands.  If you pull back on the right rein to turn the horse’s head to the right, then you must ease off the left rein so that the horse is able to turn its head to the right.

Don’t forget that your horse has feelings, too, and can become frustrated and angry if you’re not sensitive to its needs.  Horses are generally compliant in nature, allowing us to accomplish incredible physical feats on them, while they could easily rebel and throw us off or just completely resist doing what we asked, if they had a mind to do so.

Their kind nature deserves to be reciprocated with kind treatment.  Only when you approach your horse with a spirit of generosity can you fully reap the rewards of this remarkable partnership between man and animal.

I often see riders become angry because their horses aren’t doing what they want them to do. So, for a moment, I’d like you to consider riding from the horse’s point of view.

Although we know that we’re planning to ride in the arena and jump a few fences, the horse doesn’t understand this at all. Everything that is said between coach and student is unintelligible to the horse, making the only line of communication the rider’s touch.

Horses want a secure touch that carefully guides them every step of the way. This is not just through the hands keeping light, but steady, contact on the reins; but also through the legs, which become a horse’s “security blanket.” The animal can feel secure if the rider is always guiding it; but the horse is lost if the rider drops these lines of communication. All of a sudden, it is aimlessly moving around the arena, becoming apprehensive because it doesn’t know what the rider wants it to do next.

You may have a plan, but it won’t work out unless you successfully convey it to the horse. For example, I sometimes see riders galloping at an angle toward a fence, but not making it clear to the horse whether they want to gallop past the fence or jump it at an angle. When this confusion arises as a horse approaches a fence intended to be jumped at an angle, the horse will usually run out. You have to remember that horses gallop past fences frequently when performing a circle before the course, so the fact that you’re now wanting to jump the fence at an angle is not always clear.

To jump a fence at an angle, the rider’s hands and legs should be holding the horse’s body straight on the approach, and the rider’s eyes should look at a focal point beyond the fence to further indicate the desired direction of travel. In contrast, to gallop past a fence on the opening circle, the rider’s aids should keep the horse uniformly bent from head to tail, so that the animal is not looking straight ahead to the nearby fence, but is bent to the inside of the curve. (For more information on bending, see “How to Bend a Horse” in the “Horse Articles” section.) The rider’s eyes should also be looking along the curve–about a quarter of a circle ahead–with the jump that is being passed visible in the rider’s peripheral vision so that he won’t accidentally guide the horse’s shoulder too close to the standard. These directions–given to the horse through the touch of the rider’s hands and legs, which place the body position of the horse–differentiate what the rider is asking.

If you were blindfolded and about to go through a difficult maze with the help of another person steering you with their hands on your shoulders, then the way they touched you would be very important. The steadier the touch, the easier it would be for you to go through the maze and feel secure; but if the person occasionally removed one hand or both hands, you’d become anxious and confused.

Although the horse can see, it can’t understand the verbal instructions your coach is giving you, such as “Jump fences 1, 2, 3; halt, back up four steps; trot fence 4; then canter fences 5, 6, 7, and 8.” Only the rider’s touch is going to convey these instructions. So give your horse confidence through a steady touch and be sympathetic to the fact that you know the plan ahead of time, but the horse doesn’t. Talk to you next week! — AJ

The phrase, “practice makes perfect,” is well known, but people sometimes don’t think about it enough to realize that if you’re practicing incorrectly, you’ll never be very good at riding. It’s not how many times you ride each week or how long you ride each time, but how much you improve during practice sessions that makes a difference in your riding level and showing record.

For example, if a rider is practicing without stirrups, but doesn’t keep the knees in place, the calves on the side of the horse, or the toe pulled upward so that the Achilles tendon is stretched, then the leg position will never improve. You have to strive for a perfect position to even achieve a good one, must less an excellent one.

When teenagers ride after school, sometimes they chat a lot with their friends in the arena, never doing much more than walking around on their horses. Yet these same riders seem very disappointed when they don’t place well at a horse show. Success is partly due to talent, but largely due to self-discipline and hard work. As someone once said, “No one can give you self-esteem. You have to earn it.” So the next time you’re riding your horse, work on something specific that will improve your skills. You’ll find lots of ideas for things to work on in the “Horse Articles” section of this website.

Make good use of Fall’s beautiful riding weather and work hard to strengthen your position before the horses get rambunctious in the cold of Winter! Talk to you next week–AJ