# Please Critique my flat work!!



## lizzie_magic (Sep 18, 2008)

I have only looked at the photos but heres what I see.
Your heels are down nicely but you need to keep your toes in, you don't want to accidentaly bump your horse with your spurs, with your upper body try to role your shoulders back and push your hip forward a bit and keep your lbows back next to your sides, they are a bit far forward.
Your heels look great and your looking up, keep up the good work!


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## Equuestriaan (Nov 5, 2008)

All I can say is that you have a very nice lower leg -- a good base of support.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Looks pretty good to me. I would like to see him more willing to break at the poll but other than that, beautiful.


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## Ne0n Zero (Dec 25, 2008)

Try and keep your hands more steady; they need to be independent of your body.


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## mbreakfast (Jan 6, 2009)

just curious. what is going on with your crop? It should be pointed the other way, lying against your leg
You have a nice leg position, but at the canter try not to point your toe out so much and watch that your heel is not comming up and bigging into your horse's sides.
At the canter i'm guessing full seat. Shorten your reins, and lower your hands just a tad, they're all the way it the air! And relax a little bit and open up your chest.


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## mbreakfast (Jan 6, 2009)

this is for the videos.
What looks to be a strong base of leg is the picture is actually moving around quite a bit in the video. 
Your also posting odly. You really clunk down in the saddle and when you go to post upwards you kick your leg back which might be annoying your horse with a little jab in the side everytime you post, soften up your hips. No stirrups and two pointing will help secure your lower leg. Your horse seems to get sticky in the corners, add a little more leg to incourage him forward.

Also when your cantering, try to absorb the motion in your hips rather than with your whole torso and closing your hip angle with every stride.

But overall it looks pretty good.


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## Jubilee Rose (May 28, 2008)

This is just a critique of the pics. First, I think you guys look really great. Don't be so hard on yourself.  Joe is just beautiful, a typically-built TB with nice legs and nice beginning muscle tone. I love his face!  Your lower leg looks awesome... your heels are very nice. 

As you've said, your back needs some work and believe me I know how hard that can be, as that is my major problem as well. I would try riding on the lunge line, if you can, without reins. This really really forces you to sit back and let your legs do all the work. I've only done this a couple times, as its hard to get someone to lunge me, but it works wonders. :wink: 

Someone mentioned flexing at the poll, and yes he needs to bring his head down a bit and start "accepting" for you. But I really don't think he's a long way off. He is still young and I already see a bit of flexion through his neck. 

I would work on your hands too. In some of the pictures, they are uneven and unsteady looking. This often makes horses confused, as it unsteadies the level of pressure and also hinders with direction. I would loosen up your reins and work him nice and low, working him through his back legs, up into your hands (contact). 

Overall, you both look very nice together, a great team!


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## RockinTheBit07 (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks everyody!!

Thing with the crop, well someitmes I ride with it up becuase it helps get him moving, he is extremely lazy!!! Which is also why i post so funny! lol i think im trying to make him move with my body lol. Something I will definately pay more attention to when i ride.

Yes my hands are horrid! I used to ride with my thumbs to teh inside and criss-cross my hands. 

Thing with toes, i am having issues with them, my ankles are really bad, so i gotta stretch them out any suggestions on how to get ankles more stretched? Yah i need to ride more often without my stirups, i used to do it a lot and kinda got lazy:lol:.

With Joe, how do i get him on the poll? We have recently been riding in a different bit that is supposed to get him off his front end. 

Thanks again for all the comments and advice, its very appreciated!


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## mbreakfast (Jan 6, 2009)

A crop is used as a reinforcement for the leg. If he is not moving quickly enough i would try a tap behind the leg on his belly.

I also have reallybad ankles and find it help if I take them out of my stirrups half way through my lesson and roll them in cricles. This also helps before and after rides. You might also want to consider ankle braces(the sock kind) but don't wear it every ride as it will train your ankles to rely on that support. But then again, so no impact on your ankles, no stirrup work is great!


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## mbreakfast (Jan 6, 2009)

As to helping him get on the poll and into a small frame, all the horses at my barn were trained the same, so its usually leg into hand, by using a strong hand (with a soft warm elbow) and more leg, you create a roadblock and the only place they can go is down to give.


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## morganshow11 (Dec 19, 2008)

you need to roll your shoulder back.you are posting very fastly wait till his trot brings you up, the go along with it.


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## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

ah he is so cute! i think that a slower ottb is better then a crazy one .. so many of them are all stung out, personally id rather have one that i have to encourage to go rather then try and slow down...
a few things ...
- try to ride without sturrups on a lunge line, it will strengthen your leg and help you really sit
- when you are trotting and cantering it looks like you are really trying to get him to go forward with your body, make him with with your leg and steady your body
- maybe a shorter iron will help your leg not bounce around so much ... 
-if you have someone lunge you then you can work on your position rather then worrying about keeping him going
- lastly, i have found with my tb occasional side reigns or a martingale helps with her head set and she is now getting to a point where she doesn't need those reminders ... some ppl may disagree but used correctly and occasionally they have worked wonders for me

You are doing really well with him tho!


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## GyPsY GiRL (Oct 14, 2008)

You look good in the pictures! my horse does the same thing about the slow and then fast and it seems like i can't get her to go a normal pace but i did an exercise with my trainer where you trot and if you dig your knees in and slow your post your horse will slow and if you speed up your post your horse will speed up.. 
also leaning forward or putting your shoulders foward encourages them to go faster and gives them more control of the speed so i would just encourage you to sit up, shoulders back, and sit deep.
idk if the exercise will work for you but you could try it if you wanted to and for the ankles, i've seen in a book where you stand on a step like you're going to walk up it and sort of bounce up then settle back down, sounds weird but supposedly works, but i would google it.. there are exercises just for equestrians


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## MrsB (Dec 2, 2008)

Your position is one of the major things which would be encouraging your horse to pull on the rein. Its a balance issue. He's using your body to balance himself.

From the looks of it, he is all shoulders and no bum. Meaning he's working from the girth forwards and just dragging his back half along. (which you can see as he is not tracking up)

You need to think about sitting up and straight and working him up into the bridle thorugh the use of your legs and pelvis. 

Its hard with a lazy horse. My TB is very similar. 

Really focus on getting that back end moving forward. Lots of tranistions from halt to trot and back again will really help with that. 

Also you may like to look into the use of artificial aids like spurs or a dressage whip (not a crop). But only if you know how to use them correctly, or you have an instructor to help you.

Good luck


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## KiwiRyder (Aug 14, 2008)

I think you have a pretty darn good position what I would want to improve on is your horse who is lovely and shows good potential. I think with a lazy horse it can make life just that little bit harder but I would like to see him working on the bit and using himself. Often lazy horses are like that cause they are dragging themselves thru the motion in reality it's easier for a horse to do the tasks we ask of them if they are collected and working from behind ie. circles etc. 
I am hopeless at explaining things in words so won't go into how to obtain collection etc, you may already be aware and working in it. My advise would be working on these things with your instructor as often have a pair of eyes watching they can tell you when your horse is over bending etc. Anywho not sure if this is of any help but do think you two will be a great team I like your position and as a short person envy your leg one day I will grow and have legs like that hehe.


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## eralcx3 (Jan 5, 2009)

I did not read any other posts so I do not know what other people said, so if I am saying something someone else already did, im sorry. haha Your leg looks amazing!! But what I noticed is that you need to keep your fingers closed on the reins and try not to have the crop sticking way out in the air. It is supposed down infront of your knee next to the saddle. Everything else looks absolutely amazing!!


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## GeminiJumper (Jun 12, 2008)

u look really good; sitting up tall and looking where ur going....u need to reposition ur stirrup so that the outer bar is at ur pinky toe and the inner bar is at the ball of ur foot. u also need to hold ur crop so that the end goes across ur knee, not up in front of u like a jockey  lol very nice job, tho!!


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## RockinTheBit07 (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for all of the advice! 

Well the thign with the crop, my trainer tells me to hold it up like that because it is easier to get after him with it if he isnt moving, i usually do hold the crop down but that day he wasnt moving. 

kchfuller- Thanks! I will try that! I have never lunged on a horse, but i will see if i can get somebody to do it for me. When i was on the Equestrian team last year at State the english coach (who really really is awesome!) she took all of the english stirrups off for like a month! And also she made us put one hand behind our back and ride with one rein, but it really made you sit up and pull your whole position together, but i was on one of their horses. 

MrsB- that makes a lot of sense, that he is using me to balance, because i swear it feels like i am caring his whole front end! He tends to do this especially right before a fence when we jump. 

KiwiRyder- I keep trying to tell Joe its much easier to just do it the correct way and not be so lazy, but he wont listen lol:lol:. I have been working on little things here and there, but im not quite sure if he is "collected" or not. You see my trainer well she just trains us in jumping and because she charges $5 for jumping a month to jump 2x a week, we dont get much feedback when jumping all the time. That is why i come on here or other forums to find out new ways of training me and Joe:wink:. Altho she has us riding in a Mikmar bit that has double reins its hard to expalin it, but it gets Joe more under himself and people have told me that he looks like he is using his back end a bit more now, but the bit....he hates it! And so do I, but its what our trainer/joes owner said for us to use. 

Sorry this is sooo long!. But the other day I tried some of the stuff you all said to do and it really helped! I tried to focus on some of the things like sitting up and getting him to move without using my body, I just really have to think about what i am doing when riding, cause i get lazy sometimes:mrgreen:. So thanks again!!!


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## KGImages (Jan 10, 2009)

You look all tense! Relax more. Try sitting further back into your saddle, it'll help you to stop leaning forward.
Sometimes you have your hands just a bit too high.
Keep then infront of the saddle and not too high.
Your sometimes losing the contact between you and your horses mouth, because your hands are too high.. your hands start moving with you.
And also a reason why he's lazy, you consistantly give him your leg aids. You have to stop that, the horse will start to ignore sooner or later.

Hope this helps.

x Kathleen


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## horsegirl123 (Jan 7, 2009)

lizzie magic and Equustriaan pretty much covered what I was going to say about the pics.

P.S. I watched about a second of the first vid and I love the watermelon jumps!


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## GyPsY GiRL (Oct 14, 2008)

hey i just watched ur video and you look good, there are some stuff u could work on like shoulders back but that's just practice practice practice...lol
is ur horse lazy too? it looks like ur having to work hard to get him goin...


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## LolaGirl160 (Sep 12, 2009)

i dont really have time for a full critique but just scanning through them it looks like ur too forward, but it also looks like ur looking ahad and planning ahed and thats good. good job! lol


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