# BEATUFUL/A<AZING PICS froma traning ride today!!!!



## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

If I am remember pics from before, I would say she is looking pretty good. She is such a cute little girl too


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## Klassic Superstar (Nov 30, 2009)

*More pics*

here are the rest!


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## Klassic Superstar (Nov 30, 2009)

thanks yeah! soooo great!!


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## SidMit (Jun 4, 2010)

I love how happy you look in the pictures. I can tell you are really enjoying her. The only thing I would say is to try not to look down so often. She looks great and very relaxed.


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## xan2303 (Jul 14, 2010)

she lloks great- soooooooooooooooo cute!!!


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## Arksly (Mar 13, 2010)

She's a cutie! I noticed in some of the pictures that your handa are uneven. Is there a reason for this? I understand if it's a training thing to help her (I'm doing something similar atm). I'm just curious 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JackofDiamonds (Aug 31, 2010)

Wow, I just had to say this because there a so little people that i think this applies to but, You look perfect on her. You look happy and you just melt together and you are like the perfect peices to a puzzle. You suit her.. You look great. And she looks so pretty! she has a very girly look about her.


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## Knaagdier (May 3, 2010)

You have a WONDERFUL upright posture. The only thing I can see that bothers me are your heels (which are pointing upwards a lot of the time) and the space inbetween your hands which are too far apart (should be about a constant and not more than 15 centimeter) . However, these are minor things, and the most important part - your posture, is really good


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## reachthestars (Jul 2, 2010)

Remember heels down, stretch your calves to give a cue, rather than pinching with your knee - you're pivoting your body forward . Also, wrists straight, and focus on maintaining a 90 degree angle in your arms. Right now you're burying your hands, which might feel more kind, but is blocking her. Someone else mentioned uneven hands - this can actually be a valuable tool with the young horse, BUT it should be your inside hand that is higher. This helps to keep the young horse from falling in, especially at the canter. Also - eyes and chin up . You're a great rider, you just need to TRUST yourself to feel those moments of brilliance!

And as a disclaimer - the only reason I know all this is because those are my major faults as well . You guys make a very nice and attractive pair, and she seems like a doll. Is she a tb?


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## reachthestars (Jul 2, 2010)

Knaagdier said:


> You have a WONDERFUL upright posture. The only thing I can see that bothers me are your heels (which are pointing upwards a lot of the time) and the space inbetween your hands which are too far apart (should be about a constant and not more than 15 centimeter) . However, these are minor things, and the most important part - your posture, is really good


With a green horse you often can't ride with your hands at the 'proper' distance apart. I know with my mare I have to spread them a little further than ideal at the moment because it helps give a clearer aid to remind her to not through her head in the air like the giraffe she wants to be . As the horse gains muscle memory you can gradually move your hands back to where they should be.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

reachthestars said:


> With a green horse you often can't ride with your hands at the 'proper' distance apart. I know with my mare I have to spread them a little further than ideal at the moment because it helps give a clearer aid to remind her to not through her head in the air like the giraffe she wants to be . As the horse gains muscle memory you can gradually move your hands back to where they should be.


This is completely untrue. When you are correctly training and riding any horse regardless of their experience you as a rider must be riding with the utmost discipline. If you need to widen your hands to get leverage to crank the horse's head down then you're doing something severely wrong. And don't say they need muscle memory to put the head and neck down - the horse spends most of it's time eating and the food is usually on the ground.

Anyways to the OP - you call this a "training ride". What is your meaning? 
Just because we may be teaching the horse to do things does not mean our position in any way should be compromised. In the pictures you are all over the place with your hands off in space and your legs never seem to just leave the horse alone. If you are not balanced, how can you expect the horse to be.
Imagine walking around with a child on your shoulders, if the child is sitting quietly, it is easy to carry the weight. But if the child is leaning forward and back and pulling on your necklace and kicking you, it isn't very easy, or enjoyable.
This is what it is like for the horse. So when you are having a "training ride" and completely ignoring your own classical position, you are in fact just throwing the horse off balance and making what ever you are teaching that much harder.
Work on bringing yourself back to center, relaxing the leg down, keeping your hands in their box (even if you need a bucking strap to hold them there). Then only aid the horse when you want something and allow the horse to stretch over her back, into your elastic contact and balance in the long topline. You will find that the horse will become much more willing and easy to teach. At her age (5) it is not unreasonable to expect to get some collection, shoulder in, travers and simple changes through the walk. Coming into her 6th year she should be continuing on to learning the half pass and flying changes. None of this is possible without a quiet rider with soft hands that allow the horse to balance.
The horse knows how to walk, trot and canter a lot better than your or I, so let her do her job.

Good luck!


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## reachthestars (Jul 2, 2010)

~*~anebel~*~ said:


> This is completely untrue. When you are correctly training and riding any horse regardless of their experience you as a rider must be riding with the utmost discipline. If you need to widen your hands to get leverage to crank the horse's head down then you're doing something severely wrong. And don't say they need muscle memory to put the head and neck down - the horse spends most of it's time eating and the food is usually on the ground.


I must disagree, the green horse does need to be shown at first what you want. At no point did I suggest she 'crank the horse's head down', the widened and lowered hand position is acting as a guide to suggest where the horse's head should be (aka release the moment the horse gets it). Combined with forward momentum, rhythm and suppleness, his back will come up and his head will fall exactly where it should, but the green horse needs proper rider guidance to ever achieve proper collection. There are times when you will need to over exaggerate the aids until you get a proper response. A green horse doesn't KNOW where it's head should be, back should be, legs should be, and it is up to us as their rider to SHOW them. Training is not always book perfect equitation, but that should be the eventual goal. You cannot get on TRULY green horse and ride like you would a horse competing at second level.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

reachthestars said:


> I must disagree, the green horse does need to be shown at first what you want. At no point did I suggest she 'crank the horse's head down', the widened and lowered hand position is acting as a guide to suggest where the horse's head should be (aka release the moment the horse gets it). Combined with forward momentum, rhythm and suppleness, his back will come up and his head will fall exactly where it should, but the green horse needs proper rider guidance to ever achieve proper collection. There are times when you will need to over exaggerate the aids until you get a proper response. A green horse doesn't KNOW where it's head should be, back should be, legs should be, and it is up to us as their rider to SHOW them. Training is not always book perfect equitation, but that should be the eventual goal. You cannot get on TRULY green horse and ride like you would a horse competing at second level.


A green horse knows that to go forward the head should be in front of the tail, the back should be facing upwards and the legs downwards. By the time they are 4 or 5 they've been running around on 4 legs for 4 or 5 years and usually have a pretty good handle on where everything should be. 
If you are riding correctly, in balance and with a giving hand, the horse figures stuff out pretty quick. I can post a link to a video of an amateur rider on a 4 year old mare with about 40 or 50 rides on it and the rider's hands stay in a box and the horse goes like a 4 year old with decent rhythm and accepting the bit.

No you can't ride a green horse like a solid second level horse. You can get on a green horse and have good equitation just like you can get on a second level horse and have decent equitation though. Why would equitation exist if it didn't have a purpose?? A balanced rider always has good equitation and a horse going to the best of their ability always has a balanced rider and a rider on a balanced horse has a better time keeping their equitation because it's easier to be balanced on a balanced horse that's been balanced by a balanced rider.


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## reachthestars (Jul 2, 2010)

~*~anebel~*~ said:


> A green horse knows that to go forward the head should be in front of the tail, the back should be facing upwards and the legs downwards. By the time they are 4 or 5 they've been running around on 4 legs for 4 or 5 years and usually have a pretty good handle on where everything should be.
> If you are riding correctly, in balance and with a giving hand, the horse figures stuff out pretty quick. I can post a link to a video of an amateur rider on a 4 year old mare with about 40 or 50 rides on it and the rider's hands stay in a box and the horse goes like a 4 year old with decent rhythm and accepting the bit.
> 
> No you can't ride a green horse like a solid second level horse. You can get on a green horse and have good equitation just like you can get on a second level horse and have decent equitation though. Why would equitation exist if it didn't have a purpose?? A balanced rider always has good equitation and a horse going to the best of their ability always has a balanced rider and a rider on a balanced horse has a better time keeping their equitation because it's easier to be balanced on a balanced horse that's been balanced by a balanced rider.


Not all horses are born knowing they can move forward with a free back under a rider's weight. Perhaps if you're lucky enough to have well off parents, a big fancy warmblood and grand prix coach/trainer in your back pocket, yes. When you're dealing with OTTBs, horses that haven't been properly started, etc. sometimes equitation is sacrificed short term for results. THAT IS NOT TO SAY that you should have major faults and you should be unbalanced, but hands slightly wider than you would have on a finished horse *do *serve a purpose, and is not bad equitation.

If you watch 90% of horses in the pasture, they are not moving properly (in the classical dressage sense). Again, the big dollar warmbloods will. Your typical owner's horse though is not an expensive warmblood. 

But please don't twist my words, I *never *said for her to be unbalanced. I simply said that *in my experience working with green horses, they need proper guidence.* That would include a balanced ride, decent equitation and a giving hand. All of which I addressed to her in my first critique.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

A wide hand and leaning forward body is neither balanced, nor giving. The only way to have a hand able to feel and know when to give is when it is in a straight line from bit to elbow, as dictated by classical equitation. In my experience with green horses, including the less gifted on earth, riding with correct classical equitation (incl. hands together) is the most effective. Yes I agree with your statement that the hands can occasionally come wide (about 8" apart) to do a correction but should immediately be returned to the box. The OP has her hands far too wide, with one higher than the other and it is happening in most of the pictures, leading me to believe this is how she is riding, which is incorrect, not feeling and out of balance.


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## reachthestars (Jul 2, 2010)

Where in ANY of my posts did I tell the OP to lean forward? In my very first post in fact, I mentioned that she was gripping with her knee, causing her upper body to pivot forward. 

As to hands, we'll have to agree to disagree. Your hand can actually be in a straight line from bit to elbow, while having wider hands. This isn't the case in the photos the OP posted (buried hands and bent wrists), but it can be done. 

Again, please do not twist my words, or put words in my mouth.


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## jagman6201 (Mar 13, 2009)

Well, I'm just going to pop in for a moment and say one thing. When you hear the saying, "having a straight line from the elbow to the bit" - it doesn't mean just from a horizontal or 'ground' view. The you should also have a straight line if you were looking from an aerial view. Once your hands wide, you loose that straight line (which is the act of making widening your hands a correction), so saying that and I quote, 



> Your hand can actually be in a straight line from bit to elbow, while having wider hands.


Is completely incorrect. Although I have a lot more to say, I'll leave it at that between you twos discussion.

OP, just as a side note, I'd love to see some images of you long trotting your horse with your hands on the buckle. Just to see what happens. From what I see, you lean on your reins and your horse uses you as a means of support and balance - a nasty habit to get rid of once they've built up the incorrect muscles. 

Good luck, she's a cute mare.


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## DreamRyder (Sep 21, 2010)

She's gorgeous  You two look very good together.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

*Klassy pair*

Hi,

I didn't see posts of your horse from earlier times so can only comment on the many excellent shots you have recently posted.
The very first thing I noticed is that your stirrups are markedly too long. This is what causes you to be "fishing" for them with your toes and thus your heels come up. You lose the valuable asset of stabillity that comes from contact with / and weight through the stirrups. Makes one end up riding more from the knees in many cases. 
You said this horse (filly?) is very young so your plan is to slowly and thoughtfully bring her along. Bully for you! Ain't she lucky because so many other young horses are rushed into hard work before they are physically able. 
I think you are trying to stay light on her back and can kind of see a half forward seat in certain shots; so that you bring your weight a tiny bit off your seatbones and onto the front to the pelvis and ride LIGHT. If you had shorter stirrups, you could achieve an even lighter seat that will encourage this young girl to round up under you..
The second thing I see is that she (it is a filly, no?) is often either ON or slightly BEHIND the vertical. It is always important to not get behind the verticcal, but is especialy important for a young horse who is developing her muscles and setting her patterns for a way of moving. Once a horse has learned to go behind the vertical, they start to get the "break" in the neck where they are not bending AT the poll but two vertibrae behind it, and this habit is very hard to change.
I hope you will work her with the idea of encourager her to reach forward and down more. In doing this she will eventually raise the base of her neck ad build those muscles at and just in front of the whithers.
If you pull her back too much (and I am not saying you are pulling), her neck forms a tight S which causes the base of the neck to bulge outward .
Look for a long, even arch. Evenly arching from whither to poll with no point being a sharper arc than any other.

I also often use reins of different heights when I need to break the horse out a brace or other training moments.
She really steps under herself nicely and you are a sweet pair. Thank you for letting me yak on and on. 
Happy riding.!


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## Feets (Sep 15, 2010)

What a gorgeous horse! Does she have a rough trot/canter? Sort of tough to sit? I can see that your leg is coming back and heels are going down, which is sometimes caused by a horse's rough gaits... some tips: roll your hips under like you're sitting on your back pockets, put your legs under you, get those heels down, keep your hands low and even (hold them like you're holding two ice cream cones), and get that chin up!  No staring allowed, even if the horse is beautiful  Shortening your stirrups might help as well


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## Charis (Jul 6, 2010)

You two make a cute pair. The biggest thing I see is that you seem to have fairly heavy hands, especially your inside rein. You can see that your hands are uneven and that you're really cranking on that inside rein. For only being broke for a year and a half, realize that she might not have the correct muscle yet to be working in a frame all the time.


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