Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect Horse by Janet Foy

Author:Janet Foy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books
Published: 2012-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

New Transitions and Paces

Review the diagram of the Pendulum of Elasticity on p. 58. We are now ready to move the Pendulum more to the left and more to the right in order to introduce the following transitions:

1 Medium trot and canter to and from collected trot and canter.

2 Extended trot and canter to and from collected trot and canter.

Personal Story

When Linda Ohlson first brought Moshne to me for a lesson, I thought, “Hmmm, very ‘earthbound’ and flat.” Linda wanted to move her horse up the levels. He was a Thoroughbred/Akhal Teke cross, seven years old at the time, and schooling about First Level. His favorite trick to escape when the work got hard was to bolt off across the arena, usually through the left shoulder. Linda weighed about 100 pounds and was really taken for a ride.

The first thing I suggested was that Linda start Moshne on Legend® and perhaps an oral supplement, such as Cosequin®, as well. I have always felt that once horses start collection, we as their riders, should help them out a bit with something to help “lube up” the joints. (Now that I am approaching 60, I admit liking my own morning dose of Aleve®!) Correct work will also help the muscling of the topline, which takes away a lot of stress from the knees and hocks down. Good riding reinforces the saying, “Motion is lotion,” for the joints.

Due to Moshne’s natural lack of suspension, it became clear that if Moshne were going to progress and be able to learn movements such as passage and extended trot, he could only do so if he was strengthened via the Pendulum of Elasticity (see p. 58).

Individual movements were quite easy to teach—except the flying changes, which was a problem because his canter lacked suspension. Over two years, Linda gymnasticized Moshne’s body through the use of the Pendulum, he developed more suspension in the trot, and he became able to do some passage. The canter became much more elastic and suspended, and now he can also do a few one-tempi changes.

I love the photo here of Moshne, showing his great muscles and new body. He did quite well for Linda through Prix St. Georges, enabling her to win her Silver Medal from USDF.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.