Two little girls

Tonight was the last night of lessons for the season, here on the Allen Acres lesson horses.
I'm very proud of these young students, Emily and Sagel. They are both friends and share the common love of horseback riding and learning all about horses.

Emily, she is a returning student and this year she wanted to learn to canter. Raven has a great canter, and Emily, although little, especially on this big mare, has a lot of courage, try and a huge amount of determination.

 

 Tonight, I stepped out of the round pen and said, "She is all yours Emily, you know what to do, pick your spots for your take off and go for it." And Emily did. She cantered and cantered and cantered, both ways of the arena, and did a great job. We all had a laugh towards the end as Raven walked to the mounting block and stopped, she was done.  Emily took Raven to the outdoor arena to do her cool down walking exercises.

A happy little girl, who just loves to be on the back of a horse, around horses and has the confidence to go for it

 

....and a mare who gives her all for Emily. 

Sagel has been taking lessons once a week since May 2010. Sagel has a natural confidence with horses, and likes to have lots of fun while learning.  She can catch up Bob from the pasture, get his halter on, drag his head out of that grass (he LOVES food), bring him to the barn, groom, saddle and round pen him, bridle, get on him, lateral flex and do all her warm up circles before I even start her lesson. And she is 10.

Bob would rather stop than go, and makes his rider learn how to be a rider and not a passenger. Sagel learned the aids, timing and feel and she gets Bob going and keeps him going.

Sagel wants to have a horse of her own some day soon. With her level of responsibility, and her confidence with horses, I believe that dream will be fulfilled.

Training the older horse to stop

Older horses sometimes have a hole in their foundation. I have a 17 yo mare that doesn't have a good stop. She will transition down with seat cues and breathing, but the transition from a walk to a stop is terrible. Tonight my husband rode her and I taught him how to work on her stop. He would shorten his reins to be prepared to use them, then stop seat movement,  exhale, sit down and back and if no response slowly pick up the reins and apply pressure. The release was when she gave to the bit, not when she stopped her feet. Why? If she stops her feet, but is still pulling her head forward and against his hands, she is not mentally stopped. She needs to stop 100%. At first she thought he wanted her to go backwards. Again, he waited for her to stop her feet and then give to the bit. He was consistent, so she started to understand exactly what he was asking.

If this doesnt work and the horse is so strong that they blow through your hands, another way is to laterally flex the horse into a stop, and then back up in your training and just teach them to give to head pressure from the ground, using a halter, then switch to a bridle. Takes time but even an older horse can be retrained to have a good stop.