Year gone by - Riding Video 2009

Oct 26, 2009 08:27

So a year ago I posted a video of Zorro and I ( which has no lost it's music in an argument between Google and Warner ) was a kind of marker for where we were at the time. I figured the way to make that kind of marker useful is to give it points of comparison so on Saturday I got sleepsy_mouse to take some more of our session.

Last year penella22 told me off for doing ( Read more... )

video

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teadog1425 October 26 2009, 13:06:22 UTC
Thank you for the video - that was great! I loved the backing up on the ground - he really balances himself and holds himself well, doesn't he? My favourite bit was him rolling at the end, though! Tam

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glenatron October 26 2009, 14:13:02 UTC
He's very nicely balanced now and he kind of balances for himself regardless of what I'm doing most of the time, which I think comes from my constant changes of direction both on the ground and in the saddle. I'm always trying to keep him asking what we're going to do next...

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teadog1425 October 26 2009, 14:57:57 UTC
Both of your hard work really shows! And I loved how soft and responsive he was, even with occaisional grumpy ears ( ... )

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glenatron October 26 2009, 16:20:42 UTC
Did they show the difference with different saddles as well? I have been practicing getting on from the ground lately because it's easy not to with a block like that and then you find yourself having to get off on the trail and have trouble getting back on and because I didn't learn to ride as a kid so I don't have that experience of clambering all over ponies when I was small. I wouldn't want to do it in an english saddle or a treeless, but I slightly feel as though although I obviously create more counterbalancing force on my western saddle the much larger contact area should be helpful in that respect. For the same reasons I very infrequently practice getting on bareback from the ground and consequently I'm terrible at it...

Poor old Zorro sometimes has to suffer the worst of my education, but bless him if he thinks I'm at all unstable he will treat me like crystal glass. Once he thinks I'm solid on his back it's rollercoaster time.

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teadog1425 October 26 2009, 17:03:08 UTC
No, unfortunately it looked like they had only examined an english-type saddle - though she is based at the McPhail Institute in the US. They put a pressure pad under the saddle and it measures the ratio of pressure across the whole underside of the saddle. She showed how when you mount there are spikes of increasing pressure particularly at the top of the saddle near the horse's shoulders, on the opposite side that you are mounting from, and she was suggesting that it would be beneficial to avoid this if possible, ie by mounting without the stirrups, or alternatively to alternate the sides that you mount from, so that that pressure area is not always falling in the same place. I don't know whether having someone counterbalance in the opposite stirrup as you mount is better or worse in terms of pressure, as they didn't show that either. Very thought-provoking though ( ... )

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glenatron October 26 2009, 17:16:32 UTC
I try and only do it when there's no-one else around to see me flailing. Zorro just stands very steady and occasionally brings his head round to look long-suffering at me.

With the saddle I suspect that if you could do it kind of vaulting style using even pressure and placing yourself lightly in the saddle on a big saddle like mine it wouldn't be too bad - it's never going to be the best thing for the horse but done right it's probably not too bad.

Buck Brannaman always mounts (and does a lot of other work ) off the fence, which is another neat way to do it.

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teadog1425 October 26 2009, 17:31:02 UTC
Lol! That's what my friend Josette does! She keeps telling me I will have to learn to do the same too! Clearly it is the way to go!

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buymeaclue October 26 2009, 18:20:31 UTC
She showed how when you mount there are spikes of increasing pressure particularly at the top of the saddle near the horse's shoulders, on the opposite side that you are mounting from

Did she happen to mention (or demonstrate) the technique they were using to mount? I picked up the habit somewhere along the way of setting my right hand on the right-side flap of the saddle while I mount rather than on the cantle in what seems to be the usual method--not sure where I got it, but it feels like it steadies everything and counterbalances the weight in the left stirrup as I step on, and I wonder what it would do (if anything) to those pressure spike.

(Bareback, I just do the belly-over-the-horse-and-shimmy-into-place thing. Which might work less well if I had a taller horse, but I don't, so everyone's happy.)

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glenatron October 26 2009, 20:06:23 UTC
That's the western method as well - right hand under the lariat on the far side of the saddle, left hand on top of the horse's neck with the reins in it, use a bit of pressure from both ( particularly the far hand ) and a bit of spring from your legs to get yourself into the saddle, utilising the stirrup as little as possible. Logic suggests that would be the best way of getting on from the ground in terms of pressure on the back, if well executed.

I think getting on bareback is probably good practice for it as well, each time I have got on bareback from the ground ( there aren't many of them ) I've been better at getting into a saddle afterwards...

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teadog1425 October 27 2009, 10:36:25 UTC
They showed some still photos, but it was projected on a standing screen, so the quality of the photos were a bit fuzzy for seeing the fine detail! It wasn't possible to see whether they were putting one hand on the cantle or over to the opposite side. I'm not sure whether for what they were looking at it would make so much difference in the pressure readings - and I don't know what else they had measured that wasn't covered in the lecture! - but I would guess that reaching across to the opposite side helps with keeping the saddle more balanced, but I would think that it would rather increase than reduce the pressure spike on that side? Though obviously that is without knowing how you mount ( ... )

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glenatron October 27 2009, 11:25:41 UTC
The only way I can do it is to go there with a serious commitment to dive over my horse and fall head-first off the other side. If I'm not trying to do that I just don't go far enough...

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teadog1425 October 27 2009, 12:03:09 UTC
Lol! Well, that's clearly my problem right there! I'm trying _not_ to dive head first off the other side...! Maybe I'll have to take him into the sand school when he's better and try and just throw myself over - at least the landing will be soft! I'll let you know how it goes...!

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