>>> one thing i found from trial and error is to sit real still and relaxed and >>> as balanced as possible while the whirlwind of gait goes on around me :) I >>> found if I tried to sit real straight UP, I was hollowing my back and >>> sticking my chest out, the horse seemed still and rough, and if i sit so >>> loose my body is flopping sloppy around while it gaits, he starts having >>> trouble. So I found a sweet spot and then i found if I do it on any gaited >>> horse, its a good sweet spot. Altho I havent ridden all that many other >>> than my own, but even my own, each one is so different from horse to horse. >>> Its amazing!
Amen. I also do like sitting very still and quietly - loose but not floppy - while I ride my young horses. (Ok, I should clarify - with my old arthritic and banged up body, I sit as loosely and quietly as I physically can.) I never really want to push my horses to do any gait that they don't find easy to offer, so I sit and wait to see what they offer first - even with older horses who are new to us. "Gait training" comes later, but only after I'm pretty confident what the horse is physically capable of. To me, "gait training" shouldn't be about teaching a horse who's only offered trot to tolt. It should only be about clarifying which gaits I want him/her to do at the moment, but I'll only ask for something within his/her comfort range. It's very uncomfortable for a rider when a horse surges into a different gait every few strides - and I suspect it's not really fun for the horse either, since he's probably always feeling out of balance. Maybe it's a subtle concept, but once I'm fairly confident what gaits are within the horse's range, I may encourage him slightly to stretch his range, but never force him, and certainly I'd never expect a very lateral horse to do a two-beat trot for very long, maybe not at all. And I'd NEVER expect a virtually three-gaited horse to do a true tolt/rack. The main horses who I'd try to stretch their natural range a little extra bit would be the pacey ones. I worry about the pacey ones because they tend to have long backs to start with, and pace/stepping pace/even tolt doesn't work the back and abdomen muscles as well as the other gaits. I really wish we'd worked Mac in some other gaits more when he was young - he had a very straight-appearing back until the swayback showed up in his late teens. I don't even like to do much gait cueing with my seat bones. It may be ok to do it, but I really am terrified that too much discomfort will push them into a gait they might not choose on their own - but that's probably just my phobia. I do a lot of gait cuing with verbal commands, plus I sit for the soft gaits and post to trot. I probably should work on being less dependent on verbal cues to distinguish the different soft gaits though. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.16/849 - Release Date: 6/14/2007 12:44 PM
