Staying ‘Connected’ on the Trail
by Trisha Wren
Once you have learned how to stay connected
with your horse consistently in an arena type situation, it’s time to practice
in more challenging surroundings. Often
things go great when you are working by yourself in familiar surroundings, but
when you add other horses, distractions, different terrain or some kind of
stress (eg competition), all your good work goes out the window! Here at Cassie’s Farm we recently held our
first coached group farm rides, which presented a variety of terrain and
various other challenges. The aim was to
practice ‘remembering to remember’ our position on up and downhill slopes, and
it also gave participants real situations in which to practice the techniques
they’d been learning at Connected Riding clinics.
Before you set off, make sure that you and
your horse are connected and listening to each other. Just having strange horses around can be
enough to distract or worry your horse, so do what you need to do to help him
with that and bring his focus back to you.
Get into the habit of starting every ride with some body and leading
exercises; we’ve seen in previous articles how we can really improve our mounts
softness, engagement and attention, better preparing him for what’s to
come.
Does he walk off as soon as you mount, or
then not stand quietly while everyone is getting organised? A couple of the horses in our group were very
fidgety and worried, so while those riders worked on relaxing their horses the
others waited. We wanted to work with
each problem that arose, rather than glossing over them and heading on out
anyway. For nervous or worried riders /
horses, one of the most important aspects of riding in a group is that everyone
pays attention to how the others are doing.
Our goal throughout was to help every horse and rider stay calm and
‘ok’. Everyone was coached to shout out
if they felt they were in trouble, at which point the others would stop and
stand. Patience is a virtue, and it really helped that we had a couple of very
calm steady horses which helped give the sparkier ones some comfort.
Our ride took us on farm tracks and steeper
grassy hills, and through some bush. On
day 2 we had the opportunity to move some cattle, which gave both horse and
rider new things to think about. An afternoon
tea break gave everyone the chance to relax and regroup, and compare
notes. The majority of the rides were
done in walk; to keep your connection most horses benefit from not being pushed
out of their comfort zone too far too soon.
Some of the riders rode 3 days in a row,
and it was interesting to see their progress.
One herd bound mare had a tantrum the first day about being with strange
horses instead of her mates and refused to go in front through a muddy
gateway. On day 2 she managed with much
less fuss to leave her friends and go in the opposite direction with another
horse, and on day 3 she was relaxed and walked in front through the same tricky
gateway away from her friends without hesitation. We had one pretty nervous rider, who by day 3
was picking the route and tackling some really steep slopes! The first 2 days of taking it easier had
really given her a confidence boost. The
gelding that previously had been used to blatting around at every opportunity
started to learn that really there was no hurry, and wasn’t it more enjoyable
to slow down and relax a little.
Everyone benefited from the experience in
different ways, according to where they and their horse were at. Riders on livelier horses got first hand
experience of constructive things to do when their horse lost the plot in some
way. Remember, you can help your horse
much more if you do something rather than nothing. Whilst for a couple of people the ride was far
from relaxing, if that’s the type of horse you have then those are the
situations you need practice at handling.
Those on the quieter horses were able to really practice keeping their
positions, whatever the terrain, and felt balanced and secure even on the
steeper slopes. All were pleased that
the techniques they’d been learning at Connected Riding clinics were
transferable – and helpful! – to other situations.
The moral of the story? Don’t go too far or fast too soon, but do
push your boundaries and comfort zone a little; expose your horse and yourself
to something new. See if you can
maintain the feeling of balance and security on rougher terrain or with more
distractions. Get out and have some fun
on your horse! Try to find a riding
companion that is sympathetic and will go at the speed you want. We’ll be holding more farm rides here, as
well as Residential Intensives to totally immerse you in Connected Riding, so
join our mailing list to be kept in touch.
Trisha Wren
©Trisha Wren September 06
as
printed in:
The Organic Equine magazine
(Oct 2006)