Rein Back...good winter exercise

Backing your horse can be an extremely beneficial exercise when done correctly. Backing up or walking down hill engages the muscles used for collection. It is also a great way to get your horses hips and pelvis loosened up and ready for wok. Be Sure you have your reins even in length and pressure. When you ask your horse to back up; sit back, sink your weight wrap your legs and evenly stretch back o your reins. When they take one step back release immediately and then you may ask again. If your horses haunches veer to the right you may have too much left hand or leg pressure and if they veer left vise versa. So straighten in the halt and try again. If you are having trouble using a wall on one side may help your horse initially. Everyone who is stuck without an indoor ring...this exercise can be done in hand as well! Stand directly in front of your horse to ensure that they back on a straight line. DONT over do it! If your horse isnt used to backing up start with a little and work your way up like any new exercise.

Minimize rein adjustments when jumping...

When jumping a course of obstacles students often make the mistake of shortening and lengthening their reins before and after every jump, which leaves a lot of room for error. When you are trotting or even cantering a single jump you may shorten your reins on your approach to the jump to be sure to maintain the same contact when in the air and then allow your reins to slide back to 'neutral' as you sit back into the saddle and bring your elbows back to your sides. HOWEVER...when jumping many jumps in a row this approach is no longer practical. To minimize adjustments throughout the course and thus eliminate the possibility of suddenly having too much or to little contact over the jumps this is what I recommend.....When picking up the canter to start the course I shorten my reins as much as I can while still keeping both seat bones in the saddle and my shoulders over my hips. This is important. Often I see riders shorten their reins to the point where they can no longer sit on the horse and this is when accidents happen (ie; horses leaning on their fore hand and tripping or riders being thrown over the horses head.) The bend in my elbow however is no longer there. So your hands will be hovering over the horses neck just about where they are going to be over the jump with nice elastic contact. Now as you approach the jump you can begin to stretch into your heels and close your hip angle bringing your shoulders to your hands. In essence your hands will barely move. And as you sit back after the jump you bring your shoulders back over your hips and soften your lower back in preparation to follow the motion of the canter and throughout all of this your hands are staying in the same general spot and able to maintain your contact and rein length with no adjustments. So to further clarify: looking at the picture above when I land over this jump the bend will come out of my elbow as I bring my shoulders back ,but my hands will stay out in front of me and that nice contact that I have now will stay exactly the same. This will allow my horse to do his job and be able to rely on my even consistent support rather than hindrance. Although it looks in this picture as though I will not be able to sit down with this rein length remember that the horses neck is stretched out ove rthe jump and as I sit back he will in essence 'sit back' as well. Remember to feel free to post questions or comments!