This newsletter
is a personal letter from me to you, a fellow horse owner and enthusiast.
My goal is to answer some of your questions and send you interesting stories and
helpful tips for your horse care, training, and riding.
I have been doing a lot of longeing
around our place the last few weeks because the horses won't be able to be turned
out on pasture for 3-4 weeks yet and there isn't enough time in the day to ride
all of them. Even though the longeing I am doing right now is mainly for exercise,
I try to keep the principles of longeing in mind so that the sessions establish
and reinforce good behavior and balanced movement.
Adapted
from
Longeing
and Long Lining the English and Western Horse
and
101
Longeing and Long Lining Exercises
You
have a variety of subjective and objective goals to accomplish during your horse's
ground training. The work should be approached so that the horse develops a confident,
steady manner with a cooperative attitude and free, supple, forward movement characterized
by a consistent rhythm.
During the lessons, he should accept the bit, respond
to the aids, work relatively straight and show "speed control": extending
(moving on) and collecting (shortening) in his gaits. His frame should be allowed
to develop naturally and progressively from the head up and nose out “kid
frame” to a gradual rounding of the topline that leads to a collected “advanced”
frame.
Throughout the horse’s physical development, it is imperative
that you always strive to meet the following criteria:
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