Happy New Year

A very belated Happy New Year to everyone I have not already seen. With Christmas gone for another year and up until now, riding has not been too compromised by the weather. Many of you have been keeping busy with training and fittening. Some of you have been having your horses backs checked and saddles re-flocked so you are giving your horse the best start for the year.

The most useful thoughts for training this month, is to remember how necessary it is to have your horse “sitting” steadily and upright on your outside rein. Bend your elbow and decide where your hand lives, a little higher than you think, is my guess, and make sure you keep your elbow and hand position through all the corners and turns. Keeping the same steady hand through all transitions is important. If this makes the canter strike off incorrect then think again about where your weight is and keep your inside hip forward.

The exercise which helps a lot is the Circles Squares and Triangles which I have already posted.