Balance is KEY

This week I've been having an advanced camp. The girls are riding fairly advanced horses (2nd to 4th level) and have given me many insights. The camp was necessary to get my horses ridden during my time of surgery recovery that has grounded me (no riding). So, throughout the week we've been focusing on transitions. Yesterday, after watching one gal struggle with one of the horses I broke the rules and got on to see what was going wrong -- it just wasn't visible. So, that all prompted this blog entry. Here's my tip for the day: Balance is always key. That means, in any transition or even within any gait, the rider's top priority has to be her balance and the horse's balance. Let's say you ask the horse to trot and he rushes off. That's a sign of tipping on the forehand! You must address the real underlying problem, not the symptom. A few things you might do to fix the problem are: stop, back up, tuck your fanny under, use your gut muscles. But essentially, you have to establish balance again in the walk. Then try again. If the walk trot transition is flawed, you haven't a prayer for the trot canter transition. In fact, the problem was likely to have occured in the transitioin from halt to walk. Have fun!