also the quickest way to get back to the warm and dry!
Incorporating lungeing into your weekly routine is a great way to keep your time down, but give you chance to work your horse from the ground. There are many ‘gadgets’ to use nowadays – side reins, Pessoa’s, bungees etc. Find what IMPROVES your horse – this may be totally different than someone else’s horse. Use lungeing to improve your horse’s weaknesses. Does he tend to be lazy in trot? Are your trot-canter transitions difficult? Remember what was said about ‘muscle memory’. This is your chance to assess your horse from the ground & see what happens when you are not riding. Correct, positive, repetition is the key.
Of course, jumping is great exercise during the winter. Course jumping has probably been the main focus during the summer months, so this a great time to work on grids as well to improve technique. Pole work can be used to give the horse a great work out without leaving the ground. Trot and canter poles can be used to great effect to improve the horse. There are many books available that have great exercises to give you variety. Don’t stick to the same thing each week – live a little!
Hacking will always be hugely important in conditioning your horse – I am a really believer in letting the horse use this time to relax. They should be forward, straight and on a contact, but let them enjoy the hacking rather than keeping them in an outline. Some trotting on the roads is fine, but do choose the road surface carefully. Sadly, many of our roads are slippy and it’s not worth risking injury! Many of us, myself included, might struggle to hack in the winter with the light, but try to make time for it.
Now our basic week’s work consists of schooling, lungeing, hacking, jumping, pole work and of course, a well deserved day off. Many factors may alter what you do each week – weather, winter competing, lessons, Christmas! With one horse to ride, you need to make the best of the sessions you do. These sessions can be on your own or when you are having instruction. Try to enter each session with a positive frame of mind. It’s all too easy to inwardly groan as you have to do some more flat work with a horse that really isn’t playing ball today. Try not to beat yourself up if it goes wrong, it doesn’t matter that much. Remember, we are the only sport that works with 2 brains so not only do we have to be on form, but so does our horse! Taking the good bits and re-enforcing them is what we’re aiming to do this winter.
Think back to your favourite professional rider and how their horses go. The dressage test that you ride in your BE100, they will ride 4 or 5 times at one competition. That’s half your season to ride 5 tests! They know it instinctively & can then use that to their advantage to show their horse off to its best. By practicing dressage tests at home, they become easier for both horse and rider and you will start to be able to work on instinct.
Sir Clive Woodward once said (I like my rugby, apologies)that if the England Rugby team lost a match, that was the time for them to go and have a drink and forget about it, not beat yourself up about why it all went wrong. However, when they won – that was when they analysed everything they had done to see exactly why it went so well.
‘Muscle memory’ is really important for both horse and rider, making the job at hand easier for those important competitions so you are ready when it counts. Do keep in mind that the action performed need to be positive and correct – muscle memory works in both ways, incorrect training can lead to the horse instinctively reverting back to what he knows.
By using the winter to your benefit, you can come out in the spring and be ready to show all the positive re-enforcement you have achieved, regardless of what you have focused on. This could be more accurate dressage test riding, your horse working in a better outline, your personal fitness levels improved. Choose what direction you want to take your riding and strive to be better. This might not win you the next Olympic Gold medal but it will give you more purpose and direction with your horse. This can only benefit both of you and you never know, you might be surprised at the results.
Photos courtesy of MDR Photo www.mdr-photo.co.uk or author’s own.
(Except the gratuitous one I put in of Jonny Wilkinson)
What esle can you do?