Archive for It's About The Horse The Free Forum for those Doing Parelli - and a whole lot More! "Anything forced and misunderstood can never be beautiful." Xenophon (430-355 B.C.),
|
bit
|
jane Savoie newletter article lateral work and bending.The primary point of the advanced lateral exercises is to collect your horse. And in order for your lateral work such as shoulder-in, haunches-in, and half passes to be effective as collecting exercises, your horse must BEND.
Think of the following equation. Bend+Sideways=Engagement. (Engagement means the bending of joints. As your horse bends his hind legs, his croup lowers, and his forehand goes up--kinda like a seesaw or an airplane taking off.)
So here are some quick tips to help you determine if you're bending your horse correctly to get maximum benefit from your lateral work.
1. Shoulder-in--Look at the hindquarters. Are they parallel to the wall as if you're just riding straight down the track? If so, your horse is bending. If not, he's doing a leg-yield in shoulder-in position.
2. Haunches-in--Look at the forehand. It should look exactly the same as it does when you just go straight down the long side. If your horse's neck is more bent to the inside than that, you're fudging the bend. If his shoulders or front feet point out toward the wall, he's just doing a leg yield in haunches-in position.
3. Half-pass--Half pass is just haunches-in on a diagonal line. So the same rules that apply in #2 above, apply for half passes. To check yourself, go straight across the diagonal as if you're just changing direction. Then ride haunches-in for 3 or 4 strides. Then go straight again. The critical point is when you straighten your horse. Ask yourself if your horse has to swivel his forehand around to get it back on the diagonal line. If he does, he isn't truly bending in the half pass.
|
TrickMule
|
Re: jane Savoie newletter article lateral work and bending | bit wrote: | | 3. Half-pass--Half pass is just haunches-in on a diagonal line. |
The concept of half pass as travers on the diagonal is something I have come across by countless masters. Also, to ride a step or two of shoulder-in prior to asking for the half pass (as a diagonal travers) will set up the bend and help to ensure that the quarters do not lead in the half pass. This is how I have been practising. However, something I read in Nuno's Reflections book disturbed my equilibrium on this a little. He seemed to imply that the half pass was shoulder-in on the diagonal in its entirety and that thinking of it as travers on the diagonal could lead to the fault of the quarters leading and thus should not be done. I may have misinterpreted him, however. He may have meant shoulder-in as a set up, rather than shoulder-in on the diagonal being half pass in its entirety.
Thoughts? Did I misunderstand Nuno?
Liz C, Bazkins and Pants the Mule
--
|
Julie
|
Shoulder in as set up!
|
Clarissa
|
Yes I can have Sonny doing just as descibed above. However he is so long when he does it I nearly have to put a "long Load" sign on his butt!!
He just seems to stretch right out when I ask for bend. He can bend really well but he also lengthens by about a foot!  
Being long doesnot equal engagement.  So there is more needed other than those 2 requirements of the quarters being parallel to the wall.
|
|