Over the spring and summer I’ve put up posts detailing the requirements for our Horsemanship Level 1. If you read through those posts, look at the relevant chapters of the Manual of Horsemanship, and attend at least Horsemanship classes in which you have the opportunity to practice handling, grooming and tacking up, you have a…
The final item on the Riding Level 1 scoresheet is: 15. Demonstrate overall authority, safety & confidence This is similar and related to the last point on the Horsemanship Level1 sheet: 11. Demonstrate safety and common sense when working around horses In your riding test you will be marked on your habits from the ground…
Or rather, safety with numbers, is this week's topic. In other words, how do you 14. Identify and maintain safe distance in group while riding and halted It's not enough to simply maintain the pace and direction of your own mount in relation to the fixed objects in the ring; you also need to be…
Sorry, it's a dreadful pun, but I couldn't resist. The stirrup is arguably one of the most important inventions in the history of mounted warfare, and of riding in general. The advent of the stirrup allowed a rider to mount more easily (making it feasible to wear heavier armour into battle), to rise out of…
Last week I talked about freeing the sword hand by using the reins in one hand. This week we'll deal with what to do with that free hand as we 12. Safely carry and move a long object (dressage or buggy whip, flag, sword etc) at the walk and trot The purpose of this part…
Up till now all discussing of the Riding 1 curriculum has implied the use of two hands on the reins. This is because we ride with English tack in the Cavaliere program and teach English style riding (for the reasons for this see these previous posts: English or Western pt I and pt II). However,…
I had to be careful with the title of this week's post. Didn't want it turning up in the wrong sort of searches,* as the next item on the Riding 1 checklist is: 9. Show correct way to hold a whip/crop This is one of the skills we ask for in our level…
Back from holidays and back to business. This week our riding skill is: 8. Walk and trot over single ground poles and a group of 3-4 trot poles Riding over ground poles is the beginning of learning how to jump, but is also a useful exercise in and of itself for improving a horse's way…
Last week I talked about the dressage letters in the riding ring, and how to use them to increase your accuracy. The exercise was a change of rein at the walk across the school from B to E. In your level 1 riding test we also ask you to: 7. Change rein on long diagonal…
Take a lesson at almost any riding school and you will hear a stream of letters flowing past: "twenty metre circle at C", "between K and A develop working canter", "change rein FXH" and so on. These letters are not acronyms or arcane code, but simply markers on the dressage arena. No one seems to…
No, this is not about blogging, or fenceposts (that was last week), but on rising or 'posting' to the trot. The trot is a 2-beat gait in which the horse's legs move in diagonal pairs. It is the roughest gait to sit, which is why the technique of posting, or rising in the stirrups on…
First off, thank you to all you wonderful volunteers who came out yesterday, post-Canada Day hangovers notwithstanding, to pound posts, hammer rails, attack weeds and re-hang gates at Red Colt! We got a lot done in a short time and we couldn't have done it without you! Transitions Up until now in our Riding level…
We begin all our riding sessions with warm-ups for both horse and rider. For the horse, this involves progressing walk and trot, circles, changes of direction and suppling exercises to warm up the muscles and joints prior to exercise. For the rider, the warm up serves an additional function: to develop an independent seat. The…
The second item on the Riding 1 checklist is: 2. Mount safely and correctly from block or ground, picking up reins correctly Mounting your horse may seem like the simplest of skills, but it's one that takes a lot of practice to make smooth, effortless and kind to your horse. As you can see from…
Over the past dozen weeks or so I've written posts detailing the requirements for our Horsemanship Level 1. If you read through those posts, look at the relevant chapters of the Manual of Horsemanship, and attend at least three Horsemanship classes in which you have the opportunity to practice handling, grooming and tacking up, you…