Re: [RC] [RC] [RC] Longing for Exercise - Tamara Woodcock
Sounds great! Glad you walking better. I really like loose schooling in a
small arena. I can't do it any more (no arena yet <g>) but I thought it was
really valuable. And my favorite trainer/rider, Dr. Klimke, was a proponent
of it also, especially for free-jumping and starting young horses.
I don't do much work myself on the pasture length longe line, because mine
(a 4yo, and 3 3yos) take advantage of it, but when my main riding horse was
boarder at a place where he couldn't get as much turnout as I wanted, I used
it a good bit, though I was cheap and just knotted two lines together.
I am a real fan of lots of longe work, cavalletti, etc. I think it makes a
big difference in the quality of the horse's movement and the muscling of
the back. I'm not comfortable myself using driving lines yet, but I'm
working on it. Don't under estimate the power of the walk! Teaching a good
walk on a longe line, where you can push the horse to extend the walk
without trotting using a whip and the fence, does great things for
developing swing in the back. I am rehabing my stallion who had been
overcontroller, overbent overridden and incorrectly trained (he had been
with a supposed experienced dressage trainer, but that's a whole 'nother
story) and he had developed incorrect muscling on his neck (all underneath
and none up top) and completely stiffened up in the back, so much so that
his walk even loose in the pasture had suffered. He's making huge
improvements in the last 3 months since the trainer was fired with only
walking and walk-trot transitions on the longe. I hope to undo the damage
within the next 3 months completely.
Something I forgot to mention... If you plan to use side reins, either
during loose schooling or on the longe, I've found I have less chance of
messing up a horse with an already great walk if I make it a point to always
unclip the side reins from the bit for walk work, only using them for
walk-trot transitions and "regular" longing. I think it keeps the horse
from learning to suck back or overbend and teaches them that I really do
want that lovely long strided walk and it's okay to cruise with it's nose to
the ground. Great for endurance horses!
-Tamara
From: Stephanie Caldwell <stefffi_c@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Tamara Woodcock <plasmatica@xxxxxxxxxxx>, ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] [RC] Longing for Exercise
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 16:23:11 -0700 (PDT)
Tamara,
We had access to the arena last night and tried some
loose
schooling. The farm that I board at is a largeish (is
that a
word?) boarding barn (around 30 horses), and they have
a smaller
boarder arena. The boarder arena is about 10' from the
stud
pens, so I wasn't real sure how she'd do in there, but
she
settled right down and went to work. I have a 70'
pasture lunge
line that I use with her, and she does okay on that.
I found a girl to ride her every other day. She's
considerably
lighter than I, but she's a good rider, loves trails,
etc... She
might pony Star off of her mare, or will ride both, so
that
solves some of my problems.
She isn't working "through" here lately. Her headset
is higher
and her back isn't rounding up, so the ground work
(transitions
on the lunge, small jumps, cavaletti, etc...) will
probably be
good to strengthen her back on her off days.
Thanks,
Stephanie (I can walk *normally* today!)
Star (Can't I just have the time off, to?)
--- Tamara Woodcock <plasmatica@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> If available, loose schooling in an arena would be
> good. Maybe add
> sidereins and if the horse is polite about, you can
> just stand int he middle
> and provide direction. Or if you have big enough
> field and the horse
> *really* knows how to longe, tie 2 longe lines
> together and work on a
> really, really, big circle. Not possible to do much
> schooling on a circle
> this big, but will give the horse plenty of running
> room, adn cantering
> won't be so hard on the joints.
>
> If neither of those is available, an hour is still a
> bit much, especially
> every day. 1/2 an hour would be more like it, every
> 2-3 days, with several
> changes of directions and also lots of trot-walk
> transitions. Try for 1/4
> circle of trot and then 2-3 strides of walk, very
> hard but great for getting
> that back end up underneath. If your knee will
> stand it, do some parallel
> longing, drive horse down fence line at end of
> longe, this give the horse
> some straight lines to work on, and incidently can
> also help increase
> impulsion. Might as well put your down time to good
> use <g>.
>
> -Tamara
>
>
> PS: Sorry, but it is "longe", not "lunge". A
> "longe line" is a piece of
> gear used to train a horse, a "lunge line" is the
> chain your neighbor's mean
> old dog is attached to, to end a sentence with a
> preposition, which now I
> didn't.
>
>
> >From: Jennifer Thompson <jlthompson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >To: Stephanie Caldwell <stefffi_c@xxxxxxxxx>,
> Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: Re: [RC] Lunging for Exercise
> >Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2002 20:03:45 -0700
> >
> >Just my opinion, but I would not use lunging as the
> main form of exercise
> >for your horse. I would lunge only 10-15 minutes,
> TOPS, per day.
> >Lunging is very hard on the legs.
> >
> >Jennifer
> >
> >Stephanie Caldwell wrote:
> >
> > > I'm hoping some of y'all can give me insight
> into my
> > > problem. I dislocated my knee cap last Wednesday
> and
> > > I'm not able to ride for at least 2 - 4 weeks...
> Not
> > > real sure when I'll be strong enough to ride. My
> horse
> > > lunges well, but is 1 hour on the lunge line
> equal to
> > > 1 hour of riding, or is lungeing really harder
> work
> > > than trails like I've always heard? Is there any
> other
> > > way to keep her in shape?
> > >
> > > BTW, does any one know of exercises to
> strengthen my
> > > knees and ankles? I have considerable pain from
> my
> > > left knee (well... looks like my right ones
> gonna hurt
> > > for a while, too...) and my right ankle when I
> ride
> > > long periods of time!
> > >
> > > Stephanie (I can walk today!)
> > > Starbucks (do I really have to canter in a
> circle for
> > > an hour, mom?)
> > >
> > >
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> Tamara Woodcock
> Scurry, Texas
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> "I live in my own little world, but it's okay, they
> all know me here."
>
>
>
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Tamara Woodcock
Scurry, Texas
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"I live in my own little world, but it's okay, they all know me here."
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Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
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