“A correct, independent, balanced seat; a sound knowledge of the theories behind the practices; good feel; good timing; a sense of rhythm; a clear, calm focussed mind; an ability to ‘read’ the horse’s requirements; persistence; modesty but not false modesty”
Andrea Hessay (34)
In chapters 4 to 6 we looked at the theory. Now lets look at the practice. How we can apply what we have learnt in the riding arena.
A typical training session will be structured as follows: Dismounted preparation and assessment; warm-up; ridden assessment; “work”; and, cool-down. In some riding sessions we may choose to exclude some of the stages, often due to time restrictions. I believe it is essential to include the warm-up and cool-down phases in all riding sessions. Sometimes, given the time available, we don’t make it to the work phase. The answer is to make more time available, or accept that we haven’t got the time to fully work the horse. We can’t ride for improvement based on our watch!
In this chapter we consider each of the training stages.