As you warm your horse up, you should also be using that time to check in on him to ensure that his focus is on you and not everything else happening in the arena. Having your horse's attention on you and what you're asking him to do during the warmup will help you figure out what you need to work on during your actual riding session.
If you ask him to focus his attention on you and he's stiff going one direction, or dull to your leg, you can make a mental note of it and include some exercises in your training session for the day to address those issues.
One
As I cruise my horse around the arena, I leave my reins at a drape and see how she responds to being in the arena. Within a few minutes of walking, she puts both her ears up and fixates on the cattle in the pen behind the arena. My horse has officially checked out on me and has checked in on the cattle in the pen behind us.
Two
Because her ears are focused on the cattle in the pen behind the arena, I go to my hand and leg to get control of her hind end. I use her feet to get control of her brain again and remind her to focus on what I'm asking of her and not locking on to what the cattle are doing.
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Esta historia es de la edición Bonus Issue 2023 de Horse and Rider.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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