Paddy Muir

New Season, New Ideas

A long, cold and difficult winter brought a long and difficult year to an end and then dragged on most of January. In the year that has passed I lost my Father, Blondie my dog, Alan my dear cat and came fairly close to losing half my brain. With so many world disasters occurring recently it is impossible to feel sorry for yourself without feeling guilty as so many have suffered such horrendous losses it is sickening.

It is in this frame of mind that I have started this year – a family Caribbean Cruise for 10 days in February was a real tonic and I returned feeling very rested, refreshed and enthusiastic.

All my horses, barring one, were incredibly sensible considering the lack of work over the winter. I put this firmly down to an excellent – low energy, high fibre diet of Hi-Fi, Alfa Beet and limited soaked oats or pony nuts. This diet enables me to give them plenty of bulk which keeps them happy and not hungry without making them crazy. This combined with the walker and turn out when possible is enough to keep them from extreme boredom.
The horses took to working again happily. There is always a slightly more needy horse in every stable and I have a youngster which has far too much energy for his own good. Diet and turn out can contribute to settling his frame of mind but nothing can be a substitute for daily hard work, without a day off. This with regular turnout and a low energy diet have shown major positive changes within the first week, and a calmness attitude to his work which have inspired me to take him to his first Dressage Competition this weekend. I will take no chances – he will do an hour up a steep hill the evening before, go to bed on a low energy supper, have a magic paste soon after his low energy breakfast, travel 30 min to the competition followed by 30 min lunging tacked up then I hopefully I will bravely climb on my weary steed!!
Time to school and work horses without the pressures of oncoming events is very rewarding and has given me a chance to really get to the bottom of certain problems some horses have. I discovered that keeping horses straight with the use of the outside leg is something most riders I teach and watch neglect. We are all totally aware that a horse must have a soft inside flexion to be at attention or on the aids so to speak. What we fail to feel is whilst asking for this flexion with the inside hand – we allow the horse to push the opposite shoulder or the front 2/3ds of his body out away from the bend. One can easily test for this by working on the inside track in a school, in canter is best, but trot is fine, as you ask for the flexion to the inside – the horse will have a tendency to drift back to the outside track at some point. Try to keep more weight down onto the inside seat bone at all times, this is very useful in keeping the horses attitude towards the bend you require, which will really help in the lateral work and changes. Get the horse respectful of the outside leg by working on the inside track, asking for an inside flexion at all times with a soft asking and giving open inside rein, keeping firm but yielding outside leg and focus on eliminating any drift, movement or push to the outside track whatsoever. The outside rein needs to be concerned with regulating pace and not allowing the neck to bend in from the wither, keep the neck straight with the flexion in the poll to the inside, again yielding regularly especially allowing the horse to turn corners etc. The riders inside leg is against the horse at all times, creating more impulsion, and supporting the horses bend.
This way of riding is not stepping away from classical methods it is just concentrating on parts of this which we have failed to focus on.
Working in this way we very quickly learn our horses have certain issues with straightness in various movements. For example how many times have I been told a horse canters with its quarters in – when in fact the horse is working with the front 2/3ds of the body pushed out which is more difficult to detect as the neck and shoulder appear straight, but when the rider glances back they can visibly see the quarters on the inside track, it is only when one works on an inside track that what is actually happening becomes clear – then the same applies – keep the inside flexion and then coax the body to straighten down the outside from the outside leg on the girth. It is important to keep taking the pressure off say every 5 or 6 strides – just for a stride or 2, just to keep him sweet, and allow him to straighten and travel forward.
This I am finding is a very rewarding and interesting way to work and I have found impressive improvements in all the horses at home and in my Riding Club groups (which I have used as Guinea Pigs for the last few weeks!!)

We will be back on the road Eventing next month and will report with some more training tips !!

Paddy