You’re right, tempo is what I meant! My horses rhythm is just fine. I have never tried to speed up the tempo (since I’m usually getting told to slow it down), but I think mastering three different trot speeds would be very helpful for me, I need to be more adjustable in my riding instead of picking a tempo and sticking to it.
I had also forgotten that I was riding with a metronome for a little while, and that did help quite a bit. I’ll have to go back to using it when the horse comes home from training.
Yes, my conformation is not the best either! :lol: I’m short (5’ 2") but my saving grace is that I have long legs for my height.
Staying away from jumping saddles isn’t really an option for me because the plan for this mare is lower level eventing, with a very long term goal of getting my bronze in dressage. We have to get through the green as grass stage before any of that is possible though.
Part of my issue with this horse stems from the fact that I switched from a barley 15h sports car of a paint mare, to a 16.1+ (and growing) tractor trailer! I also learning how different it is to ride a warmblood vs. the paint. My horse has her own motor, but she still takes sooo much leg to put together and ride well. I was very spoiled by my last horse!
What I do when I want to slow the tempo I slow my posting down by a split second in both the up and down phase continuously until I have the desired speed…I also squeeze the reins in the sitting phase along with shoulders back and down. It doesn’t slow him down immediately. It is important to squeeze and give in the reins rather than a strong hold. Eventually the horse will respond more quickly to your slowing aids.
post higher and slower, more straight up and down than forward. Pretend you are riding saddle seat - really, keep your head up and back and shoulders straight to help with this. Agree with Cat Tap on squeeze/release on reins.
Note that for the horse to balance as suggested is like a sit up for them - the stomach muscles contract to carry the rib cage and rider. And the sit up is as much fun for the horse as one is for you. So work on a few strides first, then half a circle. She probably can’t carry this for long due to growth and need to condition those muscles. do a little bit then take a break as a reward
For me the visualization that helped me was “pretend there’s a bungie cord attached from your cantle to your back” this sort of pull against that bungie was just what I needed and holy crap it worked! Horse responded to my seat.
My last lesson I had a bit of a breakthrough on not tipping forward, my trainer and I were talking about pilates during a walk break and she mentioned practicing bridge pose out of the saddle. Thinking about bridge pose while I was posting made a big difference, I think it made me concentrate on keeping my back flat like it was on the floor. I’m still fighting years of muscle memory so it’s not consistent yet, also not helped by only riding once a week while my horse is in training.
Sometimes I stretch out - something like Gumby??? LOL. So on the up part, I feel like my upper body is being pulled upward by a string going through my middle. I also feel like my legs are being lengthened by pushing my heels down. This really works with my mare a lot more than half halts for some reason. In the arena, I’ll slow her trot for one side, then let her move at a faster pace for the next side, then slow again. Good luck!
An exercise we were doing when I last rode was to ride a 20M circle, dividing it into 4ths. Ride the same number of strides in each quarter… so count as you go [out loud if it helps] 1,2,3,4,5,6 for each quarter… it really helps ingrain what a consistent number/rhythm/tempo. And it is way harder than it sounds.
I also think of it in dance terms… you dictating those things is you ‘leading’ the dance
