Any good......?

I thought it was high time i put up a pic of me in the saddle!

This is only me schooling in the tiny fenced off area i have at home, so nothing spectacular (not that i do spectacular very well!hehe)

This is me and my 5yr old irish sport horse mare (dutch x tb).
I work her in draw reins very rarely and never hold them tight as to restrict her, they simply encourage her to round and soften so that i can concentrate on geting her stepping under (as she can be slightly down hill in her way of going). Also she is only in them for ten minutes tops!!


Slightly over rounding, its hard to tell whats perfectly vertical when your up there! hehe -



Her short bouncy canter -


And this is me on my 3yr old hanoverian x tb. He is still pretty green and shows his age quite often (with head tossing and loss of interest) So i keep his lessons varied and constructively short, if that makes sense? Hehe
Nothing so challenging that he cant manage it and gets frustrated over it! Lots of quite hacks etc to let him get into the swing of being a riding horse.


Gorping -

Thinking about listening to me, hehe -

Oh and the obvious...'I cant stand still, im a baby' syndrome that they all get!hehe


One thing though guys.....My hands are nearly always too low! I dont rest them on the horses neck i promise, but i do hold them low and wide. And i can not for the life of me stop!

Ok its all yours, good or bad as long as its constructive.

Elz x

In the second picture, especially, you really need to get your legs under you. Maybe your stirrups are a bit too short. You need to keep your heels down as well. It looks like you have your toes down which is bad.

If you look at www.artofriding.com it has a lot of helpful pictures and stuff for your basic things like the proper seat etc. I found it very helpful.

Yes the 2nd pic is bad for that whole seat thing, I am being forced to used stirrup leathers that are too short for me at pressent as old ones dieds of old age slightly. hehe
Better in my dressage saddle i must admit.

Toes down??? Really? I cant see that, i do have wellies on (bad i know) and the light isnt great but they are down in all of them as far as i can tell....?

Maybe its me...

Thanks for the comments though!! Star! x

No wait, the toe thing was me. It's hard to tell with the dark horses and what not. I really should be wearing my glasses. Sorry.

Thats ok....no worries! i just thought i was going mad for a min! hehe
Any suggestions on either of the nags Ramble?? x

Your mare looks like she's got her nose tucked in a bit too much. Other than that she looks awesome. She's very pretty. Your gelding looks like he is doing really well for a young horse.

I have a saddle pad that looks almost the exact same! Except its one of those saddle shaped ones. It's the same color and has those tiny little quilted square things.

well, yeah, your legs did look a little too far forward..but no worries, you already explained that.

in one of the pictures your head is down...Make sure that your always looking ahead...Between there ears.

yeah, in some of the pictures it did look like you could have your heels down a bit more.

Beautiful horses. Apart from what the others have pointed out, your riding looks great. Cant help but ask, is your horses head tied down in the second pic? Or is the martingale too tight? Because she's behind the bit. And you don't want that happening, because thats when they can start leaning on your hands.

Hi kaiya, No her head wasnt tied down, i was giving her 5mins in a set of draw reins and in that particular picture she def wasnt forward enough and bowing her head i agree.
Shes still quite a baby at times and struggles to keep a constant outline and can on occasion nod her head - just at the moment she nodded her head my boyfriend snapped the pic!
hehe

And Im a horror for looking down!! I try not to honest! hehe My old intructor used to say you look at the floor thats where yourl end up! hehe

Ill work on that! and today i got some new stirrup leathers! 35quid!!! ouch I dont remember them costing so much when i got my first pair! killer...

I dont know, horses= ££££££ all the time!

fair enough, I used to do that with my old mare too.