Second ride back to work 2/4/12

Okay I love this picture of my little guy working! He was trying so hard! This was his first time out riding in the field and was very forward, in fact wanted to canter most of the time!

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...2/70fd6934.jpg

Would love to hear what you think of him!
I know it's only on picture but it's the best I got right now and this is the only way to upload from my iPad

I know my arms are not relaxed, be pare with me I am still u
Sunburnt from Hawaii and this was my first time riding after at least four weeks off!

Thanks!

            

Great pic of you 2! However I am really jealous of your weather, we have snow!

            

You and he look great! You just look tense/stiff, stretch down into your legs and relax your neck and shoulder muscles.. roll back and down.

            

Bumpppp

            

here is the picture! No more link!

Attached Images

 

            

            

Your shoulders are stiff..relax,relax,relax....lol...and relax those arms and bend at the elbow...other than that...very nice!...love his extended trot he's doing for you!

            

My suggestion is to bend at the elbow a lot more, as others have said. Relaxing through your shoulders will help a lot. Maybe try doing some shoulder rolls while you walk around after you get on, and maybe drop the reins and do circles with your arms to loosen up. Your hands look super good, I like that your eye is up, and your leg position is nice. Your horse looks great! Heels down!

            

I agree - you will look super if you bring your arms back a bit and try to relax. I probably wouldn't shorten your reins just yet, because you may find that they are the right length when you bring your arms backwards.

Also, try to stretch your heels and legs down nice and low. (:

            

Take a few deep breaths there girl, you've got a nice horse under you - no need to be riding like a tin soldier!

Drop those elbows, just let them flop down so they hang by your torso. You should not be wasting any energy in holding your arms up. Imagine that you have weights tied to each elbow, just let them hang.
When you have no tension in your elbows, I guarantee that your forearms and wrists will also relax, and you will be able to start developing some feel through the bridle. At the moment, you have zero feel, the horse is hitting a brick wall with your arms so stiff.

Due to the tension in your arms, shoulders, there is no connection from the hind legs through to the bridle. The horse is in a false frame, holding himself with an arched neck, but I am sure if we looked at video of the ride, his back would be stuck with no swing. He is slightly on the forehand, his front legs are taking bigger strides than his hind legs to keep himself balanced. The front and hind legs should be stepping evenly.

At the moment, he is 'faking' the work and you might score well in a local pony club dressage competition because he looks 'pretty' and 'extended'. But you really need to work on losing the tension from your body, to help him lose the tension in his body.

Very nice horse, and I am being picky because I can see that there is potential there going by other photo's and video's you have posted.