Make your miles count - don't let yourself get lazy

I have been giving lessons to my friend Kandi and her wonderful horse Syd. Not that I am the worlds best teacher but I work for cheap.

Our goal has been simple; to help Syd learn how to carry herself better and to help Kandi learn how to use her aids. Simple, right? Well as you all know, becoming a great rider takes lots of work and producing a really great horse takes lots of work. But the reward is so worth it!

As I've been helping Kandi a lot of our focus has been on being very “strict” with Syd about what we want. Syd now knows what we are asking for so if we ask for a circle, an oval will not do. If we ask for bend on the corner, collapsing in on the shoulder is not what we will accept. We don't scold her or rant and rave, we merely do it again and let her know that's really what we want and we are willing to work till she does it. Syd is willing and good natured mare so it doesn't take that much. But from time to time she sees if she can get away with less.

This got me thinking. The other night I was out conditioning Bunny in the dark. We were going back and forth on a ½ mile long strip of gravel rode that's out between fields, so no cars. Working in the dark gives you lots of time to think. About two miles into our little workout it dawned on me Bunny was not traveling as good as she is capable of. She was a bit heavy on the forhand and not as light on her feet as I would have liked. She was kind of in freight train mode. In my mind I could hear what I would tell Kandi if Syd was traveling that way. So I followed my own advice. I picked her up, helped her engage her butt and get it under her and pretty soon we were going along much better!

Which brings me to my point. If you are like me, endurance can have a tendency to make you lazy. No not in the, not getting your butt off the couch sort of lazy but in the we focus so much on our miles, we let other things slip through the cracks sort of lazy. We ride so many miles it's easy to start seeing them as just that, miles we need to do to keep our horses in shape. But they should be so much more then that.

(At this point I feel the need to add that I am not going to hard core condition my horse all winter. She gets a brake but I do ride. Mostly because I need that to stay sane. A lot of it is arena work, trail riding and light conditioning rides but nothing like when we really go back to work after the first of the year. )

Each time we ride we should work to better ourselves and our horses and no, that kind of work is not limited to the arena. Our horses don't need to be fancy, they don't need to be flawlessly groomed but the better trained they are, the better and more efficiently they travel, well the benefits are pretty obvious.

So I challenge you this winter, as you maybe do lessons, or take a bit of a break. Set some training goals for yourself and your horse that aren't just about miles. Then work to make those happen. Be deliberate about each time your ride your horse, focus on all aspects of your ride, not just the obvious athletic ones.

I'll go first. Here are a few of my goals for the winter.

Continue helping Bunny to improve her way of going. She has come so far in this, I can't even tell you. My friend Ruth is probably the only one who can fully appreciate this since she saw us when I first started riding Bunny. Even though Bunny has come a long way, she still has the tendency from time to time to become heavy on the forhand. I will keep working on that. I think we'll do some more cavaletti work as well.

Help Bunny to be able to relax. This girl is wound pretty tight. Not in the crazy way but in the overachiever sort of way. Guess what, so am I. I am trying to become very aware of this in both of us and learn to do our work relaxed, not loosing our focus and energy, just loosing the tension that often comes along with it. We've both come along ways with this but we still could use improvement.  

Continue to work on Bunny's canter. I can get a canter, usually going up hill. We are starting to work on reliable canter departs in the arena. I want to continue that work. She falls apart after a few strides, partly because she gets heave on the forhand. What do you know. Crazy how the same issues keep popping up all over the place.

Work on my own fitness and flexibility. One thing that I love about endurance is that it gives me motivation to want to improve my own fitness. I've also discovered that flexibility is huge. When I started having problems with my hamstring last season, the problem, not being flexible and that muscle getting strained because of it. I worked last winter on really trying to gain flexibility in my hamstrings and you know what, I didn't have one tiny bit of trouble this season. This winter I'm working on my hip flexibility. Hip flexibility is huge for being able to ride correctly. Oh and my riding like a drunken sailor at OR 100, caused primarily by tight hip flexor muscles (in that case made worse by a fall).

Every time I ride I am going to do my best to pay attention, to stay present and to work on any issues that arise, with me or my horse.

So what do you need work on, how about your horse? A piece of advice... get all the help you can, both for you and your horse.

So how about it, are you ready to step up your game and make your miles count for more?