|
Less Is More Horsemanship Forum
Welcome to the Less Is More Forum. This forum is to post questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, principles, concepts and ideas regarding Natural Horsemanship and more importantly, the philosophy of "Less IS More". This is a place where like-minded people can come to throw away all the old traditional ways of training, and riding, and begin to experience a new FREEDOM in their relationship with their equine partners. Whether your goal is to learn more about natural horsemanship, get support for your own personal Less Is More belief, find solutions for problems that are hindering your relationship, begin a journey of discovery or healing, this is your home. Regardless of what the current "fads" are in traditional circles or natural horsemanship circles, I encourage you to think 'outside the box'. Feel free to post a message.
|
|
| Search For Similar Forums · Return to Website | ||
 First |
 Prev |
 Reply |
 Forum |
Next  |
Last  |
| Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 4) |
| Author | Comment |
Felicia
Jul 13, 07 - 10:41 PM |
Round penning video
Hi Micheal! I really liked your video on round pens and lougeing! I agree it is totally overused. But... How do you teach collection? How do you 'build' a concave horse? How do you work on a weak back, without riding? How do you do these kinds of things without using a method of having the horse move around you, be it free or on a lounge line? I play with my mare on line about once a week. We do maybe 3-4 laps each way, asking for differant degrees of collection, differant speeds,with breaks between switching sides. Probably work 5 minutes total on both sides. Anytime she says "I'm done' she is free to stop. I don't allow her to break a into a sweat. Afterward we stretch, then go for a walk, or whatever. I use KFH lounging methods, starting at liberty until everything is perfect, then going to a longe line. The line is NOT allowed to tighten, only done in a halter. Everything is off body languege, and no whip. It has taken about a year to get where she is, but we only do this kind of work max. 3 times a week. I do it to help strengthen her back, she is never anywhere near tired afterward. But I have noticed a huge differance in movement undersaddle, and with endurance undersaddle just by doing this little bit of consentrated work every so often. How do you achieve this without ever using a lounge line? Cody, my young horse, is very concave, very weak, low, back. And I am closer to 15-20% of his body weight rather then my 10% of Brandys. So I want to really strengthen him before I ever consider riding. How would you recommend doing this? What kinds of things do you do with a young horse to prepare them (physically) for carrying a rider? Thank you for your time, Felicia |
|
Michael Gonzalez
Jul 16th, 2007 - 12:05 PM |
Re: Round penning video
Felicia... great question! Let me use you for an example here and the remarks you posted...you work your horse online perhaps 5 minutes...just a couple of laps either way with transitions. This is good...in fact, this is great! You are right on the money. In fact, I do approximately 3-4 laps in each direction and then call it quits too. I wish everyone did it this way....unfortunately, they dont. They take this idea and then begin to manipulate it until it looks and works completely different than it's original intended purpose. This si why i do not teach nor want people to lunge or round pen, becauyse they will immediately fall back on what has been erroneously taught for so long..even by natural horsemen. I know that within the English riding disciplines, lunging is a huge part of thier work. It has been around for hundreds of years...but that doesnt make it the best thing for the horse. They are doing it because one, thats what they do. It is what is being taught to them by others. Two, no one has ever taught them that there is another way. They are just working on pure "tradition" for tradition's sake. Ed Parker, the Father of American Kenpo Karate once stated, "Traditionalists often teach what there is to be taught. They teach what they have been taught not what there is still yet to create". Your points are very valid but they are still from a lunging point of view. How on earth did we ever survive with horses all these thousands of years before lunging became a critical part of our horsemanship? Beats me. In answer to one of your questions...yes, you can work to strenthen the muscles by having the young horse round his back during line work, but it still will not simulate the actual experience of carrying the weight of the rider. that is like saying if I flex my muscles as if i am carrying a heavy weight, my muscles will be strong enough to pick up that weight when the time comes. Nope. Only by beginnign to actually carry the weight and doing it with perfect form will my muscles begin to stenthen so they can carry the weight. But this is done over time and with logical progrssive weight and time increments. Excfessive lunging has no real mental or emotional benefit to the horse. In fact, after a short while, horses seems to switch off mentally. Yes, you can make them change direction or transition up and down in their gait, but have you really stimulated them? Nope, they are just responding to a change and they are still running around in endless mind-numbing circles. Running is running regardless of how many times someone changes direction. Collection is a culmination of mental and emotional collection. I am going to use the word "training" here for a moment although I do not like using it. Remember, all horse "training" is NOT physical. It is mental and emotional. Horses are not able to think and feel one thng and have their body do something opoosite. So if they are collected mentally and emotionally, the physical component has to naturally follow right in line. If they are scattered mentally and emotionally, then their physical body will reflect that as well. Collection comes form having a horse who is mentally and emotionally collected...once that is done, it is very easy to get the body to respond accordingly. The third component of collection is verticla flexion. Verticla flexion, in and of itself is NOT collection as so many falsely assume. That is like saying verticla flexion is th eone rein stop. Nope. It is just a component. Vertical flexion is also a culmination of mental and emotional yielding. if a rider has to drive their horse up into the bit and hold contact for their horse to flex vertically, then they dont have verticla flexion or collection...they just have a stiff braced horse that they are pulling on their mouth. Hope that makes some sense...keep up the good work. Michael |
|
Michael Gonzalez
Jul 16th, 2007 - 4:23 PM |
Re: Round penning video
geez...I need to stop trying to answer all the posts during my breaks at work. I just noticed all the typos! Sorry gang. Michael |
|
Debbie
Mar 8th, 2008 - 7:56 AM |
Re: Round penning video
Hi, Do you put your horses through their gaits on the ground? Especially for young horses, maybe the first time saddling? What would you do in place of this? Sorry if I'm being repedetive, but I still can't wrap my mind around not longing or RPing! I have tried both with my horse but I dislike doing it. I have never someone who didn't longe their horses in one way or another, but I completely agree, longeing seems very unnatural when you think about what horses do on their own. Thanks, Debbie |
| First |
Prev |
Reply |
Forum |
Next |
Last |
bravenet.com