Cherry Hill - Advanced Western Exercises

ARENA POCKET GUIDE

CHERRY HILL

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Edited by Deborah Burns and Aimee Poirier

Cover design by Eugenie Delaney

Cover photographs by Richard Klimesh

Text design by Cindy McFarland

Production assistance by Susan Bernier

Line drawings designed by Cherry Hill and drawn by Peggy Judy

Copyright 1998 by Cherry Hill

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Printed in United States by Versa Press
10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hill, Cherry, 1947

Advanced western exercises / by Cherry Hill.

p. cm. (Arena pocket guide)

ISBN-13: 978-1-58017-047-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-58017-047-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Western horses Training. 2. Western riding. I. Title.

II. Series: Hill, Cherry, 1947 Arena pocket guide.

SF309.34.H55 1998

798.23dc21

97-49048
CIP

Arena exercises are a cross between gymnastics, meditation, and geometry. They are essential keys for discovering many important principles about training and riding.

Fine-tune transitions and changes of direction

Master lateral work

Spiral

Zigzag two-step

Counter-flexed spiral in

Rollback

Sidepass

Improve collection

Small circle at the lope

Lope and sidepass

Lope to halt to 360 to lope

Halt to lope

Learn lead changes

Counter-canter

Flying change

Remember as you practice that it is the QUALITY of the work that is most important. It is a much greater accomplishment to do simple things well than it is to stumble through advanced maneuvers in poor form and with erratic rhythm. Keep your mind in the middle and a leg on each side.

How Can You Tell If the Work Is Correct?

. Work regularly with a qualified instructor.

. Ask a qualified person to stand on the ground, observe your exercises, and report to you what he or she sees.

. Have someone record your exercises on videotape. Then watch the tape carefully using slow motion and freeze frame.

. As you ride, watch yourself and your horse in large mirrors on the wall.

. Without moving your head, glance down at your horses shoulders, neck, poll, and eye during different maneuvers to determine if he is correct up front.

. Ultimately, the key is to develop a feel for when things are going right and when they are going wrong by utilizing all of the above feedback techniques. Answer the following by feeling, not looking:

Is there appropriate left to right balance on my seat bones? Can I feel them both?

Can I feel even contact on both reins?

Is the front to rear balance acceptable or is the horse heavy on the forehand, croup up, back hollow?

Is the rhythm regular or does the horse speed up, slow down, or break gait?

Is my horse relaxed or is his back tense?

Is he on the bit or above or behind it?

Is my horse loping on the correct lead?

Can I tell when his inside hind leg is about to land?

What Do You Do When Things Go Wrong?

. Review each component of an exercise.

. You may need to return to some very basic exercises to establish forward movement, acceptance of contact, or response to sideways driving aids. Returning to simple circle work will often improve straightness and subsequently improve lateral work and collection.

. Ride an exercise that the horse does very well, such as the walk-jog-walk transition. Work on purity and form.

. Perform a simpler version of the exercise. If it is a lope exercise, try it at a walk or jog first.

. Perform the exercise in the opposite direction. Sometimes, because of an inherent stiffness or crookedness in a horse, you will have difficulty with an exercise to the left but no problems to the right! Capitalize on this by refining your skills and the application of your aids in the good direction and then return to the hard direction with a renewed sense of what needs to be done. I often find that doing work to the right improves work to the left.

Lope right lead.

Lope the corner.

Lope straight about 50 feet.

Large circle to the right.

As you return to the point where you left the rail, check your horse.

Collect the lope.

Lope a small circle.

When you return to the rail, resume a normal lope and lope straight.

Try this at a walk or jog first.

Repeat the exercise several times in other parts of the arena and note the tremendous improvement by the third set of circles.

These circle exercises are a great means of developing speed control, collection, and balance.

Large circle small circle is good preparation for Western reining maneuvers.

Jog a large circle to the right.

Begin spiraling in.

Maintain right bend using inside leg and rein if horse loses bend or slows down.