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To
lighten up your lessons, whether you have two students or
ten, adults or children, try having students ride in pairs.
Match up the horses according to size, gait and temperament.
Then instruct the riders to rate their horses to keep shoulder
to shoulder, one horse length behind the pair in front. Riders
must communicate with each other to keep the horses aligned.
Ask the riders to walk, reverse across the diagonal, halt,
make circles, come down the centerline, etc. Intermediate
riders can trot and perform all these maneuvers. This is a
fun exercise and a nice break from constant instruction. Riders
will be working on rating speed, collection/extension, half-halting
and communicating with a partner. This exercise is good for
the horses too as they learn to accept another horse close
to them and rate their own speed.
Julie Goodnight
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Tired
of crushing those pills for those horses needing medication,
only to find all the big chunks sitting at the bottom of the
feed pan? Try using a mini-coffee bean grinder! You can pick
one up at Walmart for $10 and it will grind quite a few pills
at a time. The pills are quickly ground into very fine powder
that even the pickiest of horses won't be able to separate
from the grain.
Lisa Long
The Home Ranch
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Burrs
turning your horse's manes into a gnarly wadded mess? Tempted
to just buzz the whole thing off? Try keeping Show Sheen in
your horse's manes during burr season. The slick coating on
the mane and tail will keep the burrs from sticking. If they
do stick, the hair will not entangle around the burr and they
will be easy to remove..
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Is
it on or off? "On the bit" is a frequently used,
but rarely defined term in the horse world. A horse is said
to be on the bit when he flexes at the poll and brings his
nose closer toward his chest in response to contact on the
bit. How far he flexes depends on his level of training. A
young green horse should only be expected to slightly give
(or yield) to pressure, while an older horse with more training
might flew so much at the poll that his face comes to the
vertical position (as viewed from the side). When a horse
overflexes and his face comes behind the vertical line (with
his nose coming too close to his chest) the horse is said
to be "behind the bit," which is considered a fault
because the horse is not accepting the contact but evading
it. Cowboys will often refer to a horse coming "off the
bit." Oddly enough, this means the same thing as on the
bit. A horse comes off the bit when contact is applied and
he gives to the pressure by moving his tongue away from (or
off of) the bit. Two terms that means the same thing! It's
no wonder people get so confused in this sport.
Julie Goodnight
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