Riding Part:4

This week I will tell you how to canter a horse. The canter is a three beat gait. It is between the trot and the gallop. In the canter a horse leads with his right hind and there is a moment of suspension when all four legs are off the ground. On average a canter is faster than most horses' trot and slower than the gallop. It ranges between 10-17 miles an hour but in western riding where it is called a lope it's usually no faster than 8-12 miles an hour. To ask for a canter you put your outside  leg behind the horse's girth and one at the girth. There are four variations of the canter. One is the collected canter which is often slower and has shorter strides. The other is the most common type of canter the working, in which the horse uses an average pace and average stride. Next is the extended canter which has a longer stride and is often faster than the other canters. Lastly there is the counter canter in which the horse leads with the wrong lead. The counter canter is harder to maintain because both horse and rider have to be very balanced. Now that you know the different types of canters there are two ways to ride it. One is sitting back and scooping your hips back and forth with the horse's movement. The other way is just rising slightly out of the saddle and leaning forward. That is all you need to know about the canter.

What To Do With Your Horse When It's Raining

Today I will tell you somethings you can do with your horse when it's raining. When it's raining its best not to ride for your health and your horse's as you can get a fever and the horse can slip and fall injuring you both. Even though you can't ride there are other things you can do. One thing you can do when it's raining is groom you horse. This is relaxing for your horse and is good for bonding as in the wild horses groom each other as a form of affection. Aside from grooming you can lunge your horse. Lungeing your horse will get him some exercise which is good since he won't be high energy when you ride him or kick around in his stall and get injured. To lunge your horse you put him on a lunge line. Then you let him move around you in a circle. Also you can turn the lunging into join up which creates a good bond with your horse and he learns to respect you and listen to your commands.Lastly you can just walk around with your horse on the lead line. This is a fun activity that can get both you and your horse some exercise. Those are somethings you can do with your horse when it's raining.

Riding Part:3

  As you know last week we talked about riding at a walk. This week I will tell you about riding at a trot. The trot is a two beat gait. In it the the horse moves his legs diagonally. The trot is the most bouncy out of the four gaits. You can either sit the trot or post. In western riding it is called the jog and you usually sit. In English riding it's called a trot and you can either sit or post. Posting is when you rise up and down in the saddle with the horses movement. This is the most comfortable way to ride the trot but if you plan to do dressage you need to learn to sit the the trot as well. There are three main trots. One is the basic working trot which is an average medium pace with a medium stride. Then there is a collected trot which is slower and has shorter strides. Lastly there is the extended trot which is the fastest out of the three and has the longest stride. To ask for a trot you should get your horse into a walk and gently squeeze his sides with your calves again to send him into a trot. In the trot you might want slightly shorter reins so you have more contact with the horse since it is a slightly faster pace. Well this is all you need to know about the trot next week we will talk about the canter.