From: Angela
Hello Jessica. I am a new rider, only about 5 months now. I ride my In-laws' horses and love it. I was wondering if you could tell me some good exercises for the horse and me in an arena. Tuffy, the horse I ride, doesn't get any arena work. I have rode him around in a round pin mostly to teach me his different gaits. I took him in the arena the other day and when I asked for a trot he would speed up and then get into a lope that was no where near smooth. He would throw his head and do little hops and bucks. Is there an exercise we can do to bring his lope into a controlled one? Thanks for your help, and I love reading Horse Sense. Angela
It's very sensible of you to stay in the round pen when you work alone, but I suggest that you take your lessons in the arena. This will allow both of you to get used to it in a controlled situation, when you have someone to help you and explain what your horse is doing and what you should do about it.
Lessons are very, very important -- if you don't have an instructor, you need to find one ASAP. Your horse can teach you a lot, but he can't tell you what a good instuctor can: what the horse is doing, why he is doing it (it's almost always a reaction to the rider!), and exactly what you should do and how you should do it if you want him to do something else.
Trotting problems and loping problems can have many causes, everything from poor shoeing to a saddle that doesn't fit well to a rider who is out of balance. If the rider bounces a lot at the trot, the horse may want to lope because trotting is too uncomfortable. If the rider asks for more and more speed at the trot, the horse will fall into a canter at some point -- and it won't be a very nice canter!
Once the horse is loping or cantering, he may find that this isn't comfortable for him either -- because of saddle fit, or because the rider is still bouncing, or because the rider is trying to keep balanced by pulling the reins. Since a horse's natural reaction to pain is to run away from it, he will just go faster and faster... and none of this will be fun for either of you. If this is a Western-trained trained horse, he has been taught to stay behind the bit at all times, with NO contact -- you must let your reins be loose, with no tension whatsoever, or the bit will hurt his mouth.
If you ride him in the round pen between your lessons, he can't go anywhere, so this shouldn't be a problem for you -- you can let the reins go and just ride the horse.
Why doesn't Tuffy do any arena work? If the arena makes him nervous, he'll want to go faster -- and you'll both be uncomfortable. If YOU are worried about how he will behave in the arena, you'll be tense, and he will think that he should be afraid since YOU are afraid, and off he will go. Find out about his background -- if he's been used for barrels or gaming, that would explain his tendency to speed up and bounce when he sees an arena. Tuffy's previous history may have convinced him that going into an arena means that you want him to run. Horses can worry about arenas either because they are new and unfamiliar, someplace away from their buddies, or because the arena IS familiar, and is a place with bad associations.
Again, what you need most is a good instructor, someone who can teach you to ride and to understand your horse, and someone who can give you exercises to do with the horse between lessons. If you don't have an instructor, contact the ARICP (American Riding Instructor Certification Program).
For a listing of ARICP Certified Instructors by state, visit the ARICP website at
http://www.win.net/aria/
Good luck, and have fun!
Jessica
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