Hi guys! A few months back we had some really interesting discussion on the topic of going over rough footing at high speed and the element of teaching your horse surefootedness. Not sure if anyone remembers this, but it was a good thread! :) Anyway, I decided to film a little bit of the sort of obstacles we come across during an hours ride in my local area, just as a bit of illustration of how actively I train across terrain:-) The film in the end turned out terrible due to the quality of my camera, but thought some of you who participated in the original thread might enjoy :D The clips as they come are - going carefully down a 1 metre deep ditch, trotting between fallen branches, roots and big rocks, cantering/half jumping up a long glacial stretch with lots of shelves on it, coming down that ledge on the other side, cantering up the ledge from the back (lots of shelves to jump up and edges to follow along), randomly turning back and going between two trees just narrow enough to take my knees out if I didnt have 100% control of his lateral movements in centimetres, trotting in and out of water at belly depth, cantering up a narrow track with sandy footing and shelves/holes, crossing a huge fallen tree at belly height, crossing back through the deep ditch, then finishing through some narrow trails between rocks and fallen trees and stuff. Im pretty sure youtube completely killed what was left of the video quality, but since Ive spent so much time putting it together I might as well share it! Next time: a higher quality camera that might actually show the obstacles ;) Call me irresponsible, but I firmly believe that navigating obstacles like this on a regular basis is an important contributor to building a strong bond between you and your horse and not only developing your horses muscles but also his self-confidence :) Anyone else here do anything similar with their horses? https://youtube/watch?v=eHIRO8ZqJyI
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:06:23 +0000