Having grown up in a country that was divided by a wall, and now living in a country where discussions about walls are areas of big contention didn't predispose me to thinking of walls to help my riding.
Enter our lesson with Vanessa today. We have been working a lot on straightness, as in staying straight on the quarter line in all gaits, no straying off the straight and narrow! I was struggling with our shoulder-in* to the right today, just couldn't get it with the correct bend through his body and not the neck. Vanessa had me ride it turning on the quarter line on the left hand, and then doing the shoulder right facing the arena wall. And wouldn't you know it: It worked. I guess sometimes a wall is a good thing.
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| Even the Easter Bunny needs a horse 😀 |
*"A correct shoulder-in is ridden in the walk or trot with the horse’s hind legs on the line of travel and with the shoulders displaced to the inside. The legs should be on three tracks and this angle should be stable. In other words, the outside hind leg tracks along the wall, the inside hind leg and the outside front leg are on the same track parallel to the wall, and the inside front leg is on the inner track parallel to the wall. The line of travel can be the wall, which is the easiest place to begin, or another line off the track, such as the centerline. The horse should be bending in his body around the rider’s inside leg with the poll flexed to the inside, away from the direction of travel". (Janet Foy, DT)
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