Use of the reins

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@Kateyangyuqing 5 жыл бұрын

Wow I feel so fortunate to have found an instructor who has taught me this exactly... She's my second riding instructor (fourth if you count a small stint 10 years ago when I tried riding for a couple of months at age 21 but life kinda got in the way and I didn't have a chacne to start again until last year). I met her at a riding school but she recently quit and teaches from her home on her own horses. I knew she was great at first because she put so much emphasis on balance and developing strong foundations in order to develop a good seat and took quite a while before letting me off the lunge for the first time, she has a great mindset, isn't young and has the experience, explains things clearly and always has a plan for the lesson with a series of very effective (and fun) exercises with the rider's improvement in mind, is kind to her horses, we click really well, and she has a genuine desire to see me get the best out of myself. I come out of every lesson feeling confident, happy, and feel like I've improved in some way or another. But the more I learn the more I realise how lucky I am to have found her so early on when I hear that so many riding instructors, especially in Australia, just do some lunging the first couple of lessons until the student can canter without feeling like he or she will fall off, then let people ride willy nilly without really focusing on the equitation and seat and consequently their students despite having ridden for years often don't progress very far. They shout "heels down" all the time without explaining why or focusing on the rest of the seat. Tell you you're on the wrong diagonal and to sit twice but don't tell you what a diagonal is or how to tell when you're on the right one other than "it feels smoother". Obviously not all are like this but from what I hear there seem to be a lot of riding instructors who just don't seem to care that much about their students' progress or aren't equipped with the tools or experience to really teach them how. My first instructor was teaching me to hold the reins right out to the right/left. Not focusing on closing my hands so I held the reins with my hands far too open. No gentle sponging with the hand. We didn't really have much direction in our lessons either. She was a really nice person and tried to explain the "whys", but she was young and while she had a desire to teach, I think she just needed more education and teaching experience. I didn't feel right so after a holiday I decided to try lessons elsewhere and it seems I really hit the jackpot with my current instructor!!!! From what I hear in general, especially with Australian attitudes towards riding, it's apparently quite hard to find a really good instructor (very relaxed compared to many other countries! Loads of people get their first pony as a kid, just hop on and scoot around the paddock!)! Thanks for providing these videos which explain clearly how to use these aids effectively and correctly.