HANNAH & ROSIE
SESSION 4
Since the last session, Hannah has been focusing on her position and keeping her hands raised. Hannah would definitely now land on her feet not on her bum if Rosie was taken out from under her! In walk, Rosie would like to bulge left so Hannah has to proactively say to her 'move right' to keep her straight.
In trot, Hannah has to keep her elbows by her side, push her hands forwards and up, and remember to get to the top of the rise. Ali gets Hannah to practice some trot-walk-trot transitions. The downwards transitions are good but Rosie tries to step left rather than stay straight in the upward transitions. Rosie has to learn that 'go means go'!
Hannah shows Ali canter for the first time. Hannah has to think about just changing Rosie's legs into canter not changing the speed. Hannah has to 'bounce the ball' right from the start with Rosie 'jumping' into the canter. Like most riders, Hannah has to sit slightly more back on her underneath in canter which is the opposite to walk and trot. Rosie is a great 'yeah in a minute' mare and a great distraction! Again she needs to learn 'go means go' in the canter transition and Hannah needs to target this in both walk to trot and trot to canter.
Rosie often gets the wrong canter leg on the left rein. Ali says this is because Rosie is not straight and would like to dive left in the transition. Hannah has to focus on straightness in the trot before the transition. Once in canter, Hannah has to think about moving Rosie's shoulders right by moving both hands right and tapping with the whip on her shoulder. Hannah has to make a frame and not let Rosie batter the frame down!
*Apologies for interference in the sound in parts of the session.
COMMENTS & QUESTIONS
If you have any comments on this session, please use the comments section below. If you have any questions, please use the Real Life Riders forum (link above) so that we can respond.
Please note that discussions relating to the earlier Hannah & Rosie sessions can be found in the Retraining the Horse & Rider forum. The 'From Green to Great' and 'Retraining the Horse & Rider' series were merged to form 'Real Life Riders'.