My daughter is a very driven rider. Every time she gets on her horse she rides like shes in a show. I would love for her to just have fun sometimes. Not every ride should be work. I understand she needs to practice, but I want her to see how having a horse can be tons of fun too!
How do you balance between practicing and just enjoying a ride??
One of my facebook readers said:
ReplyDelete"you set time frames half tbe time you practice when that time up , you have fun playing around"
Another facebook reader wrote:
ReplyDeleteIn the summer we do alot at trail rides it so much fun. They get to enjoy it and there practicing they just don't really know it... we had to jump over logs the other day walk throw mud and weave throw trees works on jumping balance and control all in that trail ride right there and had so much fun doing it...
Wow do my facebook readers have some great advice!! Here's another one!
ReplyDeleteSet up a mini trail course in your arena and just try to do all the obstacles. Summer is easy, trail rides. Takes the horses mind off the ring work and also works as a training session
We practice a lot also, but now that it is spring going into summer it would be fun to do trail rides.
ReplyDeleteI think trail riding wins!
DeleteThis was a facebook comment I had to share!
ReplyDeleteSummer, that's a great question. I have a lot of trouble with this myself. I find I can't really turn the dressage part in my brain off, and if I'm riding in the arena I'm always schooling, and I wind up burned-out. The best way for me to have fun and just ride is to do something completely different from normal every once in a while. Anything from a trail ride, a ride in the pasture, hauling to the beach for a gallop, going horse camping, throwing up a cross-rail and jumping, or maybe just riding bareback for a while. Doing something extra from my normal schooling routine that I don't normally do tends to make riding fun and exciting again. Even something like a long canter on the buckle has helped me relax and not be such a dressage spaz.
Make sure if she is just riding for fun that her horse has a different bridle to let him know that he can relax also.
ReplyDeletechanging up to differ serious show or training time for fun and relaxing fun