Riding Light: Introducing Lightness to Ridden Work for You and Your Horse

By Justine Rumney

“Riding Light - Introducing Lightness to Ridden Work for you and your Horse” explores exercises to help you develop a light and responsive relationship with your horse in any discipline of riding. It follows on from “Leading Light; an Introduction to Ground Work for You and Your Horse”, and “Ground Up - Connecting Groundwork with Ridden Work for you and your Horse” and for the best understanding of the exercises in this book you may find it useful to become familiar with these exercises too. These exercises can appear deceptively simple, but attention to the detail of how we support our horses to achieve our goals can make huge difference to the successful outcome.
16 ridden exercises guide you through the potentially baffling aspects of schooling so you are clear about what you want and why you want to achieve. The eBook format allows you to carry this book in your pocket on your smart phone and to refer to it during sessions with your horse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justine Rumney
• Release date: May 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781370970193

Justine Rumney

Justine Rumney lives and works in North Cumbria, UK. She runs a start and re-schooling yard taking young horses for start to ride & foundation, and horses that have got into difficulties for re-schooling. She also takes in horses that are donated to her because the owner can no longer care for them or because their behaviour has become too dangerous for their owners to manage. She starts or re-schools these horses until she finds an appropriate new owner for them.Much of her training took place in the USA where she worked with young & troubled horses. She learnt many cowboy & vaquero techniques, which she brought back to the UK and applied to British horses and horsemanship.Justine started to make her own rope equipment because she found it so difficult to find a good quality product in the UK. Alongside this she identified that, even though people were becoming increasingly interested in the halter & line as a practical everyday training tool there was not a lot of information about how to use them effectively.“Every tool is only as good as the hands that use it.”Justine passionately believes in education as being the most important aspect of improvement of animal welfare in the equine sector.

Book preview

Riding Light

Introducing Lightness to Ridden Work for you and your Horse

Justine Rumney

Copyright 2020 Justine Rumney

Smashwords Edition

justinerumeny.co.uk

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All images copyright of Justine Rumney, all rights reserved

Horses, by their very nature are unpredictable and subject to animal whim. In using the exercises described in this book you acknowledge the inherent risks associated with equine activities and assume all risks associated with participating in such activities. The author of this book accepts no responsibility for injury, death or damage to property due to the use of these exercises. If you are in any doubt regarding your own ability to ride an exercise or your horse’s ability to cope with an exercise the author highly recommends that you seek the help and support of an equine professional.

Other books in this series:

Leading Light - An introduction to groundwork for you and your horse

Ground Up - Connecting Groundwork with Ridden Work for you and your Horse

Contents

Introduction

Themes of Training

Aids

Warming Up

Contact

Try this - Finding a Solid Seat Connection

Try this – Finding the Rock

Try this – Lengthen your Leg

Try this – Making Room for your Horse’s Body

Circles

Exercise 1 – Ridden Circles

Square Turns

Exercise 2 –Ridden Square Turns

Try this – a Square Turn on Foot

Straightness

Try this- Crossing your Arms

Exercise 3 – The Straight Between the Bends

Exercise 4 – Maintaining Straightness

Corners and Curves

Exercise 5 – Corners and Curves

Riding in a Framework

Exercise 6 – Riding in a Framework

Back & Over

Exercise 7 – Back & Over

Speeds Within a Gait

Exercise 8 – A Slow Gait

Exercise 9 – A Fast Gait

Exercise 10 - Developing a Gait at Different Speeds

Crossing Obstacles

Exercise 11 - Crossing Obstacles – Ground

Exercise 12 – Ridden Crossing Obstacles

Engagement

Exercise 13 – Finding Softness in Collection

The Rhythm of Movement

Exercise 14 - Counting the Rhythm of Trot

Exercise 15 -Finding the Rhythm of Walk

Exercise 16 – The Rhythm of a Transition

About Justine Rumney

Introduction

This book follows on from Leading Light; an Introduction to Groundwork for you and your Horse and Ground Up; Connecting Groundwork with Ridden Work for you and your Horse. For the best understanding of the exercises in this book first read ‘Leading Light’ and ‘Ground Up’ and practice the exercises in these books. The exercises in this book suppose that you and your horse already have a good connection on the ground and on board and can work lightly and confidently together.

This book will not instruct you in creating a dressage horse, or show jumper, working cow horse or reining horse. It offers a guide in the foundation of all horses, the bricks that begin to build the amazing creation that is the horse at work. It is not about the finishing touches it is about the beginning, the start. It is not, however, a guide to starting your own horse. I highly recommend that you seek professional help to start your horse unless you have the experience & skill to attempt this yourself.

The exercises in this book will help you and your horse develop effective communication so that you can work together lightly, and when something goes wrong you can work a way through it together. It will help you develop the skills of communicating with your horse through your body position and legs so that aids to your horse’s face and mouth can be used more sparingly and to refine lightness and elevation. It will give you tools that you can use to help you support your horse in whatever you choose to do together.

Importantly, I will talk about ways to introduce your horse to an exercise in a way that it will make sense for him to do what you are asking. He may choose to do what you are asking for because it make sense to him. Teaching your horse in this way gives him purpose in his work and keeps him mentally engaged with his work.

There are 16 exercises in this book, and they cover a wide range of topics, from rhythm to elevation, through lateral movement and