Most endurance people, I have found, will agree that arena work is absolutely key in training and conditioning an endurance horse. I think its importance lies in keeping the endurance horse supple and flexible. I also think that challenging yourself and your horse to perform in different areas and complete arena exercises is good for your relationship. Suppleness, enhanced communication, stability, trust; these are all things that can be achieved in the ring and aren’t those worthy goals? Ring work shouldn’t be cast aside at any rate.
Leave it to photos to show us problems with our equitation, right? Saturday I took Tiffany to the ring to do some suppling work and stretch out her muscles after Friday’s long ride. In my own defense I was quite sore and wasn’t riding to the best of my ability. We worked on shoulder in, shoulder out, turn on the haunches, figure 8’s, circles, those sorts of things that most trail horses find extremely tedious (and Tiffany is no exception). Shoulder in is a challenge for us still, but it will come. I hope to add some more basic dressage work to our repertoire so that we can mix and match and try to keep things from getting too boring. I’m going to be very strict on myself about getting into the ring to do these exercises for at least one 30 min session a week, and I really think it’s going to pay off in the long run. Also this is my last week of school and I’m so excited to be done and be able to devote a lot more time to the barn. I’ve also picked up a couple of new horse books to read since I won’t be having a stack of novels as tall and I am to read for class. Exciting!!!
borrowingfreedom 