When starting young horses, there will come a time where you go out to ride in a big, open-air arena for the first time.
Or maybe you’re entering a new and perhaps challenging environment with your older horse.
A situation that’s, while of course not entirely the same, similar to the one above. So, what is the best way to handle that?
At my stables, the outdoor is larger than my indoor, but also doesn’t have a wall to block the field of vision. The horses can look far into the fields that surround it.
And there’s a lot going on, with a tractor spreading dung on the field, cars rushing past and horses grazing in the back.
It’s a lot to take in for a young horse who’s only been in a safe indoor environment before.
It’s therefore important that you have the groundwork pattern established so you’re able to communicate with your horse in a way that he understands what you’re asking of him.
And, of course, also that he’s able to find a relaxed posture and he gets into relaxed mental state.
I also do the navigational pattern, moving next to the horse and covering the areas I want to cover when riding.
After the groundwork, I get on and move through the groundwork patterns to check whether I get the same feeling in the body and the same level of communication from under saddle.
That’s my first pilot check, following up on what my horse needs. I continue to do that the entire ride until I get a feeling that we can make some transitions to trot, can follow the track and make our way around the arena.
In the video below, I show on Bonita what following the track looks like and what to focus on.
These short clips are part of the training program “Starting a Young Horse”. If you want to also get access to my training program, go here.
