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 Post subject: "settling" a racehorse
PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:51 pm 
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I just happen to discover a most unusual blog written by LIZ AMPAIREE on settling a racehorse.

She tackles a very difficult subject of how to "settle" a racehorse. Luckily in my racing career, I have not been bothered by too many horses or mares that were as the Brits say, keen or to put it less politely, were plain old pullers. They are a pain to try to condition and can make galloping hell. The very best riders can settle these types and make them far more manageable. One of the keys is to give them a long rein which seems like exactly what one should not do. Most average exercise riders will end up "water skiing" , that is, standing straight-up in the irons and trying to hold on for dear life (as seen in top photo). This is not the type of “long rein” I am talking of. I am referring to giving a pulling horse his head while you as the rider maintains a normal galloping seat. Try getting on a horse that wants to pull your arms-out and giving him a long rein. It just seems counter-intuitive, but it does appear to work. Never raise one's hands and do not take a shorter hold which is instinctual when one is on a puller. One should instead bury one's hands in your horse's neck and give them rein.

Miss Ampairee describes this technique in some detail. One morning, her assistant trainer tells her how to do it without showing her but after all, it is probably impossible to show anyone:

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"It's a bit like me playing golf," he says. I think too much about what I'm doing rather than just doing it. And he explains to me again why I should be riding on a longer rein: "With a shorter rein you have nowhere to go, only forwards, which is why the horse will then go faster." He then gives me the best piece of advice I've ever been given about riding out. "Just try doing everything more slowly," he says, explaining that when the horse pulls, if I pull it back too quickly, it will just pull me back again, we'll get into a few moments of see-saw and then the horse will win. Whereas if you ask it to come back slowly it's far less likely to try to snatch the bit back again and has far more chance of relaxing and settling.

It sounds simple, but no-one has ever told me that before and when you've got the wind whistling through your hair and half a ton of horse flesh straining to go faster, it has never occurred to me to react slower rather than faster when everything else seems to be happening so fast around you.

So we head up the gallops that morning, I jump off on a much longer rein (feels weird and a bit unsafe), but when the horse asks to go, I slowly say no by easing it back with my hands but keeping my body in exactly the same (martini glass) position. And bizarrely, it works. We have three canters and the horse settles easily, even on the one where he knows he's supposed to go on a stride quicker.




Note, that the term "martini glass" is a Brit metaphor for how one should look on top of a horse. Just thnk of a martini glass balanced on a horse and let your self become that martini glass. You get the picture. Ah, a brilliant description of what to do and how best to do it!

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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:57 pm 
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On a somewhat related note--the bitting of racehorses--the thoroughbred rider has a rein bridge over his horse's withers area at most all times with the knuckles and forefingers of his hands pressed against each side of the withers. The one exception is walking to and from the track where a easy contact with the horse’s mouth is often kept with raised hands. Once, the rider has his bridge and cross length set with his knuckles anchored to the sides of the withers, he seldom readjusts length. One needs to know if one needs a long or short cross which is individual to each horse. This is particularly true on a horse that is nervous and is a puller. The racehorse soon comes to realize that when one adjusts the length of rein which mostly happens in races—it is a signal for speed. So it is really bad to try to adjust one’s hold on a horse pulling your arms out. The exercise rider wants to maintain a balanced, still seat & hands allowing his animal to come up on the bit in a relaxed manner. The race thoroughbred is different from other performance horses in that he comes up and takes hold of the bit at speed.

The rider maintains a balanced two-point contact in this way. One point is his legs, the second point is his hands on the bridge. We describe the rider's hand positions here in the USA as using either a "half cross" or a "full cross". The half cross involves the rider having two reins in one hand or the other with his opposite hand holding the other one rein only.This position is the most popularly used on most horses. It is easy to adjust length in this position. Example:

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The full cross involves having the two rein bridge over the withers with two reins held by each hand. This position is less used and is more appropriate for tough horses that want to take off on you. Example:


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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2015 2:00 pm 
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Here is an example of a common crutch many riders and jocks resort to when they are confronted with a puller. I like to call it "water skiing". This is an example of one way you do not want to give your horse a long rein! This seat is more adopted out of pure fatigue than anything else for the rider battling a puller.



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