Originally posted to the EDRA Facebook page by Dennis Summers.
My feelings only- in a perfect world EDRA Facebook could provide entertaining and useful posts to all and everyone could write thoughtful comments. In our present Facebook world it sometimes is not that way. A couple examples-
-A person will post something with that bashes someone or something and creates unnecessary drama on an endurance related site ( it could happen!)
-An uninformed and inexperienced eRider will respond to a post like my example below and spread their “knowledge” for all to read ( it could happen!) Now readers have the challenge of deciding whose suggestions have merit, sometimes without having the benefit of knowing if the posters have 20,000 miles of experience or zippo.
Now having members only post for ALL to read will not solve above entirely but I am sure it will help. It is my desire to spread what info and experiences I have to my mentors and interested EDRA members with posts i feel may help. Here’s an example-
Since all my mentors are now bogged down by the weather we are focusing on groundwork, arena and slow riding that encourages from your horse-
Respect
Relaxation
Softness
Lightness
An emergency brake ( one rein stop)
Without above I feel any info I share about high level conditioning and feeding will be wasted. The video and my comments are just a taste of what we have been discussing-
The short video to me shows the smooth, relaxed transition from trot to canter I desire. My goal is to be aboard and achieve this smooth, relaxed transition both up and down at all gaits. Now my methods depend a lot on having an athlete under u that has the natural ability to perform these transitions themselves without a bunch of assistance in the form of framing or nagging. If they can my feeling is then a riders job is pretty easy- just stay balanced and out of their way as u give them the cue to transition up or down.
Watch the video and see Jaggers flat, efficient and relaxed movement and transition. This is my goal for every horse I swing on. Now imagine yourself aboard in this video- a monkey could do it, long as they are relaxed, balanced and not grabbing his face. My method encourages efficient, relaxed and minimal movement- hey, 25,50 or 100 miles is a long ways. I think it much better to try to minimize the effort expended starting from the first step across the start line to the finish- GIDDYUP!