In my lessons recently my coach Belinda Trussell has been emphasizing is that I must give with the reins. Give before every half halt, give before every transition up or transition down, give before every movement. The problem I had was that once Biasini was fired up I would give and he would speed up. This happened most in the trot work. He would start to race when I would give.
What could I do about this? The answer came in a lesson this past week. Belinda pointed out that I was leaning back behind the vertical. This means I am in a “driving seat” . To the horse this is an aid to go forward and go faster. Well surprise, surprise…the problem was one of my own making. In the next lesson I focused on staying upright and also on slowing my own tempo down. Slowing down my own body movement is tricky thing to do but it works. Slowing my body, staying up and not falling back meant that Biasini did not start racing. Problem solved!
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