Lynsey went home to Ontario for a few days and while she was away Krista Pollock rode Biasini.On Saturday they had a lesson with Belinda.”What would you like to work on?”Belinda asked.
“Nothing! I don’t want to work on anything” Krista replied. I laughed and said:”You’ve been talking to Biasini. Maybe he doesn’t want to work on anything.” Then Krista explained. “I don’t want to school any movements. I am just here riding Biasini for a few rides and I don’t want to confuse him by training some movements with my aides and when Lynsey comes back she will find he doesn’t respond to her aides. “
I thought this was a very sensible approach and Belinda understood perfectly. So it was decided they would work on straightness and transitions. Here is a video of some canter work. Krista does a slight leg yield away from the wall and then back. Also she keeps Biasini from pulling down in the contact and from pushing in to her inside ( right ) leg in the corners. Belinda was very happy with the result. The emphasis on the riding was to ride with two legs to two hands. This sounds easy but there is always a temptation to wiggle with the hands from left to right to soften the horse’s contact. But Belinda prefers using the legs to keep the horse straight and light in the hand.
Belinda was too far from me to pick up her voice so the video has music!Click this link to see the video.
Riding with two legs to two hands is something Belinda has said to me often and it was useful for me to see how well Krista could carry out this instruction. In the trot and in the canter.
You can see in this photo above that even those who have ridden in Oympics and multiple World Championships will still go out to pick up horse manure to save the excellent footing in this arena.
At the end of the lesson horse and rider and coach were all happy.
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