Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.
This week’s question posed is: What advice or exercise would you give to a rider who split releases to land the lead improperly, unconsciously, or unnecessarily?
Here are their answers:
“I try to use tangible targets to help a rider make an even release–knots in the reins, a braid in the mane to aim for, touching thumbs together, etc. I find this helps take any guess work out of the equation–it’s simple and easy to answer the question, “Were your hands even that time?” Best of all, it’s not debatable.
A lot of time, people split their release in an effort to try to help their horse land the correct lead–when this is the case, I will sometimes take it back to flat work and practice walk to canter transitions, emphasizing still and properly placed hands, until the need to separate them dramatically becomes lessened. Then, I will add a jump back in to practice the same skill.” -Kyla Makhloghi
Read more from Kyla and listen to her on The Plaidcast here.
“Using a bridged rein while jumping is a great way to train a rider’s hands to stay even. Alternatively, a tool that could be used to keep hands even on the flat is the Equicube (see it here in the 2020 Plaid Horse Holiday Gift Guide).” -Shane Powell
Read more from Shane here.
“Good riding technique takes repetitive slow concentration in weekly riding lessons.
One exercise is a single low fence on the rail jumped with both reins in one hand. Do the exercise in both directions. Then, add a second jump a couple strides away, and then add a gymnastic. Still jumping through with both reins in one hand.
Add a jumping strap around the horse’s neck and jump through the gymnastic with both hands on the reins and both hands placed in a short crest release at the jumping strap.
Slowly improved habits are learned. Keep all course work very basic until the rider has improved their release.” -Diane Carney
Read more from Diane and listen to her on The Plaidcast here.
“You can take away one hand! Have the rider put both reins in one hand to release, and have them hold their other hand behind their back until they break the habit.” -Nicole Moran
“Release problems are usually due to one of two things; a weak base or simply a bad habit. Both issues can be addressed with foundation strengthening exercises that will help create a stronger base and help break the bad habit. Working in your two point on the flat and practicing different releases over poles will help both build your base and retrain your brain to create a more proper habit of where you want your hands to be in the air.
From there, working through simple gymnastics and focusing on your release through the exercise will help to solidify the work you’ve done on the flat to help correct any release issues.” -Michael DelFiandra
