Professional Horse Trainers, Jim and Linda Hitt,
Elizabeth, CO
Jim and Linda have experience in multiple riding disciplines which was great to be exposed to. Jim focus is on training horses for trail competition and Linda is the reining trainer. Having the opportunity to ride with both of them exposed me to a verity of training techniques.
Reining Lesson with Linda Hitt
Transitioning from a large fast to a small slow first
Linda likes to think of the circle having spotting points in the shape of STOP sign. By thinking this way gives you the visual of the center of the circle being a straight line. Linda placed two traffic cones on each side of the center line. This created an alley way to guide through as you go from your large fast circle to your small slow. This add really helped me to stay straight through center and to time my transition to the small slow.
Lead Changes with Linda Hitt
The lead change exercise was a new one for me. We counter cantered around the outside of the arena being sure to stay away from the walls. After multiple times around the arena I would ask for the lead change by laying my outside leg on and releasing my inside leg and kissing for the lead change. This was done on the long straight line of the arena. I have to say I was not good at this exercise. Every time I took my inside leg off my horse thought I wanted him to stop.
Suppling Exercises with Jim Hitt
Jim likes to start his week by doing suppling exercises with his horses. He feels that these exercises help the horse become more balanced and helps the rider to be able to bend the horse in the pole, neck, shoulders, barrel and hips. When a horse is supple throughout their body we are able to place the horse where we want them to be in each maneuver.
The first exercise is done at the trot. You pick up your inside rein and bend the horse’s head to the inside and maintaining forward motion with your legs and the outside rein. Once the horse is bending well to the inside do the same bending to the outside of the circle by picking up the outside rein and maintaining forward movement with your legs and the inside rein. When doing this exercise the rein that is bending the horse’s neck is slightly higher than the non-bend rein. Keep both reins in front of the saddle horn while doing this exercise. You want the horse to pick their shoulder up and become round. They need forward motion to achieve that collection. Once the horse is moving well at moderate jog Jim likes to do the same exercise at what he calls the power jog. He asks for more forward motion and does the same bending. Doing this requires the horse to use their body more allowing them to self-collect. Jim also does this exercise at the power jog, which is a faster more forward trot.
Turning on the forhand at the trot
This exercise requires the horse to move their hind end around faster than the front end. To do this start by trotting a small circle. Than pick up the inside rein and bend the horse’s head to the inside and push the inside leg on the body to get the horse to cross their back legs over. Horses want to back up out of the exercise, so it is important to maintain forward motion as you move the horse’s hind end around. This link will take you to a youtube video of the exercise. Click this link to see video https://youtu.be/nLCcf4KoF6w
Lead Change
We started out loping circles on the correct lead and that came through center and loped circle in the counter canter. While doing the counter canter you maintain the same leg and hand position as you had in the correct lead circle. Once you have loped a few circles on the counter canter come straight down the long side of the arena and place your outside leg on and open your inside leg and change your reins so that the new inside rein in slightly higher than the outside rein and ask for the lead change by kissing. Changing the rein position helps to lift up the inside shoulder and clears it for the lead change. This link with take you to a youtube video of the exercise. Click this link to see video https://youtu.be/vRxyqwPW2pY
While in Elizabeth, CO I logged 6 hours of riding time toward the AQHA riding program.