In the continued groundwork you start working with the schooling exercises on a straight track. A centered quarters in gives you a pirouette and we start using the renvers and continue working on collection.
When it works well to shape the horse on the circle in groundwork and make shoulder in and quarters in it is time to move onto a straight track. Start on the circle and the move straight for a few steps and observe if the horse can follow you with maintained stelling and bending. Go back onto the circle and then again try to move few steps bended straight. Eventually you can make longer and longer straight lines and one day you can ask for shoulder in or quarteres in along the whole length of the riding arena
…observe if the horse can follow you with maintained stelling and bending.”
The pirouettes in walk you educate by making quarters in on smaller and smaller circles. Finally the circle is so small the frontlegs are stepping around the quarters and then you made your first pirouette.
Renvers on a straight track means the horse is moving its quarters on the track and the shoulders are moving inside of the track, all while the horse is bent towards the wall. The renvers can of course also be made on bent lines and on diagonals.
We work on collection by rotating our pelvis, ”tuck the tail between your legs”, and ask for more active hindlegs, stepping in under the point of weight. From collection we can move towards the diagonal school walk by asking the hindlegs to leave the ground slightly earlier than for the regular walk. We can also start working on transitions into trot.
Remember
- Collect the horse by rotating your pelvis.
- The pirouette is a centered quarters in.