From essentialequestrian.wordpress.com:

When I decided to refocus my riding to dressage, I made a valiant effort to find someone to give me regular longe lessons. Shockingly, this was much more difficult than I had expected! I would hear things like, “you’ve been riding all your life, why do you need a longe lesson?”

longing

To me, those comments were completely off-base. Why do we continue to train with others, despite having ridden most of our lives? Because we can always improve. We can always learn something from others’ experiences, which are different from our own.

Longing allows riders a fantastic opportunity to really get in tune with what our bodies are actually doing while we are riding, think along these lines:

meme-equestrian

We might be holding tension where we didn’t even know it – masked by our efforts to get a movement or ask the horse to relax (funny, isn’t it?!).

There is a reason pupils at the Spanish Riding School do not touch the reins for at least 6 months. While this is not practical for someone who is riding as a hobby, this principal is critical to instill in our students, and something to remember ourselves.

Have you ever asked a beginner to drop her stirrups? Watch the leg – it says up on the sides of the horse and grips, without the rider knowing this is happening. Ask a more experienced rider, and the leg immediately hangs long and loose. This is a perfect example of why no stirrup/no rein work is so important. Gripping, tight riders are not effective in any discipline  Riders need to contract and relax our muscles at will.

Vitor Silva, who I mentioned in my post about Equine Affaire, also gives long line lessons at his riding school. All of the upper-level movements are performed on the long lines, allowing the rider to focus solely on how the horse feels in the movement and where her body should be. This type of training can transform a good rider into a great one.

I encourage everyone to really push to find an experienced longer with a reliable longe horse and participate in longe sessions as often as possible. Have you ever tried riding with your eyes closed? If not, try! It opens up a whole new world of senses.

Who takes, and gives, regular longe lessons? What have you found to be the greatest benefits?

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