Cobs Can! Workbook E-Book

Omar Rabia

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

In this long-awaited follow-up to the highly praised Cobs Can! Omar Rabia introduces the idea of a systematic, progressive series of exercises designed to develop suppleness, collection, obedience and ride-ability in cobs. He discusses the prerequisites of starting this journey and the reasoning behind working cobs in-hand before ridden work is commenced. While the exercises are set out in a progressive order, each exercise offers particular benefits and works on 'target areas', so you can choose exercises that will most benefit your cob before moving onto others in the series. Progression within each exercise is explained so that riders know when to move onto the next step within the exercise. This follow-up to Cobs Can! gives a more progressive, step-by-step guide for those riders who have not previously had access to more comprehensive schooling or classical equitation. Superbly illustrated with 250 colour photographs and 20 diagrams throughout.

Leseprobe

THE COBS CAN!

WORKBOOK

Progressive Training Exercises forRIDEABILITY, SUPPLENESSANDCOLLECTION

OMAR RABIA

J. A. ALLEN

First published in 2016 by J. A. Allen

www.allenbooks.co.uk

J. A. Allen is an imprint of

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2016

© Omar Rabia 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 90880 950 6

Illustrations by Carole Vincer

All photographs of the author and his mare, Ketchup, by Karen Burton.Other photographs, reproduced with permission, are by Berta ImagesPhotography; Steve Cowling; Chris Etchells; Leanne Robertson; and Andy Warden.

Disclaimer

The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any damage or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. J.A. Allen encourages the use of approved safely helmets in all equestrian sports and activities.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

INTRODUCTION TO IN-HAND WORK

1.  In-Hand Position

2.  In-Hand Flexions

3.  In-Hand Shoulder Balance

4.  In-Hand Transitions

5.  The Giravolta

6.  In-Hand Leg-Yielding

7.  In-Hand Shoulder-In and Counter Shoulder-In

8.  In-Hand Travers, Renvers and Half-Pass

9.  In-Hand Piaffe

10.  In-Hand Passage and Spanish Walk

INTRODUCTION TO RIDDEN WORK

11.  The Rider’s Position

12.  The Basic Exercises of Ridden Work

13.  Engaging Lateral Steps and Shoulder-In

14.  Travers, Renvers and Half-Pass

15.  Rein-Back

16.  Developing Canter

17.  Lengthening the Trot and Canter

18.  Ridden Piaffe

19.  Ridden Passage through Spanish Walk

Conclusion

Index

Acknowledgements

There are so many people to thank, without whom this book would not have been possible. The production of this book would have been impossible without the skills of Karen Burton, who took all the photos of Ketchup and myself, and Martin Diggle, whose diligent editing brought a fresh perspective to my writing, bringing clarity where there was ambiguity and checking for comprehensive detail so that my words cannot be misinterpreted or misunderstood.

I would like to thank all of my regular students for their support and drive, without which a project such as this would not be possible, and those students from further afield whose interaction and enthusiasm for more knowledge stimulate my desire to put my thoughts on paper and promote the virtues of the cob.

A great big thank-you must go to all those riders who provided photos to enrich this book. Thanks to Vicky Strutton for her fabulous photos of herself and her delightful Sound Barrier (or Bill, as he is known at home). Thanks to Mel Sumner for the photos of herself and her lovely cob Billy (who, shortly after she gave me these photos, managed a very good placing at a British Dressage Regional Championships). Thanks to Jane Lavington with her horse Boston, an advanced dressage cob, and her pure-bred Clydesdale, Midge, for fantastic photos illustrating many points so well. And thanks to Tracey Davies for providing two pictures showing her lovely cob Roxy’s progress. Thanks also to Lucinda Stewart for the photos of her riding Leanne Robertson’s Clydesdale, Ted, showing that chunkies of all sizes benefit from some more advanced schooling.

A huge thank-you to my family (particularly my mother), who are some of my biggest supporters, keeping me thinking positively and that anything is possible. For his unwavering belief in me, I want to thank Ian, my partner in life and in business; without his faith in my ability with horses, or his support in all areas, I really would be lost. Finally, a huge thank-you to my cobs, my inspiration and my passion – and particularly to Ketchup, my soul-mate and best friend.

Introduction

Since the publication of my first book Cobs Can! I have noticed a huge increase in the number of cobs, natives and heavy horses being given more comprehensive schooling, and appearing in classical equitation as well as competitive dressage classes. I would like to think that my book had at least a hand in that and that more ‘everyday’ riders are enjoying schooling their supposedly ‘humble’ mounts to a higher level as a result. It became clear, however, that while the book covered each level of schooling and all of the movements, a more progressive, step-by-step guide was necessary for those riders who have not previously had access to this kind of training. Not only did there need to be a step-by-step set of instructions for introducing each movement – there also needed to be a certain amount of guidance on the progression within a certain exercise. For example, a shoulder-in being introduced to a young cob looks very different from a shoulder-in shown by an advanced horse, and it often has a different focus. The Cobs Can! Workbook is designed to fill that void. In Cobs Can! in-hand groundwork had only a passing mention, but the reality of my practice is that all movements are introduced dismounted first. That discrepancy is addressed in this current book, where guidance is given to develop your cob gymnastically from the ground first. These are the foundations upon which the ridden schooling is built. This book then guides riders through exercises that will perfect their seat in order to train their cob in these movements under saddle. This does not, of course, mean that riders should pay no attention to their seat and posture until their cob’s groundwork is advanced! Clearly, no opportunity to improve in these areas should be wasted or delayed. However, in terms of the cob’s education and development, this method, which is rooted in classical principles, has clear benefits.

This dual approach to schooling means that, in this text, some exercises and themes are addressed both from a groundwork and a ridden perspective in different chapters, the former appearing in the first section of the book. A comparison of the preparatory groundwork techniques with the techniques employed under saddle will show how the former relate to, and complement, the latter.

As a follow on from Cobs Can! this book has been written for the good of the cob and for the good of those riders who choose to travel on their equestrian journey with one of these powerful, kind and gentle horses, whatever their size, conformation or natural movement. In this modern age, where qualified and experienced help from someone with a like-minded philosophy can seem hard to come by, this book, while not replacing training or tuition, will help you on the road to success with these cobs that are so often misunderstood. My aim is to help, to avoid force, to avoid frustration and to engender a sense of enjoyment and success in your equestrian journey.

INTRODUCTION TO IN-HAND WORK

All of my horses, including my cobs, are schooled through all of the movements in-hand first. This helps in so many ways. We humans are a visual species and during in-hand schooling we can see what is happening and can respond in an instant, whereas ridden work very much depends upon the rider’s ability to feel – one of the most elusive skills to learn. Also, working in-hand has the advantage of educating the cob to new movements without him being encumbered by an additional and often unstable weight on his back. It not only builds strength, suppleness and flexibility; it also enhances a sense of calm learning, which will cross over to ridden work. Watching your cob learn through in-hand work also teaches you a lot about your ridden technique and aids, and it helps you to develop that level of feel mentioned above. It is an essential tool in my training kit of skills and helps to avoid the force or heavy-handedness that can often be seen in ridden training alone.

CHAPTER ONE

In-Hand Position

Trainer’s Position for In-Hand Schooling

In-hand work is not only educational for cob and trainer but also can be honed and polished to the level of art. Just as riding can be brought up to excellence and presented in a polished form, in-hand work can be a way of presenting beauty in equitation where trainer and cob can appear to be partnered-up in a dance hold with seamless movements as they weave around the arena. When watching trainers school their horses in-hand, one notices slight differences – positional as well as postural – that are individual to each trainer and to each horse and trainer partnership. There are, however, a few basic essentials.