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The Foundation Skills section of the programme is split into three parts. Foundation Skills 1These skills are designed to teach you to teach your horse how to become a confident, soft, riding horse. In the Foundation Skills 1 programme you will learn some basic ground skills from catching your horse and preparing it mentally to be ridden up to basic riding skills with safety being the main consideration for both horse and rider. We will take care not to miss any areas where our horse may require our help. In Foundation Skills 1, I would like you to pay particular attention to the yielding the horse's hindquarters both on the ground and in the saddle. The reason being that if your horse does take fright and tries to run off you may find that pulling on two reins is not effective. However if you have practised bending to a stop until it is solid in your mind as well as in your horse's mind then it could well save your life one day if something unexpected scares your horse. Horses can provide us with a great deal of pleasure if we handle them with the respect they deserve. However please do not take any unnecessary risks as only you can take responsibility for your own safety around horses, and the best way to stay safe is to understand their great need for self preservation. If you have not done so already Online
Show that you can catch your horse safely in a small yard
Show that you can rub your horse all over including handling his legs to prepare for the farrier
Show that your horse can follow a feel in all directions, including lateral flexion
Show that your horse can follow a suggestion in all directions
Be able to back your horse a few steps out of your space using the 4 metre line Riding (using one rein)
Show that your horse can stand still untied while you politely saddle him
Mount from both sides without your horse moving
Show that your horse can follow a feel in all directions including moving the hindquarters 180 degrees to the right and left
At the trot show changes of direction
Show that you are able to bend your horse to a stop Skills Sheet - Foundation Skills 2Foundation Skills 2 builds on the skills that you learned in the Foundation Skills 1. If you have not yet mastered these skills you will have great difficulty understanding these next ten skills as they develop the "building blocks" (first ten skills) that are shown above. By now you and your horse should be confident about the skills that you have already learned and you will hopefully have understood how horses learn. One of the important things to mention here is to be able to recognise the smallest try in your horse. If we have done a good job of preparing our horse in the last section (Foundation 1), there is a good chance that he will understand what we want and he will hopefully try to work out what we want and move in this direction. If he does not understand he may try lots of things in an attempt to gain comfort. This is where we need to have good timing and not stop while he is doing something that is undesirable. Then stop instantly when he makes any move in the right direction. We will need to remember the lessons we have already learned about giving him time to think and repeat these skills until he is confident about what we are doing. The skills you are going to work on in this section will be focussing mainly on confidence and yields. Online
Ask your horse to go on a circle to the right and left
Cause your horse to move from the circle into a sideways movement
Cause your horse to move sideways both right and left without using the fence for guidance
Cause your horse to squeeze between you and the fence to the right and left
Load your horse into a trailer while you remain outside Riding (using one rein)
Bend your horse, yield the hindquarters and move the front end of the horse through
Ride your horse from the walk to the trot and back down again
At the lope (slow canter), show that you can yield your horse down to a stop
Back your horse a few steps
Yield your horse sideways a few steps Skills Sheet - Foundation Skills 3The third part of the Foundation Skills programme builds on parts 1 and 2 above. Liberty
Yield your horse's
• hindquarters
• forequarters
• cause your horse to backup
Ask your horse to follow your elbow as you walk once around the round yard or pen
Ask your horse to follow a feel by asking him to trot a figure 8 from the muzzle
Online
Ask your horse to follow a suggestion, cause him to move through a 90 degree maze
Cause your horse to
• follow a feel over a 2 foot jump
• follow a suggestion over a 2 foot jump Riding (using two reins)
Cause your horse to back up 5 metres
Demonstrate transitions up and down at the
a) walk
b) Jog (slow trot)
c) Lope (slow canter)
Ask your horse to face up to a frightening stimulus
Cause your horse to go sideways over a pole
Demonstrate an emergency dismount from a lope
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Silversand Horsemanship
