Welcome to Stay in the Saddle! 

We have some very exciting, long-awaited news to announce!  Our arena is being delivered within a day of writing this, and should be up in the next month.  Finally!  This means that no matter how much it rains or how muddy it is outdoors, we will be riding in dry, comfortable style indoors in our Cover-All arena!  Needless to say, we are very ready for this improvement.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with us through this very wet spring, and to all of the out-of-town riders that have chanced driving quite some distances to ride with us.  I just want to let all of you who are students, clients and customers of Stay in the Saddle know how much we appreciate you and what you really mean to us.  I do what I do for YOU!

Okay, enough mushy stuff.  Let’s get to work.

The Lope

Many people that ride, or have rode, will say that they love to lope the best.  However, others will tell you that it is way too scary and they just are not comfortable.  Let me take today to break it down as to what to expect and what you should be focusing on when loping.

To be honest, loping really is fun and really should be pretty easy and enjoyable.  It is a three-beat gait where one set of diagonal hooves move in unison, and the other two, one back and one front (which is the “lead”), make up the other two beats.  There’s a short lope which is really slow and more of a “rocking horse” feeling.  There’s a fast lope which is just speeded up slightly.  Next is the gallop and that will be considerably faster, but that will also have the same beat structure.  Lastly, the run also utilizes three-beats but they are almost undetectable as the horse is very much stretched out, lower to the ground through his body, and moving basically as fast as he can.  Generally, a lope should be slow and collected, and while yet learning it is desirable to start with a short or slow lope. 

Like I tell all of my students before attempting a lope it is imperative that you are totally competent at the walk and trot.  This means:  good posture, feeling your horse and staying in rhythm with him, and not relying on the horn or stirrups for balance.  Of course the horn and stirrups are there for balance assistance, but your true balance should be coming from your core not from lower legs or arms.  I also want people to be completely comfortable through transitions:  walk to trot, trot to walk, stop to trot, trot to stop, etc.

Next, what I want you to do is visualize the lope and your role at the lope.  If you are able to view a horse loping, preferably with a saddle on (in a round pen or on a lunge line), you will see the saddle scooping down and forward as the hind legs come into their forward positions.  This is basically the “scoop” that I will ask you to do at the lope.  You will not be setting your own rhythm or moving your hips in this pattern, but rather following the horse in his pattern.  If you have accomplished the feel of the horse at a trot, picking up this motion at a lope should be a pretty simple leap for you to make.  The one big difference is that at both the walk and the trot, you are thinking front to back motion.  You are allowing your hips to gently rock back with the horse as he moves his legs back through each step.  At the lope, you will be thinking back to front.  Big difference!  But when you feel your horse and you know what to expect, it really is an easy transition and one that you will almost immediately recognize and appreciate.

So, starting out with the trot, you are keeping your heels down and forward, and pushing back with your hips into the seat on the low position and riding the horse up in the high position (which should mean very close continual contact with the saddle/horse).  From this close contact, you are going to think in a "pick up and go" mode.  The more you try, the more you will understand the timing of it -- but when you are ready to lope, as your hips are in the push-back stage, you will pick up with your legs and push down and foward with your hips.  You are cueing your horse forward with your legs with pressure inward and slightly upward on his sides ("picking him up"), and your hips that are already in the "back" position will scoop down and forward asking the horse to move out faster and at a different gait (the "go" part).  The whole ask should be done in one continuous motion.

Of course horses are trained in different ways to be asked to lope, both in cues and/or words, but I also use (and teach) a "ready" word for my horses when going into the lope.  "Ready" or "Let's go" are typical.  I tell my students that when they think they're ready to lope, make up your mind 100% (because a horse will know the difference and some horses will use that sense of your indecisiveness as an excuse not to speed up) and then ask and expect the lope.  The pressure of your legs and the change in your seat should be undeniable cues that you are asking for not just more speed, but a different gait. 

The horse should move out with minimal ask from you and once he does move out into the lope, I want you to maintain a good posture but also allow your hips to soften enough to move with the horse.  If you are rigid in the saddle, you will not feel the fluidity of the horse and you will also come out of the saddle at each stride (the common backside-slapping-the-saddle feeling).  But think soft, and think about your “sit bones” being velcroed to the saddle (not really, just imagined).  Do not pitch forward at the hips too much and certainly do not lean back in the saddle.  Ideally, you want to maintain the shoulder over the hip posture with only a very very slight angle forward from the hips (meaning maybe an inch or two).  Leaning back will eliminate the ability to scoop with the horse and it will also mean that you are most likely using your arms (and reins) for balance which will take away from your control of the horse.  Also, take care to focus on the back to front scoop and no side-to-side motion which would also compromise your balance.

It is important to get comfortable, be able to communicate, and be in control at the lope.  Start on straight-away lopes, maybe a hundred feet or so.  Increase from there and then begin adding turns.  Do not lean on turns, but stay in line with the horse’s body.  Once you feel good and comfortable with the short lope, work on stopping from a lope – keeping your backside in the saddle.  When you are comfortable and can do all of this from a short lope, then attempt a faster lope if you desire.  The faster you go, the less motion you will realize in your hips as the horse’s body becomes more and more streamline and the action is all taken on in the legs of the horse.  Most importantly, always be able to slow and stop your horse, maintaining as much control over the animal as possible.  Any horse can go fast, it is being in control and being safe that is the key.

A note on trotting vs. loping. . .  After spending an incredible weekend in NM helping friends work cattle, one thing became extremely clear to me:  I am right!  And I’ll tell you why:

Our days began with gathering cattle from an almost 4000 acre trap (which is small compared to the “pastures”) and driving the cattle to a set of pens up toward the north end.  To get to the other end of the trap it was a couple of miles, and then we swung wide to fan out and gather the cattle to push them to the pens, which meant even more miles.  Well, we certainly didn’t want to take all day to get to the south side, nor did we want to wear out our horses in the first hour or two from riding too hard.  So, we asked up into a long trot (fast trot) and headed out.  It was amazing how much ground we covered in a short time, and how fresh our horses were when it did come time to push the cattle, not to mention working in the pens later in the day.

Here’s my point:  teaching your horse and allowing your horse to long trot is essential to anyone that rides distance (trail riding, ranch work, etc.).  Loping is fun and fast, but it is a lot more work on the horse and rider.  If we were to have loped the entire trap, we would’ve been done for.  And forget about getting on the ground to tag, brand or vaccinate the cattle!  As much as I want to tell you that I’m in super shape and ride miles and miles a day – much of what I do at home is in the arena and in circles or at a stop observing students.  However, after striking out those two days and covering considerable country – I was not tired or sore, and really could’ve done it again day in and day out for weeks on end.  Seriously.  The same could not have been said if I had constantly been loping my horse.

What I teach is to be comfortable in the saddle.  If you are comfortable – you will be good.  And, if you can sit the trot – you will be better. The fast trot is difficult, but if you give yourself the chance to learn it and allow yourself the opportunity to take the time to time it right with your horse – you can be a really great rider.  I always tell people that they’ll spend more time trotting than walking or loping, and this is proof positive of why this is:  comfort, endurance, and lots of miles covered.

Enjoy a great summer – and if you have ideas or want certain areas covered in a future article, just send me an email!  I love to hear from you!

STAY IN THE SADDLE!
Janel

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