It's nearly impossible to improve a horse that is stiff and stressed. In this video I show you how to get your horse supple and relaxed, which is fundamental to completing the next steps.
I am so grateful for this video. Totally saved me when I was riding a very stressed up and powerful icelandic horse for the first time on my own yesterday. He took of and I heard your voice again and again about using one rein "you are way more likely to get him under control" . So focused on just using one rein, trying to be calm and at last we stopped in a corner and then we could move on in a far more comfortable speed. So you saved me from disaster. Thank you!
This had a huge impact to my connectedness in my ride with my horse yesterday, we had the best ride that we have ever had since he came home last year. I trust and adore my gorgeous ‘experienced’ just over 14.2 hands (148cm) Icelandic vallak - he is brilliant In traffic, especially with all the huge machines and their loads currently overhaling because it is harvesting season, he doesn’t blink (it is actually me who focuses on being neutral whilst completely relaxed and breathe deep in to my back and out to the edges of my ribcage to allow him to also remain relaxed and not pick up signals of uncertainty from me 😊). I love Icelandic horses and I also love how ‘free and equal’ the horses are in western riding, so I have always allowed Kari to have as loose reigns as I felt the situation allowed - riding with one reign yesterday meant he had loose reigns for the entire ride - even coming up to a busy main road because very quickly I could use the outside reign to stop him, I also found that because I have always had an emphasis on verbal cue with Kari using my “stop” together with a very subtle one reign was enough to make him stop completely almost every time I needed him to 🥰. I could feel how much Kari enjoyed it and the joy that has given me is still with me today. Kari is always a little fired up when we first start our trip and, unintended, I was immediately able to practice what I had watched in Gudmar’s videos the night before, because yesterday he was particularly eager, as in I had not even put my second foot in the stirrup 😊 and he just started walking - I should also mention that this is actually unusual because normally he will stand still till I ask him to walk, but maybe the combination of me thinking of the one reign 🤣 I was planning to practice and my girls buzzing around because they love Kari 🤯, he couldn’t quite manage to do it), but I just focused on sitting deep on my seat bone with legs completely relaxed and in correct position whilst gently using one reign in larger 8s on our drive, he quickly stopped (without much discomfort to his mouth! 🎉). I found my correct place in the stirrups and saddle again and did a couple more 8s before we went on our way - Kari was relaxed and we both started our time together relaxed and connected. Even though I am super quick to release the reigns when he shows signs of stopping, the start of our rides have always required more repetitive reign signals because he is excited and would like to run straight away and I have never liked that often the beginning of our rides, that I look forward to so much, was me causing him discomfort to essentially gain control - whereas the one reign feels like i am just gently reminding him to focus on loosening up and slow down - I also felt that by me being more respectful of his mouth he more ‘naturally’ wanted to cooperate and please. As a fellow ‘why’ person who also believes in benevolent and equal horsemanship I am so grateful for having found @gudmarpetursson
I love this. Tried this today. Just let a gelding give me his rhythm and started this exercise. He was very tight on one hand and almost over-bending on the other hand. Suggestions how to work on this are more than welcome if there is anything I can do in addition. The result was a very satisfied horse with a diligent forward walk.
🌟So cool my horse looks like your horse she is Icelandic she is in my last video love your videos I think you was in KY for a while and that's were I am
Very nice to watch :) thank you for sharing.. We have purchased a mare named Gæfa fra Hofsstaudum.. i wonder - what does Gæfa means? And how do i say it?? is it like : Gævva?? thank you in advance.. ( have owned and compeeted show jump and cross country horses in more then 20 years in Norway , but the change to an Iclandic horse is deff something different..i LOVE it )
moirhann i have a icelandic horse named Strípa and she is now 33 years old so glad you fell in love with them they can get real old, like mine.I allso hade other horses like the Welsh Cob section D but Icelandic horses are something else your right☺Greetings from The Netherlands
Claras Nutztiere i seen 1icelandic horse on a youtube video that got 2 be 56, never seen a horse so old.But they are really healthy so i hope mine gets to be super old allso.She deserves it, never set a step out of place.Allways grounded no matter what came our way while riding she remained cool and collected.Alltho i dont ride anymore so now and then i let my kids (weight max 25) ride a little round.So she still feel as important as she is.But thats it ,she deserves her pension at such old age.I remember my father went on a ride on Strípa when she was younger, with my niece on another horse of ours named Djarfur (Strípas son)and some crazy horse hater placed a glass plate on the riding track and they were in fast pace riding really fast threw the forrest.But lucky the horses reacted super quick and jumped over the glass plate.I remembered the story yesterday..how can ppl do such evil things on a ridingtrack in the woods? Smh idk thank God the horses are so smart and just knew to jump as far as they could otherweise everybody would be badly hurt.But these horses are allways calm and cool and know exactly what to do and when..they are imho the best breed of horse someone can be friends with.They will do anything for you.And will allways try their best to keep their rider safe..so should the rider allways respect and appreciate the viking horses small but strong☺Greetings
I think the terms bending and flexion get confused in the video. The bend refers to the whole body of the horse. Also I think the focus is way too much on the horses' head and not on the seat. I'm not sure if we're talking about about an emergancy situation, where the horse is in fight or flight, where the one-rein-stop is a very effective tool. But if your horse is running underneath you all the time relying on your reins to stop it would be a pretty bad option in my opinion. You should find the cause and (lots of times it's a balance issue) and work from the ground, help your horse get comfortable with a person on it etc. Definitely NOT flex its neck into itself. This training won't take days or weeks, it will take years, as any good horse training should. But it will give you a sound, healthy, happy and relaxed horse, that you can rely on.
yes he is using bending as an english translation of beygja which is the same as flexion. But Icelandic horses are small, if you look closely you can see that the horse is bending his body while flexing the neck, this of course means he is relaxed. It is very hard to do this exercise on a stiff horse. But you just start and as long as the horse is walking you can keep doing it, first small flexion then bigger. But getting back to the icelandics: We never teach the horses to flex the head and keep going straight with the body, we do not teach dressage or western riding. So this means that when the horse flex his neck he is meant to bend his body. Extremely important with Icelandic horses not to seperate the neck from the body. Which I see a lot here in Europe where I live when ppl get Icelandics and have maybe ridden western (they really do a lot of seperation between neck and body there. They will often get on and have the horse stand still and flex and flex and flex both ways, then they will even teach the horse to stop by saying wooooow, and if the horse doesnt stop immediately they flex the neck harshly towards the wall. Soon enough the horse thinks flexing is not steering but stopping, you can see this in western instruction videos). In dressage I also see that they are sometimes tilting the head and still ridning forward with the body. Most everyone knows dressage where I am and using their leg aids way too much pushing their horse here and there instead of steering them. I have gotten on these icelandics and notice they do not steer very well at all. You do not need to push your icelandic horse with legs if you teach them to be supple and steer. They should move where their nose points them to. I only find dressage makes stuff worse here. I think they are ruining the Icelandic horses with their leg yields, especially in the light of the fact that the stomack of the horse is too high up on a small horse, so the rider gets all crooked and the horse is getting an inbalanced rider! Which confuses a lot.
2. My point is that there is one way to ride Icelandics and one way with big horses. We keep it simple. He is flexing the neck and expecting a bend in the body, this was his point in explaining keeping the outside rein very long at first. I am training Icelandic horses in Sweden and its hard seen as they are getting too much dressage training. I have been at horse shows here and its really hard for me to watch. For example they are losing the horse out while riding the U-bane. They are pushing the horse with their leg and it looks crazy. I see extremely known Swedish horstraining doing this, they are just using some weird dressage method on Icelandic horses. I think this is one of the reasons why the Icelanders always keep winning everything here. We never had to "unlearn" anything.
@@IT-zx5jc I'm almost certain we're actually agreeing while having different ideas about horse training. I do think that modern dressage training in either dressage horses or in Icelandic horses is very misguided and doesn't produce good and healthy horses. I personally believe that this bad kind of training is no good for any horse, no matter the breed. I also don't think pulling on both reins does any good in stopping a horse. I feel like Icelandic horses in a lot of high class competitions get seriously overbent which might have provoked my comment 6 months ago. But that's not what you're showing at all in your video, so I guess I'm sorry for that.
Thank you so much for this video. Oddur, our Icelandic gelding, likes to go fast when you first get on him. This video is so helpful!
Very helpful and clear. I like the repetition and ability to understand what is happening through watching you actually do the work.
I am so grateful for this video. Totally saved me when I was riding a very stressed up and powerful icelandic horse for the first time on my own yesterday. He took of and I heard your voice again and again about using one rein "you are way more likely to get him under control" . So focused on just using one rein, trying to be calm and at last we stopped in a corner and then we could move on in a far more comfortable speed. So you saved me from disaster. Thank you!
This had a huge impact to my connectedness in my ride with my horse yesterday, we had the best ride that we have ever had since he came home last year. I trust and adore my gorgeous ‘experienced’ just over 14.2 hands (148cm) Icelandic vallak - he is brilliant In traffic, especially with all the huge machines and their loads currently overhaling because it is harvesting season, he doesn’t blink (it is actually me who focuses on being neutral whilst completely relaxed and breathe deep in to my back and out to the edges of my ribcage to allow him to also remain relaxed and not pick up signals of uncertainty from me 😊). I love Icelandic horses and I also love how ‘free and equal’ the horses are in western riding, so I have always allowed Kari to have as loose reigns as I felt the situation allowed - riding with one reign yesterday meant he had loose reigns for the entire ride - even coming up to a busy main road because very quickly I could use the outside reign to stop him, I also found that because I have always had an emphasis on verbal cue with Kari using my “stop” together with a very subtle one reign was enough to make him stop completely almost every time I needed him to 🥰. I could feel how much Kari enjoyed it and the joy that has given me is still with me today. Kari is always a little fired up when we first start our trip and, unintended, I was immediately able to practice what I had watched in Gudmar’s videos the night before, because yesterday he was particularly eager, as in I had not even put my second foot in the stirrup 😊 and he just started walking - I should also mention that this is actually unusual because normally he will stand still till I ask him to walk, but maybe the combination of me thinking of the one reign 🤣 I was planning to practice and my girls buzzing around because they love Kari 🤯, he couldn’t quite manage to do it), but I just focused on sitting deep on my seat bone with legs completely relaxed and in correct position whilst gently using one reign in larger 8s on our drive, he quickly stopped (without much discomfort to his mouth! 🎉). I found my correct place in the stirrups and saddle again and did a couple more 8s before we went on our way - Kari was relaxed and we both started our time together relaxed and connected. Even though I am super quick to release the reigns when he shows signs of stopping, the start of our rides have always required more repetitive reign signals because he is excited and would like to run straight away and I have never liked that often the beginning of our rides, that I look forward to so much, was me causing him discomfort to essentially gain control - whereas the one reign feels like i am just gently reminding him to focus on loosening up and slow down - I also felt that by me being more respectful of his mouth he more ‘naturally’ wanted to cooperate and please. As a fellow ‘why’ person who also believes in benevolent and equal horsemanship I am so grateful for having found @gudmarpetursson
You are very good at explaining the theories of your lessons. My foxtrotter and I have benefited since I've been listening to you. Thank you!
Really helpful video.
Excellent Thank you so much. I am sure my 7 year old Icey will love this!
Excellent! Many thanks, Gudmar.
I love this. Tried this today. Just let a gelding give me his rhythm and started this exercise. He was very tight on one hand and almost over-bending on the other hand. Suggestions how to work on this are more than welcome if there is anything I can do in addition. The result was a very satisfied horse with a diligent forward walk.
Mjög fallegur hestur og TakkFyrir :)
Hjálpaði mér mjög mikið
🌟So cool my horse looks like your horse she is Icelandic she is in my last video love your videos I think you was in KY for a while and that's were I am
Using your leg as well as one rein.
Will try on my 4 year old. Thankyou
Very nice to watch :) thank you for sharing.. We have purchased a mare named Gæfa fra Hofsstaudum.. i wonder - what does Gæfa means? And how do i say it?? is it like : Gævva?? thank you in advance.. ( have owned and compeeted show jump and cross country horses in more then 20 years in Norway , but the change to an Iclandic horse is deff something different..i LOVE it )
moirhann i have a icelandic horse named Strípa and she is now 33 years old so glad you fell in love with them they can get real old, like mine.I allso hade other horses like the Welsh Cob section D but Icelandic horses are something else your right☺Greetings from The Netherlands
Claras Nutztiere i seen 1icelandic horse on a youtube video that got 2 be 56, never seen a horse so old.But they are really healthy so i hope mine gets to be super old allso.She deserves it, never set a step out of place.Allways grounded no matter what came our way while riding she remained cool and collected.Alltho i dont ride anymore so now and then i let my kids (weight max 25) ride a little round.So she still feel as important as she is.But thats it ,she deserves her pension at such old age.I remember my father went on a ride on Strípa when she was younger, with my niece on another horse of ours named Djarfur (Strípas son)and some crazy horse hater placed a glass plate on the riding track and they were in fast pace riding really fast threw the forrest.But lucky the horses reacted super quick and jumped over the glass plate.I remembered the story yesterday..how can ppl do such evil things on a ridingtrack in the woods? Smh idk thank God the horses are so smart and just knew to jump as far as they could otherweise everybody would be badly hurt.But these horses are allways calm and cool and know exactly what to do and when..they are imho the best breed of horse someone can be friends with.They will do anything for you.And will allways try their best to keep their rider safe..so should the rider allways respect and appreciate the viking horses small but strong☺Greetings
I think the terms bending and flexion get confused in the video. The bend refers to the whole body of the horse. Also I think the focus is way too much on the horses' head and not on the seat. I'm not sure if we're talking about about an emergancy situation, where the horse is in fight or flight, where the one-rein-stop is a very effective tool. But if your horse is running underneath you all the time relying on your reins to stop it would be a pretty bad option in my opinion. You should find the cause and (lots of times it's a balance issue) and work from the ground, help your horse get comfortable with a person on it etc. Definitely NOT flex its neck into itself. This training won't take days or weeks, it will take years, as any good horse training should. But it will give you a sound, healthy, happy and relaxed horse, that you can rely on.
yes he is using bending as an english translation of beygja which is the same as flexion. But Icelandic horses are small, if you look closely you can see that the horse is bending his body while flexing the neck, this of course means he is relaxed. It is very hard to do this exercise on a stiff horse. But you just start and as long as the horse is walking you can keep doing it, first small flexion then bigger. But getting back to the icelandics: We never teach the horses to flex the head and keep going straight with the body, we do not teach dressage or western riding. So this means that when the horse flex his neck he is meant to bend his body. Extremely important with Icelandic horses not to seperate the neck from the body. Which I see a lot here in Europe where I live when ppl get Icelandics and have maybe ridden western (they really do a lot of seperation between neck and body there. They will often get on and have the horse stand still and flex and flex and flex both ways, then they will even teach the horse to stop by saying wooooow, and if the horse doesnt stop immediately they flex the neck harshly towards the wall. Soon enough the horse thinks flexing is not steering but stopping, you can see this in western instruction videos). In dressage I also see that they are sometimes tilting the head and still ridning forward with the body. Most everyone knows dressage where I am and using their leg aids way too much pushing their horse here and there instead of steering them. I have gotten on these icelandics and notice they do not steer very well at all. You do not need to push your icelandic horse with legs if you teach them to be supple and steer. They should move where their nose points them to. I only find dressage makes stuff worse here. I think they are ruining the Icelandic horses with their leg yields, especially in the light of the fact that the stomack of the horse is too high up on a small horse, so the rider gets all crooked and the horse is getting an inbalanced rider! Which confuses a lot.
2. My point is that there is one way to ride Icelandics and one way with big horses. We keep it simple. He is flexing the neck and expecting a bend in the body, this was his point in explaining keeping the outside rein very long at first. I am training Icelandic horses in Sweden and its hard seen as they are getting too much dressage training. I have been at horse shows here and its really hard for me to watch. For example they are losing the horse out while riding the U-bane. They are pushing the horse with their leg and it looks crazy. I see extremely known Swedish horstraining doing this, they are just using some weird dressage method on Icelandic horses. I think this is one of the reasons why the Icelanders always keep winning everything here. We never had to "unlearn" anything.
@@IT-zx5jc I'm almost certain we're actually agreeing while having different ideas about horse training. I do think that modern dressage training in either dressage horses or in Icelandic horses is very misguided and doesn't produce good and healthy horses. I personally believe that this bad kind of training is no good for any horse, no matter the breed. I also don't think pulling on both reins does any good in stopping a horse. I feel like Icelandic horses in a lot of high class competitions get seriously overbent which might have provoked my comment 6 months ago. But that's not what you're showing at all in your video, so I guess I'm sorry for that.
Effektiv måde at få hesten til at skyde skulderen og bringe den på forparten, bag lod:((