Kelda’s classes at Cyril’s on Friday evening were blessed by the only dry hours on an otherwise thoroughly miserable day. It was a chilly but fine night and two sets of riders benefitted from jumping-related flatwork exercises. The major emphasis was on achieving effective transitions and on asking the horses to lengthen and shorten their strides — all key components of riding a good round of show jumps.
A very simple exercise with two striped poles was used to gauge the natural working trot stride of each horse. It was then the rider’s objective to ride the same distance in two strides more and two strides less. Simple but effective and highly relevant to show jumping.
It was good to see some fresh faces in the arena. Laura McGowan was there on her lovely big cob while Denis Kelly, who joined last year but had problems with his horse, was also out enjoying himself on his good coloured cob.
Kelda will be teaching a second evening at Cyril’s on Friday 25 February. This coming Friday, 18 February, we’re going to bowl in Ramelton. No horse needed!
Letterkenny Riding Club 