Mary Wanless - Ride With Your Mind

Ep. 38 The tennis ball game.

Mary Wanless BHSI BSc

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Let’s imagine that you and I stand opposite each other and play a game of catch with a tennis ball, allowing it to bounce once in each throw. We are doing this in a rhythm, and not trying to catch each other out. But if I (sneakily) substitute a bean bag, that would be the end of the game. Or  I might (sneakily) substitute a boingy ball, and the game would speed up. This is  a metaphor for rising trot, which we want to be a ‘tennis ball game’ with the rider ‘calling the shots’. This takes good biomechanics, in which she is able to to control the time she takes in each sit, and also not get deformed by the horse who has a hollow back.