Early this month we were lucky to have a very talented friend of mine, Richard Malmgren, come to the farm to do a long lining clinic. Richard has studied with Bo Jena, of Flyinge Stud in Sweden, and in addition to being very talented in address straightness and connection issues, he is also very kind and patient with the horses. His goal is a positive experience for every horse.
We had an interesting group of horses, from a very green three year old to a PSG/I-1 horse. As most of these were horses I either rode or gave their riders lessons on, it was interesting to see the same evasions present in the long lines.
My own mare, Samsara, had a very productive session. “Bee” is pretty tricky in the connection. She likes to avoid the right rein, and avoid using her right hind leg correctly. She also carries a lot of tension in her lower back. Richard skillfully worked her through these issues through work on a diamond shape and lateral exercises, and it was very cool to watch her get straighter, more even, and taking longer relaxed strides. While I am certainly no where near Richard’s skill level, I have committed to long lining her myself once every 7-10 days, and it has definitely been a very positive addition to her training program.
Huge thank you to Richard for coming out to work with us. We plan to have him back regularly—if you are interested in participating or auditing, please contact me.