"The more avenues of learning, the more rounded the trainer will be. The more variety of exercises, the more rounded the horse will be." ~ Andrea Benson
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1802"In between the fences, you should be doing everything to get the horse round, to influence the use of his body. On take off, soften those hands a bit more. You’ve done all you can – you can’t actually lift them off the ground with your hands. Quite often when riders go ‘Hup’ with the hands all they do is make the horse go more hollow. You have to soften your hands." ~ Matthew RyanQuestion # 336: Kelly has a question about an OTTB that she is trying.I’m looking at an ottb, and put him through some trot poles today. I believe it’s his first time over poles under saddle. He tripped over them and knocked them every. Single. Time. How do you feel about that in terms of jumping potential? I have lunged him over a couple of jumps, small only and he jumped ok. Other factors are super temperament and good looking, moves well, very active hind end. (Kelly)
Hi Kelly!
This is actually pretty common... especially for highly strung TBs! Very often they have to learn how to slow their mind up to actually be able to think about what their feet are doing. Here are a few ideas to help him learn this. (Click on Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer)Tip/Quote of the Day # 1801
A tip for instructors... When a student has a lightbulb riding moment during a lesson, ask them to explain it you in their own words. This way it becomes even more cemented in their own mind, and you can more easily help them find it again if they lose it.
"Competitive toughness is an acquired skill and not an inherited gift." ~ Chris Evert
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1799Unless you are intentionally working on a specific weakness in a horse that has trouble making longer distances, it is best to school most gymnastic and gridwork with distances that are at least slightly snug for your horse. As the shorter distances will make your horse rock back more on his haunches on the takeoff, and will teach him to use his body more fully when jumping. Ruth's Blog post # 4: Questions to Ask Before Getting on a New Horse
Last month we talked about the questions that I ask every owner of a new horse coming into my barn. Young or old, trained or untrained, it's essential to know as much about a new horse as possible. This month I will talk about the questions that I would ask BEFORE I (or one of my staff) would get ON a new horse. Horses come for training for lots of reasons. Whatever the reason however, you still need to collect as much information as possible to keep yourself, your kids, your staff safe. These questions are also very important when you are trying a horse for sale, or even riding a friend’s horse for the first time. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
It is possible to have contact without a real connection (in fact, it is quite common unfortunately), but a true connection always involves good contact. The connection involves the horse's entire body… with energy created in the horse's hind legs traveling through the horse's supple body, and into the rider's hands.
It can be a skill in itself to be able to pick up a quality canter or gallop in a straight line and jump a fence that is a short distance away (as you would coming out of the start box on cross country.) Like any skill, this one will only get better with practice. So this is something to practice at home.
Counter bend is a great tool when your horse tries to bulge against your outside aids. And following that up with a change of direction then further reinforces that aid, teaching your horse to have more respect for it.
"I think the rider's attitude in the ring is transposed to the horse's attitude... I think the difference between the good riders and good trips versus the outstanding trips are in large measure the positive attitude and inspiration that one shows to the judge and the way onetackles the problems of the course in riding the horse." ~ Michael Page
Lest you think I am disparaging the work of other instructors, be assured I am pure of heart. As Kim Carnes would say, “As pure as New York snow.”
That said, I’m surprised how many riders will tell me they went to a clinic and spent the whole time on a 20 meter circle. Usually this is less than ideal for a couple reasons. First of all, I think a horse and rider whom I’m not familiar with deserve a few minutes to “show me what they’ve got.” (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
In Dressage, we use bending both to develop and to prove our horse's lateral suppleness. When the horse is laterally supple, the rider will feel that it is easy to keep the horse straight, and that it is easy to change the bend back and forth when changing directions. Lateral suppleness will also allow the horse to conform his entire body to the shape of the circles and turns that we ride him on... which means he can perform those figures in balance.
The caveat here is that to achieve this suppleness, the horse must be giving you TRUE bend throughout his body (more on that here.) So you need to make sure that your horse is actually responding to your bending aids correctly! And one of the keys to this is to make sure your horse is truly listening to your inside leg - giving you an immediate response to even the slightest of leg aids just behind the girth.
Here is a very basic exercise, suitable for horses and riders at all levels, that will help to improve the horse's response to the rider's inside leg: (Click on Article Title above (in blue) to read full article)
As you complete a halt, lighten your seat slightly to invite your horse to keep his back up underneath you. This will allow you to move off after the halt without the horse hollowing and dropping his back.
"No complicated riding before the horses are going truly forward. In dressage, the difficulties are often created by a lack of good basic work (which is the foundation of the house)." ~ Nuno Oliveira
As I'm carefully bringing Grimm back into full work, one important factor keeps coming to the fore: relaxation. And boy, sometimes that's a hard one!
The tension in his back is ever-present at this point because he doesn't have the stamina yet to trot for very long. Without lateral work and the muscles he'd develop and maintain from full and correct work, he starts every ride stiff... (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
If your horse is not "hot" to your leg, and you therefore need lots of leg to keep him going, how will he ever hear the leg aid that asks for something more, like lateral work or a flying change?
Some horses have a hard time really swinging and engaging their entire backs, due to tension or stiffness. Many of these horses show signs of improvement with good dressage training, but often continue to carry an area of tension - usually in their lumbar region or lower back. This is a great exercise to break through the tension or stiffness in this area, and improve the level of throughness over your horse's entire topline, and the overall quality of your connection. Read on to find out how to do it! (Click on Article Title above (in blue) to read full article)
A horse's energy flowing through a turn is similar to water flowing through a tunnel. Just as the outside wall of the tunnel is paramount, a good connection on the outside rein is crucial to a successful turn.
Do not miss the possible opportunity to shorten your reins when your horse changes his balance in the direction of increased collection. If you do miss it, and are riding with a length of rein that was more appropriate to the longer, lower frame that you had previously... you risk losing the amount of increased collection that you had just attained.
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1778"The minimum canter tempo is 105 beats per minute per leg I’ve found, and if they are slower than that, they have difficulty jumping anything higher and wider than a metre. Yet inexperienced jumping riders often opt for a too slow tempo. Tempo is implicit in creating jumping power, so the too slow canter can lead to the horse hitting the fence, and then their answer may be to run faster or refuse." ~ Andrew McLeanTip/Quote of the Day # 1777
"Remember, the conversation between you and your horse must never be dull or inert. It should be, 'Ask, receive, give. Ask, receive, give.' Ask with your body and legs; receive through your body into your hands; give primarily with the hands, but also with your body and legs, so that you can ask all over again, receive again and give again. The give is your thanks. If you don't give, you must ask harder the next time, and even harder after that, until you end up with a dead or resistant horse." - Sally Swift
We actually managed a couple good steps of a walk pirouette the other day and it was super exciting! It’s also very hard. Is there any way to help teach a horse to look and move the way his haunches are pointing, except the obvious “by little degrees at a time?” (Kayla)
Hi Kayla!
How fun to feel some good steps of a walk pirouette for the first time! Yes, it can be a challenge at first to teach the horse any of the lateral movements that require them to move into the direction of the bend. The way I like to introduce this concept to them is... (Click on Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer)
Do you keep your horse on the aids when out hacking? Or do you mostly give your horse loose reins? What are the pros and cons for either method? (Click on Discussion Title above (in blue) to read and join in on this educational discussion)
It is possible to have contact without a real connection (in fact it is quite common unfortunately), but a true connection always involves good contact. The connection involves the horse's entire body… with energy created in the horse's hind legs traveling through the horse's supple body, and into the rider's hands.
Many people ask me about the choreography of their freestyle pattern. One of the confusions surrounding a freestyle pattern is what is allowed and what is forbidden at a certain level. Before you can begin to build a pattern you need to know the difference between movements and figures so that you don't try something that is on the "forbidden" list at your level.
What is the difference between movements, figures and patterns? (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
When asking for a canter lengthening or medium canter on a hot horse or one that is prone to tension, it can be helpful to initiate the upward transition with a bigger scoop of your seat rather than your leg. This helps the horse to understand that you want a bigger stride, rather than simply more speed.
With many horses it takes at least 10 to 20 transitions in a row in the warm up to get to the point where they are really balanced, rideable, and listening equally to all of the rider’s aids. Do you do enough in your warm up?
Happy, fresh, relaxed, and supple horses always perform better than horses that are drilled and drilled!
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1772The spooky type of horse often benefits from the rider taking the time to thoroughly educate them about jumping in challenging lighting situations, such as jumping directly into bright sunlight, jumping into dark shaded areas, and shadows on the ground before and after fences. Question # 333: Kayla has a question about core/ab exercises for her horse.What are some good core/ab exercises for my horse? The vet says his back is in good shape, but his abs are weak, and we should work on getting those stronger as soon as we can to keep from ruining his back down the road.
Also, the last couple days I’ve noticed the little triangle muscles at the base of his neck (right in front of his withers) working differently at different times. When I ride him with his neck flat and out in front, they only work a little bit, and they don’t work at all when he’s giraffe-ing or when he tucks his nose even if he’s on the vertical. They seem to work quite a bit though at some other times. Are those muscles an okay indicator of whether or not he’s using his topline? (Kayla)
Hi Kayla!
It is so good to hear a vet say that! As having a strong core is just as important to horses as it is to people. It is one of the secrets to being able to maintain a happy and healthy back, and to be able to access the horse's full power. First I want you to read this article on strength training for the equine athlete. This article will give you a comprehensive strength training program, and outline all the various tools available for building a strong equine athlete. And the 2 core specific exercises that I will add to that are: (Click on Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer)Tip/Quote of the Day # 1771
Always use both reins together to steer, especially when jumping. Using one rein only turns the horse's nose - but using both reins turn the horse at the shoulders, which means his body will more accurately follow your chosen line.
From Facebook fan Kelly Turman-Meyers ~ "The longest paths [in learning how to ride and compete] are usually those people without good trainers. The shortest path is to find the best classical trainer you can and ride as many horses as you can."
"Regularity and rhythm have to go through all the collected work as well. If the horse gets heavy, use the energy more. If you remember this rule, it will stop you making mistakes even if you are not as experienced as a rider. Keep going back to the basics." ~ Jonny Hilberath
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1766The horse is not capable of true collection when his muscles are tense. No matter how hard you try to achieve collection, it will elude you unless you can first achieve loose and relaxed muscles.
