Friends, I'd like to share with you the Ultimate Answer to Riding, the Universe, and Everything, and no, it isn’t 42 -- although it felt like it took that many years for me to figure it out. Until I learned the trick, though, I struggled and struggled and struggled to improve my riding ... especially in dressage. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
Who can tell us what caused the rail down at :43? (Click on Video Discussion Title above (in blue) to read this educational discussion)
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1684"Most people try to pull the neck down. NO. We want to raise the base of the neck and we don’t need gimmicks – I haven’t used draw reins for sixty years. Getting the horse’s head down is a consequence of active hind legs. When the hind end is active, the croup drops – most resistance is not in the hand, it is in the hind end." ~ George MorrisTip/Quote of the Day # 1683
If you are working with a very bold jumping youngster, and have plans to take him up the levels, it is a good idea to have a plan to teach him to be economical when jumping into water and off of drops. This means doing something a little different… and coming back to the trot just in front of your little drops, and bringing him right back to the trot when you land. Doing this in training will produce a horse that will be less extravagant about his jumping efforts off of drops and into water. Which will make it much easier to negotiate the complex combinations that will show up as you move up the levels.
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1682"If you don’t take into account the fact that the horse is narrower through the shoulders than the croup, and you try to straighten the horse, you will place his outside parallel to the wall, but not his spine. Therefore you will miss the goal of riding him straight, and the horse will continue to move in his usual crooked position." ~ Christian ThiessVideo # 309 and Question # 325: Kayla is finding it difficult to keep her horse on the aids in walk to halt transitions.We just cannot finish our halts connected. Even if I ease him into them (so I don't get hung up on "right now" and pull), or even leave the reins with big loops in them, he always hollows/comes above the bit in that last stride. I feel like it's primarily because I've just always let him get away with halting terribly, but now that it's so ingrained, I'm having a terrible time undoing it. We spent 45 minutes working on that on Friday, and we only got one decent halt. I'm at a loss. Is it something I'm doing wrong? Or just a matter of working on it for a while and insisting that he maintains the connection, and making a big deal of him when he does? (Kayla)
Hi Kayla!
This is actually a fairly common problem! At least to some degree. Walk to halt transitions tend to really point out any issues or weaknesses that horse and rider may have with downward transitions. What I would suggest to you is to... (Click on Question or Video Title above (in blue) to read the answer to this question)Tip/Quote of the Day # 1681"Half my work in canter is in counter canter. I live in counter canter." ~ George MorrisTip/Quote of the Day # 1680"Lightness sounds very good, if it is light, but it is better if it is not too light because a horse that is too light in the hand is more difficult to ride than a horse that is a little bit heavy on the hand. Okay we always have to talk about finding the right balance, but in the end, contact is nothing more than the contact to the hind leg, the contact that the rider makes between the mouth and the hind leg. This is the duty of the rider, to put these two together. The moment the horse starts to move, and he moves behind, you have to feel it in your hand, then you have to let it out." ~ Jean BemelmansTip/Quote of the Day # 1679
The tempo in the rein back should be the same as in the walk. Don't let your horse rush through the rein back.
How many times have you wished that you could read your horse’s mind or longed for a magic spell to make your horse talk, even for just a minute? I don’t know about you, but if I had a penny for every time I’ve made that wish, I’d be a millionaire. Being able to know what a horse is thinking or feeling at a given time would be like the magic key to the equestrian universe, but sadly, no such spell exists. There is something that’s close, however: tiny changes in your horse’s behavior, tiny signals that, when you listen, can be the magic key we all wish for. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
In your Dressage seat, let your legs hang quietly down - close to your horse's sides for easy and intimate communication, but not tight, which would lessen your ability to communicate in a subtle manner.
"The quality of the seat determines whether we can even speak of 'riding', or whether the horse simply has to 'deal with' the load on his back." ~ Kurt Albrecht
"The seat and weight aids are supporting aids. They support either a leg or rein aid, or both. Don’t underestimate their significance though. They are important aids, especially in the fine tuning of advanced horses. The leg and rein aids will fail to achieve their full effectiveness without the support of weight and seat." ~ Christian Thiess
"For me, the walk is indispensible. If a horse is not walking correctly – extended, collected, two tracks with all the lateral work – then he doesn’t show that he is relaxed, supple, together. I do it all the time, with young horses, with educated horses, I do some lateral work in walk, some extensions, relaxation and collection, half pirouettes, all this before I come into the trot. It makes the horses calm, makes the rider also calm, it makes the rider coordinate his aids – now I need more bending, less bending, re-balance this half pass, it is indispensible. Also indispensible are the breaks in-between with long reins and free reins. We should start every session in walk – for ten minutes, it should be walk. Not just free reins, working in walk." ~ Rafael Soto
If you ask for too much angle in any lateral movement (more than your horse can handle at that moment,) you risk impeding the balance and fluidity of the movement, which should be your top priorities.
Riders who put in the time and effort to learn theory will go much further in this sport.
Question # 324: How do you transfer the better position from riding with no stirrups into riding with them again?...I actually ride without them (in the saddle and bareback) quite a bit, so I don’t have any issues riding without them. But then I go back to my stirrups (mainly in dressage) and I either lose my stirrups constantly or feel like they’re way short and I start to brace/stand up in them (it’s not so much an issue when jumping because I’m in two point most of the time). Can I just do my dressage tests with no stirrups?
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1667
Always keep your spine stretched upward when riding. When you slump, your head and shoulders will become "heavy", and your horse will likely become heavy in your hands.
The bigger the jump, the more the horse must rock back and lift upwards on the takeoff. Therefore as the jumps get bigger, it becomes even more important that you are poised and patient with your upper body off the ground.
From Facebook fan Joan Childs ~ "One of the best bits of advice I was given many many years ago I now pass on freely to all my students. Your hands must be free in order to use them effectively. You can not pull, push, follow, open or close your reins if they are busy being a source of your balance."
"Dressage is about repetition and correction and being strong with yourself to not let bad habits happen. It’s being on top of every little thing. If you make bad transitions at home because you’re lazy or not really thinking of it, you’re going to make bad transitions in the arena. Then you go, ‘oh, he did that,’ but that’s because you allowed him to make all those mistakes in the first place." ~ Charlotte Dujardin
There are a huge range of possible different releases that a rider can use when jumping a horse over a fence. All the way from a "negative" release - which means the rider is actually pulling back on the horse's mouth in the air, like this: (Click on Article Title above (in blue) to read full article)
From Facebook fan Krista Fabregas ~ "On an 18h gangley monster, a custom made saddle makes a world of difference... and ramen noodles provide adequate enough nutrition when paying for said saddle."
Sometimes you can make your circles better by not working on circles! Work on squares, 90 degree turns, and diagonal lines for a while, and maybe some nose to the wall leg yield. Then come back to your circles, after you have worked on better use of and response to your outside turning aids.
Recently on one of those community Facebook pages someone posed the question “What’s the most important quality to establish in your horse?” If you discount the glib, knee-jerk clichéd replies, it’s a question that defies a single answer given the huge variation from one horse to the next and how differently one trainer approaches his work from another. Rather than settle on an agreed conclusion, the query was more raised to provoke discussion.
In DRESSAGE Unscrambled I suggested that the training scale or training pyramid is often misconstrued by well intentioned neophytes. I prefer to think of it as... (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)
"The motto of instructor and rider must always be forward. Forward in the movement of the horse instructed to his care. Forward in order to achieve his aim in the art of training. Forward whenever difficulties appear." ~ Alois Podhajsky
"Anyone can ruin a horse in a heart beat… and what is happening is this vicious circle of working incorrectly, veterinary need, working incorrectly, more veterinary maintenance, that’s a vicious circle." ~ George Morris
"The horse’s particular, individual tempo must also be coordinated with his particular length of frame. A horse can only set his front foot down on the spot toward which his nose is pointing. Thus, the longer the step, the longer the horse’s frame must be." ~ Walter Zettl
I had the pleasure of auditing the William Fox-Pitt Clinic at Morningside Training Farm last week. While I was struck by many things I heard and observed, the most striking for me was his focus on the fundamentals of good horsemanship. Whether he was working with 3*/4* riders and their horses or with riders and horses of less experience, he started at the beginning. The first day’s sessions on the flat started with a discussion of, and work on, the warm up. This was followed by a focus on connection, relaxation and rhythm. All of this before any upper level movements. The second day’s jumping sessions started over fences at the trot and the walk before moving on to more challenging exercises. The focus of all the jumping work was on supporting a positive attitude in the horse and encouraging the horse to “find” the jumps. His commitment to good fundamentals and to the welfare and nature of each horse was both admirable and refreshing. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1650When you give an aid, whether it is a half halt or an aid to canter - ask very lightly, and then wait a bit to give the horse time to process and respond. This takes the pressure off of the horse which lets him think more clearly about what you are asking, which will allow him to respond in a more focused way. Video # 108 and Question # 323: Kayla has a question (with video) about her horses tendency to fall out through his right shoulder when going to the left. My horse is super bendy going to the left, but he runs right through the outside rein. In our flatwork today, I was trying to get him to step into it before we made our downward transitions from canter to trot, and he would immediately hollow (both vertically and horizontally) and just run sideways, no matter how much I tried to bring his shoulders back. I used the lightest leg aid I could, but it didn't seem to matter. To the right, he doesn't bend as well, but that outside rein actually means something, and he seems to be comfortable stepping up into that one, just not going left.
I added links to all of our videos from today, but our big fiasco was on our attempts at left lead transitions, however, I'm sure you can probably see where I'm wrong in any of them. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong, whether with my body position (I caught myself leaning left HARD in the lead departures), or with my hands, but I don't have any idea what, or how to fix it. He also seems to be twisting his head to the outside when we go left, but I'm not sure if he actually is or if it's an illusion because of the way his mane lies (and I can't see the muscle bulge if he's doing it both ways). (Kayla)
Hi Kayla!
What you are describing is actually very common! Most horses have a natural tendency to over bend their necks to the left. This causes them to lean on their right shoulder. And once a horse is heavy on their outside shoulder, they cannot respond properly to your turning aids, no matter how much they want to! (Click on Video or Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer and the critique of this video)Tip/Quote of the Day # 1649In your Dressage seat, let your legs hang quietly down - close to your horse's sides for easy and intimate communication, but not tight, which lessens your ability to communicate in a subtle manner.Tip/Quote of the Day # 1648
There should be no joint in a rider's midsection. Otherwise the hip joint doesn't work as it is supposed to.
Question # 322: Kayla has some new jumps and has a question about what to set up for a green horse.I finally have enough parts to make 10 jumps (with standards)! I’ve also got some odds and ends that I jump (12” high piece of pipe, cross rail set up with cable spools, etc), but these will be my first “real” jumps that look like a stadium round. I’ve got about 25 acres to set them up in, so I can space them way out for a sort-of-cross-country school, but I would really like some advice on how to set them up in a smaller area to simulate a stadium course. And if you know a few good exercises offhand for us super-greenies to work on, that’d be awesome too (especially ones for a horse who doesn’t seem to mind if he knocks down every pole in the pen
Video # 107 and Question # 321: Kellyn has a question about her lovely OTTB, along with a video
This is Maverick, a 9 year old TB I took off the track last year, and the half brother to my 2016 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover horse, Bauer. Maverick was supposed to be my 2017 RRP project but he's a bit delicate minded and we weren't ready to go.
So we're plugging along at home, taking our time and working on basics. Very very slowly. He has (I think) some balance issues and there are moments when he sort of loses his back end on turns (see video). When this happens he panics and gets a bit wild. We've been working on large circles and big figure 8's at home for months and have made a very small amount of progress. He can't handle serpentines or lateral work right now without losing his mind (he's rather dramatic and prone to going airborne). What other exercises can we do that would help this issue without getting him frustrated?
I've ruled out physical issues - he has no previous injuries, clean x-rays, good teeth, and no chiropractic issues. He is prone to ulcers and has been on ulcer treatment for a year now. (Kellyn)
Hi Kellyn!
The first thing I have to say is... (Click on Video or Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer and the critique of this video)
Tip/Quote of the Day # 1647"The rider should remain upright with the small of the back braced. The spine must not be hollow and the spine must remain supple and flexible. This is necessary to enable the rider to follow all movements of his horse as if he were part of his own body. The back must remain firm and upright to allow the rider to use the small of the back as an aid." ~ Alois Podhajsky
