Training Tip: A Dressage Hack–Hill work

The other day I was out and about doing some warm up with Copper and I was delighted to find the most powerful, spring-y, suspended walk strides that I have ever felt from him. I mean, that boy was really sitting on his haunches and engaging his hind engine – he was so collected and elevated!

Thus, my secret hack for a sport we all know has no short cuts… Hill work.

How to do it:

I was warming up Copper, so I focused on allowing him to swing freely over his back. To do this, I sat in two-point and gave him his head so he could walk freely up the hill. At the top, I turned him around and sat as lightly as possible through my seat as he went downhill.

I did that until he felt sufficiently free-striding, then shortened my reins to take up contact. On the way back down, I rolled my hips with the swing of his barrel (sometimes this is described as a figure of eight motion, sometimes a ‘C’ shape, sometimes a side-to-side movement. I like to think of it like bicycling my hips in time to his swing.) and sat down into his movement.

At the same time, I kept my hands steady, and light, with an elastic, supple connection through my elbows. I literally was thinking “Lift up, lift up” asking him to lift through his shoulders. He responded by doing that and really sitting on his haunches. Man, it felt so good!

I was like *gasp!* “We can dressage!” and Copper was all *gasp!* “HARD!” and lost it… Haha. 

Still, it was one of those lovely moments when you know that you are doing something right because you felt that next level dancing tantalizingly just out of reach. I love it, because it gives me something to aim for. I know the movement and ability is there, I just have to unlock it.

I called this post ‘hack’ though for good reason, because honestly, I think it easily could have been months, maybe years before I felt that kind of movement from him in an arena. Having the benefit of the hill to encourage Copper to sit deeply and engage his hindquarter engine is invaluable.

Though we know there really aren’t any hacks to true collection, I think we both benefited from feeling that true elevation. Hill work is a great tool to have in the dressage training toolbox as it’s a long path, but so worth it.

See ya,

bonita

Training Tip: Riding bareback

So Joey’s being doing really well with the spotty and completely infrequent riding schedule we have at the moment.  It’s great because I wasn’t really sure that he had the temperament for that kind of riding, but he does. 

Of course, we don’t really get any where fast and he gets totally lazy, but we are improving a little bit at a time I think.

I have even ridden him bareback for the first time!  I wasn’t sure that he’d be ok with bareback riding, but he was really good.

It took a bit of time and patience to get him standing along side the fence long enough for me to hop on, but he is a quick learner and the next day when I did it again, it was much faster. 

I trained him to stand up for mounting by leading him in close to the fence and getting him to stand right next to it.  I would be on his right side as I  maneuvered him into the right position, then after I halted him, I would go around to his left and slowly hop up on the fence. 

I rubbed his back, and croup (the point over his hips between his back and his quarters) reach over and rub his opposite side.  If he was happy with that, I leant over his back a little bit and when I thought he was ready I’d put my leg over.  If the fence isn’t high enough to do that, I’d jump and lean over his back on my stomach, then swing my leg up and over.

If Joey moved forwards before I hopped on, I’d back him up and then take him around and line him up again.  If he’d swing his hind quarters away, I’d push them over again, and then take him around and line him up again. 

Putting him back in the place I wanted him to be is an important step before lining him up alongside the fence again because I want him to realize that moving forwards or sidewise isn’t going to get him away from the spot I want him to stand.  I also do this if he tries to move away while saddling or bridling him, and it’s a great training tool under saddle if he won’t stand still.

He is a bit nervous when I’m riding him bareback, but he listens to me – for the most part!  He did decided to see if he could try it out and refuse to walk on and away from all his mates in the paddock, but I soon squashed that idea.  Thankfully where I’ve been doing the bareback riding really is an ideal area to try it out in.

Basically the herd is in a big paddock up the back of another paddock that is next to two other big paddocks.  There is a narrow laneway that runs down the middle – it has a paddock on either side.  This laneway allows you to get access to the paddocks up the back. 

It’s a five to ten minute walk to get down there, so it’s a nice stretch of enclosed area that has lots of soft, squishy grass for emergency dismounts! I walk down, fetch Joey out of the paddock (I bridle him rather than riding in a halter – I don’t want to lose all control thankyouverymuch!) and ride him back down the laneway.

Oh, and I definitely wear my helmet! 

I am really happy though, because I think that we are making progress and building trust by experiencing different situations and scenarios together - like bareback riding.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ll be able to take him out on solo trail rides soon, which is a huge step from where we were when I first got him!

Next up: taking him out in the trail and getting him used to competition atmosphere. 

See ya,

bonita

Training Tip: Loosening the base of the neck

 
Remember when I wrote the Training Tip: Slow him down post?  The basis of that post was to use lateral flexion at the poll to soften the horse and slow him down by asking for concentration on the gait and balance, rather than just speeding around. 

To do that, I would signal for flexion by pulsing/vibrating my inside rein, asking the horse to flex his head in from the poll and bend his nose marginally so that I could just see the eye.  Hold that bend for two to four strides, then pulse/vibrate the outside rein and ask for the same degree of bend to the other side.  This can be done on a twenty meter circle or on the straight.    

This exercise is great for slowing down a fast canter on a 20m circle, but as I found out today it is also great for loosening a horse’s neck muscles.

Val from Memoirs of a Horse Girl writes her take on using in-out head flexion in this post Riding Reflection – The base of the neck.  She doesn’t go into the specifics of asking for the release of the horse’s neck, but she does go into the results saying

“Asking him to release the muscles at the base of the neck allowed him to relax his entire neck and back… When he wanted to release those muscles more, I moved both of my hands slightly forward, toward the bit…

I experimented with transitions and changes of direction, always looking and feeling for the muscles in front of the withers to be soft.  Sometimes I opened the rein quite dramatically to prevent myself from pulling back as much as to encourage him to let the muscles go.  I was focusing on the withers, but the effect was on his self carriage.  I could feel him stepping evenly with both hind legs and becoming lighter in front.  I was concerned that cantering would introduce too much excitement and spoil the magic, but he actually carried the feel into the canter.  He bounded in front of me, lifting his shoulders with each stride.  The best was the last transition. 

We went from canter to a nice trot and then I asked him to walk.  He lifted his withers, making a place for his hind legs, and I felt him step deeply underneath our weight as he shifted gears.  This is so difficult for my horse, and he could not have done this if I had pulled on the reins...” 

I find it so interesting because she describes that feeling of her horse stepping under himself, and the softness in front of the whither.  I remembered how that felt with Copper’s canter – I hadn’t realised that’s what I was getting, but I was!

I also knew in a flash that the in-out flexion technique I was using in canter for Copper would be excessively valuable in walk/trot as well for loosening up Joey’s neck.  A light bulb moment if you like!

So adding on to the benefits of softening a fast gait, we can also achieve softness through the neck, which in turn allows softness through the back and then the horse can engage his hindquarters and lift/use his back.

Training exercises can produce more than one result!  *ding*  Useful to know.

See ya!

bonita

Make or Break – Part 3: Horses Are Like Onions

 

After Part 1 and Part 2 discussing Sparrow’s behaviour I would like to break down my thoughts on what it all means to me and where we are at as a rider/horse team.

When thinking it over, the biggest thing that stands out in my mind is that my silly, idiotic, stubborn green youngster is simply trying to intimidate me, and frankly, that just won’t do.  I have had horses play that game with me before; let’s face it.  Horses are horses, and always will be.  They will go through every trick in the book and then some to get out of work, which is basically whatever you ask them to do.  However, I have come to realize that riding 8 year old or 12 year old green but tried, off the track TBs, Standies, ex-polo ponies, a 16 year old grumpy Appaloosa, etc – granted they all gave me experience riding green horses; but it’s just not the same as riding a green 4 and a half year old.

Basically, you can’t ride a green youngster until you’ve thrown your leg over and ridden a green youngster.  It’s completely different from riding an older green horse.

I am finding you have to be a bit more motherly with the babies.  Not a cooing, fussy type mother but an “Oh, come on, you’re a big boy now – that’s not scary!” type mother.  Pick ‘em up and send them on their way.
; P  

Too be sure, if you need to tell them what’s what, you can’t hesitate.  Just like a two year old always pushing the boundaries, so are your young horses.  They also learn VERY quickly what they can and cannot get away with!  But here I am going off on a bit of a tangent.  Almost everyone knows the famous Shrek quote “Ogres are like onions” and seriously, I think it’s an excellent description of the levels of a horse’s training and resistance. 

The two go hand in hand; the more training you do with any horse the more resistance you are going to come across. This resistance can be anything from kicking out, refusing to be caught, and in it’s more extreme forms bucking, rearing, and/or bolting.  At first it won’t be much, like the thin outer layer, and you’ll work through it, but once you are through it won’t take long until you hit another layer of resistance that is slightly thicker, and so on and so forth until you will reach the ‘core’ that I like to call the “breaking point”.   It’s the last resort for the horse, thus it’s serious and often more desperate then all the resistance before.  In my mind, this is the crucial turning point.  You have to come through this one on top – firmly in control as the alpha mare/stallion in your horse’s pecking order. 

No, this doesn’t mean you are to be violent or anything like that, but you are firm.  Your horse HAS to know that you are boss and what you say goes.  You will know when they have submitted, you will be able to feel the readiness beneath you, the softness of his back, mouth, neck, the openness of the horse’s mind as they listen for your next command. 

Remember that the reward for softness is always softness and release of the pressure on your part.  If you don't release, the horse will become sour and cranky and confused, because they won’t understand what you want.  Another way of putting it is that you have asked, they gave, but you didn’t tell them that was the right response by releasing the ask, so you are just asking, asking, asking and they are all “WHY?  I DID IT!!” 

For instance, in Part 2 I describe how felt Sparrow relax and soften, releasing his tension after a long hard work out, and I called it a day immediately.  I walked him to cool off and hopped off.  And you know what?  The next day I rode him he hardly fussed at all, and the day after that he was really, really good and didn’t resist me once.  Now that’s what I call an improvement from just two days ago! 

So moving on from here?  Well, we haven’t reached the core of resistance yet – I am still waiting to reach that ‘breaking point’, or if you like, the end of his list of tricks!  In my previous experience, it’s usually taken about a year to reach that point; however, Sparrow is entirely a different kettle of fish to any of my previous mounts.  He is far more intelligent than any of them, which means although it’s great that I’ll be able to teach him anything, it also means that he’ll pick it up super quickly and promptly spend the rest of his time figuring out how to get out of it…  : /    Horses…

 

That being said, that’s what I love about him.  I may have a lot to teach him, but I also have a TON of things to learn from him.  I need to be more sensitive to his ‘baby’ fears and less reactive, and he needs to learn to trust me.

He is by far the most challenging horse I have ever ridden, but if we can work through our issues successfully he will also be the most talented horse I have ridden.  And I am darn sure that I am not giving up on that kind of potential. 

Top Tip:  If your horse is fighting with you all the time, listen hard for the first moment of softness, and make sure you reward them for it by giving; a word of praise, a pat, a walk, or if they get it after ages of resistance, walk them for a cool down and turn them out.  If you do not give, the horse will keep on fighting you regardless of whether they are ready to obey. 

If your horse is not submitting at all, check your hands, seat and legs.  You may be clenching onto them, throwing them off balance by leaning forwards or backwards, and/or holding onto the their head.  It’s a process of give and take, and if you never give, soon your horse will have nothing to offer but resistance. 

Also, don’t forget to check the tack – a lot of problems under saddle are caused by pain/discomfort, so it’s well worth making sure those things are all ok. 

See ya!

bonita

Training Tip: Submission through transitions

Helen Langehanenberg, a German Grand Prix dressage rider talks about using transitions on a 20m circle to create submission and cooperation in this useful article from Equi Search.

With a young horse, I might do one round of trot and then one round canter. With a more educated horse, I will do the transitions more frequently. During these transitions, I improve my horse's reactions so we can be very coordinated.

When the horse starts to warm up, I ride the figure-eight. You don't want the work to be boring. When you do different things, the horse finds the work fun, and he concentrates more on you. In the figure-of-eight, I give a little half halt each time I change the rein to I make sure I can feel my horse's balancing reaction….

What you want to achieve in a trot-walk-trot exercise:

• As you do the downward transition from trot to walk, you close the horse's frame and bring his hind legs under his centre of gravity so he engages and carries more weight behind.
• Then, when your horse is engaged, you go directly to trot again. In that upward transition, you want to open the neck a bit, but keep the hind-leg carriage you had in the walk.

With transitions that achieve this engagement, horses learn, step-by-step, to carry more weight with the hindquarters in all the work, whether they are in a working trot or extended trot. After all, the horse can only do a medium or extension if he is able to carry weight on the hind legs, otherwise, he is running. When horses go more forward, they must learn to keep carrying the weight behind, rather than going on the forehand.

Another exercise that uses transitions to help the horse pay attention to the aid is an 10m wide oval with two jump poles on the ground.  Riding in a trot on short ends, and cantering on long ends over the poles placed in the middle of the long sides, you use the up down transition to get the horse listening and sharp off the leg and the pole for balance. 

You can make the oval larger to make it easier ~ the bigger the oval, the easier the exercise will be, the smaller, the harder; however, there should at least be room for 5/6 strides of canter and 3/4 strides of trot. 

Like so:


Canadian show jumper Margie Gayford uses this canter/trot exercise as a warm up for jumping. Margie is not only a Grand Prix Show Jumper, but also a sought-after level 3 coach and clinician.  You can see the exercise working in the first 3 minutes of this video:

Jumping lesson with useful warm up exercise

Top Tip:  Take frequent breaks and let your horse walk on a long rein so he can relax for several minutes. If your horse is tired, he won't enjoy the work. Also, he won't be able to concentrate, be loose, swing through his back, or carry weight on his hind legs. He needs to have enough energy and power in order to have these positive qualities.

Another way to create looseness in the back is to stretch your horse often in trot and canter.  You can do that by releasing the horse’s head and allowing them reach down low.  Don’t forget to secure your seat by making sure your shoulders are behind your hip bones, because if you are tipping forwards your horse might be encouraged to put in a playful buck! 

See ya!

bonita


Credits & Resources:

- Horse Junkies United: Lesson with a Pro – Show jumping with Margie Gayford
- Equi Search: Develop the Quality of Submission in Your Horse

Training Tip: “Broke” horses

“Broke” is a term usually found in Western riding to describe a horse that  English riders would probably consider an “all rounder” or a “handy pony”.  What I like about the Western term however, is how it is far more basic than just training.  It can also apply to any type of horse regardless of it’s formal training; i.e. cutters, reiners, Western Pleasure, dressage, showjumpers ~ any of those horses can be ‘broke’. 

Conversely, the same is true that any of those horses, although they may be champion cutters, etc, can also not be broke.  So if a horse is ridden, and goes under saddle; how is it not broke?  Let’s look one definition of a broke horse and how this can apply to any horse in any training situation. 

“A broke horse means that the horse can do many different things and do them safely and calmly”
So what should the horse be able to do?  General consensus says that a green broke horse should be able to lead, tie up, get their feet done, walk, trot, canter and perhaps do some lounge work, you know, the basics. 



Building on that basis, a broke horse should be able to trail ride, float/trailer, get their teeth done, go to shows, ride smoothly, correct lead, flexion; etc, they should essentially be covered in most areas of education, without necessarily having specialty training for disciplines like show jumping. 

However, one trainer I read believes that a truly broke horse should be able to do way more than that, and I agree!  This is where cross training comes in, and it’s also why a horse that is trained as a specialist in one discipline can also be considered to not be fully broke.  What if you hopped on a horse that was a brilliant show hack, but it couldn’t go out on a trail ride without bolting for home?   That horse wouldn’t be very well trained would it!

Can you take your horse through a line of bending poles at a canter, or ride a long trail ride through ditches, traffic and underpasses?  Can you lead him past a flapping tarp without getting jumped on?  How about riding in a bitless bridle ~ or without a bridle at all?  Or in a western saddle?  Or how about a side saddle?
I only wish I could do all of that!  Still, I believe that a truly broke horse, and one that is a pleasure to ride, is a horse with experience ~ one that will trust it’s rider and be game to do whatever it is you would like it to do. 


Therefore I have set myself a training challenge ~ cross train to the max.  I want to do as many different things as possible with my horses so that I expose them anything and everything.  It takes time and it takes patience, but I think that in the end you and your horse will have more fun and be safer for it. 

Top Tip:  If you ever notice your horse reacting to something {like a piece of rustling paper ~ been there, done that!} unless you are in the middle of a dressage test, or something, take the time to desensitize them to it right away! 

Stopping and taking fifteen minutes, {maybe more, maybe less ~ remember that it depends on the individual horse} at that exact point of reaction may save you a lot of hassle later on down the track. 

See ya!

bonita

P.S.  ~ Does anyone know where I can get hold of some cows?  ; P  I would love to see Copper take a gander at them! 

Training Tip: Hands Ahoy!

Ever have those days when you are asking and asking and asking your horse to soften into a round frame and he just. won’t. do. it?  Maybe it’s time to check the where abouts of your hands. 

Horses that have a single jointed bit{one that “folds” in the middle}, like every other horse, require you to hold your hands just above the whithers so that there is a straight line from your elbow to their mouths.  Basic stuff, I know, but there is a very good reason for this.

If you hold your hands to high, the bit will swivel in the horse’s mouth and jab into his tongue.  If you hold your hands too low{guilty of this one I must confess!} the bit will swivel and jab your horse in the roof of his mouth where the soft palette is.  Ouch! 

Well, no wonder Copper chucks his head in the air and complains when my hands drop too low…  Thumbs up, hands above the whithers, steady as she goes!

See ya!

bonita

Training Tip: Legs on

I was doing some show jumping with Copper and he was racing around like a manic…  So what else is new?  The frustrating thing was that I knew he could do better than that, so I figured the problem had to be me.
Well, it turns out I was right.  I had forgotten the old adage ~ use strong legs on a fast horse and infrequent, but strong and demanding legs on a lazy horse.

With a horse that rushes it’s really easy to get into the habit of riding with a light, barely~there contact through your calves and heels.  However, this is actually counterproductive if you wish to slow the horse down because as soon as you apply any pressure for an aid, the horse will automatically speed up, and not necessarily listen to your aid.  Putting your legs on the horse {gently pressing them against his sides without squeezing} will, in time, desensitize him to the touch, and help him to balance through the corners so that he doesn’t have to rush them. 

I also found that a strong leg and seat on Copper while he was jumping steadied him and helped him to slow down.  It gave him confidence so he didn’t have to rush, and made my half halt far more effective, thus creating impulsion{controlled power}, not speed. 

Trouble Shooting:  If you are applying your leg to your horse and he is still rushing around, try sitting deeper in the saddle by pushing your shoulders up and back at the same time and slowing the motion of your hips.  If you move slowly in the saddle, say at a trot, slower than what your horse is going, you will encourage him to slow down as well. 
Don’t forget that training a horse not to race is a long process, and you will need to be consistent with using you legs and your body to slow his tempo {how fast he walks, trots, canters} down.   You can also use circles to encourage him to slow down.  The smaller the circle the hard he has to work to stay balanced and moving forward.  It may be hard work for you too, but it’s worth it!

See ya!

bonita

Training Tip: Slow him down

It’s all to do with the breed, but just like TBs, Standardbreds tend to have the same need for speed ~ at least my fellow does!  When I put Copper into a canter, he tends to race around like a mindless idiot, not paying the slightest bit of attention to me.  Hello!  I’m the rider here! 

If you have the same problem as me with your pony or horse, you can try this neat little trick for getting their attention and asking them to soften.  Working on a 20 meter circle, you use your rein aid to ask your horse to flex out {i.e., move his head a little to the outside} while keeping your legs in the same position, that is, the inside leg on the girth and the outside leg behind the girth.

You ask them to do this for two or three strides {either in walk, trot or canter} alternating sides.  For example, I am working on the left rein.  I ask Copper to flex in by applying my inside leg and rein.   I hold him like that for a count of three, then apply my outside leg and rein to cause him to move his head {from the poll} out.  I only want to see a little bit of his eye when I ask him to flex out or his body will come off the 20 meter circle and he will lose the flexion. 

This flexing technique works marvellously at getting his attention when cantering ~ it’s not too hard that he can’t do it even though he’s only just beginning his canter work, but it’s just enough to get him thinking and slowing down.

Trouble Shooting:  If you are only using a tiny bit of rein and your horse is still trying to peel off the circle when you ask him to flex out, try asking him to flex out when you are going past the wall side of the arena.  He will have no where to go, so he should get the picture!

See ya!

bonita