Tempo

You are in control of your horses tempo. But sometimes you may be unaware how you are changing it. Heres a few tips:

Post....your posting gives the horse direction. Find the tempo you want with your posting and keep it in your mind. If your horse speeds up try not to speed your posting up with him. Or if he slows the tempo you keep the energy in your posting as you ask him gently to catch up to your tempo. A lot of people make the simple mistake of sitting to speed the horse up or worse hovering to slow the horse down...This will have the total opposite effect. Post through everything and always come back to that tempo you want with your post....your horse will follow.

Breathe....I know I say it all the time but nice even and slow breathing allows your horse to focus on your aids better. Especially with a horse that holds tension and tends to be too fast....relax and breathe....so will he.

Half halt.....half halt and re balance....usually with your outside hand (unless your horse is hanging and leaning on the inside hand...but thats a different issue) redirect that energy back to the hind end and off of the front end to keep the tempo. If your horse tends to slow the tempo down keep that outside hand SOLID and add outside leg....always finding the tempo with your posting first.

At the Canter.....sit still and allow the horse to move you...not the other way around. Find the tempo in your head and keep it there. Its like a heart beat. bum bum.....bum bum.....bum bum... not a heart beat after running a marathon :) Same thing applies...breath and recycle the energy with your outside hand. Everyone please remember to feel free to post questions on any blog!!!!!

Moving forward

I know many people who have 'lazy' horses and have asked what can I do to get them to move forward? Well first a few things must be addressed. Many horses lack impulsion and the will to move forward for quite a few different reasons. The first and most common is that the horse has a physiological issue, such as the saddle does not fit and is impinging the longissimus muscles. Or a hind end lameness of any sort, which could be very subtle. Second is that a horse who is not conditioned properly is not going to have the impulsion he would have in regular work and well conditioned. Thirdly and the problems that I will address in this blog are that the horse has become "dead" to the leg, or the riders actions of attempting to say "go" are actually saying "whoa". So for starters you should never ask your horse to go forward more then twice in a row as a general rule. So if you are constantly putting on leg to keep your horse at a specific gait, you are adding to the problem. Think of it this way...if you were trying to circle to the right and your horse continued on a straight line would you continue to just use your inside rein over and over again? I should hope not. You would check the way your asking and if your doing it correctly then turn up the volume sort of speak. So that's what we will do. First check your position and how you are asking them to engage their hind end. Any tension in your lower back or abdominal muscles is not allowing the horse to move forward. In the same token if your giving it all you've got with your legs, other then tensing your core you may also have tension in your shoulders or chest which also interferes with forward motion. So step one is to allow your body to relax and follow. Your shoulders,chest, back and core should not interfere with your horse when asking for impulsion. Keep you body following as you add leg. Now the next step is crucial! When the horse moves forward (and I dont care how slowly he is going, so long as he goes a little faster off your leg) you must must must let your leg relax completely! This is his reward for moving forward. Without that he will never know how to move off your leg. Ok so once those rider related issues are taken care of and you want to add leg again to get some more impulsion (and you are keeping your body elastic and following) and your horse does not respond you have to turn up the volume! We know he knows what your leg means and that he is at that moment choosing to ignore it. So you must carry a dressage whip and use it in an educated manner. The first time the horse does not move forward off you asking with a normal amount of pressure you add a firm and surprising swat with the whip, right at that moment. They should go forward immediately and with a rider who is not interfering with that impulsion and also praising them for that reaction. Now undoubtedly this impulsion wont last and you will find the need to ask again. So do so with your leg in a normal fashion and if they dont immediately go forward you immediately (and Im talking within one step) use the whip again. And praise. DO NOT ask more than once with your leg...they heard you the first time and ignored you. Within a very short period of time your horse will not need you to use the whip so often. They will put two and two together and become more sensitive to the leg. BUT you must be sure to do it exactly as I explained...always asking only once nicely and ALWAYS praising and following with your body. If it doesnt work within a few trys work on it with a trainer! Good luck!

Lift and open

Our goal is to have our horses lift and lighten the front of their bodies and thats exactly what we need to do with our bodies in order to get that message across. Many riders attempt to pull their horse "down" on to the bit. They end up with their shoulders rolled forward looking down and sometimes even with no flex in the elbow. What should be done first is a mental check list. Lift your body from the top of your head, roll your shoulders up and back, so you have a nice open chest and a bend in your elbow. Then BREATHE! Think of your chest as being high and weightless. Then get your connection and push the hind end forward into a lightened front end. When connecting the horse properly (once I have my contact and MY 'front end' light), I think of engaging the hind end FIRS.T Most importantly you are adding that energy with a closed outside hand. The energy moves from the leg into that hand and recycles back to the hind end again. If you add or push energy into no contact you get what? A faster horse and a down hill carriage. So we add energy to the back end, while asking the front end to stay up and open and relaxed as our chest and head and lungs are. It is SOOOO important that your shoulders do not come in front of the vertical if you expect your horse to lighten and lift his/her front end. They already carry more weight on the front legs and if you add your weight it is that much more difficult and confusing for them to lighten and shift their weight to the hind end.

Sometimes when you do all of this your horse will start to come behind the bit slightly as in this picture of Innamorada above performing piaffe. This mare has a sensitive mouth and sometimes will even back up in piaffe if you hold too much contact. What I suggest is that you simultaneously give with the reins from your elbow(without loosing your shoulder chest position) and add energy to the hind end. Usually that is enough to get the energy headed in the right direction although every horse is different and has different human created habits! Good luck...and stay light in your front end!

Rein Back...good winter exercise

Backing your horse can be an extremely beneficial exercise when done correctly. Backing up or walking down hill engages the muscles used for collection. It is also a great way to get your horses hips and pelvis loosened up and ready for wok. Be Sure you have your reins even in length and pressure. When you ask your horse to back up; sit back, sink your weight wrap your legs and evenly stretch back o your reins. When they take one step back release immediately and then you may ask again. If your horses haunches veer to the right you may have too much left hand or leg pressure and if they veer left vise versa. So straighten in the halt and try again. If you are having trouble using a wall on one side may help your horse initially. Everyone who is stuck without an indoor ring...this exercise can be done in hand as well! Stand directly in front of your horse to ensure that they back on a straight line. DONT over do it! If your horse isnt used to backing up start with a little and work your way up like any new exercise.

Minimize rein adjustments when jumping...

When jumping a course of obstacles students often make the mistake of shortening and lengthening their reins before and after every jump, which leaves a lot of room for error. When you are trotting or even cantering a single jump you may shorten your reins on your approach to the jump to be sure to maintain the same contact when in the air and then allow your reins to slide back to 'neutral' as you sit back into the saddle and bring your elbows back to your sides. HOWEVER...when jumping many jumps in a row this approach is no longer practical. To minimize adjustments throughout the course and thus eliminate the possibility of suddenly having too much or to little contact over the jumps this is what I recommend.....When picking up the canter to start the course I shorten my reins as much as I can while still keeping both seat bones in the saddle and my shoulders over my hips. This is important. Often I see riders shorten their reins to the point where they can no longer sit on the horse and this is when accidents happen (ie; horses leaning on their fore hand and tripping or riders being thrown over the horses head.) The bend in my elbow however is no longer there. So your hands will be hovering over the horses neck just about where they are going to be over the jump with nice elastic contact. Now as you approach the jump you can begin to stretch into your heels and close your hip angle bringing your shoulders to your hands. In essence your hands will barely move. And as you sit back after the jump you bring your shoulders back over your hips and soften your lower back in preparation to follow the motion of the canter and throughout all of this your hands are staying in the same general spot and able to maintain your contact and rein length with no adjustments. So to further clarify: looking at the picture above when I land over this jump the bend will come out of my elbow as I bring my shoulders back ,but my hands will stay out in front of me and that nice contact that I have now will stay exactly the same. This will allow my horse to do his job and be able to rely on my even consistent support rather than hindrance. Although it looks in this picture as though I will not be able to sit down with this rein length remember that the horses neck is stretched out ove rthe jump and as I sit back he will in essence 'sit back' as well. Remember to feel free to post questions or comments!

Lateral movements.....

Lateral movement is often done wrong...or I should say its done in a manner that is not beneficial to your horse or your connection to your horse. First off it should feel fluid and easy...if it doesn't you may be trying to hard or asking for too much too soon. When starting with a simple leg yield I tell my students to go through a check list.....first make sure you have a solid connection with your outside rein and establish a slight inside bend making sure your horse is light in the inside hand....shift your weight into the seat bone in the direction you wish your horse to move and then add pressure with your inside leg from the hip down to the heel. You ask for the lateral movement with a pulse of that leg in the rhythm of your trot. When teaching your horse the leg yield it helps to open your inside hand so as to make sure they keep a nice inside bend. If at anytime your horse changes speed or losses the connection in the outside hand getting crooked....STOP the lateral movement by wrapping both legs around your horse and pushing him into even supple contact in both hands until you re establish your tempo and inside bend. If you are having trouble wait to practice with your trainer or practice at the walk until it becomes second nature to you both.