When you and the horse are warmed up you will feel that you are ready to do more.
Often at this point the missing ingredient is attention and focus, so I find that after warming up and loosening in all 3 paces it is useful to return to what I call “Pilates” for horses. This work is in walk. It gives both horse and rider time to concentrate, prepare and think about their balance. Exercises will include transitions between lateral movements – eg on a square; one side, shoulder-in; next side, travers; then shoulder-in etc. Leg-yielding along the wall. Walk-halt-walk transitions. Sometimes with rein-back. Frequent changes of direction. Frequent changes of frame eg from a square in lateral work to going large in free walk, change rein, commence square again.
I find that this work connects, controls and engages the horse’s brain and hind legs and invariably I find him seeking my hand. It does the same for the rider. The need to “align and release” before and after each transition is good for me. The lateral work collects energy that is released in the active forwards work of free walk and straight lines. The effect is calming and harmonious and works with all types of horses and riders. Fizzy horses calm-down and concentrate, more laid back ones create energy with less effort! It is rewarding to all.
Some riders say that walk work switches their horses off. I can imagine that walk work without a pattern could do this but effectiveness in this exercise depends on the frequency of change. The rider must not switch off either!
I find that lateral work, performed in this way, collects energy in the horse. We saw in Chapter 7 how we need to collect energy and use it efficiently when we ride.
This is why we use collecting movements before we extend (or develop) a pace. Examples:
-Shoulder-in prior to medium strides on the diagonal
-Small circle before medium strides on the long side
Bringing the horse up - Changing the outline
We can’t bring the horse up by hauling with our hands! The horse’s head and neck come up as his whole posture changes, to enable him to balance…you can best see this on the lunge when we spiral the circle in. To balance, the horse will have to shorten his frame and raise his head and neck. A small circle, well executed, will always have this effect. Once the neck is “up” the rider can adjust her reins to maintain the same feel as before on a shorter rein.
How does the horse know to retain this outline when we move out of the small circle? The rider maintains the same feel through her seat! The old classicists call this “bracing the back” but basically it is about controlling the pelvis. Allowing less energy to flow through forwards, whilst maintaining the same total energy level, gives more up!
Consistency
The process of assessment, deciding what to work on, intervening and reassessing now commences. It is very important to be consistent throughout.
Consistency means being disciplined and sticking to the rules of correction and reward. Correction is often repetition or a stronger aid. Reward can be praise or maybe a break and a stretch.
It is about knowing when to be tougher…and having the confidence to be clear. If there is no physical reason that the horse cannot do as you are asking it is better to make a large and deliberate correction and then give. Ignoring the problem does not make it go away.
The subject of developing exercises to tackle certain desired improvements has been well covered by other authors. For completeness I have enclosed a few exercises that I have found work well for me, and which I use a lot:
Re-balancing:
Reduce pace (eg trot to walk); circle; half-halt; on lunge – smaller circle.
Increasing engagement of hind legs
Transitions; circle; shoulder in; leg yield; rein-back; work with poles.
Improving extensions
Increase engagement; prepare through collection.
Freeing tight shoulders
Big stretch on a circle (giving with outside rein); Spanish walk; spiralling.
Freeing hinds
Leg-yield along the wall, giravolta (see Paul Belasik “Dressage for the 21st Century (7)).
Increasing attention
“Pilates” work in walk, transitions, work in hand.
Increasing impulsion
Transitions; canter; alternating work and stretch.
Improving quality of transitions
Anticipation by using the same place to ask for the transition; wall; circle.
Straightening
Shoulder-in, circles.
Better straight lines
Ensure adequate energy collection then release it towards a fixed point.
Calming
Meditation (long periods standing still); quiet work in walk; stretching in trot.
Suppling
Changes of rein; shallow loops; circles; serpentines; varying outline – stretching with nose still on/in front of vertical and not below shoulder height.
Forward and down
The Shoulder-In volte (see Theresa Sandin’s website (16) for a full explanation of this); use of corners.
Up
Correctly executed downwards transitions; spiral in on a circle; adopting a controlling seat (engaging the clutch). The horse’s head comes up as he changes his whole posture – this creates a loop in the rein that we can remove without changing the feel in our hand.
Exercise:
Choose a set of movements eg 10m circle, shoulder-in, halt etc. Then research and answer the following questions for each movement:
How to get it right?
What it does for the horse?
What it does for the rider?
What other movements it would help to prepare for?