Canter Influence

Infuencing the walk and trot is fairly straight forward.  Influencing the canter is another matter.  The canter can be influenced the most at the point of engagement.

First and formost is finding the point of engagement.  When the horse canters he starts out with his outside hind leg followed by the diagonal pair of the inside hind and outside front and finishing with the inside front leg.  At the point where the inside front leg hits the ground the rider will find their hips in the forward position.  This is the point of engagement or where most of the influence happens in the canter.  It is at this point where the rider must apply leg to ask for another canter stride and can apply a half halt in the rein for collection.

First lets talk about longitudinal influence.  It is common for a horse to either canter too quickly or too slowly, most of them do not land just right in the longitudinal balance.  Count your lucky stars if they do! 

A horse that canters too quickly could use help with balance.  To help a horse balance and slow down its canter, the rider should resist with the muscles in their torso and lower back during the time the horse is swinging them forward and then half halt in the reins when their hips have been fully swung forward.  Along with the half halt the rider applies lower leg to the horse to ask for another stride.  The half halt and the leg happen at the same moment.  Then when your hips are swinging back freely follow with your hips.  This will help your horse slow down and balance better.  Be very careful to only flex your horses neck slightly, if you overbend your horses neck, your horse will have trouble balancing longitudinally. 

As your horse progresses and is later in his training expected to have a more uphill balance to his canter, you will want to modify your upper body support of his balance a little.  For example, when your horse canters uphill, your hips will not swing back past your shoulders, they will swing from the vertical line forward.  You can help your horse further collect by only allowing your hips to swing as far back as your shoulders.  So your torso swings forward and upward to help your horse stay collected.  It feels like you are doing situps but the horse is the part that comes forward and up in his canter.

For a horse that is too slow or sticky in its canter, the rider can push at the point of engagement and then swing their hips stronger than the horse swings them.  The hip is in addition to the leg, not instead of it.

A few other points of interest is that when asking the horse to turn in the canter, the rider must ask at the point of engagement when the rider has its leg on for another stride.  So when asking for a turn, the rider asks when his leg is on the horse.  This is the most effective way to ask.  Asking for a turn while confirming forward makes for a better turn.

When asking for a down transition, it is also best to ask at the point of engagement.  If the rider asks at that moment the horse swings itself into its best balance as it comes down to the trot, walk or halt.

Happy riding!

Let the Show Season Begin!

Every year about April in Wisconsin the final plans fall into place for which shows I want to go to for the season.  I talk with students and coordinate schedules.  But more importantly than scheduling the shows is deciding which level you want to show your horse.

Remember that you will be nervous at the horse show or your horse may get a little stressed at the show.  Think about showing a level under where you are schooling at home.  That way you can manage show nerves for you and your horse without pushing or overstressing. 

With gas prices as high as they are, staying close to home does make everything more affordable.

The training changes too.  We do not push for more as much as we push the horses to get really good at what they will have to show.  Getting good at the level that is being shown is worth it in the long run.  Even though it seems like the horse is not making progress, they really are.  They are getting very comfortable and strong with the required balance.  In dressage making a jump from one level to the next is alot about balance. 

Have a great season everyone!

Lengthening or Extending the Trot

Lengthening or extending the trot is not just about sending your horse forward and hoping for the best. It is a combination of two things. The abitilty of the horse to hold his longitudinal balance and lengthen his strides at the same time. To start teaching your horse to lengthen his trot start by assigning a number to his prefered trot. For example, you could assign it a 5 and say o.k. this is his normal trot. Then work to create transitions within the trot. Try to ask with a half halt (downward transition that is not completed - but functions to improve the longitudinal balance) to have a slower more elevated trot. Then allow him to return to his prefered trot (number 5). You have already created a little range in his trot. The next step is to push him forward to lengthen his trot to a number 6 trot. This number 6 trot is a little longer without getting quicker. As a rider be very careful not to allow the tempo speed to increase. If the speed of the steps increase, then the lengthen is decreased. When the horse speeds up his trot he is dropping his energy lower to the ground in front and cannot lengthen. The 1/2 halt is what keeps the horse balanced in his back longitudinally. So in a nutshell, a lengthening is a blend between a down transition and an up transition. When you are posting slow down your posting and add leg at the same time. The slower posting helps the longitudinal balance and the extra leg asks for the lengthening. If your horse rushes and gets quick you need less leg and more emphasis on the slow posting. If you get no forward response you have to increase your leg. Remember at the beginning we are trying to create range 4 to 6. Later for an advanced horse he will Piaff at number 1 and be in full blown extension at number 10. When sitting the trot and asking for a lengthening you add leg and increase your stomach and lower back resistance. Blend these aids so you get longer strides without getting quicker strides. Spend the first week just working towards 4 to 6 and then try to take your horse to 3 - 7 the next week. By the time you have a range of 3 to 7 you will have some lengthening and some collection. You will be surprised. Also, if your horse has a vacation, gradually go back into the lengthenings to allow him to regain his strength and flexibility. Lengthening is a combination of strength and flexibility. He needs to be strong enough in his back and torso to hold his longitudinal balance while being flexible enough to lengthen his strides. Have a great ride every day! Karen

Clarity

Clarity in riding sounds simple but can really be a hard to achieve. Many people believe that they should use only one aid at a time. For example, just a rein aid or just a leg or just some support in the riders body. The truth is that most of the time riders blend their aids and are then way more clear to their horse.

This is a big deal in young horses or a horse that is confused for any reason. In a young horse the rider may ask the horse to move sideways off their leg and as a result the horse looses longitudinal balance and then rushes an gets on the forhand. The young horse scared him or herself. The horse then thinks that moving off the leg laterally is difficult and will be resistant to doing that movement. If your young horse has a tendency to rush when asked to move sideways, the best thing you can do to help him or her is to blend your aids.

A horse that rushes when moving sideways benefits if the rider uses his or her body to post slower than the horse wants to travel to help the horse maintain longitudinal balance while moving sideways. Longitudinal balance really does help the horse stay quiet and focused on his or her job. I am not suggesting that the rider always hold the horse up. I am suggesting the rider show the horse where to go and then move out of the way. The horse learns from the softness after the balance correction, not during the correction.

The other aid to blend while traveling sideways is the rein aid. If the rein restricts the shoulder too much the haunches of the horse will lead the sideways movement which will disturb the lateral balance. If the rider leads too much with the reins the horse will lead with his shoulders and not really engage in any sideways movement. The reins really have to be blended well with the legs to keep the horse aligned and evenly bent for basic lateral movement. Again the horse learns during the release of the aid that he or she did the right thing.

The combination of a supporting rider torso and rein aids help show the horse how to balance longitudinally. The combination of the leg and rein aids keep your horse evenly bent and aligned. Alignment and longitudinal balance are critical to the horse if he or she is going to develop confidence in their work. Take care of them both and your horse will relax into the work happily.

Blend your aids for clairity. Show your horse what you want and thank him or her often by softening your aids.

Riding Inside the Muscle

Riding inside the muscle of the horse is a concept that is very hard to explain but very worth taking the time to learn how to do. When you ride if your lower body from your hips down is a part of the horse's barrel - a continuation really, then you are in a position to ride inside the horse's muscle.

It takes much more than a quiet seat, it takes blending of the aids to ride inside the horse. The first part of my journey to ride inside of the muscle started at Charles deKunfy clinics. In those clinics we were riding advanced movements , extensions, flying changes, canter pirouettes, and passage with no stirrups. This made me really good at feeling the muscle of the horse and predicting movement as a result of what I was feeling. I will always be grateful for this information. The other thing that was talked about rather at length was isometric stiffness. What that means is controlling the upper body enough that as a rider your upper body was quiet.

Now years later I think I have a better understanding of riding inside the muscle. I think it includes the blending of the lower body being so close to the horse you can feel the muscles changing. The rider must be willing to use the legs to affect lateral balance and understand how to blend the leg aids with torso control and the rein aids.

The key to riding with great feel is to know how to blend the above and what combinations of blending are required to solve what is going on underneath the rider. I wish someone could have explained that to me as a younger rider but I am also thankful for the people who have been giving that information to me over the years in pieces.

Lunge line lessons are a great help and can move that process along faster. Slow down folks and invest in some lunge line lessons. Riding inside the muscle is hard. Performing the advanced dressage movements is way easier. If you want to do it with elegance, work on yourself. Your horse will thank you and ultimately progress faster.

Goodbye Can Be a Great New Beginning

Today I sold a horse called Shrek but I think he is going to get a new name "Snickers". He is a 10 year old gelding that is a great guy that knows basic dressage. He is super honest and loves attention. His new owner "Sarah" is so excited and I am excited for her. I think they are going to have a great time growing together.

Congrats Sarah and Snickers, best wishes for a great 2011!

Shoulder Influence - you can't ride well without it.

Shoulder influence is not talked about very often but really should be.

In the most basic way the ability to influence the shoulder is required to be sure you can ride your horse on purpose from point A to point B. And maybe it would be easier to think of shoulder influence as front end influence.

When riding the horse it should be evenly bent from the tail to the ears. When you are riding that can be really hard to judge. The most common mistake is not having influence on the horse's neck or shoulder area. The horse either over bends its neck to the inside or counter bends.

If the horse overbends to the inside, it will feel like its shoulder is stuck on the wall and you will have a harder time starting a circle. On the otherhand if the horse is carrying his neck to the outside the rider will talk about the horse falling in on their inside leg.

I have actually stoped asking riders to bend the horse's neck. I have actually started asking them to flex the horses neck (about 1") and then if they need to turn the horse's front end to move both reins with equal pressure to the direction they would like to move the horse. This really helps if the rider then also pushes the horse with their legs. Really the reins act as a frame in and the legs push the horse into the frame the reins have established.

If a rider overbends the horse to the inside or counterbends the horse to the outside the shoulder is free to do whatever it wants and more often than not - the shoulder blocks the goal of the rider.

The hint is ride the whole front end of the horse for better shoulder influence!

Enjoy your horse every single ride!