If riding dressage was not difficult enough, add to the equation the emotional requirements for doing it well. Lets talk about the emotional state that is optimal for the horse to learn and be emotionally healthy.
Lets say there is a scale from one to ten. One is completely passive and ten is extremely aggressive. The number five is neutral. Horses do the best mentally if the rider uses the emotional range from 3 to 7.
That is the easy part. Deciding where to be on the scale is the hard part. For example, if the horse is frightened, most of the time it is advisable to get quieter or use the gentle side of your emotional range. However, if your horse is frightened and physically in your space, you must increase your emotional state or assertiveness. For me when I do not know the horse very well, I gradually change my emotional state to see if it helps the horse. If the horse's behavior becomes worse I will reverse my emotional state and go the other way.
This is why it is confusing. Some horses use stress to control the ride or the interaction. I always respond to what looks like fear with a softer emotional state at first. I keep careful track of the horse's response. If the horse improves then super! If not. then he is controlling the interaction through his stress. If the horse responds with more stress you know you have gone in the wrong direction. Then the rider must increase their emotional state towards being assertive instead.
Then there is the horse that is just a bit challenging (easier to read). The rider simply needs to go up the emotional scale to assertiveness. The rider needs to not hold a grudge and needs to then return immediately to neutral when the behavior improves. A neutral emotional state is acceptance. Acceptance is a reward.
If this is not difficult enough, then the rider needs to be able to access their emotional state easily between three and seven. But people have personalities and preferences of their own. People have preferences on the emotional scale that they like to use. It is extremely hard to teach yourself the part of the scale that makes you uncomfortable. Some people are simply very nice and like to use their neutral and lower emotional scale. Others are matter of fact and would just like to get it done and are comfortable using the neutral and higher assertive part of their emotional scale.
Horses quite simply need us as riders to use both sides of the emotional scale when we ride. So the bottom line is that it does not matter which side of the emotional scale you prefer to use as a rider, your horse needs both. So in the end, all of us learning how to ride well, are uncomfortable as we learn to use the emotional scale. To do this we need to learn the emotional piece we are weaker at.
Give yourself a break and understand where you naturally fall on the emotional scale. Then try to teach yourself to use the whole range when you ride. The start is knowing where you are emotionally and what you need to be for your horse. Remember your preferred state is very helpful is some situations, just be sure to learn the entire scale.
There is no right or wrong emotional preference, just awareness and then education on what to use when.
Have a great time with your horse!
Monday, March 11, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Setting Limits That Improve Your Relationship With Your Horse
There are some people that are just plain nice people. They want to find only positive ways to interact with their horses. This can work most of the time but not all of the time.
If you have a horse that bites, it is your responsibility to resolve that issue. Many times I think this issue starts when the horse is a foal. Foals can be really oral and some of them will lick the people handling them. At that point just pushing their noses away can be enough. If you do not address it at that point, it becomes biting and then eventually the horse sees it as a fun game. This horse has become a problem. If you watch the herd, many horses play biting games with each other and the looser backs up. So if you have a biting issue you need to back that horse up every time it tries to bite or exhibits pre-biting behavior like putting his lips close to your body. This has to be a consistent fix every time the horse is handled.
Then there is the issue of a horse that pretends to be afraid of the mounting block. When I say this I do not mean a young horse that has never seen one I mean an adult horse that has been up to one hundreds or times. The handler must drive horse towards the block and reward the horse for going up to the block. This can be done forward or backwards. This pretend fear is the horse checking in to see if you are really his or her leader.
Space issues are important, if your horse is afraid and shies into you instead of away from you it just plain is not safe. I know a woman that was leading her horse and he became frightened and shied into her. I do not know if he just knocked her down or knocked her down and ran her over. I never heard the details. What I did hear is that she had a fractured skull. What I am trying to say is that it does not matter why your horse is scared, he or she is not allowed in your space when they are frightened. This is a safety issue. The difference in weight and size makes it dangerous for that to be the case. Petting the horse when is frightened, is o.k. if the horse is respecting your space. But if the horse is shying into you or kicking at you, petting is not the best idea. Enforcing your space is number one and you can follow up with petting once the horse respects your space.
Further, expanding on space issues is the importance of the horse moving its shoulder away from the handler when asked. Horses rarely shy into a person all of a sudden. They usually are too close to the handler in their shoulder area for quite some time and then it becomes critical in a scary situation. I know ground work can be boring but it is really an important piece.
If you look at setting limits as helping the horse, I think it will help if you are a kind hearted person. The horse who can walk quietly and politely next to the human without crowding them or biting them will have an easier time interacting with people. If you help the horse become human friendly, the horse will have a better chance to have a stable productive life.
If you have a horse that bites, it is your responsibility to resolve that issue. Many times I think this issue starts when the horse is a foal. Foals can be really oral and some of them will lick the people handling them. At that point just pushing their noses away can be enough. If you do not address it at that point, it becomes biting and then eventually the horse sees it as a fun game. This horse has become a problem. If you watch the herd, many horses play biting games with each other and the looser backs up. So if you have a biting issue you need to back that horse up every time it tries to bite or exhibits pre-biting behavior like putting his lips close to your body. This has to be a consistent fix every time the horse is handled.
Then there is the issue of a horse that pretends to be afraid of the mounting block. When I say this I do not mean a young horse that has never seen one I mean an adult horse that has been up to one hundreds or times. The handler must drive horse towards the block and reward the horse for going up to the block. This can be done forward or backwards. This pretend fear is the horse checking in to see if you are really his or her leader.
Space issues are important, if your horse is afraid and shies into you instead of away from you it just plain is not safe. I know a woman that was leading her horse and he became frightened and shied into her. I do not know if he just knocked her down or knocked her down and ran her over. I never heard the details. What I did hear is that she had a fractured skull. What I am trying to say is that it does not matter why your horse is scared, he or she is not allowed in your space when they are frightened. This is a safety issue. The difference in weight and size makes it dangerous for that to be the case. Petting the horse when is frightened, is o.k. if the horse is respecting your space. But if the horse is shying into you or kicking at you, petting is not the best idea. Enforcing your space is number one and you can follow up with petting once the horse respects your space.
Further, expanding on space issues is the importance of the horse moving its shoulder away from the handler when asked. Horses rarely shy into a person all of a sudden. They usually are too close to the handler in their shoulder area for quite some time and then it becomes critical in a scary situation. I know ground work can be boring but it is really an important piece.
If you look at setting limits as helping the horse, I think it will help if you are a kind hearted person. The horse who can walk quietly and politely next to the human without crowding them or biting them will have an easier time interacting with people. If you help the horse become human friendly, the horse will have a better chance to have a stable productive life.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Shoulder In - What it does for your horse
Today three of the young horses were worked. Two mares and a gelding. Both of the mares are a little farther along than the gelding. Samantha Wagner rides our young horses and today we played with shoulder-In on all three of them. It was interesting to see the reactions of each horse based on their temperaments and their physical attributes.
When we teach young horses to walk, trot and canter and even leg yield, they can travel with the base of their legs in a wider fashion. Nature tells them if they keep their base wider that they are more physically stable. Before shoulder in is introduced, there must be a basic amount of trust from the horse towards the rider. This is because shoulder In narrows the base of the horse. A horse with a narrower base can start to collect and carry itself on its back end a little more. But a horse with a more narrow base must trust its rider at least somewhat. Because as the horse narrows its base and performs shoulder in, he or she is less physically stable side to side but is using their hind quarters better.
The first mare is a rather wide built mare that is strong but not laterally flexible. She is independent in her thoughts and a little opinionated. We started the shoulder in in the trot so she could feel the stretch but also have enough forward thrust that if she disagreed with her rider - she could still successfully be pushed forward so she could be rewarded.
The second mare was also a wide muscular horse that is a bit shy and timid. We introduced the shoulder in on this mare in the walk because if she gets stressed out she likes to slow things down and think about them. Then when the rider tries a second time she is likely to try harder. She did well in the walk and struggled a little in the trot. The struggle was not independent thinking but rather the result of a muscular horse that can stretch only so far the first day.
The gelding was the least trained but he is a TB/warmblood cross. So he has a narrower base to begin with. He is a confident young man so we started the shoulder In at the trot. He found his way there on the first try on both sides. The reason he had it easier was because of how he is put together.
If you are working with your horse and they have a blocky build, remember that lateral movements will be slower when you start teaching them but will help the quality of the horses movement. Many horses are strong but not flexible, if this describes your horse lateral movements will help loosen them. Others are flexible but not strong. Weirdly, lateral movements also help them. The act of using their hind quarters more using shoulder in improves their strength.
When we teach young horses to walk, trot and canter and even leg yield, they can travel with the base of their legs in a wider fashion. Nature tells them if they keep their base wider that they are more physically stable. Before shoulder in is introduced, there must be a basic amount of trust from the horse towards the rider. This is because shoulder In narrows the base of the horse. A horse with a narrower base can start to collect and carry itself on its back end a little more. But a horse with a more narrow base must trust its rider at least somewhat. Because as the horse narrows its base and performs shoulder in, he or she is less physically stable side to side but is using their hind quarters better.
The first mare is a rather wide built mare that is strong but not laterally flexible. She is independent in her thoughts and a little opinionated. We started the shoulder in in the trot so she could feel the stretch but also have enough forward thrust that if she disagreed with her rider - she could still successfully be pushed forward so she could be rewarded.
The second mare was also a wide muscular horse that is a bit shy and timid. We introduced the shoulder in on this mare in the walk because if she gets stressed out she likes to slow things down and think about them. Then when the rider tries a second time she is likely to try harder. She did well in the walk and struggled a little in the trot. The struggle was not independent thinking but rather the result of a muscular horse that can stretch only so far the first day.
The gelding was the least trained but he is a TB/warmblood cross. So he has a narrower base to begin with. He is a confident young man so we started the shoulder In at the trot. He found his way there on the first try on both sides. The reason he had it easier was because of how he is put together.
If you are working with your horse and they have a blocky build, remember that lateral movements will be slower when you start teaching them but will help the quality of the horses movement. Many horses are strong but not flexible, if this describes your horse lateral movements will help loosen them. Others are flexible but not strong. Weirdly, lateral movements also help them. The act of using their hind quarters more using shoulder in improves their strength.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Basic Dressage and the Training Pyramid
I have been reminded about the dressage training pyramid lately. I just gave a beginning dressage lesson and have also been working with a young horse via another rider.
In the lesson the rider has to be able to start somewhere. So even though rhythm and relaxation are on the base of the pyramid, things like connection, impulsion, straightness and collection are also needed but are not considered the base of the training. This horse in my recent lesson is an Arab gelding and is willing to move out. So in addressing rhythm and relaxation we worked on a couple of things. We worked on walk halt transitions and trot walk transitions. From there we worked on half halts and having the horse understand to follow his rider and find his steady relaxed tempo from there. This worked really quite well.
This horse also liked to over bend his neck and leave his body straight and that would disrupt his balance. So the other thing I had his rider work on was to keep his neck fairly straight with only a slight bend and then push him with her legs. This is a straightness issue that helped rhythm and relaxation - so even though it is higher on the training scale, we worked on it as well. One of the easiest ways to get the horse to start steering from your legs is to do some spiral in and out on a 20 meter circle. We did that and talked about even bending.
Another horse however, (a Quarab mare), likes to go crooked and fast and rush or sometimes stall out. This mare really needs the up and down transitions and needs to follow the rider in her tempo. The rider was worried about her straightness and I agree that straightness is important - but being relatively straight is enough at first. It seems like if the rhythm and relaxation is addressed first that the straightness will come. Perfectly straight is a goal that is critical as you go up the levels. At first a basic relative straightness will be functional enough.
Each horse has its preferred way of going or of solving problems. It is fun to help them all come to the middle ground and be more fun to ride.
In the lesson the rider has to be able to start somewhere. So even though rhythm and relaxation are on the base of the pyramid, things like connection, impulsion, straightness and collection are also needed but are not considered the base of the training. This horse in my recent lesson is an Arab gelding and is willing to move out. So in addressing rhythm and relaxation we worked on a couple of things. We worked on walk halt transitions and trot walk transitions. From there we worked on half halts and having the horse understand to follow his rider and find his steady relaxed tempo from there. This worked really quite well.
This horse also liked to over bend his neck and leave his body straight and that would disrupt his balance. So the other thing I had his rider work on was to keep his neck fairly straight with only a slight bend and then push him with her legs. This is a straightness issue that helped rhythm and relaxation - so even though it is higher on the training scale, we worked on it as well. One of the easiest ways to get the horse to start steering from your legs is to do some spiral in and out on a 20 meter circle. We did that and talked about even bending.
Another horse however, (a Quarab mare), likes to go crooked and fast and rush or sometimes stall out. This mare really needs the up and down transitions and needs to follow the rider in her tempo. The rider was worried about her straightness and I agree that straightness is important - but being relatively straight is enough at first. It seems like if the rhythm and relaxation is addressed first that the straightness will come. Perfectly straight is a goal that is critical as you go up the levels. At first a basic relative straightness will be functional enough.
Each horse has its preferred way of going or of solving problems. It is fun to help them all come to the middle ground and be more fun to ride.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Straightness and ability to collect
I rode in a clinic this fall and have been working on the concept of straightness and collection ever since. I know many of you have read the theory about straightness and collection but I must tell you that if you are riding a very flexible horse the feeling of straightness and crookedness is not so black and white.
My advanced horse, Bacara has amazing flexibility. Her gaits are very good but I have had trouble with her back locking in the canter and she just raises her head and neck and calls it collection. So I have been having a goal to really focus on straightness and collection.
My test to determine if my horse is straight and collected has been to perform a canter pirouette. If Bacara is straight she can easily increase her collection to step under and around. If she is crooked, she has no chance. I am getting to the point that if I ask for a pirouette and it starts with a little bit of difficulty, that I can just swing her shoulders into position and solve the problem.
Oddly a simple warm up sets this up for success. In the trot and canter 20 meter circles I work on straightness by slightly counter-flexing Bacara's neck and pushing her haunches out a little. This is a straightening request - that has many benefits for the harder work as the ride progresses. The best benefit is Bacara's shoulder is way easier to adjust and place in front of the haunches. It almost feels like yoga for the shoulder.
I have taken several clinics with this mare over the years and the clinicians have all wanted her more uphill in the canter. This by far is the most kind and effective method I have ever been taught. Her back no longer gets "stuck" in canter collection.
Now if I could just get her trot as fancy as her canter. I think that may be another focus of a future clinic.
My advanced horse, Bacara has amazing flexibility. Her gaits are very good but I have had trouble with her back locking in the canter and she just raises her head and neck and calls it collection. So I have been having a goal to really focus on straightness and collection.
My test to determine if my horse is straight and collected has been to perform a canter pirouette. If Bacara is straight she can easily increase her collection to step under and around. If she is crooked, she has no chance. I am getting to the point that if I ask for a pirouette and it starts with a little bit of difficulty, that I can just swing her shoulders into position and solve the problem.
Oddly a simple warm up sets this up for success. In the trot and canter 20 meter circles I work on straightness by slightly counter-flexing Bacara's neck and pushing her haunches out a little. This is a straightening request - that has many benefits for the harder work as the ride progresses. The best benefit is Bacara's shoulder is way easier to adjust and place in front of the haunches. It almost feels like yoga for the shoulder.
I have taken several clinics with this mare over the years and the clinicians have all wanted her more uphill in the canter. This by far is the most kind and effective method I have ever been taught. Her back no longer gets "stuck" in canter collection.
Now if I could just get her trot as fancy as her canter. I think that may be another focus of a future clinic.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Accessing The Lower Neck For Collection
This weekend I took two horses to a Lientje Schueler clinic in Elk Mound, WI. Both horses are advanced enough to work on collected work. When asked what I wanted to work on while I was riding my first horse Bacara, I said I wanted to work on the quality of her canter. I stated that she had a good canter but when I collected it she left her back tense and lifted her neck. I needed a solution for canter collection that included her entire top line.
The first thing we did was work at the walk and trot to straighten the horse we counter bent her a little and pushed her haunches out to align her. Then we moved on to the canter and did the same. This really made a difference in her top line right away. She was already coming up a little better.
After the canter was straight we widened the reins and pushed her into collection. It seems that the horse was getting stuck in her lower neck and if I widened and lowered my reins a bit - I was able to collect her without her getting stuck there. When I say getting stuck there I really mean that she needed to lower her neck a little in front of her withers (to make the top line a continuous arc) and then lower her croup to obtain the canter collection. The difference in the canter collection and Bacara's ability to stay relaxed was super. I have a direction to go with her that will only make her more athletic in the canter.
Hazel was my other horse at this clinic. We did a very unique exercise. My most stuck spot on Hazel seems to be that she does not displace her ribcage very well. Especially to the Right. Hazel will swing her haunches slightly right or left to avoid bending in her ribcage. She is short coupled and muscular - so this is hard for her. The exercise that was unique was that I had a lung line attached to my riding boot. This was instant feedback if Hazel was trotting or cantering on a circle and she slid her haunches one way or another. Keeping a steady soft tension on the line was really quite difficult. I laughed and said the line tugging on my boot reminded me of a dog getting zapped with a shock collar when it went beyond its boundary. This was really quite effective for improving the bend and not letting the haunches drift.
An additional comment I have is that in the canter, if Hazel was at all stuck in her lower neck, widening and lowering my hands for a moment really helped a lot and her canter collection improved immediately.
The first thing we did was work at the walk and trot to straighten the horse we counter bent her a little and pushed her haunches out to align her. Then we moved on to the canter and did the same. This really made a difference in her top line right away. She was already coming up a little better.
After the canter was straight we widened the reins and pushed her into collection. It seems that the horse was getting stuck in her lower neck and if I widened and lowered my reins a bit - I was able to collect her without her getting stuck there. When I say getting stuck there I really mean that she needed to lower her neck a little in front of her withers (to make the top line a continuous arc) and then lower her croup to obtain the canter collection. The difference in the canter collection and Bacara's ability to stay relaxed was super. I have a direction to go with her that will only make her more athletic in the canter.
Hazel was my other horse at this clinic. We did a very unique exercise. My most stuck spot on Hazel seems to be that she does not displace her ribcage very well. Especially to the Right. Hazel will swing her haunches slightly right or left to avoid bending in her ribcage. She is short coupled and muscular - so this is hard for her. The exercise that was unique was that I had a lung line attached to my riding boot. This was instant feedback if Hazel was trotting or cantering on a circle and she slid her haunches one way or another. Keeping a steady soft tension on the line was really quite difficult. I laughed and said the line tugging on my boot reminded me of a dog getting zapped with a shock collar when it went beyond its boundary. This was really quite effective for improving the bend and not letting the haunches drift.
An additional comment I have is that in the canter, if Hazel was at all stuck in her lower neck, widening and lowering my hands for a moment really helped a lot and her canter collection improved immediately.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Friendly Game Gone Bad!
I had a unique experience to participate in a trainers challenge. What happened were that there were over 20 horses to be trained. Each trainer was assigned a horse to train and had about 140 days to do so.
Well the big day came and the people there were really quite into the western riding style so I of course was not a crowd favorite as a dressage rider. But the experience was fun none the less.
I have called this blog the friendly game gone bad but it could also be called desensitizing your horse gone bad. The winners of this challenge were of the reining persuasion with a bit of natural horsemanship thrown in. Let me say that I think the reserve champion should have won and I am going to tell you why.
The winner did a basic reining freestyle with a his horse getting on a pedestal at the end. His horse fell off from the pedestal and he basically fell off his horse at the same time. He pulled out a bull whip and cracked it repeatedly with rage. His horse cowered but stood still. I was pretty shocked and so were many of the women who witnessed this. This is by the very definition - not a good thing.
I do believe that helping your horse deal with random noises and random things does help them become more solid and not take things so personally. They start to understand that not everything is meant for them. If you have a particularly sensitive horse, you must start this desensitizing quietly and build trust and confidence from there. Once this is established you can increase to a more extreme type of desensitization for your horse. You know if you have over faced your horse if his eyes go dead or if he cowers. But for me I watch for sweating or increased heart rate and never go past that point. This is the fastest way to teach and build trust at the same time. Teaching must come before enforcement. If the trainer enforces before the teaching is complete - you decrease the trust which is something you really do not want to do.
I say this as the rider who placed first in the trail class at the trainers challenge. My horse trusted me completely. My techniques are a mix of natural horsemanship and Dressage (heavy on the dressage).
Well the big day came and the people there were really quite into the western riding style so I of course was not a crowd favorite as a dressage rider. But the experience was fun none the less.
I have called this blog the friendly game gone bad but it could also be called desensitizing your horse gone bad. The winners of this challenge were of the reining persuasion with a bit of natural horsemanship thrown in. Let me say that I think the reserve champion should have won and I am going to tell you why.
The winner did a basic reining freestyle with a his horse getting on a pedestal at the end. His horse fell off from the pedestal and he basically fell off his horse at the same time. He pulled out a bull whip and cracked it repeatedly with rage. His horse cowered but stood still. I was pretty shocked and so were many of the women who witnessed this. This is by the very definition - not a good thing.
I do believe that helping your horse deal with random noises and random things does help them become more solid and not take things so personally. They start to understand that not everything is meant for them. If you have a particularly sensitive horse, you must start this desensitizing quietly and build trust and confidence from there. Once this is established you can increase to a more extreme type of desensitization for your horse. You know if you have over faced your horse if his eyes go dead or if he cowers. But for me I watch for sweating or increased heart rate and never go past that point. This is the fastest way to teach and build trust at the same time. Teaching must come before enforcement. If the trainer enforces before the teaching is complete - you decrease the trust which is something you really do not want to do.
I say this as the rider who placed first in the trail class at the trainers challenge. My horse trusted me completely. My techniques are a mix of natural horsemanship and Dressage (heavy on the dressage).
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