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| July 1, 2008 The First 5 Rules of Dressage, According to Your Horse
1. If you are having a bad day, please don’t take it out on me.
Before you get on, take a personal inventory. What is your emotional state? How do you feel physically?
Where your head is at and how you are able to function physically will greatly impact your ride, in either a positive or negative manner. Be fair to your horse, and don’t expect him to compensate for your possible shortcomings. If you are out of sorts, reduce your expectations for yourself and your mount, or stay off altogether.
2. Shall we start at the beginning?
You should, every day, every ride. After an adequate warm-up, begin with the basics and work progressively towards the more difficult exercises.
This also applies to the big picture. Dressage is a progressive system of riding based on creating a solid basic foundation. If you haven’t taken the time to create that foundation, don’t expect your horse to be able to perform any movement that is not in a training level test!
3. Gimme a break!
Or two, or three. Your horse needs it, you probably do also. A 1-2 minute break for every 5-10 minutes of ride time is imperative to your horse’s physical development. Just as with any athlete, the muscles need an opportunity to re-oxygenate.
The break time, ride time ratio will vary, depending on how fit your horse is. And remember, if you are huffing and puffing and are not able to keep up with him, you are hindering him. Take a break!
4. Let’s keep it short and sweet.
Keep your ride, from the moment you mount until the moment you dismount to one hour or less. Yes, this includes your warm up and your cool down. Most horses are only able to process the information we are giving (mentally and physically) for about 30 minutes. Anything after that is usually a waste of time, and may even be contributing to making your horse sour.
Two exceptions….if you are working on a specific issue, don’t stop just because time is up. Continue until your horse is able to improve (not perfect) his performance. And naturally, if you are able to take a nice relaxing hack or ride out on the trail after training, by all means, stay on.
5. Tell me how fabulous I am.
Always try to end your training portion of the ride by doing something you and your horse are sure to be successful at. Make sure you reward your horse either verbally or physically with a nice stroke and a pat. This will not only help him understand that he has performed well, but instill in him trust and confidence in his rider. JW July 8, 2008 Five more rules of Dressage
1. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
In several ways. Prepare yourself by having a plan for your training session before you get on. Then make sure you are mentally and physically ready. Clear your head, stretch, whatever you need to do to make sure you are 100% available.
Prepare your horse for his training session by warming him up adequately. He should be relaxed and supple, but still have plenty of energy for the rest of the ride.
During every moment of the ride, prepare your horse for what you will be asking of him next.
Always ask for the best quality of gait your horse is capable of….always.
Prepare for your transitions both up and down by using correct half halts (that’s another article). How long it takes your horse to complete the transition will depend on his fitness and level of training, but regardless, it is up to you to prepare for and create the transitions.
Always make sure you have the correct balance and quality of gait before asking your horse to perform any movement or figure, from a twenty meter circle to a pirouette.
2. Please don’t make me do that AGAIN!
Scenario number one; you and your horse are coming along, and have finally learned to create a solid shoulder in together. You have started to work on half-pass, and have had some success, you are able to half-pass a few steps, but he always falls apart before the quarter line. Time and time again, to no avail……
STOP! If you and your horse are not able to improve your performance after the third or fourth attempt, stop. Get someone to assist you in evaluating the problem. Continuing to repeat incorrect performance only trains your horse to perform incorrectly.
Scenario number two; you and your horse have mastered the single flying change. He loves to do them and you love to ride them. They are big, round and have plenty of jump-what fun! In fact, you are having so much fun doing them, you repeatedly travel across the diagonal changing at the rail.
You might be having fun, but your horse may be getting somewhat confused and probably very tired. After performing a movement correctly, make sure you praise your horse. He needs to know he has pleased you. Confirm the movement if you like, again making sure you praise your horse if correctly performed. Then, be done with it and move on to something new.
3. The Daily Grind….routine at its best.
While doing the same old thing day after day may bore you and your horse to death, there is something to be said for having a basic routine. Horses learn more quickly when there is a routine where things are done in a certain order.
Let’s use the analogy of learning the alphabet. When you were young, you were taught to recite it (often in a song) in a certain order, beginning with ‘a’ and ending with ‘z’. You started out only memorizing a few letters, in order, and eventually you were able to recite all 26 letters…again in order.
Once you knew the alphabet, you started to learn to spell simple words, and as you became older your vocabulary eventually became what it is now. But, every word you know is from that 26 letter alphabet which you practiced reciting almost daily as a child.
So, let’s think of your horse’s alphabet as walk, trot, canter and halt. Everything he does in the dressage arena is based on variations of those four “letters”.
I believe you will find if you ask some of the top dressage riders, that they begin every ride by asking their horses to recite their “alphabet”, in order, during the warm up. For young horses, they may go on to spell the simple words during their training session. More advanced horses will be adding to the simple words to increase their vocabulary.
On a larger scale, the training should also come in a certain order, or routine if you will. Before you attempt half pass on any given day, you should confirm the shoulder in (often this can be done in the warm up). Before the flying changes come counter canter, walk-canter-walk transitions, and simple changes. These are just a few examples.
If you are in doubt about the order, look to your dressage tests. They will definitely let you
know how large your horse’s vocabulary should be at any given level.
4. What do you mean? That’s what you asked me to do.
I’ll make this one short. If your horse is not responding as you intended, there is an enormous possibility that you are the one causing it. Before you start shouting obscenities and blaming your horse, stop and take a little personal inventory. If you are having trouble finding the issue, get some assistance from a professional.
5. Put me on a diet!
Just as with any athlete, one of our objectives in Dressage is to increase the stamina and fitness level of our horse, mainly by building muscle (in the correct places). The thing is muscles need to be fed. Unfortunately, hay may not be enough.
I highly recommend consulting with a veterinarian regarding your horse’s diet. They can direct you in how much grain/supplement/vitamin your horse may need and how often.
By the same token, overfeeding will cause you a tremendous amount of grief. Horses that are overweight cannot perform optimally, and the extra weight can cause damage to joints and tendons.
If this is your situation, definitely consult with a veterinarian regarding your horse’s diet.
JW July 15, 2008 On Submission. Why you need to be alpha. Every time I give a clinic, invariably I have at least one rider who doesn’t understand why his or her horse won’t respond to a given request from its rider. Usually the situation includes either disobedience or a fear response on the part of the horse.
Example A: Rider requests a transition from the trot to the canter. Horse doesn’t respond at all. Rider repeats request. Horse bucks, frightening the rider. Comment from the rider; “He doesn’t want to canter…..etc, etc.”
Example B: Horse and rider are traveling along nicely when horse spots something and looks, tenses or jumps a bit. Rider gasps, grabs the reins, vice grips the horse’s back with his or her legs, and off they go at a full gallop. Often this does not have a graceful ending, and ends up leaving both the rider and horse scarred and feeling fragile.
The questions I have are: Do you know why this is happening, and are you willing to do what it takes to prevent it from happening again?
Now, I personally would like to subscribe to the notion that horses are unpredictable, however I have found that they are VERY predictable in almost every case. We humans just need to pay attention. The first clue they will give us is regarding our placement in their herd.
No, we are not herd animals, nor prey animals as our beloved equines are. But being human and the more supposedly intelligent species of two, would it not be in our best interest to understand the social and behavioral structure that is encoded in our horse’s DNA? In simple terms, you can take the horse out of the herd, but you cannot take the herd out of the horse.
So by default, you are now a member of your horse’s herd. The next question you need to ask is “Where do I stand in my horse’s herd?” If your answer is anything but “I am alpha, I am the boss and my horse knows it“, you have some work to do. You need to become alpha.
Why?
Horses in a herd environment determine who is alpha, discipline their young, and run off members of their herd that are more submissive using their hooves and teeth. If your horse doesn’t recognize that you are alpha, you may be at risk for the same type of treatment.
The herd follows the alpha’s lead. If you are alpha, you will have the ability to influence your horse. If you are not, your horse will assume he is in charge, and do what he instinctively knows is best for his well being. That may not necessarily be part of your program.
How?
The good news is, you don’t need to beat your horse into submission. Equines have a social order that allows the alpha mare (it is always a mare, never a stallion) to eat first (and be bred first, however you need not participate in that) before the other members of the herd, on the chosen patch of grass, flake of hay or bucket of grain. Bottom line is alpha eats first.
So, to gain alpha status, you must be able to feed your horse something of significance (hay or grain). You must be in a position to put it in your horse’s normal feeding area, with the possibility of the horse having access to it. YOU now must be in the position of ‘eating’, and denying your horse access until you have ‘finished’. This can actually be as simple as making your horse wait until you have left the stall before he eats. This does need to be part of a regular routine.
Most horses figure it out fairly quickly; however DO NOT put yourself in a position where there is a possibility that you could be harmed. If you have a particularly difficult (in regards to the above described scenario) or aggressive animal, PLEASE enlist in the help of a professional!
Give it a whirl. My guess is, if you do your horse will at the very least have more respect for you. At best, your horse will look to you for guidance and instruction…and you may find that your horse is all that much more loveable.
JW July 22, 2008 The “Right” Horse for Dressage
Let me be very clear, it is my belief that ANY horse can do dressage. I believe that all horses can benefit both physically and emotionally from the correct training and practice of dressage. It’s a little bit…no a lot.. like teaching your child to swim, play soccer, tennis or really any type of exercise that requires discipline. Your child develops correctly physically and gets the emotional benefit of experiencing discipline and success as a result. So will your horse. Any horse.
So, now that we are clear on that, let’s consider your goals in regards to dressage. Are you looking to take the beloved animal you have in your backyard and learn the basic principals? Enjoy some showing at the lower levels? Compete regionally? Take the fast track to FEI? (By the way, I do not believe that there is a “fast track” to FEI) or:
Have you recently purchased, or are thinking of purchasing a sport horse bred to do the job?
Regardless of the category you fit into (or the many others I did not mention), there are 3 very important factors that play into the potential of your horse to be successful at dressage, regardless of the level. Here they are, in order of importance.
Temperament
We humans have a tendency to generalize when it comes to breeds and temperament. We assume that because a horse is (as an example) an Arabian or a Thoroughbred, that the horse is excitable, sensitive, unable to pay attention or displays a host of other desirable/undesirable characteristics. The same is true for the Quarter Horse, Andalusian, Warm bloods….and right on down the list.
I think that it is extremely important that we come to know ourselves well enough that we are able to choose a horse that has a temperament that will compliment our own. If you are an excitable and nervous person, do not choose a horse that is bred to, and has demonstrated the potential to run as fast as possible from fear and danger. If you are a mellow and relaxed personality, probably not in your best interest to look for a colder temperament in a horse that may be somewhat insensitive. In my experience, this has nothing to do with breed. Within each breed, there is a fair range of temperaments. Look at each animal as an individual.
The second most important issue in regards to temperament is that your horse displays an ability to take in information and process it without being overwhelmed. There are, besides his natural tendencies, outside influences that can enhance this trait, or diminish it if they are not present.
• He has a daily routine which will instill in him trust in his environment
• He is handled and trained in a manner that is consistent and that makes sense to him
• He is fed the appropriate quantities of feed with the proper nutrients
Unfortunately, breeding programs for nearly all of the breeds here in the United States place far too little emphasis on breeding for temperament. Most of the horses in the US end up being owned by amateur riders and should be bred exactly for that.
Willingness
By willingness, I most definitely am referring to the horse’s willingness to form a partnership, to be submissive to the rider/trainer. Last weeks blog was on submission…if you haven’t read it, please do.
Unfortunately, it is not only submission that encourages the willingness to form a partnership, but the horse’s ability to trust. Depending on your equine’s past experiences, he may be more or less inclined to trust, so I suggest that if you are having issues with trust, please refer to the above noted and make sure they are implemented. It will depend on your ability to follow through and create a consistent environment, and the severity of your horse’s distrust to determine the length of time to work through this issue.
Lastly, and the least important….
Conformation
The reason I place conformation behind the other factors is, quite simply, I have seen so many horses overcome conformation issues and do very well in the dressage arena when the above two characteristics are present.
Obviously, your horse can’t really have conformation that prohibits him from moving correctly in the 3 gaits. And you need to be reasonable in your expectations of what your horse is able to do if he has extreme irregularities. However, a low set neck or a long back need not keep you from having real success at dressage. It may be a bigger challenge for you and your horse for sure, but with the proper training it can be done.
I think should go without saying (but I will anyway), that even if your horse has amazing conformation for dressage, if either the temperament or the willingness of the horse is not there, your success will be limited and you and your partner will never reach your full potential.
JW
July 28, 2008 Half Halts 101…..
Not exactly demystified, but definitely simplified.
For some strange reason, I have had many opportunities to witness lessons given by other trainers and overhear discussions in which the half halt has been brought up repeatedly in this last two weeks or so. I am surprised at the way the half halt in these situations has been described and what is requested of the rider to perform one. So, I thought I’d write about it.
I am supposing I was a very lucky student early on. My former trainers did a pretty good job of teaching me what the half halt was for, and how to execute them, for the most part painlessly for both myself and my mount. But for this writing, I actually did need to go back and review my favorite books from my library. I was pleased to find out that they all basically describe the half halt the same way, in both purpose and execution. And ironically, they cross referenced each other. Go figure.
So, we all know that the purpose of the half halt (by the way, the Germans call it ‘Halb Parade’, meaning “half forward”…maybe a better way of thinking of it?) is to assist the horse in rebalancing himself in preparation for………..anything. By rebalancing, what we are asking is that the horse takes more weight behind, shifts his center of gravity toward his haunches and lightens the forehand. To what degree will entirely depend on your horse’s level of training.
Let’s also assume that we are all aware that the half halt is performed through the seat and leg. Notice, I said performed. What I mean is that the seat and leg are entirely responsible for creating the half halt…yes, entirely. Various combinations of passive resistance from the seat (Müseler refers to it as ‘bracing the back’) and more or less forward energy from the leg are what create the inclination for the horse to rebalance himself. We will take it for granted that the horse is relaxed over his top line and accepting the aids; if he’s not you probably shouldn’t be asking for half halts.
And thus, the controversy. I repeatedly hear requests and descriptions in which there is a taking of the outside rein. But, what is the function of the rein in dressage? To dictate to the horse the length of his neck, and therefore the length of his frame and to request flexion and relaxation of the poll in either direction by taking the rein (closing the hand). That’s pretty much it. So then, by taking the outside rein are we not asking the horse to flex in a manner contradictory to his balance, and therefore unbalancing him, even if it is ever so slightly?
I’d like to suggest that we keep an even contact in the reins during the half halt, and if anything, give the inside rein (as to not lose the contact) immediately following. Yes, the result is that you will have more weight in the outside rein for a fraction of a second, but it is not from taking the rein, and you are not asking for flexion to the outside.
Here is a fun exercise to help understand from where the half halt comes . On the lunge line, (no reins) in rising trot work towards the downward transition to the walk making sure you take at least half of a circle to get from the trot to the walk. At the trot, rise normally and gradually and continually post lower and slower until the walk is achieved. The second you started posting lower and slower, you were performing a half halt. If the exercise was done correctly, your horse responded to your seat by decreasing the length and tempo of his stride and eventually stepped into the walk.
Now, this is Half Halts 101, so I won’t go on. If this theory works for you, here are the friends from my library. You might just want to pick up one of their books for a more in depth description.
Wilhelm Müseler, Sally Swift, Kurd Albrecht Von Ziegner, Reiner Klimke and Ingrid Klimke.
JW
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