Every Dressage test-regardless of level-requires at least two halts. However, many riders seldom practice this movement. It is almost as if we are assuming the horse will come to it naturally (although we do not assume this for any other movement).
A proper halt is the result of both lateral and longitudinal balance. Having these two balances will make the horse halt when the rider asks, stay on the bridle and be square.
Horses which are too heavy on the forehand (a common situation) will need to be held too much with the reins to stop. Such horses need lots of lateral work (leg yielding, shoulder-in and haunches-in) and transitions from walk-to-trot and back to walk. If possible, you may also want to walk your horse on hills to strengthen his back and hindquarters. Try to include some lateral work into each training session but do not make it a session all by itself.
Horses which do not halt squarely (square means all four legs are parallel) need to be balanced laterally. Some horses will give the rider a square halt but shift their hindquarters after halting in order to better balance themselves. This is not an evasion it is a result of a horse that is not properly balanced. Again, the solution is lateral work and transitions.
All this assumes that the rider is holding the horse equally in each hand and with an equal amount of pressure from each leg combined with forward momentum into the halt.
When practicing the halt, it is best to do so against the wall until your horse is doing it well.
Enjoy your horse and be patient, quality takes time.
Sincerely,
Christopher Bartle
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It is very important for your horse to be “on the outside rein”. Only then can he bend correctly to the inside, be straight and in a good lateral balance and fully express himself in all three gaits.
When a horse is “on the outside rein” you will feel more weight on this rein as opposed to the inside rein and the inside rein will then become very passive.
There are several exercises you can do to achieve this and here’s one of them.
Ride your horse in working trot to start on a twenty meter circle (the walk and canter are more difficult). Gradually come into a smaller circle in the middle of your big circle until you get a 10 or 8 metre circle depending on your horse’s level and capabilities. When closing the circle make sure you do not lose the rhythm and impulsion and that your horse keeps parallel to the circle, correctly bent as the circle requires. Your shoulders should always be parallel to your horse’s shoulders by rotating your upper body slightly to the inside of the circle instead of collapsing in. When closing the circle carry a little more weight on your inside seat bone and stirrup.
Once you are on the small circle, your horse’s top line perfectly adopting the line of the circle, get him lighter on the inside rein by keeping it open on a relaxed arm, shoulder and wrist and using your inside leg at the girth. Receive and control the actions of your inside leg onto your outside rein. Your outside leg should be placed slightly behind the girth in order to keep the hind quarters in line.
Once your horse has given in to your inside leg and rein, gradually leg yield him out of the small circle until he gets to the 20 meter circle. He should always keep parallel to the circle, his shoulders leading slightly so that he keeps a good forward movement and engagement of the hind legs. When leg yielding him out switch your weight slightly from the inside seat bone and stirrup to the outside seat bone and stirrup so that your horse can use his inside hind leg to push his weight out and cross over correctly. Do not let your horse fall out to the big circle. He must keep going forward as he crosses over in a leg yield.
As you move towards your twenty meter circle, you should feel your horse gaining more contact on the outside rein as he gets lighter on your inside rein and moves nicely off your inside leg. Think of asking your horse to move from his inside hind leg towards his outside front leg.
This exercise will also help him to bring his back up as he engages well behind and in balance.
Common mistakes you should avoid:
1.Loss of rhythm as you go to the smaller circle and on the small circle;
2.Collapsing your body to the inside
3.Allowing your shoulders, arms and wrists to be inflexible
4.When leg yielding your horse out of the circle, make sure he keeps parallel to the circle instead of letting him trail with his hind end, fall on the outside shoulder or over bend.
5.In the leg yielding your horse must not lose the forward movement.
Horses, like people, are slightly crooked naturally. Just think about that for a moment and you will realize that one objective of Dressage is to reduce the horse’s natural crookedness that he was born with or developed as he grew. As a result, Dressage is aimed at making the horse stronger, more balanced, and healthier. If you look at the hoof prints of a young horse, you will seldom see prints that follow two tracks. They are usually three or even four.
A good exercise to make a horse straighter is the use of lateral work. Lateral work first appears in competition in the Second Level Tests. But even riders who are not competing in Dressage (or even riders who are not competing in any equestrian discipline) should be aware of the benefits of lateral work. The simple shoulder-in is especially useful.
When riding in a ring or arena, take your horse around several times at all three gaits going deep in all corners. When you have both settled in and are relaxed take him around at the walk on the bridle. As you are coming out of one corner, make a 20 meter circle in the corner and continue on down the long side. In the next corner (or when you are ready), proceed as if you were going to make a circle and come slightly off the wall with the shoulder of the horse, leaving the haunches on the wall. Use your outside rein and inside leg to push the horse along the wall while he is still bent as if he was going to make a circle. This is a shoulder-in.
Take only a step or two and then straighten him out on the wall. Continue along at the walk and try it again. If he does it well and does not fuss, try it at the trot. Take only a step or two until he is very comfortable and does it well. As his balance and muscles improve, you can try more steps. The big thing is to not try to do more than your horse is capable of doing. Remember that he is naturally crooked, so changing that will take time.
The flying change is an important movement for any horse and rider team moving beyond intermediate level regardless of their discipline. Like all movements, there is a preferred method of teaching it to horse and rider. It should not be attempted until the horse is able to accept the bit and has a forward and relaxed canter on both sides. It is also important that the horse is able to move from collected canter to medium canter and back again in a relaxed fashion. Although young horses will freely produce flying changes in the field, it is quite a different movement while carrying a rider.
The horse should easily produce a simple change before attempting the flying change. A simple change is when the horse transitions from a canter to a trot for one of more strides and then transitions back to canter on the opposite lead.
When teaching simple changes and flying changes, always start by asking for the change to the horse’s better side. It is easier for the horse to make a change to his better side and most horses will do it with much less resistance. When you are comfortable that your horse is relaxed and confident in his change, you can then switch to making the change from his good side to his weaker side.
For most horses, it is best to start by making the change at the same place in your training area every time. So you will need to plan where you will want to make the change and allow room to be able to change from one lead to the opposite lead. When training a horse on flying or simple changes, do so on a straight line. Never attempt to make the change on the circle or over a pole.
Do not practice the flying change more than two or three times during a training session and do not practice it every day. It is a good idea to give the horse a break from flying change training and more progress can be made in small increments. Never punish the horse for making a mistake or not making the change. Simply go around again and ask again. If the horse changes in the front legs but does not change with the hind legs (he becomes disunited) slow to a trot and ask for a simple change. Then attempt the flying change when he is again relaxed and responding to your aids.
Your aids should be a half halt and a changing of your leg positions. You should move you new outside leg to be slightly behind the girth while your new inside leg moves forward to the girth. Your upper body must remain still, relaxed and in the same position. It is important to remember that this movement requires a great deal of balance, confidence and strength on the part of the horse. Your job is to do the thinking and interfere with him as little as possible. Above all, be kind to your horse by not asking for too much at a time or too soon.
Have a great ride!
Christopher Bartle
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When we talk of balancing a horse or keeping a horse in balance we must bear in mind that a properly moving horse requires both lateral and longitudinal balance. Lateral balance is achieved when a horse is balanced equally on each side. To tell whether your horse is balanced is to have the horse not hang on either rein or move against either leg.
It is hard work to get your horse properly balanced but it is, perhaps, the most important work you can do for him. When a horse is balanced, all other movements become possible. In contrast, an unbalanced horse will find it difficult or impossible to perform other movements. The best work for lateral balancing is circles at the walk, trot and ultimately the canter. These should be done on the horses’ better side at first. The size of the circle should depend on the horses’ degree of stiffness. Twenty meter circles will be the size most often used but you may want to start with a larger circle with a young horse.
When working the circle, your position is important. Do not sit to the outside as this will throw the horse out of balance.
Longitudinal balance is where the horse is neither too far back on his hocks nor is he leaning on his forehand. If you look at the build of a horse, you can see that he appears to be built to pull with so much of his musculature around the shoulders and neck. As such, he has a natural tendency to pull with his front legs. The purpose of longitudinal balance training is to develop the muscles of the back and hindquarters to provide more power and flexibility throughout the length of the horse. A properly longitudinally balanced horse is one that willingly accepts the bridle and gives the feeling of having a spring in his step.
I have found the best exercises to develop longitudinal balance are spirals at the trot and canter. These are going from a large circle to a smaller circle and out to a larger circle again. This forces the horse to come under himself and find his own balance. As he does so, his muscles develop and he comes to it more naturally.
In addition, I have found changes of gait on the circle to be of benefit to the horse trying to find his longitudinal balance. Trot-canter transitions both upwards and downwards are of benefit.
I hope you will work with your horse on these exercises which will make your riding more refined and more importantly, will help to keep your horse sound.
Have a great ride!
Coralie Baldery
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The essence of riding well is to be in harmony with your horse. To achieve that harmony, you must assert your will so the horse accepts your instructions. Many problems come when the horse does not understand what the rider is asking.
To become more in concert with my horse, I like to “put him through his paces.” This is something every seasoned rider is capable of doing and it provides good exercise, fun and a mild learning lesson for the horse.
I start off with a gentle walk around the arena on a long rein. I then take up the reins at the walk and ask him to take hold of the bit so I know he is listening to my hands. When I feel that I have control and he is listening, I half halt and ask for a trot. I trot a few strides (only a few) and ask him to move forward into the walk. I keep him on the bridle at the walk and then ask for the trot. After a few strides, I ask for the walk again. I may or may not change direction here or later. I will change direction several times during the session just to keep his attention.
After a few walk-trot-walk transitions, I ask for a walk-trot-canter-trot-walk sequence. Each time he does well and stays forward and on the bridle I pat him or say “good” to him. As the lesson goes on, I reduce the number of strides of each gait. Then I increase the number. The idea here is to not have him anticipate a transition but to respond instantly.
I generally do this for about a half hour or so to get the horse to know your aids better and to make you more of a team. This exercise really pays off in show jumping or on the eventing course. Give it a try.
Have a great ride!
Sue Foley
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Balance for 2nd Level
Much of Dressage training is written for the lower level rider and/or the young horse. That is why I would like to devote this tip to what I believe is a group of riders and horses who are somewhat neglected by all but their dedicated trainers, the medium level horse and rider combination. These are combinations working and competing at the Second and Third levels.
The most important thing about working at the Middle Levels is being sure your horse is well balanced longitudinally and laterally. The Middle Level tests are designed in large measure to test balance. The transitions, shoulder-ins, renvers, travers, turn on the haunches, changes of lead and serpentines are all movements requiring balance and straightness.
Assuming your horse does well in First Level tests and is comfortable at a collected canter and shoulder-in on either rein, it may be time to start some middle level training. The first thing to remember is that you need to develop your horse’s muscles and his attitude. In other words, he needs to be a solid First Level performer to move on to Second Level. Do not risk your horse’s trust in you and his confidence in himself by pushing him too far too fast.
One exercise I use on all my horses is the walk-canter transitions. I do not make them very complicated I just ask for a few (three to five) steps of walk and then ask for the canter. After three to five canter strides, I will them ask for the walk again. I then do a ten meter circle at the walk, change rein and do the same exercise on the opposite rein.
You can also mix in a few walk-trot-canter transitions to keep your horse from getting bored. The big issue with this exercise is to get the right bending and flexion. Your horse should really start to relax and his walk should improve a little with each transition. He should become more supple and balanced in all gaits but especially the walk which tells the judge much about your horse’s balance.
Have a great ride!
Coralie Baldrey
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The Shoulder In
In preparation for the shoulder-in, the inside rein must be shortened sufficiently to allow the hand to maintain the lateral flexion without any backward pull on the rein. In general, the inside hand should be kept just in front of the outside hand. The inside rein should never pull across the withers, as it will block the impulsion and engagement of the inside hand and cause the horse to fall outwards. It also tends to lead to over-bending to the inside at the base of the neck. The axiom of 'straight line from elbow through the hand to the horse's mouth' applies equally to the horizontal plane as to the vertical (side to side as much as up and down).
The role of the outside rein is to regulate the pace and the bend. The half-halts promote greater collection by extending the moment of support of the inside hind leg. Keep the outside hand near the withers and act with a half-halt every time th outside forefoot comes to the ground (i.e. every other stride) but the intensity of the half-halt varies in relation to the response.
A frequent error is to use the inside leg to push the quarters over with a backward pressure, often combined with the drawing up of the heel instead of opening the inside hip. At the same time, the outside leg comes off the hourse, and the fence or wall of the arena takes over the role of the outside leg. Since, in most cases, dressage tests ask for the shoulder-in along the track, riders often get away with this until they have to ride the exercise on the center line. For this reason it is a good exercise to ride the shoulder-in away from the wall, for example along the quarter line or the center line.
It helps to point the outside foot down the line along which the shoulder-in is being ridden so that if the horse drifts outwards with the quarters or shoulders it will come against the outside leg, while if it drifts inwards it will come against the inside leg. The outside leg should be positioned so the stirrup leather is hanging vertically from the stirrup bar at, or just behind the girth, to correct the horse if it steps away from the inside leg rather than coming around it, or if it falls out with the shoulder.
Good Luck!
Christopher Bartle
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Working In Hand
Working a horse in hand is very important for the development of the horse-especially one who can go on to the higher level movements.
Most riders already do some work in hand in the sense that they lunge their horse. It is good to start with this training to loosen the horse. However the trainer should never tire the horse with lunging.
Once the horse is very comfortable lunging (which may take several sessions), more advanced work can take place following a few minutes of lunging on each side. I should say that I do not necessarily start with lunging. I do lunging with young horses but not specifically for working in hand piaffe purpose.
When working in hand, it is exceptionally important that the horse is handled calmly and sympathetically but firmly. The horse's fear and anxiety are the enemies of good results.
The trainer will need a helper who is experienced in handling horses and can provide the restraining aids. This is done by use of the reins from a position standing facing the horse's head-almost shoulder-to-shoulder. When the young horse knows already what the piaffe movement is about without the rider they could do the same with the weight of a rider. The rider would hold the reins very loose so that I can do the job from the floor. With a horse that already knows the job, the rider can really hold the reins and I would only help with the whip and voice.
With the horse's forward movement restricted, the trainer gently strokes the horse on the croup, haunches, hocks and fetlocks with the schooling whip. The purpose is to make the horse accustomed to the whip and to not fear it.
The horse is then asked to walk forward with the whip and the voice. When the horse does so, he should be praised. He should be made to stand square at the halt. Do this exercise for a maximum of ten minutes on each rein.
In a few weeks, when the horse does the walk in a responsive and relaxed manner, ask for a few strides of trot. Three to five strides are sufficient. It may take a slightly more exaggerated motion of the whip and more voice to produce the trot and the horse may try to escape by rushing off. In such a case, the helper should hold the rein a bit higher. I do not use side reins but if you do, check the length for this exercise. Longer is better.
Once again, a square halt followed by much praise is the goal.
When the walk and the trot are performed with consistency and relaxation, you can gradually introduce more collection. The idea is to gradually move the horse towards a piaffe type movement. Soon the horse will willingly perform the piaffe.
At not time should the horse be pushed along in his training and the temperament of the horse must always be considered. Remember the best results are those, which take the longest to achieve.
Good Luck!
Juan Matute
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Straightness
Sometimes it seems that every rider at every level of Dressage
is preoccupied with keeping his or her horse straight. It seems
simplistic but it is certainly true that if you sit up in the
saddle, ride forward and look between the horse's ears, you will
always be going straight. This allows you to ride from back to
front with the engine in the rear (haunches) and the steering
up front (forehand).
It is hard to imagine a crooked horse being truly on the bridle.
I have never seen one. Straightness is a fundamental of correct
riding and thus, dressage. It is one of the building blacks.
The basically schooled horse will respond to the rider's movements
and weight. As such, you want a sit up straight. We all have
crookedness in our bodies. I tend to sit with my right shoulder
slightly forward of my left. This makes my head tilt slightly
forward and down. This detracts from my horse's balance and
forward movement. In other words, my lack of straightness
contributes to his going crooked.
To overcome this I need to always be mindful of this tendency
in my body. Over the years, I have been able to correct this
by just thinking about it when I exercise, drive a car and ride
a horse. Because of this, I sit straighter and my horse goes
straighter. But I also exercise and do yoga with this in mind.
You are going to hate reading this, but the best exercises I
know to straighten one's spine are crunches and leg lifts.
They always hurt but they do so much for my own and, thus,
my horse's straightness.
Have a great ride!
Coralie Baldrey
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contact Cross Country International at 800.828.8768
or send an email to info@xcintl.com
Lateral Flexion
Adjusting the length of rein appropriately is an important part
of a rider's preparation for a movement or jump. Depending on
the required objective, the horse may be expected to offer
lateral flexion at the poll, to increase or decrease the bend
through the neck, or change the elevation of the neck.
To obtain a correct lateral flexion at the poll to the inside,
with or without bend at the base of the neck, the inside rein
must be adjusted a little shorter than the outside, but the
inside elbow must remain at or in front of the rider's inside
hip. The outside hand and arm should allow sufficiently to
maintain the same contact on the outside rein.
If a horse willingly offers the lateral flexion, the contact
will be maintained evenly in both reins. If the horse is
unwilling, the contact may at times be greater on the inside
rein until the horse can be persuaded to accept the lateral
flexion. In the event of resistance, the inside hand and arm
must avoid pulling backwards or downwards, but instead act as
a side rein. It is preferable to fix the elbow against the
body just in front of the hip or even fix it against some point
on the horse's neck whilst working through leg and position
statement, combined with relevant exercises to persuade the
horse to accept flexion. It is however better to use gymnastic
exercises to persuade the horse to offer lateral flexion rather
than force being applied down the inside rein, which usually
provokes more resistance.
To obtain the lateral flexion at the poll with minimum bend
at the base of the neck, the indirect rein should be slightly
lifted and brought close to the neck, as with an indirect rein.
The outside rein meanwhile should act to limit the bend at the
base of the neck.
For a horse with an elevated neck, the forearm must be raised
whilst keeping the elbow close to the body so that the rein
aid is supporting the body language and position statement.
The objective is to encourage the horse to come up through
the withers and base of the neck as well as raise its poll.
For a lower and round neck, the whole arm is offer forwards
towards the horse's mouth to the extent that the horse is
willing to stretch the neck forward, but with the elbow kept
relatively close to the body so that it can support the body
if the horse tries to take too much. If a lowered and long neck
is desired, the elbow is allowed to advance forward away from
the body to allow the horse to stretch to the maximum, but this
is only done when riding in a light seat or light rising trot.
For more information or to train with Christopher Bartle, call
Cross Country International at 800.828.8768 or click here.