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A Different Way of Looking at Gymnastic Exercises

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A Different Way of Looking at Gymnastic Exercises

Since exercises have several different properties at the same time, they can belong into several different categories at the same time. It always depends on which aspect you want to focus on at the moment.

And just because you think of an exercise as highlighting the use of the outside aids, for example, doesn’t mean that you don’t need to use the inside aids at certain moments.

It’s important to keep in mind that these categorizations are neither absolute nor are they mutually exclusive. An exercise can fulfill more than one gymnastic purpose. But categorizing the exercises according to their gymnastic effect can help us understand a problem or design a custom exercise to address an issue we have identified.

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How do I teach a square halt?

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How do I teach a square halt?

A square halt in which both hind legs are underneath the body, the weight is distributed evenly over the support base, and the horse is round, elevated, and light, is something that many riders struggle with. Most horses will leave one hind leg out behind, or they have one front leg farther under the body than the other.

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Are You Using the Short Side of The Arena?

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Are You Using the Short Side of The Arena?

Are you using the short side of the arena or are you merely waiting for it go by so that you can get to the “interesting stuff”? When I was young I had no appreciation for the short side with its two corners as a gymnastic tool. It wasn't until much later that I discovered how valuable the short side and its corners really are from a gymnastic point of view.

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Homeopathic Doses

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Homeopathic Doses

When riding lateral movements many riders follow the FEI rule book that defines specific angles for the shoulder-in, haunches-in, or half pass. There are often heated debates about whether lateral movements should be performed on 3 tracks or on 4 tracks. These riders are discussing the finished product without considering the road that leads to it. And they are not thinking about the gymnastic considerations that play a role in this.

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The Leg-Weight-Rein Connection

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The Leg-Weight-Rein Connection

When I was riding the other day, I remembered a quote from Nuno Oliveira: “When the horse resists against the left rein, try to replace the left rein aid with your left leg.”

My horse had started out a little stiff on the right that day, and I could feel it coming from the right hind leg through my right seat bone, and I could feel the same stiffness in the right rein. This is a crookedness issue: the contact in the right rein felt heavier and harder than I liked because the right hind leg wasn’t stepping under enough. This usually also means that the horse supports too much weight with his right front leg.

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Using A Lateral Movement Vs. Performing It

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Using A Lateral Movement Vs. Performing It

There is a general tendency among dressage riders to have a somewhat rigid view of lateral movements and to evaluate them only as a judge in a competition would do. There is also a tendency to ride lateral movements mostly down the long side of the arena, and to stay in the movement for the entire long side. And while there is nothing wrong with that, it is only scratching the surface of the gymnastic potential of lateral movements. These movements were not (only) invented to evaluate a horse’s training, but they also have very valuable gymnastic properties that can be used to improve the horse’s balance, straightness, suppleness, and collectability.

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Dissolving Resistances

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Dissolving Resistances

In my own practical experience, I have often observed that resistances in the poll and resistances in the hindquarters tend to go hand in hand, so in order to overcome the problem we need to address the poll as well as the hip.

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How To Improve The Horse’s Straightness In The Shoulder-in

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How To Improve The Horse’s Straightness In The Shoulder-in

This is a great discussion of how a thinking rider can correct the horse’s attempts to evade the demands of the shoulder-in by using the other lateral movements to bring both hind legs underneath the body. This somewhat indirect approach is much more effective than trying to create the correct bend by pulling on the inside rein, or trying to create a contact on the outside rein by using “more inside leg and more outside rein”, which are so often the standard recommendations of trainers. These direct approaches actually only make the problem worse, whereas the indirect approach teaches the horse better body awareness and it makes the hind legs stronger and more supple, so that he is able to perform a correct shoulder-in easily and without feeling the need to evade.

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Through the Back

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Through the Back

The swinging movement and energy connection that are the result of a horse working properly through the back create a feeling you will never forget. Choose exercises and arena patterns that encourage the horse to engage and flex his hind legs, and remember to use your seat in a dynamic way that supports the horse’s movement, so that he is able to lift his back, engage his hind legs, flex his hind legs, and push off again with them in a forward-upward direction.

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Inside Leg to Outside Rein

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Inside Leg to Outside Rein

What does it mean to ride from the inside leg to the outside rein? And how do I do that?
Inside leg to outside rein is an abbreviation for a relatively complex set of movement patterns that result in a very supple, balanced, straight, and agile horse. The job of the inside leg is to initiate the circle of aids by bringing the inside hind leg closer to the outside one as well as closer to the front legs. This results in a weight shift from the inside shoulder onto the outside pair of legs, which results in an expansion and stretch of the muscles on the outside of the horse’s bend, this in turn creates a contact with the outside rein, which is then able to connect back to the outside hind leg.

 

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Some Thoughts About Energy

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Some Thoughts About Energy

Energy is not an official part of the training pyramid. It’s not really a formal category of training, although teachers will sometimes ask students to ride a more energetic walk, trot, or canter. I suspect that when teachers tell the students to “ride more forward” they often mean “create more energy”, but the word “forward” tends to lead to more speed, rather than more energy or more power.

The closest thing in the official terminology is Schwung/Impulsion, but it’s not quite the same as energy.

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What is Collection?

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What is Collection?

Reading the descriptions of the old masters suggests that the features that most people associate with collection, i.e. shorter strides, higher elevation, or a slower tempo, are by-products rather than the essence of collection. They are visible surface-level phenomena, whereas the true nature of collection is functional and can perhaps be felt rather than seen.

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3 Tips For Improving Your Canter Departs

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3 Tips For Improving Your Canter Departs

Recently, we have received a lot of questions about how you can improve the canter or the canter depart. This is obviously a major issue for many riders. This topic is very suitable for explaining the biomechanical principles behind it.

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Building a Better Relationship Through Trust and Communication

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Building a Better Relationship Through Trust and Communication

In order for the horse and the rider to become the best versions of themselves and the best possible team they need to have a good relationship. The basis of this friendship between horse and rider is mutual trust, mutual respect, and effective communication. In all three areas, the burden is on the rider to prove herself to the horse, that she can be trusted, that she deserves respect, and she needs to learn to become a good communicator.

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