Dissolving Resistances

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.

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

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.

Inside Leg to Outside Rein

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.

 

The Old Masters’ Views On Straightness

The Old Masters’ Views On Straightness

The old masters considered the horse’s natural crookedness to be a major obstacle in developing balance, suppleness, collection, impulsion, and “obedience” (i.e. positive responsiveness to the aids). Put positively, functional straightness is the foundation of balance, suppleness, collection, impulsion, and “obedience”. Without straightness, the horse won’t get very far in his training. Unfortunately, overcoming crookedness is not a trivial matter. It requires constant attention, and if the rider doesn’t work on straightening her horse every day, his innate crookedness will gradually increase again.

Consequences of Crookedness

Consequences of Crookedness

In one of our courses, a member asked a question about crookedness. She wanted to know which exercises to ride on the hollow side and the stiffer side to combat the symptoms of crookedness. There is unfortunately not a simple, straightforward answer to this because crookedness leads to imbalance on several different levels, such as…

Why Bother Straightening Your Horse?

Why Bother Straightening Your Horse?

I’m sure you are all familiar with the concept of Straightness as one of the elements of the German  FN Training Scale. Those of you who are rooted in the French tradition know it as one of Alexis L’Hotte’s three main training principles (Calm, Forward, Straight). You have probably also run into its opposite - crookedness - as a tricky and quite pervasive issue. But has anybody explained to you what straightness is and why it is important? Why should you spend your entire equestrian life correcting the horse’s natural crookedness, as Jacques d’Auvergne wrote? Can’t we just go out and have fun on our horse?

A New Way of Looking at the Training Scale

A New Way of Looking at the Training Scale

My understanding of the training scale is constantly evolving and changing, based on my practical experiences and observations. The first time I heard about the Training Scale (Skala der Ausbildung) was during theory lessons for the German Bronze medal, which is the prerequisite for participating in recognised shows. For the exam we had to memorize the terms Takt (rhythm), Losgelassenheit (relaxation/suppleness), Anlehnung (rein contact), Geraderichten (straightness), Schwung (impulsion), and Versammlung (collection). - And that was pretty much it. There wasn’t really any explanation for what these terms or concepts were about, or what the relationship between them was. We only had to be able to name them and to tell how to recognise them.

Connection(s) And Throughness

Connection(s) And Throughness

Connection(s) and throughness is actually a rather large topic on which you could write a whole book because there are several different aspects to it that you can explain in great detail. There are many different connections that have to be established between the rider’s aids and the horse’s body, between the horse’s legs and the ground, as well as between the different parts of the horse’s body. With each new connection, the energy of the horse’s hind legs can travel more freely through his body and the permeability for the aids increases. Every time a connection is lost, the permeability diminishes and the movement impulses of the hind legs as well as the rider’s aids get stuck.

Dressage As Physiotherapy, Part 2

Dressage As Physiotherapy, Part 2

Balance, Straightness, and Suppleness. These three concepts are very closely connected, as I described in the first part of this two part series. Balance consists of the two aspects of longitudinal balance and lateral balance. Longitudinal balance (i.e. an even weight distribution between front legs and hind legs) develops out of a regular tempo that is neither too fast nor too slow.

Lateral balance is the ability to distribute the weight evenly between the left pair of legs and the right pair of legs, or to transfer it more to one lateral pair or the other.

Balance is not rigid or static, as in a statue. It’s dynamic. This means that the horse is able to shift his weight from one lateral pair of legs to the other, from the front legs to the hind legs, or from one diagonal pair of legs to the other.

Dressage as Physiotherapy [VIDEO]

Dressage as Physiotherapy [VIDEO]

In this video, we will explain how you can use gymnastic exercises to keep your horse sound, and oftentimes even return your horse to soundness. You will learn what you need to concentrate upon in the training to keep your horse sound.

Dressage as Physiotherapy, Part 1

Dressage as Physiotherapy, Part 1

Horses were not designed to carry somebody on their back. The presence of the rider’s weight therefore compromises the horse’s balance, at least at first. It changes the center of gravity, and it may inhibit the freedom of motion of the spine and the legs. If the horse feels impeded and out of balance because of the rider’s presence on his back, he will contract certain muscles and brace against the rider’s weight and the ground, which leads to unhealthy movement patterns. Muscular contractions diminish the range of motion of the affected joints, and they lead to a hard, jarring impact of the legs on the ground, which is not only uncomfortable for the rider as well as the horse, it also creates unnecessary wear and tear on the horse’s joints and tendons.

If we want to keep the horse sound we therefore have to counteract the negative effects of our weight. We need to enable the horse to move with the same freedom of motion, the same ease, the same balance, the same suppleness under the weight of the rider with which he moves at liberty.