Introduction
Transitions are always vulnerable to mistakes because the horse’s balance has to change from one gait to the next. The energy level is different in each gait. The necessary amount of core muscle engagement is different for both horse and rider. The movement is different. That’s why transitions are always prone to disturbances in the horse’s outline and rein contact. If the horse gets crooked or strung out, or if he loses balance, it will be reflected in the suppleness and the rein contact. Riding a smooth transition means managing all these different ingredients and helping the horse stay straight and in balance. That’s why so many riders and horses struggle with transitions.
A higher gait requires greater stability of the rider’s torso and at the same time greater flexibility of the hip joints than the lower gait. This means, we need to prepare ourselves first, before preparing the horse. We need to fix our seat (if necessary) so that it can maintain its integrity and its cohesiveness in order to be able to guide the horse through the transition as well as after the transition.
A good mantra for transitions (and any situation) is: Fix/prepare your seat > Fix/prepare the horse > Go (initiate the transition or movement)
Transitions Into Higher Gaits
The horse should be able to perform transitions into a higher gait from light aids, while maintaining his balance before, during, and after the transition. He should stay on the bit and through the back the entire time. The “wheel base”, i.e. the distance between hind legs and front legs should not get longer during transition, otherwise the horse would fall apart and the back and withers would drop. If anything, the wheelbase should become slightly shorter. This can be challenging with horses who have conformational shortcomings or training shortcomings from previous riders.
Monitor the horse’s balance and straightness during the transition. Catch any loss of balance or straightness as soon as it happens and correct it right there and then. Otherwise, it becomes like an avalanche that cannot be stopped anymore.
Prepare the horse so that you need the least amount of driving aids possible to initiate the transition.
For a good up transition, the energy of the hind legs has to be transmitted through the lifted back and withers to the poll. It should feel like the horse’s back begins the transition, and the legs follow a split second later. It’s an up transition first, the forward motion follows afterwards. If you can feel the forward movement first, the horse’s back will probably drop in the transition, especially if the wheelbase gets longer.
Typical Mistakes In Transitions That Usually Make The Horse Invert
- Horse gets crooked by leaving the line of travel with his hips or shoulders
- Horse speeds up
- The front legs run away from the hind legs so that the distance between hind legs and front legs gets longer, resulting in a dropped back and withers
- Horse braces his rib cage muscles against the rider’s leg, resulting in a “hiccuping” movement that interrupts the flow of energy
- Horse sucks back in response to a driving leg aid
Most of these mistakes are the result of a lack of preparation by the rider before the transition, or imperfections in the rider’s guidance during the transition. A good preparation is extremely important for the success of the transition. Unfortunately, many riders don’t really prepare the horse (or themselves) for the transition. They just “kick and go”, which surprises the horse and often destroys the balance. Another fault is to push the horse into a higher gait with their seat or squeeze him with their legs. This tightens the rider’s leg muscles, glutes, and hip flexors, which in turn blocks the horse’s back and hind legs. The horse may then perform an up transition but the quality will probably not be very good. He will either brace his belly muscles against the rider’s leg and be reluctant to go forward, or he will drop his back and invert. In either case, the horse will lose his relaxation and suppleness.
Prerequisites For A Good Up Transition
- Both hind legs need to be engaged under the body mass.
- Both hind legs need to be flexed in their upper joints so that they are able to lift horse and rider into the higher gait.
- The horse has to be aligned correctly on the line of travel (i.e. straight). Otherwise one hind leg will not step under the body mass but next to it.
- The tempo has to be completely regular, like a metronome, without speeding up.
- The stride length has to be consistent, without lengthening or shortening - unless the rider is deliberately asking for it.
When both hind legs are flexing underneath the body mass, they become like compressed springs that will expand again as soon as they are released. Since this posture becomes tiring for the horse, he sooner or later feels the desire to extend his flexed joints again by transitioning into a higher gait. In other words, the up transition becomes his idea and appears inviting because it will bring a certain relief. The rider is then able to keep her leg muscles relaxed and to allow and shape the transition with her aids, instead of having to demand it.
Preparing Up Transitions
The higher gait is only as good as the transition, and the transition is only as good as the lower gait. The higher the gait the higher the energy output and core engagement have to be. These must first be created in the lower gait before a good transition into a higher gait is possible.
The hind legs can only lift horse and rider when they are engaged under the body and flexed in their upper joints. It’s a little like a weight lifter who first has to step under the barbell and squat down first. From the squatting position he then lifts the weight mainly by standing up and straightening his leg joints.
If the hind legs are somewhere behind the horse, they can only push the body mass horizontally forward, which results in a horse that is on the forehand and runs away from the aids.
In order to ride a good up transition it makes therefore sense to first create the circumstances under which the horse is able to lift both his body and the rider up. A very good way to do this is to design gymnastic exercises that bring one or both hind legs more under the body and then flex them with the help of the combined body weight of horse and rider. These usually involve a variety of combinations of lateral movements and turns.
For walk to trot transitions, shoulder-in or counter shoulder-in on a circle are very convenient. You activate the crossing hind leg and slow down and flex the supporting hind leg with half halts, so that the walk gradually starts to feel more strenuous, and the trot appears more and more inviting. Some horses then volunteer the trot or ask the rider if they are allowed to trot. In these cases, you only need to allow the transition and regulate it with your seat and aids. Once the horse has learned to do the transition this way, you can apply the same principle to the single track as well. You activate the inside hind leg and half halt into the outside one until you feel that the horse has enough energy and core muscle engagement to do a high quality up transition.
The more you flex the joints of the hind legs, the more you create a desire in the horse to open these joints again, i.e. to push and go forward. The rider can shape this opening of the hind leg joints into an up transition. It’s very similar to us doing squats. Eventually our thighs will get tired, and we will want to straighten our legs and stand up straight or sit down and rest.
When you prepare the transition well, you can ride a walk - trot transition, for instance, without any leg aid, or with a minimal leg aid. Instead of driving IN the transition, you drive BEFORE the transition to engage the hind leg and to create the necessary energy.
For the canter depart, you bring the hind leg under the body that is going to be the outside one in the canter and flex it with half halts, since it is the outside hind leg that lifts the horse into the canter.
A good down transition with flexed haunches also contains within itself or produces the desire to move off and open the joints of the hind legs. So it is quite logical that when you practice down transitions, you automatically also practice up transitions.
Performing A Good Up Transition
Before, during, and after the transition the horse should be
- On the leg,
- On the seat,
- Through the back, the back feels like it lifts up at the beginning of the transition,
- Uphill,
- Round,
- Light.
A high quality transition requires a good preparation, good guidance by the rider during the transition, and continuing guidance after the transition. Many riders only think up to the moment of the transition. So they stop riding as soon as the transition begins, and the horse falls apart. That used to happen to me, too, and to correct this mistake, I told myself that my job wasn’t done with the transition, but it only starts with the transition. I have to keep communicating with the horse and giving him continued guidance once he is in the new gait.
This requires having a very specific tempo, stride length, energy level, balance, impulsion, collection, etc. in mind before asking for the transition. When I have a precise idea of the quality of the gait that I want to create, I can immediately make adjustments if any one of these parameters of the gait doesn’t match my quality standard. Sometimes you have to half halt and slow the tempo down as soon as you are in the higher gait, because the horse has a tendency to lose his balance and get rushy. Sometimes you have to drive the horse and ride forward in the new gait, because the horse has a tendency to suck back and get behind the seat and leg aids. In other words, you have to observe the horse closely in order to be able to respond appropriately to each individual situation.
A good up transition should feel like the hind legs are lifting horse and rider into the higher gait, rather than pushing the load forward into a faster gait (lifting the back instead of accelerating with a dropped back). When practicing up transitions, only allow the horse to proceed with the transition, if he lifts his back. Interrupt the transition and prepare the horse in the lower gait, if he drops his back. It becomes very clear and binary. If the back rises in the beginning of the transition, it’s a “Yes”, and you allow the horse to continue. If the back drops in beginning of the transition, it’s a “No”, and you abort the transition.
If you do this consistently every single time, the horse will get into the habit of performing up transitions through the back and on the bit. If you allow him to invert most of the time, he may end up thinking that that’s what you want, and even try to invert in order to please you, because he hasn’t read the book and doesn’t know what’s right or wrong. He only knows what we ask him to do or allow him to do the majority of the time.
