Leg Up Equestrian Enterprises

So we have talked about this aid and many have even practiced it but just a reminder for all :)

Here is this week's Friday Freebie!

🐴 The Pulley Rein

Every rider should learn how to do the pulley rein. It's the ultimate in emergency brake, as if done correctly, it will stop any horse quickly. And it is a great tool to use as a back up aid for riders whose horses get strong.

Use the link below to learn how to do it 👇👇👇

https://www.myvirtualeventingcoach.com/the-pulley-rein/

So the giggle for today!:)

Heard this several times from Jack and actually just told it to some students parents yesterday :)

Confidence Is Built Through Success

Although Jack Le Goff was speaking about eventing, the principle reaches far beyond the cross-country course. It applies to every interaction we have with horses.

Confidence grows through experience. Each time a horse understands the question, finds the answer, and succeeds, it builds a stronger foundation for the next challenge. Success encourages curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to try again.

Good training provides challenges that carefully stretch the horse without overwhelming it. The goal is steady progress, where each new lesson builds naturally on the one before. As understanding develops, confidence follows.

The same principle applies to bodywork. A horse that experiences handling as comfortable, understandable, and predictable is more likely to relax, engage, and develop trust. Each positive session builds confidence, making the next one even better.

A horseman’s role is to create an environment where learning is clear, achievable, and rewarding. Every successful experience becomes another building block in the horse’s confidence.

“Boldness comes from confidence. Confidence comes from success. So it is the job of the trainer to create situations that as much as possible guarantee success.”
— Jack Le Goff

https://koperequine.com/massage-with-myofascial-release-for-building-self-confidence/

Dressage movements can look beautiful when they are ridden well. Half passes look elegant and graceful when the horse is supple and light, effortless flying changes look like horse and rider are having fun together, like children who are skipping rather than walking or running. These movements can be fun to ride when the horse is balanced, supple, and strong enough to do them.

But, more importantly, they serve a specific gymnastic purpose. They exercise specific muscle groups, they improve the horse’s body awareness, balance, straightness, and suppleness, so that the horse becomes better at his day job and he stays healthy for a long time.

Gymnastic Benefits of Dressage Movements

Up transitions and lengthening the stride strengthen the extensor muscles. They practice the pushing power of the hindquarters.

Down transitions and shortening the stride strengthen the flexor muscles. They develop the carrying power of the hind legs and improve the ability to collect.

Circle, voltes, corners and serpentines practice bending and turning the shoulders.

Small circles, corners, turns on the haunches, passades, and pirouettes practice not only bending and turning the shoulders, but they also flex and strengthen the inside hind leg because the weight of the forehand is transferred from the outside shoulder to the inside hind leg.

Leg yields are precursors to the actual lateral movements and supple the hindquarters of the horse. They can also be used to shift the weight from one side to the other and to change the bend.

Turns on the forehand in motion practice sidestepping and bending against the direction of travel. They supple the horse’s hips and can be very useful when you are out on a trail, or when you have to open and close gates, or when you have to manoeuvre in a small space. They are excellent preparations for half passes and flying changes.

The pirouette renversée is a turn on the forehand in motion where the horse is bending IN the direction of travel. It supples the hindquarters laterally as well as longitudinally, and it flexes and strengthens the inside hind leg. It can also be used to prepare and to improve half passes and flying changes.

Full passes supple the horse’s hips and shoulders. They can be used to shift the weight from one side to the other and to change the bend as well.

Shoulder-in and counter shoulder-in practice sidestepping with the bend against the direction of travel. They supple the hindquarters laterally and can be used to engage the hind leg that is on the inside of the bend.

Haunches-in, renvers, and half pass practice sidestepping with the bend in the direction of travel. They supple the hindquarters and can be used to flex the hind leg that is on the inside of the bend.

The counter canter is a good straightening tool as well as a strengthening tool for the hind legs. It tends to improve the quality of the true lead canter.

Flying changes and series of flying changes are a good test of the horse’s balance, straightness, and suppleness. They can also have a suppling effect on the spine and the hindquarters.

Milling stretches the muscles on the outside of the bend, it supples the shoulders, and it transfers the weight of the forehand onto the inside hind leg.

The reinback flexes the hind legs with the help of the combined weight of horse and rider.

The piaffe can be used to improve the horse’s ability to sit. A good piaffe can improve the balance of the canter and prepare flying changes.

The passage strengthens the hindquarters, as they have to sit and carry as well as push. A good passage improves the quality of the trot and gives it more suspension and expression.

The levade strengthens the hindquarters and improves the quality of the piaffe. It improves the balance in the trot and canter.

Some of these movements are beautiful enough to be included in exhibitions to music. Some of them are strictly gymnastic tools that have a beneficial effect on the horse’s musculature and balance, but they are not especially pretty to look at, which is why they are not usually shown in exhibitions.

Stacking of Movements

There is a finite number of gymnastic elements and dressage movements. But there is an sheer infinite number of possible combinations of movements and arena patterns (circles, squares, rectangles, diamonds, triangles, ovals). Each movement, turn, and transition targets a specific area of the body and supples or strengthens the muscles in this area.

These gymnastic elements can be matched with the phases of the footfalls of the hind legs:

Swinging forward/engagement

carrying/flexion

pushing off/extension

You can drastically increase the effectiveness of these elements if you stack them in an intelligent, strategic way. The reason for this is that a hind leg can push more powerfully, if it is flexed under the body first. The greater the degree of the flexion of the hind leg (i.e. collection), the more powerful its extension will be. And the hind leg can only be flexed effectively, if it is sufficiently engaged first.

That’s why it makes sense to build exercises that begin with a movement that engages a hind leg (enlarging the circle, shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, leg yield, turn on the forehand in motion). Usually it’s the inside hind leg that we target. This engaging movement doesn’t need to be ridden for long. A few strides is usually sufficient. It’s not necessary to ride lateral movements with steep angles for this purpose, either.

When this hind leg has arrived under the rider’s seat, you can add a movement or two that have a flexing effect (small turns, down transitions, half halts, half pass). This enhances the first two phases of the footfall of the hind leg, resulting in springier, more elastic and more powerful gaits.

If your goal is to improve the horse’s medium and extended gaits, it makes sense to design exercises that begin with engaging a hind leg, followed by the lengthening of the stride. The exercise becomes even more effective if you add a flexing/collecting element in the middle. This strategy allows you to develop a medium trot in horses that are not born with a natural ability to extend their gaits.

Another highly effective strategy for stacking gymnastic elements is to compose exercises that contain an element that supples the shoulders, one element that mobilises the spine and rib cage, and one element that supples the hindquarters. This way, the three large functional parts of the horse’s body are all addressed in one exercise. Every horse could use some improvement in at least one of these three areas, which is why this type of exercise is beneficial for all horses.

Yet another strategy for designing exercises is to think of the horse’s body as a rectangle with four corners. At each corner, there is a leg that supports the body mass. The closer all four legs are together, the smaller the support base becomes. The smaller the support base, the more balanced and agile the horse becomes. When all four legs are spread far apart, the horse will be unbalanced, stiff, and difficult to move. You can move the hind legs closer to the front legs and closer to each other by sidestepping. You can move the front legs closer together by turning the shoulders, and you can bring the front legs closer to the hind legs through reinback.

Exercises that contain a sidestepping element for each hind leg and shoulder turns in both directions, will target all four corners of the horse’s body, resulting in a greatly improved balance, lightness, self carriage, suppleness, and agility. This type of exercise also tends to be beneficial for all horses. The lateral movements don’t need to last very long, and they don’t need to be ridden with steep angles to achieve the desired gymnastic effect. On the contrary, less is often more.

When you apply these strategies in designing your own exercises you will see and feel that the overall benefit of the exercise is much more than the sum of its parts. Sometimes a composite exercise can truly transform a horse within a few minutes. We just need to find the right one(s) for each horse.

Kind of the giggle for today!

There’s a few lesson spots available right now! Text Ann for more info or to grab your spot :)

In a nutshell...

The rider’s pelvis is the centrepiece of all aids. Its alignment together with the distribution of the rider’s weight conveys the “big picture” to the horse in terms of where the rider wants to go and which movement he wants to ride. The leg and rein aids explain the “fine print” to the horse. But if the pelvic position is wrong, because it does not match the rider’s intended line of travel and movement, the legs and reins are relatively helpless, as they will not make much sense to the horse.

The horse tends to align his pelvis with the rider’s pelvis: If the rider turns his pelvis, the horse will turn his own pelvis in the same direction. That’s why the old instruction to “look where you want to ride” often works. If the rider points his belly button in the direction that he wants to steer, the horse will very often follow.


The horse also tends to follow the direction of the rider’s pelvis: If the rider moves his pelvis to the right, the horse will most likely also move forward-sideways to the right. If the rider moves his pelvis to the left, the horse will most likely move forward-sideways to the left. If the rider moves his pelvis forward, the horse will go forward. If the rider moves his pelvis backward at the halt, most horses will start to back up. If the horse does not automatically respond this way, it is very easy to teach him to do it.

So when people think riding correctly with feel and timing is easy....SO much to learn :)

Truth In Training
Chazot Thoughts

Part XVIII
They activate our legs because they don’t understand our back.
As you know, I have this unusual power to know what he thinks. He does not have the same power but I sometime wonder if he does not know, indeed, what I think. Also, I refer to him as he. We share many instances, grazing, working, taking care, or studying. Of course, he does not graze and I don’t read scientific studies but I follow his thoughts when he reads a new report. The grazing is a phenomenon that herd instinct theories cannot understand. Right now, he grazes me in hand because I am healing form a hoof issue that does not permit letting me free in turn out. He knows that I will run and I honestly know that I would run. I appreciate the fact that he spent with me grazing the time that he would spent with me if we were in our regular training schedule. For a man that sustains a very busy schedule, I feel privileged that he takes the time to stay with me that long. As equines, we are sensitive to such consideration. We do not look at humans as members of the herd. All these horsemanship theories largely underestimate our sensitivity and intelligence. We can appreciate subtle gestures and I am using the word gesture in the figurative sense. We are sensitive to the attention and we do not need gestures in the physical sense of the term. I appreciate the fact that he is there, with me and for me.

His dog, which is free on the farm all day long, is very proud to be in leash as they go together for a walk or to the vet. I do understand that. He hand graze me sometime even when I have my regular turn out schedule, and this makes me feel very special. Helyn is also aware of my sensitivity. When he is away for a clinic, she find the time in spite of her very busy schedule, to come in the barn giving me a shower and taking extra care of me. It is not that I do not need a shower but she stay with me longer and I appreciate it. The difference between their psychology and the training psychologies commonly applied is that their relation with us is not based on obedience or packing order. They establish parameters of safety but do not feel the need of imposing more rules. We have the right to be who we are. We are allowed to express frustration or impatience. They are perfectly aware that we are powerful animal but instead of creating safety through more disciplines and demeaning rules such has imposing that we stay standing square in the cross tie, they create a safe and comfortable situation letting us being who we are and being careful about how they act around us.

There is the same atmosphere in the barn and in the training ring. We are asked to think about our body and we are interested to do so because we are not afraid of unfair reprimand. Our errors are not punished; they are analyzed and the same question is reformulated differently. I don’t see how any equine athlete could conceive the complex coordination of our physique allowing performing soundly and at the best of their talent without this mental engagement. We are intuitively balanced between contradictory impulses. One side of our psyche is about resisting changes. This is a survival reflex. Our body needs stability and we protect our current stability even if it is a bad one. In counterpart, we are also muscularly constructed and neurologically wired for efficiency, minimum effort and maximum movement. We are large animals that have the capacity of running faster and longer than most of our predators. Nature had to create sophisticated adaptations in order to maximize efficiency while minimizing weight and pathologic cost of locomotion. This is why we have small muscles and long tendons. The tendons move our limbs reducing the role of our muscles to maximize the elastic recoil of our tendons. Our body sophistically orchestrates interactions of forces and consequent actions. We can be educated and if necessary, reeducated because, if properly guided, our brain works for efficiency and comfort. We cannot find efficiency and comfort without the help of the rider because we are not wired to deal with the burden of the rider’s weight. We deal with it protecting first any existing muscle imbalance, weaknesses or morphological flaw. Unless our initial reactions are intelligently analyzed by the rider, we remain at this level switching eventually protective reflex contractions but not figuring and addressing the root cause.

This is what he does. When I express difficulties in the training ring, he reformulates the question. As I realize that he just listened to my resistance proposing a different approach, I don’t feel that I have to protect myself. I switch from protection to curiosity. I explore greater efficiency. This where I enter “the zone”. There are these moments of sublime harmony where I fell so powerful, so talented and yet at ease. It is effortless and incredibly comfortable. Now I know what he aims for and I willingly became part of the research. I remember Manchester coming back in the barn all exited and telling me, “I was sound for three strides! Can you believe that, I was sound for three strides!!!” You have to understand, Manchester has been lame practically all his life. He told me when he arrived at the center, “I don’t even remember the feeling of soundness.” He was sound for thee strides. Now he is sound for three thousand strides. The principle of training is the same for education or reeducation. He uses the term reeducation instead of rehabilitation because rehabilitation is about educating again the horse’s physique but this time by providing a sound education. Manchester went on and on telling me, “he knows that I have a right stifle severely damaged and he does not even touch my leg. He focuses on my vertebral column mechanism and my hind limb come in place and functions soundly and pain free.” I told to Manchester, They activate our legs because they don’t understand our back. They think at the level of gesture and they don’t understand than limbs kinematics result for a great part from elastic strain energy. Instead of learning how our body works, they made us mimicking the move touching our legs. We are then dysfunctional athlete executing compulsories. Our dysfunction limits our talent and induces abnormal stresses on our limbs or vertebral column structure. I watched him writing the study on Sacroiliac dysfunction. The thesis emphasizes that SIJ result from a dysfunctional physique inducing abnormal stresses on a joint that is not supposed to move. Of course, ligaments and muscles stabilizing the joint became sensitive but releasing them is more likely to further the existing instability. The cure is recreating proper coordination of the whole physique.

For many years, veterinarians treated back issues injecting our hocks. The general consensus was that back soreness was only a compensation for hock pain or other musculoskeletal disorder. In 1999, Kevin Hausler wrote, “Limb disorders are often treated exclusively, without investigating possible structural and functional interactions between the spine, upper limb and lower limb. Even if back soreness is thought to be only a compensation for hock pain or other musculoskeletal disorders, practitioners still have an obligation to evaluate and manage the back problem concurrently. As a profession, our task is to acknowledge that primary back problems do exist in horses.” (Kevin Hausler DVM, DC, PhD, 1999Preface, Veterinary Clinics of North America) Today, better practitioners focus routinely on our back. He is happy about this evolution even if it is only a first step in the right direction. The problem is that trainers need to evolve. As long as they believe as it is preached in the training pyramid, that our hind legs propel our body upward as soon as ground contact, incongruities such as driving us onto the bit will be taught and consequently abuses such as the rollkur will be used compensating for the ineptness of the training techniques.

I know that he explained the process over and over but perhaps the same explanation coming from a horse might be easier to grab. No we do not propel our body forward as soon as ground contact. We are submitted to gravitational and inertia forces. Just imagine that you are hacking downhill with a back pack weighting fifteen pounds. Your leading leg decelerates your body. Your knee extensor muscles elongate resisting gravity and therefore working eccentrically, which is a very powerful muscular contraction. In fact, if you do not hack regularly, this muscular work will make you sore the next day. Your leading limb decelerates your body. This is exactly what our supporting hind leg does. From impact and until approximately 45% of the stance, our supporting hind leg decelerates our body. This is called the braking phase. He does not like the term baking because it is not truly a braking action. In fact, the decelerating phase is the sequence where our tendons store elastic strain energy that is use for the second half of the stride, which is the pushing phase, as well as the forward swing of the limb. Hind and front limbs movements are essentially a game of storage and use of elastic strain energy and when incompetent trainers activate our limbs with one or two whips, they disturb proper synchronization of our physique.

We can modulate duration and intensity of the decelerating phase. For instance, during piaff, we increase considerably the decelerating activity of our hind legs in order to resist forward shift of our body weight over the forelegs but this adjustment cannot be the response to any touch of the whip. Feedback correction is too slow, 0,6 of a second, and when the whip touch, the decelerating phase is already completed. The only reaction that we can have is increasing the propulsive activity, which is not at all how we perform the piaff. It demands more than one or two whip to create a sound performance. As well, it demands more than a software program to complete serious gait analysis. It demands knowledge and it is precisely why trainers, who do not understand our back, activate our legs.

We can regulate decelerating and propulsive activities of our hind and front legs but it demands anticipation and sophistication. We have for instance an internal tendon in the middle of our biceps brachii, which is the biceps of the forelegs. We can regulate the intensity of the elastic strain energy accumulated in our internal tendon during the support phase in order to modulate the intensity of the forward swing. This is practical since at the trot for instance the energy demanded for the forward swing of the limb is less than for the canter. We do that within our brain deciding how many cells have to contract during the support phase in order to provide adequate resistance of the internal tendon. Basically, we prepare the swing during the previous sequence of the stride, which is the support phase. All the trainers can do when they touch our legs with their whip, is disturbing our subtle coordination.

There is no stimulus that can make us adjusting the decelerating and propulsive activity of our hind and front legs, but there is a conversation and such conversation includes sound understanding of our vertebral column mechanism. Follow my thoughts on this one and you will understand. Between his abdominal as well as back muscles, as well as his legs, as well as his hands that are not really acting but “sensing” my reactions, he asks me more balance control through my back muscles. I am wired for efficiency and I immediately think that more balance control would be easier if I increase the decelerating activity of my hind legs. It is my choice and I further the sophisticated control of my muscular and neuromuscular work to achieve better balance. I do that every day when we are working together and I enjoy doing it because it is mentally challenging and because it leads me to physical greatness and comfort. Since his first three strides, Manchester enjoys his work more and more because soundness feel better every day.

Chazot https://www.scienceofmotion.com/truth_in_training.html