Grounded Dressage

I prefer to work on the Reinback from the ground, as it’s much easier to recognise when the horse is moving correctly. But what am I looking for?

➡️ Legs moving in diagonal pairs two beat
➡️ Bending the joints of the hind leg
➡️ Tucking the pelvis
➡️ Engaging the core

And eventually:
➡️ Lifting the wither

And ideally with:
➡️ Relaxed top line

What do you see in the video? Let me know! ⬇️

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞 - 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!

〰️ 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 〰️
In most basic terms, it’s the balance of the horse from front to back. Ideally, we want the horse to begin to shift their weight onto the haunches to free up their forehand. But “being on the forehand” is a description of a form of longitudinal balance - it’s just not ideal biomechanics.

🫤 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞🫤
(best emoji I could find to describe it 🤣)

Instead of discussing weight distribution from front to back we discuss it from side to side. Ideally, the inside legs and the outside legs should have equal weight distribution for a horse to be “in lateral balance”. This type of balance is what we talk about when horses drift out through a shoulder or have a tendency to bring their haunches in.

Can you see what type of balance we lose in the trot clip? Let me know what you think! 💬

Both types of balance have an impact on a horses biomechanics. Developing balance of either form starts with helping your horse find alignment and then beginning to show the horse how to move in various ways that interact with the different planes of motion. A horse can have balance in one stride and lose it in another - it’s a constantly changing piece of the puzzle.

Thank you to Arion EFV for the perfect model to demonstrate these different forms of balance - the FLECK Feldmann balance whip. This is my most favourite whip, not only because of the balance, but because of the simple and effective ergonomics of the handle. I love tools that make me a more effective communicator to my horse 👌

𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠.

I use the term effective lunging to describe what I want to achieve when lunging a horse:
- relaxed horse
- balanced horse
- a horse in a learning mindset

Sometimes lunging becomes a flight mode response when horses begin to feel chased. And while this achieves a goal of exercising a horse or getting some cardio and “wearing them out” - it doesn’t always achieve a learning environment for them. I want the horses to learn when I work with them and to add value to their experience with humans - so they (ideally!) begin to enjoy it.

To achieve this I now mostly teach the horses in hand first and progress to distance education and lunging.

In this video Dash demonstrates a few issues: 1) he starts off the session shaking his neck and demonstrating tension (this is how he shows tension). 2) he isn’t entirely aligned on his line of travel all the time - you can see him drift off his shoulder a bit. 3) in the halt he really wants to turn his haunches out. This is the result of how we previously lunged where halt was asked by disengaging the hind quarters. But we don’t want the hind quarters disengaged when we halt while we ride - so why not teach the horse to do it correctly on the lunge?

To correct problem number 1 is fairly simple - some steady transitions and his tension begins to fade away.

Number 2 is more a process - the in hand work we do will help correct the alignment over time, but also Dash is at a stage in his training now that he can and should be following the circle I put him on - so me being mindful of the shapes I’m asking of him in both his distance education and his lunging will also help.

Number 3 is a correction that takes place before we start lunging, but is reinforced during lunging. We teach the correct aids for the halt in distance education and work on that there, and then ensure we correct the mistakes quietly when we get to lunging.

To have effective lunging is a step by step process and can take a bit of work to get right.

It also helps with any work in hand or on the lunge to have the right gear. I probably sound like a broken record to those I teach and talk to about this - but I cannot recommend good gear enough. Here I’m lunging in a bridle but I would always start out educating a horse on the cavesson first. A well fitted, nice cavesson, will make the communication clear and also help your horse follow their nose, which is essential to alignment.

You might also notice I’m not using a traditional lunging whip. They have their place for extremely well educated horses that know their job on the end of the lunge (think vaulting horses!). But when your horse is learning, you cannot go past a driving whip! The one I’m using in the video is a Arion EFV FLECK driving whip, 140 long. These are perfect for the learning process for your horse. The FLECK ones especially are a nice weight with a good amount of elastic bounce in them - so you can point nicely to the head for halt or the bum for go and it’s nice and clear for the horse! (Added bonus your arm doesn’t get tired 😅).

What more would you like to learn? Let me know! I’m working on my lunging content over summer to be released on my Patreon early in the new year.

Or if you’re in Auckland and want to learn in person hit me up! I have dates available for lessons in south/east Auckland and am working on dates for the North Shore as well 🤩

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠.

If you are sitting on your horse, or asking your horse to do *anything*, your horse is already trying for you.

It is already defeating the natural instincts it was born with to stay away from predators, it is already learning how to respond to some form of classical conditioning and behaviour modification.

So when working on a movement or a skill, remember - anything your horse offers is an amazing try. You can’t ask your horse to try harder, because he or she is already *trying*. Asking your horse to try harder is, to your horse, impossible - the horse doesn’t know what “harder” is.

So rather than asking for more when the horse is only offering you 1/5th of what you think you should be able to get, you should stop and reward him/her - make a big deal about the try. And focus instead on the ask - how are you asking? Is the ask actually understood? Is the response actually correct or have you accidentally conditioned something else as the response? Is there something you could do to break it down more or is there something else you can do to make it easier?

👉 This little clip is of Dash and his little bits of diagonal lift for the piaffe shuffle. His piaffe went backwards dramatically when I introduced haunches in from the whip over the haunches (I had never taught a horse this way before and I may never do it again 😅 it has some positives but gosh this was annoying!). It’s now really hard for Dash to be sure he’s giving the response I asked for - so a few tiny steps is a HUGE try for him, and I absolutely appreciate his efforts! Yes - I could have changed my piaffe aid, but I’ve always found asking from above the haunches, as in the halt aid, gets the horses to think more about tilting the pelvis and sitting - which is the goal with these movements.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐬?

I don’t!

This is something I’m asked fairly often, especially when working with horses from the ground - how do I teach them to halt square?!?

Balanced, sound, horses, will halt square.

The best thing to do if your horse is struggling with this is to work them in-hand from the ground and help them find their balance. Using these techniques the horses will naturally find it easier to tuck their pelvis into the halt, bring their quarters under, lifting their forehand as stop. That’s how you get it square. Nothing magical, or specific, about the halt itself - just good biomechanics!

Once I moved from in-hand to ridden work, I work on the responsiveness to my aids, rather than the halt itself. I want the horse to shift his pelvis under as I change my seat to allow for the lumbar spine to come under the saddle. The more in tune the horse is to my aids, the better the transition, the better the halt, the higher my marks.

It’s simple, there’s no fancy footwork involved. Any rider, and any horse, can nail their halt. It’s an easy way to impress the judge and not lose marks 👌

Want to know more?
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=71178195

Or flick me a message - I have limited availability for coaching Auckland wide.

I’m wearing H&R Apparel breeches and glacier show shirt - my absolute fav!