Flexions

Flexions are a way to introduce the bit to the horse, and also a way to supple the horse. Flexions include asking the horse to mobilise its jaw, raising and lowering its neck, bending laterally right and left and flexing the poll.

Suppleness and mental cooperation

We all want a supple horse, but what does it mean? A horse is supple when there are no unnecessary muscle tensions. This means when you ask your horse to bend to the right, the muscles on the left side of the neck can relax and allow the bending to the right. The horse is supple.

In order for your horse to perform flexions well, he also needs to be relaxed and calm. A horse that needs to scratch his belly can easily bend his head all the way around to his belly. This does not mean the same horse will bend when you ask for it. If your horse does not bend when you ask, he either does not understand your request, and/or his muscles are tense. You might think your horse is stiff, but I would like to suggest it is more of a mental “stiffness”, i.e. lack of understanding or willingness to follow your hand, rather than a physical stiffness in the muscles. A well schooled horse will easily follow your signals and requests while being both supple and relaxed.

Flexion is not just a means for schooling physical suppleness, but also for mental schooling of the horse. As described by the Father of Modern Equitation, de la Guérinière, a schooled horse should follow the bit wherever the rider places it and flexions are a way to train this.

From the ground or in the saddle

You can ask for flexions either from the ground or in the saddle. Here I will describe how to introduce flexions to your horse from the ground.

First flexion: flexions of the jaw, “cession de mâchoire”

As I already mentioned, flexions are a way to introduce the bit to the horse. The horse should neither fear the bit, nor lean or brace on it. The horse should calmly move the bit with its tongue and through relaxation of the lower jaw be able to swallow. Therefore it is imperative that the nose band be adjusted so you can fit two fingers between the nose band and the bridge of the horse's nose.  

How to ask for the flexion of the jaw

Stand in front of your horse, assuming your horse can stand calmly. Place your thumbs in each ring of the bit. Lift the bit into the corners of the horse's mouth. Lifting the bit avoids pressure on the tongue and the bars of the mouth. In the best of worlds, your horse now responds by lightly mobilising the lower jaw. If not, you can try to either increase the pressure in the corner of the mouth or vibrate. Different horses respond differently so try what works best for your horse. As soon as your horse mobilises the lower jaw and the tongue let the bit drop down and hang in the cheek pieces, i.e. release of the hand. The goal is for the horse to calmly mobilise the jaw whenever the horse feels a light presence of your hand through the bit or the reins.  

Second flexion: raising and lowering of the head

The first part of the second flexion is the raising of your horse's head and neck. You begin as you did for the first flexion by standing in front of your horse and asking your horse to raise his head and neck by gentle upward rhythmic circular actions of your hands in the corners of your horse's mouth (demi-ârret). The height of the head you are seeking is the height your horse would take when looking out over an open field.

When you try this for the first time, your horse might try to back up instead of raising the head. If this happens you might have acted on the tongue or the bars of the mouth instead of into the corners of the horse's mouth, or you might have asked your horse to continue to raise his head even after he is as high as when looking out over an open field.

When the horse has raised his head to the proper height, and he is not leaning or bracing against your hand, he is standing still and calmly mobilizing the jaw, you stop doing the demi-arrêt. With correct training your horse will maintain this position, but the first time you ask this of your horse you want to completely remove your hands from the bit as soon as the horse raises his head, stands still, is light in hand and calmly mobilises the jaw.

The purpose of this flexion is to have a signal when riding which will ask the horse to remain light in hand (not lean on the bit), and to raise the neck which will shift its weight to the hind legs.

The second part of the second flexion is the lowering of the horse's neck, known as neck extension. It is important to teach your horse when he lowers his head he should also take his nose forward, so in neck extensions the nose is always in front of the vertical.

Third flexion: lateral bending

Lateral bending is asking your horse to take his head right and left. When bending the horse to the right, stand on the horse's left side. Place your left index finger in the left ring of the bit, the right rein is placed over the horse's neck close to the withers. Hold this rein between the thumb and the index finger of your right hand. When you ask for the flexion with precision, have a light contact on both reins or if you find it hard in the beginning to control both reins you can loosen the right rein.

Prepare your horse for the actual bending by having the horse stand with a raised head as if he was looking out over an open field (second flexion) and also mobilising the mouth (first flexion). Now ask for the bending by gently pushing your horse's head to the right with your left hand. If your horse is resistant to bending his neck, most of the time, the horse will also have his jaws locked. If this happens just ask for the first flexion until the horse again mobilises the jaw. If you press too hard with you left hand or ask for too much bend (more than 90 degrees) you might cause the horse to move his feet. The goal is to have the horse bend his neck 90 degrees while standing still and gently mobilising the jaw.

When your horse has bent his neck, is standing still with the ears at more or less the same height and he is calmly mobilising the jaw, you should reward your horse by releasing the bit and taking a step back. Let your horse decide when he wants to straighten his neck. If he stays bent for a moment after you release the bit it is a good sign of suppleness.

Forth flexion: flexion of the poll

It is important that you first have flexion of the jaw (the first flexion) and the second flexion (neck extensions) well established before you ask for the flexion of the poll otherwise you risk your horse taking his nose behind the vertical. The first (flexion of the jaw) and the third flexions (lateral bending) is the preparation for flexion of the poll.

Differentiate between local and systemic effect

When you ask your horse to either bend or do a full flexion, all you want is a local effect on the horse's neck. When you apply a direct or indirect rein you want a systemic effect on the whole horse that affects the horse's balance. With a well schooled horse you can ask for either a local or a systemic effect, or a combination of the both. In practical riding this means you can bend the horse either in the direction of motion or away from the direction of motion, or bend the horse and continue on a straight line, or ask for shoulder in or half pass, renvers or travers.

I hope this will help you understand the practical benefits of flexions for refined riding. 


Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for checking my spelling and grammar! All other errors are my own.

The rein-back – To do or not to do?

When chatting with a friend at my local Swedish barn who competes in dressage, she said that the one movement that seem to cause the most difficulty is the rein back. She was talking about horses that in dressage tests perform lateral work in all gaits, counter canter and changes of lead in the canter. The rider of these horse apparently never or seldom know if their horses will rein back at all during a competition, or in what way.

I was very surprised to hear this and offered my opinion that the rein back is a more basic movement than either later work, counter canter or flying changes of lead. She agreed. After pondering this for a while I came to the conclusion that these riders likely don't practice reining-back very often. I've been told by various trainers that rein-back for the horse is a very difficult and demanding exercise and that horses perceive of it as a punishment so therefore it should not be performed too often.

But is it so? Horse's can back perfectly well all by themselves when they decide they need it, so why shouldn't I ask for it?

Mental aspect

In Natural Horsemanship, backing a horse is sometimes described as a way to inform the horse, in a way the horse could understand, that I want to be the leader. Leadership between horses, and also between human handler and horses are determined through movement and territorial dominance. So when you have you horse back away from you, and in so yielding the territory he/she just stood on to you, you have in fact informed the horse you are the leader again today. As I see it, first and foremost there seem to be a mental aspect to backing the horse: establishing leadership and communication with the horse.

When mounted

When reading Reflections on equestrian art by Nuno Oliveira I found this statement about rein back: “The practices of rein back is useful for certain horses who push against the bit and who weigh heavily against the hand.” Here I can only agree, rein back when mounted is an excellent tool for controlling the horse's balance. In this regard rein-back is not just mentally affecting your horse, but it is also a good overall gymnastic exercise if done correctly, and with this I mean there should be no pulling on the reins from either you or your horse.

How to

Official theory would like us to use our legs to push the horse forward, then letting the hand convert the forward energy into a backward movement. To use the legs and the hand in this way, is as far as I'm concerned not a good idea. Most likely the only thing you will achieve is to teach your horse that your legs doesn’t really mean go forward.

Another theory for the cues for rein back is to use only the hand. One argument for this is that “In terms of balance and locomotion, forwards movement and the rein-back are diametrically opposed. Common sense therefore means that the aids that ask for them must be strictly opposite” (Philippe Karl Twisted truths of modern dressage). As I already mentioned, this does not mean you should pull your horse backwards with the reins, but instead use a circular lifting action of the hand (the classical half halt as described by de la Gueriniere in School of horsemanship) to rebalance you horse so that he moves backwards.

In my experience rein back, both from the ground and when mounted, is a very useful exercise that I practise with all horses I handle, and that I teach all my students. It is not a exercises you need to, or should wait to ask of your horse until he/she can do flying lead changes a tempi. 

Classical riding

Last week I took Yeats with me to the first clinic of this year in ”Ecole de Légèreté”. 

The first day I showed that all his foundation is still there after the very long winter break:

1. Yeats is calm, attentive and can focus on the task at hand
2. Yeats is light in the hand and to the legs
3. Yeats is giving his mouth
4. Flexions a) high, b) to the right and to the left, c) neck extension d) of the poll

Lightness to the hand

Being light to the hand means the horse neither leans on the bit, nor withdraws from the contact. This lightness should be present when the horse is in a high position, in neck extension, in a lateral flexion or flexing the poll.

Lightness to the legs

Lightness to the legs means the horse is responding with forward motion from a very light touch from the leg. Think “draught of the boot”. Lightness to the legs also means the horse continues with whatever gait and tempo I have asked for on his own without constant use of my legs.

Specially for Yeats

Since Yeats has a long back and since his croup is higher than his withers, neck extension is important for him. He should be comfortable in neck extension in all gaits as well as in upward transitions and changes of direction. “Important” in this case does not mean I only ride in neck extension. I also raise the neck with or without flexion of the poll, but I should always be able to ask Yeats to return to neck extension at any moment.

Priorities

One new exercise for me and Yeats was a 10 m volte in canter with an outside bend. This exercise was difficult for Yeats so I had to really ask for it. Since my small hand and weight aids were not enough to convince him to do a 10 m volte I had to be clearer by opening the left rein wider and tapping with the whip on the right shoulder. Yeats responded nicely, but in order to be able to do the smaller volte he raised his head and neck so he could use the wonderful balancing pole that the neck and head is. This is of course perfectly fine. I will continue to allow him to raise his neck until he is strong enough and coordinated enough so he doesn't have to use the neck and head to stay on the 10 m volte in canter. At this point I can ask him to stay round in the neck with flexion of the jaw and the poll.

Yielding of the jaw

Yeats is yielding the jaw, i.e. he is moving the lower jaw now and then. He could do this more often, so this is one of the things I should improve upon. If you have ever felt the difference between riding a horse with a soft, yielding jaw and one that does not have it you know why it is so important. Suppleness and lightness to the hand start with the yielding of the jaw!

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for checking my spelling and grammar! All other errors are my own.

The least amount of wrong, or as much right as possible?

I've done it again, I've upset the apple-cart, I talked about the rider's hand. And, as usual, I was told that I should not ride with the hand but with my seat, and that the seat is a much more important aid then the hand. I can agree for two reasons:

1. The schooled horse can be ridden with only the seat and not need the hand. The question is, how to school a horse so it can become finished? And an even more interesting question is, how to school a poorly conformed horse to a high degree of collection and suppleness? What is “a schooled horse” anyway?
2. The hand impacts the horse through the bit on very sensitive body parts, the bars and the tongue. If the hand is used badly it can damage the horse both physically and/or mentally. Therefore, only a rider with a good seat can use the hand to school a horse. Making a mistake with your seat doesn’t have nearly the same negative impact on the horse as a mistake made with the hand.

The least amount of wrong

The widespread idea in modern riding that the hand should be kept low and still in every situation originated in the early 19^th century when the cavalry needed a model for the quick education of soldiers. The hand low and fixed in all situations is the “average least bad” option. Such a hand will neither make motion easier for the horse nor school the horse, but at least the horse knows where the hand is and can adjust to this constant problem. This way of using the hand was never intended to be used to school horses, its purpose was to educate riders quickly to a low but, for the cavalry, acceptable standard of riding. The officers in the cavalry received a longer and much more extensive training including a more effective, refined technique for using the hand, suitable for schooling horses.

When writing this blog, teaching or giving lectures, I always strive to pinpoint why I see something as better or not. Just to say that something is “bad” or “good” without offering an explanation is not helpful for myself or the reader, student or listeners. By expressing in words, a mental readiness is created in our minds. This is the reason I stubbornly continue to talk about the hand and its affect on the horse.

In my way of thinking, the idea of low hands that should remain low no matter what the horse does is a way of riding where the rider strives to do the least amount of wrong. In certain circumstances this is all we can strive for. But if my aspiration is to do as much right as possible, then I need to try to understand how to use the hand to school the horse.

The most amount of right

In the Swedish translation of The Principles of Riding (Complete Riding & Driving System) (2003) you can read as follows:

”The rider has to be aware that man by nature always uses his hand to facilitate or prevent all kind of results. In riding you instead have to strive to give more and more refined signals with the hand as the weight and leg aids work better and better.” (page 73, my translation).

I agree. The hand can be used to facilitate or prevent all kinds of results. Maria has explained why in a previous blog entry: ”Thehand has access to a large part of the brain's motor and sensorycapabilities.”

The way I understand The Principles of Riding, the hand can only be used less when the weight and legs function “better”. As I see it the interesting question then is to ask what makes the weight and legs aids work, and also what makes them work better? In my experience the horse is thought to carry itself in such a balance by the proper use of the hand so that the weight and leg aids can work. The hand is the primary aid for schooling the horse. Not the weight or the legs.

To do the most amount of right with the hand is not the same thing as keeping it low no matter what the horse does. To do the most amount of right means that you are aware of the quality of the contact with the horse's mouth through the reins all the time. The contact with the horse's mouth is good when I have the weight of the rein in my hands, no more, and through the rein I can feel the gentle play of the horse's mouth as the horse softly mobilises his tongue and lower jaw in a relaxed way. These sensations are best transmitted through smooth leather reins. No special reins with “good grip” should ever be used.

Maria continues in her blog entry: “It [the hand] has all the potential in the world to be receptive, sensitive, subtle and well-coordinated, all we as riders need to do is to train it.” To educate the hand is to create in oneself a mental readiness to perceive the quality of the touch in the rein. One way of creating this mental readiness is to talk about a subject, to seek words that can describe what our hands can feel.

To have the horse light in hand is the beginning and end of all horse training. That is the core of the concept of the hand as the primary aid. Seeing the hand as the primary aid means you school the horse to respond to the bit neither by leaning nor pushing on it, and above all the horse should not fear the bit.

To see the hand as the primary aid means the rider has to be schooled 1) to follow the horse's mouth without interfering, in all gaits, 2) to refine the control of the movement of his own fingers, hand and arms in order to be able to give signals to the horse 3) to influence the horse's balance and posture through the position of the horse's neck and head.

A well schooled horse carries itself in such a balance that it can maintain a light contact with the bit in all gaits. Such a horse can be ridden with the use of the seat by a well schooled rider as long as the horse remains light in the hand.

The father of classical equitation, François Robichon de la Guérinière (,1688-1751), wrote in his book “Ecole de Cavalerie” that: “The hand ought always to begin the effect, the legs to accompany it: for it is a general principle in all the paces, as well natural as artificial, that the head and shoulders of the horse must go first ”.

What do you choose? To do the least amount of wrong, or as much right as possible?

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for checking my spelling and grammar! All other errors are my own.

Hagens Yeats 2008-2011

A picture says more than a thousand words. At least that is how the saying goes. When I decided to write about the journey together with Yeats so far, the first thing I did was watch the video from the evaluation ride back in the summer of 2008. Moving pictures do capture a lot, in fact looking at the video from 2008 I'm surprised that I actually went ahead and bought Yeats in the first place! Knowing now how much time and effort we both have spent in overcoming his stiffness and resistance I would hesitate to take on a similar project. This stiffness and resistance is evident in the way he very reluctantly performed rein back. It is also evident when I asked for sideways moment and got pacing instead.

Our joint journey during our first two years together had mainly been focussed around establishing calm, trust and communication. I don't have any videos from our early days when he couldn't be left alone in the arena and would panic when asked to go into the wash rack or the trailer, but there is a damaged barn door that can tell you just exactly how it feels to be ploughed down by a Connemara determined not to get his feet wet. The fact that he now hardly flicks an ear when being washed brings me as much happiness as a nice ride in the forest or the execution of an (almost) perfect shoulder in.

Since the video is 10 minutes long I shall not write a complete novel about it. I will however offer a few more words. A picture says more than a thousand words, but at the same time it does not convey any of the feelings present in the moment. When I look at the videos of me riding Yeats, I can marvel at how light and easy a sequence can look when I have the memory of Yeats leaning on the hand and being anything but light. I can also look at some clips and wonder what I'm doing although at the time it felt absolutely right. The journey is never ending.

In the video I mention SixKeys to Harmony as well as Ecole deLégèreté and you can read more about those philosophies in previous blog entries.  

Improve canter departs

The other week I was asked how to improve canter departs. Here are some thoughts on the subject.

First of all, improving the canter depart is related to whether the horse has a decent canter or not. In my work as a riding instructor I've met a lot of Icelandic horses and trotters who do not have a decent canter, even when the horse moves freely without a rider. It is not my goal to discuss this issue in this blog entry.

I assume therefore that the horse whose canter depart we seek to improve has a nice canter when, for example, he moves freely in the pasture. The first step then could be to have the horse strike off into canter from trot when given a signal to do so. Some horses can become very stressed when asked to canter in the beginning. One reason for this can be that canter is a gait the horse mainly uses for running away. If this is the case this is very important to deal with right away. But again, this is not an issue I'm going to linger on further here. Thus I assume the horse has a decent canter and does not get overly stressed about cantering.

One way to start building a cue for canter is to have the horse canter when lunging. The horse will only have to deal with its own body and not the rider's also. In the videos I've asked my horse Hagens Yeats to stay on a rather small circle (approx 15 m). If your horse is not used to cantering on the lunge when asked to, you will most likely be better off letting the horse move on a larger circle covering the whole with of the arena. Good footing and an enclosed area is always a good idea when introducing a horse to this kind of work. I've taught Yeats what the voice command “galopp” (Swedish for canter) means by simply asking him to increase the trot until he canters. As he now knows the spoken cue he don't have to speed up and can thus handle the smaller circle. As always you have to work the horse in both directions and on both leads.

As a little bonus, you can see in the first video how I switch direction in trot. I can ask Yeats to do this since I have attached the lunge line under his chin and I'm not using any side reins. A lunging cavesson where you attach the rope on the bridge of the nose would also work well.

When the horse can canter on command when lunging, in both directions of course, you can ask for the same when you ride the horse trotting on a large circle. To teach the horse to strike off in the canter lead you want on a straight line, you can use a broken line to help the horse find the right balance. For the horse to strike off into canter the horse needs to put weight on the outside legs, especially the outside hind leg. One way to put the horse in this balance is to ride a broken line along the long side of the arena. You bring the horse in from the track and as you ask the horse to return to the track (both hands to the track, your weight on the outside) the horse will shift his weight to the outside. This is when you ask for the canter. This exercise teaches the horse to listen to the rider's outside leg (which stays still against the horses side) as well as the rider's inside leg (which gives the impulse for canter by lightening its contact against the horse's side.)

To improve canter departs from walk the horse has to be in self carriage, that is light in the hand, and in proper balance that is elevated enough in the front. When the horse is in self carriage and in good balance you can ask for the canter with an reverse half halt on the inside rein. Reversed half halt means to start a half halt by lifting the hand, then lower it forwards, this will “open the door” for the horse's inside shoulder and the horse can step into the canter.

Reinforce with a light tap on the horse's inside shoulder if your horse needs clarification on what you're asking for when using the reverse half halt. To get the horse to understand a very small reverse half halt as Yeats does in the video, you must first offer such a small signal to the horse and support this small cue with a voice command or the whip on the shoulder as needed. The primary cue, in this case the reverse half halt with the inside hand, should never become large or heavy. Use a secondary supporting cue instead.

I suggest you also let your outside leg stay snugly against the horse's side for two reasons, the horse will recognise this as the preparatory cue for canter from the previous exercise, and as you progress into more advanced canter work like counter canter and two track in canter this snug outside leg will let the horse know which canter to strike off into and also which canter to stay in.

Some exercises that can improve the canter depart:

*) reining back – especially if the horse has a tendency to lean on the bit either in the depart to canter or in the downward transition after canter

*) shoulder in – to prepare the horse for a balanced canter depart from walk by strengthening the hind legs. In shoulder in the horse strengthens one leg a time

*) collected walk – will strengthen both hind legs at the same time

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for checking my spelling and grammar! All other errors are my own.

Leg yield and shoulder in, part 2: the aids

The way I see it, the aids are the same for leg yield and shoulder in. In both movements the horse goes sideways with more or less angle, and with more or less pronounced flexion of the neck (see my previous post).

Order of priorities
When you teach your horse a new movement, or for that matter, when you introduce a new exercise to a rider you should follow this order:
1) The horse must be light in the hand (free to place its head and neck any way it wants), the rider must not hang or pull on the reins
2) The horse puts his feet more or less where you want (you have influence over the horse's balance), the rider can control the placement of the horse's feet
3) The horse, through the yielding of the jaw and relaxation of the poll and neck, lets its head fall into a more or less vertical position (the horse is in the form), the rider does know how to ask the horse for this yielding of the jaw and relaxation of the poll and neck

The hand is the primary aid
What I mean by the statement “the hand is the primary aid” is that the attention to the quality (ie lightness) in the contact between the rider´s hand and the horse´s mouth is always the top priority. It comes before everything else. To see the hand as the primary aid does not mean that I try to force the horse around with large uncoordinated gestures. Not at all, quite the opposite. To see the hand as the primary aid is to acknowledge that lightness between my hand and the horse's mouth is the main indication of the movement's quality in general.

I have previously written about how to educate the horse´s mouth and also how to influence the horse´s balance by the use of the hand.

The legs
Since the word “leg” is present in “leg yield”, it is of course easy to assume leg aids are necessary to perform the movement. Since only the angle in which the horse is travelling seems to differ between leg yield and shoulder in, the same could be true for the latter movement.

You can of course use your leg to ask the horse to move sideways. If you do, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
1) when you use both legs at the same time, it is a signal to the horse to move forwards
2) a single leg tells the horse that it will move sideways and not forwards
3) when using your legs, either together for forwards movement, or to move the horse to the side, the horse should not lean or push on the bit

A single leg can be used to ask the horse to move sideways. Spontaneously, I think most of us imagine that an increase in pressure from one leg will cause the horse to move away from that leg. This is one way to train the horse. But how much pressure is needed? A horse can feel a fly crawling on its skin, so the answer must be "not very much". Instead of focusing on increasing the pressure in the leg that is on the horse, you might be better off easing the pressure with the leg that the horse should move towards. If you pay close attention, you can feel the horse's barrel lifting your knee up in one sequence of the horse´s foot fall when stepping sideways. You can very easily lighten the contact of you leg against the horse´s side by aiding in the lifting of your knee at this very moment. Do not hold your leg up, but let it sink when the horse's barrel sinks and then lift it again in time with the horse's movements. If the horse does not perceive or understand your cue, stimulate the horse gently using a whip on the opposite side. And, of course, pay attention that your horse does not start to lean or push against the bit.

The weight
If you want to help your horse by using your weight, you want to place your weight in the direction of motion. This means that in a right shoulder in on a straight line where the horse moves to the left, your weight should also be placed to the left. Using your weight as an aid is done by extremely subtle means and it is easy to do too much.

Do nothing
Remember, when the horse does what you asked for, it is your job to do nothing, ie to be the best, non-interfering passenger you can be to your horse.

Thank You
Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for checking my spelling and grammar! All other errors are my own.

Leg yield vs Shoulder in

I received a question the other day: “I would very much like an explanation with videos of how leg yield is performed”. Thank you for your question, Johanna! I was about to write about leg yield and shoulder in anyway since, after I posted the two videos with me and my horse doing shoulder in, I've learned something very interesting about the modern perception of the difference between leg yield and shoulder in. This blog entry will deal with the performance of the horse, that is what the horse should do, and in my next blog entry on the 29 of December I will tackle the topic of how the rider should ask the horse to move sideways.

According to the modern theory of riding, a horse should be straight in the spine in leg yield except for a very small bend in the neck (away from the direction of motion). When the horse is straight in the trunk, it will cross the inner front leg in front of the outer front leg, and also the inner rear leg in front of the outside rear leg.



Video of leg yield


However, in a shoulder in, the horse should be evenly bent through the whole spine. The result of this will be that the horse is moving sideways only crossing the front legs, not the hind legs. The inner hind leg will not cross in front of and over the outer hind leg, but it will be placed forward and in front of the outside hind leg so that it is placed under the horse's body where it will carry a maximum amount of the horse's weight. What you can see is that the horse is moving on three tracks, i.e. the inner rear hoof and the outside front hoof are travelling on the same line.



Video of shoulder in


But wait a minute. Can the horse bend evenly through the whole spine? No. Anatomical studies of the horse's spine clearly show that the horse has very limited ability to bend through the spine any further back than the withers.

In times of confusion it is always a good idea to go back and read about the original ideas, so therefore I turned to de la Guérinière. He was the first person to describe how to ride a shoulder in on a straight line, he did so 1731:

“Thus, once a horse has learned to trot freely in both directions on the circle and on the straight line, to move at a calm and even walk on these same lines, has become accustomed to executing halts and half halts and to carrying the head to the inside, it is then necessary to take him at a slow and slightly collected walk along the wall and place him such that his haunches make one line and his shoulders make another. The line of the haunches must be near the wall and the line of the shoulder must be about a foot and a half to two feet away from the wall, while keeping the horse bent in the direction in which he is moving. In other words, to explain myself more simply, instead of keeping a horse completely straight in the shoulder and the haunches on the straight line along the wall, it is necessary to turn his head and shoulders slightly inward toward the centre of the school, as if one actually wanted to turn him, and when he has assumed this oblique and circular posture, one must make him move forward along the wall while aiding him with the inside rein and leg (he absolutely cannot go forward in this posture without stepping-over or “chevaler” - the front inside leg over the outside and, similarly, the inside hind leg over the outside). This is easily seen in the figure of the shoulder-in which will make this still more visible.”

Part of the figure referred to in the quote is shown here:



The text and pictures describe, as far as I can tell, a horse that crosses both the front and hind legs. So, the father of modern riding describes a movement he calls shoulder in where the horse crosses the inner front and inner hind leg with the goal of producing suppleness in the horse since the horse is using the joints in the legs differently from when he travels on one track, whether that is straight or on a circle.

From what I can tell, whether or not the horse will cross the inside hind leg over the outside hind leg has more to do with the angle in which the horse is moving sideways, rather then if he is bent in the spine or not. A sufficiently small angle and the horse will bring the inner rear leg more forward under the body than crossing over the outer hind leg.

These ideas only apply if the horse moves on the straight line. As soon as the horse starts performing shoulder in on a curved line, both the inner front and the inner rear leg will cross over the outer ones.

Picture from Philippe Karl's “Twisted truths of modern dressage” showing sideways movements on circles and voltes:



Video showing shoulder in on the volte


Compare the sequence of footfalls as Yeats moves sideways in shoulder in on the volte with the sequence of footfall when moving in a side pass. When the front legs cross, the hind legs are far apart and vice versa.

Video showing side pass


My conclusion from this study of leg yield and shoulder in is that whenever the horse moves sideways crossing both the front and the hind legs this is suppling the horse, while a sideways movement when the horse is not crossing the hind legs but rather takes it forward and under the horse's belly is preparing the horse for collection.

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are my own.

Combing the reins

”it is easy for the reader to see that a horse that is obedient to the hand is one who follow all of its movements and that the movements of the hand through the reins cause the bit to act in the horse's mouth.”

This is a quote by de la Guérinière. It is from chapter 7 in his School of Horsemanship where de la Guérinière discusses the rider's hand as the primary aid.

For the horse to follow the rider's hand, the horse can not fear the bit nor withdraw from it. The horse must, as the popular saying goes, seek the bit. Now, the perfectly schooled horse should never lean on the bit, resist a small lifting action of the rider's hands, nor hesitate to follow the bit forward, down and out. The horse should follow the bit both up, to the left, to the right as well as down.

Some horses do however withdraw from the connection with the rider's hand, which may cause the horse to either go behind the bit, or nervously throw it's head up. In both cases I have had great success with a technique called “combing the reins”. This technique teaches the horse that the rider's hand is nothing to fear. It is quite easy to do but hard to explain so Maria volunteered to demonstrate it on her three year old gelding Amaretto. If you look closely you can see that Maria is currently introducing Amaretto to the mysteries of being a riding horse using a bitless bridle but the technique is just the same weather you are using a bit or not. Look at Maria's hands, she is gently combing the reins with relaxed fingers and when Amaretto stretches forward, down and out with his nose, head and neck she lets the reins slide through her fingers.



For this technique to work you need to have plain leather reins. You should take care not to grab hold of the reins no matter what the horse does with its head (unless the horse takes off, of course!). Start out in standing still like on the video, and progress to walk. For some horses this work is best introduced when walking back to the barn after a nice ride out doors. Since most horses have a tendency to walk energetically towards home, it is usually easier to have them take contact with the bit and the rider's hand in this situation. Praise your horse when he does what you want, and take care he doesn’t start pulling the reins out of your hands! Too much of any one thing is not necessarily better.

Travers, renvers and half pass but mostly travers

Travers is the English term for when a horse moves sideways and look in the direction of travel. More precisely travers is one of three different terms for this. In Sweden we like to keep it simple and call all sideways movement where the horse looks in the direction of travel for “sluta” regardless of where in the arena the horse performs this or if it is on a straight or curved line. Not so in English. A “sluta” either by the wall or on a curved line where the horse have the head to the wall or to the outside of the circle is called a travers. A “sluta” either by the wall or on a curved line where the horse have the tail to the wall or to the outside of the circle is called renver. And a “sluta” on any diagonal line is called a half pass. Since the videos below show me riding travers (head to the wall and the horse looking in the direction of travel) I will from here on in this particular blog entry just say travers.

The short summary of the perfect aids for the perfect travers are: none! When the horse is executing the task it has been asked to do my job as the rider is to be the best, non-disturbing passenger I can be.

The hand is the primary aid according to the father of classical equitation de la Gueriniere and the unquestionable minimum requirement for the relationship between the rider's hand and the horse´s mouth is that neither the rider or the horse is pulling or leaning on the bit. The contact have to consistent of only the weight of the rein.

There is also a whole bunch of cool stuff about how to balance the horse with the reins (see for instance the blog entry about the figure of 8 and inside vs outside rein) but I will not go into that in any more detail here in regard to travers becasue this blog entry would turn into a smaller book then. You can not see how I balance the horse with the use of my reins in the video but believe me when I say I do.

I will however mention something about the seat and the weight as an aid since I touch upon this in my comments. In all sideways movement, if I choose to use my weight as an aid it should always be in the direction of travel. So in the video where I ride right travers I strive to have my weight to the right, and the other way around, in left travers I strive to have the weight to the left.

Right travers means the horse's right shoulder are on the inside of the bend, and the horse is also traveling to the right. And of course it is the other way around for left travers. Here is a simple drawing of a horse seen from above in right travers with little horsy ears and little horsy feet:




To make it so much more interesting, all horses are from birth crooked either to the right or to the left which causes the horse to easier perform either right or left travers.

Below are two short videos with me riding my horse Hagens Yeats (a 14 year old Connemara gelding) in right and left travers. I've also added my comments for you to read.

Right travers



So what am I doing with my head? I've forgot to lift my chin and let my breast bone come up. I also have just to short reins. If I remember correctly I was busy enjoying my talented, focused and supple pony:). The just to short reins cause my elbows to be in front of my torso instead of hanging relaxed from my shoulders. The inner leg is slightly forward as it should and dangles more or less relaxed with the movements of my horse. Almost half way through the video I raise my inside hand. I do this in order to ask Yeats to keep the round outline of his neck. It dosen't really show but Yeats should have given his mouth, softening in the jaw and lifting the bite with his tongue in response to the presence in the corner of his lip. As a result of this soft mobility he also softened in the neck which restored his relaxed and round neck. At the end of the movie Yeats responds perfectly when I give with the hand and he is stretching his neck forward and his nose down and out in what in the School of lightness is called ”neck extension.

Left travers



Here I would like to tell myself to sit over more to the left in order to be more with the movement instead of behind it. My upper arms falls relaxed straight down so that my elbows are resting lightly against the sides of my torso. The careful observer can see that the right leg is slightly drawn back (the heel is a bit more lifted than on the right side) and that the leg is more quiet than the left, this leg is the positional leg, ie the leg that the horse moves away from, not because I press with it but because the horse feel its presence more since I've limited the movements in my knee. The left leg, on the other hand, is swinging freely with the horse's movement and enables the horse to move freely move sideways to the left.

Videos of shoulder in

Instead of me writing about my perception of the horse world this week, I thought I should show you two short videos of me and my horse doing the shoulder in and let you tell me what you think. I know what I'm happy with and what I want to improve, but what do you see?

Curb or no curb?

”My horse likes the curb” is an argument I sometimes hear for why a rider chooses to ride with a curb bit instead of a normal snaffle. I assume that the horse in question when ridden in a snaffle can choose to pull, lean on the bit or go against the rider's hand (resistance of force), but since the horse chooses not to do this when ridden in a curb, the rider feels that the contact with the horse's mouth is lighter and smoother. But is it the horse or the rider who thrives with the curb?

Maybe it's wrong of me to say that it is the rider who likes the curb. Of course it's nice that the horse doesn't hang your hand! That is not something I want no matter what bit I choose to ride with. What I mean is that the rider may lack practical knowledge of how she could train her horse not to pull or lean on the snaffle. This knowledge exists, for instance, within the tradition of French classical riding.

I would also like to point out that whatever bit you choose, it's you as a rider who has the ultimate responsibility for the quality of the contact between your hand and the horse's mouth. Horses can, unfortunately, accept far too much pressure in the mouth with either the snaffle or curb. A curb does not guarantee that the horse does not get injuries in the mouth. We as riders should not put the responsibility on the horse to let us know what contact is OK, regardless of the bit we choose. I strive to have the weight of the rein and nothing more in my hand, what do you strive for?

Whatever bit you choose, you as a rider are responsible for:
1) training your seat and balance so that you don't use the reins for support. You should be able to follow the horse in all gaits with loose reins without holding on with your hands, or if you need to hold with a hand you should do so by holding the mane or the pommel, and not use the reins
2) training your coordination and body awareness so that you do not accidentally or without being aware of it tense or move your fingers, hands or arms, especially not backwards
3) getting yourself a decent idea of what is a proper contact.

For myself I normally choose to ride with the snaffle. The double bridle or curb are tools for precise and delicate communication that I only use on the highly schooled horse. The snaffle bit, properly used, is the most effective way to supple a horse. A supple horse has a calm and gentle activity of the mouth. He swallows, plays with and lifts the bit with his tongue. A supple horse can, in halt, walk and trot bend his neck 90 degrees. In canter the bending is slightly less. A supple horse can raise the neck and above all, he can lower his neck while extending his nose forward so that it will never be behind the vertical. This is what, in the School of Légèreté, is called neck extension.

In the end I believe it is the rider's body awareness and control, and her ideas about what is a good contact that determines which bit a horse likes.

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are my own.

Inside or outside rein?

I remember from my time as a child at the local riding school here in Sweden that I was told to use the outside rein to get the horse back on the track by the wall. This never worked very well for me. Normally the horse would just turn his head to the outside and walk further away from the wall.

Many years later I met Craig Stevens, a master rider who turned many of my ideas about riding upside down. He told me to use a so-called indirect rein on the horse's inside to bring the horse back to the track. It worked much better!

Why does the inside rein work so much better? For my part, it was not just about which rein I used, it was also the way I used the rein. In my days as a beginner rider, I probably pulled a lot on the rein. Nor had I mastered the skill of timing my signals to the horse's balance, weight distribution and biomechanics. Now I can do that it makes a big difference. So when I once again received the instruction to use the outside rein from Bea Borelle to return the horse to the track, it worked splendidly.

The reasons I could not get it to work when I was an inexperienced rider were two fold: 1) I was pulling backwards, and 2) I could not coordinate the use of my two hands. When Craig asked me to use only the inside rein and ignore the outside rein, I had the opportunity to develop the feel of when and how I should influence my horse. Without this practice I would not have managed the task of coordinating my hands.

In addition, today I can choose to do it either way, depending on the situation and what kind of horse I'm riding. And that is not a bad thing!

The indirect rein on the inside will get the horse back on the track by the wall by shifting the horse's weight to the outside rear leg. This will unload the forehand and make it easy for the horse to move the forehand back to the track. When you use the inside indirect rein, the horse might also bend to the inside. The horse can do this since he is no longer leaning on the inside shoulder. A horse cannot bend to the inside and "lean" to the inside at the same time.

However, most horses often have one side which they don't bend so easily.

On this side it is not at all certain that the horse responds to the indirect rein with bending. The horse can still move away from the indirect rein, but it is quite possible that the horse won't bend towards the indirect rein as well.

In this case, you may need to coordinate the reins. You bend the horse by turning the inside hand and then raising it. You can then shorten the rein and lower the hand and the horse should remain bent without you having to take the hand backwards.

In short, the hand that bends the horse dose not move sideways or horizontally, only vertically. The hand that influences the balance, and thus where the horse is going, is moved horizontally (direct or indirect rein). When I have set the bend and the horse accepts the bend, that is he is not pulling on the reins, then I can choose to use a direct rein on the outside, or an indirect rein on the inside, to keep my horse on a straight line. But if my horse for some reason do not accept the bend, then I need to use the inside hand to ask for the bend by turning the wrist and maybe even raising the hand, in combination with the outside direct rein to ask the horse to remain on the track. With this division of use of the inner and outer hand, and between effects (hand sideways affects balance, hand used vertically to set the bend) it becomes easy to bend the horse either to the inside or the outside and to follow a straight or curved line.

Try it!

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are my own.

Notes from lessons with Craig Stevens, part 2

You can read part 1 of my notes from lessons with Craig Stevens here.

The horse should use his muscles to perform a movement, not his weight. Resistance of weight means the horse's legs are not underneath him. The horse “leans” in one direction. Resistance of force means the horse is tightening his muscles.

Turning by the use of weight



The horse puts weight on the inside shoulder (here the right shoulder) and its head to the outside. The horse turns by “falling”, that is the horse is running to catch up with its own weight.

The horse is out of balance and has a hard time controlling the speed in the turn.

This is not desirable.


Turning by the use of muscles



The horse uses the outside diagonal (here left front and right hind leg) for carrying his own and the rider's weight. The inside front leg is relatively lighter than in the case above, which makes canter departs easier.

This is desirable.

All correct and easily executed movements by the horse are proof of balance. Balance means the horse is using his muscles, not displacement of his weight, to initiate movements.

First give the horse the position and balance it needs for a movement, then let the horse execute the movement without disturbing him.

Precision in timing
Use a direct rein when the front hoof on the same side is on the way down or on the ground. Use an indirect rein when the front hoof on the same side is off the ground.

Attention
If you lose the horse's attention, tap with the whip.

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are my own.

Natural crookedness

One main goal in schooling a horse is to teach the horse to become straight, that is move straight on a straight line, turn as easily to the right as to the left etc. All horses are either bent to the left or to the right. I've heard various explanations for this, one being this natural crookedness is formed due to the way the foal is laying in the mare's womb. This could explain why there seem to be just as many horses that are bent to the right as to the left. Whatever the reason, an untouched horse is never straight.



A horse that is bent to the right will:
*) carry its head to the right
*) overload the left shoulder
*) carry the haunches to the right
*) the right hind leg will advance more than the left, but it escapes to the side. It reaches more than pushes
*) the left hind will push, but only engage to a small extent
*) the horse tends to weight the left lateral pair (the convex side) more than the right
*) the right lateral pair is shortened (concave side) and carries less weight


When riding or lunging a horse that is bent to the right, the horse will turn easily to the right with a tendency to enlarge the circle since the outside shoulder carries more weight than the inside one. On the other hand, the horse turns to the left by falling onto the inside (left) shoulder in the direction of the turn, while carrying its head to the outside. Usually the horse canters more easily on the right lead, but with its haunches in.

What you feel when you ride:
*) The horse has a nice contact on the left rein, but refuses to take contact on the right rein
*) Your seat drops more to the right than the left in each stride and your right leg is near the horse while the left leg is pushed away from the left hindquarters.
*) In lateral work it is easier for the horse to move its shoulder to the left and its haunches to the right.

“In all work on the right rein, the horse seems flexible and 'balanced', on the left rein it seems to be stiff and 'out of balance'.“ P. Karl, Twisted truths of modern dressage (2008)


Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are my own.

Notes from lessons with Craig Stevens

The person who first showed me there was another way of riding which was not based on push and pull was Craig Stevens. I met him for the first time in 1999 when he held a clinic near where I live in Sweden. That my horse liked what he taught me was apparent when my horse, a thoroughbred I've been riding for 13 years, started to offer both piaffe and flying changes. Not bad for a horse that, according to my previous trainers, lacked any trace of talent and positive work ethic.

Here are some notes from my clinics with Craig in 1999-2000.

Riding according to the old French model:
Direct rein - video with Craig explaning direct rein
Indirect rein - video with Craig explaning indirect rein
Half halt

The legs = forward impulsion
The hand = slowing down
Opposing each other, can cause the horse to become docile, therefore hand without legs, legs without hand. This will also make mistakes done by either hand or legs visible.

Hand without legs, legs without hand unless there is a reason to do something else, such as the combined effect.

I create everything that is riding, even in the horse's head.

Two types of resistance in horse and rider:
1) weight – the horse leans on the rider's hand because the horse doesn’t have his four legs underneath him. Is fixed with the half halt (demi arret). The rider doesn't sit aligned on the horse.
2) force – resistance of force, is caused by the way the muscles are used. Is eliminated through vibration from the rider's wrist.

One of the largest muscles for resisting is the underside of the neck. By elevating the horse's head this muscle is stretched, when the horse then lowers its head the muscle will be relaxed.

Horses are faster, stronger and weigh more than humans. Therefore we can't control horses with physical strength, only psychological effects.

The riders seat = relaxed
Hip – knee – ankle : these are the joints, plus the loin, that control the horse, not my muscles! The first job for the seat is to follow the horse. Give aids with the skeleton. “Learn to do nothing on horse back”. Most people have difficulties doing four, five things at the same time. Strength causes imbalance and the control of the horse is gone.

Calm, forward, straight/directed

Touch – non touch. Minute difference. Avoid denting! Don't cause the muscles to change shape, don't grab the skeleton.

Touch – non touch, this applies to both the hand and the legs.

Never pull backwards! The horse is 5-6 times faster, every time I pull/take the hand backwards the horse will perceive it as an attack.

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are all my own.

Neck extension

Neck extension is a central term in the School of Légèreté and part of the flexions. The purpose of neck extension is to have the horse lowering its neck to the point that the ears are at the same height as the wither, and the nose well out in front of the vertical.



and in doing this, stretching the topline, more precisely the ilio-spinal muscle. This muscle is stretched when the spinal processes on the withers are pulled forward by the ligaments and muscles in the neck when the neck is extended horizontally. If the horse goes behind the vertical, the ilio-spinal muscle will not be stretched.



You ask the horse for neck extension by raising the hand so that you come into a steady, even, contact with the corner of the horse's mouth. When the horse wants to lower its head, let your hand follow down and forward.

These are my note about neck extension from my last clinic with Bea Borelle:

1) When the horse's head is high, the rider's hands are high so as to act on the corner of the horse's mouth, this avoids pressure on the horse's tongue.
2) Action (the horse lifts its head and the rider raises his hand, see above) – Reaction (the horse lower its head from and the rider's hand follow softly) start with the opening of the poll.
3) Demi-arrêt (French for half halt according to de la Guérinière) to open the poll.
4) The lower the neck, the further the nose out in front of the vertical (and the rider's hand forward!).
5) Being on the vertical is the beginning of a mistake.
6) Vertical balance has priority over neck extension (the horse should not speed up or lean on the bit when extending the neck. If it does, correct it with the demi-arrêt).
7) Lateral balance has priority over neck extension (the horse should not lean on the inside shoulder when turning in neck extension).
8) The steady bend keeps a steady position.
9) Légèreté doesn’t always start with légèreté, some horses need to be schooled to seek the contact with the rider's hands.
10) Neck extension is usually a lower position of the horse's neck than you think.
11) To repeat the signal tells the horse to extend more, or (in case the horse has raised its head again) to return to neck extension.
12) The bend cultivates the way of extension. For instance when the horse learns too well and start leaning on the bit, the bend will help the horse develop a soft extension without leaning.

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Natural Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are all my own.

Philippe Karl's training chart

I'm getting ready for the “School of Légèreté” clinic with Bea Borelle next week. Part of my preparation is to go over my notes from the previous clinic. I wanted to share with you Philippe Karl's circular chart to horse-training. The chart focuses on what to train rather than the result of the training (rhythm, relaxation, contact, impulsion, straightness and collection). The start, and end, of all training is the horse's lightness to the rider's hand. But before I go into the sequence of what to train, let's look at what is in the centre of the circle.



Respect to the horse
Respect to the horse means knowing about the nature of the horse's psyche in order to be able to present the request you have so the horse can understand you. Horses don't speak English, Swedish or any other spoken or written language. They speak horse. To respect the horse also means to know about the biomechanics of the horse, how the horse balances himself and how he carries his weight distributed over his four legs. It also includes respecting and seeing the individual horse and recognising both similarities with and differences from other horses.

Lightness to the hand, balance and impulsion
Lightness to the hand is the starting point in Philippe Karl's training chart. Without lightness to the hand the horse is not in a proper balance. Impulsion (lightness to the legs) is only of use if the horse is in balance and light in hand. These three concepts cannot be separated, therefore there are arrows connecting all three of them.

1) Lightness to the hand
Lightness to the hand means that the horse neither leans on the bit (again balance as mentioned above. This can also be phrased as resistance of weight) nor contracts the jaw (resistance of force). Lightness to the hand means that the horse is gently playing with the bit, lifting it with its tongue and that the horse can easily swallow. This is something the horse can and should be trained to do. For the horse to be able to express lightness to the hand, the nose band (if used at all) should be loosely fitted, and the rider cannot act backwards with her hands.

2) Flexibility
The part of the horse's spine that is the most flexible is the horse's neck. Contrary to popular belief, the horse's anatomy does not allow the horse to bend laterally in its spine throughout its whole longitudinal axis. The only part of the horse's body the rider really can influence with stretching exercise is the horse's neck. Exercises to improve flexibility are the flexion of the horse's neck up and down, to the right and to the left in halt, walk, trot and canter. These exercises will lead to suppleness and, together with “3) Mobility”, also to straightness and rhythm in all gaits. The double headed arrow indicates that when a horse becomes more flexible, he will also get lighter in hand.

3) Mobility
To train mobility in the horse includes bending the horse in both directions, turning in both directions and also practicing sideways movements like shoulder in, travers, renvers and half pass. A horse is said to be straight when it can just as easily be turned to the right as to the left, perform right shoulder in as well as left etc. When the horse is light in hand, flexible and mobile, he will also move with rhythm. The double headed arrow indicates that when a horse becomes more mobile, he will also get more flexible.

4) Collection
Collection means the horse is carrying more of its weight on its hind legs by flexing the joints in the hind legs and in doing so engage the hind legs under the body. Transitions and rein-back where the horse lightens the forehand (raises the neck) and remains light in hand, together with lightness to the rider's legs (impulsion) are used to achieve collection. The circle is complete since as the horse develops the ability to collect, he will also become lighter in hand. The double headed arrow indicates that when a horse becomes lighter in hand, he will also develop a more brilliant collection.

Thanks to Mark Stanton of Natural Horsemanship Magazine for proof reading! All remaining errors are all my own.