Get your feet moving

This weekend, I learned to run and it was fantastic! Malcolm Balk, a teacher of the Alexander Technique and runner with many kilometers in his legs shared his knowledge with us.

As with everything else my mind slipped over to riding and horse management during the work shop. To run is to bring many small detailes to form a whole and every detail is important for the quality of the whole.

Just as in riding, it is important to know in which direction the movement will take place. For a runner, there should be an upward direction in the body while we want to move forward. If we bounce with each step we are wasting energy. I thought Malcolm said that with a bouncy running technique during a marathon you are likely to have climbed up to the top of the Empire State Building (381 m) and down again.

When we run, there is very little free energy for us to use, compared to cycling for example we can let the bike roll from time to time without stopping completely. The small amount of free energy in running is developed when the achilles tendon is stretched as the heel touches the ground and is released when the heel leaves the ground. In order to make use of that energy, our foot fall needs to be both accurate and fast enough. If we stand for to long on our foot the free energy disappears into the ground and we'll have to work our way to the next step. Besides making it harder to run if we waste the free energy our shock absorbing is decreased and  the risk of injuries such knee pain, shin- and calf muscle problems increases.

As we sit on horseback, we should have an upward direction in our body (vertical seat) while the horse should move forward. The horse's legs store and release more energy than we can in our legs and therefore can provide more free energy into the next step, if we let the horse's direction in the spine be forward and slightly upward. Riding the horse behind the bit, with the third cervical vertebra as the highest point, the horse moves on its forehand and the power from the back legs is pushed into the ground. Just like us, the loss of free energy forces the horse to work more with muscle power to take the next step and the degraded shock absorption increases risk of problems in fetlock and knees.

A good lateral balance is important for running, it increases the chance that the legs are equally loaded during a run. To train lateral balance, you can stand on one leg and then switch leg with a small jump. You should be able to do that transition without wobble and a need to balance yourself with your arms way outside your body. As humans, lateral balance is fairly easy, we have two legs that needs to interact. The horse has four. Shoulder in in walk is a movement that trains the lateral balance of the horse.

Step rate, or cadence as Malcolm calls it, should be 180 steps per minute (90 steps per leg per minute) when we run. If you, like me, is a recreational runner without competition aspirations, it's a good deal faster than what you're used to. Usain Bolt takes 2.5-meter-long strides with a cadence of 240 steps per minute, no wonder that he is the fastest!

The horse has different cadence in different gaits and that means walking horse with a lower cadence than that one should strive for is free energy wasted straight down into the ground. An approximate cadence to aim for in walk is 55 steps per leg/minute, in trot 75 steps per leg/minute and at a gallop 95 beats per stride/minute.

The best tool for keeping track of cadence is a metronome, there are small handy digital metronomes that you can attach to your clothing for around 100 sek.

I will be taking a summer break with the blog from today. On the schedule is, in addition to summer vacation with the kids, two practical courses in Applied Equine Podiatry (June and July) and the theoretical part where the final exam is approaching. Next week is a two-day conference on the theme Musicians Health in Piteå that I think will be very interesting. Music and riding has so many connections!

All that remains is to wish you all a wonderful summer, many tropical nights and moderately amount blood-sucking insects. Take good care of yourselves and your four-legged friends and we will meet again in the fall when life slows down for the winter.

Happy summer!

The head leads and the body follows

Within the Alexander Technique we have the expression "head leads and the body follows." The term itself was coined by researcher Rudolf Magnus (1873-1927) in his studies of posture in mammals he found that the head and neck reflexes of mammals cause the body to follow automatically when the head moves.

When we ride, or drive horses, we have control over the horse's head through the head stall. Depending on the task we want the horse to do, the head stall can be a halter or bridle with or without bit.

But the term "the head leads and the body follows" has also a psychological bearing, the brain leads and body follows. Training and education is a coin with two sides, a physiological and a psychological and to get the best effect of training and education these two needs to coincide.I found an image illustrating the two sides of the coin in Hans von Blixen Fineckes book The Art of Training. 

 

It is a simple image that contains a lot of information. Interesting to me as an Alexander teacher is that he's talking about the conscious brain of both horse and rider. He describes how the motoric action that constitutes our aids is recorded by the horse's sensory nervous system. The information from us to the horse goes through touch and the information from the horse is conveyed to us through feel.
 
Hans von Blixen-Finecke talking about riding as a language of touch and a prerequisite for this form of communication is calm, within both horse and rider. Calm and presence.

A friend who has vast experience of riding young  race horses think the most important thing in any form of training of horses is that the horse never gets frightened during the early training. It gets a positive attitude to the rider and the work it should do, it will feel safe and it makes the psychological side of the coin interact with the physiological in a beneficial manner. A calm horse can digest information from the rider, a scared and nervous horse is blocked.

 Another friend was at a jumping competition at the weekend and reported with a tired tone that few were actually riding, most engaged in trying to control flight responses with both bit, extra reins and BF&I (brute force and ignorance). The BF&I riders had certainly gained control over the horse's head mechanically but they had totally missed getting the horse mentally.
 
It is important for us as riders to be in a good balance within ourselves. As we sit on the horseback our own internal weight distribution (skewness) affects the horse's body. Somehow the horse must handle adding our weight to its own and distribute it over his feet. The more equilateral and straight we are aligned around our own spine, the more even our weight is distributed to the horse.

When we ride, and I assume that we are aware of our own bodies, it is the shift in the horse's balance we feel through both seat and hands. The shift signals to us if the horse is in a good self carriage in the current movement.. An untrained, uneducated or a horse that is under rehabilitation have more obvious shifts in the balance than a healthy and more educated horse. By being present in each step, we as riders are able to feel how the horse move and we can with our signals, our touch, give aids that help the horse to place the weight and regain balance.

A good education ultimately leads to an equipage that makes everything look easy, it's two brains joined in movement and although it is the rider who leads it is the sence of trust developed in the relationship that makes the horse participate without fear. At this point the rider can be said to ride the horse's conscious brain and in that context, the rider, if the he/she would like, can remove all the equipment from the horse and ride on.

Rein in hand

In early October, I attended a lecture by Kerstin Kemlén on the topic bit and bit related problems.

Kerstin has for over three years been involved in intense email exchange with Dr. Cook, an American veterinarian and professor emeritus, who has devoted much of his professional life to studying horses and their mouth and throat health and its connection to bit.

According to Dr. Cook, there are 47 problems that can be scientifically verified to be connected to the use of bit. A part from the physical damage that bits can cause in the mouth; damages on the bars, ulceration of the mucous membranes and deformation of the teeth, there are a number of behaviors that can be associated with bits and with a scale from immobilised to flight. Kerstin has the full list, if you want to know more contact her.

During the lecture, with an audience coming from both the riding and the harnessed horse world, those who wanted to try Kerstin home made reintaking gadget were urged to do so. The picture shows the principle of the gadget (lackning round rod, I had to use my son's wooden Winchester replica). The spring balance is attached to the rod together with the rein.

Anyone who wanted to test the pressure on the reins took the reins and tried to establish the contact they usually had while riding or driving. Kerstin was reading the pressure on the spring balance and kept the value to herself. Then she got the rider/driver stand between the reins and put the bit on forearms and lean on the bit until Kerstin said they reached their previous pressure. (The picture was taken by my 4-year-old assistant, so he has time to get better at sharpness ...)

Putting the bit on the forearm is as close as we can get to the horses bars in on our body, the bones have only a thin layer of skin over them, just as the bars themselves only have a thin mucosa over the thin and sharp edge.

Those who dared to try the gadget in front of the group had a range in pressure from 15 kg to 600 g.

She who held her mighty strong horse with 15 kg in the reins found it difficult to lean into the bit with the equivalent weight because of the pain she felt in her arms.
This is perhaps not an exact scientific method, but it gave palpable knowledge to each rider and groom! Please read a previous post on the blog about pressure on the bit.

I want to remind you of the importance of avoiding bringing your hands backwards when you hold the reins in riding or driving (more difficult to completely avoid in the latter case) and if you do have to take your hands backward REMEMBER to ease off!

The work on the wooden horse

Welcome to the blog autumn 2012. As Lena wrote last week, she will spend the fall writing her essay, and when it is ready, she will become an even better teacher out on riding arenas. At my home, summer vacation is over and "regular routines" have started to find their form. It is both sad and a relief at the same time! With that said, I turn to today's post - work on the wooden horse.

An important part of Alexander Technique training for riders is the work in the saddle on a wooden horse. Originally the  procedure was developed in the 60's to help an AT teacher who had had a hip injury and wanted to resume riding. In order to prepare the body, muscles and hip joints, to sit in the saddle again the saddle was placed on a specially built "wooden horse".

As a rider, there is plenty of information to retrieve from a lesson on the wooden horse. The saddle is one contact point between horse and rider. The seat of the saddle should fit the rider. If the rider is hurting while in the saddle that affects the riding negatively! Since the wooden horse stands still and is both level and straight, there is more for the rider to learn about his/her seat; is the rider crooked, rotated, skewed, leaning forward or backward. All that is possible to explore in peace and quiet on the wooden horse. 

As I lift a leg, rotate the femur in the hip joint rider gets a feeling of how "well" the body works and how if it differs in the quality of mobility and movement between left and right leg - and it often does!

It is also possible to ride the wooden horse! A rider can, for example, give the aids for reing back, and I can see if the horse back straight up, or if the rider somehow gets twisted when giving aids and thus get the horse to move off to one side as it is backing up. The rider can give the aids for canter, shoulder in, haunches out, turns - everything is going to educate the rider (but to do posted trot on a wooden horse is difficult...) 

Work on the wooden horse is designed to train the riders perception, ie, the ability to read what is happening in their own bodies, to become familiar with the habits that are established in the body and to get tools to consciously work to improve what might stand in the way of good riding.

On the wooden horse, I can also help the rider to develop their hand by simply working with the reins. A gentle hand is entirely dependent on a movable arm and it will be the theme for the next blog!

To perceive what's really there

Most horse magazines have instructive articles in order to educate their readers - and I think that's ok. But if the intention is to educate then I think editors have to raise the standard for the pictures they present in the articles!

The picture goes over the center of the magazine so the thigh and hand disappears in the folding but it is still possible to see what I am going to point put.



First we have the rider. She is collapsing in her right side, keeps her eyes on the horse's ear, her wrist is turned in such a way that she puts pressure on the bit, her hip joint is locked and that results in a raised knee and heel.



Then there's the horse. The neck is over bent with the third cervical vertebra as the highest point, the rider's "contact" via the reins pulls the bit out of the mouth and it both pinches the lower jaw and deforms the corner of the mouth (if it is a regular snaffle, it has folded in the horse's mouth and is pressing on the palate), the glands in the junction between cheek and troath is badly crushed, the airways are restricted and the tongue is coming out of his mouth.

We humans are visually oriented creatures, what we see shapes our perception of reality and thus our perception of what is right and normal. That is why pictures are so important (good pictures that is!) which leaves us with good role models and educates us to see and recognize quality in both our own and others riding.

"A horse can lend its rider the speed and strength he or she lacks - and if the rider is wise it is never forgotten that it is just a loan."

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.

position vs direction - can they unite?

"There is no such thing as a right position, there is only a right direction", FM Alexander said. I have pondered on the words and have found that I do agree and at the same time disagree.

There are those who have trained themselves to become living statues. In their profession the ability to stand still for a prolonged time is trained and developed. Roger "Gränsen" Jonsson is a mime artist with five years of training. -Mime is a combination of tension and relaxation, it's about to rest while standing. To be able to move in slow motion you have to train your body. It takes a couple of years, he says. -When you've put on the costume and makeup and put yourself into position stillness is achieved rather quickly. It is a form of meditation. Even if you are percieved as being standing still you change position very subtly with minute movements every other minute, he continues.

During the 1600s (correct me if I'm wrong!) They trained horses and riders to become living statues. The horse was helped to come into a physical relaxation by soft massage and thereby trained to stay in a pose for a longer time, resting quietly and without unnecessary tension in the selected position.

Positions in this sense perceived as still do not have to be static. And what's preventing them from being static? Well, direction!

If your body is going somewhere - even in slow motion - there's a movement in the brain, that is, the nervous system, and hence a flow of information between the brain and body.

The word position have a physical as well as a psychological application. Deadlock is a term that signals a static relationship without any movement and it can be both physical and mental.

I often see horses and riders in locked positions. A common "place" for a physical deadlock is the rider's hand in relation to the horse's mouth. Another is when the rider takes a position in the saddle, and strive to maintain that position no matter how the horse's body moves. There are mental positions that stem from perceptions that the rider has of himself (performance anxiety) or the horse (lazy, slow, hot)

All deadlock affects suppleness, the muscle suit busy keeping the body in a certain postition, keeping a firm support in the reins or responding to a mental state is stiffening. The stiffened body is affected in such a way that it can no longer follow the horse in its movement/direction.

Now every move requires that the body takes a position. To be able perform a smooth movement requires a clear direction in which way the body/position has to go.

I have started training jujitsu and it's a great exercise in position and direction. If my training partner and I have a good position relative to each other and in our own bodies and a clear picture of the direction of the move, that ensures a soft floating feeling to all moves, and we seem to manage it without apparent effort in our respective bodies, and none of us experience being thrown or tipped over as unpleasant or painful as we train. But when the position and/or direction fails us, we're in trouble, it gets exhausting, inconvenient, uncomfortable (sometimes painful) and the risk of injury increases.

Position and direction are valid also in riding! We do not ride alone, we share a sense of position and direction with a living being. As riders, we select the discipline that we want the horse to work in and the training method.

Regardless of your individual choice, you as a rider need to familiarize yourself with both the position and direction for the maneuver you want to do riding the horse.

Lacking this knowledge transforms riding to horse wrestling and because the horse is much stronger, faster and bigger than us it's easy to resort to "rough methods" and sharper equipment and remaining in the paddock are two bereaved souls...

"Something achieved by means of violence can only be maintained by force."
Mahatma Gandhi

About effective seat training

Effective seat training helps you become a better rider. You will feel more secure in the saddle and you will be able to use your aids more efficiently. All riders, regardless of level, benefit from seat training and professional feedback. But if you experience any of the following you will most definitely benefit from seat training:

• your upper body leans forward in downward transitions
• you lose one or both stirrups
• your feet are bouncing in the stirrups
• the contact in the reins comes and goes
• you cannot sit deep in the saddle
• sitting trot is uncomfortable
• you cannot remain in two point position for as long as you would like
• you get tired when posting the trot
• you are left behind the horse's motions in, for instance, canter departs or lateral movements
• the slightest un-rhythmical or unexpected movement on your horse's part will unseat you or even cause you to fall off

The trademark of a good seat is a stable position that is not affected when the rider moves hers arms, hands, legs or feet, a supple posture of the rider's upper body and a soft suppleness in all gaits, in transitions of speed and direction..

100% focus on the individual’s needs

When you do seat training with me you will ride on one of my calm and stable school horses while I lunge the horse. This will enable you to concentrate fully on your seat without the distraction of controlling the horse you are sitting on. The training consists of specific movements designed to help you explore the feeling of balance and coordination. These exercises will help you recognise the feeling of an erect and supple posture which will enable you to follow the horse easily in all gaits.

In real life

Effective seat training adheres to an old and well tested list of priorities; the first order of business is the rider's upper body. The key to a supple and balanced seat on horseback is the erectness of the rider's upper body and the balance of this erect body over the rider's seat bones. What this means in real life, what it feels like and how you can stay in this supple balance in walk, trot and canter is what you will experience during seat training with me. In order to enable the rider to explore the feeling of true balance, seat training is done without the use of stirrups.

When the rider can recognise and change and control the balance in her upper body at will it is time to consider the position of the lower legs. When the rider can control both the balance of the upper body and the position of the lower leg without tensing in all gaits, when the use of the stirrups doesn't negatively affect the balance of the upper body, then you have reached the goal: a supple and balanced seat.

Seat training includes the following steps:

1. erectness and balance of the upper body
2. following the horse with your seat in all gaits without disturbing no 1
3. the placement of the lower leg without disturbing no 1 and 2

How many lessons?

1 lesson will give you useful ideas

3 lessons will give you the ability to recognise when your balance is better or worse

6 lessons will give you the ability to make efficient corrections on your own

12 lessons will give you a good foundation to stay in relaxed balance automatically which allows you to concentrate on riding and communicating with your horse

Here is a video showing Effective Seat training (in Swedish)

Client success stories

Hi Lena! I have just had the most fantastic day with my horse! After some seat training, the same exercise we did in our last lesson, I asked for tolt using the light half halt and breathing. It worked so amazingly well! I'm so happy!

Kerstin Johansson

Hi, I want to share this with you. My daughter (13 years old) did some seat training with you. A few months later we participated in the Swedish Championships for New Forest ponies. Everything went very well but the best was when one judge gave her extra points for her seat. Thank you!

Maria Tayli

Hi Lena! Thanks to you I have become more aware of my strengths and my weaknesses. I missed your clinic since I went to clinics with Perry Wood and Rui Almeida back to back. I haven't trained with them in 6 months. Both pointed out how much better my equestrian tact had become and they were both very happy with the progress my horses as a result had done. I sure owe you a huge thanks, you have made me, the horses and my trainers happy!

Gunilla Grebbert

To book your lesson, contact lena.danius@ekipage-1.se.

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.

Training to be a good leader: Six keys to harmony

In last week's blog Maria discussed the difference between leader and trainer.

For me it has in a way been a relief to see myself as a trainer of my horse, rather than the leader. When the horse did not respond to my request as I wanted him to, rather than think my leadership had been faulty, I could think “oops, this we need to train some more on”.

The problem for me was that I used to think leadership was an inherent quality that some people have and some don't. The logic would then be that I could not change or influence my faulty leadership, which would cause negative emotions like frustration, sadness, anger etc. But now I believe that leadership, or the ability to present my request to the horse in such a way that he can understand it, is a skill that can be thought, learned and perfected with training just like any other skill.

I do however have one objection to Andrew's reasoning as Maria presents it: “One of the reasons that Andrew would prefer to call us trainers instead of leaders has to do with the horse. Everything the horse does for us it does after it has undergone training. A horse that shies away from a flowerpot does not reveal a bad leadership from the rider's side, only lack of training.

I agree that the horse who shies away from the flowerpot does it because I have not taught the horse that it need not be afraid of the flowerpot. What I react to is"everything the horse does for us it does after it has undergone training". The horse's reaction depends not only on the training, but also on its inherent instincts (for instance the flight instinct). Individual horses also have their personality, for instance different thresholds to trigger that instinct. One horse looks a little at the flowerpot and dose not react any more to it, while another has a major reaction and a near-death experience. These reactions are, as I see it, not the result of training but a result of the horse's instincts and personality.

The individual horse's behaviour on a certain day is the sum of the horse's general nature (its inherent instincts), the individual's personality and mood on the day, as well as the training it has perceived.

As I see it, it is my job as the trainer (or leader) of my horse to be consistent (the same signal always means the same thing), to be clear (just to give one signal at a time), to lead myself so I'm emotionally stable (calm, present, focused), to avoid hidden agendas (not hide the halter behind my back and then surprise the horse with it once I'm close t to him).That way I do everything I can to help my horse understand what I ask of him.

On the subject of the horse being my equal partner or not, my mind is made up: I am the one who leads the dance and the horse follows. I take all initiative regarding speed and direction. If I want to make those decisions and have the horse pay attention to me when it really matters, there are no exceptions. The horse is not my equal partner. If I ask the horse to back up, I make sure the horse backs up and the horse has not responded to my request until his feet have moved back. In my role as trainer of, or leader of, my horse, it is my responsibility to do everything I can in order for the horse to understand what I'm asking for (see the paragraph above), to confirm when he gets it right (stopping the request and giving praise), not asking for something that the horse cannot do and to give the horse all the freedom it needs to carry out what I ask for (when riding, this means that I for example do not pull on the reins nor keep a heavy pressure on the reins and in the horse's mouth).


Both Maria and I study with Ed Dabney, a soft-spoken cowboy from the USA who has put his unique stamp on Natural Horsemanship. The exercises included in Ed's Six Keys To Harmony are the same as in most other NH systems. The difference is the accuracy of how the horse is asked to place his feet, and the focus on the horse's ability to read the intent behind our body language. This system is a very user friendly tool to train the horse, and yourself, to an amazingly subtle and light communication between human and horse.

I've trained myself and my horse using this system, which has made the day to day handling of my horse easy and safe for both of us. The exercises in themselves are also a good basic gymnastic for the horse. The video shows me as I handle my horse in some day to day situations, and also some of the exercises in the Six Keys To Harmony. The video is produced for my Swedish students so it will be an opportunity for you English viewers to brush up on your Swedish. However, the pictures speak for themselves in showing what it is possible to ask for from any and all horses.



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

A sense for touch develops perception

We often say that humans have five senses: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. I have found some interesting facts about touch in the book "The Senses of Animal and Men" by L and M Milne.

In the book, they point out that the experience of touch differs between touching and being touched. Touching that is caused by us as we move is barely noticed by us. If you have long hair, for instanse, and put on a jersey your hair will be pulled on by the jersey but that doesn't bother you. If someone puts something on your hair you will react right away.

We can by a gentle stroke with the fingertips determine the material of a surface with our eyes closed. By touch we can feel the quality of fabric, paper structures, detect thinthin engraved or etched lines in metal or glass, sense temperature and viscosity of a fluid. But to keep our attention awake the touch has to be in motion, or else we cease to recognise the feeling.

The book describes the importance of vibrations as when someone lies on his stomach and an apple core falles down on his back he'll notice tha landing (a vibration) but because the apple core lays still he'll forget or ignore it. If it landes a fly on the back and it takes a step or two the skin has vibrated a bit more and we get an irresistible urge to scratch.

The feeling and sensation of touch is something that is of great importance to us who ride and who want to develop our equestrian sense. If we hold your hand on the reins with a certain amount of force and then keep the hands perfectly still, we cease to feel the force with which we hold the reins and we lose the ability to receive signals from the horse. It is the moving of the hand on the reins and the horse's movement of the bit and bridle that keeps our sensibility alert.

The same goes for the horse. If we take the reins and then just keep holding the rein our touch ceases to be a signal and becomes "something" that the horse eighter ignores or tries to get away from. To keep the horse's sense of touch alert, we need to create movement.

The rein aids in classical riding, has a built-in circular motion in each direction of the aid, induces motion of the horse's mouth and corner of the mouth. If you find yourself with a unresilient contact in the reins, vibrate the reins to awake both your own and the horse's sense of touch. The circular movement can be as large as or as small as the rider and horse needs according to their level of training. The circle is a stimuli to keep the riders fingers and arms moving and thereby helps preventing the rider from becoming rigid.

The sought for quiet equestrian hand and the quiet horse mouth is possible where movement is allowed and desired. Any other stillnes is quiet struggle and cramp.

"Learning the art of riding is difficult, that is why it is so fun."

Gehnäll Persson

position + direction + balance + suppleness = the ability to follow

What exactly is balance and suppleness?

Balance is, as I see it, the body's response to the question asked by gravity. Can I stay on my two feet or motion be it standing still or being in motion? Or if I sit in the saddle, am I able balance myself on my seat bones? How much muscular effort do I need to keep me in balance? Do I have to use the support of something outside of me to keep balanced?

Suppleness is, in my opinion, my ability to maintain self-balance allowing the body to keep up with a movement that is generated by someone (or something) else outside my own body. The movement can be generated by me skiing, cycling, riding or dancing.

The basis for a good seat is when we are positioning the bones in such a way that the postural muscles are given a chance to keep us up-right with least possible tension. That kind of basic attitude gives the prerequisite for good balance and ability to follow the motion.

But the concept of position brings about a possible conflict with both balance and suppleness and that possibility arises if we think of the position as something static, something we take and then hold ("strike a pose").

The Alexander Technique way to make a position relative and alive is to emphasise the directions that you want to be possible at every moment the position is in motion.



The picture above is from the book Riding - a tutorial by Percy Hamilton from 1923 and shows a rider good balance and with good ability to follow a movement follows the extended trot the horse offers. The horse carries his head high, but note that the rider does not sit on a sway-backed horse, on the contrary! That is a well connected back, it is particularly noticeable on the horse's legs - it is a snapshot of strenght!

Keep this image in mind when you study riding today. This rider has no fear of speed or force! He asks for extended trot and he lets himself be carried off by the horse, he has a good position and a clear direction - full speed ahead!

"Toughness and force are exclusive to the mediocre who never want to be true."
de la Guérinière

The hand is dominating

We are coming towards the end of our first year writing postings in english. It is amazing how time flies and how fun this really is. The greatest advantage of this process is that my way of looking at riding and horse handling in large has been affected - I notice more.

The challenge is to work for a broader approach to riding, rider, horse handling and horse-rider relationship. There is so many short cuts and there are so many established "truths" that influence horse owners even though new research shows that it is high time to let go of some of the so called knowledge. "It is what you think you know that hinders you from learning."

It is interesting that the question if we should use bit, bridle and hand or if the riders aid should be given by the seat is such a hot topic. There seems to be a division between "seat riders" and "hand riders".

A comment in our swedish blog said that "The bridle and the hand is a force that is often misused because the horse is very sensitve in his mouth and by making use of a bit we can force the horse into submission." I agree that the horse's mouth is very sensitive and an untrained hand (consciously or unconsciously coarse) can definitely force the horse into submission.

The catch is just that an uneducated (or insensitive) hand can dominate a horse, even if you ride without bit. Interference with the head carriage of the horse in the mouth or on the nasal bridge, affects the horse's balance. It is possible to put the horse out of balance even if you ride bitless!



The picture (taken from The World of Science, 1985) illustrates the body based on how much of cortex that control different parts of the body. The figure with purple hand illustrates the "motoric homunculus" and with the yellow hand the sensoric. As the nerve crosses over the brain the right side of the brain controls the left side of your body so you have the color codes on the opposite side above the drawing. The sensory nerves send signals from the body to the brain and the motoric nerves takes care of the traffic in the other direction.

The picture speaks for itself, the hand is dominant. The hand has access to a large part of the brain's motoric and sensory capabilities. It 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.

With a educated hand, we can, with or without a bit, have an impact on the horse in such a way that we give the horse the opportunity, while maintaining balance, do the job we ask of it.

All straight lines are not vertical

In riding it is common to talk about the riders seat and that a well balanced rider is sitting with his/her body oriented around the vertical line, with ear-shoulder-hip and ankle nicely aligned.

Lena and I took some pictures where she is acting rider and I hold the (at times vertical) line. The first image below illustrates the now so common slightly backwards tilted seat - the rider's body differs greatly from the vertical.
The attentive reader can see that Lena is compensating for the backward leaning with advancing both the lower leg and poking her head forward to avoid tilting backwards. Sitting on the wooden horse she can keep herself balanced by tightening her muscles. On a horse in motion, she inevitably will use the reins to keep her balance.


You can get a fairly straight line between shoulder, hip and heel, just as we do here in the picture, but as it meet the surface of earth at an angle less than 90 degrees it may well be a straight but not a vertical line.



In this picture we show what is called a hanging seat (rough translation from Swedish..) Here you can see that the deviation from vertical is less than in the upper image and the angle is greater than 90 degrees to the ground. Even in this seat the rider can become unstable and have a need to balance herself in the bridle, but as long as the horse is checked, riders are able have a light contact in the bridle.

The last picture is our contribution to illustrate the vertical seat and a balanced rider.

Exercise - something we do or just allow?

Our body is made to move, so it is not surprising that exercise has become almost sacred in our part of the world, where so much time is spent sitting. Not so long ago, everyday life was filled with intense physical work, and Sunday was the sacred day of rest and contemplation.

Movement is manifested through our muscles, they consist of three groups of fibres: red, white and mixed (pink) muscle fibres. In short, red fibres performes the ongoing work to keep us upright. The white is quick, swift as that move when we, with precision, sweep away a wasp on the arm.

Muscles are affected by exercise, running slow and for a long time affects the red fibres and strength exercises builds up the white. Weight lifting fairly quickly increased muscle strength in response to exercise. In studies, scientists have seen an effect known as SAID (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands). This means that people get better on the specific training they perform but the effect on other activities is small. It may be that the strength is associated with a set of particular machines in a gym, change machines or gym and you feel weak!

Fitness training focused on strength increases the amount of white fibres at the expense of the resilient red, increased strength leads to reduced endurance. It is therefore a fit person can still find it cumbersome and tiring to sit at the computer.

The force that trains us more than any other is gravity, you stand and you train! Balance is a measure of how well we deal with gravity. A good posture and gravity strengthens our red fibrous postural muscles, we become stronger and more capable to keep our balance.

Once you know how to place yourself with regard to the vertical line when in the saddle, you no longer keep your balance through the reins, or squeeze with your legs. You can rest in your red muscle fibres and allow the whites to act quickly and with precision when required. That increases the possibility that it will be riding with quality!

The Classical Rider and the Alexander Technique

In the Alexander Technique, there are three concepts that are intimately connected with one another. It is the concepts of use - function – structure. In this triad there is both a mutually dependent and effect.

Each part of the triad may be the subject of an initial impact, which in turn brings changes (or adaptations!) in the other two.

Our structure influence both the way we function and our ability to use ourselves. A congenital disability will affect both function and use, for example.

It may also be that the way we use ourself have an impact on our structure and function. If we have a job with a lot of lifting (need not be heavy!) and we fail to maintain the width of the chest it may over time lead to us having rounded shoulders. In that case both our structure and function (breathing) is affected.

A disease can cause disturbance in our function, which naturally spills over to how we can use ourselves and our structure. A minor impact may be a fracture - a more comprehensive can be a stroke.

The same conditions apply to the horse. Even if the horse is allowed to just be a horse external events can lead to adjustments between these factors. Strictly speaking a rider is only an external influence on the horse. Our influence can be said to be extensive. We provide the horse with its living-space (paddocks, stables), feeding, training, exercise, welfare and health. And it is we who decide what the horse will do for and with us.

In everything we do with our horses we affect its own use, function and structure.

The horse has no goals of his own with the training, we are the ones setting the goals. It is therefore our responsibility to educate ourselves and the horse to reach those goals with as little negative impact on the horse's own use, function and structure (I'll use u-f-s from here on).

The training aims to strenghten the horse so that it can cope with what we desire. In Alexander Technique therminology we should focus on the means-where-by - to ensure that the way we choose to reach our goal ables the horse to reach that goal "intact" or, in other words, with as little impact on its u-f-s as possible.

Either the horse can carry out what the rider demands - or it can not. If it fails to meet the demands it's the rider that has to analyse what is happening. Checking if there has been any change in the horses u-f-s and either reduce his/her own ambitions or correct the choosen way of training. The rider may never consider the use of ”material doping” and with severe bitting, draw reins or coarse riding techniques force the horse. That kind of behaviour is refered to as end gaining, we put our own personal goals up front and it leads to a big impact on the horse u-f-s.

When we as a rider set our goals we must prepare ourselves for the task. We would need to train our own balance and body control, reduce muscular tension and address the distortions in our own bodies.

We would need to train both a lightness and swiftness of communication between our brain and body. It is this ability within ourselves that creates conditions for a light communication with the horse and a training that makes both horses and riders calm and satisfied with the work.

Alexander Technique is a training that contribute to the schooling of a rider in such a way that the rider becomes the rider that the horse both deserves and needs to fulfill our dreams, while still maintaining u-f-s. The horse has no ambitions of his own in regard to training but he will enjoy the work you initiate if you train dressage without your horse occasionally.

Flow – the absence of fear?

Athletes talk about flow and how to achieve it. To be in the flow is desireable since it gives a feeling of enhanced presens in both the moment and movement.

In the Alexander Technique we make references to something we call the startle pattern or fear reflex which is an involuntary movement in the body caused by something that either scare or surprise us.

The reaction is similar to the one you would experience if you took a shower and the water turns out to be cold as ice. You'd pull your head down and raise your shoulders at the same time, bring your arms to your side, gasp and hold your breath for a split second. Your entire body thightens and your thought process is blocked.

This fear reaction is often seen in riders, it can be triggered by almost anything. Anxiety for what the horse might do, the hight of a fence, speed of gate, fear of failing as a rider - simply anything that frightens us. In that moment of tension we are unable to move, think and act. We are incapacitated for a split second and that brings us away from the moment and movement. When the tension releases we find ourselves in a situation we have to deal with. We have become followers instead of leaders.

When I became a mother Sean Scary and Fanny Fear entered my life and also my life with horses. I've had to work with the effect fear had on me. In my case it took a while just to grasp that I was actually scared. I had to acknowledge my fear to be able to get conscious control over the thought mechanisms that created anxiety in me and that was through the use of inhibition and direction.

With our new horse fear was a fact again, the knowledge I had in horsemanship was not enough to handle her forceful and vigourous gestures. Ed's visit in August was an absolute must in order to give me knowledge and confidence to overcome my fear and to continue to work our young horse.

So now, when I find myself capable of handling the rope halter and lead rope without having to look at it, when I've become better at positioning my body in regard to her body, when my feet are moving instead of being paralysed by fear we are making progress.

I've gone from reacting to her behaviour (read: follow her whims) to make her follow my descisions. She still argues but since I'm no longer afraid I can sense her reactions before they take place. I'm in the moment and movement - I'm in a flow!


~~~~~~~~
and then a mail was passed forward from an AT collegue of mine

--- But the articles from this blog (The quest for Equipoise) of two Swedish ladies are just brilliant. It's all about Classical horse riding and Alexander Technique (AT). And I think they have a lot to do with what we do at KaizenTao from a different perspective, especially what Thong has been teaching us the "magic" works.

You'll find jewels every where. Thanks for your post of a skeleton photo from that blog site a while back. That led me to the discovery of this treasure place.

Mitchell Wu

As you can imagine my smile reached all the way to the ears! Thanks for your support Mitchell!

Self carriage and responsibility II

Both humans and horses are born with a built-in capacity for self carriage. The foal will find its own self carriage within an hour after birth, and then it follows the mare and the heard in all gaits. In humans, it takes 10-15 months to get up on our feet and achieve self carriage as bi pedals.

When the child starts school and when the horse starts to be ridden it alters the conditions for the natural self carriage. The free play of childhood is changed for to a more sedentary daily life for the child. The horse on the other hand will have to learn to manage both equipment, the riders weight and requested work.

In my 9 year old schoolboy the increased sitting has affected his ability to sit up straight. He now easily ends up sitting with his back in the characteristic c-curve, something that does not happen to my 6 or 2 year old, no matter how long the are sitting.

Fortunately the 9 year old just needs soft guidance to how he should carry his head, a soft stroke on his back to remind him of the upward direction and he carries himself again. When the c-curve has become prevalent or the vulture neck, as I call it, is a permanent position the straightening of the back is a matter of re-learning and that takes time.

For the ridden horse the degree of self carriage tells you how well the breaking in and training is done and it is now I want to tell you about Lena's Yeats. He was 11 years and worked as a riding school pony when Lena bought him.

I remember a movie clip from a test ride where Yeats trotted on with a completely rigid spine, his leg just propelled under him and his neck poked straight out of his body. He carried himself through the superficial muscles and he was stiffly held throughout the body. The quality of his self carriage was low, as in the human c-curve.

Now, three years later, Yeats has reached the point where his postural muscles carry him and the superficial are free to move. He carries himself without leaning on to the bit (if the rider carries herself and don't use the reins to hang on to!). He approaches the piaffe, a movement, if it's well done, shows the horse's ability to carry himself with the strength and quality that will lead to a front end so light that he might end up in a levade.

Self carriage is something that is trained, in both horse and human, so that the individual is able to meet the demands of given tasks. We develop our self carrying capacity with a knowledge about our bodies and an ability to percieve what happens within ourselves as we do what we aim to do.

In regard to the horse, the rider has a responsibility to train the horse systematically, both to give the horse opportunity to learn the signal system and to allow its body to gradually strengthen to be able cope with the demands.

Many riders who buy young horses have no systematic training of the horse and ride their young horses as if they were in self carriage already. (All to often using draw reins or some other stringy attachment.) Many established riders may very well have a systematic approach to training, but unfortunately a contact with the horses mouth, which starts at minimum 1000 g instead of 300 g ... and then the mutual self carriage is merely a mutual suspension.

A seat that swings

Take a look at the picture, note the location of the skeleton that is in contact with the surface, it is the point which we call the riders seat bones, ie the lowest point of the pelvis (when the pelvis is upright!). Note the hip joint resting freely, well above the base, just like the femur.

As we sit on a horse, the seatbones are in contact with the saddle and on them rests our torso and our legs is hanging along side the horse's sides. The basic idea is that our legs belong to the horse and that they must absorb the movement that is created by the horse's body as it moves.

When walking, there are two movement that the rider should be able to feel in their legs and joints. The calf penduling with abdominal movement (knee joint), and the thigh rolling slightly in the saddle (hip joint). Both of these movements should follow the horse's movements.

The walk also causes a movement in our trunk, it occurs when our seat bones slides forward and back in the saddle in harmony with the movement that occurs in the horse's back in walk.

Many riders receive the movement through a "break" in the lower back. The spine above the lumbar spine is completely rigid and the motion of the horse is only absorbed by the lower back.

If you instead see the spine as a center around which the pelvis moves, rotating maximum a half turn on the left and right side, that movement allows the movement given by the horse's back to billow up through our back up all the way to our shoulders. The spine is straight, the lower back are not exposed to any break and we get a swing in our own back.

In order to perfect compliance, we also strive for a quiet hand - a hand that is stationary in relation to the horse's mouth! This means that the arm needs to be mobile in the shoulder and elbow, so you can keep an even touch with the horse through the bit.

Walk out in the terrain and allow the horse to move you. The feeling is almost like waves on the beach one summer day, some comes in with more force and some splashes softly. Be observant of yourself so that you really let yourself be moved and do not start doing more than required - if you do it is very likely that you "ride more" than the horse actually gives.

Side reins for riders – NOT a good idea

Most of us have understood that a good seat is worth striving for. Most of us also dream of having perfect and light communication with our horses. There are different ways to train the seat and develop communication. Some are good and some not so good. According to me the following falls in the latter category: a rubber band that is advertised to "help the rider to keep the shoulders, arms and back in the correct position when riding". (The page only in Swedish but I bet you get the picture.)

If you think about trying this one out my advice is – forget about it.

I see this stuff as side reins for the rider. The only good thing I can say about it is that humans are reduced to objects just like the horse. How does that make you feel? Side reins for horses, or these so called ”aids”, guarantee neither a correct seat nor better communication. The key to developing a balanced seat and light communication lies in your own posture and in the technique you use when you communicate with your horse.

Any flaws in your seat and/or communication will not be resolved because you force your body into a certain position, quite the contrary. Perfect posture and a balanced seat on horseback have their origin in how well you can allow your skeleton to be aligned correctly so that your postural muscles are free to do their job efficiently. Any imposed straight jacket on the surface will just interfere and hamper these tasks.

Do you want to improve your posture? Take a lesson in the Alexander technique!

Do you want to improve your riding technique and your communication with your horse? Take a lesson in classical equitation!