I know it is common practice, and while there is more information being circulated to the general public which supports the idea that starting a horse at 2 years old is premature I still get a lot of questions posed to me relating to issues that come up in training the 2 year old horse under saddle.

Dr. Deb Bennett seems to have paved a road of awareness for many equestrians that a horse simply is not physically mature at 2 years to justify starting them under saddle and ‘saddling’ them with the burden of a rider’s weight. There isn’t such clear advocates standing out who champion the horse’s level of mental and emotional immaturity as clearly as Dr. Bennett, but there are many standing in the shadows and peeking around the corner.

To me it seems obvious enough why the average age is 2 years for horses entering under saddle training, why many riders and trainers balk at the thought of waiting until the horse has grown to 4 or 5 years (or later) before saddling them and sitting on their back for the first time. I can see the reason why, but I don’t see it as a justifiable excuse.

Starting a horse at 2 years old is ‘simple’ if you are relying upon force in your training (don’t confuse this with abuse necessarily though). If you are using methods which rely on the horse’s mental capabilities then starting a horse at 2 is a bit like shooting yourself in the foot because you aren’t going to get anywhere fast unless your horse is like the genius kid who graduates college at the age of 10 (aka Doogie Howser Ph.D.) or is a member of MENSA.

Horse racing doesn’t help either because it advocates starting yearlings under saddle and entering racing at two. As a sport more available to the general public it gives misinformation to the actual appropriateness of these practices to those not in the know. When a person without a background in horses and who has not had any formal training from someone who has the education to know otherwise decides to get a horse this misinformation only helps spur potential road blocks in the riding and training of their horse, while also leading to more injuries which could be preventable.

Futurities promote starting horses at an early age with big prizes, or at the very least helping to promote the stallion who sired the futurity winner. It is a big money game for many. For the average rider who is not showing their young horse in futurities, or at the races or for some other known monetary gain, this misinformation prolongs a process which has since gained the reputation of being dangerous, difficult and a necessary evil – that of ‘breaking’ the horse under saddle.

Common problems that turn up for 2 year olds or otherwise immature horses being started under saddle is long, but if we understand the basic structure of how a horse copes with stress it makes it simpler to determine the problem and find a solution. The young horse bucks for example with the saddle but no rider, he is not ready to have a saddle on his back because the amount of stimulation was so great that it has elicited not only a response but an explosive one. See ‘Pressure and the Horse’ – November 2007

When a horse refuses to move freely forward, calmly (that’s an important part), it is a sign that they are coping with an over stimulation of stressful elements. For example, a horse who falls over or begins to lose their footing (i.e. collapsing) with the saddle on or a rider is a huge indicator that the horse is so stressed he is literally giving up to die. This can be evidenced in all prey creatures once they move beyond flight and fight stages is that they give up and collapse.

In starting a horse at 4 or 5 or even later, the risk of losing a physical argument with the horse is greater… but at the same time the learning curve when appealing to the horse’s mental capabilities is greatly diminished. This means that we have to train from a place of the mind rather than from a place of physical strength or intimidation. That is a difficult thing for many because it is not in our nature. We are predatory creatures, which is in part why we get along with other predatory creatures so well – cats and dogs. Dogs use intimidation tactics in order to control other members of the pack, when we train dogs we use intimidation tactics on order to gain obedience and submission. The problem of using this with a horse? He has about 1000 lbs of weight alone on us, and if the horse should at some point realize this there is nothing we can do to win the argument other than finding new ways to overpower him, which we have done. Bits which cause pain if the horse doesn’t submit to them, spurs, tie downs, draw reins, scotch hobbles, etc etc. If we do not rely upon tack which can help force the idea of domination our training techniques often back us up as well. Round penning a horse until they are physically tired, or lunging the energy out of a horse. Long warm-ups which do not promote strengthening the horse but rather train him in a way that will support his physical deterioration much more quickly.

Not only do the difficulties that arise in training a young horse who acts out because he is not yet ready for the task that we are giving him risk our own safety when training and riding, but in the long run they risk the horse’s well being. Joints which deteriorate prematurely, increase in chiropractic and massage for the horse shows more than just an insufficiency in the proper fitting of saddles, increased lameness problems. The actual performance of the horse can also be seen to drop, as anyone would expect if you are in physical pain because you haven’t been properly acclimated to the work you will not be capable of working at your full potential not to mention that you will be apt to hold back some energy so as to save yourself a bit at the end of the day. Arguments between horse and rider then increase and future training developments will be impeded.

It is about looking at the bigger picture, even when the media and ‘common knowledge’ around us is saying one thing it is always a good idea to look deeper.

The posting trot is such an effective tool for riders. It lightens the load on a young horse’s back while they are building strength and coordination, it saves the rider’s seat on long distance rides, is a necessary step in developing your position for jumping, and much more.

One bug I’ve always had in regards to the posting trot, however, are the flailing lower legs that seem to accompany it. You know what I’m talking about, the lower leg that bounces on and off the horse’s sides with every rise and fall as the rider unintentionally kicks out the lower leg in order to get that bounce out of the saddle and just as surely rakes it back to the horse’s side when their seat finds the saddle’s.

Not only is it unsightly it also creates instability and insecurity for the rider, excessive and annoying signals to the horse, a lack of balance, and extra work for the rider.

So… how does one go about changing those lack-luster legs and correcting the flaws that accompany them? It won’t be easy necessarily but, like anything worth doing, with the right amount of practice it can be achieved!

When riders learn to post it is usually by way of figuring out a way to thrust themselves up and out of the saddle with the appropriate timing to follow the horse’s gait, and aside from changing posting diagonals that is the peak of their posting trot practice. Some go on to learn that posting on a particular diagonal can help strengthen the horse depending on which direction they are traveling, or other tips and tricks in regard to the posting trot. But without the stability in those lower legs whatever help provided cannot be redeemed behind the confusion that those bouncing, failing, lower legs create.

Posting is often created out of a pivot point in the knee, weight is pushed downward into the stirrup and the knee becomes the most stable contact point with the horse’s side. This allows the lower leg to bounce around at will and makes it impossible to keep consistent contact between the calf and the horse’s side. To change this, we need to shift the idea of a pivot point, we want the lower leg to be the consistent place of contact, the knee to be free and open, and the weight in the stirrups to be non-existent.

To achieve this, picture yourself kneeling, your foot is going to press backwards as though against the foot pegs of a motorcycle. To kneel there is no need to pinch your knees, they are free to move inwards or outwards – to be open and soft. The calves need to only find the pressure needed to create enough friction to maintain their position, rather than squeezing they simply embrace. They don’t work so hard that they completely fall away from the horse’s sides afterwards in order to recover their strength for the next squeeze, they can be consistently quiet and effective without disturbing the horse with their erradic signals. This also helps the horse remain more responsive to a lighter leg aid.

The posting should be quiet and short lived, meaning that you shouldn’t be hovering in the air for periods of time, but simply graze close to the pommel of the saddle without an excess of distance  from the saddle, just long enough for the horse’s stride. Rider’s often push themselves so hard out of the saddle that once again their leg muscles simply collapse in order to gain strength for the next post that they then fall back into the saddle, losing control and balance. Allow the horse, instead, to push you out of the saddle – you only need a little push – and then control your sitting by pulling yourself back into the saddle with your hamstrings – the muscles on the back of your thighs. You no longer fall, and the rise is only enough to clear the horse’s stride rather than overposting and falling back into the saddle. Your leg muscles do not tire as quickly, your hamstrings get an effective workout so you also tone your legs, and best of all you have stability and security in your rising trot.

Think of your hips leading the way, this avoids an overbending in the hips and a leaning with the shoulders. The shoulders should not lean past your knees, but also avoid straightening so much at the hips that your shoulders throw off your balance and you cannot help but fall backwards into the saddle and overusing the quadriceps (muscles on the front of your thighs) to lift yourself out of the saddle.

Probably the biggest issue is, once again, the pinching at the thighs and pushing downwards into the stirrups. If you are accustomed to using the stirrups for balance you will find this a difficult habit to just throw away in a day. It can help to be conscious of how you are using your stirrups in the walk and sitting trot and work up to finding that awareness benefiting your posting trot.

I got this question posted and wanted to address it directly. Perhaps this will help anyone else with the same problem!

Dani Writes :

“I am currently exercising a very difficult horse. He is not vicious, but is very difficult to catch.
When i go into the field, I approach him quietly, give him a pat and slip the head collar on. He NEVER moves away from me when I do this. I can then calmly lead him towards the gate of the field. However, sometime before i get there he stops. He plants his feet and will not move forwards, or to either side. The more i pull on the lead rope, the more he walks backwards. If I stop, he stops. If I try to walk close to his side in order to flick his hindquarters with the end of the lead rope, he turns them away from me. He never appears scared, in fact he normally sighs a lot during this encounter, as if bored with my attempts! From that moment on, it is almost impossible to get him to move on, even with food. Eventually, if I persist, he turns and trots away. I can then walk up to him again, without him moving away, and can do the same as before, but he always stops again. The article above did not help my problem, but after reading the one about resistance, I believe he is demonstrating weight resistance. I can only go to him once a week, so can’t even lead him in and out a few times a day without riding him, so that he doesn’t link my catching him to him doing work. Any ideas how I can get him to walk all the way out? Any tips would be very helpful!”

Hi Dani,

I hope that I am understanding the question correctly, I got a little confused when you mention that if you persist at asking him to move, he eventually turns and trots away from you. I am wondering if you mean that you do not have him on a lead, but simply by the halter? Or perhaps he protests strongly enough to get out of your hands?

Horses are very patient creatures, they don’t live on the same kind of ­time clock that we do. They do not wear watches, but instead simply live in the moment rather than being caught up in the concerns of commitments, appointments, work and so on. Lucky them! We are a mismatched pair in comparison, when often our lives run by the time clock. We rush from one thing to the other based on the consequence of a minute’s passing. If we are two minutes late it were as if the world were coming to an end, there is no room for give. Many people live on a much more relaxed schedule, but it is rare when we live the same as the horse does, with no regard to time keeping track of the progress of our lives.

Because of this, it is very easy for the horse to take advantage of our time commitments to simply protest long enough that we either get too frustrated, get too late, are too tired, etc. If I were to tell you it will take 20 hours straight to fix the problem, you would probably throw your hands up in the air and consider it too great a task to be achieved, but if I were to say the same to the horse he would likely ask me what an hour was and why it mattered.

Weight resistance can play a part, but you have to keep in mind that anything that is expressed in the horse’s body first began in the mind. Weight resistance is easily overcome if you are able to find the original cause, which is the horse’s mind. Sometimes we are given horses to work with that we do not know their history, and not that it is any great help because we cannot change what has happened but only move forward from where we are now. Without understanding where the horse came from we get to wander through the dark at times guessing where the issue is, how it is related to the hurdles we are presently faced with and so on. At least with a history we get a small flashlight to probe around with possibilities and rule them out first.

Weight resistance is only a symptom and not the cause. Because of that we still have to address the cause before we can solve the symptom…

I’ve had a similar encounter with one of my horses, fully dedicated to the art of postponing work, leaving the pasture, going anywhere that I had determined, or otherwise complying with being led in any direction. First he would feign that he had to pee, so there he would stand all spread eagle, as I waited patiently for the inevitable.. only, it never arrived. He would have stood there for hours. Just dallying the day away. Initially it was quite unnerving and I was convinced something was wrong with him, and that he did in fact have to urinate but was somehow unable. After several vet checks, he was all clear, not one thing wrong with him. In fact he could have been the epitome of health at that point. Go figure. Back to square one. I could get him out of the stance if I asked him to step to the side in either direction, but then he would immediately resume it just one step later.

Jerry seemed to understand perfectly what he was doing. He never looked upset, and like you describe, almost gave an impression of being bored. Great, so now I have a horse who not only will not move, but he is consumed with boredom as a result of my efforts to alleviate the problem!

You have to remember, we tend to create areas of habit for our animals. The pasture is for eating, sleeping and otherwise relaxing. The barn is for grooming, graining, farrier and vet interaction. The arena or trail is for work (or play…). All the in-between areas tend to have little or no distinct meaning. Our own life is laid out like this. Home is where we eat, sleep, relax. Work is, well, where we work. The car is what transports us between the two, but the road we drive on doesn’t have much personal meaning to us. We haven’t interacted at every place along it and so we don’t have a negative or positive opinion of it. The same goes for the horse, he understands perfectly well where he is headed, and can choose to resist that, but the road to his work hasn’t been defined as work, play, rest, food, etc yet. For some horses it is very well defined as food, as demonstrated by the horse dragging his owner down for a bite of grass along the way.

The key to solving an issue such as this, is to break the line between where you work and where you play. Your ultimate destination, and the need to achieve it, has gotten in the way of a perfect opportunity. Remember, every interaction you have with the horse is a training session of some sort. It applies the same way with people, every interaction they learn what they can or cannot do. Your horse has at some point learned that he can get away with this, and you haven’t paid enough attention to the small signs leading up to it until they have finally planted their hooves in the dirt and refused to move! That is okay, let it be a lesson in paying closer attention to the small details. But now what does one do to correct it? That is very simple!

Take the chance to play with him. Don’t make it about getting him up from the field, that is already a battle he knows he can win, by doing absolutely nothing. Make your interaction about something much smaller that you can accomplish. For example, make it about getting him to shift his weight from side to side without moving a foot and on a light connection. That can then evolve into getting him to take a step to the side with one foot in one direction and then back into the other direction. Again, make sure you keep your connection light. You want to think of the connection like a phone, you want to be able to hear your horse as well as talk to him through it, and if you yell (use a lot of force or effort) he will be less inclined to listen and you won’t be able to hear what he is saying over the tone of your voice.

The key here is to make it a fun game, think about discovering something new in this. Be observant! What else can you learn from the exercise? All too often we get caught up in training the horse and we forget that he has a lot of wisdom to impart on us as well, if we only listen, if we allow ourselves to be curious. What would you do with him if you were only a kid still? When we become adults we understand the idea of work all too well and forget about playing.

Don’t make it about getting him to leave the pasture. Make it about the interaction between you two. When the relationship is solid between you two, in that you are listening to him and he is listening to you (the first part of that is the most important, we can focus on getting the horse to listen to us but it is a moot point if we aren’t listening ourselves, that has to come first!), everything comes easy. You don’t even have to think about working for it, you just think about it and it happens. Whether it is catching him or doing flying lead changes. That is the one trick that most instructors cannot teach, which is how to build a solid relationship with the horse, how to listen to the horse, and that is why instead they sell methods to training the horse. If you can listen to the horse everything comes as easy as breathing.

I hope this helps, would love to hear back about your progress!

Erica K. Frei
Author “Centered Self, Centered Horse : A Simple Guide To Horsemanship“

What? You’ve never heard of a wooden horse? A wooden horse for adults? Well, it’s true!

No lie, these wooden horses are built not only for adults, but for some serious equestrians. Want to build up or maintain your physical fitness through those not so endearing winter months or when your own horse is laid up with an injury? How about practicing posting, sitting the canter, handling the reins, riding like a jockey and more without putting your horse through the process like a guinea pig? This wooden horse was built to handle it all!

Frankie Lovato, Jr., who invented and builds the wooden horses, has also supported Therapeutic Riding Programs by donating whenever possible. They use his wooden horses with much success during all seasons! In the October 2008 Horses Magazine he was spotlighted with the following article.

“My name is Frank Lovato and I am a retired professional jockey. Over my 25 year career, I rode in over 15,000 races and had 1,680 winners. What may be even more interesting is that I build horses for people to ride indoors! I named them the Equicizer and they are playing a very serious role in many people’s lives. Maybe you are you thinking, “Why in the world would anyone want or need a mechanical horse for in their home?” You may be surprised to learn why and who is riding off into the sunset right in their own living rooms these days.”

Read the rest of this article and more about Frankie Lovato, Jr. and his Wooden Horses!

Even Craig Cameron has gotten in on the action, showing off the various uses of the Equicizer! Watch the video below, or subscribe to the Equicizer’s YouTube Channel!

It isn’t because I love picking on competitive Dressage, it is because it is prevalent in competitive Dressage since it is right in front of us, that I can point to the examples so easily seen. False forms of collection abound in every arena however, and it isn’t because it is more fun to fake it, but often because we don’t know what to look for, how to recognize when that fun movement isn’t really what we thought it was, and not sure how else to train the horse.

I work a lot in metaphors, it helps my mind connect ideas and make sense of theories that may otherwise leave me in the dark. So, this is how I’m going to compare collection in the sense of competitive dressage… a bit like a weight lifter bench pressing weights that are inflated with air. Sure, it might look like he is lifting 300 pounds and his muscles are certainly flexed, he has some sweat upon his brow… but there is something missing and that is the reality of the weight, the action, the exercise. It looks like a bench press and acts like a bench press, but is he really lifting any weight? No.

What we see in the competitive arena are collected movements that look like collection, act like collection, are called collection and scored as though they are collection, but there is that vital thing missing – the reality of collection.

Let’s think a bit about the individual movements that are a result of collection : Piaffe, Passage, Canter Pirouette, Flying Changes, Collected Canter, Collected Walk, Extended Trot. Collection unfortunately is often mistaken as being synonymous with slow or short. We see many variations on these different movements and instead of writing a giant article, I think instead I will pull a collection of pictures together and make comments. I like the way my brain functions with visual interaction…

The Piaffe

Let’s start with something easy. Why do I say easy? Well because there are many more pictures of piaffe that I can track down than there are collected walk.

Ever notice that there is a large prevalence of stallions in the competitive arena of dressage who succeed vs geldings and mares at the international levels. Certainly, it is beneficial to promote breeding stallions, but it occurred to me a question of whether it has anything to do with the strength of their neck muscles, in particular those which help to lift the shoulder girdle. Testosterone does lead to more muscle mass and development, and stallions naturally have a greater development of their topline. It can certainly help mask one of the indicators of collection, and that is the ‘little dipper’ in front of the withers. Many stallions are without it thanks to mother nature. So how does this play a role in collection you ask?

The neck muscles assist in lifting the cervical vertebrae as well as the shoulder girdle. Changing this alignment assists the hindquarters in bearing weight and flexing of the joints… all important elements of collection. In many ways, the efforts of asking the horse to collect are a way of improving the horse’s posture. Just like humans, we don’t always have naturally good posture, and when we then lift things and become weight bearing we can damage our muscles, our joints, our bones, etc. Things wear and tear that aren’t supposed to. What happens when you pick up something with bad posture? Do you find that you are nimble, agile and able to move easily about with this new weight, or do you tend to feel the weight pressing down upon you, having difficulty moving up and down stairs with this weight, maneuvering tight areas and so on? Then try lifting an object and carrying it with good posture so you are in balance, that is exactly the purpose of collection, and the movements listed above that come about are only signs and signals of that achieved balance while bearing weight.

Okay, I’m getting a bit off direction, but that is okay. I wanted to touch on the matter of hock injections in dressage horses who have not yet hit the age of 10. Sound like they are wearing their joints improperly? Absolutely! That is a sign of weight bearing that is not in balance, and is not in collection! It is one thing in a sport of impact such as jumping and eventing, but riding your pony about a 20 x 60 meter, imo, should not warrant hock injections at an early age. Back on track…

Let’s see some pictures.

Now, before you go scrolling down and getting adventuresome on me… let’s talk about the first picture. Yes, I will be blacking out faces because I would hope someone would do the same for me and this isn’t some personal vendetta against competitive riding, my only goal is to pull attention to what to look for in clues whether your horse is giving you collection.

I want you to look the picture over, maybe even write down what you like and what you don’t like. Let’s do this with 5 things each, 5 likes and 5 dislikes. We’ll compare notes later. Often piaffe is considered correct when the horse brings the hind feet underneath the body, i.e. underneath the point of hip, when the diagonal legs are moving in unison, and the horse’s head is on the vertical. Now we’ve already covered some points referring to posture, but I want to reiterate. In particular with the position of the horse’s head. Not all horses are posturally capable of bringing their nose on the vertical and still maintaining the posture needed to be balanced in collection. Often what happens is that the horse compensates in his body somewhere for the position of the head that he is otherwise not physically capable of maintaining.

Humans do this sort of postural compensation all the time. It is prevalent among our species and you can see it in person just walking down the street on any given day… that is if you know what you are looking for. If you don’t, people just look like people, normal everyday people. In this case it is usually only those who overstep the boundaries by a large margin that we notice – someone hunched over with a humpback posture, or someone with such an extreme swayback that it obviously affects their walking pattern. The person who’s neck juts forwards, or the man who doesn’t seem to have any bend in his neck at all.

For the most part, we all have postural problems, and unfortunately it is considered a norm. The things that cause chronic but not completely debilitating low back pain, the migraine headaches that we put up with or try to sooth with medication and dark rooms. The list goes on. With the horse we invent new gadgets to deal with the postural problems, we use more force and leverage to ‘stretch’ and ‘flex’ him into “suppleness.” Then there are the new methods of training that are ‘based upon classical principles’ and only prove to further injure the horse on a whole new level.

Let’s see how this horse might be compensating for posture that isn’t bringing him into balance.

I hope you like the marks I made, it will help guide your sight to the what and where’s that I talk about. Firstly, what I mentioned earlier about the development of the neck muscles and the tell-tale dip in front of the withers. That is marked with a red circle and labelled with a 1. It isn’t the best quality picture, but it is fairly clear to see.

Next we will move on to spot 2, the second red circle. This is referencing the closure of the horse’s throatlatch. Again, not all horses are capable of maintaining an ‘on the vertical’ nose position without having to compensate somewhere in their body. Line 3 references this as well, showing the nose on the vertical. Line 4 references the poll being the highest part of the horse’s body. His is close, but no cigar, the crest of his neck beat him to it by a few hairs. Why is the poll being high an important indicator? With the exception of some stallions (particularly Spanish bred) whose necks are so cresty they would not in a million years make the mark, it shows that the horse is not compensating in the cervical vertebrae. When the horse is overbent, or made to come to the vertical without the right build for it, his cervical vertebrae will help compensate and as a result the posterior portion of the neck (the top of the neck) will protrude higher than the poll. Think of a piece of paper, held so you are looking at the flattest/thinnest portion, held between your thumb and forefinger on either end. When you hold the paper taught so that it is straight, it is structurally at it’s strongest (if paper can be strong… ) without having to be modified. You can lift one end and lower the other and it stays the same strength. Now, you are going to hold one end (this will be considered the horse’s withers) just as before, the other end (which is now the horse’s forehead), you are going to make a fold about an inch from the edge as though the new ‘tab’ is the front of the horse’s face. Make it in such a way that it is about a 45 degree angle difference from it’s original position in a straight line. Resume holding the tab with your thumb and forefinger, now bring the horse’s nose to a vertical position. What happens along the horse’s neck? Does the crest bow upwards behind the horse’s poll making it the highest point? And what about near the withers? Does it create a hollow there as well? This is why the common use of bringing the horse’s nose on the vertical is not a sign of collection, but often a sign of postural compensation.

Let’s get rid of the paper. The next point is line 5 – which shows a vertical alignment for the weight-bearing front leg. Notice that the leg does not align vertically? What this shows is that the horse’s posture has to compensate in some manner for weight bearing the hind legs. The horse is bringing the front leg behind and under him to assist in bearing weight vs flexing the joints of the hindquarters, adjusting the relationship of the cervical vertebrae and the shoulder girdle and finding balance in collection. So the front legs are still bearing a large amount of weight that the hind legs are not capable of doing in this postural arrangement.

Line 6 is just a basic reference for your mind. The relationship between the point of shoulder and the stifle, points to the fact that the horse’s hindquarters are not actually ‘sitting’ anymore than the joints are flexing.

And finally, the lines of 7. These show the reference angles between the joints in the horse’s hindquarters. The angle between the stifle, hock and fetlock shows it to be very open, bracing almost. The foot is well under the horse’s body but the lack of flexion shows that the horse isn’t balanced and isn’t collected.

In Case you are wondering about the ‘naked development’ of the horse, i.e. the horse’s physical development in piaffe without a saddle and rider… here’s a link to the same horse performing piaffe in hand. Note the same dip in front of the withers, nose on the vertical creating the highest point of the neck to be behind the poll. Lack of engagement in the hind legs…

Wow, isn’t this fun! I just love playing with pictures some days, though admittedly it happens only once in a blue moon…

Next Up : Another Piaffe

So again, as before, 5 likes and 5 dislikes. This is a good contrasting piaffe because these are two very differently bred horses, and two different kinds of compensation.

Now, onto the next example, I hope you haven’t been peeking…

Once again I have laid out lines to make it easier to understand. I managed to forget numbering them however… so bear with me.

We’ll start from right to left, first with the vertical line, showing the horse is actually behind the vertical with his nose. The horizontal line again demonstrates that his poll is not the highest point, by a greater measure than our first example. The circle around his throatlatch shows that it is closed. Second circle near the withers points out that although the horse has a very well developed crest, there is still a mild dip near the withers.

The vertical line on the weight bearing foreleg shows that he is not compensating nearly as much to support the weight bearing of the hind legs by dropping his front leg underneath himself, but if we then turn our attention to the hind limb that is weight bearing we can see that he is not on the hindquarters at all as it trails out almost behind his body in the weight bearing phase.

I like to think of it like this a little… what happens when we mess around with our posture. Take your head and bring your chin in as far as it will go, if you can touch your chest great, if not that is fine. Take it to the limit that you can structurally go. Now, hold this posture while you are sitting first. Maybe even sit beside a full length mirror. Pay attention to what happens to your shoulders. Do they round forward over time? Try to hold your posture perfectly straight while you keep your chin in position. You may be capable initially, but over time your muscles become tired and your body tries to compensate for this awkward and unnatural position.

Now, do the same exercise while standing. Pay close attention to what happens to your hips. Do they rotate forwards or back? Are you able to flatten your low back and take the curve out of it? That is in effect much of what the horse has to do in the piaffe when correctly collected, he utilizes the strength of his loin while changing the angle of his pelvis. In humans it would be taking the curve out of the low back, flexing our leg joints. How is your body feeling with your head in this position? It would be really easy for someone to influence your speed and direction if you kept your head in this position, it affects your posture and weakens your balance point.

Next!

By now, you should know the drill.. 5 likes and 5 dislikes.

I just want to point out ahead of time, that of the three examples, this is the only image which displays a horse whose tail isn’t swishing and muscles overall appear generally soft and supple. Just a side note.

Now, onto my marked up image, and I even remembered numbers! Yay…

I have failed to add the circles around the throatlatch and at the withers on this image, for two reasons. First, the throatlatch is open and I think that is pretty clear to see. Second, the withers are not really clear to see beyond the saddle pad, so will receive little commenting from me, I try not to make assumptions when possible.

Line #1, shows the horse’s nose beyond the vertical, allowing his throatlatch to stay open, him to effectively use his neck muscles in lifting the shoulder girdle and adjusting his overall posture to change weightbearing to the hindquarters. Line #2 demonstrates the poll as the highest point.

Line #3 shows the one vital place of weakness, that being that the front leg is stepping underneath the horse to help bear weight. Based upon the overall picture of this piaffe I could try to surmise that it may be some form of muscular weakness that he has not yet been developed physically enough to maintain this correct posture without some help from the front end yet. That being said, it is still only a guess and will lead into nothing more.

Lines #4 show more flexion in the hind limb joints. They are closing more, think of how an accordion folds into itself. The angles between the lines are also fairly even which shows that the joints are bearing stress fairly equally.

Line #5 is a reference showing the relative position between the weight bearing foot and the horse’s point of hip. The hip is beginning to be the primary point of stress overall, vs the fetlock, hock or stifle joint. If the horse were to come underneath himself anymore the loins would take the brunt of the load.

Line #6 is again one more reference showing that the hindquarters are indeed dropping rather than maintaining level with the horse’s front end.

And with that, I think I will end this portion of Competitive Collection : Bench Pressing Air Weights. Tune in next time for examples of other collected movements…

So much focus is put towards the horse’s head set, having a light mouth, being collected and balanced. So much focus on our goals, with little insight into how we get there. Do we ride the same train from one terminal to the next hoping somehow to get to our destination despite riding the wrong line?

The essential ingredient in a horse who develops into a well balanced, collected, light horse with a beautiful and correct head position.. is forward. We all hear it told from instructors and riders alike, “MORE FORWARD!” What does that mean? What is forward? Is it like love, much desired and talked about, but lacking tangibility, lacking that solid object sort of certainty in identification? No, forward is something tangible, it can be seen, felt, heard. When it is lacking we lose our boat to float the river to our destination of a balanced, collected, light horse.

Forward is the catalyst to all of our further ventures. It fuels the muscular and postural development of the horse, building strength and suppleness. It is what straightens the natural crookedness of the horse, and aligns his lateral balance. Without it, the presence of a half halt is compromised at best, non-existent at worst. It provides the lubrication for the lovely lines present in a correct bend from poll to tail, enables the horse to lift from the base of his neck and transfer his weight to the haunches. It is where correct lightness comes from, of which the difference is noticed only when you know what correct feels like.

Forward could be considered the father of equitation-al endeavors. Like a horse without hooves, a rider without a horse moving forwards has no leg to stand on. His foundation is not developed, and all further supplies he pours atop that ground will be less stable and show a greater risk of failure or injury.

Forward is the development of tracking. Tracking involves tempo and rhythm. Tracking strengthens weak muscles and those without stability. Tracking supples taught and inflexible muscles. Tracking centers the horse’s energy into one purpose, bringing his focus to a calming point – shutting out distractions, increasing consistency and predictability. Tracking gives connection and meaning to the half halt. Tracking straightens the horse.

When we ride, it is easy to get caught in with focusing on that which is in front of us – the head and neck. The horse’s mouth, his lightness or lack thereof. The excesses and the diminished supply. The short and the long, tall and small. Truly when they say that our focus must be on the hind legs and they will train the horse’s head and neck, it is true. Correct tracking, or forward, trains the horse without interference on our part. All we need do is watch it go to work and reap the benefits. But be careful, because it is a lifelong endeavor of promoting forward. Like brushing our teeth every morning, riding our horses forward is a daily task if we want health and beauty…

Much has been written on the subject of hyperflexion of late. It seems that since the initial public outcry for it’s abusive effects, a multitude of evidence has since been designed to prove just that in every media – web, print, video and audio. There are seminars, there are lectures, books and so on. They are based on several strong points, including for example:

1. Physical Ramifications – proving the structural and muscular damage that occurs from the use of hyperflexion in training and riding the horse, from temporary to permanent, though the emphasis is on permanence.
2. Psychological Effects – the comparison has been made, that the use of hyperflexion (extreme) develops two types of horses, those that becomes mentally unstable and perhaps will not stand up to this kind of training for one reason or several, and those that have popularized the term “learned helplessness” in the horse world.
3. The use of hyperflexion by Classical masters, wholly those unpopular by riders adhering to the Gueriniere model of dressage. In particular Baucher and the Duke of Newcastle.

It often seems to require that such an extreme form of any of our riding habits come to light before we recognize in any way that we too have been participating in the same methods we now despise, but it has not yet become popular to despise all forms of hyperflexion aside from those which are extreme…

Hyperflexion has found it’s way into almost every barn and stable, through the simple lack of awareness to it’s presence. From english to western, and even the ‘classicists’ of dressage. It is a loss of the horse’s posture. Why is that? Because correct posture is what dictates our ability of balance, strength, coordination and health. When we lose our posture, we lose one or many of those elements. The same goes for the horse. His loss of posture may show up as him being on the forehand, or being less coordinated in his movement. High level dressage horses are commonly seen losing their coordination in the basic gaits – broken trot diagonals, four beat canters, lateralized walks. When they move up to perform the collected movements it is often seen them almost falling over their own feet. Of course the splendor of tense energy often blinds us to these components, instead we see the legs lifted almost to the ceiling and the stark comparison of slow (almost dead energy) piaffes transitioning into explosive ‘extended trot’.

We fail to understand even what our own posture looks like when it is correct or incorrect most of the time, unless we’ve been specifically educated in that area. What is viewed as correct has fallen to what is most appealing to our eyes and pleasing to our senses, rather than what functions most efficiently to keep us healthy and capable.

As riders, our posture in the saddle frequently mimics that which we have disposed our horses to taking. We lean, we hunch, we have no balance, no center. We have no strength, though that is the very means we rely upon to direct the horse, and we have little coordination of our limbs without dependence upon the others. We have created in our horses the things we struggle with ourselves.

The use of the horse’s neck as a means of leverage and control has been a long standing tradition in the world of equestrians. When we fail to understand the depths of communication, we then resort to physical means of accomplishing our goal. We can be strong, or we can be precise. We cannot be precise without strength, and we cannot be strong without precision. When we rely on strength solely, we lose our precision, our ability to sense pressure becomes dulled. It is through the release of pressure and the relinquishing of our strength that we once again find precision. They both support each other, and they both deter the other – to find the balance is to perfect them both.

International Rider, Coby Van Baalen’s Power & Paint

The issue of hyperflexion continues to arise and stir the emotions of equestrians, and still it has been allowed. It has been given support to be utilized by ‘professionals’. A privilege also given to the users of draw reins and other gadgets, which have long been purported to only be effectively used by the highly skilled, and by the same token unnecessary tools to the highly skilled. A double edged sword. Some rules, often not followed in competition only serve to support the breaking of more rules and subsequently the misunderstanding and abuse of the horse. For example:

“The head should remain in a steady position, as a rule slightly in front of the vertical, with a supple poll as the highest point of the neck, and no resistance should be offered to the rider.” FEI

“The neck should be raised, the poll high and the head slightly in front of the vertical.” FEI (on the Halt)

“The walk is a marching pace in a regular four time beat.” and “When the fore leg and the hind leg on the same side move almost on the same beat, the walk tends to become an almost lateral movement. This irregularity, which might become an ambling movement, is a serious deterioration of the pace.” FEI (on the Walk)

“Irregular steps with the hind or front legs, swinging the forehand or the hindquarters from one side to the other, as well as jerky movements of the forelegs or the hind legs, dragging the hind legs in the moment of suspension or double beat are serious faults.” FEI (on the Passage)

“The hindquarters are lowered; the haunches with active hocks are well engaged, giving great freedom, lightness and mobility to the shoulders and forehand. Each diagonal pair of legs is raised and returned to the ground alternately, with spring and an even cadence.” and “The neck should be raised and gracefully arched, with the poll as the
highest point.” and, especially… “Moving even slightly backwards, irregular or jerky steps with the hind or front legs, no clear diagonal steps, crossing either the fore or hind legs, or swinging either the forehand or the hindquarters from one side to the other, getting wide behind or in front, moving too much forward or double beat rhythm are serious faults.
A movement with hurried, unlevel or irregular steps, without cadence or spring cannot be called a true piaffe.” FEI (on the Piaffe)

More from the FEI… “Submission (original bold) does not mean subordination, but an obedience revealing its
presence by a constant attention, willingness and confidence in the whole behaviour of the horse as well as by the harmony, lightness and ease it is displaying in the execution of the different movements. The degree of submission is also manifested by the way the horse accepts the bridle, with a light and soft contact and a supple poll, or with resistance to or evasion of the rider’s hand, being either “above the bit” or “behind the bit” respectively.
“Putting out the tongue, keeping it above the bit or drawing it up altogether, as well as grinding the teeth and swishing the tail are mostly signs of nervousness, tension or resistance on the part of the horse and must be taken into account by the judges in their marks for the movement concerned as well as in the collective mark for “submission”.”

“The heels should be the lowest point.” (on the Rider)

“Article 419 OBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL DRESSAGE EVENTS
The FEI instituted an International Dressage Event in 1929 in order to preserve the Equestrian Art from the abuses to which it can be exposed and to preserve it in the purity of its principles, so that it could be handed on intact to
generations of riders to come.”

Complete FEI Rules

How have we traveled so far from these ideals? That the very simply stated rules of the FEI have been pushed to the side, and those being rewarded are guilty of breaking nearly every one of these rules. Poll high, head in front of the vertical, is sacrificed for false submission and the use of force.

One of the most popular of recent rides, that of Andreas Helgestrand with his very young, 9 year old mare, shows many of these broken rules. Though not including rollkur/hyperflexion, it is still a prime example of how the slow breakdown of rules leads to the fast breakdown to abuse. Easily caught on tape, but glaringly present in photos…

Note the raised heel of the rider. The horse’s face is behind the vertical, swishing tail, mis-shapened lip and excessive foaming of the mouth. The horse is far from collection with hind legs trailing behind her. This is the horse who won the competition…

If we have allowed the laxity of even the basic elements involved in Dressage, it becomes no wonder that we would then turn a cheek to the presence and growing popularity of hyperflexion. Any means possible to win, to become a star, to create the movements that require an artist’s touch to perfect. Get involved, speak out, make this unpopular. Why are we afraid to protect our horse from abusive training methods, to save face from those who are popular at the moment. Have we never left high-school and the cliques and peer pressure? The horse must come first!

Links of Interest :

USDF Statement of Animal Welfare

Rollkur Comments from USDF Region 4 News

Sustainable Dressage’s Explanation of Rollkur

News Release – Power & Paint

Sjef Janssen – His Method

Horses For Life – A Rollkur Pictogram

Walter Zettl on Rollkur

“Learned Helplessness” with Ulrike Thiel

**English Translation of “Dressur Pervers”**

Pressure is what we experience every day of our lives, either self-imposed or given to us by those around us and in our lives. For the horse it is a little simpler, from our perspective anyhow, the horse does not take ‘home’ pressure from the rider or trainer when the session is over. They don’t appear to agonize over learning something once they leave the work environment. Pressure however can be exerted on them by sources other than the mere training session they just finished. Pressure is what encourages the horse to do anything other than simply be.

Pressure:

noun.

1. The amount of force applied over a given area divided by the size of this area. (physics)
2. Mental strain caused by one’s own or others’ expectations on one’s own performance.

verb.

1. To encourage or exert force or influence.

Coupled with pressure, and vital to understanding its use and effects, is resistance. Resistance is the element of horse riding that is difficult to find in absence. Present in competition, backyard riding, trail riding, even the pursuit of riding as an art form, resistance is an element that some may consider a necessary evil. So prevalent is it, that trainers of all disciplines alike utilize some form of eliminating, or breaking the horse’s resistance, in search of their submission.

Resist:

1. verb.

1. To attempt to counter the actions or effects of someone or something.
2. To withstand such actions.
3. To oppose.

2. noun.

1. A protective covering.

Resistance:

1. The act of resisting, or the capacity to resist.
2. A force that tends to oppose motion.

Without pressure, the horse would have nothing to resist against. In reverse as well, can pressure exist as pressure – that is force, influence or encouragement – without some form of resistance? Pressure would simply become action, movement.

When we implement pressure, often we go beyond the resistance, into what is referred to as ‘denting’. When we dent the horse, we cause change in its shape, form, movement, energy, essence using pressure. This may not seem so terrible from the outside looking in, but if we look closer at the images so prevalent in current times of horses with tight nosebands, heads pulled in and held behind the vertical, straps for tying heads up or down, twitches, hobbles for training purposes, the list goes on and on, it becomes more apparent just how pressure and denting are being overused and misunderstood.

Horses are dented every day, and that is evidenced by the consistent presence of resistance, misunderstanding, fear, lack of trust, and evasions that riders and trainers experience with horses. Horse books and videos are full of problem solving techniques, each one custom built for the specific problem. There are numerous, freshly trademarked training methods and techniques each year that claim to do just what the previous methods before have failed to do, complete with new gadgets to influence more force with less effort.

These are all band-aids, to hide the fact that too much pressure was used in the first place, causing a cut that now ‘needs’ a band-aid. We forget to investigate the cause and get caught up in quick fix solutions for the symptoms. When the pot boils over you don’t put a cover on it, you turn the heat off and take it off the stove.

Pressure is a large component in most training methods, what they revolve around. The theory is that if enough pressure is applied in the correct area, it will motivate the horse to perform the requested action. This can cause very mechanical thinking in the horse, because he is not trained to be an intelligent contributor to the relationship, rather an instinctual creature. The majority of riding and training methods work off the idea that only with the use of pressure is an action obtained from the horse. Pulling on the reins to stop or squeezing the legs to go being prime examples; action equals reaction.

While using pressure as the key training tool works with some horses, there are many who fall in the cracks, leaving owners, riders and trainers frustrated, angry, fearful, sad, injured or killed. Pressure training with stallions turns into dangerous business, creates ‘hormonal’ and ‘opinionated’ mares, and geldings that fall into all sorts of impressions. Some horses may develop a seemingly lazy or “I don’t care” attitude, and others become hyper-sensitive, spooking, frightened and overly dramatic. Even those who go through the motions will likely show their resistance in the quality of the relationship.

Pressure as a training tool is not limited by disciplinary lines, sport, breed or gender. It is the key element in round-penning techniques, lunging, leading and riding. We unknowingly employ pressure because we are never taught what pressure is, how it influences the horse, and how to use it responsibly. Those who are termed ‘naturally gifted’ riders, often have an unconscious understanding of pressure, while the rest of us wander through the dark not realizing that we are in fact the pressure that has recently caused our horse to explode last week.

When the horse resists our initial pressure, we dent him even further by increasing the pressure – force or influence – possibly even causing physical pain. We do not stop and observe we are denting the horse to which he is resisting, instead we behave as though the horse is resisting therefore we must dent him to prevent further resistance.

Pressure in itself is not evil, it is used as a motivator, to encourage the horse to change himself and perform as we would like. When pressure crosses the line from motivator to force is what denting refers to. To balance the thin line between too little pressure and too much is the art involved in motivating the horse without denting or being completely action-less. For most of us, to know where the middle line is, we must explore both extremes of pressure – too much and too little – before we can recognize the balance, the motivation without force.

Pressure is not linear; it cannot be measured in a scientific manner when it comes to its influence on the horse and human relationship. How the horse interprets our pressure is based on many factors, and likewise our interpretation of pressure we apply. These include their individual character, previous relationships with humans and the current one they have with you or I. This interpretation is in constant flux, because other smaller factors bear heavily on the horse’s perception.

Being a prey animal, the horse is more or less tolerant of pressure based on the weather, season, herd status, physical condition, health, terrain, etc. There are few horse owners who haven’t become acutely aware that their horse is on eagle watch during a cold windy day, than when the temperature is mild and wind calm. This is why measuring an amount of pressure to work on every horse at every moment for a predictable result cannot be successful.

Pressure is not always physical, that is, involving touch. Most pressure begins well before any contact takes place, however most of it goes unrecognized. If you’ve ever noticed how some people make horses leery well before they are within touching distance, and others couldn’t make a horse walk away if they had an air horn, you’ve witnessed the non-physical affect of too much or too little pressure. We all give off a level of energy that directly relates to pressure from the horses perspective.

The way we stand, look, move and otherwise interact are all being read by the horse. He is fully aware of your every move, are you? The ultimate observer, even the horse you may think has checked out or dozed off, has their attention on you. It is their nature to observe, in the wild their very life depends on it.

Much of the observational skills we had as children have been trained out of us, coupled with our childhood curiosity. Being aware of the pressure we are applying to the horse involves the use of both observation and curiosity. We must be able to observe the horse’s responses to accurately judge our pressure, and have the curiosity to pursue the effort involved.

Summary – When we fail to dent the horse with pressure, the results are quite exciting. We develop a horse which trusts us not only because we are consistent, but because we also have respect for them physically, emotionally and intellectually. The horse has a level of confidence in trying to do what it is we ask, they are not afraid of the consequences of being wrong because being wrong doesn’t give reason to be dented. In short, we find a horse which is engaged, intelligent, and committed to a relationship with humans.

The bend I refer to is that of specifically the neck and generally the entire body. The bend is one of four factors I consider in the working of the horse, that are rules so to speak and guidelines. When something is not functioning properly, i.e. a movement isn’t as correct as I would like, then I defer to checking on the four guidelines. They are, in no specific order, Bend, Posture, Speed and Balance.

Why bend is so important is because it is the basis of posture, and posture is how you direct the horse’s movements. Posture is also how you affect the horse’s speed and balance. So you can see they all go hand in hand. Bend comes before posture, because if you lose the bend or are obtaining it through force (and with force comes resistance on the part of the horse) and then attempt to create the posture to then direct the horse, it will not work as efficiently or may not work at all.

There are particular instances when straightening, and thus losing the bend, is appropriate. In between lead changes for example. If the horse has changed the bend away from you, he places you at a distinct disadvantage and in danger if you are on the ground. From the saddle you lose your ability to influence him with the reins in a predictable manner. It becomes more clear why the bend is so important as we look at the dangers.

Bend controls the direction the horse travels in, affects your ability to posture the horse which controls the speed that the horse moves forward, sideways or backwards, and the horse’s balance.

Bend cannot be forced or coerced from the horse, but rather finessed. It takes tact, patience, timing and rhythm to develop and maintain the bend. It is the basic of rein aids and can be trained before the horse is ever ridden.

Leg Aids Clarified

In this day and age, it often seems that the “correct” use of the aids is with emphasis on the legs for most of the work, and little is left to the hands. Just how do the leg aids interact with the horse to communicate our wishes? In this article, you’ll learn how to simplify the use of the legs, when leg aids are appropriate and the difference between the two methods of leg aids.

Common Legs

Go into any barn during lessons and you’ll often hear some combination of a few choice phrases describing the use of the leg aids. In the simplicity of these descriptions however, it is easy to be left confused, frustrated or just ineffective. Inside leg, outside leg, more or less leg.. how much leg is appropriate? Leg positions also seem to hold a magical method to the success of the aids given, in front of the girth, on the girth or behind the girth. Then you take into consideration whether both legs are acting at the same time, and at the same position, or if not how are they positioned? If it’s left your head spinning, you aren’t alone.

The Factors

The leg aids aren’t naturally born into every horse’s natural instincts. Quite often the methods we use to direct our horses are in complete opposition to the horse’s natural reactions. For example, take a horse’s natural instinct to move into pressure, yet most young riders are taught to “pull to stop” on the reins. Pulling however, encourages the horse to move into the reins even more.

So, if we are opposing our horse’s natural reactions, rather than encouraging them, why is it that we are able to train our horses to perform the things they do? The majority of horses are extremely forgiving and have an interest in doing what we ask. There are a few out there however who refuse to give into this opposition, and become the “dangerous”, “difficult” or “stubborn” horses.

A horse’s natural reaction to being embraced by our legs around their barrel, is not to move forward. Their natural reaction is to compact their body, arch the back. Possibly become stiff legged, resist movement, stop. There are horses out there who will move forward from the legs automatically, often this is combined with some sort of arching of the back, even bucking.

It is through conditioning and desensitizing the horse to the presence and pressure of our legs that we begin to develop the leg aids. It is here that we begin to develop two distinct uses of the leg – positional or impulsive. How they are divided up is strictly by their purpose.

• Positional Leg Aid – the leg is placed in a specific position against the horse’s side and maintains consistent contact.
• Impulsive Leg Aid – the leg acts by coming to contact and losing contact, repeatedly.

The positional leg aid is vital in clarifying to the horse which lead to take in the canter. In striking off into canter on the right lead for example, the left leg would take up a positional role, placed slightly behind the girth.

The role of an impulsive leg aid is to help increase the energy the horse is moving with. For example, the impulsive leg would signal to the horse to increase his energy enough to strike off into canter, being the right leg for taking a right lead canter.

You can use two impulsive legs at the same time, or two positional, but be careful when doing this. Without a specific purpose and judicious tact, it is easy to contradict your own leg aids and give the horse no clear signal of what to do or where to go. Two positional legs used at the same time are essential in the ‘combined halt’, where the horse is asked to stop using both the half halt on the reins and two positional legs. When the two aids are balanced, the horse will stop, when one is stronger than the other the horse will respond to the stronger aid. More about the ‘combined halt’ can be found in my article on The Simplicity of the Aids.

Strength is an Interpretation

If you’ve ever found yourself using your legs much like a fly swatter in an attempt to kill the fly, that is hard, fast and frequent, you are doing too much. I imagine you feel the same way, as those legs tire and the repetitions become more challenging to maintain. When we use our legs in such a hard, forceful manner, not only do we lose physical strength, we also lose respect from our horse. Keep in mind that every time we attempt to use ego force, that is physical force, the horse learns just how strong or weak we really are. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my horses thinking they are stronger than I am, and I’m not going to be able to prove I am physically stronger by strong-arming them in the training process.

There is another way that we can prove our strength, and it is not based on physical prowess. Rather, when we are strong in our mind, that is the way we work with the horse in a respectful, considerate and careful way, they learn to respect us in a more profound way. The same goes when we use our legs. If we consider that we want to respect the horse’s sides with our legs, then we will avoid banging our legs against them. If we are considerate, we will think about whether the horse understands what it is we want, and work to ensure that he understands us clearly. And likewise, when we are careful, we use our legs tactfully and purposefully. These are all the things we need to have success in developing a light relationship between our legs and the sides of the horse. It is not just the reins that we want to practice ‘lightness’ with.

The Secret Formula

So how do we go about developing a light relationship between our legs and the sides of the horse? One in which we merely have to shift our leg and the horse understands we want a canter depart from the halt, or a pirouette, or we want him to walk from a gallop? Let’s consider the horse from this perspective – If he knows what it is we want, he will do it, no questions. That is simple enough, so when the horse does not respond to our leg aid right away, it means he does not know what it is we want.

As we ask, we continue with the aid as we want him to respond to it. If you want your horse to pirouette when use a specific positional leg, then you do not move the leg to where he will respond right away. You keep it where you want it and ask as you want him to respond. That means the leg aid stays respectful, considerate and careful. When we approach the horse’s training in this way, it leaves him room for error and trial, but it also leaves him room to be comfortable making attempts to do what you want. If the horse is concerned about you increasing the ego force, or frustrated because the force is increasing steadily, he will be less likely to make a responsible response to your request. Start light, end light, and the horse will become light.

Why Horses Really Run Away

Your huffing and puffing, cursing the very horse that you wish wanted to be with you badly enough to stop running away. Likely you have broken a sweat, your halter and lead have become a tangled mess beyond recognition, and you could have ridden two horses in the time it’s taken you to run around after your horse. Perhaps you’ve slipped a few times or have mud stuck to you that has flung off your horse’s hooves and appropriately landed somewhere on your face during one of his attempts to flee. Sound familiar?

This is a common scenario that almost every horse owner will face at some point in their life riding horses. If you have the luxury of never having to catch your own horse, not only have you been spared this priceless experience, but have likely saved a lot of time too. For the rest of us, we’ve been told over and over that maybe the reason our horse doesn’t wish to be caught is because we work him every time he’s brought in, and comes to avoid having to go to work. What if, the real truth some deeper than merely the work factor?

Human vs. Horse Motivation

Horses, unlike people, generally have the inclination to do our every bidding so long as we are fair, kind, compassionate and clear in our communication. Yet, somewhere in the shuffle we have lost the connection with our horse at some time, and he begins to avoid working with us, namely avoids letting us capture him.

Flight Zone Rules

When you are huffing and puffing, out of breath in the pasture, ready to pull your hair out, it might not be the best time to be reminded that horses, being herd animals, have a flight zone. When this zone is entered, namely by you, the horse will move. The flight zone is changing constantly and is different for every horse. One minute the flight zone may be off the horse’s body, and the next it might be 50 feet in every direction. This fluctuating tendency of the flight zone is there to protect the horse, and it then becomes our mission to learn how to function with the flight zone.

Reducing the Flight Zone

Outside of the flight zone, is what is known as the zone of recognition. When you enter this zone, the horse will acknowledge in some manner that he knows you are there, without moving his feet. It may be something as simple as looking at you, or even raising his head and turning it in your direction, looking straight on at you. This zone is important, because in it you can move about without inducing the horse to move his feet. But be careful, because as said before, the flight zone is constantly changing in size, and where you are standing in the zone of recognition one moment, may become the flight zone the next.

In the zone of recognition, you have room to interact with the horse, without invading his space, or what he perceives to be his own space. By approaching, and then retreating, repeatedly, slowly and without sudden speed, motion or sound, you can gradually reduce the flight zone in the horse. Your goal is to come to the edge of the flight zone, then retreat, without breaching the barrier.

Success, Now Permanent Change

So, you’ve reduced the flight zone and managed to catch your horse. Now what? You want to work him, but don’t want to constantly battle the catching routine. The real issue is not you working your horse, just look around at other horses that seem to revel in being worked on a daily basis and skulk at the thought of having a day off. Your horse likely isn’t simply a slacker in the work department, rather chances are it has more to do with the flight zone.

When working our horses, it can be easy at times to lose sight of how large we are expanding their flight zone to. True, you may be within touching range to active his flight zone, but remember that he is also attached to you. Some horses will challenge this attachment when their flight zone is invaded, but a great many more will put up with it, until they are loose in the pasture to do as they please, include running away from you. The real key to changing your horse’s attitude when it comes to being caught, is by reducing the size of his flight zone when he is being worked. This means slower, more predictable actions, clear communication and working at the appropriate level of training. This doesn’t mean tippy-toeing around your horse and taking care to never make a noise, but it does mean taking consideration of your horse’s emotional needs.

So as your working your now caught horse, keep in mind how your actions affect the relationship between you and your horse. Think about how your actions might increase (frighten) or decrease (reassure) the flight zone around your horse. Lots of praise never hurt either.

Defining and Solving

Resistance in the horse can come in several forms, at times violent and on the other end of the spectrum, passive. Both forms are harmful, frustrating and a sign that the horse does not fully understand what is being asked of him. Let us take a deeper look at the forms of resistance in the horse, and how they need to be approached to restore a healthy relationship.

Resist:

verb

1. To strive to fend off or offset the actions, effects, or force of.
2. To remain firm against the actions, effects, or force of, withstand.
3. To keep from giving in to or enjoying.

As shown, resistance includes both forceful means and passive. It is easy to see examples of this in horses, more commonly we think of resistance in the forceful manner. More difficult to work through however are the horses who take their resistance inwardly, and do no express outward with emotional outbursts. It is because they are quiet that it can be easy not to recognize their resistance, or lack of understanding. Often these are the horses which are labeled as stupid, stubborn, lazy, etc.

Symptoms

Some symptoms of resistance can include an on the following list, it is incomplete but gives some examples.

1. heavy in the bridle or on the forehand
2. slow to increase speed or maneuver
3. slow to respond to aids in general
4. slow to respond to aids, followed by an over-reaction in the wrong direction
5. habits or evasions, especially running backwards, balking, rearing, bucking
6. moving away from a direct rein, rather than towards
7. stilted, reserved movement, or out of control speed

Some other signs of resistance include overproduction of saliva, or chomping the bit, and on the opposite end is locking the jaw. Tail swishing and a lack of relationship interest in the horse are all symptoms of resistance. Resistance to what you are asking of the horse, and resistance to the horse-human relationship.

Four Resistances

There are four distinct types of resistance that the horse can display, two of which are physical, and two are mental/emotional.

1. Resistance of Force
2. Resistance of Weight
3. Outward Resistance
4. Inward Resistance

Resistance of Force

This type of resistance refers to any actions the horse may make the uses his muscular strength or effort. This can include pulling against the rein, changing bend and rooting.

Resistance of Weight

Common especially in young horses, resistance of weight is just that – when the horse uses his weight to create momentum or passive resistance against you. Traveling on the forehand falls into this category.

Outward Resistance

A mental/emotional resistance, outward resistance refers to the actions the horse makes actively to let you know that he does not understand or is not comfortable with the request you are making. Rearing, bolting, running backwards, striking, biting, not letting you catch him, and spooking fall into this category, as does over-salivating and chomping the bit.

Inward Resistance

When the horse resists inwardly, he is shutting down emotionally and mentally, to protect and preserve himself. This can be the most difficult form of resistance because it can be difficult to pull the horse outward without triggering him further. Inward resistance often includes refusing to move, moving slowly in the opposite direction desired, lack of response from aid or cue, and locking the jaw are all part of this form of resistance.

Why Resist

There can be several factors to a horse’s habit of resisting. It is important for us as equestrians, to keep in mind that horses are prey animals, and we are predators in their eyes. It is natural and normal for the horse to resist our attempts to control, direct or relate to them. Often this is easily overlooked because so many horses who are bred and raised in captivity have very little of this natural resistance to humans left. In young foals it is easy to see how they resist our attempts to communicate, but depending on their experiences with humans at that young age they either learn to trust very early or they develop various forms of resistance in different amounts.

There are other influences that can further develop the horse’s resistances, including abuse, advanced training too early on, injury, working through pain, poor fitting tack, and improper handling.

Horses Are Smart

Believe it or not, horses do not generally resist because they enjoy making our lives difficult. The truly miraculous feature of horses, is their innate tendency to obey if they understand what is being asked of them. Horses today are trained to perform in every walk of life, in huge stadiums full of people, in crowds, shooting guns off their back, pulling carriages, carts and coaches, performing in the circus, in the show ring, hunting trips and more. They perform tricks that boggle our minds at times. Working alongside other predatory animals for the sake of entertainment. We ask our horses to go against every instinct and natural reaction every day that we handle and ride them. This is the key to keep in mind, when the horse fails to obey our request, it is driven by either fear or misunderstanding.

You might ask, then what is the excuse for the one horse who constantly pulls the reins from his rider to eat grass along the trail? He is not driven by fear or misunderstanding. True, however he understands perfectly well that his rider will allow him to do that. He doesn’t need fear to motivate him, and he is free from misunderstanding. He is well trained, to eat grass along the trail after pulling the reins out of his rider’s hands.

Working Through Resistances

Of the four forms of resistance, the most difficult to work through is Inward Resistance. The reason is that the symptoms may not be very large or obvious at times. Inward Resistance needs to be approached from various angles. Because the horse is trying to shut down and disassociate with what is going on around him to some extent, the question becomes how do you work through the resistance without triggering the horse further into disassociating. One method is the use of a distraction, getting the horse to relax or move a body part before addressing the area that causes the resistance.

Inward Resistance can also cross over at times to Outward Resistance. Take a horse who shuts down for a period of time until the stimuli becomes too great for him to shut out, and then he explodes. This is a common reaction in some horses when they are first learning to get trimmed by the farrier. These explosions are often much greater than they would be in a horse who is consistently in Outward Resistance.

Outward Resistance presents many dangerous and frustrating actions on the part of the horse, while expressing his misunderstanding or fear. Often Outward Resistances are triggered by too great a stimuli, and is easy to address by slowing down, reducing your actions, taking longer to advance the horse’s training.

Physical resistances, that of Force and Weight, can be addressed by two different actions. When the horse presents both resistances at the same time, Resistance of Force is always addressed first. The horse may move into a Resistance of Force when you attempt to address a Resistance of Weight, and again you always address the Resistance of Force first.

Resistance of Force is always solved through vibration or inconsistent contact. The vibrations can range from subtle (the opening or closing of the fingers) to strong (movement through the wrist), depending on the severity of the resistance. There is no pull on the rein in vibrations. It is not pull, give, pull, give. Pulling on the rein will only increase the amount of resistance that the horse presents.

Resistance of Weight is addressed through the half-halt. Because the half-halt changes the horse’s posture, it realigns the way the horse carries his weight.

What is ego, and where does it belong in the act of riding, training and otherwise interacting with horses?

Ego; noun
1. Self-aggrandizement: an act undertaken to increase your own power and influence or to draw attention to your own importance.

2. An inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others.

I would like to take the stance that ego has no useful place in equitation. As I think of ego, what comes to mind is the image of fear that takes over, attempting control through physical force, intimidation or inflicting pain.
When we work with horses, it is immediately apparent that they are many more times larger, heavier and stronger than we are. Unless you are working with miniatures… So with this in mind, how can we attempt to intimidate physically, an animal who is so much grander than we are? Secondarily, to intimidate them physically, and still wish their cooperation of mind, seems a large contradiction.
Let’s first look at the differences between human and horse.

• Predator vs Prey Animal: Horses are prey animals, and like it or no, humans are predatory animals. We move, behave and are built to track, hunt and kill our food. This is evident in just two physical characteristics we have located on our face.. eyes with round pupils and eyes that are located on the front of our face vs on the side. Horses on the other hand are typical prey animals, they run when frightened, their eyes have oblong pupils and are located on the sides of their head. It is through this predator / prey relationship that is naturally based which we have the ability to intimidate horses – through fear, not respect.
• We have the ability to force the horse to participate in a relationship with us, one way or another. We can go out, rope the horse, confine them in a small space, basically instill a sort of slavery upon the horse. The horse does not have the ability, instict nor desire to do that to humans. Whether they like it or no, they have to participate in the relationship to some extent because they cannot just leave if they don’t like us.

Thinking about just these two differences, it is easy to see how we as humans can get inflated egos about working with, or controlling our horses. They naturally fear us, giving us a boost to how much we can affect their mental, emotional and physical state. On top of it, we have no natural motivation to create a relationship in which the horse *wants* to stay with us no matter what.. why? Because if they want to leave all we need do is put them in a stall, tie them to a hitching post or put up a bit more electric fencing.

Defining Ego

How does Ego come into play in working with horses, how do you know if you are using ego in your relationship or how to recognize it and avoid it? Ego is basically any methods that depend on physical strength, loss of balance, intimidation or surprise. Let’s go through this list and define a little deeper.

• Physical Strength:
• Physical strength means any method(s) that rely on strength – either direct or through leverage methods. Often the use of gadgets will fall into this category as well, because they are often employed when the rider lacks a certain amount of physical strength or position (which reduces their ability to apply force).
• Loss of Balance:
• Loss of balance refers to any method that is based upon the principle of control through the horse’s loss of balance. Some “emergency stop” techniques rely on this principle and can prove ineffective at times, while also being dangerous in the right situation. Making the horse lose his balance does not inspire confidence or trust in you as a rider, but the opposite. It creates a level of distrust and discomfort, not knowing when he may lose his footing and fall.
• Intimidation:
• Intimidation refers to any interaction between horse and human, which is inspired by our predator / prey relationship. When you act in any way that could be construed by the horse as a predatory attack, you are acting out of ego. Whether our physical size is smaller in comparison or not, the horse believes us to be a real threat. This can include running at the horse, physical punishment or abuse.
• Surprise:
• Surprise covers two topics separate from each other. The first is through sudden actions made to inspire some sort of reaction in the horse other than desensitization. These can include noises, movements, etc. The second is based upon passive aggressive tactics. Attempting to get control or the upper hand with the horse through acting passively and suddenly changing to aggressive. This is a classic predatory action, horses do not behave passive aggressively with one another naturally. They may over time however learn to behave this way in response to their experience with human interactions – often these are horses labeled as being dangerous, aggressive, un-trainable, etc.

How the Ego Appears to the Horse

Just how our interactions with the horse come across to the horse can vary widely. Some horses will go through the motions with us, others will be intimidated and work for us out of fear – producing erratic but somewhat reliable results. And still others will become “difficult”, “stubborn”, “stupid”, etc in response to our ego based training. They shut down emotionally and mentally to our attempts, which only makes us become more aggressive with our actions instead of less, and further destroys any connection with the horse. On the tail end are the horses that become dangerous and aggressive, using their own ego to intimidate and control us.

In stallions, using ego based training is especially dangerous. If the stallion views us as a competitor to his ability to be a breeding stallion, all we do through ego based training is prove to him just how weak or strong we are, every interaction. What keeps that particular stallion behaving or misbehaving, is how strong his desire is to become a breeding stallion.

If every time you work with your horse, you prove how weak or strong you are, it will not take long before the horse begins testing these boundaries, becoming heavier, more resistant, etc. Horses have an amazing amount of patience, and they have all the time in the world to wait for our one weak moment.

An Alternative to Ego

In contrast to ego based training, is training using natural boundaries. This doesn’t necessarily refer to “Natural Horsemanship”, because even techniques in that category could be construed as ego based. What I mean by natural boundaries, is that the training is based upon principles that to the horse are unchangeable. For example, a horse will not run into a tree on purpose, because he knows it is solid and unmoving. It is through this that you learn to adopt ways of working with the horse that mimic these natural boundaries. It is therefore through positioning the horse, and creating actions that do not pull or give (unmoving), and that are patient (the tree will never fail to stand still), that the horse comes to respect you as a natural boundary that it has to mold to because the horse is movable.

When you then compare ego actions to those of natural boundary, you can see where one supports fighting and resistance, and the other forces nothing but supports communication and willingness.

Part II : Direct & Indirect Rein

In the first part of this article, we covered the Rules of the Aids, along with introducing and describing the Half Halt and Reverse Half Halt. We now continue on, in a very logical way, to discuss the Direct and Indirect Rein. These two aids are the means of directing, guiding and helping to shape the horse.

Direct Rein

The simplest and most straightforward rein aid, is appropriately termed a Direct Rein (now on referred to as DR). Also commonly referred to as an opening rein, plow rein, inside rein, or considered to be the common means of rein control in English disciplines. The DR is commonly used to “open” to the side you want the horse to turn to, and a certain amount of traction or pull applied.

The DR is capable of greater refinement, and specific control than it has been given credit for. Let’s first go over some of the key points of the DR.

• Weight Distribution: The DR puts the weight on the inside front limb.
• Bend: The horse is bent in the direction of travel – bend left, travel left.
• Exclusive Movement: Turn on the forehand.

In the illustration to the left we see a basic model of a horse viewed from above. This is assuming we are using a right DR. The red X marks where the majority of the weight will be placed, the right foreleg. This is the leg that the horse will pivot around. What this also means is that by using a DR, we are placing the horse on the forehand.

The red line directing us towards the left, is indicative of the direction that the haunches will swing in the motion. This action is what disconnects the horse’s direction (the forehand) from the driving force or energy (the haunches). The DR disconnects these two elements, making it difficult if not impossible for the horse to propel himself forward into the direction of travel with full power. For example, in a wide turn using the DR, the horse will have a considerable amount of force in propelling himself forward. In a tight turn or pivot on the forehand, that energy will propel the horse’s haunches sideways.

Finally, the blue arrow directed towards the horse’s right hind leg is indicative of the direction of the rein’s action. When using the reins, you have the option of moving forward, backward, up, down, left and right. The arrow represents backward, in a parallel line to the horse’s body when straight.

Indirect Rein

The second means of direction at your hands, is the Indirect Rein (now on referred to as IR). This rein is similar in action to a neck rein, although the IR follows different rules than a neck rein.

• Weight Distribution: The IR puts the weight on the outside hind limb.
• Bend: The horse is bent in the opposite direction of travel – bend left, travel right.
• Exclusive Movement: Turn on the haunches.

In the illustration to the left we see again a basic model of a horse viewed from above. We are basing the picture on the assumption that we are using a right IR. The red X marks where the weight of the horse is being supported, the limb that the body will pivot around. This time, it is the opposite hind leg, both from the rein we are using, and from the DR’s weight placement.

The red arrow points to the direction that the forehand travels, around the pivoting hind limb. The motion of the forehand, unlike the DR, aligns the forehand with the haunches (direction and propulsion). This makes the IR ideal to help set the horse up for movements that require lots of propulsion straight forward (i.e. canter departs, extended or collected gaits, etc).

The blue arrow is the direction of the rein action when using the IR. As before, we have the options of moving the rein forward, backward, up, down, left and right. Our action is in a diagonal fashion – left and backward, in alignment with the leg that will be weight bearing, the left hind leg.

How both of these rein aids interact with each other is simple and complex. They have the capability to be used alone, or together. They can also be used in conjunction with the HH and RHH. Any of these combinations will create certain movements from the horse, and it is the refinement of balancing between the rein aids that is the core of riding skill.

Dissecting Movements

Exactly how are movements created using the rein aids that we’ve already discussed? Let’s try to approach the movements of the horse critically.

First we should define exactly what it is we are looking for, and why. Every idea must have reason behind it. What are “movements” and why are they important? Taken down to it’s most basic purpose, any act of riding or training is in some way to define, direct, teach and be able to recall a movement, or series of movements, with a specific aid or cue. Why do we spend such a large portion of our time with horses, working towards influencing, controlling, or directing the walk, trot, canter, and gallop?

• Usefulness: Horses were not always used primarily for pleasure or hobby. Their employ started to lighten our work load, and increasing theirs. The ability to specifically control how the horse moved was an important way to make sure the work was done in a quick, efficient manner, and with less risk of injury to horse or human. Imagine trying to direct a 6-horse coach without the ability to speed up or slow down in a turn…
• Physical Conditioning: Now that horses are used in competitions, and are considered to be athletes along with their counterparts, the importance of muscle health is number one. Unlike their counterparts, horses cannot be told to “do 50 push-ups”, so it is by positioning the horse to use his body in a certain way that conditions him. Just as a person can lift a heavy weight by bending at the back, they can be more efficient, lift more weight and do less physical damage by lifting with their legs and keeping the back relatively straight.
• A Better Ride: Like a graceful ballet dancer, a strong horse whose movements have been refined through physical conditioning will move more beautifully. What this means to us as riders, is that the horse is also more enjoyable to ride. Their gaits become smoother to ride because the motion is consistent rather than erratic, the turns and maneuvers are balanced and elegant.

So, knowing the purpose to pursuing the development and refinement of various movements in the horse, lets dig deeper.

Movements can be divided up into different groups, based on how they change the way the horse uses himself, and also the direction of travel.

Straight-Forward

• Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop
• Lengthened or Shortened Walk, Trot, Canter
• Extended or Collected Walk, Trot, Canter
• Piaffe, Passage, Terre Terre

Lateral (at any pace)

• Leg Yield
• Shoulder In
• Half Pass
• Full Pass or Side Pass

Standing

• Any of the Airs including Levade and Courbette

This is a very basic, and incomplete list of how the various movements could be divided up. There are certain movements that could fall into several categories as well – the Terre Terre being one of them. It qualifies as a straight forward movement, however can also be considered as an Air because of it’s rearing and leaping motion.

Primarily it is the HH that directs and controls the straightforward movements, and most certainly the standing movements. It is because elevation is the key to straightness, when the horse’s neck reaches a certain amount of elevation, which is specific to the individual horse, it makes it impossible for the horse to also have any significant amount of bend through the spine. Elevation fixes a crooked horse. Elevation also kills the forward energy, so it is vital that both are balanced. Teaching a horse to respond to the HH with a light rein, will enable the rider to be more subtle in asking for elevation to straighten the horse’s spine, and also allow them to balance between increasing elevation and losing impulsion.

The Indirect and Direct rein aids will control the lateral movements, but you cannot forget the HH either. The HH plays a secondary role in the lateral movements. Without the HH, it is easy for the horse to move to quickly in the movements, and lose the physical benefit, and also be less precise in the movement. Since the HH controls elevation too, any increase in elevation increases the amount of sideways movement you get. With maximum elevation, you kill all the forward energy of the horse. When you then add energy through either the whip or the legs, you get straight sideways movement.

The lateral movements also require a balancing act between the Direct and Indirect rein, too much of one or the other in a specific movement can change it completely. For example, in the shoulder in, your primary rein is going to be an indirect rein, however too much indirect rein will turn your shoulder in, into a turn on the haunches.

Part I; Introduction, Half Halt & Reverse Half Halt

I should think that the best place to begin with describing the aids we use to influence the horse, is to first find the exact meaning of aid. By Definition:

Aid: noun (plural aids)

1. Help, succor, assistance, relief.
2. The person who promotes or helps in something being done; a helper; an assistant
3. Something which helps; a material source of help.
4. An aid-de-camp, so called by abbreviation; as, a general’s aid.
5. Aid: verb (aids, aiding, aided)
6. (transitive) To support; to give support to; to further the progress of; to help; to assist.

The etymology of the word Aid is from Old French – Aide, from Latin adjuvare, “to assist.”

Perhaps the first point to make on the definition of aid, is that in no way does the meaning ever describe it as a means of control. The aids that the rider uses, are meant not as a way to force, coerce or otherwise take away the will, freedom or direction of the horse, the aids are there to help support the horse in his own natural abilities, if you will. There is a fine line between force and guide when working with the aids, our goal is to guide the horse, redirect his own forces, not contain them. It is with keeping this in mind, that our refinement and perfection of the aids will develop more freely.

Rule of the Aids

There is a certain amount of predictability in the aids, once we come to understand their function. Along with a predictability of the aids, there are also predictable patterns in the horse as to how they interact and react to the aids. Before setting out to practice and discover these rules one on one with your horse, I would like to cover a few rules that should be followed in the use of the aids.

• Never Pull : horses instinctively move into pressure, when you pull, it incites the horse to respond by pulling back. With time and practice you can train the horse to respond to pulling by giving into the pressure, this reaction however is not a natural one. Not only is yielding to pulling an unnatural reaction to the horse, every time you use the force of pulling to control or direct the horse, you are showing him exactly how much (or how little) strength you have. Once a horse learns he is stronger than you, he will always win the pulling fight. In addition, horses come to resent the action of pulling. The horse / human relationship has turned into a dictatorship.
• Never Force : what is forcing? Forcing is what it takes to go beyond the touch barrier. You can come to touch with your hand, leg, etc, but once you go beyond the touch and begin pulling or pushing, you are forcing. There is no use in forcing a horse, physically changing his physical shape, by overuse of the aids. If the horse is so unresponsive to the aids, work needs to be done to create more sensitivity to light aids, rather than using a greater amount of force.
• As Little As Possible, As Much As Necessary : What this means is that you work to do as little as possible, keeping your aids infinitely light. However, on the same end you do as much as is necessary in that situation. For example, working at home in your arena, using the lightest touch (or non-touch, which will be explained later) at all times whether you get the desired response or not may be acceptable, whereas in a situation that could be dangerous for you and the horse, using a firmer touch to ensure the desired result may be needed to maintain safety. This is not to say that you do not strive for using the lightest touch possible under all circumstances, but that there may be times when the lightest touch is not appropriate.
• Horses Are All Perfect : Every horse knows how to be a horse, more so than we can ever know, being humans. If an aid you are using consistently fails to bring about the desired result on the horses you are riding, change it. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing repeatedly, while expecting different results. Aids are meant to guide and support the actions of the horse.
• Singular Aids : The use of the aids should never be so complex as to confuse the rider and horse. If you are using more than two aids at any one time, it is too much. While horses are capable of learning complex combinations of aids, how many get confused in the process? If it cannot be done with a single aid, the horse is not ready to perform it.
• No Contradictions : The aids must never contradict each other, with exception to the Combined Halt. The reins never oppose one another, creating conflict and blocks. The reins and legs are never used against each other (i.e. increasing speed with the legs while asking for slowing with the reins). This applies laterally, diagonally and bilaterally.

The list of Rules may seem lengthy, but as you begin working they will make more sense to you. Questions will be answered by these rules, and will help form new questions, which leads to greater understanding and knowledge of the aids.

Resistance

There are times when a horse will resist the aids. There are three ways a horse can resist the rider; through weight, physical force and mental resistance. The first two resistances (weight, force) are simple to overcome. The resistance of the mind is the resistance that there is no set solution. Time, building trust and a relationship are the means to break down this resistance, and is not a topic to be discussed in conjunction with the use of the aids. Resistances of weight and force are the common means that a horse will passively (or not so passively) protest the rider’s efforts.

• Resistance of Weight – the horse uses his positioning of weight to resist.
• Resistance of Force – the horse resists by the contraction of muscles.

Resistance of weight is commonly associated with horses who are young and unbalanced. It is easy for them to misplace their weight to the forehand or off to one side or the other. The solution for resistances of weight is by the application of the Half Halt. The Half Halt changes the posture of the horse, which in turn re-balances the weight of his body onto the haunches, allowing the horse to move with greater precision.

Resistance of force is associated with horses who have learned to pull against the rider’s pull. Both types of resistance often elicit a response from the rider to attempt to pull the horse into the position that they desire, which only completes the cycle of resistance. Resistance of force can only be solved through Vibrations. The use of vibration through the reins is based on the principle that to release muscle tension you have to create a non-static, non-invasive energy to the source of resistance. In other words, think of vibration in the way of massage. You do not dent the horse, you do not pry or attempt to force relaxation. Simply put, you are creating an environment that over time the horse cannot resist through force.

Vibrations can be done through the fingers, the wrist or the whole arm. The preferred method is through the wrist, because the action becomes left to right with the wrist, there is no backward action, whereas with the fingers you create an opening and closing, that inevitably creates a forward/backward motion. The use of the whole arm in vibrations may be needed for large vibrations, but for general use lacks precision and tact.

Half Halt solves the problem of weight resistance. If the horse fails to respond to the Half Halt, the resistance of weight has changed to a resistance of force, which requires the use of Vibrations. Once Vibrations have solved the resistance of force, you can once again employ the Half Halt to solve the resistance of weight.

Rein Aids

The use of the reins will be described first, since not only does the horse’s mouth come first, but the major ability to direct and guide the horse comes from the use of the reins. Learning how to properly use the reins in a tactful manner is the most difficult lessons to learn, it is no wonder that so many riders teach and have been taught to use their legs in the majority of influence over the direction of the horse. The legs not only require less tact, but are less capable of acting with the measure of precision that an educated hand is. The key phrase here is educated hand, the beginner hand often lacks more precision than a beginner’s legs. It is for this reason then that the use of the hands should be practiced so much, considering that we as humans have a nature to do everything with our hands, why then do we so often consider the primary use of the hands to be evil or uneducated?

The Half Halt

The ever mysterious Half Halt (from now on referred to as HH). I still recall my first instructors describing it to me as being “something that involves your hands, legs, seat and weight” of which it was assumed the magical combination of these four things would yield the desired result of making your horse pause momentarily to regroup and rebalance himself. When I thought I was getting the correct response, it was still shrouded in mystery because I didn’t know what I was looking for, or at. The HH is something that nearly everyone in the horse world has heard about, if not discussed or practiced. Despite the well known use of the HH in riding and training, it is still an aid that at times seems impossible to acquire with consistency.

The function of the HH is indeed to rebalance the horse, but how it does this is not through means of magic. Rather the HH causes the horse to change his posture, in turn affecting how he carries himself – putting the weight on the haunches and taking it off the forehand. The very posture of the horse dictates how and where he will move at any given moment, therefore posture is everything in the way of directing and guiding the horse.

Without using force, how are we to change the posture of the horse? Is it by a specific combination of aids – leg, seat, hand & weight? Perhaps the real question to ask, is how do we perform the HH when we are not seated upon the horse?

The exact actions the HH inspires in the horse are as follows:

In Order of Occurrence:

• Elevation: The horse’s head will elevate to some measure, by a little or by a lot. There is no change in pace.
• Slowing: Following the elevation of the horse’s head, a continuation of the HH will produce a slowing of the pace. This slowing may produce a transition downward, say from canter to trot or trot to walk, or simply a change in the length of stride at any given gait.
• Halt: The horse will halt and stand.
• Rein Back: Continued application of the HH from the halt will produce rearward motion.

Often when the rider is first applying the HH and expecting the horse to halt, they get only the first stage of HH, elevation, which causes the rider to become concerned because not only did the horse not slow or halt, but elevated it’s head instead. Elevation is not a form of evasion when the HH is being applied. Often the actions of elevation will be very apparent when the horse is first being taught HH, or the rider is first learning how to HH, but as both parties become more refined the actions are smaller and truly become invisible. The need for a large amount of elevation to change the posture of the horse diminishes, because the horse carries more weight on the haunches during the ride as a result of continual posture alignment through the HH. Just as a human will slouch, over time practicing sitting straight, the changes to sitting even straighter become less and less because you are closer to the perfect posture for balance.

If the horse gives you a halt when you HH, and all you wanted was elevation or a slowing of the gait, you are using too much hand. Remember, use as little as possible, as much as necessary. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the horse may chose to resist the HH through force, of which must be addressed by Vibrations (as discussed earlier) before the HH.

The HH can be employed through a single rein or both reins together. The preferred method is to use a single rein – keeping with separating the aids and keeping them as simple as possible for the horse to understand.

Reverse Half Halt

A “by-product” of the HH, is the Reverse Half Halt (from now on referred to as RHH). The theory of the RHH is that you can create impulsion and forward energy through the reins. A RHH the opposite of a HH. The RHH, unlike the other rein aids, is not one of any natural reaction from the horse, necessarily. It is an aid that is first taught from the ground, where you have the physical ability to bring the horse forward using the reins. While mounted, we lose that ability, being as we do not ride with wooden reins and cannot physically push the horse forward with the reins. It is a conditioned response that you transfer from the ground to under saddle, supported by the action of the whip or legs, which lessens until the impulsion is created solely through the reins by the RHH.

What purpose does the RHH have in riding? If a rider has the ability to use his legs, and whip, why then should you have to create a third method for impulsion? An answer to this question lies in the ability to be very precise with our hands. It is said that our hands are so sensitive, that a trained hand can learn to identify a temperature change of as little as ½ degree F. It would seem then that the ability to create so specific an amount of increased impulsion at any given moment during a ride would lead to precision that is unheard of.

The RHH has a secondary purpose besides merely creating forward energy, the RHH is a useful tool in lateral work, where you need to create more energy in one direction over the other. The opening hand, now uses the RHH to produce enthusiastic movement in the desired direction, without over using the legs or whip.

Questions to Inspire

Introduction

What is the purpose behind teaching? Is it to merely convey one’s superior knowledge over their student? To boost their own self-esteem and worth? Or is it to help guide the student along a path in which they never stumble or fall? Would the student prefer that teaching? A sort of leadership to the blind? But aren’t the blind in this case really just without a compass and hiking boots?

Should the place of teacher be guide, mentor perhaps? A source for discussion, one to point the student in the proper direction until they have formed enough depth and understanding of the subject to form their own questions, challenge their own knowledge and that of others in search of the right path for themselves? Is this preferable?

What if all a teacher is truly meant to be is an aid in the self discovery of a chosen path? A person who does not give all of the answers, but shows you how to find them? A partner in crime, so to speak?

So where then is the line drawn between friend and professional? Guide and study buddy? How do the interactions change between teacher and student? When does it become assumed that one person holds greater understanding over another?

Every Idea Must Have Reason Behind It.

If you have no method to your ‘madness’, what then is the purpose of pursuit? When asked ‘why’, do you have an answer that settles all doubt? Or rather do you brush it off as a question of no consequence, belittling the person who posed it – in an attempt to save face? Or better yet, does your answer spark more questions to follow, giving way to a treasure hunt of sorts? What of the answer that just confuses to the point of no interest in further question?

What harm comes of saying ‘I don’t know’ to a question? As a teacher, perhaps the concept of not knowing all, seems to be fatal, yet doesn’t it give us the opportunity to lead by example – being honest in our abilities and trusting ourselves enough to show who we truly are?

Does an instructor have the ability to truly control their students? How do we define control? Is it the following of orders, or is it of a physical form? Is the goal of the instructor to have control over their students? If so, to what extent should this control reach? Can the instructor control an outcome by giving up their control? Could it be like a dance – controlling the next step by letting go of your partner? Can the loss of control become predictable? Is it then truly a loss of control, or is it merely less guided? Do we seek control? Why? What is it about having control that appeals to our senses as instructors? Does it make us feel as though we know more? Do we feel powerful over others? What would it matter if we admitted when we lacked control? Would others think less of us as teachers?

But we then come back to the question of – should we not lead by example? Is the job of teacher actually actor, salesman, gambler? Do we bluff our way through the lessons, pitch dramatic sales to those around us so that they don’t know how to refuse us? Do we throw it all out on the table, hoping and praying that no one notices our faults? How would it feel instead to embrace ourselves as teachers, as human? Would we project a different energy about our abilities? What kind of effect would this have on our students? Would this sell ourselves, or push away potential clients? Honesty leading the way to success – is this at all possible?

Looking at other teachers, who has made the biggest impact in your education? Has it been those who pretend to know all and maintaining an attitude of being better than their students, or is it the instructor who takes a more humble view point on their abilities and has no qualms about telling you when they don’t know? Who do you look up to as a person – what qualities do they hold? Should a teacher not also have these qualities, or strive to have them?

AN EXERCISE: Tell one person each day about something that you don’t know. Start a conversation that creates ideas and theory about this knowledge in question. Note how you feel afterwards.

Emotion

Does one need an understanding of the emotional response to fully react properly to their students? How do the emotions drive us in learning? Can we learn effectively when we are afraid? What of being sad or angry during instruction? Do emotions cloud our ability to see and think critically? If they do, how then do they compromise our ability to retain the details of the lesson?

As instructors, are we ever tempted out of an emotion of fear, to create ‘facts’ to teach our students? Is this the fear of ‘unknown’ coming to fruition? Perhaps the ‘unknown’ being not knowing, not understanding? What other ‘unknowns’ could make the swell of fear so great as to make us lie to ourselves even? What do we fear in our professional lives as teachers? Where does the want of respect play a role in our interactions with our students?

AN EXERCISE: Learn about something that makes you nervous – it doesn’t have to be anything grand or so terrifying that you go into shock. Be honest with yourself about your feelings. Find a small level of discomfort in some activity, accomplish it, and honestly reflect on how you feel afterwards.

Sadness & Compassion

The emotion of sadness, where does it play a role in teaching? Can we be sad about a condition of life, and teach all the better for this? Or are we misplacing sadness with compassion? Do the two emotions intermingle ever? What of the perpetual sadness that sometimes follows teachers about? What is the cause of sadness? Is it considered the human condition, a perpetual search to find the cure to sadness? Is there a predictable pattern to our sadness? Where does our own health come into play with the level of sadness we feel?

Perhaps we are compassionate to all but ourselves? A selflessness that eventually affects others around us? What lesson do we teach our students when we fail to take care of ourselves? Should we send a message that we value ourselves so little that we don’t take notice of our own needs until we’re teetering on the cliff’s edge? How can our students wish to learn from a teacher who fails to acknowledge their own value? Should our first priority be to learn how to care for ourselves, so we may better care for our students education?

AN EXERCISE: Plan to sleep one to three hours longer than normal for a period of four days in a row. Help your body out by doing light exercise before bed, and wake up with enough time to get ready for your day relatively unrushed. Take note of your emotions each day and compare with your average emotional ranges.

If you have no trust in the method you are trying to work in, what then is the value in practicing it? There is no passion, and passionless work is without value.

Is there one sense over another that is preferred when teaching students? One route to travel that applies to every one person? Can the answer be both yes and no?

Referencing the three senses of learning – visual, audio and kinesthetic – is there a way that we can apply our teaching to each person’s strength of learning? Is it possible, or reasonable, to have three different approach to teaching the same subject? How would this expand our own knowledge of the subject? Would we be more well rounded as instructors, to know a topic three ways around?

How then does the teacher go about assessing the student’s strengths and weaknesses? Would it make a difference if we did assess the student’s learning habits, than if we were to merely teach all three ways to every student? Would the latter teaching create a better student, even if taking longer to teach the same lesson? What then of the student who does not wish that lesson? Are we at a greater advantage to observe the strength of our students immediately, over the teacher who lacks this ability? How is this observation skill learned? How does critical thinking interact? Would the thought of any of this matter, or can we continue on teaching without adjusting to our student needs? Would we want to? If so, why?

AN EXERCISE: Write down one of the hardest lessons you had to learn, then find three different ways to describe how to find understanding of this lesson – a visual description, an audio description, and a kinesthetic description. Afterwards observe whether it has expanded your own understanding or not.

The Motivation of Teaching

Disgust – the driving force of true teaching? Do we teach because we are disgusted by the lack of knowledge in someone? Are we disgusted by what the world would be like without education? Without understanding? How does disgust move us towards teaching? Does it? Or does disgust play no role in teaching? What can be generalized as disgust in a person’s manner that must be educated to be otherwise? Does that possibility even exist? What of a harmony, between students, teachers, the world we live in? Is harmony the opposite of disgust? Does it cancel out the force that causes us to want to educate? Do those with harmony, require teaching? Do they not require teaching? What then of those with natural ‘talent’ in the form of harmony – they seem wise and knowing, though they have never had a lesson? Should lesson be defined? Do we learn in life’s lessons enough? How then do teachers come to have learned more of life’s lessons than another and be able to teach it? Again, coming back to guide – teachers tend to be older than their students? Is there a purpose in this that is not readily acknowledged? Do we have to learn how to learn? Learn how to educate ourselves out of disharmony, out of disgusting habits?

AN EXERCISE: Create a dance with your hands – letting your fingers become involved as well if you so desire. Make the rhythm flow smoothly, practice until there are no rough patches, where it seems as though your hands flow like water. Don’t laugh this off, take your time with this and dedicate your passion to it for one week. In that week’s time, note your improvements, lack of improvement, difficulties, easy areas, etc. At the end of the week, ask a good friend if you can show them what you have been working on, and start a conversation on how it affected you.

Student awareness is reflective of teacher awareness. Start the path with yourself and your students will tread it one day as well.

How is the level of our awareness increased or decreased as teachers? Do we find ourselves muting out what would normally cause us to speak out, or instead are we driven to the brink of insanity over things we feel we cannot change? Is awareness only applicable to the outside world? Can awareness also be of ourselves? Are there parts of ourselves as teachers we would rather not be aware of? Where do we feel we need more awareness? Does awareness always stir certain emotions? Anger, discontent, sadness, happiness?

How are we affected as instructors, by the witnessing of gross misuse and overuse? What makes someone react by turning inwards, over the person who reacts by taking action outwardly? How does this affect our students? Do we compromise their learning by our level of awareness? Is it okay to accept in ourselves as teachers a level of ignorance, or perhaps a lack of awareness? Why do we want to avoid feeling an emotion over an action we witness? How can we as teachers take this experience to teach our students? Should we then embrace a level of sensitivity, in order to learn from and come to the ability to teach from that?

Inspiration

How do we as teachers inspire our students to want to learn? Surely they come to us for an education, but do they always come with enthusiasm and dedication? Do we want them working out of fear? Do we want them working only out of respect for us? Or do we prefer that they learn out of their own motivations? Is there any benefit to them learning out of fear or respect for the instructor, other than stroking our own ego? What would keep a student learning under an instructor who makes them feel bad about themselves? Or what about the teacher who yells frequently, or by the tone in their words makes the student feel inadequate? Is our job to make our students feel better or worse about their abilities than their reality, or to reflect an honest assessment?

AN EXERCISE: Get one of your students to tell you a story that has absolutely nothing to do with the lesson you are giving, find ways to incorporate the basic lesson tasks while listening to the story. Note whether there is any change in the students attitude.

Ethics

What of integrity in the example shown by the teacher? If the teacher leads by their own example, then where do morals, personal beliefs and integrity fit in? Can a teacher be spectacular and still hold little moral values? What of the teacher who has no regard towards their students own worth? Can a teacher succeed and be popular, when they value only their own advancement? Is not the very definition of teaching, to be that of giving something of yourself to someone else? To give? Not to sell, but offering something to others to help better themselves?

Would an instructor burn themselves out working in a manner that is to support their students, or would this be the fuel for their fire – feeding their passion? What then of the instructor who puts greed above giving? Are they able to burn themselves out? Or do they merely burn the friendships and relationships they build in an effort to be wealthy in  possessions? Is it possible to teach, make money, maintain integrity and the passion for what you do?

Jealousy, how does it affect teachers and instructors? Can a teacher be jealous of their student’s abilities? Can they want for themselves those talents that their student finds so easily, but which the teacher had to struggle long and hard for? Would it cross their mind to sabotage their student in the name of jealousy? Not wanting to look bad, keeping their students below themselves? Is jealousy driven solely by this lack, or is it a combination of other emotions? What of fear’s involvement? Fear of not being as good, looking bad, not having enough education? Fear of failing? Should we also look at anger? Anger at their past, or present, of their level of knowledge and how they have come to teach? Anger at not becoming more?

How does an instructor avoid feelings of jealousy? Will we all come to a point of feeling jealous over another person’s abilities? What is the solution? Do we ignore it, trying to move on? Act on it as though it was meant to be and an opportunity? Or do we acknowledge our feelings and try to sort through what the real driving force behind the jealousy is?

From a business perspective – what of jealousy towards our competition? Do we attempt to downplay the abilities of others in order to boost ourselves? Or perhaps chase after the very things they have that we feel are lacking in ourselves? Why are we not content in ourselves – what we have, what we know, and the process we need to travel as individuals? What of accepting that we may come to a place far above anyone else, but the time to be there is not at the moment? Does that soften the feelings, or enrage them further? Do we brood over the feelings, letting them simmer below the surface until it boils over?

Dance Like No One Is Watching, And You Will Be Authentic.

Doesn’t teaching also apply to the rider’s interactions with the horse? Is happiness the only emotion that belongs in riding? Does what one feel towards themselves transfer to how they feel about their horse? Whether conscious of your own self-image or not, is this an overstatement or does it hold weight? Can you transfer your fear of failure to anxiety in the horse? What about our own confidence and joy? How does our perception of reaction show our interpretation of the horse’s actions? Why do we react the way we do – what emotion drives us? Do we realize, truly, what emotion drives us? Do we resist thinking about it? If so, why? What harm would come to us if we gave up the protection of resistance? Isn’t this what we ask of our horses daily, and yet refuse to even admit we do ourselves? Should we lead by example – be a whole, confident person to expect a whole, confident horse? Perhaps the key to solving the mistakes our horses show, is to look at ourselves and work out our own hurdles first? Looking within rather than without? Do horses ever truly disobey us? Or do we mix the signals up between us and the horse? What language do we speak with our horses? Should we approach the horse as an innocent? Is there any harm or use for giving them the benefit of any doubt?

AN EXERCISE: Work for one week with one specific horse – looking at their actions as though they are a foreigner to your language. Be clear and precise, and if they do not respond, try another method to help them to understand. Remember – the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If something isn’t working – don’t assume that it “ought” to work and therefore you don’t need to change but rather the horse does, try something else instead. Step out of your comfort zone of having one method to deal with each problem, expand your range and see what you learn from this exercise. Look at each hurdle the horse presents as an opportunity instead of a speed bump.

Assumptions

Where do assumptions come into play in teaching? Can the interactions we make daily be stifled by assumptions? Assuming the horse is doing something on purpose to displease us? Assuming the horse ‘knows what we want’, rather than giving the benefit of the doubt and giving up all assumptions towards the horse? Where do assumptions lead, but to expectation? Expecting results from the horse, can this lead to frustration – even anger? Questioning why the horse won’t perform as you expect, do we not all have our moments, days, weeks even… that are less than expected of us? Why then can we be so unforgiving towards the horse? Has he not a mind – a balance of emotional, mental and physical well being, that needs to be nurtured like our own? Is it then our own lack of self-awareness that transfers upon the horse – because we are so desensitized to our own body’s health, have we become incapable of being sensitive to another’s? Or do some of us become hyper-sensitive to the needs of others so that we don’t have to work on our own? Is the horse still viewed today as merely a vehicle, a toy, a hobby… and therefore not capable of having needs similar to our own? Do they breathe and blink like us?

How then does this affect our relationship with the horse? How do we feel when we spend time with a person who constantly tells us about our faults, or who complains about our state of awareness all day? Can we also ‘assume’ that the same may apply for the horse? How does a child react to being told how poorly he does or behaves, all day? Do some respond by changing to be more positive? In comparison, how many respond by acting out and rebelling? Can horses become like a child in our minds? Do we then nurture, or criticize from there? Positive or negative?

AN EXERCISE: For one week, give up all assumptions and expectations – of horses and people. If you don’t understand or are unsure of what someone thinks, wants or expects, ask for clarification. Treat others in the same way – giving them clarification without emotion if they are unsure. Work with your horse in the same way, if he doesn’t get the question you give him, avoid becoming frustrated and assuming he wants to give you a hard time, instead give him clarification. Do not expect any specifics when working with your horse, rather just play. Reflect upon how this affected your stress level and work with your horses.

Development

Does the teaching element require only strict instruction of the student to produce results? Or the instruction of the horse? Where does the element of play come to the education plan? Can play be an element that is taught? What is the value in teaching play? Is play not a necessity to be taught to complete the education? Do we have to learn how to play when we are young, or does it come naturally? If we were started to work at a young age, would we ever indulge naturally in play, or would it seem a silly and unnecessary chore? Would we yearn for it, unknowingly?

Is play about rules and strategy, or is it without regulation, without boundary? Can it lie somewhere in the middle? What would happen if the boundaries changed – regularly patterned change? Can change occur consistently in a sporadic manner? Would the horse follow such rules? Would there be any reason not to? Would there be any reason to?

Do we have any reason not to play? What keeps us from allowing play into our work? Guilt? Rigidity? How has play and work been so distanced from one another that one cannot exist in the presence of the other? Do we then envy those who have carried play into their work? Why does play frighten us? Do we fear appearing childish, immature even? Where do we learn to fear being ‘immature’?

AN EXERCISE: The next time you ride or work your horse, work to laugh at difficult times. It will seem like a chore at first, observe whether that changes over time. Does laughter and smiling become easier? Verbally play with the horse, get excited and let emotion into your voice – happiness, excitement, joy and passion. Try to remember how you played when you were a child and bring that element into your play now with your horse. Observe how your work changes, if it does, and whether the horse changed his interaction with you as well.

Where does trust bring us in the end? Is this where we sum up our work with our students, our horses… ourselves? The proof is in the trust we develop? How do we learn to trust in our own thoughts, ideas, conclusions? How do we trust in time that has no benefit?