down with his neck (figs. 1.11 B & C).1.11 B & C: I apply a half-halt and ask him to walk. He responds by stepping a bit farther under himself with his inside hind leg, while continuing to reach his neck outward and downward (B). We complete the transition to walk and Diamante maintains the same posture and connection to my contact (C).3 After 10 walk strides, keeping the neck down, transition back up to trot.
4 Repeat these transitions. If they are happening without the horse bobbling with his head/ neck carriage, then proceed to some canter transitions as well.
Most horses perform these transitions better with the rider sitting lightly atop them, thus the reason for posting trot. A few, however, will prefer the support of the rider’s seat and legs in sitting trot to prevent them from wobbling around and losing balance. If your horse feels like a wet noodle, try sitting the trot to see if things go better.
EXERCISE 10: Changing Angles, Leg-Yield
| PURPOSE: | Encourages use of the oblique and intercostal muscles, improving balance and body control. |
By adjusting his body position while stepping sideways, the horse continues to recruit his oblique and intercostal muscles, which allow him to carry his barrel in a lifted and swinging manner—a requisite for movement to flow through his back. Asking him to make little shifts in his alignment helps him develop greater control over the slow twitch muscle fibers that create finely controlled foot placement and maneuvers of balance.
1 Riding your horse at a walk, turn him slightly toward your arena fence so that he is now in a head-to-fence leg-yield position—his haunches will be pointed inside the arena (fig. 1.12 A).1.12 A & B: I begin by asking Diamante to leg-yield along the rail in a marching walk (A). After several steps of leg-yield, I ask Diamante to move his haunches more away from my left leg and change his angle to the fence (B)…
2 His spine should make a 45-degree angle in relation to your fence.
3 Take several strides with exactly this angle.
4 Now, ask him to bring his haunches more to the inside of the arena, creating a 90-degree angle of his spine relative to the fence (fig. 1.12 B).
5 Side-pass (leg-yield) four or five strides with this angle (fig. 1.12 C).1.12 C: …and we arrive at a 90-degree angle to the fence, where we proceed in a few steps of side-pass.
6 Then return to the 45-degree angle for several strides.
7 Continue riding around your arena alternating between these two angles.
fit tip
Leg-yield and turn-on-the-forehand exercises mobilize the horse’s rib cage and activate the deep vertebral muscles. One of the prime benefits of lateral movements is the stretching effect of the middle gluteal muscle, encouraging relaxation of the extensor chain, and in turn, improving posture and promoting system-wide relaxation.
Be sure that you are riding only the two prescribed angles. The goal is to be very precise in these two angles and move swiftly from one to the other. You do not want the horse throwing himself around at random. Once you establish each angle, hold it very steady.
EXERCISE 11: Lateral Movements on the Circle
| PURPOSE: | Develops stability in the trunk and pelvis. |
Beyond being an elegant dressage movement, the shoulder-in is commonly referred to as “abdominal therapy” because of its deep engagement of the shoulder girdle, obliques, and rectus abdominus. It also gives a controlled way of educating the horse to adduct his hind legs under his body mass. The following exercise assumes both horse and rider have a rudimentary understanding of how to cue for these movements.
1 Ride a 20-meter circle in posting trot; develop good energy and rein contact.
2 Now sit the trot and, remaining on the circle, ask the horse to ride shoulder-in for four strides (fig. 1.13).1.13: When riding this advanced exercise in trot, it helps to envision keeping the horse’s trunk on your line of travel while alternately moving his front end and hindquarters to an inside track. Keep asking yourself: Am I keeping his body on the line of travel?
3 Release him from shoulder-in, and then immediately ride haunches-in for four strides.
4 Now go back again to shoulder-in.
5 Repeat this several times in each direction.
This exercise will test and develop wonderful stability in the horse’s trunk and pelvis. In the meantime, however, many horses lose energy during the routine. Experiment in this case with posting the trot. This often helps the horse move with more freedom.
EXERCISE 12: Ride with a Lariat
| PURPOSE: | Develops lightness, encouraging the withers to rise and the back to swing. |
A good follow-up to Exercise 4 (see p. 17) is to ride inside an arena using a lariat (also called a neck ring or rope) rather than the reins to guide your horse around. By eliminating rein stimulus and the possibility of the horse becoming rigid or bracing his jaw and neck muscles—and, therefore, leaning forward with his chest—you can develop greater lightness in his movement. By stimulating the base of the neck with your ring or rope, a reflex is triggered that encourages the withers to rise and the back to swing. Many students have reported improved results with collection after introducing some work with the lariat.
1 Place a braided rope or ring around the widest part of your horse’s neck. It should fit well enough so that it does not flop around but not so tight it pushes down into the skin (fig. 1.14 A).1.14 A: For the first few times, it’s advisable to practice riding with a lariat (or neck rope) while also using your bridle to guide the horse periodically.
2 In the beginning, ride by holding both your bridle reins and the lariat, but try to give the majority of your cues with the neck ring, not your reins.
3 If your horse is heavy-bodied or likely to ignore a lightweight neck lariat, you may find it helpful to use a thin wooden or plastic ring that can give a stronger signal as you begin this work.
4 Hold your bridle reins between your middle and ring fingers and the neck lariat under the little finger.
5 Alternatively, you may find it easier to hold the reins in one hand and the neck ring in the other. Either means of holding is acceptable.
6 Begin by asking your horse to stop and start. To stop, lift the ring half-way up the neck and apply pressure.
7 Once you can stop and start with ease, begin practicing turns. To turn the horse, use the lariat like neck-reining, pushing the side of the ring against his neck to move him away from that pressure.
8 When your horse is responding reliably to the use of the lariat, remove your bridle and continue to ride the same patterns
