Training the horse from the beginning
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The beginning of training, to the advanced work.
Whether you are just starting out with a youngster, or retraining a horse, it is important to have a “finished horse” as your end goal. That way you will be continuously educating the horse, his muscles and his brain. Of course we should all be aware that the “end goal” is never really achieved, even the very top dressage horses are still training, it just so happens that when we see the likes of Totilas and Valegro, we assume they are what we are going to end up with. Those horse will inevitably be our ideal, and yes, they should be, however, it takes years of education and correct basic training to get there. There are no shortcuts that can create this correctness.
Not all horses are blessed with the natural paces of the Valegro’s of the world, different breeds move differently, the conformation of some horses lends itself to a longer frame, while in others it is shorter, an horse who is built naturally “uphill” will obviously be easier to ride “uphill”, than the horse who is perhaps croup high. You must take each horse’s physical capabilities into consideration when beginning your journey.
All this may sound a little off putting, however, even a heavy breed of horse, such as a cob for example, can “do” dressage, it all comes back to where you begin. Which we will now explore.
For the purposes of this information, we will be referring to the young horse, just starting out his new career.
We should always begin by ensuring WE are in the right mood for the training, as horses are very perceptible to our own feelings, so how will the horse relax if you’re wound up or tense? Our body signals will also be wrong, any tension in you will affect the way he responds but most importantly, understands.
Stage 1: Aids
We begin the horse’s training with the simple teaching of the aids. This applies to every horse, not just the ones aimed at Grand Prix work. Even a “happy hacker” needs to understand the aids.
What is an aid? The very word itself “aid” means "to help", so from the beginning, we are helping the horse, not forcing it. An “aid” is a signal to the horse, “hey, something is required”, but never “you will do ....” We should think of an aid as delegation, we help the horse understand what is required, then leave him to perform the request. I like to refer to an aid given as “the hot potato”, they should be quick (once you are prepared!), light and responsive. Just as the handling would be of picking up a hot potato. We often hear of the Riding School horse as being “dead to the leg”, “won’t go”, won’t stop” etc.. However, the majority of horses who also have these traits, are more commonly seen being ridden anywhere but the riding school! Take your local show, how often do you see a horse and rider truly in harmony together? Constant nagging of the leg, kicking, hitting, then having to use stronger bits because once they get going, they can’t stop!
To summarize this part, the AIDS are:
- Signals, the words of our riding language
- Must be brief, light and momentary, not lingering and nagging
- Be decisive about your aids, how will the horse learn to understand if you are not clear
- Get a response instantly
- The moment an offer of response comes from the horse, leave him alone
- Give and Aid – Get a response – STOP giving the aid
Stage 2: Principles of riding and working the horse
There are 3 main principles to work on at the beginning of EVERY session, regardless of the current level of training. These being: Calm, Forward and Straight.
Calm:
- Without calmness from both horse and rider, there will be tension and misunderstandings
- “Calm” is the horse being mentally relaxed and at ease with himself and you, cooperative, willing but mostly, able, due to being calm.
- The horse is not dull, the energy is put into the horse during the work, when directed by the rider
- There are some contributing factors which may affect the calmness, too much food not enough work, lack of turnout, the surrounding environment, may have a nervous temperament
Forward:
- Often mistaken by a running horse
- Forward is when the horse uses more energy than it needs to get from A-B, under the riders “aids”.
- It is energetic, unconstrained, fluid and relaxed
- Forward is that “in between” bit of lazy and rushing
- Lazy, may be going correctly, i.e. good rhythm but the work remains expressionless, unbalanced and the horse doesn’t work from behind
- Rushing, this is often when a rider assumes the horse is doing great! The rhythm is too fast, hors is being pushed onto his forehand, unbalanced and often breaking to the next pace to try to rebalance himself
Straight:
- Commonly mistaken for the neck being in a straight line without due consideration for the hind quarters. Often seen in riders who only ride from their hands.
- Straight work is work done on single tracks
- The hind feet follow the tracks made by the front feet
- The horses spine must also be following the curvature of the tracks made, especially important when turning and circling, the exception to this rule is when riding lateral work and counter bending
- Develops a greater state of self carriage in the horse
- True straightness is only able to be carried out when the horse is on the aids
- A truly straight horse will be equal to BOTH reins
- Lateral suppleness will increase with straightness
The guidelines for training follow the “scales of training”: 
- Acceptance
- Rhythm
- Relaxation
- Contact
- Straightness
- Impulsion
- Collection
All the above stages are individual successive stages of riding and training, and come together in the form of a truly balanced, supple horse. As seen in the likes of Valegro. Effortless, beautiful work.
How do I know my horse is “on the aid”?
A horse truly on the aids is similar to a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse, the sitting back, light forehand, willing, ready to perform.
This simple act of being “on the aid” should be high on the agenda for EVERY horse, regardless of their particular discipline.
Disregarding the particular breed, conformation issues, size and shape of horse, EVERY horse is capable of being “on the aid”, and it is from this that you can then create a more uphill way of going. As already mentioned, a horse who is naturally built uphill will find it easier, however, even the downhill built horse can be turned around.
How is it possible? Well, when the horse is “Poised” like the cat, the neck rises very gently from the withers and the nose comes just in front of the vertical, bringing the front of the horse uphill, and helping engage the hind legs. In a more advanced horse, as he has had more training he will be stronger in his quarters and back, supple and balanced, the neck rises more markedly from the withers and the nose becomes vertical, the forehand becomes even lighter. As the horse builds further strength and power, the uphill frame becomes more exaggerated, as seen at each level on the dressage scale.
Trying to create short cuts in creating this positioning by false means will serve to create a horse who is still on the forehand, although his head may be held “nicely”, the neck will be low and the hocks trailing.
Often seen are horses who may appear to be in the correct “frame” at levels such as intro and prelim dressage, but often it is a case that the horses head is being “held” there, so when you come to progress to novice level and above, you won’t be achieving the marks you expect, as there has clearly been a training system in place to “make the horse look ok” but the very basics have been neglected. Any level higher than novice and you will clearly see the faults from incorrect basics coming back to haunt you. A horse who is naturally uphill can also suffer from incorrect training, as their natural paces seem “good enough”, which again, at the very basic level, you may get away with it, but the balance, suppleness and straightness will begin to show the cracks in training once you ask for more.
Stage 3: Exercises to help further the training
Now you have an understanding of where to begin and the training involved, we can now look at some of the exercises to help further the education of the young horse.
There are 3 stages for working the younger horse, 4 for the more educated, muscled horse:
- Loosening (warming up)
- Suppling work
- Collecting exercises
- FOR MORE ADVANCED HORSES: Collected Work
1) Loosening work (warming up)
- Walk on loose rein
- Rising trot (sitting later when back muscles developed)
- Turns on the forehand
- Transitions walk-trot-walk
- Use simple large shapes in the school
- Free walk on long rein (not loose rein)
- Trot-canter-trot
- Leg yield not immediately, just before commencing next stage
2) Suppling exercises (Beginning of the work)
- Develop smaller school figures, i.e. 10 mtr circles etc
- More frequent changes of rein
- Lengthening and shortening of the stride in all 3 paces
- More frequent transitions
- Halt – rein back – walk
- Beginnings of shoulder in
- A few steps of counter canter
3) Collecting Exercises (not for the newly backed horse!)
- Shoulder in
- Travers
- Renvers
- Pirouettes (large to begin)
- Counter Canter
- Halt and rein back
- All the suppling exercises can be included
4) Collected Work
- All 3 paces working in collection
- Canter pirouettes
- Flying changes
- Piaffe and passage
All the above are there as a guide to your progressive training, ensure you are thoroughly established in the work currently being performed, BEFORE moving onto the next level.
Imagine all your work as a pyramid, the basics (foundations) being the base, as the work progresses the levels build, the pinnacle is the top of the pyramid, if the basics (foundations) are weak, the top will eventually crumble and fall.
Should you encounter a problem along the way, go back a step, rebuild the last level, then return to building your pyramid, don’t brush it to one side and move forward, it will eventually show through.
At the risk of writing a book I should just add, there are times when something’s may seem like they are taking forever, be patient, it may be that the horse is finding something a little more difficult that we think, his muscles are having to build, his education needs time, make haste – slowly!
:
The beginning of training, to the advanced work.
Whether you are just starting out with a youngster, or retraining a horse, it is important to have a “finished horse” as your end goal. That way you will be continuously educating the horse, his muscles and his brain. Of course we should all be aware that the “end goal” is never really achieved, even the very top dressage horses are still training, it just so happens that when we see the likes of Totilas and Valegro, we assume they are what we are going to end up with. Those horse will inevitably be our ideal, and yes, they should be, however, it takes years of education and correct basic training to get there. There are no shortcuts that can create this correctness.
Not all horses are blessed with the natural paces of the Valegro’s of the world, different breeds move differently, the conformation of some horses lends itself to a longer frame, while in others it is shorter, an horse who is built naturally “uphill” will obviously be easier to ride “uphill”, than the horse who is perhaps croup high. You must take each horse’s physical capabilities into consideration when beginning your journey.
All this may sound a little off putting, however, even a heavy breed of horse, such as a cob for example, can “do” dressage, it all comes back to where you begin. Which we will now explore.
For the purposes of this information, we will be referring to the young horse, just starting out his new career, looking at how we get him to an advanced stage.
We should always begin by ensuring WE are in the right mood for the training, as horses are very perceptible to our own feelings, so how will the horse relax if you’re wound up or tense? Our body signals will also be wrong, any tension in you will affect the way he responds but most importantly, understands.
Stage 1: Aids
We begin the horse’s training with the simple teaching of the aids. This applies to every horse, not just the ones aimed at Grand Prix work. Even a “happy hacker” needs to understand the aids.
What is an aid? The very word itself “aid” means "to help", so from the beginning, we are helping the horse, not forcing it. An “aid” is a signal to the horse, “hey, something is required”, but never “you will do ....” We should think of an aid as delegation, we help the horse understand what is required, then leave him to perform the request. I like to refer to an aid given as “the hot potato”, they should be quick (once you are prepared!), light and responsive. Just as the handling would be of picking up a hot potato. We often hear of the Riding School horse as being “dead to the leg”, “won’t go”, won’t stop” etc.. However, the majority of horses who also have these traits, are more commonly seen being ridden anywhere but the riding school! Take your local show, how often do you see a horse and rider truly in harmony together? Constant nagging of the leg, kicking, hitting, then having to use stronger bits because once they get going, they can’t stop!
To summarize this part, the AIDS are:
- Signals, the words of our riding language
- Must be brief, light and momentary, not lingering and nagging
- Be decisive about your aids, how will the horse learn to understand if you are not clear
- Get a response instantly
- The moment an offer of response comes from the horse, leave him alone
- Give and Aid – Get a response – STOP giving the aid
Stage 2: Principles of riding and working the horse
There are 3 main principles to work on at the beginning of EVERY session, regardless of the current level of training. These being: Calm, Forward and Straight.
Calm:
- Without calmness from both horse and rider, there will be tension and misunderstandings
- “Calm” is the horse being mentally relaxed and at ease with himself and you, cooperative, willing but mostly, able, due to being calm.
- The horse is not dull, the energy is put into the horse during the work, when directed by the rider
- There are some contributing factors which may affect the calmness, too much food not enough work, lack of turnout, the surrounding environment, may have a nervous temperament
Forward:
- Often mistaken by a running horse
- Forward is when the horse uses more energy than it needs to get from A-B, under the riders “aids”.
- It is energetic, unconstrained, fluid and relaxed
- Forward is that “in between” bit of lazy and rushing
- Lazy, may be going correctly, i.e. good rhythm but the work remains expressionless, unbalanced and the horse doesn’t work from behind
- Rushing, this is often when a rider assumes the horse is doing great! The rhythm is too fast, hors is being pushed onto his forehand, unbalanced and often breaking to the next pace to try to rebalance himself
Straight:
- Commonly mistaken for the neck being in a straight line without due consideration for the hind quarters. Often seen in riders who only ride from their hands.
- Straight work is work done on single tracks
- The hind feet follow the tracks made by the front feet
- The horses spine must also be following the curvature of the tracks made, especially important when turning and circling, the exception to this rule is when riding lateral work and counter bending
- Develops a greater state of self carriage in the horse
- True straightness is only able to be carried out when the horse is on the aids
- A truly straight horse will be equal to BOTH reins
- Lateral suppleness will increase with straightness
The guidelines for training follow the “scales of training”:
- Acceptance
- Rhythm
- Relaxation
- Contact
- Straightness
- Impulsion
- Collection
All the above stages are individual successive stages of riding and training, and come together in the form of a truly balanced, supple horse. As seen in the likes of Valegro. Effortless, beautiful work.
How do I know my horse is “on the aid”?
A horse truly on the aids is similar to a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse, the sitting back, light forehand, willing, ready to perform.
This simple act of being “on the aid” should be high on the agenda for EVERY horse, regardless of their particular discipline.
Disregarding the particular breed, conformation issues, size and shape of horse, EVERY horse is capable of being “on the aid”, and it is from this that you can then create a more uphill way of going. As already mentioned, a horse who is naturally built uphill will find it easier, however, even the downhill built horse can be turned around.
How is it possible? Well, when the horse is “Poised” like the cat, the neck rises very gently from the withers and the nose comes just in front of the vertical, bringing the front of the horse uphill, and helping engage the hind legs. In a more advanced horse, as he has had more training he will be stronger in his quarters and back, supple and balanced, the neck rises more markedly from the withers and the nose becomes vertical, the forehand becomes even lighter. As the horse builds further strength and power, the uphill frame becomes more exaggerated, as seen at each level on the dressage scale.
Trying to create short cuts in creating this positioning by false means will serve to create a horse who is still on the forehand, although his head may be held “nicely”, the neck will be low and the hocks trailing.
Often seen are horses who may appear to be in the correct “frame” at levels such as intro and prelim dressage, but often it is a case that the horses head is being “held” there, so when you come to progress to novice level and above, you won’t be achieving the marks you expect, as there has clearly been a training system in place to “make the horse look ok” but the very basics have been neglected. Any level higher than novice and you will clearly see the faults from incorrect basics coming back to haunt you. A horse who is naturally uphill can also suffer from incorrect training, as their natural paces seem “good enough”, which again, at the very basic level, you may get away with it, but the balance, suppleness and straightness will begin to show the cracks in training once you ask for more.
Stage 3: Exercises to help further the training
Now you have an understanding of where to begin and the training involved, we can now look at some of the exercises to help further the education of the young horse.
There are 3 stages for working the younger horse, 4 for the more educated, muscled horse:
- Loosening (warming up)
- Suppling work
- Collecting exercises
- FOR MORE ADVANCED HORSES: Collected Work
1) Loosening work (warming up)
- Walk on loose rein
- Rising trot (sitting later when back muscles developed)
- Turns on the forehand
- Transitions walk-trot-walk
- Use simple large shapes in the school
- Free walk on long rein (not loose rein)
- Trot-canter-trot
- Leg yield not immediately, just before commencing next stage
2) Suppling exercises (Beginning of the work)
- Develop smaller school figures, i.e. 10 mtr circles etc
- More frequent changes of rein
- Lengthening and shortening of the stride in all 3 paces
- More frequent transitions
- Halt – rein back – walk
- Beginnings of shoulder in
- A few steps of counter canter
3) Collecting Exercises (not for the newly backed horse!)
- Shoulder in
- Travers
- Renvers
- Pirouettes (large to begin)
- Counter Canter
- Halt and rein back
- All the suppling exercises can be included
4) Collected Work
- All 3 paces working in collection
- Canter pirouettes
- Flying changes
- Piaffe and passage
All the above are there as a guide to your progressive training, ensure you are thoroughly established in the work currently being performed, BEFORE moving onto the next level.
Imagine all your work as a pyramid, the basics (foundations) being the base, as the work progresses the levels build, the pinnacle is the top of the pyramid, if the basics (foundations) are weak, the top will eventually crumble and fall.
Should you encounter a problem along the way, go back a step, rebuild the last level, then return to building your pyramid, don’t brush it to one side and move forward, it will eventually show through.
At the risk of writing a book I should just add, there are times when something’s may seem like they are taking forever, be patient, it may be that the horse is finding something a little more difficult that we think, his muscles are having to build, his education needs time, make haste – slowly!
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