Rocky's first proper lesson

With Rocky now working sufficiently well at home, it is time to begin his education further.

At home we have been working on establishing what each transition aid means, and ensuring he is happy with those. Clearly transitions are very important for all horses, and an integral part of training, even for the baby horse.

Happy that these are established, I wanted to now check out his reactions to working away from home, a different arena, a different environment etc...

I booked a lesson at altogether equestrian with my trainer Gina Suddaby who has years of experience starting young horses and training them. As rocky has some big future plans, this is the time he needs this help and guidance. I have obviously trained youngsters previously, very successfully, however I am so excited about Rocky's potential it would be tragic to allow a habit of either mine or his to ruin such a good horse.

The lesson was booked for the Friday, so as rocky hadn't yet worked in a different arena, on the Thursday I took him to homestead and tried him out in the arena there. As always, rocky took it all in his stride and just got on with it!

Here is a clip from the first visit to Homestead: http://youtu.be/mrhjEn8AsVM

So Friday arrived, Lucy Morgans my new found mentor and very helpful friend accompanied us on our journey to cholderton. My lovely partner was waiting there for us as he was on route to work, but agreed to help and video our session.

Rocky came off the trailer, usual rocky style, ooh look, there is grass!!

His attention was grabbed by some of the horses at the yard as they walked past us, big warm bloods, gleaming coats, beautiful muscle tone, soft in their frame (sorry, got carried away there drooling!) rocky seemed to 'study' these gorgeous horses as they went by, almost saying "umm is that what I am meant to do?" Well obviously I whispered "yes rocky, please watch carefully and try to emulate them!"
So, tacked up and mounted, we wandered off to find Gina, she was just finishing teaching a group in the indoor who were just exiting the arena (more drooling from me and more 'studying' from rocky). Gina came out and said for us to go in and wander around, well, rocky has only ever been indoors at sparsholt in hand and that was an 'exciting' experience for all concerned! Lucy came in with us and john followed behind videoing.

Rocky didn't seem too worried about it, curious, but ok, it was the fact he could hear but not see the other horses on the yard, ears pricked, head up, a bit tense but nothing horrid.

Gina came in and we began our session, a short 30minute guidance session, focussing on working rocky into the contact, (I'd been a bit slack in this department, being a bit on soft) so as I took a contact, soft, elastic and following, rocky questioned it by stopping and bouncing on the spot followed by some piaffe! Well, at least he can do it! Gina kept on at me as each time he did this I was guilty of releasing the contact and being passive, rather than riding him into the contact from my leg and seat, as I was rewarding his negative behaviour with releasing him, sooooo bad of me, especially when I know it is Wrong!!

After I got my act together and had strict words with myself! The work rocky gave was incredible, rhythmical soft, connected (hmm wonder why that was then Sharon :/) and working straight. We finished on a great note, super soft work and both happy.

Here is a clip from the lesson with Gina: http://youtu.be/IISQuUhUg70

Gina was impressed by my somewhat hairy cob, and quite excited too, a great start to his future.

After our session Gina suggested we use our time there to ride around the yard and the outdoor arena, which meant going through the yard, and practice riding in and out of the indoor, all good practice for him.

The yard provided not much interest for rocky, even when the international GP horse MK Pegasus popped his head out to say hi!

The outdoor arena is a gorgeous walled area with a garden on one side with chickens etc, set up in the arena were jumps from the competition run previously, fillers, water trays etc, this was a little more concerning for rocky, he was fine with the garden and chickens, but a little apprehensive of these jumps, Lucy walked around the jumps and that helped, then we were ok.

The most worrying bit about the entire day for rocky was the drain he had to cross to leave the outdoor arena! (He had missed it totally on the way in there!!) but coming out he spotted it, it's one of those half moon drains with the metal grate ontop, well let's say he showed piaffe, passage, rein back, pirouettes and an ability to almost kneel down! Once again I sat quietly reassuring him, never telling him off, Lucy walked back and forth over the killer drain, and eventually rocky took a deep breath (yes really!) and leapt over it! Not quite how I expected our first jump to be! But then he casually strode away with a 'nobody saw me do that' feel about him.

For a first time out, he was just amazing, so pleased with his behaviour and how he progressed once I sorted myself out! That is exactly why I wanted to get on with the training now, not later, that contact we were missing is going to be crucial to everything we do, and it was ME causing a problem! Not any more though, we have our homework and will be working hard on it!

 

  

Contact. 

 

I often come across riders claiming their horse “leans”, is “heavy”, won’t “accept the contact”, “throws its head around on a free rein” and so on.

The reaction often given by the rider is to hold the reins tighter, pull on the “heavy rein” to “get the horse off it”, sometimes even “jab” the horse in the mouth in an effort to stop the horse from doing all the above.

Obviously, this may cause the horse to react in the short term, but you are only treating the symptoms, not the cause, and more obviously it is not right to cause pain to stop the problem!

To begin to correct the problem, first you have to identify the cause which may be coming from a pain related issue, so as with all issues, it is always a good idea to get your horse checked over for any physical problems, including tack fit, also paying attention to your own riding style and position.

So, let’s begin with the rider, as a lot of issues can be ironed out by sorting out the rider!

Quiet Hands.

We all strive for soft quiet hands, but without a balanced secure seat, your arms and therefore hands, are bound to move and be uncontrollable.

It is well worth enlisting the help of an instructor to give you some lunge lessons, that way you can focus on developing your seat and balance, therefore improving your arm and hand control.

Hand and Arm Positioning.

We have covered overall body positioning in previous categories, so won’t go over old ground, here we specifically look at the arm and hands.

The whole arm up to and including the shoulder should remain soft, allowing and following. 

The elbow is where the rein should stop! This means that the lower arm becomes an extension on the rein, rather than finishing at the wrist as I so often see.

The hand is where the rein threads through and the fingers close around the rein sufficiently to keep hold of the rein, but not gripping. Think of holding on to a baby bird, you want to hold it but not let it fly away or the opposite would be to crush it.

The position of the hand should be with the thumbs facing upwards, not inwards (pram pushing hands), there is good reason for this, not just so it looks pretty!

There are 2 bones in your forearm, when your thumbs are “on top” these bones lie parallel to each other creating a soft and more moveable hand and arm, when your hands are “pram pushing”, the bones cross over and lock into position, creating tension.

Here is a diagram to show these bones: 

 

The Contact to the bit

The contact provided to the horse’s mouth via the hands, should be a consistent, following and elastic one, very much like the reins are made from a strong elastic, providing support but with give.

Very often seen are two opposite ends of this scale, loose, inconsistent reins and hard pulling reins.

The rider who has an inconsistent rein contact very often has a horse who will hollow on contact and then “bounce” on the loose rein (throw his head around), meaning the horse is receiving inconsistent messages, and either backs off the rein once contact is made or lean on it creating a heavy contact.

The other rider who “hangs” on the rein very often does this in an attempt to balance themselves, in which case they would benefit from the lunge lessons mentioned previously. Or, the horse has developed a habit of leaning on the rider in an attempt to stay balanced, therefore when the rider releases the contact the horse falls on his nose or runs faster in an attempt to balance himself, very often I see the rider in these circumstances hold the reins tighter in an attempt to stop the hose either “falling” or “running away”.

Both these faults are not difficult to change, the horse is responding here to the rider, therefore the rider has to be addressed to improve the horse.

Another part to mention here is the use of stronger bits, very often (unfortunately) the rider resorts to using a stronger bit to get a “lighter feel”, yes, it usually has that effect, but this is a truly false contact, the horse is afraid to take the contact therefore will curl back behind the bit, giving a false “outline” (covered later), but all too often thought to be correct.

The correct contact should feel as if the horse is equal to both reins and is “resting” on the bit, not leaning, one sided or “bouncing”. The feel should be consistent and “full”.

What other effects does the rein contact have?

In an attempt to “bend” the horse, riders increasing use more inside rein to “bend” the horse to the inside.

Not only will this inside rein pulling (yes, that is basically what is happening!) not supported by the outside rein and leg aids, meaning the horse “looks” to the inside, but it falls out badly through the outside shoulder in an attempt to escape the “bend”.

The inside rein when used incorrectly blocks the horses inside hindleg, preventing it from stepping underneath and taking the weight and helping balance the horse, if you watch a horse being ridden like this you should notice that each time the rider “bends” the horse with the inside rein the corresponding hind leg almost stops, at which point the rider asks for more with their leg and as an effort to please the horse’s leg becomes more active, but only in a piston like way, i.e. goes up and down quicker rather than stepping under more.

When ridden correctly with the outside aids in place, the inside hind leg will have room to move more underneath him and then the bend can be correctly asked for.

A good rule of thumb is that the outside rein belongs to the rider, the inside rein belongs to the horse.

 

Outline and “On The Bit”

These two go hand in hand, unfortunately very rarely correctly.

The horse is said to be in an outline when the hindlegs step far enough underneath him to take the weight and balance, therefore lightening the forehand and lifting his back, the neck is out in front of him, with him connected to the bit, showing self carriage.

The following diagram shows the muscles involved in this “circle of muscles”, all needed to create the correct “outline”.

 

 

This image shows an incorrect “outline”

 

This is incorrect due to the hind legs trailing, the back is low and the horse is being held up in his neck. (Although some have said this is correct!)

The next image is fairly typical of a horse in an incorrect outline, note the poll to the wither muscles fizzle out before they reach the wither, but a largely built area at the poll. I am sure if you could see the hind leg it would be trailing and his back hollow to.

 

 

 

The term “on the bit” is used to describe when a horse is using its whole body as shown in diagram 1, and works over its back into the contact. Unfortunately as the sentence mentions the word “bit” it is here the emphasis is placed by some riders, causing the rider to pull the horses head and neck into a “shape” as seen in the image above.

If you change the wording “to the bit”, this I feel gives you a better mind’s eye of where to look, creating energy from the quarters and sending that energy “to the bit”.

So to achieve an outline that is correct, we have to work the hindquarters FIRST, sending that TO THE BIT where the contact is maintained by the rider.

 

Making corrections.

I have spoken about the horse who leans, is one sided etc, but how do we correct these?

Well, by now I think you may have noticed that contact is vital, and riding the energy from the quarters to the bit! And we now have worked out how to identify the correct outline, now we need to know how to achieve it.

So, for example, my horse leans on the left rein, falls in, is heavy on my left rein, all these can be addressed by the use of the left leg, NOT the left rein!

A horse who leans on this rein will often leave the opposite rein feeling empty, and in an attempt to correct him, the rider will pull the left rein to try and encourage the horse to “get off it”, in fact all that this creates is more leaning! What needs to be done is for the empty rein to be filled from your left leg.

Keeping your right rein and leg supporting, move onto a circle of approx. 20mtr, begin by guiding your horse round the circle with your OUTSIDE aids, your horse should at this point be equal in both reins and his head straight in front of him, not bent left. Then before asking for any bend ride a few walk trot transitions to begin to engage the hindleg, once the transitions are clear and active, at this point begin asking for a small amount of bend FROM THE LEG, keeping EQUAL pressure on both reins, you might feel like your horse wants to fall out or in, but persevere, keep him STRAIGHT in his neck and keep the hind leg active (remember this is where the bend starts!) once your horse accept this, then you can begin to ask for a small amount of flexion to the left, if he gets heavy or falls in, the left leg needs to support more and push the energy towards the right rein.

Keep going with this until you feel you can “give” the left rein and he stays where you asked him to be with the flexion.

Then and only then can you be sure you have him working from inside leg to outside hand, straight and balanced. This takes time and patience, don’t be quick to stop asking, even if the falling in/out is dramatic, he needs to realise you are there to help him and support him, NOT hold him up!

There are a few other methods I use in training to help with this, but this particular one is 99.99% fool proof, you just have to work at it.

 

Summary

Contact is not simply about the rein, but the contact throughout the horse’s body. We as riders must aim to achieve a high degree of self control in order for us to be able to be consistent to the rein and therefore provide the horse with an elastic but supportive connection.

We must analyse the way the horse feels, if he is leaning, one sided etc, work to FILL the opposite rein.

On the bit should be thought of more as “to the bit”.

An outline is only correct when the hind quarters are engaged and underneath.

Always look at yourself BEFORE the horse to ensure it is not you causing the problem!