Natural Dressage Forum Trainer Questions

Featured in Karen’s January 2008 Newsletter

Discuss in General Chat here:
http://www.createforum.com/naturaldressage/viewtopic.php?p=4323

Link to youtube video she references: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD7Wpfqd2Vg&

Q. Karen,
After seeing your wonderful video on youTube it seems only natural to ask about getting suspension and collection online (it seems more attainable than the bridle-less pirouettes!). We can assume that lots of transitions help, but how do you – or rather, how can we – achieve higher levels of suspension and collection online? What are the steps or some excercises we can play with once the basic communication has been achieved? What should we be looking for in the emotional and physical response of our horse (which also bring thoroughness into the picture)?

Thank you for your always insightful answers. We are patiently (well, trying to be patient!) awaiting your book and can’t wait for the discussions it will certainly bring!!!

A.
Hi everyone in the Forum! Another great question! And as usual one that involves several layers of answers…(but then again, most questions with horses do, don’t they?!)

Collection, suspension and elevation (‘uphill-ness’) whether on-line or in the saddle, in general can be achieved in 3 ways:

By asking the horse for it. This involves setting up a signal, an aid, a ‘half halt’, a postural change…that the horse understands as a direct communication and so he makes the change. He will make the change immediately, and may make a change that is bigger than he can sustain.
By doing a transition or some sort of maneuver that will cause the horse to make the desired change. He will make a change to regain and sustain his best balance possible for him on this day. You don’t necessarily use a signal, just choose to do a particular transition or pattern that will help him maintain his balance and lightness. If you do this well, you will notice a difference at the end of the ride.
By investing in correct posture and gymnastics in such a way that over time he develops more carrying power. This is the sort of change you don’t necessarily notice everyday, but you will notice his capabilities increasing and your friend that hasn’t seen him in a month will notice a big change.

Of course ideally you are doing each of these three. But I am sure you are thinking: ‘well, what aids and what exercises do we do?’ And that is a long answer…but…here is what is important to me:

With a good foundation as a given…having horses moving freely forward with an engaged, active hind leg, good impulsion (in the dressage and NH sense of the word), a released, free spine (that is a result of alignment and balance) and calmness (communication about relaxation) are the most important starting points. From here I makes sure that there is a postural communication between me and the horse…That my body embodies what I want the horse to do…they are primarily reading your body anyway…you might as well be conscious of it! So I make it meaningful to them… if I soften my spine, versus if I stretch tall and sink through my tailbone (collecting myself). If I want shoulder-in on a circle (a very collecting exercises) around me, I do in my body what I want the horse to do.

Transitions such as walk to canter, canter to back up, to shoulder-in or to smaller circles are very collecting if you pay attention to the weight shift and the readiness of the horse to move forward and back…really looking at the lack of hesitation, quality of the let-looseness to the suggestion; you will have to look at your own timing and your own posture or body language. Transitions to higher energy or longer strides can end up being collecting if you have a horse that tends to forget to use his hind legs. This is an example of Option 2. above, instead of using stronger aids, you simply choose to make transitions or changes in the pattern at a moment that will best cause your horse to make the gymnastic change you desire.

If you can play between a stretched, let-loose, free forward gait…and transitions to back up and total relaxation, then you will see the horse offer moments where he is ready for all…he is loose in his spine, active and ready with his weight back…they may only last for a moment or two, but make them feel important and gradually build them. Imagine if you can mix and match these ingredients just by changing it in your body?! Your horse could be stretched, you could add energy while still stretching, then keep the energy and elevate the posture, then if he gets tight, can start to stretch maybe an inch or two, then back uphill again, then release it and let him just flow and stretch again….a nice picture, huh?

What is that, you want more specifics?

When you watch the video on Youtube, in the beginning I am walking along stretched and relaxed, then transition to a canter pirouette…I changed my posture from stretched to collected, added a canter rhythm, and turning. (an example of option 1, above: I gave specific aids that my horse understands. I worked on each one of those aids separately and got them to such a high degree of sensitivity and coordination, that now he understands how to do them all.)

The reason the pirouette turned out in such good quality is because I have been riding using option 3. above…and so have a horse with a strong hind end, a strong, elastic back and good posture through alignment (as seen in all the stretching). This is why he is able to sustain the collection in the pirouette for so many strides. I don’t have to talk to him about posture during this pirouette, because he takes care of that himself, as it is the best way to get a confident, keen pirouette accomplished, and he is willing!

Also in the video you see Monty collecting at liberty…this is a product of several things.

one is that I have a good enough draw that I can add energy and he stays… [in the moments I have on video at least, ]… When he wants to stay and I add energy, one place for the energy to go would be into speed, but the other is it goes into elevation and expression in his gait. In this case he is matching my uphill posture and so the energy goes into being more up hill. A lot of that really is natural…horses will tend to respond to that if we haven’t taught them not to listen to our posture! But some of what I am getting is from a signal up with the stick above the withers to support what my posture is asking for and to ask for even more…you will see I am not really tapping, but more am drawing up with the stick… I have taught him to jump up from this…but also it is a pretty natural response and I think of it mostly as an extension of what my posture is doing…getting tall and lifting.

I put all the stretching in that video to highlight something that is very important…that everything comes from and returns to relaxation.

I hope this helps. Thank you for the great question and thank you for allowing me to share what my horses have taught me.

~Karen