Natural Dressage Forum Trainer Questions

Hi Karen,
We really enjoyed your article describing your experience with Dave  Lichman where you two talked about building patterns for dressage. [August 2008 Dressage, Naturally Newsletter] We  are wondering if you could elucidate us on how to build patterns for
the dressage horse, so we can go from halt at x to enter at A, so we
can build cooperation and bigger tries into gymnastical movements such  as shoulder in, half passes, turn on the forehand, etc instead of  boredom because of the repetition needed to strengthen and advance.  Also, how can prevent the pattern itself from taking over when the  horse predicts what is next and stops tuning into you? Where is the  line and how can we learn to walk closer to it and develop naturally  confident, strong, and harmonious horses?
~The Members of the Natural Dressage Forum

www.naturaldressageforum.com

Hi there,

I am happy to do my best with an answer for you. Since David did such a good job of describing how to create the behavior chains in that August 2008 Newsletter, I thought I would take it from there and expand… A couple points you bring up are:

How to strengthen without boring or drilling

How to keep use anticipation of a movement to build motivation without losing the horse’s attention on you.

Let’s start with the 2nd question first.  For me, my personal final picture is that the horse is listening to me, as to what we are going to do, but understand everything is prepared in such a way that he recognizes it and feels confident about it. I don’t really want him making assumptions. (Let’s say an assumption is something that is not easily interrupted, whereas a horse in anticipation is still tuning in, asking a question).  But with that said, I will get really close to assumptions at certain times in the training process, or to balance out a strong idea that the horse has that is opposite to what I would like him to be thinking.

For example: Ovation and I started doing 3-loop serpentines with changes of lead through the trot. His canter was good at this stage, he really found his power, but he would just get rolling along.  I wanted to use this transition exercise to build in some more balance, as well as to even out the right and left leads. The difficulty was that he was so happy with his new powerful trot that every time we came across the middle he just wanted to keep rolling.  He was sort of listening to me, but acted completely surprised each time I did the serpentine with the transitions.  so I made a consistent pattern that he could really count on… for the next 2 sessions, EVERY time I cantered a circle, we did transitions back to the trot before we got half way through. I also went back to a Freestyle focus, I think it makes it easier for the horse to realize there is something that they need to be responsible for.

At some point a light went on and he started anticipating the transition.  I went right to the edge of assuming, (where he practically did it himself), and then stopped.

“Yay, good, job” done deal. The I varied it, sometimes going all the way around, sometimes going on to the next loop.  So I used a pattern to get him to change his own assumptions, create a new one, and then achieve a state where he asks, or tunes in.

I think every horse is different with what kind of patterns you can use to help.  For Monty, who gets emotional when the work is sustained, I use a pattern of stopping and relaxing in every corner. I sometimes need to stay there a while, sometimes he instantly relaxes when I stop and I only need to be there for one breath, sometimes I aim for the corner and I feel him tell me he is ok and we just continue.  But it is a pattern that creates an assumption of relaxation, and a way for the whole ride to feel like a series of ‘this… and then… that… and then this… and then that…’ instead of just a blur of constant exercises.

So I guess I am saying that I use patterns as a training tool, but not as my final picture… although when I competed a lot, I felt many times that my horse saved me by counting the tempi- changes and doing the correct number even if I zoned out! So if the horse is confident about the work, repetition can  give horse and rider a lot of security!

For the question regarding strengthening without boring your horse: There are a few considerations.

Build general stamina and aerobic capacity of your horse during something fun and easy (for the horse). Laps around the fields, up and down rolling hills, riding out are ways to build strength without your horse minding or having something to become desensitized to. For me, I can run so much further if I go on a trail, but put me on a treadmill and it is a real test of my emotional fitness!

Only sustain something your horse willingly offers. In other words, make sure you are strengthening something your horse understands and can do! Do your best to get to the place where your first step of the movement is a good one.

If you are just learning the shoulder-in and 95% of the attempts are not what you want and only the last 5% are valuable shoulder-ins then just know you are still in the ‘building understanding and coordination phase’.

This phase is a necessary phase to go thru, but at this awkward point I am not thinking of strengthening, I am thinking of building confidence, and I take it as slow and deliberately as I need to.  BUT.. I want to get through this stage as efficiently as possible, so my horse offers it, knowing that I won’t ask him to sustain it past what he can do.  When he offers it easily, then I can strengthen it just as I would strengthen my biceps in the gym, by doing sets of repetitions.  Maybe 5 steps shoulder-in here, and 5 steps there… by the end of the ride I amy have done 40 steps, just not all in a row.

This kind of ‘get in and get out’ really helps build confidence.  Of course, the reality is, there is that stage of developing understanding and coordination that is not really pleasant and smooth.  You can’t expect too much, but you can’t fuss around forever without helping them get the idea. Just know in this stage you must be endlessly patient and forgiving, but at the same time very hungry and curious about how you can present it to the horse so they can ‘get it’. It is this stage that most people and horses get stuck in… endlessly trying it again and again, most of the time spending most of their time doing the movement NOT the way they want.  If you are getting stuck at this stage it can be miserable, uncomfortable and un-fun.  This is when it is usually referred to as ‘drilling.  Something is missing if you are stuck here.  Make a big effort to review your picture and understanding of what you are asking for, and make sure you have the basic prerequisites and are asking at an appropriate time in their training.

And some movements do require a base-line of strength to begin with.  Hopefully you can develop that strength in general in those fun and easy ways, and during the prerequisite movements, so when they do offer the more strenuous ones they feel capable. This is the whole art of gymnastic development of the horse! And it can feel fun and not at all like drilling when you have taken the time to prepare, and are strengthening something that is already working well!

I hope that helps!

~Karen

Featured in Karen’s October 2008 Newsletter

Discuss in General Chat here:
http://www.createforum.com/naturaldressage/viewtopic.php?t=675

Question:
Hi Karen,
This month we would like to ask you about the line between a true stretch through and simply a ‘head down’ “neck stretch”. On the forum, we have been discussing the many factors involved in a stretch comingg through the horse’s whole body, coming from back to front, and what has to happen in order for the horse to round his back through a stretch, engaging his hind legs, etc. What exactly are the components that make a stretch different from a ‘head down’? What role does the base of the neck play in this?
Thanks,
The Members of the Natural Dressage Forum

Answer:
Hi Again…

Another great question!  I think riding would be so much easier if horses didn’t have necks!  They are so beautiful and obvious, but often a distraction from the real issue, which is what is going on in their bodies.  But the neck also gives us a lot of information about their body which we might otherwise miss.

There can be a BIG difference between a horse moving with a low head, and a beneficial stretch of his whole body (including his neck).  The more I learn, the less I worry about putting the neck in particular places and the more I just use it as a gauge of the whole horse.  But, paradoxically, placing the neck in a particular place can have a huge effect on the whole body.

We are seeking to have a horse that feels relaxed, balanced and supple enough to be able to stretch his entire spine, and we don’t want to make a horse put his head low if his body doesn’t feel balanced or loose enough to do it.  They will be even less balanced that way.  I have met plenty of horses who are flexible enough to go low with their heads, even at a canter, but it doesn’t feel good (stumbling, pulling, heavy or just disconnected).  In these cases I just say: “Thanks for showing me you can do that, now let’s get our longitudinal balance better in our body before we continue with that!”

Remember there is also an emotional component to this posture and for a valuable stretch the horse needs to be emotionally calm (trusting).  If it feels like the horse is pulling his head down in order to ‘take over’ that is not a valuable stretch.  Also on this note if you simply ask the horse to put his head down but he doesn’t feel trusting or safe, it will not feel good… I used to teach horses to stretch by talking directly to their heads/necks but I rarely do anymore.  It started to feel like they were ‘ducking’.  I don’t want the horse to stretch unless he feels safe, calm, balanced, energized and loose.  The exception is when I have a horse with a lot of ‘history’ and perhaps he doesn’t know that he is allowed to make such a bold a move as lowering his head… even if he feels like it… but in this case it is very gentle and just to show him the possibility and that he will be safe to do this.

When a horse stretches because he is let loose, balanced, energized and calm then the whole body releases, including his back, under where you sit… this is when you will see the base of the neck change, as it is really a change in the whole body.

When a horse stretches like this it looks less like a neck going down, and more like a back raising up…. and that is the gold!  When it happens like this you can see the stretch even without the head lowering, and in fact we want to keep that quality even during collection.  That is really when we need the horse to have this ability.

So we want to use a stretch to:

•   show the horse he can find freedom inside his own body

•   to supple and loosen the top line

•   to help show them how they can carry our weight in a more healthy way

•   to dissolve tension

•   to check/challenge/develop their balance

When a horse is stretching their back up, they will feel more comfortable to sit, because the feeling of being glued to their backs is partially due to us sitting deep and close, and partially due to their backs coming up to meet us.  That is why it is so important to prove to our horses that we have athletic seats that can rise to the occasion… literally!  It is our ability to lighten our seat that can give the horse confidence to bring their backs up, which in turn will help us sit deeper.. believe it or not!!

Hope this helps!!

~K1

Discuss in General Chat here:
http://www.createforum.com/naturaldressage/viewtopic.php?p=7618

Question:
Hi K1,
This month our question concerns the horse’s expression, specifically his
ears (since that seems the most obvious).
If you are playing with a horse online, at liberty or even while riding, and he pins his ears what do you do depending on how you read the horse? If he seems dominant, do you stop him in his tracks (because he is being dominant and you want to interrupt the behavior) and “wipe the look off his face” (by somehow disciplining zone 1).
Under what circumstance would you simply keep your picture and continue on, trusting your picture will eventually become his picture or something completely different?!
Whether you read his behavior as dominant, unconfident or simply one of deep concentration, what other ‘body language’ do you look for to make your decision?
Thank you much!
-The Members of the Natural Dressage Forum
www.naturaldressage.2freedom.com

Answer:
Thanks for your question.
This for sure can be a tricky subject, but just the fact that you are thinking and asking this question means you are half way to solving it. And of course, we can thank Linda Parelli for all her investigation of the individual ‘horsenalities’ which gives great strategies for figuring these things out. Given that you likely have the information from Parelli, I will just expand with some more ideas.

Some considerations of your question:

What does ear-pinning mean?

What is the cause of the ear-pinning?

What to do about it?
In observing horses we can use categories to group the different types in, and this helps get a general view and clue as to approach, but the danger is in seeing the horse only as that type and not taking into account particular situation and the influence we are having on the situation. Sometimes (believe it or not) we are the cause of the disturbance, and it is not just the horse ‘having an attitude’!

Here are some questions I ask myself when I come across the ear-pinning:

What does all the evidence tell me? Real ear pinning (not just ears back) is definitely telling you something… the horse is putting out some intense energy. I will see horses do this when they want to drive another horse away, or in an intense activity, such as cutting (which really is driving a cow away, so it is the same) or racing each other. But in these moments the horse isn’t thinking it is mad or unhappy, it is just using his energy and body language as a very effective tool! Depending on the personality of the horse it seems like it would make sense for him to do this activity with the ears pinned. My horse Atomic is VERY dominant and I can’t imagine him coming up to the molasses water with his ears up saying: “Excuse me nice Mr. Ovation, please, if its ok, and you don’t mind could I kinda squeeze in here?”

What we need to assess is whether this horse is pinning his ears because he is really ‘going for it’ in an intense activity that we asked for: “Look out world, my human and I are coming through” or is he using his effective tool to try to drive you away? Atomic loves to put his feet in feet tubs and to chase a ball (have you seen him on youtube?) and if I send him to a feed tub he sometimes runs over, ears pinned and really shows that tub who’s boss! That’s just fine in my book! But if he tries to drive me away simply to see if he can… That is not OK and I will assert my leadership in that moment to drive him away, the same as any horse would do to maintain the top position.

How was it related to our interaction? Now, another layer to the issue is to ask yourself: ‘Am I causing this?’ Besides just dominance games, horses will pin their ears for a couple main reasons:

1. Because I asked for something and they didn’t totally do it, so some of the energy went into just holding tension. The ‘Left Brain Introverts’ (to use Parelli terms), get stuck in this. You ask, they do 40% of what you ask and the other 60% goes into locking down or feeling put out about it. Of course sometimes humans create LB Introverts by being unclear and confusing, so they are not really sure what to do, and because they are nice horses, instead of exploding, they just err on the side of doing less. For these cases you need to follow through and increase your horse’s motivation and/or understanding.

2. Because they have done what you asked but they are still perceiving pressure on them. You are thinking: ‘yay, I got what I asked for so now I am in neutral’ but these sensitive horses are still feeling pressure… your arm is still clenching the stick, you are staring at them, still moving in the saddle, etc. I see this a lot in mares, and the sensitive, fearful types. Mares are different than geldings. You won’t really see mares out messing and playing with each other… that’s for those silly bachelor geldings. Dominant mares are used to giving the directions, and if they aren’t a lead mare, they pretty much just want the list of rules and then be left alone… and they really can put in huge efforts, but they don’t like to be fiddled with and are very sensitive to pressure remaining on, even when we think it is off.

River really taught me this. We would be playing, either on the ground or riding and she would sometimes get her ears really back, and I found that if I just touched her while she was going (like a rub), the ears would go forward again… as if she just needed to hear from me that she was doing great, I didn’t need any more from her. My neutral hadn’t been neutral enough for her.

But Atomic needs this too. He is a very dominant horse, but also very sensitive and fearful. We can be going along doing something that I asked and his ears are pinned, but if I stop, they go forward, then I have to ask myself if I am causing it. Why does he feel like he needs to defend himself?

Parelli Professional Bernie Zambail was visiting me once and he watched me play with Atomic at liberty. He is such a spirited horse, but is kind of like a chihuahua…. can be aggressive, but there is fear behind it. Atomic and I play with high intensity and I am really wanting to preserve as much spirit as possible, but without feeding into the aggression or reaction. Bernie really helped me to see that I was putting pressure on him even when i didn’t know it. Because I didn’t really trust him, I kept my eye on him (so I didn’t get bit!), but this posture of defensiveness from me was feeding into the general vibe of: ’there are things not to be trusted here’ which just made him more defensive (and offensive!).

For sure we established some clear boundaries, and this is what made my next statement possible and safe: I had to trust him before he became trustworthy. I had to soften myself and become less aggressive myself for him to be able to do it ‘happily’. So if he is doing something I am asking him to do, and while he is doing it he is thinking :’boy there is a lot of pressure in the air” and if I bop him in the nose… it just confirms to him that things are not so pleasant and feeding into perpetuating the situation.

Now that was a bit scary to do, to turn my back on him when he was sticking to me with ears pinned and gesturing aggressively at me… and what helped me was to know that my leadership in general was high with him, so if I needed to get him to move, I knew I could. Don’t misinterpret this. There are for sure times when a horse is pushing on you just to see if he can and you need to be quick and clear with your assertiveness of who gets to move who’s feet. Just make sure once you are safe, that you look at the whole situation and take responsibility for your part in creating it. And always check your friendly game to make sure the mere presence of your tools isn’t causing it.

Ears are such and obvious sign, but we must take every thing into account. ears pricked forward is not always a great thing, either. With some horses I am on alert when their ears are pricked forward when I ride them, because their attention is way off in the distance and not on me. Ears softly back can be a wonderful position when you are looking for your horse to really be focused on your body. If you are working on point to point and destination type games, with an aloof or unmotivated horse, then you want to look for moments when he pricks his ears and gets literally looking forward to something!

I am sad to say that I have a video of a horse being ridden who’s ears are pricked forward the entire time… even when this rider repeatedly punches him in the head. This is ears pricked forward in desperation looking for a way out.

I sure hope this helps… I love that you are thinking about this. If we keep our intention that we want our horses to end up feeling good about what we do with them, then one must look at this topic. The answer is in the observation. What is happening now, and what happened right before? When does it change? What role did you play?

~Karen

Featured in Karen’s May 2008 Newsletter

Discuss in General Chat here:

http://www.createforum.com/naturaldressage/viewtopic.php?p=6977

Q: We muddled over our question this month for awhile, but everything we came up with we ended up finding the book once we started looking!
So we’d like to ask a question of a slightly different nature this month. We want to know about ‘day in the life of Karen’ s horses.’ We realize you teach people and probably train other horses, but what do you do with your horses? How do you find time to balances the different skills of online, liberty, freestyle finesse? Many of us find once we have played with liberty, for example, there is no time or energy left for freestyle.
Maybe we should ask about a Day In the Life of Ovation! Since where you are with him is probably closer to where most of our members are with our horses, we thought he would be a good horse with whom many of us could relate. How old was he when she got him and what was
his training background? What kind of stuff did you do first? How was a typical day with him the first 30 days? Did you formally bring him through L1-3 first, at least in the areas of online, liberty and freestyle? Did you mix that with your early exercises or alignment and balance? We’d like to focus not necessarily on a how to, rather inspiration and ideas on how to creatively balance all we are trying to achieve.

Thanks Karen, and we’re loving the book/ DVD!
-Members of the Natural Dressage Forum

A: Wow, this needs a long answer! How about I give a sort of generalized answer first… (By the way, I am so happy to hear you are finding answers to lots of your questions in my book!)

Currently I have 3 horses personal horses that i am playing with. I also have set up my life so there is almost no pressure on them… no owners looking over my shoulder for a result, no competition to enter… no schedule beyond my own obsession. After so many years of having a lot of those pressures, it has been really interesting to see how things are going, and how much progress I still make even though it rarely feels like I am working. (Take this in the context of I am a highly motivated, focused rider, so my version of ‘not working’ may be different than an-
other’s).

I guess with each horse I want to keep a really keen awareness of where they are… what is the range of communication, partnership, skills and talents.

Then I want to have a good visualization of what I would like them to be like… in the end, but also at the next stage from where they are now. The I keep the awareness of what they as individuals, like to do and what causes them stress. I also try to think of the general theme with the horse… what is the underlying generalization about the horse (is he confident, but uncoordinated (Ovation), or athletic, smart and sensitive, but with fear that manifests as aggression (Atomic), or athletic and smart but emotional if he thinks he isn’t perfect (Monty)… because these are the themes I need to take care of in everything I do.

I can afford to leave Atomic a little dull one day in order to calm him because athleticism is easy to get back on him, I can afford to challenge Ovation in order to increase his coordination because he doesn’t brood about it. He recovers really well, emotionally. I can afford to not practice the difficult stuff everyday with Monty, because it is his regained confidence that will carry him through the hard stuff.

But… leave Monty feeling like a failure and I lose everything with him. Leave Atomic in reaction and I’ve got an dangerous horse, and leave Ovation standing around uninspired/challenged to try new things and I’ve got a very pretty blob that just sits around eating stuff!

So I know I just listed a lot of things that are swimming around in my consciousness… But I do my best to trust that if they are there, they will help me make the decisions in the moment that are best. These themes apply whether I am doing liberty, online, freestyle or dressage!

Do I go through every savvy every day with every horse? NO! Sometimes I do, but not necessarily. Beyond just the idea of: “we need to practice this skill” I think of what can be gained from each savvy… if I want to really help Ovation get excited about moving on his own… would liberty perhaps be the best way to do it? If I want to really impress Monty about how much I trust him and how perfect he is… would bridle-less be the best was? If I want to leave Atomic feeling really confident would On-line games be the best? Or maybe my leadership would be better in a different savvy…. Maybe concentrated precise riding will give Monty confidence, maybe doing suppling and alignment exercises would free up Ovation, and maybe Liberty will be best for Atomic, because he will not feel trapped.

If you and your horse are just learning the skills, then you need to practice them all, and allow a certain amount of time for each so you improve.. Then when you have this skill, this tool, and can make decisions about when to use it; what the cause and effect is for this particular horse. The notice also things like: ‘hmmm, I did a bunch of liberty this week and now I notice my finesse got better (or worse)”…more pieces of the puzzle start to arise.

Pay attention to your horse, put out your radar and see if you are on course towards making you and your horse the best you can be as a team… enjoy the things that are going well, and investigate the missing pieces.

It is all about keeping the balance in general, but on any given day, perhaps you do all liberty, or just some freestyle, or even you get on and do finesse the whole time, and that can be totally OK… but when you look back on the past couple weeks, or month… I hope it feels more
balanced than that. Especially if there are missing pieces… many times those missing pieces can be solved in a less direct way, i.e.: some issues that show up in finesses can actually be best solved freestyle, or liberty or on-line.

To review, remember to notice:
•where your horse is now
•where you want to go
•what is the next stage to go through in getting there?
•what does your horse enjoy?
•what is the general theme with the horse?
•Cause and effect of your playing
•What do you have already that you don’t need to drill, but you can enjoy?

I think this will help you a lot in deciding how to spend your time.

I do have plans to start some projects where you will see me play with some specific subjects with specific horses… but for now I hope this will do!
~Karen

One more thing… I actually now have one more horse. The horse, Jedi who I was trying to sell for a customer never sold, so I decided to keep him! I feel bad for all the people who he would have been perfect for, but I am happy because he is just a wonderful horse to have around. He and Tiffany are learning dressage together and are doing great!

Discuss in General Chat here:
http://www.createforum.com/naturaldressage/viewtopic.php?t=493

Q: As we now know there are several different seat positions from a classical dressage seat, to a half seat or light seat (common in jumping
disciplines), 2 point, the balance point and the dreaded chair seat.
Can you describe, from your experience, what seat provides the best
balance for flatwork that is both comfortable for the horse and rider, effective and yet still attractive (for those with competitive aspirations). Is it possible to achieve all of these goals with one seat or, for example, must comfort be sacrificed for ‘pretty?’
Thanks again Karen, we really appreciate you answering our questions!!
~Members of the Natural Dressage Forum

A: Great question, as usual. First of all, there is not one ‘correct seat’, just different seats appropriate for different situations. Think of a seat appropriate for riding a thoroughbred race horse, a seat for doing a slide stop and a seat for being able to go from an ex- tended trot to piaffe in 2 strides. These are not the same seats. Can you picture a jockey racing in a classical dressage seat, or jumping a 5 foot fence from the position you do a slide stop in? Or doing a piaffe in 2-point? Each seat is totally correct… or totally wrong… depending on when you are using it!

What they all have in common is that they are a position of perfect human balance in relationship to the horse’s balance. The jockey is in balance… on the galloping race horse, but would likely go flying off the front of the horse if it did a slide stop!

So the question becomes not ‘what is the correct seat?’ but instead: ‘What will you be doing?’ Then find the place of human balance on top of that movement, and do it well! Any of the above positions, if they are not in balance, will be a hinderance to the horse.

In my book, on pages 82-89 I talk about characteristics of the athletic balance for a seat that will serve you through the basics of dressage, and some exercises to help you find it. This can be fine tuned and developed to serve you through the highest levels. But the range of seats I may use on a regular basis are: the stretching posture: I exaggerate the softening of my lower back to help the horse do the same as he stretches. 2-point: I do this if I am out for a hand gallop and want to get out of the horse’s way and stay with his forward center of gravity (horse’s natural center of gravity is basically between his shoulder blades). ‘Balance point’ seat if I am doing a passenger lesson (especially if I am bareback) to keep from gripping which will make it harder for me to be loose enough to stay with my horse. And of course, the seat for riding a horse engaged and with a round back.

I save my finished collected posture for when I am riding that. I definitely have a … ‘softer’ posture (for lack of a better word) on the young horses who are not able to collect and engage yet. I am balanced on them, for sure, but not in my same position as I am on the advanced horse when I am schooling collected transitions. I want that posture to be meaningful.

I do my best to mirror and be the embodiment of the best version of what my horse is capable of. For example, until my horse can sit and carry himself, I don’t make him carry me sitting heavy on him. There are plenty of horses that I find difficult to sit before they are balanced and have learned to carry their backs up under my weight… and I would rather do an excellent posting trot, or ‘half seat’ than struggle through a difficult attempt at a classical sitting dressage seat in this moment. I do make sure I am balanced, athletic and moving with them, no matter what.

The ultimate seat for dressage has a supple lower back, engaged abdominal muscles, open hips, a long leg that hangs under the center of the rider, allowing the hips to swing with the horse, an upper body that has the ability to balance dynamically over the pelvis, and a shoulder joint that allows the body to move, while keep- ing the hands floating still relative to the horse’s mouth.

This is the place where the horse has the best possibility to engage, round their back and to feel like the human stays in the middle, so he can move equally to lengthen, shorten move sideways, etc as well as swing his gaits freely.

The key is to have the athletic dynamic, and not the static picture of it. The ‘photo’ doesn’t matter if the ‘video’ doesn’t look good! In other words: ‘pretty is as pretty does’!

Achieving this athletic position is a result of athletic freedom, range of motion and consistent discipline. Balance is the key. When you are riding, ask yourself: ‘If my horse disappeared right now, would I land on my butt, nose or feet?” You want to always be able to land on your feet.

Balance will always look, feel and function beautifully! I hope this answers your question!!!
~Karen

Featured in Karen’s February 2008 Newsletter

Discuss in General Chat here:
http://www.createforum.com/naturaldressage/viewtopic.php?p=4999

Q. Karen,
We know you have addressed freestyle riding in the past, but there still seems to be some confusion on the topic. We have several ‘sub-questions’ that all relate to the bigger first question:

How do you ride freestyle and balance that with the NEED for a horse to travel biomechanically correct (balanced, straight, not incorrectly bent or inverted,etc) while carrying the weight of a rider? This seems to be a very big concern among many riders on our forum. Many riders feel the horse will not have the proper posture in freestyle because he won’t have a full connection and ‘circle of energy’ to allow his back to properly lift, etc.

*Do you have a horse ‘confirmed’ in seat aids at freestyle (ability to transition up and down, make circles and figures COMPLETELY without reins) before asking him to accept contact?

*How does freestyle fit in with your metaphor of loose reins being like a bad cell phone signal? Should a horse still have some contact and/or connection with the bit in freestyle? In other words should freestyle be more like ‘long and low’ or ‘down and forward’ or is it a total free-of-contact riding.

*How do you know when to return to freestyle after you have progressed to riding a horse on a more concentrated rein? Do you flow between freestyle and contact during each ride, first riding in freestyle then returning to contact as needed for balance or straightening?

A.
“We know you have addressed freestyle riding in the past, but there still seems to be some confusion on the topic. We have several ‘sub-questions’ that all relate to the bigger first question:
How do you ride freestyle and balance that with the NEED for a horse to travel biomechanically correct (balanced, straight, not incorrectly bent or inverted,etc) while carrying the weight of a rider? This seems to be a very big concern among many riders on our forum. Many riders feel the horse will not have the proper posture in freestyle because he won’t have a full connection and ‘circle of energy’ to allow his back to properly lift, etc.”

I think of it in this way:
There are many ingredients to that wonderful balance and connection that you are describing as a  full connection and a circle of energy . For example: Free, forward energy, the feeling that the horse is  just there underneath you, light on his feet, accepting of connection – yet in self carriage, moving with an engaged hind leg and a strong, elastic top line. These are not things that we humans invented…horses already have this capacity, but yes, by sitting on them, if we don t put a focus on making it easier, we are likely making it more difficult for them.
Freestyle riding is one tool to help achieve these qualities (IF you practice your freestyle in a way that focuses on this outcome). Many students think of freestyle as letting the horse just do what he wants and letting him struggle to find an answer. Freestyle to me just means giving the horse a real opportunity to feel what it is like to be trusted, light and responsible. For me, I ride freestyle (meaning having a focus to not use my reins to maintain what I am asking for) if I have a horse that is not ready to ride in connection with the reins. What I mean by this is: if I try to ride in a connection with the reins in this moment, there is a good chance he will not have a positive connection due to a long list of possible reasons.
Yes, I think we do have a responsibility to help horses develop a posture that will allow them to carry our bodies in a healthy and pain-free way…but we must be careful not to think that the answer lies only in their mouths. Freedom to move is so important…and remember, they know how to move their bodies better that we do…unless we are excellent in our efforts to use our reins to make them better, there is a high chance we are actually making it harder for them. Any problem in the body will show up in the mouth, and a mistake in the mouth will certainly negatively effect the whole body. Once a horse has an  issue in his mouth, it can be more difficult to change later, so I do my best to keep the connection in the mouth as trouble-free as possible. I use freestyle to eliminate having problems in this very delicate, sensitive area of the horse…meanwhile doing my best not to create other problems by not having that connection. The mental, emotional benefits to riding well without reins are huge…the physical benefits can also be huge (self carriage, perfect impulsion, excellent seat connection) IF we do it well. There are many many times that I use a freestyle-type exercise for the purpose of improving my connection with the horse when my reins are there.
So then, there become two questions.
1. Ideally, if we were perfect in our ability to ride our horses in connection with the reins, would we still need freestyle? And…
2. In reality, since we aren’t perfect, is freestyle a chance to have another avenue to achieve a quality of balance, trust and communication until horse and rider are better prepared to ride in connection with the reins?
The answer to the first question is Yes . I think the really great trainers are riding in freestyle much of the time. It comes down to your definition of freestyle. Great trainers/riders really are using their hands only for communication about connection and can drop the reins and still have a light, rideable horse. There are many times when I am training horses, that they may start to become heavy or not positive in the connection, and there are certain  freestyley kind of communications that I can return to that will quickly interrupt the momentum of a horse beginning to fall out of balance and lean on (or hide from) the reins. For example: one reminder of a well-established exercise of  stay on the rail and stop in the corners and relax can be called upon and is worth the million strong half halts that may be needed to get the same result, in a horse that gets pulling around the arena and falling in in the corners. Of course in order for that to work, I must have put the time in before that to make that a well-established and understood exercise.
I have rehabilitated many  dressage-trained horses that have been bored to death and abused by poor attempts to ride in connection with the reins (dressage-trained was in quotes because that must not have been dressage training the way I dream of it). With these horses I put a big focus on freestyle… it is amazing when they finally realize they have a choice and they are trusted and they are shown that I want them to be bold and make moves on their own! Just today I was joking that I should call my system: The Method for the De-Petrification of the Zombified Dressage Horse !
If your training is going well, (no matter what the technique), there is nothing like the feeling of heading off with no reins or no bridle on a horse that has been given the opportunity to carry you up and proud on his own. His posture will be up and light and engaged.
The answer to the second question is also  Yes . It is a question of process versus product. There are many times i have a horse, or a student who are not ready to ride in connection with the reins in a positive way…should they not ride? Should they go into the horse’s mouth and start trying to figure out how to have a nice soft contact even though the horse is impulsive and the rider is unbalanced? No! They should be given some exercises which will develop their balance and individual responsibilities now, so later, when they are met, they will have a better chance of that connection being yummy.
The real answer is to be able to do either strategy WELL. Then you can decide which strategy each horse needs at any particular time to make the most progress. Riding with the connection or not each has their own set of benefits and pitfalls. The reality is, until we are perfect, we must choose our lesser evils and a path of least resistance.

*Do you have a horse ‘confirmed’ in seat aids at freestyle (ability to transition up and down, make circles and figures COMPLETELY without reins) before asking him to accept contact?

It really does depend on the horse…it definitely needs to be good enough …and that is decided by taking everything else about the horse into consideration. The horse needs to be thinking along the right lines…Remember, I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with using the reins (or not using the reins)… just have a clear idea of what reins are actually for… to make subtle positionings of the head, to suggest the length of neck and to provide another point of contact by which to feel the horse and supply information about the body. Ultimately I would love to do this bridle-less…but sometimes my freestyle is on long reins, and sometimes it is on short reins, which I am still not using, I just am shortening my time delay between when my horse goes of course and when I can give him clearer information…  Soft touch or: taking the slack out of the reins without asking anything of the horse in respect to flexion, to me is basically riding freestyle without loose reins. When I am training well, I never actually have to ask for vertical flexion or connection. If my horse s body is prepared well, when I go to soft touch, the horse does the rest. my focus is just to keep riding my hands  forward to the connection so I don t restrict him. Which brings us to the next question:

*How does freestyle fit in with your metaphor of loose reins being like a bad cell phone signal? Should a horse still have some contact and/or connection with the bit in freestyle? In other words should freestyle be more like ‘long and low’ or ‘down and forward’ or is it a total free-of-contact riding.

Once you are riding truly in connection with the reins…it is ideal to be able to keep the reins in a consistent connection. Now, this doesn t mean that I don t release very often… maybe an inch every few strides, maybe all the way to the buckle for a circle… maybe so slightly that no one knows but me and my horse. But the end goal is a horse and rider who can remain light and in a consistent connection… streaming information and feedback to and from each other.  Long and low is a separate subject…for example I can be long and low in connection with the reins, or bridle-less. I could be in an uphill posture in connection with reins or bridle-less. Freestyle can have a postural focus…or it could not…separate subject. Maybe we just need another term…I guess for me  freestyle just means that I am not so concerned with the things that reins are for in that moment (head/neck position, or feel through the reins). It is pretty cool when you realize that you actually can influence these things also without reins, but now we are getting into some pretty advanced bridle-less technique that is not necessary for normal successful training.

*How do you know when to return to freestyle after you have progressed to riding a horse on a more concentrated rein? Do you flow between freestyle and contact during each ride, first riding in freestyle then returning to contact as needed for balance or straightening?

Make this a mantra:  freestyle inside the finesse, freestyle inside the finesse . Yes, I love to flow between the two, from day to day, or within a ride, or feeling the freestyle in the finesse by micro yields of the reins in each moment… private ones between me and the horse that prove to him that I am there, but I won t pull on him, and I expect the same from him.
I know I am training well and mindfully if, after doing finesse for a few days, I can simply go without the reins and my bridle-less is as good or BETTER than the last time I checked on it. And if I ride freestyle for a few days, then return to finesse it is BETTER than the last time I checked on it.
I will now tell you about a young horse that I have coming along. He has been a little challenging for me as far as finesse, so perhaps you can relate to this more than if I simply gush on about my fabulously perfect Mr Monty!
Ovation is (I hope he’s not listening) a horse who is not exceptionally dressage-talented, motivated or responsive by nature. He touched the electric fence 4 times in a row before taking one small step back. If he started stumbling at the canter, he thought it was probably easier just to go down than try to pick himself up while cantering, and his first thought when you put a feel on a line or reins was:  oh thanks for giving me something to lean on! But… he is super cute, tall and has nice gaits that I do believe are developable. That, along with his having the creativity of a factory worker can actually result in a horse that is quite reliable and happy to be given ideas about what to do. He doesn’t go for all the touchy feely stuff…he wants to be told what he needs to do and left alone and that can be a nice ride.
So when got my freestyle “good enough” I decided that  it was time I improved his posture (oh yeah, his preferred head carriage was lowish and with his nose stuck straight out!). But I didn’t realize that my freestyle really wasn’t good enough…I had actually been controlling him, very nicely, but definitely controlling him and  preventing him from getting too off balance. I m a professional! I know what I m doing! Why not? I ll just help himwith this! This of course did neither of us any favors. We were in the horrible in-between…not really freestyle and not really in connection… I was just very quietly, slightly, desensitizing and supporting him. If I were teaching a student with this horse I would have said that:  he would be connected and round when his body was ready, so if he wasn’t in a good posture and positive connection in the reins, it was because there was a missing piece in his body or mind. But believe it or not, I don’t always listen to myself!
Alas, I am very effective in my techniques of changing a horse’s posture so after 3 rather taxing sessions he obligingly yielded to my hands and became round. Except now, because he wasn’t really ready, I had created a round, soft, bobble-head who was now anxious. Oops.
That was when I re-read my own book, signed myself up for a lesson with myself and decided that to follow my own ideal philosophy I should get my freestyle better. Not my riding around letting him do what ever he wanted, struggling… but my practicing of our responsibilities and my trusting him. So I did it… mindfully. This is what I focused on:
Bridle-less. I took off all reins and things on his head that I may be tempted to fuss with and he would be tempted to lean on. I did walk, trot canter transitions. Was this scary when I felt him getting stumbly? YES! Did I just sit there and let him fall all over himself? NO! When I felt him falling I said:  hey, I wonder if you can back up” (or do a forehand yield, or transition… or… or…) so maybe he would start to think:  hmm, I better pay attention so I can be ready for these transitions!
I put a big focus on improving his freestyle responsiveness to forehand and hindquarter yields and transitions to them from motion (I didn’t care where his head was). This created greater mobility and straightness and led to being able to do classical lateral exercises (shoulder-in, haunches-in..) as well as finding an alignment where he was balanced and able to release his top-line. This made him more supple in general. Then I made sure he really followed my focus on follow the rails and point to points. I definitely made sure he understood what it meant when I sat up at attention and brought my weight back, and we practiced him raising his neck and front legs up on cue. I would also walk around freestyle then transition to standing still in the  gorgeous horse posture, then back to freestyle walk around. (Basically I pretend someone is taking a photo of us halted at X in the Olympics and I mess around until he finds the posture then I release ). This was especially fun to do when he was pointed at the barn knowing he was done…he figured out pretty quick how to proudly  strike the pose! We also did the stretching exercise online and riding to create general suppleness.
When I had all these pieces I started going from freestyle to taking the slack out of the reins at the walk, trot and canter…and guess what? He found his natural posture and was soft and round…no bobble head, no wrestling. Now we can begin to enjoy riding in connection with the reins, thinking about things like him filling up the connection, subtle neck positions and now my reins only make things better and easier for him.
I think we have to change the picture of the goal of freestyle…it is not running madly around with an unbalanced horse…that is just often an unfortunate moment in the process…The same as riding in connection with the reins is not meant to be hanging and pulling… We are all learning and before we are perfect we will make mistakes…Mistakes in freestyle have a particular look and mistakes in finesse have a particular look. Know your goal, know your horse. Assess what the missing pieces are, and know your toolbox of strategies.
Riding in connection with the reins is a tricky business… There are so many things to feel in those reins. The whole body and mind come through into your hands… Do your best to diagnose what you are feeling… can you feel the yummy feeling aof pressure from a horse filling up the connection and confidently  holding hands with you versus the feeling of pressure of a horse’s body out of balance and landing in your hands versus a brace in zone 1, versus an emotional horse who is trying to  get away?
I know you are all thinking about this, and it is so beautiful to know you all are thinking about it. Do your best to assess what is going on, and what is the best for your horse. In the end your beautiful horse will have a strong, elastic back, light forehand, freedom of movement, total seat connection, confidence in your hands and engaged hind-legs… and only you will know what the best recipe” for that particular horse and you is… what sort of combination of freestyle, finesse, liberty, trail riding, galloping cross country, non demanding time, jumping, lateral work, stretching, collecting, riding in hackamore, riding in a bridle… you must do in order to achieve your goal.
I hope this helps you gain some harmony and lightness!
My very best,
Karen

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

Featured in Karen’s November 2007 Newsletter

Karen(K1),
We have been discussing contact a great deal and hoped you may have input on getting a long open neck that stretches to the bit, use of the outside rein, and your veiws on salivation. Acheiving vertical flexion is one thing, but we would like to learn more about the type of contact that is needed for creating more expressive gaits.

Thanks for your time and knowledge,
The natural dressage forum
www.naturaldressage.2savvy.com

A: I always feel like giving a ‘zen’ answer to this question: “Ahh, it is not the contact that creates the neck, but the neck that creates the contact.” … and just leaving it at that… but really this is the case! The neck is an extension of the spine and the spine is supported by the legs and is free only if there is balance. The key is to find balance, then the neck is free. Balance is a product of the emotional state, the mental state and the physical state. Within respectful boundaries I make sure my horses feel free to move powerfully forward (this does not mean just speed or out of anxiousness, because a horse that is ‘escaping’ forward, by definition does not feel free! I make sure they are balanced and I make sure they know how to find the stretch on-line and riding. From there I make sure I can take the slack out of my reins and not screw anything up! The contact truly is created by the body of the horse filling up the contact. This is a completely different feeling than a horse who is bracing or leaning. Our hands must be able to diagnose the sensation of pressure. ‘The horse filling up the contact’ or ‘feeling the horse’s hocks in your hands’ are statements that are often mis-interpreted to mean it is OK if your horse leans in your hands. Not so! But also misinterpreted is the idea that to ride in lightness it is not OK to feel your horse! If the horse moves forward into our hands to make a connection in the reins and we misinterpret it as brace, we now have discouraged the long, reaching spine and will cause contraction as the horse tries to be a ‘good boy’ and not touch the reins. look to ‘hold hands with me’. And I can receive it. It is less about amount of pressure and more about quality. The same goes for the outside rein. Yes, it is important to feel the energy of the horse between the inside and outside of his body, and when bend is created, or in lateral exercises, if your outside rein is there, your horse will fill it up. If you disappear or are not there, you will not feel it and your horse will also not feel as much information or connection. But too often students are told ‘outside rein’ or ‘outside rein half halt’ and they TAKE the outside rein. You need to ‘be there’ and cause the horse to fill it up for you! Now, as for salivation… that will continue on the next page!

Salivation… (not to be confused with salvation)
Here are my humble thoughts on salivation:
First of all salivation is good…it just matters if it is excessive, and what happens once it is in the mouth…does it dry up, get swallowed or accumulate?
‘Negative’ reasons for foam:
•anxiousness…this is typically big frothy stuff that drips all over the place!
•inability to swallow… due to tension and tightness in the throat latch area.
‘Positive’ reasons for foam:
•intense concentration/effort… I have found times when horses, even with the hackamore on get a little foam between their lips during sustained concentrated moments. I am aware, but if everything else
tells me things are OK, I don’t see it as necessarily negative, especially if
the horse licks and releases when he rests. I have experienced this on horses having really wonderful moments of them really ‘applying
themselves’.
‘Negative’ reason for no foam:
•dry mouth due to holding mouth slightly open, or so much tightness that no saliva is produced
‘Positive’ reason for no foam:
•Horse producing saliva but is relaxed and loose enough in the jaw and mouth to swallow regularly.
Benign reasons for foam:
•action of bit against lips. I just put a (clean) rubber thing in my mouth
and I am not really feeling stressed, but I am accumulating some saliva
and even though i am swallowing, I don’t get a perfect ‘seal’ and so
some is getting a little frothy in the corners of my mouth!
Ever notice that athletes spit a lot? I asked a triathlete friend of mine why. He commented that during exercise sometimes the saliva is more mucousy and feels better to spit, and also during some intense exercise it just doesn’t feel good to swallow, it interrupts the breathing pattern or can cause more air to go into the stomach.
Maybe some horses experience this too…could be worse: they could spit!
Typically, the horses I have don’t get foamy except for a little between their lips on occasion.
In dressage-land foam is considered ‘good’ but I think that is because so many horses shut down and become dry in the mouth. This is dangerous because then the tissues can crack and be damaged by the bits. It is a common practice to feed sugar cubes often to keep them having something to chew on. I have also seen liquid soap squirted in their mouths to create foam. This was done in the spirit of not letting the horse’s mouth get dry and injured, but of course it was not getting to the core issue!
As with everything, the important thing is to know your horse, and notice when something changes…then take in all the information at hand and do your best to figure out what is going on.
If I see a horse foaming, I do just that:
I look at the whole picture and see if there is any meaning behind it.
I think that is all I have to say about salivation!

Featured in Karen’s August 2007 Newsletter

What is your general outline for starting young horses? If you would please include such thoughts/ideas on any exercises you avoid until a certain age, guidelines for when the young horse is ready to start collection and how you develop fitness without excessive circling.

Karen, we realize that this is a pretty loaded question, and if you feel that you could give a more complete answer by breaking the question down to answer over a couple months, please feel welcome to!! We are looking forward to your book!!

Thanks SO MUCH!!
-Natural Dressage Forum

It seems I can always expect big question from you guys!  Excellent!  The top priority with starting horses is that your partnership is healthy and clear…They feel safe with you and they understand the ‘ground rules’. I must also remind myself that this is their first time at this…to not get frustrated because I am assuming they are like my advanced horses.  I need to remember that they are giving me pure feedback on how they feel/think about what I am saying to them and about what they think they can do.  It is up to me to create situations where they understand what I mean.  This goes in the category of good partnership/foundation/colt starting. I will list a few concepts that I for sure want the newly started horse to have, of course in addition to just a great foundation:
•    Look to me and you will be fine.
•    Respect my space.
•    Whenever there is pressure, there is always something you can do to take the pressure off.
•    Game over, you’re perfect, relax!
This is, of course a very simplified list…but let’s shoot forward and pick things up at the stage where the horse is started and rideable, he can go on a trail ride and understands the basic yields and responsibilities of: act like a partner, don’t change gait, don’t change direction, watch where you put your feet…This is where my particular specialty kicks in, and the stage to which, I believe, your question refers.
You asked if there are certain exercises I avoid until a certain age.  That really depends on the horse, and feeling what their natural abilities are.  For some horses ‘lateral work’ is difficult and it will be a while before I ride around in a shoulder-in.  Other horses may show me it is easy for them so it is OK accept their offer and play with it.  Also keep in mind that some warm bloods keep growing until they are 6, and will go through stages of awkwardness where it is best just to let some things go and during those periods play with trailer loading, clipping, liberty, etc. In general I am careful to not drill anything.  But this can be challenging when we are practicing and things don’t just magically work the first time around!  I use the idea of ‘only sustain that which the horse can offer easily’ and ‘don’t keep doing something until the horse wishes he hadn’t offered it’. I think we run into trouble when we start doing too much repetition. There are times we need to be consistent, but ‘drilling’ to me means just doing something over and over.  If it isn’t working, go back and figure out why, and if it is…it’s a young horse!  don’t make them wish they hadn’t done it and put undo strain on their bodies.  If we keep practicing something that is difficult for them, they will contort themselves and set up patterns of bad biomechanics.
So if the horse has trouble picking up a balanced canter, I won’t insist he sustains that unbalanced canter.  I would do a lot of dancing around the subject, preparing what he will need to make that canter more balanced and easier for him.  I may do more jumping on line, especially trotting into a jump (this is like a trot-canter transition), or point to point exercises where I am not particular about lead or gait, just building up motivation to hurry up and get somewhere.  I may also go to a longer line sooner with this horse.  I also check that he knows that when I say ‘go’ I mean ‘go’ and he can be bold.  Usually you will see the horse begin to offer more (they will canter on after the jump, they will depart into a canter on the point to point exercise, they will choose to canter on their own when you say ‘go’). Many warm bloods and larger horses are slow in developing at the canter because their gait is so big…I have learned to give them time rather than decide ‘today is the day you must sustain the canter’ on the length of line I choose.  If you insist too soon and force the issue you risk them doing some strange, strained version of what you are asking.  To continue with the example of the horse with the big, awkward canter: if your communication and leadership is strong you may get him to ‘be a good boy’ and canter on a 12 foot line, but he may have to shorten his stride and get choppy and stilted in order to do it.  You may very effectively teach him to do a four beat canter.  It will feel bad to him and will be hard to correct later.  You gained obedience, but lost freedom of movement.
With young horses it is really important to tune into whether they are: not understanding something, not really paying attention to you, or whether they are unable to do what you are asking based on their level of coordination or strength.  This is especially true while riding.  I think often we underestimate the adjustments the horse must make in order to accommodate our weight.  You can only make one first impression so I do my best to choose wisely the hard lessons I may have with my young horse.  Some are necessary, but some can be better prepared and waited out.
If you only sustain that which they readily can offer, then when you are increasing their fitness (which requires sustaining things) in movements they already think are easy and therefore you are preserving their good attitude.  The work in dressage will get intense soon enough.  I don’t want them to be thinking ‘wow, this is hard’ I want them to be thinking ‘wow, I can do this!’ and somehow over time they end up strong and fit.
I do a lot of setting up the reflexes I want in there for later…quick initiations of responses to go, stop, turn, bring the weight back and mobilize the hindquarters, forequarters.  I am thinking: ‘if I ask, would you do this’ and I am looking for my horse to say: ‘sure, that’s easy!’  I will practice their ability to boldly offer responses because they know the better they respond, the easier it gets for them.  All those are responses that I know I will need later for more complex movements and in the near future to make small adjustments to help them find their best balance.  I establish them, then check on them often…keeping them in my back pocket where I know they will be easy to find when i need them.  once established I may walk or trot around the property and intermittently check: ‘hey I wonder if you could back up?’ ‘Hey, I wonder if we still have that hindquarter yield’.  It is a great way to let the horse be relaxed, keep important yields sensitized and not have to drill.
Once they are at the stage where they can carry me around at the walk, trot and canter in their own balance without impulsiveness and I can transition easily to any of the basic yields, then I start paying attention to their biomechanics, searching for the place where they can move online and carry me without crookedness and with a free, swinging top line.  Some horses are ‘impulsive’ because of lack of balance, and some are out of balance because of impulsiveness…you’ll have to play around to see what you need to address first.
As far as ‘collection’, first let me say that term is thrown around too loosely.  Collection is an advanced balanced state with a prerequisite of what is called the ‘working gait’.  The term collection is often used as a synonym for ‘riding in connection with the reins’, ‘finesse’ or being ‘on the bit’.  But collection requires a lowering of the haunches, greater degree of engagement and a clear uphill balance.  In competitive dressage collection isn’t asked for until Second Level.  Some young horses have been bred to have natural tendencies for collection and if they offer it I certainly won’t tell them they are wrong, but for most young horses I am careful to make sure they have the ingredients for collection and most importantly they have relaxation and a freedom of movement, as these are the easiest qualities to lose in collection; that they are not just shortening their stride with a tight back and high neck.
So, when do I begin to ride them in connection with the reins thinking of their posture?  Depends on the horse, but when I have eliminated any reasons why they may lean on my reins if the reins were there.  I ride with the reins when I am sure I am not needing them to control the horse and they can accept a soft touch (contact without asking for flexion).  I have a horse now that has a natural tendency to lean on the reins, especially the left one.  From the first moment he was plucked out of the field, if you pick up the line or rein, his reflex is to add pressure to it.  Fascinating!  He also has  preferred head carriage of his nose sticking out.  As much as part of me would love to reel in that nose and make a more attractive picture, I also know that he is crooked, and not easily mobile in his body…he is telling me that is the comfortable place for him based on his entire body.  Until his body is developed more, he for sure will lean on that rein if I give it to him.  Here are the ingredients I am focusing on with him:
•    That he is highly mobile with suggestions to forehand, hind quarters and sideways yields, anytime, anywhere…just one step is fine but do it without hesitation.  This will help him find a better alignment.
•    That he listens to my body for weight back and all transitions.  Bridle-less riding…prove that WE don’t need the reins.
•    Obstacles, jumps, hilly terrain.  This will increase his coordination in general.
•    Transitions.  Immediate responses to and from all gaits.  I know this will increase his engagement and strength.
•    Roads and Tracks.  I go out for long walks and trots in fun places like farm roads or around my big fields to increase his aerobic fitness.
•    I make sure when I lift my rein up, he follows the feel up with his neck, changing his reflex to lean down on it.
At this point, his trot is getting really nice and when I shorten my reins he is finding a beautiful place to put his neck without me even asking for flexion.  He gives immediate powerful and more balanced transitions to the canter and is beginning to be able to mobilize his body and so is finding a better balanced canter where he can be in self carriage.  Now that he can do that, he is also starting to feel freer and not leaning on the reins when I shorten them.
The neck is a meter of the rest of the body, so I tend to leave the neck alone for longer than many dressage riders.  It is worth it though, because in the end the horse will find the best place on his own if I ride well.
I think with young horses, each lesson is so meaningful.  I do my best not to throw too much at them at once.  I tend to have a theme for the day and one theme is enough.  I have a good experience, make sure they go home with a clear positive thought and then give them time to absorb it.  I have 2 horses that are just 4 and I do ‘official training sessions’ with them 3-4 times a week maximum.  I err on the side of less, and make sure I balance my time with them with games they like to play and non-demanding time.
The more confidence you have in your foundation and in your ability to clearly communicate a concept so your horse understands it, the less you will need to drill.  To answer your question about too many circles…Circles have a purpose (suppleness, easy to find a balance as the line of direction is consistent, settling into a rhythm).  Do the circles to achieve those benefits.  If you find yourself drilling circles, then maybe there is a missing piece you can add in in some other way.  I have a horse who was always falling in on the circle with his shoulder in one direction (yes, the same horse with the big opposition reflex!).  It felt like it was time to address it, but in doing so I started to feel I was going around way too many circles to do it and was losing his attentiveness…so I went to a spot where I have lots of trees and posts sticking up and we wove around those and practiced that coordination from one direction to the other until we figured out how to turn easily in both directions without plopping on that one shoulder.  It was fun, he was interested in it and I think he started to feel the difference between the 2 directions because by the third day of this he came out taking care to do it differently.  I felt him shift his weight when I suggested the turn.  Then I went back to the circling at the trot, he didn’t fall in with the shoulder and I hope he felt: ‘well, that was easy’.  I was able to school better circles, not by drilling the circle but by stepping away and helping to improve a missing ingredient in a more obvious, easy, fun way for him.
This works for young horses, but also I dream of being this clever all the time.  With young horses it seems even more important because we are installing their first impressions of what this is all about.  If I do it well now, life just gets easier and easier because if you create a positive attitude with your horse, he will offer so much.

Featured in Karen’s July 2007 Newsletter

Karen,
We (natural dressage forum) would like to know when and how to start working on flying lead changes. What are the signs that a horse is ready, what ingredients do we need to work on, and what exercises or games will help us get correct changes? Do you wait until the counter canter is established? Is there anyway to play with changes on the ground that encourages the horse to swap from back to front? How can we fix flaying changes that are late behind?

Thank you so much for taking our question!
~Members of the Natural Dressage Forum.

Hi,
Here is your answer regarding flying changes….
Of course you know these are just guidlelines…every horse is different…
flying changes are a difficult movement because unlike things like shoulder-in or collection or extensions, you don’t have many strides in a row in which to play with it. Flying changes are a result of good preparation, clear signals and excellent timing.

the most simple way to think of a flying change is it is a canter transition. So one big prerequisite for flying changes is that your canter transitions in general are at least reliably very good. By very good I mean that there is no confusion about which lead is being asked for, and your horse can do it with balance and not momentum. doing walk to canter transitions will test this. can you get a walk to canter transition where the first stride of the canter is the good canter? Where the horse can step immediately into an energetic and balanced canter rhythm? Here is another test: If you are walking or trotting along and you decide to do a canter depart, how much time is there between when you ask for the depart and when it happens? Is it less time than the moment of suspension in your horse’s canter rhythm? In order for you horse to do a canter transition ‘on the fly’ he must be able to get it done within one moment of suspension.

Another exercise I make sure I can do, is to be able to mobilize the horse’s shoulders. Alot of times horse’s are ‘late behind’ really because they are throwing their shoulders to the lead before you are really asking. Before taking a right lead , for example I just want to check I have the possibility to shift the shoulders one notch to the left (creating a right positioning) and have them wait while I ask the hindquarters to canter depart.

Doing transitions from walk to counter canter to walk to true canter can start to build up the horse’s idea that there is a game about changing leads.
i do counter canter well enough to make sure I have a well balanced canter in general, or that the hrose can stay at it long enough to prepare for the flying change. I don’t drill it in a sense of ‘hey don’t you dare change your lead’ …because later i will want the change…how much counter canter I do is very individual horse to horse.

As far as on line…it is about the quality of the canter transition. My favorite biomechanical canter transition exercise is to go from a stretched, completly relaxed walk to changing my posture to collected and canter depart, then back to relax. there are many ingredients to get that done. really observe your horse…when you suggest canter, what part of your horse”s body canters first? Visualize it must start with the outside hind. and while you are observing…where does the canter depart start in YOUR body? are you leading with your lead hand, the one with the line in it? that would be telling your horse to begin his depart with his head. If I am on the ground and want to suggest right lead, I shift my weight back and then squeeze my left butt cheek to send my right hip forward…same as when I ride.

I tend to wait to ask for flying changes until I am really prepared. Accept the ones your horse offers you if he tries them…if he flips his lead because he is so unbalanced at the canter, it’s ok just know you have more homework at the canter. I tend to wait longer because correcting bad habits in the flying change is difficult…it is only a split second in time…the best you can do is prepare, be clear, have excellent timing, then cross your fingers and say a prayer!

I hope this helps…
maybe I will add this to next month’s newsletter and perhaps I can share your forum with my readers?
enjoy!!

Karen k1