1-Todays Riding Lesson is * PUTTING YOUR HORSE ON THE BIT & CONNECTION THROUGH THE BIT!
Change your expectations that putting your Horse on the Bit is hard! It should not be hard! Theres no mystery to putting your horse on the bit! Here are some simple ways to know your horse is on the bit.*
The Horses entire body should look round from front to back.
Hind legs should step actively underneath his body.
You should feel in your hands a connection from the reins..your horses hind legs in your hands. Expect to feel 1/2 to 1 pound of weight in your hands.
Use your “Connecting Aids”
1-Driving Aids
2-Bending Aids
3-Rein of Opposition
*DRIVING AIDS consist of your SEAT and your LEGS because those drive your horse forward.
*BENDING AIDS consist of your INSIDE REIN which asks the horse to look in the direction of travel. Your INSIDE LEG on the girth , OUTSIDE LEG behind the girth contributes to the bend.
*REIN OF OPPOSITION is your outside rein. It opposes too much speed from your DRIVING AIDS or too much bend from your BENDING AIDS.
When you marry those three ingredients….you are giving the aids to put your horse on the bit!!
DRIVING AIDS- Close both calves to create a surge of forward energy! Capture , Contain and Recycle that power back to the hind legs through your outside rein! Then vibrate your inside rein softly to keep the neck straight and ask for flexion at the jaw.
INGREDIENTS BY STEPS!!!
A- FIRST, close both calves create a surge of energy from behind!
B- NEXT, close your outside hand in a tight fist (rein of opposition) capture,contain and recycle the energy back to the hind!
C-Finally, give three little squeezes and releases on the inside rein to keep his neck straight!
D- After 3 seconds soften everything and go back to the original light pressure of legs and hands.
You will be using a million connecting aids softly to communicated to your horse and nobody else will ever see it. These constant gentle reminders help you communicate to your horse….(which in Dressage is your dancing partner ) where he needs to be. Be a good leader. As Axel Steiner puts it “ You are your Horses’ personal Trainer.” So, start viewing yourself as one. Take control.
Written by, Amanda Silver
2-The Lesson Today is * HOW TO GET YOUR HORSE TO LENGTHEN HIS STRIDES!
We first have to communicate with the use of our DRIVING AIDS to our horse. You will start off at a working Walk then sit up straight and use your Driving SEAT ,your seat bones to encourage your horse to stretch out and lengthen his strides each step. Become active in your seat reinforcing to him this is what you are asking for. You then will use alternating calves to encourage reach of fore arms.
Exercises: Go back and forth from the Working Walk to a more Extended Walk. Practice this over and over with the use of Ground poles, Cavalletties, and Hills to to help encourage your horse to stretch lengthen their forearms and use their hind quarters with more efficiency.
Once your horse makes the connection of a difference in what you are asking then try a Lengthening of your trot. Use the same exercises but now at a trot. As we all know horses learn best by repetition!
EXERCISE:
1-Ask your horse to Trot a little more forward along the short side of the arena asking for more impulsion in his steps.
2- Half Halt before Entering the corner
3-Ask for a slight leg yield as you make the corner then ride straight down the Diagonal Line looking at the Letter ahead. As soon as your horse is completely straight…
4-Sink your seat bones deep into the saddle (Driving Seat) and close both calves
Follow the contact in your reins, receiving the energy from behind not throwing it away but instead recycling it and capturing it!
5-About 3 strides before the Letter relax your seat bones in the saddle and close your hands around both reins to ask your horse to shorten his strides. Smooth transition half halt.
Praise your horse and REPEAT the exercise! Have fun!
Written by, Amanda Silver
3- The Lesson Today is “HOW TO PUT YOUR HORSE ON THE BIT.”
Before you can truly put your horse on the bit you will have to show him where you would like him to position his head so that
1. The bit is in the correct part of the mouth for optimum submission, acceptance and lightness.
2. That his neck is in the correct position (i.e. arched) so his back can start to come up and carry your weight more efficiently.
3. That he is soft in the neck for suppleness and correct flexion.
4. To bring him off the forehand.
5. That your horse will be attentive and listening to your aids.
6. That you can start to ride effective half halts (half parades).
To put your horse on the aids must start with the basic aids and signals to your horse to correctly negotiate a corner or a circle. If you decide that you are going to follow these methods of training, you must always ride your corners this way. Every corner should be a challenge and the perfect opportunity to teach and supple your horse. Here are the aids:
*Your inside leg on the girth. This leg is for the horse to bend around. A reference point. Think of a skier coming down the mountain and making lots of turns. As the skier comes into a turn, he will plant his ski pole into the snow and ski round his ski pole. Think of your inside leg in the same terms. If you ride a circle, your inside leg should follow the circumference of the circle and you merely ride your horse round your inside leg. This leg will also prevent your horse falling into the circle.
*Your outside leg just behind the girth but passive. This leg is guarding the horse’s quarters in the unlikely event that your horse swings the quarters out of the circle (the back wheel skid). The reason I say the leg must be passive (behind the girth but not doing anything) is that if you use this leg every time you ride a corner or a circle, the leg will lose its effectiveness if you want to asked for lateral work out of the corner or if you need this leg to ask your horse to leave the track. Cause and effect, don’t mend it if it ain’t broke!
*Your inside hand is for the bend of the neck only. This hand/rein does not say turn right or turn left. It does not steer. The reins are not handle bars. It asks for bend and flexion. The rein must invite neck bend. A take and give gesture. Don’t drop your hand. That will encourage your horse to drop his inside shoulder and make the corner or circle smaller. It will also stop the horse going forward (cause a loss of impulsion). Once you have neck bend back-off with the rein. Soften it. Don’t hold your horse’s neck in position. If you do, he will quickly learn to hang on to that side of the bit. If your horse is reluctant to bend his neck, raise your hand a little and take it towards the opposite hip, but not across the wither. Don’t do this too often. It will encourage your horse to tip his head.
*Your outside hand controls the amount of bend created with the inside hand, impulsion, tempo (speed of the gait you’re in) and balance.
That’s easy to understand isn’t it!? Let’s look at those individually, then.
The amount of bend created with the inside hand.This means that the rein must not go forward with the neck bend. The pressure of the bit on the left side will stop you horses neck bending too far to the right side and visa versa.
Impulsion.By taking and softening the rein it will control the amount of energy (impulsion) the horse is putting into the gait.
Tempo. By taking and softening the rein it will control the speed (tempo) the horse is putting into the gait.
Balance. Accepting the bit. This is the complicated part so be careful you understand the method and theory. Imagine you are looking at your horse in plan view (i.e. looking at him from above). Assuming you have ridden the corner correctly using the aids described above and bent him around the corner or circle, you would notice that the inside surface area of your horse becomes shorter and the outside surface area of the horse becomes longer. Your horse is stretching though the corner. Test this with a pencil rubber (eraser). Bend it and you will see what I mean. This also works with a empty water bottle. Because you have a contact in the outside rein, you can control how much your horse can stretch the outside of his body. The only way he will be able to cope with the outside bit contact and length bend is by shortening his posture. How does he do that? By giving with his jaw (dropping his head) and hopefully, in the future, by engaging his hindquarters. Lowering and sitting. As soon as your horse has lowered his head, keep the contact but soften the outside rein. If the horse has been bent correctly, your inside rein should already be soft.
Here are a few tips that might help
A horse cannot go forward if it is not relaxed in body and mind
Impulsion (more energy from your horse) will make placing the head easier
Never be hard or pull back with the rein if your horse is being obedient ( A BIG NO NO!) especially with Debbie McDonald. We never want to be harsh or discipline our horse with the use of the reins.Its not a means of correction!
When your horse has length bent and lowered his head, back-off (soften) the contact. It will be the only way your horse will know that he has been successful in doing what you wanted him to do
Have the feeling that through the corners or circles you are riding from your inside leg into your outside rein
Never steer your horse; he is not a bicycle. Instead, use the reins to balance him and shape him
Never over-flex your horse. He should have just enough length bend to be the same shape as the circumference of the corner or circle
Now your horse has been shown where you would like him to carry his head and in what position. This is the first step towards putting your horse ‘On the bit
Written by, Amanda Silver
