To
ride at Training or First (Preliminary or Novice) Level for years on end
is something many aspiring dressage riders do. Somehow, as they work on
Second or Third (Elementary or Medium) Level movements, their horses just
don’t perform adequately enough for competition. In most cases, the
problem is in the basics measured through a Training Level test. The
continental training scale helps us understand the progression of the
horse’s training, but how do you know if your basics are concrete enough
for you to progress to the next level? This article provides a simple
system to measure your progress, identify your horse’s level, solve some
basic problems, and offers ‘prerequisites’ to certain movements.
1-The Core of All
Training
Relax your horse. If your horse is not relaxed, he will not learn. Tension
in his body will prevent him from moving properly, while tension in his
mind will result in lack of cooperation. For the horse to be educated, he
should be in a mental and physical state that allows education. I believe
a horse is like a child who would rather play than study, but a clever
teacher will introduce learning through play. If you can get the horse on
your side, you might be surprised at how much he is willing to cooperate.
When he is on your side, he will relax to your aids, bend and go where you
want, and remain alert, ‘puffed up’, waiting for your requests. Observe
the performance of high level dressage horses…their backs are raised,
indicating acceptance of the rider’s seat, their ribs puffed out,
indicating acceptance of the rider’s legs, their necks are rounded and
enlarged at the top with ultimate looseness of the poll and jaw,
indicating acceptance of the rider’s hands. As a whole, it is a picture of
total relaxation. Without relaxation, the horse will withdraw from the
rider, contract his muscles, and will not cooperate to his full potential.
It’s as simple as that.
If the horse comes out of the stable already tense, consider his diet, how
long he has been in confinement, or the environment in which you will work
him. You could be over-feeding him and keeping him in the stable all day,
which causes him to tense up as a way to relieve the extra energy. Maybe
he’s not ready to cope with loud noises or strange sights outside your
arena. There could be other factors leading to tension, such as pain in
his mouth due to teeth problems, or back pain from the saddle. If you are
at all suspicious, please have those checked.
A very tense or fresh horse is best relaxed on the lunge. Lunge the horse
in side-reins for ten or fifteen minutes before you get on him. My
personal preference is to allow the horse some play in the paddock early
in the morning. Turnout is extremely essential to the horse’s wellbeing,
but sadly often neglected. Regular turnout, if even for twenty minutes a
day, makes a horse happy and willing.
Once is the horse is physically and mentally relaxed, he is ready to
learn. Relaxation and looseness allow the natural rhythm of the gaits to
come through. If you are able to walk, trot, and canter in clock-like true
rhythm with the horse fairly relaxed and cooperative, you have established
the core of all training.
2-Response to the Aids
The ABC’s of aids to the green or young horse are: legs mean go, hands
mean stop. From there on, the aids are refined and branched out to give
all sorts of signals to the horse. We teach the horse that a very light
leg means walk, slightly heavier means trot, a combination of inside
weight with outside leg back means canter, and a mild restraining hand
mean slow down. Also, the horse learns to step laterally away from the
outside leg, and bend around the inside leg. It is important to be able to
control the shoulders through turn on the haunches, and the quarters
through turn on the forehand at the walk. As the horse gets used to the
rider’s weight, the seat aids can be introduced in the form of weight aids
and half-halts (although the half-halt is not yet perfected at this
stage). If your horse goes forward to a light leg, soft enough in the
mouth to accept your hand when asking to slow down, canters immediately on
cue on both reins, is able to skip a gait in an upward or downward
transition, such as walk to canter or trot to halt, respects your outside
leg by stepping away from it, and accepts your inside leg by bending
around it, then this stage is established in your horse’s training, and
you are ready to move on.
3-Riding on the Bit
Once relaxation, rhythm and response to the aids are confirmed, it is time
to teach your horse to accept contact. From previous articles, contact is
described as the horse’s acceptance and response to your seat, legs, and
hands. It is a raised back, relaxed ribcage, firm abdominals, round neck,
supple poll, and soft mouth. The horse is not born with this knowledge
like he is born with rhythm already innate; it is taught to him. Before
you can progress anywhere, even before a Training Level test, the horse
should be confirmed in his acceptance of contact. Submission to the rider
seat, legs, and hands should be present from the very beginning, as
evident in the Collective Marks at the bottom of any dressage score sheet.
The degree of compression differs (i.e. length of frame from tail to
poll), of course, from Training to Grand Prix. At all stages, the neck
should be round (not straight and flat), the poll at the highest point,
and the nose very slightly in front of the vertical. In collection, the
nose comes almost to the vertical, but coming behind is a fault.
Your horse will be established in his contact if you can walk, trot, and
canter on the bit. Horses that are not very established tend to hollow up
on straight lines. Check that your horse is able to stay on the bit at all
times: on circles and voltes, straight lines (on the track, on the
quarterline, and on the centerline), and on other school figures such as
serpentines, loops, etc. It is also important that he remains on the bit
during upward and downward transitions, especially the canter depart,
where many horses have wrongfully learnt to throw their head up. When
contact is confirmed, congratulations, as you have achieved one of the
biggest challenges of dressage training! You are ready to move on.
4-Long and Low
Paramount to the success of your training is the ability to put your horse
in any frame, including long and low. Riding in a long and low position
can be used to relax a tense horse, to supple the neck and back through
stretching, to engage the hindquarters, and to teach the horse
self-carriage. Stretching at the walk, trot, and canter for the first ten
minutes of every workout is super to loosen the horse before serious work
begins. Stretching halfway during the session can revive the horse and
loosen any knots in his muscles, while stretching at the end is important
to relax and supple the horse, and to finish on a good note.
A green horse is best started on steady contact to confirm submission,
then stretched down to allow him to use his back and neck, as well as to
relax and loosen. You know your horse is at this stage when he lowers his
neck as you give the reins by increments. If he snatches the reins or
pulls upwards, then you need to work on contact and submission a little
more. However, if you can easily stretch your horse and pick up contact
again without a struggle, you are ready to take another step forward.
Next >
Good Basics II
Further Reading:
The Elements of Dressage: A Guide to Training the
Young Horse by K.A. von Ziegner
The Simplicity of Dressage by Johann
Hinnemann and Coby van Baalen
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