Riding Lesson One

Private Riding Lesson Number One

Why do we do, what we do ?

For a while now, I've been thinking that I should use my column of World of Horses to greater advantage. I've been regaling you with personal stories about my own failures and minimal successes but I think it's time for us to look at a bigger picture.

As those who read my problem page regularly will know, I am trying to train my horse, the ancient Madame Ginger Bits, to compete in Dressage Competitions which is one thing but it's time now to undo the nuts and bolts of riding, take it apart and try and learn why it is that we do what we do.

Showjumpers, Eventers, Dressage Riders - this benefits all disciplines

Dressage is classical training for horses. It's for all horses at all levels competing in all disciplines and is not unique to any type of horse or any ability of rider.

Fundamentally, anyone training their horse for any discipline should be interested in three things:

Aims & Objectives for Classical Training

Training the horse to carry a rider.
Training the horse to be obedient to the riders commands (aids)
Improving the horses athletic ability so that it can more easily perform its role.

Now I suspect that many of you will be a bit aghast at the first aim "Training the horse to carry the rider" because , surely to goodness , ALL horses know how to carry a rider once they have been broken in !! (Wrong )

So many people out there have bought four and five year olds that have been broken, backed and ridden away and sold to you as "a potential showjumper, eventer, dressage horse, brain surgeon" (just threw the last one in to make sure you were paying attention.) but so many riding problems are actually created because people simply do not understand how their horse should best carry a rider.

Do not be surprised in the least if it takes months and months of hard work to get your promising young horse to work in this way - that's just the way it is .

Don't expect too much of young horses - it takes years to build the correct muscle tone to do this . Be patient with your horse and be kind to yourself.

As a rider, you must understand that a horse can only be obedient and responsive if it has first learned how it can comfortably carry a rider.

Despite what people believe, the horse was not designed, anatomically, to carry a person on it's back. The horse was designed to graze, breed and then run away from predators but NOT as a means of transport for humans.

Carrying the Rider

If you look at horse from the side, you will see that roughly speaking, it is 'H' shaped (apart from it's head sticking out at the front). If you imagine taking that 'H' and then putting weight along the crossbar of the 'H', the whole structure would sag in the middle and then becomes 'A' shaped which as a structure, is weak. To expand this theory, no engineer would ever contemplate building a bridge in either the shape of an 'H' of an 'A' because it's not a sound, weight bearing structure at all.

What we have to try and do with our horses is to improve and modify the way they carry us so that it is more comfortable for both them and us.

If you ask a dressage rider why it is that we ask a horse to work in an outline that is "down and round" with legs swinging underneath and "on the bit", I will bet that there are a few who don't know and even more that answer "because it looks good !".

Both answers are of course incorrect. The reason we ask a horse to work "down and round and through to the bit" is because in order to make it easier for the horse to carry our weight, be light and responsive and obedient, we must fundamentally change his normal way of going in order to build the correct muscle tone and structure to make it possible for him to carry our weight properly. In fact, we are trying to change our horse from being "A" shaped once we are on it's back, to being a 'Humped Back Bridge" shape.

If you had a very heavy rucksack to carry on your back, what do you immediately do to your posture to make it easier to carry it ?

The answer is of course, that you "round" or "hunch" your spine into the back pack because if you hollowed your back, it would be very, very uncomfortable.

And yet, how many horses do you see ploughing along with their neck high in the air (usually in a running martingale and lots of other bondage kit) whilst their riders sit on board, through the Grace of God alone, and expect this poor horse to gallop and jump and be obedient. The poor animal's back is probably in agony and more worryingly, the damage to your horse's back is usually permanent.

What we are doing, is teaching the horse to carry more weight using it's muscles instead of it's skeleton, take more weight onto the hind legs (re-balancing) which in turn makes the head move down and the nose outwards which raises the withers which makes the back come up and underneath the saddle. When the back comes up, the horse can then step under with his hind legs which means that the hocks come underneath and push the horse forwards into the motion.

You can see from this description of "down and round" that there is nothing to be gained by "pulling" the horse's head into an outline because all that happens if you pull is that you block the forward movement of your horse which will make it come off the contact, raise it's head , stiffen in it's back and stop moving forwards - the whole object is then defeated.

The process of teaching your horse to work down and round and through it's back, is not a five minute one and if you think that I am going to give you a quick fix in these lessons, then I'd log off now.

To train your horse using classical methods is a progressive training technique which gradually builds the correct muscle structures and flexibility to be enable your horse to work better.

Some Facts About Training Horses

(that I have learned in the last two years or so)

It takes 10 years of daily work (at least) to bring your horse up to Grand Prix level.
I have had my horse for almost two years and she has just built up enough muscle through her back and neck to work properly and we have only just developed the useful communication time between us so that she now listens to me roughly 70% of the time I ride her. The other 30% of the time , she is still in La-La land (or maybe I am !)
I could now compete up to Elementary level but no further until she listens 100% of the time.
I cannot hope to attempt flying changes, needed for Medium Level, until I can increase her attention span and her commitment to me , to 100%.

She still lacks some muscle behind the saddle so she is not yet fully engaging her hind quarters. I rectify this by getting her more down and round and forward especially in the trot. This means I have to drive her quite hard now with my legs and seat. My legs haven't ached for years when I ride but they are killing me as I write !

Next Lesson - Working In

In the next lesson, I am going to discuss ways of stretching your horse through his back and neck prior to commencing work.

Like any athlete, trying to work your horse with "cold" muscles can cause injury and so it's important before work commences to stretch and bend your horse - this will be the basis of Private Lesson Number Two.

If you have any queries about this months lesson, please contact World of Horses and they will pass any queries on to me .

Karry Gardner

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