THE HORSE MAGAZINE

By Donald McMiken Ph.D.

So you're setting off on the cross-country with your new Thoroughbred. You realise by the third fence, he's reefing and pulling as you try to keep him under a hundred miles an hour, your arms are killing and your temper's not much better. Then you miss that short turn you should have set him up for. You have to circle, slipping on the turf in a less than classic arc, wasting time-you're down 40 faults, despite having schooled the brute in the arena for hours at a time. You've blown the event. What's happened? What's happened is that you neglected to school your steed at the gallop. You've spent hours at the trot in the arena; extended, collected, medium, sitting, rising, circling, spiralling and serpentining. You've also spent some time at the walk and you've certainly worked at the canter too, going nice and slow in what is a tiny space for a big horse. But there's not much cantering in the test so you haven't spent too much time on it. There's no galloping at all, so to heck with that- besides the arena's too small. You've done heaps of transitions and half halts, and literally hours getting an absolutely square halt for the dressage judge. But the only galloping he's had is when you're riding for time in a jump off, or when you're on course at events.

The gallop is different to a canter. Try taking a big fence at the canter and then out of a gallop - big difference. The gallop is a naturally extended gait with a low freely-moving head carriage and dynamic balance. There is no collected gallop, a hand gallop at 400 m/min is as close as you get. A rider in the forward seat has shortened stirrups. In cross-country you shorten them another hole or two from your jumping length, so your leg position and aids at the gallop are also different. Another reason to school in this position.

In the gallop a horse changes its mechanics to a running, rather than a bounding movement, with four distinct support phases like spokes of a wheel, rather than the three beats of the canter. You can feel a Thoroughbred flatten as it starts to gallop, dropping nearly a hand at the wither as it stretches out.

The gaits of a horse are like the gears of a car - leg mechanics are altered to optimise the energy cost of locomotion and mechanical strain through all speeds. We have but two gears ourselves being bipedal - the walk and run. The horse has a four-speed gearbox, or maybe more if you consider the running-walk, pacing and Icelandic Tolt as natural gaits of the animal!

When galloping at speed, the rider's position and emotional milieu for horse and rider are quite different. Horses get more excited, more on the forehand and stronger. The horse's physical and emotional capability to respond is diminished. In England or Ireland many horses are started with a season or two of hunting. Excellent schooling for a jumping horse. Here, without hunting being an easy option, schooling at the gallop can be planned, rather than be left to chance.

First things first

To gallop safely you need access to a racetrack or large smooth field. A golf course is ideal but don't let 'em catch you! I liked galloping in the ploughed snow on the edge of a gravel road in Canada - soft and even, but there's not much of it around here. I guess hard-sand at a beach is closest, though that's illegal in NSW. For a time I used an airstrip for light planes - ideal.

The surface is critical in avoiding injuries; the track must be free of holes, stones and rough ground. Even then you should avoid galloping if the ground is soft after rain, or too hard in mid-summer. It's also useful to have a flat grassed or sand schooling arena about the size used for stadium jumping: 40 metres by 80 metres is good.

Before schooling the gallop, the horse should be in work for at least six-weeks so he's hard, sound and ready to progress. Galloping can be done on your jumping days, though no more than once a week the first few times. Do so before jumping if he's a timid horse, after jumping if he's aggressive. After that allow at least two easy days between each galloping workout. Always check your horse's legs before galloping. If there's heat or swelling, if he's short or you even suspect soreness then postpone that session - there's always another day, but not always another horse!

The gear for galloping

Yes, it is different tack from hacking. A jumping saddle or an all-purpose is needed to get the correct leg position of the forward seat. I always use a running martingale and a noseband. When your horse is rocketing along with its head in the air while you saw on the reins, it's too late to go back and get 'em. Don't forget the rein stoppers and do have the martingale buckled to the saddle as a breastplate. Because of chest expansion, saddles move back at the gallop. You can finish up in a strange position with your spurs in his flanks, especially if you go uphill! Use a running gag if you think you might have trouble controlling your mount. Do try the new bit in the arena a few times before you go out - it's not cruel, think of it as disk brakes for your horse.

The girth needs to have some give in it, a galloping horse expands its chest a good 10 cm with each stride as it breathes - terribly inconvenient but necessary. At dressage speeds he hardly needs to breathe at all, so it's not so critical there - a solid girth's fine for that. Always, always wear a helmet and use the breastplate and a surcingle with an elastic insert to match your stretchy girth. These are part of the galloping package, if you're going to gallop a horse safely put the correct gear on. Always carry a whip you never ever know when you'll need it and when you do it's right now! Carry a crop, not a dressage whip since a long whip tends to flex and may strike the horse with each stride when its in full flight. Oh, almost forgot, one of the really nasty things that can happen is your stirrup leathers break while you're standing up getting bugs in your teeth in the two-point position. There are now nylon-backed jumping leathers available that I personally wouldn't be without.

Speaking of nylon, give some thought to your riding clothes. That nylon parka looks cool and keeps out the rain, but at a critical speed they can suddenly develop an explosive crackle that shifts most horses into top gear immediately. There's no way of slowing them down unless you can get the darn thing off. Let me tell you that's no easy feat at a thousand metres a minute with the reins in your teeth, both hands tugging to get that vee-neck jacket over your helmet-it's certainly thrilling when you're flying blind with the parka over your eyes. Not a good look. Trust me on this!

Believe it or not a horse that has raced is easier to school at the gallop. He learns something at the racetrack and that's galloping. Galloping is not entirely innate, try galloping a young horse that's never raced - mostly they don't go forward as readily, they don't have the full range of comfortable speeds, nor are they as coordinated as you'd expect. This is especially true of big horses like the Hanoverian. There is a lot of learning to be done by horses to gallop fast. Those recycled racehorses do have some advantages.

Obedience to the leg helps a great deal - they sure don't learn that at the track. Leg yielding, turns on the forehand - flying changes and ability to work over cavalletti and jump calmly will make galloping easier. It is useful to commence galloping before serious jumping training is attempted - it's part of his schooling on the flat. The horse may be fairly green but he must respond to your leg. Do not even attempt to gallop a horse in the open or to jump a horse who won't leg yield, there's no way you can hold a line on such a horse. Certainly nothing like dressage test perfection at the slower gaits is needed. However, the horse must be obedient - if he's all over the place and it takes a curb or gag to control your horse at the canter then neither of you are ready for galloping. As long as he continues to be calm riding in the open, then start him.

Starting to gallop

When you start galloping, your horse should perform calmly and with a spirit of willingness. If your horse is too hot and hard to hold, then galloping degenerates into a fight for control. In this case you need to go back to schooling at the slower gaits before it gets serious. If a horse gets nervous when you gallop, they will often resist going to the track; rearing, running back, bolting and so forth. It should never get to this, take the horse back to the arena at the first hint of resistance and try galloping later in his education.

You will need to use considerably more equestrian tact when schooling at the gallop. Despite shorter stirrups try to use the same feel, balance and softness of aids you would on the flat. One difference is the horse will not be capable of the same precision at these faster paces. The trick is not to fight or demand what the horse cannot do-go with the horse, be more forgiving, apply aids clearly and a lot earlier. Remember to use aids in sequence-the lightest aid is always applied ahead of stronger aids. In learning the horse associates aids and will eventually react to the first and most subtle cue. If this sequence is not used then horses remain unresponsive.

Next month we learn how to maintain control and balance at the gallop....

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	AUSTRALIA'S NUMBER ONE EQUESTRIAN MAGAZINE
		By Donald McMiken Ph.D. So you're setting off on the cross-country with your new Thoroughbred. You realise by the third fence, he's reefing and pulling as you try to keep him under a hundred miles an hour, your arms are killing and your temper's not much better. Then you miss that short turn you should have set him up for. You have to circle, slipping on the turf in a less than classic arc, wasting time-you're down 40 faults, despite having schooled the brute in the arena for hours at a time. You've blown the event. What's happened? What's happened is that you neglected to school your steed at the gallop. You've spent hours at the trot in the arena; extended, collected, medium, sitting, rising, circling, spiralling and serpentining. You've also spent some time at the walk and you've certainly worked at the canter too, going nice and slow in what is a tiny space for a big horse. But there's not much cantering in the test so you haven't spent too much time on it. There's no galloping at all, so to heck with that- besides the arena's too small. You've done heaps of transitions and half halts, and literally hours getting an absolutely square halt for the dressage judge. But the only galloping he's had is when you're riding for time in a jump off, or when you're on course at events. The gallop is different to a canter. Try taking a big fence at the canter and then out of a gallop - big difference. The gallop is a naturally extended gait with a low freely-moving head carriage and dynamic balance. There is no collected gallop, a hand gallop at 400 m/min is as close as you get. A rider in the forward seat has shortened stirrups. In cross-country you shorten them another hole or two from your jumping length, so your leg position and aids at the gallop are also different. Another reason to school in this position. In the gallop a horse changes its mechanics to a running, rather than a bounding movement, with four distinct support phases like spokes of a wheel, rather than the three beats of the canter. You can feel a Thoroughbred flatten as it starts to gallop, dropping nearly a hand at the wither as it stretches out. The gaits of a horse are like the gears of a car - leg mechanics are altered to optimise the energy cost of locomotion and mechanical strain through all speeds. We have but two gears ourselves being bipedal - the walk and run. The horse has a four-speed gearbox, or maybe more if you consider the running-walk, pacing and Icelandic Tolt as natural gaits of the animal! When galloping at speed, the rider's position and emotional milieu for horse and rider are quite different. Horses get more excited, more on the forehand and stronger. The horse's physical and emotional capability to respond is diminished. In England or Ireland many horses are started with a season or two of hunting. Excellent schooling for a jumping horse. Here, without hunting being an easy option, schooling at the gallop can be planned, rather than be left to chance. First things first To gallop safely you need access to a racetrack or large smooth field. A golf course is ideal but don't let 'em catch you! I liked galloping in the ploughed snow on the edge of a gravel road in Canada - soft and even, but there's not much of it around here. I guess hard-sand at a beach is closest, though that's illegal in NSW. For a time I used an airstrip for light planes - ideal. The surface is critical in avoiding injuries; the track must be free of holes, stones and rough ground. Even then you should avoid galloping if the ground is soft after rain, or too hard in mid-summer. It's also useful to have a flat grassed or sand schooling arena about the size used for stadium jumping: 40 metres by 80 metres is good. Before schooling the gallop, the horse should be in work for at least six-weeks so he's hard, sound and ready to progress. Galloping can be done on your jumping days, though no more than once a week the first few times. Do so before jumping if he's a timid horse, after jumping if he's aggressive. After that allow at least two easy days between each galloping workout. Always check your horse's legs before galloping. If there's heat or swelling, if he's short or you even suspect soreness then postpone that session - there's always another day, but not always another horse! The gear for galloping Yes, it is different tack from hacking. A jumping saddle or an all-purpose is needed to get the correct leg position of the forward seat. I always use a running martingale and a noseband. When your horse is rocketing along with its head in the air while you saw on the reins, it's too late to go back and get 'em. Don't forget the rein stoppers and do have the martingale buckled to the saddle as a breastplate. Because of chest expansion, saddles move back at the gallop. You can finish up in a strange position with your spurs in his flanks, especially if you go uphill! Use a running gag if you think you might have trouble controlling your mount. Do try the new bit in the arena a few times before you go out - it's not cruel, think of it as disk brakes for your horse. The girth needs to have some give in it, a galloping horse expands its chest a good 10 cm with each stride as it breathes - terribly inconvenient but necessary. At dressage speeds he hardly needs to breathe at all, so it's not so critical there - a solid girth's fine for that. Always, always wear a helmet and use the breastplate and a surcingle with an elastic insert to match your stretchy girth. These are part of the galloping package, if you're going to gallop a horse safely put the correct gear on. Always carry a whip you never ever know when you'll need it and when you do it's right now! Carry a crop, not a dressage whip since a long whip tends to flex and may strike the horse with each stride when its in full flight. Oh, almost forgot, one of the really nasty things that can happen is your stirrup leathers break while you're standing up getting bugs in your teeth in the two-point position. There are now nylon-backed jumping leathers available that I personally wouldn't be without. Speaking of nylon, give some thought to your riding clothes. That nylon parka looks cool and keeps out the rain, but at a critical speed they can suddenly develop an explosive crackle that shifts most horses into top gear immediately. There's no way of slowing them down unless you can get the darn thing off. Let me tell you that's no easy feat at a thousand metres a minute with the reins in your teeth, both hands tugging to get that vee-neck jacket over your helmet-it's certainly thrilling when you're flying blind with the parka over your eyes. Not a good look. Trust me on this! Believe it or not a horse that has raced is easier to school at the gallop. He learns something at the racetrack and that's galloping. Galloping is not entirely innate, try galloping a young horse that's never raced - mostly they don't go forward as readily, they don't have the full range of comfortable speeds, nor are they as coordinated as you'd expect. This is especially true of big horses like the Hanoverian. There is a lot of learning to be done by horses to gallop fast. Those recycled racehorses do have some advantages. Obedience to the leg helps a great deal - they sure don't learn that at the track. Leg yielding, turns on the forehand - flying changes and ability to work over cavalletti and jump calmly will make galloping easier. It is useful to commence galloping before serious jumping training is attempted - it's part of his schooling on the flat. The horse may be fairly green but he must respond to your leg. Do not even attempt to gallop a horse in the open or to jump a horse who won't leg yield, there's no way you can hold a line on such a horse. Certainly nothing like dressage test perfection at the slower gaits is needed. However, the horse must be obedient - if he's all over the place and it takes a curb or gag to control your horse at the canter then neither of you are ready for galloping. As long as he continues to be calm riding in the open, then start him. Starting to gallop When you start galloping, your horse should perform calmly and with a spirit of willingness. If your horse is too hot and hard to hold, then galloping degenerates into a fight for control. In this case you need to go back to schooling at the slower gaits before it gets serious. If a horse gets nervous when you gallop, they will often resist going to the track; rearing, running back, bolting and so forth. It should never get to this, take the horse back to the arena at the first hint of resistance and try galloping later in his education. You will need to use considerably more equestrian tact when schooling at the gallop. Despite shorter stirrups try to use the same feel, balance and softness of aids you would on the flat. One difference is the horse will not be capable of the same precision at these faster paces. The trick is not to fight or demand what the horse cannot do-go with the horse, be more forgiving, apply aids clearly and a lot earlier. Remember to use aids in sequence-the lightest aid is always applied ahead of stronger aids. In learning the horse associates aids and will eventually react to the first and most subtle cue. If this sequence is not used then horses remain unresponsive. Next month we learn how to maintain control and balance at the gallop....