Steffen Peters on Contact
“If a Man knows all things but has no ‘feel’ that is disaster.”
Nuno Oliveira
The Classical Dressage Training Pyramid
Contact – Steady, Light and Even
Steffen riding Dante showing light even contact – notice how he is only using the snaffle rein of the double bridle
Contact is an holistic flow of energy. The energy from the rein contact that is applied without the supporting contact from the legs and seat has ‘input’ but no channel for ‘output’, therefore the rein aid will often dissipate before reaching its destination. One of the most fundamental mistakes riders make is assuming that contact simply means ‘having the horse on the bit.’ This implies that contact is achieved only through the reins and therefore we ride with our hands alone. When a horse is moving under a rider he is in actual contact with the rider’s leg, seat and hands.
Correct contact therefore is when a horse is accepting and responsive to all the contact aids: it moves freely forward with a swinging back (relaxation); maintains an even tempo (rhythm) and assumes a rounded outline with a mouth that is both relaxed and accepting of the bit. In this frame his back will be rounded, his quarters engaged, his poll the highest point, his jaw relaxed and his nose slightly in front of the vertical.
If a rider tries to prematurely bring a horse ‘on the bit’, by shortening the reins thus attempting to pull the horse head into a vertical position, before it is sufficiently relaxed (supple and loose) then the tempo of the gait will be lost. Any attempt to drive the horse forward at this stage with the legs will result in the horse hollowing his back, shortening his strides, falling out of balance and adopting an unresponsive, stiffly held head carriage. The horse will now attempt to resist the bit, collapsing the entire training pyramid like a house of cards.
When the horse is working rhythmically forward from the leg and seat aids he should seek contact with the rider’s hand, where his poll is the highest point of the neck; under these conditions the horse can now find his balance under the rider in each of the gaits. Steady, light and even contact means contact through quiet, soft steady hands and giving fingers. The feeling in each hand should be the same; quiet legs, draped around the sides of the horse with the weight of a wet towel and a balanced independent seat, which moves with the horse.
Dolly Joyce and Roosendaal BFD
The third horse and rider combination is Bianca (Dolly) Joyce and the young Holsteiner stallion Roosendaal BFD (Bean), owned by David and Dolly Joyce and his breeder, Louise Van Gaal of Brokeford Holsteiners. Bean is by the Showjumping sire, Rabino, out of a Romedio mare and the initial plan was for him to broken in and campaigned by Dolly’s husband David as a showjumper.
In many ways Dolly represents a large majority of dressage riders who have had to combine riding as a somewhat indulgent hobby whose primary focus has been, along with David, running the family organic dairy farm and raising their children. I asked Dolly to describe a little of her aspirations for her riding and what she hopes to achieve during the Masterclass with Steffen:
“I am an amateur rider that has only recently trained to this level, so I am blown away by the opportunity to work with Steffen. I have always dabbled with dressage but in adult riding clubs and my only EA experience was at Preliminary level until two years ago.”
What is it like to ride a stallion?
“I had never ridden a stallion before and didn’t really have any intention of doing so but as soon as Bean was broken in and I watched him start his jump training I really wanted to ‘have a sit’ on him. I began riding him slowly as I was initially intimidated by his size and the fact that he is a stallion. However, I eventually convinced my husband that a bit of dressage training might help strengthen the young horse and eventually David just stopped jumping him. Louise saw my partnership with Bean developing and was happy for me to train him in dressage instead.”
Contact is the steady, light and even connection between the rider’s hand and the horse’s mouth. Contact is communication; communicating is feeling.
Although Dolly is driving with the legs and seat aid, the communication is lost due to ineffective rein contact. Bean has tucked in his chin and is not stepping underneath himself adequately with his hind legs
What are you hoping to learn from Steffen at the Masterclass?
“As these movements are new to me I am hoping Steffen can show me how to polish the moves with expression without sacrificing the harmony. When I watch Steffen ride Ravel at Grand Prix I love the soft and supple picture he gives with horse and rider working happily as one.”
“Gentleness. Is it worthwhile? Yes, always! Yes, it is worthwhile
to ‘put on bedroom slippers’ as Baucher advises and to try
to ride all horses, without exception, using the reins and the legs with the utmost gentleness and the least effort.”
Nuno Oliveira
Dolly and Bean have entered the arena and are walking quietly; Steffen has asked Dolly to trot a 20 metre circle. He notices immediately that Dolly has a very soft rein contact but is not achieving the required level of engagement as her horse is not forward of her leg.
Steffen asks Dolly to lengthen Bean’s stride and while he praises her soft hands, he also challenges her to raise her training standards by keeping Bean forward of her leg; instantly correcting him when he takes advantage of her soft contact by then forging ahead and going against the bridle.
Steffen: “I like your light contact Dolly; light contact equals respect for your horse, but then your horse must equally respect your aids. When we walk a dog on a leash, the dog should be walking at our side without pulling. If we pull on the leash he can pull against it and we are not engaging his brain, it is exactly the same with horses. The reins are our means of communication to engage our horse’s brain, light contact means respect and therefore we must be completely intolerant of disrespect.”
Steffen has now asked Dolly to lengthen and shorten Bean’s strides on the long side of the arena. Although Bean was initially trotting in a productive round frame when Dolly requested a few lengthened strides Bean tended to forge ahead down into the bridle, and when asked to collect, he brought his head up and hollowed his back a little. Steffen asked Dolly to try the same lengthening and collection exercise at the walk, which produced a similar result.
Steffen: “Okay Dolly I want you to think about your contact during these transitions.”
Dolly: “Steffen can I ask you about the correct contact?”
Steffen: “You bet.”
Dolly: “I want that sensitivity and harmony, but when you say okay take up the rein, what measures should I actually do? I want to correct it but I don’t want to do it wrong.”
Steffen: “Perfect! Excellent question, when he goes too much against the bridle I would stop immediately and give him a gentle tap with the whip. I want you to first create awareness, where he says, oh my gosh wait a second, maybe I didn’t do that right. I get so many stories where riders say, oh yes but I’ve just got to engage him more or I got to get his back there, I gotta do this with his hips or that with his shoulders; but we have to think like horses and create awareness of every single little aid.”
Dolly : “That’s the tap then?”
Steffen: “Absolutely, bring it to his attention that it’s not okay. You take this idea Dolly into every single gait. This can be helped by engaging his brain a little more, give him more of a job. For me it seems like he spends too long in the same tempo so be more creative in the warm up, don’t just let him cruise around looking for ways to go against the bridle. Ask for some lengthening for a few strides by pushing him forward instead of kicking him, and then bring him back. How about a little flexion and then counter flexion? Ask him to yield a little bit on the diagonal and always analyse your contact, I’d like to see you use your leg a bit more too, for my taste it is still a little too diplomatic.”
Dolly extends Bean for a few strides in trot, but when she asks him to come back and shorten his strides, he pushes down and continues on in a longer frame.
Steffen: “Okay come back to the walk a little bit. I want you to think a bit more about the purpose of lengthening the horse – training beyond the judges and the show arena. We just want to test the lengthening to get the reaction from the horse; I know he can lengthen, I saw that very quickly. The question is did he go, yes, did he come back, nope! To me that’s the job to be testing in the warm up. I want simplicity, Dolly can you ask him to lengthen gently forward from the leg.”
Dolly asks Bean to lengthen for six strides then come back.
Steffen: “That’s a beautiful response to your request to lengthen, but when you want him back even though you where in posting trot, he took over way too much. Do you see what I mean? He braced against you. I appreciate so much that you are concerned about his physical way of loosening up but you need to keep him mentally on the job. He’s a good guy and his way of going is nice and forward but you need to think more about the connection, the rein and his responsiveness to the rein aid. Analyse the contact, it is always about the connection. It is never not about the connection.”
“Steffen, I would really like you to get on my horses and help me clarify my connection.” “Great, let’s do it.”
Steffen on Bean
Dolly: “You’ve told me to put my leg on and hold it for a couple of seconds, instead of giving him a kick. He goes forward and then comes straight back. Maybe I’m not being clear enough and I am getting really sore legs, so I am not very effective either.”
Steffen: “This is where you really need to have the strength in your core to make the impact for a couple of seconds so your horse knows you really mean business. You look pretty fit Dolly and I’m sure you are strong enough, but I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to be an effective rider to be mentally and physically fit and strong. I work out three times a week with a trainer at the gym, I also play tennis and ride a bike. It is not enough for our horses to be fit, strong and supple, we as riders must be as well if we want to get the best out of our horses.”
Steffen spends the next ten minutes working with Bean to reinforce the idea of the leg as a driving aid. He explains to Dolly that he has to engage Bean’s brain to respond immediately to the driving aid and stay in the tempo or gait until a new aid is given.
Steffen reinforces the idea that connection starts with the leg aid, which creates energy that is transferred from the horse’s hind quarters over his back down the neck to the mouth; this then travels back up the reins to the hands which receive the energy.
Correct contact can only be achieved through successfully working through each of the preceding levels of the classical training pyramid. When things go wrong in training a successful strategy is often to simplify matters by going back a step and establishing the basics. Ensure that the horse is moving forward in a steady rhythm in all three gaits, then work on suppleness and relaxation. When both of these steps are working well the horse will naturally stretch forward, round and down into contact. If a horse works well in respectful contact on one rein but not so well on the other, the issue most likely lies in the horse’s suppleness on one rein. Work done now on the stiff side will be far more productive than trying to attempt more advanced collection and impulsion on the looser side. Becoming an intelligent rider involves a good understanding of theory, the horse’s anatomy and possessing the analytical skills to ‘unpack’ a problem. Improving your horse means being constantly prepared to examine a situation and address the training gap. Go back, solidify the basics and make haste slowly.
Steffen on Olympic nerves & anxiety
“I would really like to comment on this topic of feeling nervous in the competition arena; even if I come across calm, you honestly need to understand that it’s a procedure for me. I still remember in 1996 it was my first time ever representing the United States and I don’t want to forget that moment. It was our National Championships and we had eight riders and eight horses that had the potential of making the team. We couldn’t predict beforehand who would make it, sometimes you can but we all had the potential; after the first day I was in fourth place and after the second day I was now tied in fourth place with another rider. It came down to the very final test; the first two were in the team but the second two were undecided, it came down to the freestyle.”
Udon – Steffen’s first Olympic horse, Atlanta 1996 / Photo: Arnd Bronkhurst
“There was obviously a tremendous amount of pressure, but I learnt early on to rely on what I had done before in the warm up. I knew what I could do with my horse and I tried to do just exactly that and not more. Just because it was now a hugely important day, I didn’t try and go out there to ride the scoreboard, I simply rode my horse. Even though I was nervous at the time I dealt with it and I will never forget the moment when I made the team, I was very happy that I was on the team and then I said to myself, oh my god, I am representing my country. I am going to the Olympic Games and I’ll never forget that next step from doing well at the National Championships and going to my first Olympic Games, that was a huge stepping stone.”
“Then Ravel came along… um… sorry [Steffen wipes his eyes]… you’ll have to excuse me, every time I mention his name it is still a little bit difficult for me to talk about it. I still remember this; we came up at the World Cup 2009 in Vegas as No 1 and had now made it into the group of horses and riders that have the potential of winning a medal at the Olympics so now there was a whole new level of pressure again. The expectation was so much higher, it was no longer good enough just to be a participant it was expected that you would be in the top three.”
“We went to Aachen in 2010 and everybody said, ‘you are stupid to go over there, now you are going into the lion’s mouth, why would you do that? You’ve just won the World Cup.’ I said, ‘look I don’t want to hide, I really want to go for it, I want to compete with the Europeans and I’d really like to do it again.’ Then Ravel won Aachen and the World Games [Kentucky World Equestrian Games 2010] had come around at home in our country, the pressure increased even more. Not winning a medal in Kentucky would have been a failure to a lot of people, so the pressure keeps rising and rising. Coming across calm, that’s fine, but I guarantee you my blood pressure was way, way up there.”
In the next of this series, Steffen discusses impulsion
