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<\/h3>\n<\/h3>\nI am pretty good at scribbling down notes as a lesson progresses, but as we walked down to the arena at Sugarloaf farm, where Hayley Gilbert and Leonie Bramall were starting their session, it was obvious that this was not going to work. Problem one, Leonie has a very soft voice, problem two, although it is a very quiet voice, the delivery is rapid fire. Luckily, Leonie didn\u2019t mind me tracking her around the school with my digital recorder in my hand, doubly lucky because it was an incredibly sophisticated, multi-layered performance\u2026<\/p>\n
The subjects were two of our regular clinic stars, Hayley Gilbert and her beautiful young mare, Rubinell \u2013 yes, they appeared in our Anna Sophie Fiebelkorn clinic a month or two back, and Hayley was concentrating hard on the words of wisdom from the new visitor\u2026<\/p>\n
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Leonie, a star for her position on the FN training tapes<\/em><\/p>\n Leonie became famous as \u2018the rider with the perfect position\u2019 in the FN training tapes. At that stage she was doing her time (15 years!) with Jo Hinnemann, since then she has moved on and established her own dressage training centre with her partner, Volke Dusche near Hanover. Although Leonie has been a regular visitor to Queensland over the past few years, this was her first visit down south. Leonie is obviously a gifted instructor, one who gets into the process between horse and rider, she is feeling the interaction every step of the way\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cGive her a bit of a sponging, squeezing, idea with your outside hand, so that you are giving her the feeling that she is going to your outside rein, not backing off. You are sponging and encouraging her to take that contact on the right rein. Give on your inside left hand. You want her to relax her neck, ask her to drop and stretch her neck more positively \u2013 we will keep working on that concept.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you see the rider before you, when his horse really stretched at the end? Often it is better to do that stretching at the end. When the horse is on top of things and hot, you don\u2019t get that stretch. There\u2019s no point trying that stretch at the beginning if the horse is tense and won\u2019t go in front of your leg. Often with these horses, you do the stretching to the end of the ride when they are on your aids and they are open through their necks.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are making your turns you should be thinking turning into forwards \u2013 not forwards as acceleration. Even a piaffing horse that is on the spot, is not going anywhere in acceleration as far as the speed goes, but is keeping the energy moving forwards, stepping up from behind, and that is the important thing, controlling the energy.\u201d<\/p>\n And we are still walking folks!<\/p>\n \u201cAllow her the chance to put her nose down; it is not always about being perfect all the time. Give again, so that the horse actually opens its shoulders. Now you have the walk at the beginning that you had at the end in yesterday\u2019s lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of how much collection you are trying to achieve, you must not deplete the range of motion. A lot of people train horses and shut them off, because it is easier. Okay, they do the tricks, however they lose that natural range of motion. We all want the big movers – we go to the Young Horse classes and the horses there are all big movers, but look at them in two or three years and what happened to that movement? That is one thing that was hammered into me at Jo Hinnemann\u2019s, you must never, never, deplete the horse\u2019s range of motion. Collection is not limiting the range of motion, it is actually enhancing and producing cadence. You should always take care of that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe comes in here to work and she has a calm state of mind, she is willing to open to you at the very beginning. Even though it is windy and the birds are squawking, yes she lives here, but sometimes when horses live in an environment it can be worse. You have a communication working and this is so important, you don\u2019t want to lose that in your training.\u201d<\/p>\n If by now gentle reader you are getting the impression that this is one of those very long, very detailed articles, you are dead right. Quick solutions, like quick results are not on today\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cShorten your reins and trot on. We work on the quality of the work. Regardless of what exercise you ride, the purity of the gaits should always be maintained.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWork on that shoulder-in; make sure you\u2019re getting the balance: the hindquarters are staying on the track, the left front leg with the left shoulder has to come in, not the head: the left shoulder is staying in front of you. Work the horse in a sphere, not in a box. Have the idea of working into the third dimension, not just flat like you are watching a TV picture, but the third dimension, real life. Longitudinal connection combined with lateral connection \u2013 those two elements, not one or the other, but both of them together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what creates cadence and that\u2019s how you enhance your collection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are asking her to flex, she doesn\u2019t back off the bit, she swings past your contact, so the contact is never hindering the range of motion. Watch the neck, does the neck stay soft, is she accepting your contact on the outside rein?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe is allowed to look, yes, but she is not allowed to deviate and change lanes like a crazy driver on the freeway. Don\u2019t change lanes, stay in your lane. I don\u2019t have a problem with horses looking at things; they live and survive in the wild because they look, and run away when they are scared. She is allowed to have a look but she has to stay in shoulder-in on the track. Running off the track is not an option. You have to be quite strict about this, she is not three years old.\u201d<\/p>\n Leonie asks for one of my favourite exercises, transitions, trot to walk while holding the shoulder in position\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cDo some walk-trot transitions in the shoulder-in. Hind leg under, push through, half-halt \u2013 you are working on a one-two-three-four-rhythm in walk, you are activating her but you are not destroying her rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cActivate her into the walk, energy into the walk, but take care of her rhythm. And trot again, right hand stays down, trot her into your outside contact. The first stride is swinging up over the withers out of the back. That\u2019s what you are after. And walk again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWork on the engagement. A horse is longitudinally connected, from back to front, not front to back. And laterally, work on the hollowing, on the correct balance. A horse cannot physically put any more weight on his hind legs, that\u2019s rubbish. It is just in the balance of its body and that\u2019s what we are trying to develop. Perhaps 1% of a horse\u2019s bodyweight can shift to the back, but it is actually the balance that you are changing. It is all about balance and rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n Rubinell is a Hanoverian mare, imported to Australia as a foal, more work with her and Hayley follows…<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDo lots of transitions, over and over, walk-trot, half-halt, directly into the walk and trot on again so you get an immediate reaction of your leg. Trot, trot, build up some energy and recycle that through the hindquarters, then walk again. Don\u2019t be afraid to play with the tempo in the trot. Don\u2019t think you have to ride in one perfect tempo all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKeep riding shoulder-in. It was good to go forward, but then you just let her straighten and fall forward. She does that big trot – which is good \u2013 but then use your shoulder-in to control it. Go forward, you want the dynamic within the horse to increase, not the horse to lengthen and go faster. Walk again and close her again. So you get the direct result without any detours.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWalk again and soften, trot again, go. As soon as she softens release your thigh a little, let her swing through your knees.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe neck is much better than it was yesterday. She is a little bit behind the vertical, however the under-neck is staying soft, she is not locking up every time you do a transition. It\u2019s a process, it\u2019s not perfect, but nothing is perfect. In the perfect world, which everybody writes about in books, it\u2019s all fantastic, but that\u2019s crap. There is no perfect world when you train horses. It would be nice if people would bring more common sense into training rather than thinking \u2018the book says this, so we have to ride like this.\u2019 That\u2019s politically correct, but rubbish. It\u2019s wonderful, but not the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd trot again. You don\u2019t need the big, long booming trot. She gives you three strides and walk \u2013 that\u2019s better. Give her a pat. That was really good, because she came back, but she didn\u2019t become stiff-legged. That\u2019s the answer, if the range of motion goes upwards to more cadence, that\u2019s what we want at Grand Prix level in four to five years. These details now are going to help you get there. Not the big trot. The big trot should just stay there, so she is able to access it. But the big trot breaks them. If you run around in big trot all the time, they\u2019ll break. It\u2019s not necessary. Connected, engaged, forward and backward engaged work, that\u2019s what we are after.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe needs to stay on your track, within her body, whether you are on the second track or on the centreline, it doesn\u2019t matter, but she needs to track up from behind into her withers. Even if she does shoulder-in, the hind legs still have to be pushing forward on the direct line. That\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBe soft; be kind \u2013 friendly but very on top of it. Not friendly and stop riding. You should be respectful with each other. Challenge her, but challenge her with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf she gets insecure, if she is getting lost, you and her are separated. She is insecure. Horses by nature have different temperaments and personalities. Some of them are more in your face, some are careful. Horses survive by running away, so they are very aware of their environment. It is a completely normal horse thing. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t understand why in competitions in Australia, they don\u2019t allow you to walk around the ring. In Germany this is normal. Every young horse that comes into a class is allowed to have a couple of minutes to walk around the arena. Over here, they are very anal about it. It is ridiculous. Some horses don\u2019t care, that\u2019s fine. But the sensitive horses, the horses you need to go to the higher levels with, they can be very aware of the environment, which makes them unsure. That\u2019s why you as a rider have to be much clearer in what you are asking, so that they learn that you are the leader. In a herd situation there is always a boss, there is always someone who is leading. Horses work out where they are in a pecking order within the herd. Horses that are spooky and unsure will feel more comfortable if you give them a definite direction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost riders, if the horse does something wrong and they correct it, \u2018no, that wasn\u2019t what I wanted you to do.\u2019 Why the heck don\u2019t they show the horse what they do want it to do? Now. Then they don\u2019t have to be correcting stuff and the horse doesn\u2019t learn to do it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGive the horse information on what it should be doing. It depends how you ride, if you\u2019re riding positively or negatively.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the same with riders. If I sit here and tell you, \u2018don\u2019t do that, don\u2019t do that\u2019, you will not take on any of my information because it is negative and your brain doesn\u2019t work like that. Try to be positive, train in a positive mode.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShorten your reins; do not make her shorter in the neck. Your hands have to be a little kinder. Try to enhance the dynamics of your walk, without speeding. More activity, the hands stay together, don\u2019t fiddle with her mouth. You want the neck to stay between your hands. You want the muscles to stay soft. So the horse can push through the withers with the muscles, the hind legs are activated and you get the belly up through the ribcage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is difficult for you, you ride on your own, you have no mirrors \u2013 so it is very hard for you to see where her frame is. So you have to be careful. The human identification of the situation is in front, what you see in front of you. That\u2019s what you rely on to give you a barometer of what is happening. But your feeling of what is happening in front is not necessarily a barometer of what is happening behind. Horses need to get strong into the contact. Today you are getting the half-halts working because she is pushing forward into the bit. Then you can address the hindquarters. It is a positive pull. You need contact, so ride and re-adjust the balance to the backend, and the horse will get less strong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHalf-halt, left canter. Organise the body and the pressure, use your inside leg to canter. I\u2019d rather she came up a little bit in front, rather than buried herself and pulled over her front legs. Think of renvers, the whole time in the canter. The nose stays in front of you, shorten your reins again. Renvers \u2013 always think of riding the right front leg forward. The left leg is leading in the canter, but I want you to ride the outside of the horse forward \u2013 the feeling of renvers. The horse is being forced to over-straighten, she is not drifting to the left, use your inside leg, half-halt, upward forwards, not backwards downwards.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cUse your corner. Give her a push, push your belly button forward and down. So you are not holding her back and pushing her with your back. You don\u2019t push with your back. Her back should come to your seat; you need to sit soft. You need to sit heavy, but not against the horse. Sit by using your abdominals, the front of your tummy as much as you can. Use your leg to push her towards your belly button. Sit and half-halt into that. So the frequency in the canter becomes more intense, she jumps with a better cadence. Up-up, up-up \u2013 and walk.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a German word, \u2018verst\u00e4ndlich\u2019, which is a really good word, it means \u2018easy, understandable\u2019. It is just uncomplicated to do, don\u2019t make such a big fuss of it with over-collecting. Concentrate on the purity of the gaits and feeling through the pressures in the body and just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThink of renvers on the circle and move the shoulder towards me. The frequency and the dynamics in the canters are what you are trying to improve. Don\u2019t forget your half-halts, it never ends. Half-halt, push-on, half-halt-push-on. A million billion every day! Re-adjust the body position, re-adjust the longitudinal position, both at the same time, you correct both of those.\u201d<\/p>\n The mare swaps leads.<\/p>\n \u201cShe changes and that is normal, she is struggling. It is not going to happen in two days. She has to practise. And transition to walk \u2013 that was horrible! It was like a western sliding stop. Canter again. Take your time, rhythm in your canter, the horse cannot read your mind. She worked hard yesterday, she is getting tired and uncomfortable and you are expecting her to be as good as yesterday. Sorry honey, but that is not going to happen. You have to be more lenient with her; it\u2019s a process. They give to you, and it\u2019s glorious, but they don\u2019t do that every day. We get intolerant because we expect that to happen every day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not the time you spend on the horse, it\u2019s what you do in that time. You can ride for two hours and have little ten-minute blocks of intensity in that period, maybe for three times or maybe four times for an advanced horse. If you overload the muscles, like decreasing the circle in the canter is really a workload, it stresses the muscles. If you take it over the point, they actually go into lockup and they can\u2019t do it. Then you are starting to get the problems and the horse is being \u2018naughty and bad\u2019. But it is because they are physically unable to do the what you are asking. If you let her take a walk and let everything stretch and relax, the muscles have a chance to re-energise. Then you can do another section\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is like interval training. Anybody who is an event rider knows that you don\u2019t gallop all the time. Too many dressage riders ride only for half an hour and they try to do everything. And then you get those horses that become like marionettes. They do everything but they are quite stuck in their bodies. Those are the schoolmasters. If you are working on schooling a potential athlete you will have to have a completely different attitude. Training an athlete means cross-training, stretches\u2026 not just the cardio. It\u2019s very complex management. As the rider you have to be a good manager and a good physio.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe details you apply now will follow you forever. It starts now, train it now \u2013 not just somehow. Anyone can get through the Grand Prix test, the ones who win get through with these details. The fine line that separates them from the rest is the detail. It is like the little kid taking a colouring book and crayons, and then we have Leonardo da Vinci, who does the masterpiece. They are both painting, but it is the detail. That\u2019s what you are after, the Leonardo da Vinci of painting. Think about it!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t give your reins away in order to go forward. She must canter past your contact. Half-halt up through your rein, not just accelerating only. When you accelerate take care of the quality of the body. You are sitting on a dressage horse, so take care of the quality of what\u2019s underneath you despite the acceleration. Lengthen in the stride is not necessarily an acceleration issue. You have to take care of exactly what you are asking the horse to do. Again that involves attention to detail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe mare has this super big, really good walk. This is great, because now you are getting the idea of collection in the walk. This is a great start, as I said to you before, this is how you will be getting into the piaffe one day. Her brain understands the signal you are giving her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t think of stopping the canter; go into riding the walk. In downward transitions everybody stops the gait they are in. No, ride forwards to the next gait, even if it is a walk. And canter again, outside rein and renvers. Inside leg, half-halt and upwards. And transition to walk, forward to the walk, half-halt \u2013 much better. She is waiting for you, \u2018here I am\u2019 and it was good, because you were right there. Give her a long rein and pat her.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"1GiveInside\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/1GiveInside.jpg\")
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