The last time you worked your horse, your goal was to improve his
impulsion. At the end of the work he showed a great desire to move
forward and did not resist at all in the transitions from working
to medium gaits and back. He could have taken a stronger first step
to the mediums, but then you are not finished with him yet. In the
transitions down to the working gaits it felt as though he might have
stiffened in his hind legs on occasion. In addition, since this seemed
to increase as he tired, you concluded that while his power to push
is well developed, he still lacks the strength to carry over any period
of time.
Reflecting back over the work you have done so far and identifying
problems you had to overcome is very important since it tells you
a great deal about your horse. It shows you his strengths and weaknesses
as well as the effectiveness and correctness of your work until now.
These are important factors in determining how to proceed from here.
Judging by your last ride, your training is right on target according
to the training pyramid. Your next goal must be to make sure that
your horse travels straight so that you can begin to concentrate more
on exercises designed to improve his carrying power.
Sometimes it is hard for us to realize that these powerful animals
may lack the strength to do the things we ask of them. To illustrate
how the horse feels, I like to have my readers and students experience
similar situations for themselves. On the one I am going to suggest
you try now, I think you should go off by yourself somewhere so that
you will not be hauled off to have your head examined. I want you
to just slowly run and notice how the muscles in your thighs feel.
Then go and run the same distance with your knees bent slightly and
listen to your thighs. Now run with knees bent deeply. Boy, did you
slow down! Your thighs are burning and you know that you cannot make
it the same distance as before. The last situation was like a horse
working in collection. The horse will slow down and it will have to
have breaks in order to rest its muscles. The horse you have been
training will probably fare better than you did because you have already
begun to condition his muscles for this kind of work ever since you
began to develop his impulsion.
It is worth a closer look to understand why it takes so much more
strength to run with your knees bent. The reason just simply is gravity.
With your knees bent only slightly, you have to lift your weight only
a short distance. The deeper you bend your knee, the farther you have
to lift your body to straighten out your leg. When your knee is straight,
your muscles carry no weight at all and can rest. In addition, the
time of rest shortens since your muscles must spend more time to straighten
the leg. In the forward swing, your leg carries no burden and can
rest. That means that the longer the stride, the longer the rest,
and running with a straighter knee produces a longer stride. All of
this is obvious. Another factor that is extremely important for the
rider is the stretch of the muscles between bending and straightening
of the knee. This is the body’s protection of the joint from
the shock of the foot hitting the ground. It is why a horse with joint
problems will show a much greater degree of discomfort on a harder
surface. Because they are elastic, muscles are much better equipped
to absorb shock than bones and cartilage. This elasticity allows the
muscle to stretch a little as the foot strikes the ground and before
it contracts to straighten the joint in order to lift the body and
propel it forward. It is like the action of a coil. The weight stretched
the muscle (compressing of the coil) and the muscle then returned
to its original length (expansion of the coil) to be further contracted
by its own action to stretch the joint. We call this the spring power
of the muscle.
***
This spring power of the horse’s
muscles allows us to sit the trot of a horse without suffering a concussion.
Because of it, the motion of the horse’s back no longer feels
like the jolt of a jackhammer but more like the swing of a trampoline.
Observe a horse trotting around with his tail up, head up, all excited,
and imagine sitting on him. This horse is tense and has contracted
his muscles to where they will not stretch and his strides have turned
into bounces. Such a situation is most difficult for the rider and
damaging for the joints of the horse.
The reason I spent a great deal
of time explaining the spring power of the muscles is that as we strengthen
the horse, we will feel it more and we will also have a greater need
for it. The observer notices this power through the increased expression
of the horse’s movement and the rider appreciates the greater
comfort in the saddle. This spring power is the physical reason why
suppleness is the condition at the early stages of the training pyramid
since it protects the joints from damage caused by the shock of the
hoof hitting the ground. This same damage will also occur in the older
horse when it works with tension. Therefore, my constant reminder
that we must not ignore any of the conditions of the pyramid once
we have moved past them in our training.
Horses are very quick learners.
Since they are animals of prey, they do not get many chances to make
mistakes. Trainers use this ability to teach their horses through
conditioning. I have talked about this technique in other articles.
Let me just point out that the rewards the horse looks for the most
are comfort and survival. In the realm of training, survival means
that the horse realizes that a situation it perceives as dangerous
is removed or proven harmless. We achieve this by showing the horse
an obstacle it fears while petting it or talking to it in a soothing
voice. We use every opportunity we can to take the horse into strange
environments so it can become familiar with many different objects
and situations. The best chance of accomplishing this is to ride cross-country.
My point here is the fact that comfort is one of the main motivators
of the horse and you can only achieve the goal of training by making
the horse uncomfortable at times. This is why I believe that good
trainers must be angels, at least while they are around a horse. These
trainers must deny their own predatory natural instinct in order to
accommodate the instincts of their pupil, a beast of prey. It is our
natural behavior to become aggressive when we are denied satisfaction.
This will, however, instill fear in the horse and his entire focus
will be to get away from that situation and not to learn. The horse
is also a herd animal and looks for a leader to show it what to do
in order to be safe. This means that a horse will follow its leader
into a situation that it may perceive as dangerous or that is uncomfortable.
The trainer must, therefore, always look for the fine line between
the discomfort his horse will tolerate and the amount of discomfort
that will bring about resistance.
It is important to recognize
that line, since once we cross it, we will have to retreat or we may
cause problems for our future training. Until now we have asked very
little of the horse that would cause it discomfort. We have been careful
to prepare the horse physically for the greater demands. So far we
have stayed within its natural way of moving and asked for just a
slightly greater bend in the joints of the hind leg. Through much
praise, the discomfort-comfort scale clearly tilted towards comfort.
Making the horse travel straight is about to change that. We now must
tap into another source of motivation for the horse. I believe that
at this point we meet the great divide between the experienced and
thinking trainer and the, “riding by the seat of the britches,”
type. You, of course, are in the former category.
***
The new motivation for the horse
is its enjoyment of learning. No, I do not believe that horses like
to work, but I believe they look forward to the many benefits working
will give them such as all that attention, the treats, the breaks,
often a chance to interact (limited) with other horses and just the
general socializing that comes with work. I also believe that having
had to learn a language and performing tasks has stimulated their
intelligence and their desire to learn more. Horses, in my opinion,
are highly intelligent as far as their ability to learn and their
memory about learned lessons goes. I do not dare question that since
it probably exceeds mine. As for reasoning, I do not think horses
are capable of it. That is the only reason they are working for us
and not us working for them. I would like to paraphrase a circus trainer
who, when asked about the incredible feats his horses performed, said
that horses like to perform because horses like to eat. Eating is
part of the need to survive, the strongest motivator of the horse.
As we ride the exercises that
will help our horse travel straight, we are well into the phase of
developing carrying power. Survival means, run first and check later.
That run is, if possible, in a straight line as fast as the legs can
push. Positioning, bending, turning, spinning, even stepping backwards,
are not skills needed for survival. Moving with joints more bent slows
the speed down and is, therefore, a hindrance. Burning muscles, fatigue,
sweat, and the tugs in the mouth every time the horse looks for relief
by shifting weight back onto the forehand is not considered comfort,
and so the level of motivation drops way down. Here the trainer is
confronted with the Herculean dilemma; Do I take the apparently easy
route by using bigger spurs, tougher bits, and or draw reins, or do
I take the tough road that promises hard work and slow progress? Unlike
Hercules, we know the results of both approaches and, therefore, the
decision to go the long route should be easy. Still many try the gadgets.
The trainer has encountered tough resistance and believes that only
force can overcome it. The intentions are of course to remove these
artificial aids as soon as she has solved this particular problem.
What was such hard work before, these aids made so easy and therein
lies their narcotic effect. The next time the horse shows just the
least bit of resistance the trainer is back to them and soon she believes
she cannot overcome any resistance without them.
In most of these cases, the trainer
would have been able to solve the problem without the help of artificial
aids. Taking time to analyze and thinking of some exercise to strengthen
and better prepare the horse might have helped to remove the resistance.
It would for sure have preserved the horse’s motivation to tackle
future tough spots as well as any soundness problems that may not
show up until later. For those among you who think I have hit the,
“Be careful with your horse,” soapbox hard enough, please
also read the part about hard work and sweat. If you want your horse
to jump a good canter pirouette, he must take the weight on the hind
legs and he must be strong enough to jump the canter. Such strength
you cannot just wish for. You must work to gain it. With the help
of such equipment, you can force the horse to do it even though he
is not ready, but I will guarantee you that the time will come when
you wish you had not done it.
This is also the time when the
horse’s talent for dressage becomes apparent. Often in ads for
the dressage horse you will read that the horse is demonstrating a
willingness to collect. This means that the horse finds it relatively
easy to do so. This will help the trainer teach the horse the increasingly
more difficult exercises and the horse will stay motivated to try
for more the next day.
The subject of motivation deserves
much more space then this article can give it. Just look at it as
a trade off between you and your horse. Make sure that he understands
that the harder he tries, the greater his rewards will be. Constantly
work at your horse’s limits, not past them, and be very consistent
and fair with your rewards as well as with your corrections. Punish
only deliberate misbehavior, and do it immediately so there can be
no doubt in the horse’s mind as to what action on his part brought
about that painful reaction from you. Make sure that you take care
of all his creature comforts and he will thank you with his work.
The horse that likes to work is not the result of luck, but his response
to your attention to his needs while you ride him and during the rest
of his day.
You have worked him with our
emphasis on making him straight so that he is better able to carry
more weight on his hindquarters. This work has already begun to ask
him to step under his center of gravity a bit more. You have asked
him at the same time to continue to move out so he can overcome the
natural tendency to slow down as the steps become shorter and he has
to work harder just to maintain his rhythm. You have also conditioned
him to trust you and stay cool as the work makes his muscles sore.
He has learned a language and it has become much easier for you to
be precise in your commands.
In reading the last paragraph
you would think that the most difficult part of training him is over
and you are on the home stretch. Unfortunately it is not so because
you must now ask him to change his direction of movement even more;
enough that he will want to resist it. It will feel unnatural to him
but you will not only have to teach him to move forward-upward but
confirm this movement to such a degree that it becomes second nature
to him. Give your horse and yourself a day off before you start with
collection.
