Please enjoy as you follow along with these posts that we consider interesting or challenging moments on their journey with Western Dressage.
Mission ImPossible – Karen:
Text from Deb: “She is sooooo stiff right. I desperately need a lesson with you. She’s been off too long!”
Glossary of Judging TermsStiff/Stiffness
Inability (as opposed to unwillingness) to flex the joints or stretch the musculature to the degree and in the way required to perform the task at hand. The opposite of Suppleness (defined as range of motion of joints, pliability, and flexibility).
A horse’s suppleness is largely determined by genetics but may over time be improved or negatively impacted through training.
So, where does Suppleness fall on the Training Scale? Good question. Way down there at the foundation, it’s that important. When we talk about Suppleness, we are referring to the horse’s ability to bend laterally, from side to side. We are also referring to his ability to lengthen and shorten his frame, his elasticity or longitudinal suppleness.
We began our lesson with the warm up. Leg yielding at the walk is a great way to loosen up a stiff horse. We started from the center line and asked Belle to move forwards and sideways for a few steps, making sure to maintain the proper alignment, with her body parallel to the long side. Beginning with a shallow line, leg yielding from the centerline all the way to the corner of the arena, we gradually increased the degree of difficulty by increasing the angle. Then, on to the real work.
Lateral Suppleness. Deb began with a 3 loop serpentine at the jog. Her focus was smooth and fluid changes of bend and control of the shoulders. Why a serpentine?
In dressage, we ride a movement for a reason. Every exercise is carefully thought out to improve the horse’s muscle development and conditioning. A correctly ridden 3 loop serpentine improves your horse’s flexibility and lateral mobility. The rhythm and tempo of the gait should not vary, and the horse should show fluid changes of bend from one direction to the next, with a moment of straightness as they cross the centerline. The inside hind leg carries a bit more weight, while the outside hind pushes and propels. The rider must focus on the recipe of the aids, bending the horse around her inside leg while the outside leg guards and keeps the haunches from falling out. The inside rein suggests while the outside rein supports. When Deb could smoothly and fluidly ride 3 loops, we increased the degree of difficulty and asked for 4 equal loops, with the same requirements of steady rhythm and tempo, alignment, and control. When this became easy, we added on.One of my favorite exercises for improving suppleness in bend combines a 3 loop serpentine with a figure eight over the centerline.
Tracking right, begin your 3 loop serpentine. As you cross the centerline, ride a 10 m circle to the right quarter line to quarter line. As you cross the centerline, straighten your horse, bend left, and ride a 10 m circle to the left quarter line to quarter line. Ride the second loop of your serpentine. When you reach the centerline, ride a 10 m circle left, moment of straightness, 10 m circle right. Ride the third loop of your serpentine. Remarkably effective and interesting for both horse and rider, this can be ridden in all 3 gaits depending on your level of training.
Longitudinal Suppleness. Not wanting to over drill Belle in any one area, as that just creates a tense and resistant horse, after a nice walk break, we moved on.
Next on the lesson plan was an exercise that would continue to work on bend, but also focused on elasticity. To prepare, Deb rode shoulder-in at the walk down the long side. She then asked for the jog, rode shoulder-in half way down the long side, and then a lengthening across the short diagonal. The engagement created by the shoulder in helped set Belle up for an effortless, uphill transition within the gait.
Another walk break, a look at the lope. Transitions from jog to lope, some counter lope and then another challenge. Can you stretch the frame in the lope? I felt Belle was tight and restricted in her back. I wanted to see her working more over her topline, and asked Deb to have Belle stretch long and low in the lope, looking for relaxation and freedom. Not unexpectedly, this was difficult, and so became part of Deb’s homework. It’s far better to reward the slightest try, which Belle had given us, and continue to ask for baby steps toward improvement, then to demand perfection before the horse is mentally and/or physically ready. And that is how you create a willing partner and a happy, healthy horse.
“Blame it on the Rain” – Deb:
One of my goals as a Western Dressage rider is to school consistently, and “do my homework”. After all, I AM a schoolteacher and I have standards! But almost three weeks of gulley washing rain, up to 5 inches a week put more than a damper on my good intentions. My ring was a total water obstacle complete with a pair of roseate spoonbill birds and a flock of curlews. The red headed sand hill cranes had the good sense to seek higher ground.Desperate to find a dry parcel to rode on, I took a friend up on her offer to ride at her place 30 plus minutes away…which…mysteriously, wasn’t at all drenched by our daily pm. storms. I was somewhat mortified when I scheduled my lesson with Karen, as I had to confess that I only had put in two rides in the weeks since I canceled lessons twice. Thank goodness for Paula and her generosity!
Karen drove to my place and hopped in my good old 99’ 250 and we hauled up to Paula’s dry paradise. It was a good chance to talk about western dressage, goals, and the future of this new discipline. We both agreed that staying true to our course of time tested classical training techniques, honoring the horse and improving Belle’s and my partnership carefully and systematically was more important than any other plan out there! It was like one of those really great parent/student/teacher conferences at school where everyone invested in the concern is on the same page.
The test of my training to date was to see if Belle and I had lost any ground over our forced hiatus. After we arrived, unloaded and thanked Paula I tacked Belle up and lunged her. It’s a part of my routine no matter where we are, at a show, a clinic or home; it’s what I do. A nice walk, some trot work and a brief canter to see how she is feeling. I’ve gotten a few “Good heavens!” from folks who have never seen my mild mannered Belle lunging for the first time… she is apt to buck, fart and gallop like a freight train some days, you just never know!
After a good go around we were ready and I hopped aboard. Karen asked me to pick up a good trot and start off with some 20 meter circles to get the bend in place. After going both directions we were then asked for a three loop serpentine making sure to have a couple strides of straightness before establishing the next bend and turn. I really like serpentines. It is neat to get the bend only from my seat and hips and “own the trot” as clinician Carol Bishop often says. Karen was happy with those in both directions and asked us to increase the number of bends with a four loop… oh yeah!
Then it was shoulder in time, bringing Belle from the 20 meter circle at A to the shoulder in on the long side, keeping the angle and just swinging her into it with my seat. Lining up my shoulders to match my hips and weight the inside seat bone and voila! Successfully executed both directions and I was one happy camper! Belle and I had NOT lost ground, despite the rain induced lay off!
Karen now had a plan for our lope work, and she wanted more of a loose, free lope from Belle working more over her back. Long reins. Now overall, her lope has improved a great deal. I credit that to our super new “Harmony” saddle and Karen’s constant reminders to “sit up straight, shoulders back and use the outside rein”. So, even though I thought we were doing what she wanted, it wasn’t yet what she was asking for. One of the things I love about Karen is I say “Show me?” she hops on and takes off. I usually stand there with my jaw dropped and say “oh… like that!”
Needless to say, after a few circles Belle was loping on a long rein, truly using her shoulder and up through her back, nice and relaxed. Sigh. I hopped back on and gave it a go, and again, Karen reminded me I was using the inside rein too much and was forgetting to use my seat and hips. RATS!!! I grabbed both reins one handed and threw my shoulders back. After about the third circle I finally got a loose lope using my seat for about half a twenty meter circle.
Why do I fight with myself about using my seat correctly at the lope? I have thought this through a great deal - Muscle memory! I don’t do it enough!!!
Humph, yup, this time… I blame it on the rain!
Stay Tuned for the next in this series…
About the WDAA: The Western Dressage Association® of America is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit organization focused on providing a model of horsemanship which optimizes the partnership of horse and rider for their mutual benefit. The mission of the Western Dressage Association® is “to honor the horse, to value the partnership between horse and rider and to celebrate the legacy of the American West” which it focuses on through its offerings of educational opportunities and events to the equestrian community. To discover more about the WDAA and Western Dressage, please visit www.westerndressageassociation.org.