This week in lessons

So this week in lessons we are going to discuss the Training Scale and how it applies to warm up and training.

The training scale is pretty universal to dressage training, and is basically a formula describing the order of priorities a rider should have when warming up and training the dressage horse, but the basics also apply to jumping.

Once we understand the training scale, it is easier to look at were a horse is "failing" so you can know what step you need to go back and focus on.

If I knew how to draw on this form, I would, but instead I will try to explain. You can view a diagram of the Training Scale at the barn, or using google.

Step 1 is the base of the Pyramid, and is Rhythm. Rhythm refers to the horse holding a steady beat in each gait. A rhythmic one-two-three-four at the walk, one-two-one-two at the trot, and one-two-three at the canter. It isn't to do with speed, just the steady beat. Horse tend to speed up their rhythm when they are loosing their balance or evading coming from behind (using their backs/hind quarters), and they tend to slow down their rhythm when they are allowed to get behind the leg, heavy in the hands, or loose hind end power during turns. By keeping the same rhythm, we help the horse keep its balance.

When jumping, we need to keep the horse's rhythm to make approaching the jump with a good distance easy.

Step 2 in Relaxation. This is looking for an attentive and willing horse. Note...it is NOT submission or obedience, but relaxation! The difference being this is something you cannot force, you can only ask for. If you get on your horse and it isn't relaxed, you will find your training progression stops here, and your focus needs to go back to rhythm, with exercises to work on rhythm, and to get your horse's excess energy, or lack of focus in check. Relaxation is not being half asleep either....your horse needs to be relaxed, yet attentive.

For dressage and jumping, a relaxed horse is ready and willing to respond to the rider, and lacks tension in its body.

In jumping, a relaxed horse will wait for its rider to tell it what to do, and will not take over and rush the jump or run out.

Step 3 is Connection. A connected horse is one whose hind end and front end work together both laterally and longitudinally; when you ask them to lengthen, their neck lengthens as well as their step. When you ask them to bend, they take a feel of the outside rein and stretch into it off of the inside leg.

Connection is where things get a little more tricky. A horse has to trust its rider's hands, legs, and body to want to be connected. Most riders use too much hand creating a horse that fears the hand rather than stretching into it. Many riders lack the fitness to use enough leg, and so the horse is ridden off the front end, rather than in its entirety.

In dressage connection is what gives a rider control over the entire horse. In jumping, connection is what allows a jump rider to control their horse with subtle cues.

Step 4 is Straightness. This sounds simple, but as most horses and most riders have one strong side and one weak side, there is inherent crookedness to most horses and riders. What makes it even trickier, because we spend most of our time being crooked, we don't even realize it, so being crooked feels straight!

Obvious examples of crookedness in the horse are: horses that favour one lead over another, horses that bend one way better than the other, and horses that halt tipped one way consistently.

Obvious examples of crookedness in the rider are; riders that tend to habitually drop one hand lower than the other, riders that have one heel that sinks lower than the other, or riders that tip their hips out to one side more than the other.

In dressage we want the horse to be as straight as possible so that they develop even athleticism on both sides. This makes complicated maneuvers like Tempe Changes or Passage possible.

In jumping, the level of straightness required by the horse is less, but we still want to be able to get them perpendicular to the jump, land each lead, and travel from the center of one jump, to the center of the next. These things are all easier when the rider is even on the horse! (perhaps photos from the front would be interesting....)

The top two levels are impulsion and collection. These apply more to dressage than jumping, although a good jumper will need to have moments of impulsion (think of the power needed to clear a big combination) and collection (balancing for a tight turn or tight spot). In dressage, impulsion and collection require considerable fitness and they require the basics of the first 4 levels to be fairly solid. To an extent, when we work on transitions, we are working on the basics of both impulsion and collection.

Ok, so I am being lazy...I will describe them better:

Impulsion is the power and thrust in the horse's step. It is the amount of suspension between each stride, and PUSH power in the horse's hind end.

Collection is the coiled energy in the horse's hind end. It is the amount of flex and bend in the hocks and the SIT in the horse's hind end. Collection is the transfer of weight bearing from the front end to the back end.

In jumping lessons we are continuing to work on position fixes, but we are going to use the ideas of rhythm and relaxation to help get our horses to jump quietly, and to get rider's to also jump quietly...and to wait for the horse to jump. A large part of the issues I am seeing is that riders want to do too much and so jump ahead. A circle may be involved....

Karen