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Post by arabheaven on May 21, 2007 19:51:22 GMT 1
Zac's walk is the only thing letting him down in our tests. He is quite frustrating too as he CAN walk so lovely - really walking out etc., when we are on our way home but if i try to get him to do it i end up exhausted, he will do it for a few strides then slow down. comments are he needs to cover more ground. he just goes dum-dee-dum when we walk any tips or ideas to get him walking out? toni xx
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Post by suewhitmore on May 21, 2007 21:20:07 GMT 1
This is a rather long reply, because it expalins the principle of using precisely timed aids. You need to understand the principles in order to use the technique described to get a good walk, which is at the very end.
Getting the feel
A short introduction to aids, anatomy and gaits.
The only time a leg or hand aid is effective, when you are in motion, is when the horse’s leg that you want influence is swinging through the air. If foot is planted on the ground, you cannot really ask for lengthening or shortening of the stride, or change of direction.
The timing of aids is therefore crucial to their effectiveness, and in order to get correct timing, you need to be able to feel *when* to apply the aids.
This is *easy* once you know how, and becomes automatic with very little practice. Natural riders do time their aids to the horse’s movements without thinking, but most of us need to think about it and learn how to do it. The huge benefit is that once you start to use timed aids, you will find riding becomes much more effortless and comfortable, and your horse, any horse, becomes much more responsive.
The big secret is that you do not even try to feel the horse. You learn to feel what is happening to *you*, and *relate* those feelings to what you *know* is happening under you.
Once you have this feel, you can start using the “follow you, follow me” method of riding that is the key to good communication between horse and rider. What this means is that while the horse is doing what you want, your body follows the horse’s movements. When you want to ask for something different, you move your body and the horse will (and they really will, believe me on this one) follow your movements.
The structure of the horse makes it easier than you might think to be able feel what is happening. The horses hind legs are attached to a pelvic girdle much like ours, but the forelegs are not attached to huge shoulder blades, they are quite tiny in comparison, but are slung from a massive muscle group that is known as the thoracic sling. As the horse moves each hind leg forward, his barrel moves out towards your leg on that side, as it is rocked in the sling. This is very noticeable in walk, and recognisable in other gaits when you think about it.
If you understand the basic “shape” of the gaits you are riding, it is enormously helpful in remembering the sequence of footfalls and knowing “what happens next.” There are three types of gaits of the horse, classified according to sequence footfalls.
Lateral gaits are where a hind is followed by or moves at the same time as the foreleg on the same side – i.e. a lateral pair. These include walk, amble, rack, pace, tolte, paso, foxtrot and running walk amongst others. There is always at least one foot on the ground in these gaits.
Diagonal gaits are where a hind leg is followed or moves at the same time as a fore leg on the opposite site – i.e. a diagonal pair. These include trot, canter and gallop. These gaits include at least one moment of suspension.
Faster gaits can have what are termed “broken” pairs. For example, canter has one broken diagonal and gallop has two. This is where the pairing is actually interrupted by movement from the other pair.
The third type of gait, which we rarely ride (successfully at least) is bi-lateral, where both front legs or both hind legs move together at the same time or almost at the same time. These gaits include the “pronging” movement sometimes observed in foals when they leap about like lambs, the huge straight legged leaps of rodeo horses, and capriole.
Walk
It is really worthwhile spending some time and effort working on this, the feeling you will develop will translate to *all* other movements on the horse. This is all about learning to recognise what *you* feel, relating it to the movements of the horse, and then learning how to use it.
You need a calm, safe environment to work in and a relatively quiet horse. If you can get a helper on the ground, it is much easier, but not essential. Your helper does not have to be “horsey”, they will only be watching one of the horse’s legs. If your helper is unfamiliar with horse’s gaits, it will help if you put unmatched, brightly coloured bandages on the hind legs.
The walk is a four beat, lateral gait. If we start left, the sequence of footfalls is left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore. It is as if the horse is on tramlines, moving first one side of the body forward and then the other.
Ask your horse to walk forward. Let your legs hang loose. Your legs will start to sway in time to the horse’s movements. You should be able to feel each calf alternately coming in and just brushing against the horse’s side. (Actually, it is the horse’s side going out to meet your calf, but it *feels* as if your calf is doing the moving.) Not everyone does feel this, some people only get a “wobbly” feeling in their thigh on the relevant side, but *everyone* feels something.
The moment your calf is nearest to the horse’s side is the moment when the horse’s leg is swinging through the air. If you have a helper on the ground, shout out “now, now, now” as you feel your leg on the side nearest to them coming in. The helper should observe only the horse’s hind leg nearest to them, and should shout back “Yes, yes, yes” if the horses hind leg is in fact moving forward at that time (somewhat open to misconstruction if overheard).
The only problem I have teaching people this is that if they are shy, they tend to hesitate, and by the time they have got the word out, the opposite hind leg is moving forward. Just do it until you get it right every time – in my experience it takes about 2 minutes to get over the shyness and about 3 minutes to learn. That’s it, that’s really all there is to it.
Once you *know* you are feeling the movement of the hind legs through your own body, start to think about what you can feel in your seat. You should be able to feel first one hip, then the other, being moved forward by the thrust of the horse’s pelvis. Really think about this, and file away the feeling that is relevant to you. It is deeply important to all further work, as you will see.
With very young children, I explain that when the pony walks, it wobbles from side to side, and they will feel “wibble wobble, wibble wobble,....(jelly on a plate)”. That always makes them laugh, which is a good confidence booster before they even start.
Also, with the young, or nervous riders, I tell them that they can stop at any time, just shout stop. I then walk the pony forward, I usually lead from the girth area (my ponies are well trained for this type of thing), so that I am right by the rider and can put my arm around their bottom if necessary. I think it is quite frightening for children to have their legs grabbed if they start to lose their balance. I say, “Can you feel it? Wibble wobble, wibble wobble?”, and of course they can, because they are expecting it. I then ask them to shout “now” every time they feel the wibble. (or wobble, I’m not fussy). I don’t tell the very young about the actual movements, but move immediately on to teaching them how to use what they feel to get walk march, leg yield and stop on a breath.
Walk, application of leg aids
The horse’s response to leg aids is a learned behaviour rather than an automatic response. I will expand on this in a future post. Therefore it is not suitable to practice the following techniques on a young green horse who has not yet learned to move away from the leg. These techniques apply to English style riding.
Leg aids ask for three different things, to increase the energy in a stride – i.e. lengthen the stride or to increase elevation, to move away from the leg sideways, and to ask for a transition.
Broadly speaking, using one leg and then the other, alternate aids, asks for increased energy. Using one leg only asks for lateral movement and both legs together ask for a transition.
This is where the fun really starts. If you’ve never done this before, you will not believe the power and control you get, and how responsive your horse or pony becomes.
One of the real keys to working in this way is that you learn to ask and *release*. The aids are momentary and only repeated if necessary. So instead of nagging the horse with random thumps or deadening them with constant pressure, you are saying, listen, listen, but you are whispering with your body and the horse has to concentrate.
So, you’ve got your feel spot on, you can say “now, now, now” with the best. (If you can’t, back outside at once, and try again!)
The first exercise is the use of alternate leg aids to increase energy. Ask your horse to walk forward and let your legs hang loose as they did before. This time though, as you feel each leg swinging in (or your own “filed” feeling), bring your leg onto the horse’s side and release. What happens? Magic! Your horse will start walking out more briskly. The stride will have more energy, but you will not have broken the rhythm of the walk. As soon as your horse is walking on actively, stop using the aids.
This works because you are using each of your legs at the exact moment the horse is most able to respond, when it’s hind leg on the side of the leg you are asking with is swinging through the air. What’s more, you are not thumping or kicking, you are not giving the horse anything to resist or fight. And that’s it, you’ve now begun to *use* what you feel in a constructive manner. You know how to do it and you also know why you are doing it.
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gemma
Novice Poster
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Post by gemma on May 21, 2007 21:36:51 GMT 1
Sue - that's brilliant!! Have you done any centred riding at all? That's what I was taught to 'feel' the walk at a CR clinic. Once I got that, a lot of things fell into place!!
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emi
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 3,237
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Post by emi on May 21, 2007 21:53:28 GMT 1
Sue, I'm going to try that the next time I ride, it makes so much sense!
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Post by suewhitmore on May 21, 2007 21:58:32 GMT 1
Sue - that's brilliant!! Have you done any centred riding at all? That's what I was taught to 'feel' the walk at a CR clinic. Once I got that, a lot of things fell into place!! I'm so old I pre-date centered riding. I've been teaching this way since the 70s!
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Post by arabheaven on May 22, 2007 11:06:26 GMT 1
wow sue that is brilliant! thanks! will definetely try that this afternoon!!
how often should i repeat though? e.g if i ask as his hind leg swings, then stop when he is going forward, if he then goes less energetic again - i have to ask again... im assuming he will learn to keep going forwards but i dont want to end up nagging him...?
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Post by suewhitmore on May 22, 2007 11:28:59 GMT 1
The thing to really concentrate on first time you try it is knowing you really have got the feel. Also, let your horse have nice long rein, so you don't inadvertantly slow him down with your hands.
Then experiment - Arabs are sensitive, like my Lusos, so the aid should be like a butterfly kiss when he understands that you really are asking him.
I also have an ancient old Freisian who I took on as a retiree, and at first with him it was like squeezing a sausage - it took so long for the message to get from his side to his brain!
It doesn't feel like nagging because the aid is a split second, and as you get better at recognising what *you* feel, you will be able to feel the slightest slow down and ask again *before* there is a single slower stride. Horses really seem to enjoy this, watch out for happily pricked ears and an alert expression. And please, do let me know how you get on! Cheers, Sue
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Post by arabheaven on May 22, 2007 11:49:30 GMT 1
ooh i will do! ill do it this afternoon on our hack ;D its so nice to hear it explained like this cos all ive ever got is kick when he slwos down, or smack him with the whip. not my style
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Post by Kelly Marks on May 22, 2007 12:03:32 GMT 1
Hi Sue Welcome to the board - I can see you are going to be a real asset! I'm sure your name is familiar.....? Kindest Regards Kelly
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Post by Kelly Marks on May 22, 2007 12:06:23 GMT 1
Hi Sue Welcome to the board - I can see you are going to be a real asset! I'm sure your name is familiar.....? Kindest Regards Kelly
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Su
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 1,998
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Post by Su on May 22, 2007 12:08:15 GMT 1
Sue - that was a fantastic post!!! I am also going to give that a try tonight. Will come back with some questions for you tomorrow if that is ok (sorry Toni - just jumping in on your post! lol!)
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Post by jennyb on May 22, 2007 12:11:09 GMT 1
Toni, Sue's post is excellent at describing the "following seat"! Another little trick we learnt on the CR course in Switzerland recently was to think of the movement your seat bones describe once you are following the movement. You'll see that they make little circles, forwards and upwards, inwards and back. As you are walking, try to relate the size of the circles to an object - say an egg, tangerine, orange... If your circles are tangerine sized, see if you can gradually minimise your circles so that they become egg sized, or even smaller. This should slow the walk down on a responsive horse (which I'm guessing your arab is!). Now you can try to make your circle bigger, to orange size, grapefruit or even melon if you want to push the boat out! This should encourage a longer stride in the walk. It's fun to see how much you can influence stride length with just your seat!
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gemma
Novice Poster
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Post by gemma on May 22, 2007 13:34:59 GMT 1
ooh Jenny - definitely going to try that one.
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Post by suewhitmore on May 22, 2007 15:37:22 GMT 1
Hi Sue Welcome to the board - I'm sure your name is familiar.....? Thanks Kelly. Probably not familiar, there is a List 1(?) dressage judge called Sarah Whitmore in more or less the same area of the country - people often give me credit for being her - but I'm afraid I'm not! If you have Lusos rather than PRE, you may have seen my name tucked away on the breed society site - I am the reluctant keeper of the show trailer.
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Post by touchstone on May 22, 2007 15:41:06 GMT 1
The aids Sue has given are what I teach too I would also say that we often don't do enough walking with our horses; the thing that improved my horses walk the most was having to hack with an inexperienced rider at walk for a few hours every few days. My horse began striding out and viewed the walk as a pace to actually get somewhere instead of something to slob out in-between trotting and cantering, those hacks did more for her walk over a few weeks than I could have believed!
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