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What secret
exercises do the Grand Prix riders and trainers use to make their
horses as lithe and supple as dancers?
How do Grand Prix riders train their own brains to perform
effortless, flawless tests? It
must be those advanced exercises such as half-pass, pirouettes and
tempi changes, right?
Wrong.
One figure which provides endless exercises that train both the
horse and rider is the circle. Glenda
Needles, USDF Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medalist, shares some of her
favorite circle exercises. Whether
you're a Training Level rider, have a green horse, or are working on
more advanced movements, exercises utilizing circles can increase your
precision, improve your feel and enhance your horse's responsiveness.
Feel It
To truly
influence your horse, you must be able to feel what is going on
beneath you. Many horses
travel along the rail with their shoulders collapsed to the outside
and haunches dragging along to the inside.
Traveling in this way makes it impossible for the horse to
engage its inside hind leg, inhibiting impulsion.
Crookedness prevents even contact in both reins and proper
bending. When a horse has
been traveling crooked for a period of time, the rider learns to
compensate by making her body crooked.
This body position and constant crookedness begin to feel
straight and normal, which hinders proper body alignment and
assessment of what is truly correct.
"Developing
a feel is the important part of riding.
You have to feel what is going on underneath you so you can
make the appropriate correction," Glenda says.
"Too many times, I find horses with their shoulders on the
rail and their haunches coming in, and that's a problem you can very
easily fix on a 20-meter circle."
The Importance of Precision
Training a
horse to the upper levels of dressage requires repetition and
consistency. "It’s
amazing to me how smart a horse can be," Glenda says.
"If you want your horse to be the best he can be, you are
going to have to be mentally disciplined to always ask the same way.
The horse learns to relate a specific aid to a desired response
through repetition."
Precision in
giving an aid and riding accurate figures are of utmost importance.
"Discipline and precise aids each and every time you ask
gets your horse trained; that’s what makes the difference,"
Glenda says.
The
importance of precision also applies to the training scale.
A horse must remain relaxed, rhythmic, round, and seeking
contact as he progresses through the movements.
A half-pass that lacks regularity and connection is a poor
half-pass. Without the
elements of the training scale, a horse is learning tricks.
"The more relaxed and rhythmic you can make your horse,
the more responsive he will be, the more willing he will be to try to
understand you and the aids you're giving," Glenda says.
"You have to have that rhythm and relaxation to develop
collection, which is at the top of the training scale."
The circle is a great tool for helping you maintain the
elements of the training scale as you work on specific exercises.
The Round Circle
Riding on a
circle promotes many components of the training scale, develops your
ability to ascertain whether the horse's body is straight on straight
lines. "You have the
epitome of pushing your inside leg to your outside rein," Glenda
says. "If you ride
your circles precisely and take that feeling to your straight line,
you will more easily recognize the feeling of a straight horse. " However, a circle must be a circle.
A circle ridden as an oblong, oval, or irregular shape
accomplishes little and can even de-train the horse.
"With an accurate circle, you can do a multitude of
amazing exercises to help you with all of your training, including
flying changes and medium gaits," Glenda explains.
Before you
begin the exercises, take a moment to think about the circles you have
been riding. Have they
been round? Are they
accurate, whether 20 meters or 10 meters?
Can you ride an accurate circle at any place in the arena? Glenda likes her students to understand a circle as four
points connected by arcing lines.
"I like to teach to students to visualize a circle and
make and image in their minds," she says.
The best way
to keep a circle round is to ride the four points.
As you approach a point, use your inside leg to push the horse
to the point. As you leave the point, use your outside leg to control the
arc of your horse towards the next point.
If a rider has trouble visualizing the circle, Glenda will
place cones upon the ground the ground at the four points of the
circle, and the rider makes the arcing lines between the cones.
With circles
on the end of the arena, you must remember not to follow the rail.
The horse does not go deep into the corners and will touch the
rail for only one stride at each of the points of the circle.
If your horse falls out on the open end of the circle, you're
not riding each step of the circle, but allowing the rail to do the
work.
Once your
circles are accurate, you're ready for the following exercises.
Developing Feel
A great
exercise to develop a feel for your horse's body and where it is
underneath you involves displacing the horse's shoulder or haunches
from the track of the 20-meter circle.
This exercise helps a rider develop a feel and understanding of
when the horse's balance changes," Glenda says.
Begin on a
20-meter circle with your horse rhythmically walking or trotting
forward into contact. Your
inside leg is at the girth, pressing him into your outside rein.
Your horse is bent evenly from head to tail.
His neck is a unit with his shoulders, and is not overbent to
the inside. A 20-meter circle does not require much bend.
Your body mimics the shape of your horse.
Your weight is on your inside seat bone; your shoulders follow
your horse's shoulders; your hips follow your horse's hips.
Once you have established the basic elements of the training
scale, you're ready to proceed.
As your
horse continues around the circle, apply the aids for shoulder-fore or
shoulder in. Displace
your horse's shoulders off the track to the inside.
Do not do haunches-out by pushing your horse's hind legs off
the track. Your inside
leg remains at the girth, not behind the girth.
When you first begin this exercise, maintain the shoulder-in
position for a few steps, then straighten your horse again by removing
the shoulder-in aids. As
you both build strength and coordination, you can proceed with more
steps of shoulder-in. To
build confidence of horse and rider, this exercise can initially be
done at the walk.
The next
exercise in is haunches-in while traveling on a 20-meter circle.
Maintaining the rhythm of the gait, apply the aids for
haunches-in. Check you
position. Have you
contorted your body by swinging your outside shoulder back and
collapsing your outside hip? Maintain
proper position throughout the movement.
This exercise "…helps you to understand where the
haunches are, and how to control them and be able to push them out or
push them in," Glenda says.
In addition
to improving your feel, this exercise improves the rideability of the
horse. The horse also
begins to engage his inside hind leg, which increases impulsion.
Transitions On A Circle
Transitions
performed at precise points on a circle serve many purposes anf can be
performed by all levels of horses and riders.
This exercise will teach you what preparations you need to make
in order to change gaits at a precise point.
This exercise also improves the quickness of the rider's aids
and the horse's reactions to the aids.
The first
level of this exercise is performed at the walk and the trot.
Your horse will walk a quarter of the circle, then trot a
quarter of the circle; walk a quarter and then trot a quarter.
Feel what is happening beneath you.
Is your horse still bent correctly? Has he popped his shoulders
to the outside? Plan the
transitions at precise points.
"You
learn to prepare for the transitions by pushing your horse into the
outside rein with the outside leg, and make the transition happen by
moving forward into the connection," instructs Glenda. Notice how responsive your horse is. What kind of half-halt will it take to get the transition you
want? You must maintain
the rhythm, even contact and correct bend throughout the exercise.
As you
master the exercise at the walk and the trot, proceed to to
canter-trot transitions. Once
you master canter and trot transitions at every quarter, you are ready
to increase the complexity of the exercise.
To take this
exercise to the next level, begin to decrease the number of strides in
each gait. Try four
strides of walk, four strides of trot, etc. This will require very precise aids and a responsive horse.
Glenda works her Grand Prix horse with transitions every two
strides, such as two strides of canter and two strides of trot.
Quick transitions will sharpen your horse to your aids and make
him very responsive. Don't give up if at first your horse resists.
It takes years to train a horse.
Another
variation on this exercise is to make transitions within the gaits by
shortening and lengthening the strides every quarter of the circle.
For example, in the trot, lengthen the stride for a quarter,
and then collect for a quarter. Make
sure you maintain correct bend and even contact throughout the
transition within the gaits.
Flexion & Counter-Flexion On A Circle
A final
exercise on the circle will increase your horse's suppleness and help
you understand that you're not riding the circle by pulling the
horse's head around with the inside rein.
You ride a circle with your seat and legs.
Regular bend
on the circle involves the horse being evenly bent, toward the inside
of the circle, from head to tail through the ribcage.
In counter-flexion, the horse's body remains on the circle, but
you gently flex his neck to the outside.
To supple
your horse, you can vary between flexion and counter-flexion each
quarter of the circle. There
are several very important keys to this exercise.
Your horse must remain balanced--and not lose his shoulders or
swing his haunches--while he is counter-flexed.
Throughout the strides of counter-flexion, maintain contact
with your inside rein. Do
not throw away the contact on the inside rein.
When you're ready to change the flexion, allow the horse
straighten for a moment, and then ask for the new flexion; don’t
whip his head from side to side.
Flexion and counter-flexion may be performed at the walk, trot,
and canter. This is a
great exercise to supple a horse who’s locked in his neck, jaw, or
poll.
All of the
exercises performed on the circle strengthen you and your horse.
The results can be phenomenal.
With work and repetition, your horse can progress from being
crooked and unresponsive to being well-balanced and light on the aids.
You can hone your ability to feel and to alter what's happening
beneath you.
The goal of
all the work on the circle is "…to make you and horse the best
you can be," says Glenda. "Seeing the evolution of how the horse changes and
becomes educated is so
amazing. It's such an
incredible journey."
Glenda
Needles
Glenda
Needles is a USDF Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalist from Broomfield,
Colorado. Glenda trained
her American Quarter Horse, Brown About Town, from Training Level to
Grand Prix, and earned USDF year-end and/or All Breed Awards at every
level. She has also
earned an Achievement Award from the Sportswomen of Colorado for her
accomplishments in dressage. Glenda
works with students and horses of all levels.
Among her students are Matinee V, Top Ten at the U.S. Arabian
Nationals at Second Level, and Cimarron, a Holsteiner stallion
currently working at Fourth Level.
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