Exercises to improve cadence and suspension (basic level)

[Cat - OnceUponADressageDream]

First of all, I'm asking in regards to a horse who is only training Prelim/Novice level dressage. He's an OTTB who seems to think faster means impulsion (I'm working very hard to convince him otherwise!). Long story short, I bought him with no post racing education, did some basic flatwork and sold him with a very soft mouth and an adjustable frame, a nice even rhythm and lots of relaxation. I've now bought him back and while his canter is more balanced, all that softness and rhythm we had before is gone. He never had very much suspension to start with but I have observed him very carefully at liberty in the paddock, on the lunge and with other riders on him and I KNOW he has an incredibly expressive trot in there (nice passage too..rivalling some WBs I've seen at liberty!). It just happens that when he's not thinking about it, he goes off in this flat trot with barely any suspension.

A lot of the problem is that as he is now, he is hard mouthed, and lacks bend. I'm working on this by doing lots of loopy work in trot with many changes of rein, along with zillions of half halts - which are pretty crude at this stage but he is starting to get the idea. I know transitions would help but at this stage I first need to get that softness and rhythm consistently because if I simply do heaps of walk/trot transitions, he goes off in that flat nasty trot with no bend and it takes a few circles to get him nice and soft again. In saying that, with a few weeks consistent work I think this will come good again, and then the zillions of transitions will come into play.

To watch his movement, he has a big trot. Good hock action, and he covers a lot of ground. The attached photo shows the way he CAN move when he wants to. I've tried him over trot poles (I usually do six in a row, at 3-3.5' apart) and as soon as he looked down and thought about it, I felt like I was sitting on a Grand Prix horse, he just had so much power compared to other horses I've ridden.

His problem is that once he gets those hind legs going, he seems to want to put them down too fast. He has all the makings of fantastic movement, he just can't leave his feet in the air long enough to have a bit of spring. So while I'm dealing with these contact, rhythm and softness issues over the next few weeks...what are some exercises and ideas I can think about trying with him to improve his cadence and suspension? With my other horse, he's easy. He's built downhill so I have to work to keep him off the forehand, but he has natural cadence and his movement just flows. But with the big guy, despite the fact he is built uphill and has nice straight action, everything else going for him....the cadence isn't there unless he decides it is showoff time! I know improving this is possible, I just need to figure out how.

Cat

[angel]

The picture you have posted is really small, which makes detail difficult to see. Here is my overal impression from this small photo.

The saddle does not fit this horse's withers properly, and is pitching you forward. In order to keep that from happening, you knees have become too snug, and your lower leg has swung too far back. This means the weight you have in the stirrups is a constant driving aid. Because your upper body is now falling forward, your shoulders have also gotten very rigid, and your elbows are wider away from your body than should be happening as your torso seeks stability. This has actually put your hands too close to each other, which means your connection to the front of the horse is also suffering. When you stay rigid in your connection, the horse will also be able to feel that, and harden against it. As you ride, and as you lose the balance, it is as if you are squeezing your horse out in front of you as if squeezing a tube of toothpaste. He goes faster. You recover your balance a bit, which lessens the squeeze and he begins to become soft again. But, then you lose balance once more, and back he goes to being hard as he is squeezed forward.

[slc2]

The question is 'how do I get my horse to have more air time'. Suspension isn't from teaching the horse to stay in the air longer. There is no aid or signal to do that. Having a more cadenced gait is a result of several ingredients, at your level, what has to happen as a very, very first step, is get the horse off his forehand.

'Suspension', or even simply a gait that is not flat, running and feels so 'quick', which is 'phase 1 of developing suspension', is first, about getting the horse off the forehand. This horse is so on the forehand, his gait is very quick and flat, without developing the muscles in his back and hind quarter. Instead all he is doing is getting stronger and heavier in the shoulders.

I don't agree with any of the prev poster's observations of the picture.

In that picture, your position is almost textbook perfect, except for your head angling a little bit forward. The human head weighs about 20-25 lbs, so for most people, if only their head angles forward, it means most of their weight is where it should be, but imagine being a guy who is running with his arms stretched forward straight, and a 20 lb load in a box in his hands. He's always fighting for his balance, and if anything goes wrong, he's going to fall forward, which is exactly what happens to you when you are riding this horse.

And to get the problems of this horse dealt with, yeah, you are going to have to fix where your head and neck are.

You've got your hip and shoulder in a straight line with your heels under your center of gravity and your hands at the correct height and arms held properly. Except for your neck and head angled a bit forward (you should 'rub the back of your neck on your collar' instead) your weight is distributed very well and the saddle looks perfectly level, which indicates it fits properly.

I did think there was something a little odd about it, the 'hind legs are doing something different from the front legs'. The hind leg is snatched up and forward while the foreleg is simply reaching normally.

I thought either the horse's trot is not quite united at the moment the picture was taken, he's going through some very deep footing, or he is just taking an odd step because he is very quick and excitable or is stepping over something.

Since the picture was so small and only one point in time, I went to look at your videos on your website.

I saw two horses, one is a darker color, almost black, and then this one. I didn't look at the videos of the dark colored horse.

(Edited to add, I did go look at the videos of the dark horse. And actually, the exact same problem is there, you're very good at stretching your horse down, but that's how you ride them ALL THE TIME...on a very long rein, with their heads very low, and then on the forehand. The dark horse has more natural balance so he doesn't pull as much, but he's very on the forehand too. And with him, you get him to put his head low by spreading your hands and tweaking one rein, so he doesn't really lift his back and stretch properly. With the black horse, you pump your seat really hard at the trot and canter....it's more obvious on him, but you do same on the less balanced horse, to a much worse effect.

You need to sit as well as you LOOK like you can sit in the thumbnail still picture. )

You appear to be a very brave rider, very soft up there, and very much going with the horse. In other words I see a whole lot of good and not a lot of bad. In fact, you look like you have incredible potential and I'd love to hear about where you are in five years.

So what could possibly be wrong?

Well, there's an old saying, 'you can die beautifully', meaning you can have a very nice looking position, and yet still, not be effective. It's not just how you sit (yes, it's not really possible to be effective without a good position...BUT....) it's also what you do and how effective it is.

That you are not half halting your horse and getting a response. Instead, he gets very quick and strong, and you just go forward with him, following him, rather than being able to influence him.

Your position, though so soft and passively following your horse, gets even a little loose and insecure and the angle of your body changes and falls forward when things get dicey, or 'follows' the motion rather than being able to 'sit against it', or not follow him - I don't mean you need to brace or sit hard in the saddle, or pump your seat, or 'sit on your pockets'.

Instead, what I'm thinking is that you need to be able to simply still your position, sit quiet and firm in the saddle (in a normal position, just like you normally do), but not allow yourself to follow the motion quite as passively, and you need to get a half halt that works.

How do you get a half halt that works? The first step is being more stable in the saddle. You're going to need to sit down in the saddle, and get glued into it. How? First, get your neck back against your collar. Your leg is quite loose around the knee and thigh, that has to change, your knee and thigh need to have some friction against the saddle, of course, without pinching or gripping frantically; it's your balance and that little bit of friction that keeps you firmly in the saddle, not pulled forward. You need to develop some strength in your seat and stomach to hold yourself 'like a king' and not let your horse pull you out of the saddle. Try some ab curls to strengthen your stomach.

That's not quite all of it, though. This horse gets very strong and fast, and you and he don't seem to 'do' half halts or bending. Instead, I see you working the bit back and forth in his mouth, one rein then the other, very rapidly and absolutely no response from him. He simply waggles his head back and forth and keeps charging along at the same pace because he is so off balance....

The old saying is 'it takes two to pull', and people interpret that as 'well then I'll feed the reins out to the buckle and then I won't be pulling'. Only problem is now the horse is so off balance he probably will start pulling ON THE BUCKLE, LOL, or trip and the both of you land on your heads! 'It takes two to pull' DOESN'T mean you fix the problem by making the reins longer and longer. It means you keep your reins at a length that the horse can balance at, WITHOUT making the reins longer, and by bending the horse, you get the horse in a better balance WITHOUT giving up the reins, instead of hauling back mightily on both reins, you bend your horse - 'Bending makes a lady's horse out of a man's horse' is the very old saying, it means if your horse is strong, he needs to be bending.

BENDING doesn't mean having the horse throw his head over to your knee when you touch one rein, like some Western Riding trainers. It means you keep the horse between both reins, keep a feel of both reins, and supple the muscles in his neck by having him give to the pressure, without 'hanging up the phone' - you keep a contact with BOTH reins the WHOLE time you're bending, keep him reaching his neck out in a normal way, but get THROUGH the muscles in his neck, you can reach forward and slap the muscles in his neck up near his poll, both to soften the muscles and to feel how they feel (right now his neck is too long and low for you to do that without falling forward, but you willl be able to do that later). It's as if you were fishing, and the stream was pulling at your line, it's a constant pull, you always want some feel on both reins, and that horse may not feel 'light' for some time; rather than yanking him and getting him totally off the bit (which would make him crooked) you want a springier feel to the contact you have. Improve the contact, don't take it away.

What's a half halt.

Well, it's most emphatically NOT what most people will tell you, some sort of spooky breathing, concentrating, THINKING thing, 'focus and breathe through your core' kind of nonsense, especially with a horse like this you may need to get very strong with him to get him to bend his neck and listen to you even the slightest bit at first, because to be quite frank, he is totally running through your aids, and yes, a horse can 'run away' at a WALK if he's bulling you like this one is. He's a tank, he's running through your aids, it's not going to be the most dainty, pretty thing in the world at first.

What you do at first is very basic, which is, you stop your horse with the reins, however crudely you have to at first, and then you send him forward again. Eventually, the horse figures out to put his hind legs under him and bend the joints of his hind legs - it's the combination of quickly stopping him and immediately sending him forward, that both teaches him to bend hsi hind legs and 'carry' (hold more of his weight on his hind legs, less on his front legs) AND strengthens his hind legs and back so he can do that. Even if you do it at a walk it works - eventually, you can half halt at a canter, or even a gallop, and feel the horse shift back to his hind quarters, and get more steer-able, manouverable in his front end...till all of a sudden, when you use your leg, your horse actually 'pops up in front of you' and balances himself...EVENTUALLY with very soft aids most people might not even see if they are watching you ride.

What you DON'T want to do is be hanging on to both reins and pulling back on both reins at the same time. You'll never get anywhere with that. You take on one rein, even if you have to really bend him in the neck, sit you while you're doing it, you want him to be balanced, YOU have to be balanced, bend him, and then straighten his neck out by giving him the rein and 'ASK HIM THE QUESTION', the question is, 'If I sit like a rock up here with my belly first, and don't fall forward, will YOU carry yourself? One stride? One half of a stride? FINE. Then we do again'. Again, again and again. No punishing, no anger, no panicking, you have all the time in the world....While still going forward, that's the hard part!

When your horse 'falls down', he leans into your leg. He needs to learn to bend his neck toward the 'going away from' side, and move his body weight AWAY from your leg pressure, which is also on the 'going away from' side. Teach him first at a walk - teach him from the ground if you have to, put your fist on his girth line and push, and bend his neck tward you and push him away from you, just like in his stall, when you ask him to 'get over' to let you walk in to his stall.

Later, when you ride, and he leans on one rein, bend him with that rein, and push him with that leg (leg and rein on same side). Teach him to move AWAY from the bend and leg. That helps you get control of his balance.

A half halt isn't for slowing a horse down, but for engaging him. It isn't a 'check' or an effort to 'make the hind legs slow down' or 'pause' as people often tell you, not in dressage. However, when the horse is THIS off balance, THIS low in the poll, THIS much getting strong and 'running through your hands', before ever getting engagement, the schooling of the half halt has to first get some control of the horse and shift his weight off his forehand before the half halt can 'do any dressage'.

Since the horse is long in the back, very heavy through the shoulder and base of neck, with a very long neck, it is not entirely his CHOICE to be running through your aids like this, it is something of a natural outcome of how he's built. But by taking your riding to the next level you CAN work on this and make it much better.

You need to get with a riding instructor. What I'm talking about is having your riding move forward to the next step, and there isn't any one single exercise that will magically cause this horse to not run through your hands and start working in his dressage better. It's a moment-to-moment thing with MANY changes and corrections and exercises.

There are a few little cute 'aha moment' things you can do, like one exercise - riding with one of your hands in front of your face, raised up way high, to help you not passively get pulled forward. When you then put that one hand back in the normal position, you try to retain that feeling you had with your hand up there, that you're solidly anchored in the saddle, and nothing can take you out of the plate. That's a start. It gives you the idea, 'hey I can sit up here and not be pulled around'.

Then you can start giving that little tank some bodacious bending and get him off your hands.

You can ride in eventing very well through the 'flowing' lower level courses, without getting hurt, without having your horse under control hardly at all. Many young eventers ride cross country like Ricky Bobby in 'Taladega Nights', in other words, they go very fast, they love it since they're brave and they love riding, and since the horse is interested in his own self preservation and the jumps are low, he more goes like a hurdler, and he and the rider survive. But what happens as you move up (and I KNOW you will) you have to have more control over your horse and be able to balance and position him, plus you have to have a good dressage score if you want to win. What you do in dressage is school your horse so you can control him cross country and in show jumping. It's no different even if you want to just do dressage. You can't do a dressage flying lead change, a half pass, or even a circle, til your horse is more balanced.

[Cat - OnceUponADressageDream]

Thanks for your responses. And yes, that pic is in deeper footing, so it is an exaggerated example. Also, I am rising in the pic so I AM a bit further forwards.
In regards to the video of the bay (the horse in question in this thread), I deliberately didn't put it up here to be used for this thread for a couple of reasons:
-it was the first time I'd ridden him in 7 months (and the first time he'd been ridden in weeks...he'd been ridden twice in the past 2 months or something like that)....and I was NOT happy with what I found flatwork wise. The "head wiggle" I was trying to work him out of and it wasn't working - he NEVER used to do this and I believe it is something that has come about from being lunged in a pessoa and from being ridden with the hands
-which brings me to the hands - I was trying and trying and trying to get him to quit pulling and it wasn't working. We both ended up pulling and I couldn't get him to listen to my legs. If I hadn't owned this horse previously, I never would have bought him off that "try-out ride" because I was highly unimpressed.
-I was riding in an unfamiliar jump saddle that I HATED....throwing my leg and upper body forwards and making me completely insecure on him
-the flying changes in the video are not me trying to be a smarty pants - he's had chronic problems with picking up the left lead from trot since sustaining a stone bruise when I had him the first time. I wanted to see if I could get him to change onto it, clean, because I wasn't going to buy him back if I couldn't get the left lead somehow without a pole or jump. My trainer friend has since had a ride on him, helped start fixing his "swing quarters to the right" complex and I can now get it most times I ask, from trot.

And you are so, so spot on about my riding them too low! I think this is a habit that has come from the early work I did with both of them....I taught them to go low for the sake of their brains when first starting on their OTT flatwork, and now that is the comfort zone for all three of us. I have been trying hard to improve on this particularly with the black horse lately, but alas he's had some time off. I'll do another video when he's back in work for critiquing purposes as I find it so helpful.

As for the bay and his going long and low - the other day (his first ride after 2wks too) when warming him up I let him stay a little low for maybe 5min of trotting, but after that I tried to bring him up a little higher to work properly instead of cruising around leaning, long and low. And what you say about the core and seat strength for the half halts - well, I hurt in ALL the right places the next day, using so much of my body to help with the half halt DID help me get more response from him. That's all I'm after at this stage - the response. Whether I just give him a slight touch with the outside rein and hold with the seat, or whether I have to pull his nose out through his backside, he HAS to give a response otherwise I might as well not ask.

I have a little more to say but I'll have to come back to it later, I'm off to go ride the big boy and have to try and beat the traffic! Until then, thanks for taking the time to write a lengthy reply, it has been very helpful :)

[Cat - OnceUponADressageDream]

Well, I'm back from my ride :)

I tried to keep mainly this paragraph in mind:
How do you get a half halt that works? The first step is being more stable in the saddle. You're going to need to sit down in the saddle, and get glued into it. How? First, get your neck back against your collar. Your leg is quite loose around the knee and thigh, that has to change, your knee and thigh need to have some friction against the saddle, of course, without pinching or gripping frantically; it's your balance and that little bit of friction that keeps you firmly in the saddle, not pulled forward. You need to develop some strength in your seat and stomach to hold yourself 'like a king' and not let your horse pull you out of the saddle.

I can hold well with my lower back but my shoulders and upper torso tend to collapse a lot which in turn tips my head forwards and down. This has a lot to do with some muscular and skeletal problems I have from playing a musical instrument (violin) for 17years (I've given up for the benefit of my riding...) and is something I have trouble correcting. I'm so used to collapsing and rolling my shoulders forwards that when I sit straight and rotate my ribcage up and back to straighten my back, I feel like I'm leaning too far back. However in the context of, say the sitting trot today, when I did this I DID feel like I had better control and could half halt more effectively.

BENDING doesn't mean having the horse throw his head over to your knee when you touch one rein, like some Western Riding trainers. It means you keep the horse between both reins, keep a feel of both reins, and supple the muscles in his neck by having him give to the pressure, without 'hanging up the phone' - you keep a contact with BOTH reins the WHOLE time you're bending, keep him reaching his neck out in a normal way, but get THROUGH the muscles in his neck, you can reach forward and slap the muscles in his neck up near his poll, both to soften the muscles and to feel how they feel (right now his neck is too long and low for you to do that without falling forward, but you willl be able to do that later). It's as if you were fishing, and the stream was pulling at your line, it's a constant pull, you always want some feel on both reins, and that horse may not feel 'light' for some time; rather than yanking him and getting him totally off the bit (which would make him crooked) you want a springier feel to the contact you have. Improve the contact, don't take it away.

This was one of the most frustrating things that day the video was taken. I'd try to get him to bend, and I got nothing. The only responses I got that day were from my hands, and they weren't the right ones and made my hands WORSE.

Since I've had him back, it has been very basic basic work on loops, changes of rein. Today I did a lot of spiralling in and out and the changes of rein on a figure eight again. And while he would often fall back onto the forehand and bore down, speeding up...a lot of the time I COULD use the half halts from my body and hand to sit him up and balance him. I was very impressed to actually get some reasonable work where he was lighter in the hand - but at the same time I was careful to try and prevent him from dropping down too low and ducking behind the contact. He doesn't like this because it is much harder work for him to work up higher on a proper contact, but he was trying.

What I was most happy with today, however was that I COULD control the bend. I could keep both his shoulders and his neck between my legs and put them where I wanted, adjust the bend to the size of the circle, and he was starting to keep a steadier rhythm instead of running through my seat and legs. And when he did, I could correct it.
I only had one short canter each way, but all this stuff that I've been working on in trot is beginning to show a little in canter too. Don't get me wrong, he still tries to fly around the circle with his neck set in his nice comfy little arch that he likes all the while falling in...but when I gave the half halt I DID get a response, I DID get a few balanced strides and I COULD sit him up a little more.

One of the most frustrating things is that he was so much more relaxed before. Now, he gets so worked up about everything, he is a bit of a head case. I know he'll get better soon enough but I wish I didn't have to fix this basic concept of rhythm and relaxation when I've already been down that road with him the first time around. I feel sorry for him, he found all this stuff so easy before and was so relaxed about it. :(


ETA: I know I need an instructor, badly! Regular weekly lessons are definitely on the cards in the next couple of months, but first I need to:
a) find the right instructor - someone who is a good dressage instructor but also understands how to work with the OTTB who is easily brain-fried
b) buy a horse trailer to travel to said instructor.
In the meantime, my work friend (who was the other person riding in the dressage training video of the black horse) gives me a hand when she can - she'll ride first, make some corrections and start some new work, then get me to hop on and feel what she's done. I've found this a very helpful way of learning how to correct certain evasions and problems.

[Valentina_32926]

To help the suspension
Once he's warmed and and working in a regular cadence (use rising trot at tempo YOU want until he matches it) then start sitting. As you sit when you hit the "rising" part of the trot wrap your legs around his barrel and lift - so in time with up/down is lift/relax. Be sure not to pinch with your legs as you lift - it's more a gentle encouragement for him to lift his ribcage and back while your legs also encourage the forward without rushing.

[johnnysauntie]

My answer will not be nearly as sophisticated as those offered by the others.

A friend of mine has an OTTB who has a great work ethic (like most OTTBs!) and nice - but not great - gaits. She's been riding almost daily with her trainer, and the change in her horse is something to behold. She's starting to get suspension in his trot as he develops the strength to carry himself. She blogs about their progress and if you're interested, you can read about their breakthrough here (http://tbatx.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/redeemed/).

[horsepix76]

I agree with Valentina's way on how to influence his trot. If you hesitate just a fraction of a second during the "up" phase of the posting trot, it will require him to take that much longer of a stride to stay in rhythm with you. And slowing your posting will be the greatest influence you have over him.

It sounds to me like you're following his tempo instead of creating the rhythm and tempo you want and having him follow you. I ride a lot of freshly OTTBs, so I know that can be a challenge. Something that helps me is riding to music. I find a song that has a slower 1-2-3-4 rhythm and tempo and match my posting to it.

To help soften him laterally, ride circles or serpentines with an opening rein on the inside. The opening rein must be supported by a softly squeezing leg (your entire leg, like you're squeezing a pillow -- not just the calf or heel). What I do is keep my elbow at my side and simply open my hand to the inside while pulsing on-off-on-off-on-off softly with my entire inside leg. I also keep my outside rein steady and straight ahead (I keep my arm hanging straight and above my hip). I find that pulsing the inside leg and keeping the steady outside rein connection encourages them to go there. And most importantly, I don't let the horses hang on me. If they get stiff somewhere - make a change immediately. Either change direction, give the rein, add more leg, etc., but never leg them hang on you or use you for balance.

Best of luck to you!

[Cat - OnceUponADressageDream]

Thanks for those suggestions, I will try them out :) And that is an interesting blog!

I am a musician of 17yrs so find it pretty easy to keep a rhythm....when he's not hauling my arms out their sockets that is. I will try a mixture of sitting and rising next ride as with the sitting I find I can get him softer, but you're right - rising does help control the pace more.

[sm]

please get back to us about valentina's squeeze method. I'm sure it works with a WB but am interested in knowing what your OTTB has to say about it.

With my OTTB it wouldn't work, a tight squeeze around the ribs with both legs will find you immemdiately in the next county. You'd be looking around wondering where did everybody go.

In a Christine Traurig clinic she had the same question with a TB, response was trot/canter and canter/trot transitions maintaining EVEN tempo on both gaits. This actually did build air time -- immediately in the same session. Assuming of course your horse is very fit, strong and muscled enough to carry it through.

[Ambrey]

In a Christine Traurig clinic she had the same question with a TB, response was trot/canter transitions maintaining EVEN tempo on both gaits. This actually did build air time -- immediately in the same session. Assuming of course your horse is strong and muscled enough to carry it through.

I notice this while longing- lots of T/C transitions makes for a more suspended trot.

How much does long-term conditioning come into play though?

And is there any exercise to improve reach/mobility in the shoulder?

[Valentina_32926]

please get back to us about valentina's squeeze method. I'm sure it works with a WB but am interested in knowing what your OTTB has to say about it.

With my OTTB it wouldn't work, a tight squeeze around the ribs with both legs will find you immemdiately in the next county. You'd be looking around wondering where did everybody go.

For me it's not a tight squeeze - more of a lifting squeeze as my WB mare has a He**va GO button also. :lol:

[sm]

As you sit when you hit the "rising" part of the trot wrap your legs around his barrel and lift - so in time with up/down is lift/relax. Be sure not to pinch with your legs as you lift - it's more a gentle encouragement for him to lift his ribcage and back while your legs also encourage the forward without rushing.

anything with BOTH legs to the point of encouraging a lifting of the rib cage -- is a tight squeeze to most OTTBs. It would piss my OTTB off bigtime and not give the desired effect, it would be overkill, am asking the OP what it does to her OTTB.

[sm]

conditioning come into play though?

And is there any exercise to improve reach/mobility in the shoulder?


I don't know. The breed has an efficient ground covering stride, so I think the OP question is right: how to get a more vertical movement rather than a more forward/horizontal one. The shoulder mobility is there, just different, so I don't know if it's more the knee action than the shoulder. Of course muscled up hindquarters would generate power, then it's just containing and managing the movement upward.

[Kimberlee]

Not sure why no one seems to have suggested trot poles, but those are a good way to help establish a little more up in the leg movement (shoulder and haunch). Do some work on the lunge line with trot poles, so that you aren't interfering and see how that goes. Add trot poles to your rides as well. The transition work suggested will really help rebalance the horse onto his haunches. The more weight he is carrying behind, the higher he will bring his shoulders (the freer they will be).

As for the tightness in the neck, and the wiggle... the most successful excercie a trainer had me do with my OTTB mare, was at the trot, do a 10 meter circle at every letter, switch directions, and change direction and do it the other way. You can do this at the canter as well. Have the horse bend on the 10 meter cirlce, straigten on the rail, then bend again (this excercise will also get the horse more balanced on the haunches). Don't let him rush through the ten meter circle, have him slow his pace into the circle, and push out to the straight, until he can maintain an even, balanced tempo throughout the bend-straight-bend sequence.

These excercises have been the most help to me.

PS - You don't have to give up playing for your riding. Just sit up when you play and keep your shoulders back. Work on opening through your chest in everything you do during the day, not just when riding. I play too, and would say that my bad equitation is more just bad posture habits than because of the violin playing.

[horsepix76]

For me it's not a tight squeeze - more of a lifting squeeze as my WB mare has a He**va GO button also. :lol:

My "squeezing" isn't a tight squeeze either. Its soft...like a pillow (which is why I mentioned it). ;) Just a pulse, but with the entire leg versus the calf or heel. My TBs don't need much help in the GO department! ;)

[sm]

another difference is you're pulsing the inside leg only, a completely different message to the horse...

[Cat - OnceUponADressageDream]

Kimberlee - I gave up for other reasons too, I was actually studying successfully at university level. Another major reason was that I was being held back too much by my teacher (who had been teaching me for 3ys prior to at university) - he didn't understand that I NEEDED to be pushed just a tiny bit beyond my capabilities to keep the drive. And I just lost that drive after a while. Hence why I am being very careful about who I will trust as a regular riding instructor.
I was also suffering from some RSI problems, in one wrist and both shoulders. I'd had some technique issues that had been somewhat fixed, but had nerve damage in both shoulders that was exacerbated by the playing. But the BIGGEST physical reason for giving up was that when sitting on a horse, I discovered that I couldn't sit straight - my left shoulder is further forward than the right. Some might say it SHOULDN'T affect my riding, but after having three horses in a row that had canter problems to the left I couldn't fix (well I can now, but couldn't while I was playing), I think otherwise. When my horses are straight, I feel crooked!


sm:
I haven't been able to ride Matty again yet to try the squeeze method. BUT in relation to OTTBs and using your legs, I make a point of training mine to be comfortable with lots of leg. Both current horses when I bought them were hypersensitive and couldn't take it. Some might accuse me of deadening them to the leg but I couldn't disagree more. I get them comfortable with legs being on - they react and try to intimidate me into taking it off? By scooting off in canter or something similar? Leg stays on, and only when they become relaxed and soft do I back off. Of course I don't mean to say that I'm hounding them, it is a very gradual thing. Louis (not the horse in question in this thread, my other OTTB) when I bought him was terrible - when I tried him out I asked for trot and he shot off in gallop. Now I ride him 90% with leg.

I think you don't really have control or the ability to refine with an OTTB until you can ride them with the leg, without them having a hissy fit about it. I get them comfortable not so they are dead to the leg, but so they accept it when I say "move into trot whilst staying on the bit" or "leg yield out and strikeoff to canter" or "bring your quarters in and stop swinging them out", without a huge reaction and argument from them about it.

Here's a paragraph from an article on training the OTTB I wrote for my blog...

From this point, most racehorses (and definitely both my OTTBs) have tendencies to travel crooked in different ways – be that swinging the quarters in or out, being crooked in the neck, dropping the shoulder in or running it out.
To fix this, it is time to start teaching them to move off the leg. However, before we can do that, there is another important point I need to cover, which happens to be the one, most important thing I have learned from riding ex racehorses. It applies to all horses but ESPECIALLY to OTTBs.
They should be ridden almost wholly with the seat and leg, and just a little hand where needed to guide with flexion or half halts. So many people (and I used to be one of them!) let racehorses intimidate them into taking the leg off - they shoot off or argue and so on. But if you can get them comfortable with the leg being on without overreaction, you can do so much more. Then, introduce the whip - because how many racehorses don't need some guidance about where to put their quarters? Both of my current boys had an issue with the whip to start with but now I don't like to ride without it because it makes it so much easier to get them straight and correct. I might drop it after a warmup period but it saves a lot of arguments and deadening to the leg - Louis is so much straighter and more responsive than he was just a month ago due to the introduction of the whip in a lesson with an experienced friend.


This is half the problem I'm having with Matty now. When I sold him, he was soft in the mouth and comfortable with the leg. However as he's been ridden with less leg, this means the other girl would have had to start riding with more hand...which means NOW he is hard in the mouth and gets cranky when I put any pressure on him legs-wise. Which is why, even though it is boring, and even though he gets cranky to start with before settling into it, I can spend anywhere upto an hour doing nothing but walking and trotting around in figure eights and serpentines - getting him more supple, getting him OFF my hands, getting him AROUND my leg, and above all, getting him comfortable with it so he starts to realise again that leg doesn't just mean go. You have to find a way that works for every horse, and for Matty, this is what works for him right now. Give me a few weeks, and we'll have moved onto something different but if I have to spend a whole hour's flatwork session doing figure eights in trot to get him relaxed, soft and comfortable again, then I will.

Thinking about it from the pressure-release point of view...if every time we apply the legs, the OTTB scoots off and we take off the leg....what are we teaching them? We're rewarding them for the behaviour. If, however, they scoot off and we keep the leg on - sure, they are likely to get cranky about it, scoot sideways, scoot forwards...and that might take a bit of confidence from the rider to ride through...but as soon as they show a tiny bit of the right response, THAT is the time to release. And you build on it from there.




I also like the sound of the repeated trot/canter transitions - however I need to do more work in the canter before that would be of benefit I think. He's still a tad too panicky. I'll try it with Louis though! (he's GOT air time, but if I can improve it...great!) All in good time though.



I don't know. The breed has an efficient ground covering stride, so I think the OP question is right: how to get a more vertical movement rather than a more forward/horizontal one. The shoulder mobility is there, just different, so I don't know if it's more the knee action than the shoulder. Of course muscled up hindquarters would generate power, then it's just containing and managing the movement upward.

Exactly. He's got plenty of power. He's not super fit but he has tons of power in that hind engine. He just doesn't know how to use it.



Kimberlee, I like your suggestions! I have been doing some trot poles with him but what I have found is that they need to be no more than 3 feet apart to consistently get the lift. If they get much wider than that, he'll get the lift the first time...but quickly figures out he can go flatter and longer if he wishes. If I keep them to around 3 feet, he practically passages over them every time, and without any struggle. I normally do six poles in a row on a straight line, though I might try on a circle next time.
As for the transitions - I wholly agree that transitions DO help with exactly my original question - building cadence and suspension. But I need to get the softness and relaxation back before transitions will be of any help. I do make sure he does every transition correctly, but at the moment spending more time continuously in trot (with breaks of course) is having more benefit on the relaxation and suppleness side of things than transitions would. When I get the relaxation, he can say hello to transitions, transitions, transitions :)




ETA: in regards to the whip, I'm not currently riding Matty with it. I was initially to straighten his hindquarters (with my friend's help, a few weeks ago) but at the moment I am not. He has the idea, I can move the hinds over with my legs now, so I'm just working on that relaxation...when he's comfortable again, I'll start riding with the whip and doing the transitions and everything else that starts to come into play.

[Equibrit]

Try some exercises with cavaletti.http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8909/home.html

[Sebastian]

Also, have you tried long-lining (ground driving) with him? I find that a very useful thing for creating self-carriage...

Seb :)