12 Seconds… December 14, 2008
Posted by mikeschaffer in balance, Behind the bit, calmness, corrections, dressage, half-halts, hyperflexion, looseness, Riding, roll kur, The Training Pyramid, training.Tags: behind the vertical, dressage, hyperflexion, training
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Another comment from Stephani and another post to answer.
i have a question regarding Indeed’s training session dated 9/8/08. From 5:15 – 5:27 you were requesting something from Indeed. could you elaborate on that?
Hi Stephanie – welcome back!
I know you want to hear about those 12 seconds because, well, they look awful. However, to understand what’s actually happening in those few seconds, you have to back up a little more and watch the video from the 4:35 mark all the way through to the 5:41 mark. .
At 4:35 I’m cantering to the right, and then I do a transition, change direction, left lead canter, for about half a circle, back to halt, and then to canter again. None of the canters or transitions were particularly great, but there was no pulling. For the most part Indeed was working off my seat.
Now at the 5:15 mark, you see Indeed fall out of the canter onto his forehand and, worse yet, MY hands. This is why his mouth is opening before I do anything. So, because he’s running through the hand, I just plain stop him. Furthermore, since he’s still braced against me even when he is stopped, I tap him with the whip to back him up for a step or two to get him off of his forehand and my hands. When he softens I release him for a moment and then ask him to go. He again braces against me (before he actually takes a step) so I stop and back him up again.
One more release, and now (at 5:28) when I ask him to go he remains soft, takes a few walk steps and then does a respectable transition to a fair canter followed by a pleasant halt. In fact, he’s pretty damn good throughout the rest of the tape and, if memory serves correctly, the rest of the ride was a pretty nice.
So, to elaborate on those 12 seconds, I was correcting him in a way that was clear, effective, and over with. He fell on my hands and was starting to drag me around so I mechanically stopped him, and backed him up a step or two as a way of saying, “GET OFF of my hands!!” It worked. He got off of my hands and we got on with the rest of the ride.
The most common mistake I see is people failing to correct horses pulling on them. The let their horses grab the reins and drag them around the ring. Yes, I know, it’s very popular to teach them to send the horse more forward with the idea that the horse will balance himself and soften. With some riders (especially very good ones) and some horses (particularly well trained ones) this is going to work. With most riders on most horses they simply run around pulling on each other until until one or the other gives up or dies.
So, I don’t really care how one corrects the horse that is dragging you around. I do care that you have a method and use it. If you can fix it in 12 seconds or less, you’re doing alright.
The Dressage Process 
I am so glad to hear a prominent trainer admitting to the fact that the ugliness must sometimes come before the beauty. I have a very opinionated horse who needs to be reminded of the purpose of the moment before he will listen. As an amateur I lack the confidence that I’m always doing it right so my reminders usually come so late that they turn into small battles but if I deal with it with conviction then we can quickly get over it and move on. My instructor says that even if I have to deal with it in a test, then at least the rest of the test will be brilliant instead of lackluster.
I love your down-to-earth process. I have many friends “coming over” from eventing because they said they got hooked in their first dressage lesson (accolates to my instructor). They said it was nothing like the rule-following restrictive riding that they thought they saw years ago. I want to thank you and the other “classical” instructors who have found their way back to the core of dressage – keeping the horse happy in his work/training. The purpose of dressage is to make a rideable horse which means athletic, relaxed and happy. I believe this emphasis is why so many new students are learning so much faster today.I took my 5 years to get to Third level. My friend will get there in 1/2 the time because my trainer can explain the biomechanics of her riding better today. It is the explanations that we take home with us and use in our practice not just the directions.
The whole business of canter transitions (up and down) has been, as you predict in Right From the Start, the test of everything we’ve done thus far. There are a couple of discussion threads that touch on “unwarrented” spookiness that I can tie directly to this point. Last month, we finally got a video camera, me, the horse, the weather, batteries, and a videographer all together at the same place and time. The result was a disaster. Spooking at the rood, spooking at the camera, spooking at the mockingbirds, spooking, literally, at his own shadow.
I remembered a comment in Right From the Start about young horses developing a fear of canter work. I decided to check something. We went back out with a halter and lead rope. A ten-alarm fire truck went by at 60 mph with kights and sirens blazing, followed by a pickup truck full of hunting dogs in full cry. Cedar waxwings descended like a pack of monkeys into the shrubbery. The wind came up, lashing the trees and whipping shadows in the evening light. A family with five kids gambolled around the arena. Nothing. He cropped grass without so much as a flicker of a response.
Next day, back with full tack. Into the arean at a comfortable, long-reined walk. Nothing again. So I picked up the reins. Instantly, sheer, eye-rolling, bolting terror at a sparrow in the honeysuckle vines.
First, I made clear: No! Just plain stop! Next, I asked for an ordinary working walk. Then a bend to the right. Then a bend to the left. Bingo. Tail-wringing, nostril-flinching, head-tossing, a chaos of imbalance, and a sudden overwhelming interest in boters far out on the popnd. Maybe he was sore. Maybe he forgot how. Whatever it was, I got back on the ground. We left off canter work, and re-worked bending to the left from the ground up. And the next. And the next. Walk-trot-walk-halt-trot-halt-trot-walk and so on.
It took about a two weeks, but on Tuesday, on his own, right at the spot where we’d had the huge spook at the horse-eating sparrow, I felt his light come on. Pretty as pie, without me asking, he stepped off, very pleased with himself, in a perfect, light canter depart. For four breathtaking strides I felt like I was loafing on cloud. Then before he lost the tempo, he dropped back to a walk, stopped, and waited quietly for the aid.
He knew what the problem was all along. He just couldn’t figure out how to tell me. He did his best. He knew, that I knew, that he wasn’t >>actually<< afraid of sparrows.
What a great story – thanks for telling it here!
Hi Mike. After watching many of your videos I notice a distinct classical French softness to your methods. I am getting discouraged with the heavy-handed German method. I’m getting results but it takes a lot of work on both of our parts. After watching a video of classical French riding (not Baucher) I tried some of the techniques. The simple act of raising my hands to lift the bit off the tongue made a huge difference in their lightness and roundness. It also allowed them to rebalance themselves without me pushing and pulling. The horses are more relaxed, straight and naturally forward. I think that I can always add the power gear later. I see you moving the shoulders a lot to get the flexibility which will lead to better bending. Your horses are happy.
I see your methods as a blending of the good things found in both schools of training. Your practical criticisms and ideas are for the benefit of the horse. Isn’t that what classical dressage is supposed to be about? This is where modern, competition dressage has gone astray. It is leaning more toward circus movements instead of relaxed, fluid, beautiful movements.
Your techniques are easy on the horse and easy on the rider, as well.