LESSON SIX

HORSE & RIDER EXERCISES

Hopefully, you are starting to feel your horse responding to the body and leg cues you learned in lesson Five. Exaggerate the cues if need be. As the horse learns to recognize the cues, you can make them more subtle.

If your horse makes a mistake, and he will, it gives you another chance to re-ask for the proper response. The horse learns by making mistakes; it’s the mistake that allows him to learn.

If he is not responding well, then ask him again, and add a cue you are sure he knows. For example, if he does not turn with your hip cue, follow up gently with a rein cue. Gradually decrease the rein cue so he starts responding more to your hip. He will get it.

Now, a great exercise to get you started and will help supple even the stiffest horse is called a "Double".

The “Double” is a simple movement that gets the horse to cross his hind legs correctly, strengthening his hindquarters, tucking his tummy and strengthening his back. It helps the rider learn to work the hips and use the inside leg effectively.

How to do a Double:

While walking your horse, turn your head and look in the direction of your horse's tail while you bring your inside hip back and bring your outside hip forward. Be sure to keep both hips in the saddle with equal pressure. Do not lean. Twist your torso.

Then softly bring your inside hand out and back toward your horse's hip, be sure not to drop your hand below your waist. Keep your elbow at your side; it acts like a hinge. At this point, your outside hand can move slightly forward, but do not drop it.

The inside leg slides back and presses about six inches or so behind the girth. Let your outside leg stay at the girth with a light contact. The outside leg does no work.

This position asks the horse to do a circle while in a deep bend.

Do not do this exercise in less than a six-meter circle.

Some kids call the exercise "chasing the tail" because it appears the horse is following his tail.

When teaching the Double, and until the horse is very supple, do not do the exercise at any gait other than the walk.

Some people use the Double as a punishment, working the horse in a tiny circle at a trot or canter. To do so puts stress the horse’s joints, and is not a safe procedure.

The Double is a great exercise if done correctly at a walk, or done on a larger circle at the trot.

If you begin to encounter problems with your horse’s responses with these exercises, it is not a good idea to add more complicated work. You will need to go back to the ground suppling exercises for a touch up.

If the horse is not responding as expected, first see if you are the problem--check your body position to be sure it is correct. If you lean or twist the wrong way, your horse will tend to drift out or resist turning.

Your horse may need the additional help you can provide by letting your inside leg really push his mid-section or hindquarters over. Be more aggressive.

One side of the horse will usually be tighter than the other. Work in that direction more often.

The "U-turn" is a good exercise for working the horse on the bend as well as going straight. It helps balance the horse through turns as well as keeping his shoulders up and straight. It helps the rider learn to switch his leg cues as well.

How to do a U-turn:

While walking on a straight line, turn your head and look over your shoulder in the direction you want the horse to go. As you look in the new direction, twist your body in that direction, moving your hips as before. You hips are the key to this exercise. Let your inside leg slide back a few inches. Your outside leg also slides back a little, to keep the horse from swinging his hindquarters out.

Keep your outside hand back. There should be firm, not tight, contact with the outside rein. The contact should be enough to keep the horse's head and neck slightly straight, not as bent as in the Double. Your inside arm opens a little (not pulling back), to tip the horse's nose slightly in the direction you want to go. You may squeeze your fingers a few times to emphasize the turning request.

Your elbows must stay at your sides and your hands must create a straight line from the horse's bit to your elbow. (All the previous rules of hands and legs still apply. If there are exceptions, I will mention them.)

As the horse turns in a deep turn, you slide your inside leg forward a little, about even with your outside leg, and press your horse forward with equal pressure from both legs as you straighten your body.

This will create what looks like a U-turn. (Use a cone to go around if this helps.) Do this across the arena, changing directions each time. You go straight, deep bend, and then go straight again, parallel and opposite to your previous direction.

Do this only at the walk. Exaggerate your hip movement, while keeping your hips evenly weighted. Do not lean.

If you lean or do not twist tight enough, the horse will drift off and go wide and may not turn at all. It will help you to remember your shoulders follow your hips; they must turn too. Your shoulders and your waist are included in your torso.

If done correctly, the turns will be tighter and the straight lines will be straighter. The horse will be more forward and he should not be dropping his shoulders.

"Corners" and "Squares" will help get your horse straight. You will now be getting the horse to move his rib cage over, stepping deeper over and underneath him. He will start to collect and lift his back and track up. Now things are coming together.

How to do a Corner and perform Squares:

A note: This has the same feel as the U-turn, except we want the haunches to swing over, and we do not want a deep bend; we want to try to keep the horse straight.

Walk your horse on a straight line, preparing to turn right by sending your horse's haunches to the left. Keep your (left) outside elbow back over your hip; this will block his shoulder and act like the brakes. Let your (right) inside arm open slightly, gently tilting his nose softly to the right, but only slightly.

Ask the horse to halt, or almost halt, whichever will be easier for your horse. Should your horse try to "walk through" this exercise, move your outside arm back, and close your fingers on the rein. (This is key: riders often give away the outside rein by putting their arms forward or straight, or having too loose a rein, thus loosing the connection. Doing so allows the horse to move his shoulders wherever he wants and to ignore you.)

Most problems with this exercise can be fixed by holding the outside rein firmly!

Your (right) inside leg slides back toward the horse's haunches; put it as far back as necessary to move the haunches away from your leg pressure. Turn your hips to the (right), inside hip back, outside hip forward. Be sure your outside arm is firm so the horse turns and does not trot off. Your (left) outside leg is passive at this point.

Keeping the horse's neck pretty straight or only slightly to the inside is of utmost importance. What you will be doing is sending his haunches over 90 degrees (a fourth of a circle) from the (right to the left), inside to outside. Basically, you will be describing the first corner of a square. As you send his haunches over, your (left) outside leg will then squeeze with the inside leg and send your horse forward.

We did this from the ground in Lesson Three.

We are sending the hindquarters over, forming a kind of pivot around the horse's forehand. Hence, "turn on the forehand".

It is important the horse does not back up; he needs to cross his inside leg in front of his outside leg. If he backs up, he will cross behind the outside leg. That is a major error. Do not get upset, just send him forward and lighten on the rein. The hind legs will take about 4 strides across to make a corner.

If you have difficulty, refer to the ground lessons.

Make several squares in one direction, then the other. A tip: walk the horse straight toward a wall or fence, send his haunches over to the wall, and then walk the horse straight beside the wall. You may practice that several times until you get the idea of bringing him to a halt and then moving his haunches around.

As you both improve, you can do this exercise without halting at each corner. Some find it easier to do a halt and then a turn and some do it better by just slowing the horse. Try to master both techniques.

REMEMBER: reward, reward, reward! If you or the horse gets frustrated, return to the U-turn and Double, or refresh with groundwork.

Once you have mastered the previous exercises, these new exercises should not be too difficult.

When the horse is making a good quarter-circle, increase the difficulty by asking him to do a full pivot or circle.

Keep the horse "in front" of you; do not let him back up. Usually the horse's front legs describe a very small circle. They lift with each stride. He should not be twisting around on one leg.

Remember: Keep sitting upright. Do not lean -- twist from head to hip! Keep the horses straight. Keep the outside rein firm, but not tight. Be soft and giving on the inside rein.

Put your inside leg back and press only as much as needed to get the desired result. Lighten your cues, as the horse grows more proficient.

Use both legs to send the horse straight forward after the turn.

The ability to do a turn on the forehand is a very great asset as almost all other exercises are dependent on being able to move the hindquarters at will.

The U-turn and Double help you to develop an excellent turn on the forehand. Practice, practice, practice. Once you've mastered it, use it in every warm up session; use it often.

Circles and spirals use all the important skills.

The goal of circles is to get your horse straight. Straight means that the horse is tracking up. Tracking up means the hind feet follow in the tracks of the front feet, and that the three parts of the horse (the head, neck, chest and shoulders are the front part, the rib cage and back are the midsection of the horse, the entire haunches are the back part of the horse) are aligned.

The junction of each of the three parts of the horse is very flexible. Aligning each part of the horse is what makes him straight.

Think of train tracks. A train tracks up on its track. And although it is straight and in parts, it can go on a straight line and also follow a loop in the tracks. Its parts are connected. If the train leans, it will tip. It must be upright and connected.

A horse must also be upright and connected. Arms straight, from your elbows (which are over your hips, at your sides), through the hands and reins to the bit keep the front and midsection connected. Your seat and legs connect the midsection and hindquarters.

The connection itself is a circle. Your legs create the energy that helps lift the horse's back and tuck his haunches, which drive the horse forward into the bridle that is connected to the rider's hands, and then through the seat to the rider’s legs where the cycle begins again.

This is the correct order of the chain of muscle reactions in the circle of the horse.

Everything is connected. Forcing and holding the horse's head in a position, which at the time seems to be the most popular and misunderstood way of training a horse, only creates a backwards cycle: Forcing in the head creates a tension of the back, hollowing it (sometimes creating pain), which in turn causes the haunches to hang out behind. When the hindquarters are strung out behind the horse, the tummy muscles to go soft and drop. With these problems, the horse is forced to bulge his lower neck to carry his head, which will be carried higher and stiffer, creating more back problems, etc.

The rider is then instinctively compelled to pull on the reins recreating the spiral of problems and causing damage to the horse's sound muscular conformation. The damage is often so severe, medical attention is needed. Horses can become lame from such a destructive cycle.

The horse's behavior will also be affected and the horse will take on an angry attitude.

It often does not take long to create such problems.

Making the horse straight, using the correct order of aids, will help keep the horse sound, healthy and happy. Only a straight horse can truly be forward and on the "aids" or "bit". A straight horse can track up correctly and bend correctly. A straight horse can be balanced and do lateral work with balance and ease.

Bending helps make the horse straight. All the previous exercises supple and strengthen the parts of the horse so you can bend him through his rib cage. This means that you hold the front end of the horse and the hind end of the horse together by sending the rib cage, or midsection, to the outside of a circle. If you are going left, you send the middle of the horse to the right, while keeping the front end straight (slightly to the left) and the back end straight (slightly to the left.) Too much bend in the front end, or hind end, will result in crookedness. You should feel connected, or plugged in.

On a straight line, you use both your legs to keep the horse's rib cage centered. Horses will usually bulge their rib cage in one direction or the other, which is why they can sometimes turn well in one direction and not the other. If the horse "bulges" on one side, he will be "contracted" on the other. He will turn better to the side that is contracted, not bulged, but he will usually drop that shoulder. It is much harder for the horse to turn in the direction he is bulging. When he does turn, he will resist and go wide.

The exercises in this lesson will supple the rib cage and allow the horse to bend better through his rib cage.

Now we can discuss circles and spirals:

A correct Circle is not easy. It involves a singular bend that is consistent throughout a complete circle. Commonly, a horse is pulled around a circle by his nose, the rider leaning, and the horse making various bend changes throughout, depending on his balance at the time.

Try to have a safe and level space of 20 meters or 60 feet in which to work. Mark it out in cones if you do not have a round pen of good size, or an arena.

Sometimes it helps to do squares about the same size as the circle you want. Then, as you zero in on the size you want, cut off the corners of your squares and create a circle. This is done only to help you establish the size and layout of your circle. Do this at the walk first, although it is usually easier at the trot.

Be sure your body is turned toward your direction of travel; all rules apply about being level and even. Your inside leg is just behind the girth, and your outside leg is slightly back farther than that. The job of your inside leg is to keep the horse out on the circle with slight and consistent pressure. Your outside leg's job is to keep the haunches slightly towards the inside so that he does not swing them wide like the square. His body should create a smooth arc.

Your hands keep the horse's front end straight, but with only a very slight bend to the inside. You should only see a corner of his inside eye. If there is too much bend in the neck, the horse will not be able to track up. Your outside leg not only keeps his haunches slightly to the inside, but also keeps the horse moving forward.

You will need to make adjustments . . . constantly. You will have to be ready to anticipate any wobbling in his balance. If he drops to the side at one place on the circle, he will probably consistently do it in that same place -- be ready for it. If he drifts in, let the inside leg press him out. If he drifts out, let the outside leg push him back.

If the horse drifts out, tighten your own bend more to the inside to make the circle smaller. Widen you own twist to the outside a bit if he is making too small a circle.

Your outside rein is the key to connection here. It keeps the horse’s head, neck and shoulders straight, while the inside hand remains soft and as inactive as possible. Only use it as an open rein when you really must; try to request direction with the body and legs.

The inside leg keeps the horse pushed into the outside rein. It keeps the horse out on the circle. It creates the inside wall that pushes up into the outside wall that is created by the outside rein and leg.

You will feel your thighs up against the saddle if you are twisted correctly and have good thigh contact. When turning to the right, you should feel your left thigh pushing the front of the saddle over to the inside, as the back of your right thigh presses the back of the saddle toward the outside.

You will be making slight adjustments and improve your own reaction time as you practice.

There will be times the horse will slow or increase speed. You must correct his speed so he maintains a set cadence. If he rushes in some places, just slow down your posting a little until he responds. If the horse is lagging, give him a little extra leg. It becomes a game of anticipation (hopefully on your part), and fine-tuning.

The goal is to get a constant rhythm by frequent, but subtle adjustment.

Don't let the horse continue an inappropriate gait speed. Correct the horse immediately. Remember to reward the horse for every effort to comply with your requests.

The spiral is merely a circle that grows larger and/or smaller. By twisting your body more tightly, and increasing your outside leg pressure, you should be able to send your horse into a smaller circle. By twisting more toward the outside and increasing your inside leg pressure, you should be sending your horse onto a larger circle.

You want to establish a correct circle first, getting your aids in place, and then ask him to change the circle size gradually, but progressively. Once he is doing well, you can ask for the opposite spiral. It should become smoother and easier to do with time and practice.

Practice by putting cones at various distances and trying to reach each new level without steering him with his nose. Use your body! Try not to cheat. Give him the chance to do it correctly and learn it.

The Figure Eight is the Circle and a mirror image of it.

Put a cone or pole at the starting point. Do a circle in one direction, and as you approach the starting point again, change your bend by twisting your body and changing your outside and inside leg and hand cues.

Be careful you do not do a straight line when you change your bend. Your Figure Eight is to be two complete whole circles. There are no straight lines in this exercise. The circle's join at a point, which may be two or three strides at first. Do a circle, then be sure you are in a good bend, be straight for a stride, and then bend in the other direction. You may need a stronger inside leg to keep him out on the second circle of the figure. Be sure you have a firm outside rein when you change directions.

Do figure-eight spirals next. For example, spiral around, gradually changing your bend, going larger, and then change direction and start the next spiral at the same size you just finished. These are fun. Be creative!

Mix all these exercises. Let one exercise flow into a new exercise.

Take your time, keep your horse forward, and reward him often!

TERMS:

Bulges: When the horse allows his rib cage, or barrel, to extend to one side. You can see, standing in front or behind the horse, that he has his rib cage to one side or the other. It is often considered the horse's "stiff" side because he will not want to bend or go in the direction of his bulge. Also, he will not want to move away from the leg on that side. Both sides of the horse need to be made supple by doing ground or riding exercises.

Contracted: One side of the horse's rib cage is bulging, the other side is contracted. It is a tight muscular, concave bend. You can also feel it from the horse's back; the horse is bulging on one side and your leg will feel it sticking out farther, while the other, contracted side is flat. The horse will turn into the contracted direction, but will usually drop his shoulder. The horse will move away from the leg on the contracted side. Both sides of the horse must be worked to release the tension, starting on the side of the contraction--often considered the horse's "good side". Suppling will help release the contracted muscles and then the bulging side will be able to move back. As a matter of fact, the bulge happens because the one side contracts first.

Rib Cage: The horse's barrel, midsection, place of ribs. It should be flexible enough to swing from left to right, and to be centered. This must happen to allow the horse to bend properly and go straight.

Swing: The rib cage needs to be able to swing side to side to allow the horse to bend in both directions. If the horse contracts the one side, he will bulge the other. There cannot be one without the other.

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