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Dressage: What's In It For You?

Do you ever get the feeling that to be a dressage rider, you need to be a member of a very exclusive club whose requirements you could never adequately meet? The entire sport is shrouded in mystery and how could you ever presume to think that you might be one of the chosen few who will ever truly understand or see the light?

Yet lately every time you turn around you've been hearing how riders from all different disciplines have been incorporating dressage into their training programs. It sounds intriguing and you shyly think, "How about me?"... "Can I?"..."Will I like it?"..."Will it help?"..."How do I get started?"..."Do I need special equipment or clothing?" Is my horse fancy enough?

Well...How about you? According to the AHSA rulebook, the object of dressage is the harmonious development of the physique and ability of the horse. As a result it makes the horse calm, supple, attentive, and keen thus achieving perfect understanding with his rider. Does that sound like something that might appeal to you?

Is there really anyone out there who doesn't enjoy riding a horse who is relaxed, forward, rhythmic, straight, supple, and obedient? To be sure the career dressage horse also has to show some special abilities such as to collect. But we're not taking about the wannabee Grand Prix horse here. We're talking about your average horse-on-the-street. The one that's fun to ride because he's comfortable and cooperative.

How about it? Would you like your horse to be relaxed, obedient, and more of a pleasure to ride? Wouldn't it be fun to have a horse that willingly and enthusiastically responds to the most refined, invisible signals? Dressage will help you develop a nonverbal language-a way to clearly communicate with your partner so that you can begin to function as one.

Obedience

To begin, in this article we'll address the issue of obedience. If your horse runs around out of control, ignores your legs, or resents the use of your hands, he's not going to be much fun to ride. In the following examples we'll explore how various dressage movements and exercises can be used to promote obedience. Rushing

If your horse tends to rush around and he won't listen to you when you politely ask him to slow down, turn him onto a small circle. Circles tend to take speed away from the horse so you can slow him down without having to yank on the reins. Remember we never want to pull on the reins as doing so stops the hind legs. Once we stop the hind legs, the back goes down, and the head and neck come up. In other words, pulling on the reins causes the horse to come off the bit.

Here's an exercise for the horse that rushes. Go on a 20-meter circle and as soon as he runs, arc onto a 10-meter circle within that circle.

Stay on the smaller figure until he slows down, then melt back onto the 20-meter circle. The moment he speeds up again, whether it's 1 stride or 20 strides, turn back onto the small circle.

Once you can control the speed on a circle, challenge the horse by going large around the arena where he might tend to run even more. As soon as he runs, do a small circle tangent to the wall until he slows down. Then follow the track again.

Or perhaps your thoroughbred off-the-track doesn't come forward with the hind legs. Instead he walks and trots with short, quick, tense steps. If you close your legs to ask the hind legs to step further under the body, he just goes faster. Ask him to move sideways away from one leg as if in a leg yield. You'll want a steep angle where the hindquarters come in at a 45 degree angle from the rail. It's difficult for your horse to keep running in this position. If he still rushes, bring your leg further behind the girth and increase the angle even more. When he slows down, reward and straighten him. As soon as he speeds up, go sideways again. Soon he'll learn to step with long slow strides while he's going straight.

Or maybe you'd like to ride simple changes of lead through the trot but as soon as you trot, your horse rushes off or picks up the same lead. For a simple change of lead through the trot you switch from one canter lead to the other by trotting for 3 or 4 steps in between each change.

Try this exercise. Pick up right lead canter. Come across the diagonal. Trot at X and immediately step into left shoulder-in. In left shoulder-in the hind legs stay on the diagonal line and you'll guide the shoulders to the left by bringing both of your hands to the left. Be sure to maintain a firm left leg on the girth so your horse doesn't drift to the left of the diagonal. Ride left shoulder-in for the rest of the diagonal, then straighten before the corner and pick up left lead. Do the same thing on the next diagonal. Riding the shoulder-in will prevent him from rushing off in trot because it'll keep his hind legs underneath him. Also the bend of the shoulder-in will help set him up to pick up the correct lead.

Obedience to the Leg

There's practically nothing worse than a horse that doesn't listen to your legs. You use your legs, the horse reacts a little, so you squeeze harder, and he temporarily responds to the aid. Then he gets dull to the stronger aid, and you have to do even more. Pretty soon you're exhausted and you have to take a break. Ta,da! Your horse has successfully trained you so that he works less.

The first thing you need to do is resensitize the horse to your light leg aids. Give a very light leg aid and if your horse doesn't respond immediately and enthusiastically, chase him forward with some sharp kicks or taps with with a whip. How do you know if his response warrants a punishment? The dead giveaway is the feeling that you need to squeeze harder to get a bigger reaction.

Next comes the important part. It's vital that you never leave a "forward" issue with a punishment. Otherwise your horse will think he doesn't have to go forward unless he gets a sharp aid. You must retest by giving another very light leg aid. If you get a lively response, praise generously. If not, repeat the whole process again.

I remember giving a clinic on basics- forward and straight. Shortly after I received a nice note from one of the participants in which she exclaimed, "I can hardly believe it! This is the first time in 3 years that I've brought my horse back to the barn and he's breathing harder than I am!". And that's the way it should be.

Ask the Questions

Once you've resensitized your horse to your leg, you can use the movements and gymnastics to ask the questions, "Are you paying attention? Are you listening to refined aids?" It's not necessary to do each exercise very long. It's your horse's initial response that gives you the answer.

If your horse seems a little dull, ride frequent transitions from gait to gait to put him mentally on the aids. He should feel "hot" off your leg for the upward transition and quick to respond to the bracing of your back (tighten your back and stomach muscles as if you're doing a sit-up and then stop your body so it no longer follows the horse's motion.) for the down transition. Don't stay in either gait for more than a few strides. It's the frequency of the transitions that will make him more alert. For the lazy horse, pretend you're doing the transition into an extension (i.e. walk into extended trot or trot into extended walk) so that you create more desire to go forward.

By the same token, you can check that your horse is paying attention by doing transitions within the gait. Do several lengthenings and shortenings. You don't have to do a lot of steps. Just ask the right questions. Will you go more forward as soon as I ask? Will you come back from a lengthening with a light aid?

Leg-Yield

Remember that the obedient horse moves sideways from the position of the leg behind the girth rather than from strong pressure. You don't make a 1200 lb. animal go sideways. (Or anything else, for that matter!) You ask with a signal, and it's because of the training that he responds.

The following obedience to the leg exercises can be done for a few strides each. Once again you simply want to ask the questions and evaluate your horse's initial response.

1. Walk or trot on a straight line along a track or fenceline. Position the horses's head toward the fence so you can just see his eye by squeezing and releasing the fingers of your outer hand. That's the hand which is on the same side as the fence. Slide your outside leg back a few inches. Keep your weight on the seatbone that is opposite the leg that's behind the girth. (i.e. If your left leg is back, your weight is on the right seatbone.)

Your horse should immediately swing his hindquarters to the inside while the forehand stays in the track. If he doesn't, kick him and ask again. Imagine that your leg that's behind the girth is an electric cattle-prod or a red hot poker. As soon as it moves back, your horse moves away from it eagerly. As soon as he does, slide your leg back to the on-the-girth position and go straight forward. And then ask for the leg-yield again. Do 4 or 5 of these transitions on each long side.

2. Go on a circle and alternate a leg-yield where you push the haunches away from your left leg and then straighten for a few strides and then push the haunches away from your right leg. In all cases, the front legs stay on the same track and the hindquarters are moved left and right.

3. Go on the diagonal line and make a "staircase" by moving the whole body sideways for a few steps, then riding straight forward, then sideways again. Your horse should respond immediately to the change in leg position from behind-the-girth which asks him to go sideways to on-the-girth which asks him to go forward.

Support your leg-yielding aids by picturing in your mind's eye that the hind legs continually are crossing and spreading with very wide, full strides.

Reinback (Backing Up)

You can ask the right questions during the reinback as well. Here are a couple of exercises to do as obedience exercises as well as exercises to check the horse's desire to go forward even when he's going backwards.

a. Back up a few steps and then go immediately forward to trot without any hesitation. As soon as your legs change position from behind-the-girth to on-the-girth, the horse should react by going forward.

b. Back up a few steps and while going back, flex the horse to the left by wiggling the fingers of your left hand until you just see his eye, weight your left seatbone and as your right leg swings behind the girth, the horse should immediately step into left lead canter.

c. Do a "rocker" where the horse goes 4 steps backwards, 4 steps forward, and 4 steps backward. This should be a continuous motion with no halting in between each series of 4 steps. Support your aids by visualizing the gear shift on a steering wheel. Put it on R and the horse goes back, and then move it to F and he goes immediately forward and then shift back to R, and he smoothly steps back again.

Not only can the reinback be used as an obedience exercise, but we can take this one step further and use it to correct a disobedience such as when a horse starts backing up because he willfully refuses to go forward.

If your horse starts going backwards and won't respond to your legs or the whip to go forward. Keep backing up. Keep going and if you're going to run into a wall, make a turn while you're still in reverse by placing one leg further back than the other. Continue to back up even if you end up going 20 or more steps. You'll be taking advantage of the fact that horses don't really like to go backwards. Keep going back until you feel your horse mentally begging to go forward. When that happens, close your legs. When he goes immediately forward out of relief, praise him alot.

Picks up the Wrong Lead

Part of being obedient to the leg includes responding immediately and correctly to the aid to canter. Set the horse up for the canter by sponging on the inner rein by opening and closing your inside hand. This action on the rein asks for flexion which positions the horse's head a little to the inside. Support with the outer rein to keep the neck straight, and put your weight on the inner seat bone. Then your inside leg which is at the girth asks for forward while the outside leg swings behind the girth in a windshield-wiper-like action to signal the outside hind to strike off.

Sometimes your aids will be right, but your horse will still make mistakes. Here's how you can use some of the dressage movements to help him canter on the correct lead.

Maybe your horse is picking up the wrong lead because he's leaning on your inside leg. Trot on a large circle. Decrease the size of the circle by spiraling in on a single track and then increase the size of the circle by leg-yielding out. Do this several times. When your horse feels softly bent around your inner leg, ask for the canter at the moment you are tangent to the larger circle.

Or perhaps he picks up the wrong lead because he's lazy with the outside hind leg (the strike-off leg). Trot on a large circle and activate the outside hind leg by leg-yielding the haunches in for a few strides and then straightening. Do this several times to put his mind into the outside hind leg. Then be sure he's completely straight (i.e. bent along the arc of the circle) when you ask for the depart.

Sometimes the problem is a lack of thoroughness. If that's the case, and your horse has had some previous dressage schooling, you can use travers (haunches-in) to help with the departs. In travers the horse travels with his hind legs on a different track than the front legs. The outside hindleg is lined up directly behind the inside foreleg. Travers differs from a leg yield as there is bend around the rider's inner leg.

Ride travers in walk until your horse bends easily around your inside leg. You can start on straight lines, arc onto a circle ,and go back to a line- all in travers. When there is a feeling of softness and ease, straighten, and immediately ask for canter. Don't wait too long before giving the signal as the thoroughness can be lost!

Counter-Canter

Counter-canter itself is an obedience exercise. Up until the point that you introduce it, all of your horse's education has been to canter with the inside foreleg leading. So not only will he think he's doing the wrong thing by cantering with the outside foreleg leading, but also until he develops the strength and balance to negotiate this movement, he'll feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable.

Help your horse find his balance by leaning your upper body behind the vertical during each stride rather than letting your shoulders come in front of the vertical. By rocking backwards you prevent the hind legs from escaping out behind your seat.

Feel the same roundness and impulsion in each counter-canter bound as you have in true canter. Experience the same ease, balance, and comfort in counter-canter that you have in true canter and make sure you breathe deeply and rhythmically as you begin your counter-canter strides.

Once Your Horse Understands Counter-Canter, As An Obedience Exercise

try doing simple changes of lead (canter-walk-canter) while on the rail. If either you or your horse has a psychological block to picking up the counter-canter lead on the track, try working a few meters to the inside of the track. When you go to pick up counter-canter, pretend you're going to turn towards the wall and canter right out of the arena.

So for the rider who is a novice to dressage, I say, "be brave". Remember dressage simply means training. Don't be afraid to incorporate its movements and exercises into your work. You'll discover some interesting and creative ideas to add to your schooling.