Balanced Rider Blog

Santo's first show

2012-05-16T22:16:00-06:00

I took Santo to his first show on the first weekend of May. It was a schooling show at the same place I did clinic with Alixa Sutton. Because it wasn't EC (Equine Canada) recognized show the dressage tests were Cadora tests

Santo and Chica arrived at the showgrounds Friday night. I booked for them an outdoor paddock where they could be together.Because rein was coming and going I was afraid the paddock would be muddy and my horses would be all wet and dirty next day. I was lucky, no rein! Horses had a chance to settle in and look around while I was coaching couple students. Then it was Santo's turn to check out big and very beautiful indoor arena of Maple Leaf Meadows International. I was expecting emotions and high spirits, jumps and sprints. As soon as we entered the arena and I started lunging him I knew he was OK. He was eager to look around and spooked from flowers, huge mirrors, etc. But these were not real spooks, he wasn't scared or upset, there was no built-in tension in him. He listened well and stayed connected to me. We cruised around arena on a lunge line once each direction and then I rode him for about 20 minutes. At the end he was absolutely fine, just a bit distracted by a new place. I was very pleased. For some reason indoor arenas never bothered him, we have been in 5 different ones and he never really spooked in any of them.

My plan for warm-up on the Saturday morning was to braid him, then lunge him for 10 minutes in warm-up ring, which was a small coverall arena. After that tack him up and be ready to ride 30 minutes before our first test. I booked to ride my tests one after another without leaving the arena. I executed my plan to the minute :) It worked really well, 30 minutes exactly what he needed to supple up and start paying good attention to me but still have energy left for the tests. The show was running a bit late, common thing for dressage shows. Luckily, not too much. We only had to wait another 10 minutes before it was our time. I could feel him being very comfortable and relaxed. This is not the best state of mind for Santo because he becomes lazy when he is too comfortable. The tests went quite smoothly apart from my right hamstring muscle which started cramping in the middle of the test. I had to stop using my legs being afraid it will crump so much I have to stop riding. You can see on Youtube video during free walk I am stretching my right leg :) We got 68.9% in our test B. We didn't make any real mistakes and judge liked his free walk, long and low circle, trot diagonals. Our transitions are quite rough, all I did is thought about walk and Santo would stop going forward completely. Turkey! :)
Youtube - Test B
Test D felt good and I rode my transitions better, however, we had 5 mistakes. Santo did 2 of them and I did 3 :) We got 63.3%. Overall, judge liked Santo's movement, how his haunches are working, she wanted him to be more consistently on the bit and his transitions needs work. This was Santo's first show and I think he really came through for me. I think he has the mind to be a show horse. He was distracted and inattentive at times but absolutely comfortable with the whole atmosphere and so much commotion - people, horses, dog, cars, trucks, flags, you name it.

After my tests I had a chance to join a jumping schooling round with one of the MLM instructors. I couldn't pass that opportunity. Santo has never seen the real jumps up close. All I have at home is couple white standards and a few dark poles. Here it was a complete jumping course set up with flower boxes, weird planks and brightly colored poles. Santo jumped couple jumps without questions. Other jumps looked too scary so we had to do a few attempts to get over them. Mind you, one of them was 2 feet oxer he never seen or jumped. It is funny how nerves can get better of you. I feel so comfortable jumping him at home, we jump easily 2' 6''. Here at the show grounds I could feel myself getting nervous, starting to override and hold too much. Stephanie Mah, Maple Leaf Meadows jumping instructor, was very supportive, very positive and allowed Santo to make mistakes. I liked that very much. Overall, It was a great venue and I will go back next year may be even more than just once.

Happy riding...

Alixa Sutton's Clinic. Part II.

2012-04-23T19:32:00-06:00

Before you continue I need you to read the blog on - flexibility for riders. This will give you a better idea about the principles Alixa stresses in her work with human athletes.

We had a small group of three participants and the stretching session lasted for 1.5 hour. The work was very interesting and intense, the time went by very quickly. I felt I could go for another 1.5 hour easily. We started with exercises to stretch hip flexors. I always thought that my hip flexors are long enough because I can easily do many standard stretching exercises for these muscles. However, Alixa's standard is much higher :) Her exercises revealed quite severe tightness in the Rectus Femoris muscle. The challenge is not only position of the legs for stretching but also squareness of the hips which instantly want to twist and collapse to get away from the stretch. Little extra changes, like the foot not on the floor but on the prop (which in our case was a carton box from flat screen TV), create very unusual stretching poses. Most of her exercises can be done easily at home, all you need to do is to have a little imagination to help yourself with positioning. In this session Alixa used stools, boxes, dressage letter holders, walls, etc. to create extra hight, or support, or lean into device and so on. The goal is not to hold stretching pose but to relax into it.

Another point that Alixa stresses in her stretching work is that left and right sides of the pelvis should be able to move separately. This is possible if a ligament that attaches wings of Ilium to the sacrum is supple. Many times due to our life styles we never require to move these parts of our body separately and these ligaments "glue" themselves to the sacrum and make pelvic bones one inseparable unit including sacrum. This is not very good for riding because the left and right sides of horse's back move separately. Immobility of the rider's pelvis prevents good motion absorption and sends a wave higher into the spine and shoulders, especially, visible in some riders in canter. I am aware of such pelvis mobility and work on it on regular basis. However, at first Alixa found my hips quite glued to each other. I guess driving to work and several hours of teaching before clinic didn't help my hips to be supple :) Alixa was pleased how quickly my hips unglued themselves after she worked with me. I was pleased too, the exercise was great. Though, I cannot really describe it here. It will take the whole blog and I am not sure I will be clear enough so readers can reproduce it. Plus assistance is required with the exercise.

I loved shoulder stretching exercises. At the last workshop and this time Alixa stretches shoulders by fixing the hand pressed into a flat surface with fingers stretched and spread. The hand can be positioned level with the shoulders or higher, the fingers can point upward or away from the front of the body. The body can be positioned sideways to the wall or back to the wall. All these variations give different stretches to different muscles. In the stretch the shoulder is rotated back and forth, body can go up and down, or lean left and right, the head can bend or turn. There is a limitless number of variations. I use these group of stretches for my shoulders all the time. It is like having your personal massage therapist at your disposal any time you want. Alixa found my shoulders stiff. That wasn't a surprise to me. I am trying to solve this puzzle but it is a long journey.

Alixa mentioned several times that she used the principles of stretching for humans to develop stretching exercises for horses. I think I am starting to see the connection and this helps a lot with how I approach stretches for horses.

Happy riding...

Alixa Sutton's Clinic

2012-04-14T19:28:00-06:00

Before you continue I need you to read the blog on - flexibility for horses. I want you to be familiar with the concept and exercises I described earlier. If you haven't read the "Flexibility workshop. Part II. Horses" I strongly recommend reading it before you continue.

I participated in Alixa Sutton clinic with Goodwyn. Unfortunately, I could only do 2 days, one stretching for riders and another for horses. Even then I came back with so much insight and ideas on how to work with Goodwyn.He has spent this winter in the pasture and came back to me a different horse. He has grown and matured, his movement changed and got bigger and more powerful, to the point that he himself is having a hard time dealing with it. Being a late maturing horse he still looks like a youngster even at 7 years of age. I think he has another year before he stops changing.
Alixa rode Goodwyn for 40 minutes. She thought him to be a difficult and very interesting case. One of those you want to go to the end to see the results. Below are her comments and exercises she did with him. It was so much to remember. I am not sure I got it all here. I will list each gait and it's issues followed by exercises and suggestions from Alixa.

Walk: Problems - right hip high - leg weak - steps out; compensates by leaning into left shoulder; shoulders stiff, left especially; wants to be heavy with his neck and shoulders; right side of the back is dropped

Lift the head up with light upward strokes on the reins. He should lift his head and keep walking both directions
Start with serpentine - no bend - lots of releases - should keep his own balance
Lateral flexions, head is turned 90% to the side. If he wants to be slow let him be slow
Shoulder turns, wide at the beginning, especially to the left, spiral in gradually
Shoulder-in on a circle, lots of changes of bend and direction do not get stuck looking for perfect execution, rider's right leg light, whip if needed

Trot: Problems - does not keep himself centered - disconnected between front and back - gets stuck behind in turns

10m figure eight - change flexion in between and he should not fall into new direction right away
Lateral flexions, to the left is stiffer, haunches want to swing out; to the right feels awkward and "broken", wants to fall in
Shoulder-in on a circle
Releasing and letting him trot out on a loose rein, looking for straightness and connection in the back

Canter: Problems - very disorganized, switches leads occasionally

Short flexions left and right, couple strides each flexion
Spiral in encourage canter, look for engagement and connection in the back, no bend
Big circle flexion inside
Release and canter out on a long rein

Be careful, less demand, falls into left shoulder,
Feels more organized on small circle - ride small half-circle then release and canter out on a long rein, repeat
Be careful catching him on a right rein he will switch the lead
Release is his reward, he should learn to enjoy it and look for it not to be afraid of it and lose his balance

After Alixa I got on Goodwyn just to feel him. We didn't have much time left so I didn't ride for long. But it was amazing how level and connected his back felt. How supple and free his left shoulder felt, how easy it was for him to turn his shoulders, change direction, do a shoulder-in on a circle. His walk felt more powerful and forward. After the clinic he had two days off and I didn't expect the changes in him to last but they did. He felt better than usual right from the start. Since then our work together got more meaning, less frustration, steady progress and tons of fun! I do not do all the exercises described above every time I work Goodwyn and I continue working on my own program for him. However, the insight Alixa gave me changed my perspective on how I should approach exercises with him and what to look for. He does not switch the leads any more, canters happily out on a long rein, started to find his hind end during turns and changes of direction, much more willing to stay light and stretch at the same time. I always liked working with him. Now it is more fun than ever! Thank you, Alixa, from the bottom of my heart!

In the next blog I will tell you about my stretching session with Alixa.

Happy riding...

Working with a youngster. Part II.

2012-04-05T09:18:00-06:00

As I said in my previous blog I had few confrontations with Chica. I had three very big ones. They were not exactly during the working sessions but rather during everyday handling. First one, was during trimming her hind feet. After she was already familiar with the procedure (she had 3 trimmings done, I trim every month) she decided she didn't want her feet done today. She would pull her feet from my hands, fall on me, walk around. At first I tried to work with her, after 30 minutes I started to feel angry and hit her with the whip couple times quite hard to move her over. I started to worry about my ability to judge things clearly. So I left. I closed the barn door and left her tied in the aisle all alone. She couldn't brake the halter because my ring is high and she was small then. I came back after an hour. She pooped all over the floor, banged on the wall and chewed on stuff. However, after that she let me pick her feet and finish trimming. Since then she never behaved like that and even though she does not stand perfectly for trimming she is very good most of the time. After that incident I was not sure if she would be fine tied in the barn again. She was worried a bit at first but with quiet grooming and handling she became very comfortable.

My two other confrontations happened during routine handling - coming to the barn for the night and back to the paddock in the morning. One time she was impatient and wanted to get inside as soon as possible. She tried to run by me to get to the barn quickly and then didn't stop and pushed into me. When asked to back up or slow down she ignored. So I took a whip and chased her out of the barn, after that we stopped every step and if she didn't stop right away I would back her a few steps. It took two minutes to cover 10 m distance to get to the stall. Now she stops every time I stop and patiently waits for me to leave the stall before approaching her food. The last one happened very recently. It was coming through the gate to the paddock. She didn't want to come in, planted her feet in the ground and wasn't moving. I walked out of the paddock took a whip (I have an in-hand whip near by) and asked her to enter the paddock. She run around me until she realized what to do and jumped inside. So far she is much better now to enter the paddock. Plus I thought of a better way to enter the paddock with her. I open the door then mobilize her and only after her feet are moving I start walking through the gate.

I wand to draw your attention to the fact that I scrutinize my behavior after such encounters every single time. I thoroughly analyze my actions to learn more from them and find better solutions next time. Most of the time I think I had more emotions involved than I should have. I think I reacted rather then acted. Even though I got the results I wanted I feel if I was calmer I would use less drama than I did. During the heat of the moment it is very hard to analyze things quickly, act appropriately and have a very calm mind. I look at it as my quest to become a better horse woman.

There are few thoughts and ideas I want to share with you as a consequence of my work with Chica:

99% of work with very young horses must be done with very quiet, friendly and confident attitude. Young horses are flighty and easily scared. Harsh or unfair treatment has detrimental consequences
Young horses are not aware of many rules. A handler must teach a young horse how to behave around humans. It must happen on ongoing basis. Little corrections done right away go a long way in avoiding big confrontations and accidents <>LI>The lessons taught to a young horse must be very simple and short in duration. The more a handler can split the learning process into smaller pieces the better and with less drama a young horse will learn.
There will be situations where young horses challenge the handler's authority, sometimes quite strongly. The handler must be ready to act quickly with as minimum emotions as possible. However, your actions must be adequate to create an impression on a young horse. If horse's behavior was dangerous, the actions must be very dramatic to leave a long lasting impression in horse's memory. Young horses challenge more than older horses because as they grow their status in a herd will change. It is in their nature to constantly check where they stand.
Just because a young horse was doing something well for a period of time it does not mean it learned the behavior or response properly. That could be a coincidence and the young horse didn't even know it was supposed to learn something; the young horse was in a mood and didn't want to challenge the asked behavior
A young horse changes its behavior with another handler. This is a common issue when inexperienced handlers/riders buy a young horse who appeared perfectly well behaved and trained when they tried the horse at a trainer's place. They bring this horse home and the horse turns into a monster. This is true not just with 2-year-olds. Until horse matures around age of 7-8 it considered a young horse. I personally know people who suffered badly after buying a 4 or 5 year old horse only to realize later they are in no position to enforce their will. Never buy a young horse for a child!

Work with Chica showed me very clearly how important very young horse's training is. Taking time and carefully teaching her all kind of things prepares her well for a future career as a riding horse. The idea of taking a 3-year-old out of the field, putting 30 days of work on it and consider this horse a rideable horse is a complete lunacy in my eyes.

Happy riding...

Working with a youngster. Part I.

2012-04-02T06:56:00-06:00

My little filly Regala, nickname Chica, is growing up. She will be 2 years old on May 29. Since she came home last June as a yearling I have been handling her and playing with her twice a week for about 20-30 minutes plus she spends nights inside on regular basis, about 2-3 times a week. So overall she has been handled often. Apart from handling youngsters in Russia where I started riding at a riding/breeding facility I haven't worked with very young horse for a long time. It was very interesting for me to see how my experience and overall knowledge of training horses apply itself to such young individual.

I decided from the beginning that I have tons of time with her and I can introduce her to many different things very gradually with no pressure or time tables. This strategy really paid off. Chica has learned a lot since she came. I am going to list things that she does just to give you an idea on what I have been working with her:

She ties and gives to pressure of the halter. She knew a little bit of halter pressure when she came. Now she is really comfortable with it and listens to it well even in scary situations
She loves being groomed, picks her feet well, lets me trim her feet, though still learning about standing on three legs when one of the front ones is lifted. It is hard for her to hold the posture for long without starting to sink down. She lets me groom her head, ears and muzzle
Moves over, backs up from light touch, does not push into my space. She does it in the barn when tied or in the arena on the lead rope
Leads well on both sides, turns easily both directions from each side, leg-yields away if I am stepping into her space, stops and goes, understands whip
Calmly goes for walks around the yard, into the forest on trails, to the road on driveway
Easily walks over polls and cavalletty. She was very confident with them from the first attempt. She loves braking ice on puddles :)
She has learned the concept of longing. I do not exercise her on a longe line. She is too young for that. However, she knows to keep the distance without coming in or pulling away, she can walk on a circle or around the track, she calmly trots on a circle both directions (I have no fence around my riding arena)
She accepts the saddle on her back and is comfortable walking with it
She stands at a mounting block as I climb on it and scratch her I often lean on her back to scratch the other side. Every time I lean a bit more
She loads well into trailer and last summer went to 3 horse shows to accompany Santo and Goodwyn. Great experience for such a young horse!
Recently I introduced a bridle and putting it on is not a problem. However, she is trying to figure out what a bit is for and works hard on spitting it out :) I only let her wear it for 5-10 minutes at a time
But most importantly she developed very friendly and polite attitude, calm and confident in her work, obedient and responsive even when unsure or scared in situations such as being alone on trails. She loves going for work and practically puts her head in the halter when she knows it is her turn

Most of the things she learned happened in a very easy quiet way. If I saw her being nervous or scared I would immediately stop asking. It took her a while to lead from the right side. In the beginning I only asked for one step forward when she wasn't sure what to do. My first trail walks were 20 m into the bush. Before introducing saddle I played with towels, saddle pads, blankets, etc until I saw her being very comfortable with these items, getting them on and off, pulling on straps... The more carefully I observed her reactions the better I can break the learning process into very, very small pieces, frequently going back a step, or abandoning some lessons for a while. She learned to trot on a longe line not because I practiced it a lot but because after introduction of the lesson I didn't work on it for a month. When I asked for it again she calmly trotted around me on a circle.

I do not want to appear like I never had an argument or confrontation with Chica. I am not talking about little corrections that happen on ongoing basis when handling horses. I am talking about big ones where I had to exercise power and show her that I run this place and not her. Because I feed her and groom her it is easy to understand how she may see me as her subordinate. This creates periodical confusion in her eyes who is boss here :) And as all young horses she tests her position in "the herd". So far I had three big confrontations with her. I will tell you about them in my next blog. Plus some general thoughts and ideas on handling young horses.

Happy riding...

Spanish walk. Part II.

2012-03-21T12:02:00-06:00

It has been a while since my last blog on Spanish walk. And Santo is already progressed quite a bit. He understands the concept of lifting his legs high, he can execute up to 4 steps in a row. He is grasping the idea of walking forward even though his progression is minimum. This can be developed faster and better under saddle. I like that he is very willing to work on it and has enough balance to lift one leg after another. Most of the time I do not need to touch him with the whip for every step, he lifts his legs himself. His head position is not on a vertical, it is too high and nose out. However, I do not see it as an issue right now. First of all it is easier for him to lift his legs when his head is high. Second, I am nudging him forward with the reins to keep stepping forward. That pulls his nose forward. I do not want to restrict him with side-reins because when I start doing Spanish walk in the saddle it will fix itself. I feel that I have accomplished my goal for this winter and introduced Santo to the idea. He can execute a few steps and is very enthusiastic about it. It would be a good time to start working on Spanish walk under saddle. However, spring is here and show season is here. We need to focus on different goals and Spanish walk under saddle can wait until fall. I will still continue working on it in hand once a week, I do not want him to forget what he accomplished over this winter.

When your horse can strike with each leg after a brisk halt start asking for the strike without halting. You can rebalance your horse, slow him down and then touch him with the whip when he is about to move his near front leg forward to make a step. As soon as he strikes encourage him to move forward. You can do it by clicking your tongue, nudging with the reins, or quickly bringing the whip back and touching your horse on the haunches. After a few walking steps half-halt him to rebalance, slow down and ask with the whip to strike again. The timing is critical here. You may end up working on your timing to catch that perfect moment when leg is about to move forward. The better you are at catching the right moment the faster your horse learns what he is supposed to do. Be patient with yourself and your horse. If things get messy or confused stop working have a quiet walk for a minute and then ask again. Remember to work only for a short period of time and do not forget to change direction to work on the other leg. Walking, watching your horse, watching for right timing, watching where you are in relation to your horse, feeling balanced and coordinated - these things are not easy to accomplish. The less experienced you are working your horse in hand the shorter your work sessions should be and you should not expect fast progress. Look at it as a fun time, a journey into unknown...

When you start to see that your horse is willing and coordinated enough to strike with one leg without halting start asking for two steps in a row. You may need to rebalance your horse with a half-halt while you are asking the far leg to strike or you may have to encourage him to move forward. It depends on your horse. If you are touching your horse's legs on the back of cannon bones or forearms it is not that difficult with dressage whip to reach further and touch the other leg on the back. The trick is to do it quickly, gracefully and at the right moment. If you get even a slightest effort from your horse praise him lavishly. May be even give him a treat if you use them for this work. Do not ask for more than two steps for a while and work on both of your horse's sides. It is important for the symmetrical development.

Your horse will make mistakes - he will stop, he will not lift his legs high enough every time, he will give you two steps easily one day and look like he does not know what you are talking about the very next day. Do not get upset, discouraged or angry. Remember this is very much a highly coordinated movement, that requires a lot of practice from your horse to get it right. If you never done cartwheel before will you be able to perform balanced, light and straight cartwheel in couple months of practicing? Not likely! You need to develop flexibility, muscle coordination, strength in your shoulder girdle, etc. On top of that you must find a way to make your horse love this exercise, otherwise, he will never perform it with brilliance. We will return to Spanish walk in fall when I start teaching it to Santo under saddle.

Happy riding...

Working with horses on flexibility

2012-03-07T13:14:00-06:00

For this blog I assume you read the previous one - flexibility for horses. I assume you are familiar with the concept and exercises I described earlier. If you haven't read the "Flexibility workshop. Part II. Horses" I strongly recommend reading it before you continue.

Santo is very familiar with flexions. I introduced them to him from the ground and at halt. I did some lateral flexions with him during walk. He knows leg-yield, shoulder-in, turns on the forehand and on the haunches, not from the halt though. I never halt for these turns. In short, Santo is quite mobile and supple already. However, after coming back from the workshop I realized I can bring all this work to a different level. After seeing Alixa work I understood much better how to properly do lateral flexions during movement. Before I used outside rein differently not high enough and I blocked my horse in some ways. Lifting both hands up allows easier control of the head position, the outside side of the neck and shoulder without holding and pulling. Santo can turn his head 90 degrees with the neck somewhat lifted and keep walking straight, on a circle, in shoulder-in position and in counter-flexion. Now I introduced this work into our trot warm-up and he is already quite good at it. If you check my Photo Gallery page at the bottom there is a picture of Santo trotting and looking left straight into camera. His head is turned but not tilted and neck is lifted. I didn't ask for that. His position is correct. This is what you are looking for if you are asking for lateral flexions. However, more turn will be better.
My warm-up in walk is much more interesting now. I realized I didn't have enough variety. I would get stuck in one exercise for too long. Now I change things more and move from one exercise to another keeping his attention sharp. If I feel he is stiff doing one particular exercise I will change and do something else and them come back to the difficult movement. I will ask him stretch down on regular basis and after working on so much flexions he is very happy to drop his head all the way to the ground. In trot warm-up lateral flexions help me to get Santo round and stretching into contact much faster than simply waiting for him to start stretching on his own or pulling him into any kind of frame.

Every horse that I rode since the workshop benefited from my new perspective. Many horses I get on are not light enough, not mobile enough. They are behind the leg, want to pull or curl behind the bit, their shoulders are stiff and heavy and attention is scattered. Working on the flexibility exercises really helps to address these issues. Horses are usually surprised by the level of lightness and focus I require of them when I do this work. The interesting note though, things start to improve minute by minute. Changing bend, direction, moving shoulders, moving haunches - horses start to really pay attention to my requests. Even young or very green horses respond very well to these exercises. This work makes a rider dance with a horse - total focus, total connection, moving from one exercise to another in a steady rhythm, like a dance routine. A break after such concentration is well deserved by the horse and rider alike. It is very hard for a horse to be bored, he has to think a lot and be very engaged mentally. Funny, how all I just said would be true even before the workshop in regards to my approach to riding. However, since then, my level of understanding concepts such as lightness or mobility rose to a new hight.

The flexibility exercises will help you to find out a lot about your horse. Some horses are very comfortable flexing with the neck up and it is hard for them to stretch down and flex. Others are opposite. There are horses that stretch down by completely collapsing into their shoulders or one shoulder. Other tendencies are to be stiff turning the shoulders in certain postures like counter flexion or certain directions. All these can give the rider a good idea what to work on, how to combine exercises to create the best benefit for your horse. Develop a habit to observe your horse in these exercises instead of getting upset if your horse does not do something well. They are flesh and blood like us. They have habitual ways of doing things and their bodies are not perfect. Have the same level of sympathy toward your horse's challenges as you have toward yourself when you are learning something new. Plus, remember, your horse didn't ask for it, he does not care about his flexibility issues. Always have a very positive attitude toward your horse's creative thinking even if this creativity is to find a way to escape the challenge :)

Happy riding...

Flexibility workshop. Part II. Horses.

2012-02-23T09:28:00-06:00

The second blog on the workshop flexibility will be about horses and how to make them more supple and happier in their work. In my first blog I forgot to give a link to Alixa's website. Now I am going to correct this mistake. Here it is Alixa's Sutton website. Before I start talking about particular exercises for horses I will lay down the principles behind this work that Alixa explained to us. These principles will not be simple repetition of what Alixa said but more of my understanding of them. If you later buy her book you will find more detailed explanation of everything.

A supple horse should be able to carry his head and neck up, down and anywhere in between. Easily!
It should be able to turn his head left/right almost to 90 degrees angle when head in any of these positions - up, down, in-between at walk, trot and even canter (flexions are popular means of suppling a horse in France, Spain, etc, Western riders use them all the time, however, more in halt then in movement)
A horse should turn his shoulders very easily right or left in straight, bent or counterbent positions
A horse is suppled first in the mouth, then neck, then poll, then shoulders and then haunches (this is a centuries old knowledge sadly forgotten today by many)
All suppling exercises are done during movement. Walk is the most suitable gait for this work. When the horse progresses they can be done in trot and canter
Lateral work in walk is a foundation for suppling your horse (again centuries old knowledge rarely seen practiced today)
Rider does not hold the horse in any of these positions. Rider only requests, guides and corrects. There should not be a hold or steady pull on the reins. Only light strokes, repeated as often as necessary. Contact is very light throughout
Lifting of the head up or flexions right/left are asked with upward strokes. The bit works on the corners of the mouth, there is no pressure on horse's sensitive bars. There is no downward pull on the reins
Rider's seat and legs are very important in this work. They give the horse a clear guideness where and how to move
No nosebands, martingales, draw-reins or spurs. Just loose-ring snaffle bit, long reins and a dressage whip

Exercises. Walk:

1. Lifting the head up -Lift horse's head up with light upward strokes of the reins. Release, if horse drops his head ask again, release. With a difficult horse who is heavy on the shoulders and drops the head down all the time ask the head up and turn the shoulders at the same time, no bend, both reins turning. Do not hold! Horse holds the head up himself, neck straight, horse starts to release its mouth and chew on the bit.

2. Lateral flexion - Using both reins lift horse's head up and turn his nose to the side. Use your hands very delicately, inside rein is up, vibrate reins. Use legs to tell your horse where to go, do not let him fall on outside shoulder. Do not get stuck in your horse's mouth. Horse will learn to carry his head up to 90 degrees to the side. This will stretch the muscles on the sides of the neck. This is very good exercise for horses with U-necks.

3. Stretching down - Most horses will happily stretch down after above exercises. If your horse is reluctant to stretch do not start pulling him down. Keep your hands low and wide and ask one rein at a time. Ask lightly, no pull, look for a softening. Release generously both reins. Ask with other rein. Release. Do not seesaw. Horse will start dropping his head down. Do not be greedy. Praise for even small reaction. Ride 10 m in low position, spiral in, spiral out. Lift the head, ask for flexion.

4. Circles, spirals, figures 8 - Ride these figures with horse's head up or down, straight, with flexion, and/or counter-flexion, change flexions. Keep the same flexion while changing direction, etc. Use your imagination to create different patterns and their combinations. You are looking for lightness in contact, lightness in shoulders while turning, mobility in haunches. Nothing is heavy, nothing feels stuck. Use whip to mobilize your horse, or help him get off a heavy shoulder

5. Shoulder-in on a circle - Lift and ask for shoulder-in for a few steps, straighten out, lift and ask for counter shoulder-in for a few steps, straighten out. Ask for shoulder-in and then ask for lateral flexion in shoulder-in position. Do not hold your horse in this position. It is not an easy exercise and your horse will get tired quickly. If you are holding you will miss the signs of fatigue. After that exercise even most upside-down horse will stretch down on his own.

There are of course more exercises to play with. Unfortunately, Alixa had barely scratched the surface of what can be done. Most of the riders needed a lot of practice to grasp the concept in easier exercises. It was hard for them not to pull or hold their horses in certain position. Horses, too, were reluctant to let go of the way they set their necks and hold their heads. However, by the second day the change was amazing. Upside down necks lowered down and necks broken at the third vertebra opened up and stretched out. Horses were more willing to flex and bend and turn and riders were more willing to release. What a difference!
Another cool thing was that Alixa rode almost all horses at least for a minute and showed a particular flexion or exercise. And watching her work a horse was absolutely invaluable experience!

In the next blog I will share with you my own experience with this work through my horse, my students and their horses and my observations and thoughts on the subject.

Happy riding...

Flexibility workshop. Part I. Riders.

2012-02-15T22:34:00-06:00

I have audited a clinic. It was a flexibility workshop for horse and rider. The instructor was Alixa Sutton. She is an acrobat and contortionist artist, rider and trainer. She worked for Cavalia show. She has been working with athletes and dancers as a flexibility specialist for 10 years. She took her knowledge on how to develop flexibility in humans and applied it to horses creating an interesting program. This program is done under saddle and exercises from it can be used as a part of rider's warm-up routine or a suppling moment during the ride when needed.

In this blog I will talk about exercises for riders. Alixa was stressing out the importance of flexible hips and ability to move each hip independently in all directions. Without such mobility it is very hard to have a clear "conversation" with your horse using the seat aids. Movements would be too big, cumbersome and a horse would have a hard time separating aids for bending, shoulder-in, canter, travers, etc.
Alixa did ground sessions with riders with some amazing stretching exercises. Many exercises were too complex to describe and are not safe to execute without clear understanding what to stretch and how. Because of this I will only explain how to do one exercise. This is hamstrings stretch. However, as all her stretches it is not stretching just one muscle group and different people find different tight areas in their bodies while performing this stretch. The stretch is executed as follows (warm up a little bit before starting):

Find a sturdy flat surface at the hight of your hips. It can be a fence, a table, a back of a sofa, etc.
Put one of your legs on top of it keeping the leg straight, foot perpendicular to the leg with toes pointing upward.
The other leg which supports your weight is straight, knee and foot facing forward, hips as square and level as possible. If you find it difficult to balance put something by your side to work as a prop for you.
With a free hand press gently on the knee of your horizontal leg. Bend your spine slowly starting with the head, tuck your chin and roll down one vertebra at a time. Do not lean forward from the hips, pull your stomach in and up and round your back.
When you feel you are reaching the end of you flexibility range you can massage or gently shake the areas around the tight spot. Slowly turn your head left/right.
Relax into the stretch for one minute or a few breaths. Slowly unroll yourself into a straight position. Notice how it is much more comfortable to stand now.
Now without pushing on your knee rotate your whole leg inside the hip joint and turn your foot in. Keep your knee straight and start rolling your spine forward one vertebra at a time. Upon reaching the tight area massage and vibrate around it and relax into the stretch for one minute.
Now rotate your whole leg and turn your foot out. Notice which way you turn further before reaching the tightness. Roll your spine forward one vertebra at a time. Do not lean forward. Massage and shake around tight areas. Relax into the stretch for one minute.
Unroll slowly and position your foot straight up again. Feel the ease of the stance.
Change legs and repeat the whole procedure again. On a difficult side spend less time in the stretch but rather repeat it again later. Afterwards, lightly jump and dance around to move your hips and feel the new mobility in them.

As you probably noticed the above exercise differs from conventional stretching exercises. It includes a few principles that Alixa was stressing out for all her stretches. Here they are:
- During the stretch never get stuck in one position, keep changing it a little bit to stretch different muscles fibers.
- Use massage, vibration or gentle shake to ease your muscles into the stretch in tight areas. It is better to massage around the tight spot then directly over it.
- If you have a very tight area do not try to push through it and "attack" the stretch. Go around it. Change the position a little bit, try a different stretch or work on it in short sessions. If you are tensing up to hold the stretch you are inviting your body to fight it and it will be very counterproductive.
- Never work against the pain!
- Do not use the same stretching exercises over and over again. You will built "tracks" in your muscles and they will stretch only a certain way. Have 2-3 different stretches for each muscle group and each time do a new one.

Alixa is writing a book on stretches for riders and horses. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. In the next blog I will talk about her work with horses.

Happy riding...

Leg-yield in Canter

2012-02-01T10:37:00-06:00

All horses are naturally crooked. They have a concave (hollow) and convex sides. The signs of concave side include:
mane usually falls on this side
bending is easy this direction
horse likes to carry his head toward the side
horse pushes haunches toward the side
On convex side:
the horse appears stiff during turns
likes to lean on the shoulder
ribcage is pushed this way

Lets pretend the horse is concave on the left and convex on the right. During canter on the left lead such horse will lean on the right rein, drop the ribcage down and to the right and push his haunches to the left. It may not feel as much but if allowed to go like that for years the horse will become very accustomed of this way of going. Some horses who never been corrected may drop their ribcage so much it is hard to sit on them during left canter. When asked to perform a circle to the left they start with their haunches pushed in. A rider who knows not to pull on the left rein to steer and use right rein to control the shoulders during turn still encounter problems with this horse because the ribcage is so out of balance. To fix this problem the rider must ride a leg-yield to the left. This will encourage the horse to move his ribcage over to the left through the nature of leg-yield and fill the void that rider feels under the left thigh/seatbone.

To ride a leg-yield to the left in left canter:

Pick up a left lead canter on 20 m circle to the left. It is a good idea to ride the circle at the end of the arena.
Canter energetically forward and while coming near short side of your ring ask your horse for a slight counterflexion. Help with your right seatbone and right leg.
Coming around the second corner aim to go straight and ask your horse to leg-yield from the wall toward the quarter line. You may want to have a whip in your right hand just in case. Horses who collapse that much are not willing to go sideways right away. If you are successful you will feel instant change in your horse's back. It will be level under your seat.
After a few strides start turning your horse on the circle line. Avoid grabbing and pulling on the left rein. Think about turning horse's shoulders with both reins, probably more contact on the right. Think micro canter pirouettes for each stride, shoulders turning just a bit more then haunches.
Avoid leaning toward the center of your circle, this will encourage your horse to drop his ribcage again.
If your first attempt at a leg-yield is unsuccessful do not give up. Horses like as humans need a few tries to make things happen. You are asking your horse for a very unusual movement he will not perform on his own. Be patient but persistent.

The funny thing is. When your horse gets it, it is like a light bulb went on in his head. He will perform that movement every single time and you can start riding your circle without letting him drop his ribcage out from under you. For horses that have this problem on the other lead just reverse everything above from left to right. As an overall principle - do not work on bending your horse too much in canter. Canter itself bends the horse, very often more than you need for your circle. Rather straighten your horse in canter. Balance and position of the shoulders are more important than position of the neck and head. When you teach your horse to canter straight the head position is easy to achieve. It will literally drop into place on it's own.

Happy riding...