Balanced Rider Blog

Leg-yield in Canter

Irina Yastrebova — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:37:00 -0700

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...

Contact

Irina Yastrebova — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:07:00 -0700

Contact has been on my mind for quite a while. It started during summer when I was analyzing my own pictures and noticing that my elbows are too forward and my arms do not look structured enough. Then I watched Heather Blitz riding her wonderful horse, Paragon, and again I noticed how her upper arms are almost vertical at all times. At first I even had a feeling her elbows are not forward enough. Well, her elbows are just fine. Mine were too forward! :) Since then I started working on my connection and I came up with few conclusions and ideas I would like to share with you.

The mistake of elbows being too forward is extremely common. This tendency has two common sources: One, riders are shortening their reins too much and then they are forced to push the elbows forward (happens very often due to fear factor). The other, riders are trying to be soft and they are following horse's mouth with their hands too much. Consequently, elbows end up too much in front of the body.
Now I would like you to do an experiment:
Fill big pot with water and carry that pot in your hands. The most comfortable position would be to carry it very close to the body, with elbows bent close to 90 degrees, upper arms are hanging down along the sides of the body. In this position the load is spread through your entire frame not just your hands and shoulders. Now push your hands forward to carry the pot father forward away from your torso. Notice the difference in how difficult it is now to hold this pot, how your shoulders and back are straining and stiffening.
Every single time your horse leans on the bit you carry a weight that compares to the pot. If your hands are too forward you will not be able to counter act your horse with your whole seat letting your frame support this weight. You will be pulled forward which results in several conditions: leaning forward and heels coming too far back and up, rounding shoulders or/and back and pushing into stirrups with lower legs coming forward, lifting hands up and leaning back may or may not pushing into stirrups for support.

There is another way a rider can have their elbows too forward. This happens when rider pulls down on the reins trying to make his/her horse round. This action unbends the elbows. As long as wrists are in front of the body and not directly below hips elbows will be too forward. The straight line from the shoulder point to the wrist will be a diagonal and elbow will be a point on this diagonal. Vertical upper arm requires an angle at the elbow joint if wrists to stay in front of the body. Another draw back of straight elbows is they are extremely stiff which ruins any chance for elastic connection to your horse's mouth.

Here are few ideas that can help you improve your contact:

Imagine your elbows have a small but heavy metal balls attached to them. This makes elbows weighted down.
Pretend that you do not have wrists and contact goes directly to your elbows. Your elbows connect to your horse's mouth not your hands. Ride with your elbows not your hands!
Lets go even father and pretend that reins are continuing behind the elbows and join each other behind your back. The location will be at the bottom of your lower back or lumbar spine. Every time your horse leans on the bit or pushes into it you imagine instant response in your back. Your back connected to your elbows and through them to reins. You half-halt your horse with your back/seat! Hands just transmit that action.
Pretend you are gently pushing your knuckles into imaginary wall right in front of you. Think about the backs of your armpits and push them forward. (Mary Bond, "New Rules of Posture"). This action will widen your shoulders and stabilize your scapulas giving you a straighter more efficient upper back.

One very important thing to remember. The contact is much more complicated concept than simply hands holding reins. Your whole seat including your legs are in contact with your horse. They play very important role in creating a horse that accepts the bit and stretches into it without running through. Good contact is a consequence of good balance of both horse and rider, supple and straight horse that is engaged according to his level of training. Always keep your whole horse in mind when you need to improve your contact do not just fix the head!
Here is the citation from Charles de Kunffy's book "Dressage Questions Answered":
A knowledgeable rider...will always remember that the rideable areas of the horse are not those visible to them; those being the hindquarters and the back. They will ride by feel rather than by gaze. They will know that the horse's neck and head position are merely symptomatic as to the activities of the all important hindquarters (locomotion) and back (communication).

Happy riding...

Spanish Walk. Part I.

Irina Yastrebova — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:46:00 -0700

After I have done preliminary stretching work with Santo for about two weeks it was time to introduce the next step. I stopped touching his legs with the whip for stretching. However, I continued to stretch front legs before riding. The next step in Santo's education is striking with the front leg from the tap/touch of the whip. Here is what to do:

Position your horse on the left rein along an arena wall or a fence line. Position yourself in front and to the side of his left shoulder. Caution:Be very aware how your horse's shoulders aligned in relation to where you are standing. When he strikes with his leg the leg comes forward in front of his nose and if you are standing there he can accidentally strike you. You must never put yourself and your horse in such situation. The striking with front leg is a natural offensive reaction in horses, hitting a human with front leg is a very dangerous behavior that must be punished immediately and strongly. If you cannot position your horse straight along the wall and he keeps turning his shoulders toward you put him in side reins.
Your left hand holds the reins very close to your horse's chin. You use your left hand to position his head straight and somewhat elevated. Your left arm will be almost straight so you are not standing close to your horse's head. See above point. As with any rein action you want your horse to be light in contact and listen to half-halts. You may find it necessary not just to elevate your horse's head but also to push his weight more onto outside shoulder. This will help to lighten the near shoulder for more dramatic striking. Your right hand holds the ends of the reins and a whip.
Now that your horse is straight and standing quietly start tapping on his left leg in a similar way you did for stretching. Only this time do not be satisfied with just small lifting of the leg or easing of the weight. Keep tapping until your horse makes a small strike or paw with his leg. Many horses strike quite quickly because they feel annoyed.. It is OK to annoy your horse a bit in the beginning until he gets it.
After he struck or pawed pet him generously and ask him for couple steps forward. Halt again and ask for a strike. Be patient and keep tapping different parts of his legs until he strikes again. Pet him and walk forward. Keep him straight in halts and during walk steps.
Repeat it only a few times and quit for the first session. Horses need time to become OK with the exercise and understand it. You will see when it happens. Until then do not work for long. You can give him a treat at the end or for an especially good effort. Just be careful with treats. Do not give them all the time for every little thing.

Work only on the left leg for a few sessions. When you start to see that your horse is grasping the idea and striking with his leg almost with anticipation change direction, position him along the wall on the right rein and ask his right leg to strike. As soon as he does pet him and walk forward. Do not be tempted to repeat striking over and over again without walking forward. These couple steps forward are important introduction of forward movement. After all you want Spanish walk and not simply pawing at halt. If a horse keeps standing in one spot he gets stretched out because the front leg lands a bit forward after each strike and if not asked to move forward the horse forgets to rebalance himself and leaves hind legs behind. The only time you repeat striking if your horse after doing this exercise for a while strikes very low and without effort. Repeat striking immediately asking for more action. Pay attention that your horse stays straight during walking and halts.

This type of work will take a while. The goal for a horse to strike from just one touch, strike high with enthusiasm, move off into walk, halt promptly and strike again. It takes time for them to learn to balance themselves, be attentive and start to anticipate the next move. Do not correct your horse if he starts striking with his outside leg on his own. Simply ignore it and keep asking the inside leg to strike. Later you will start asking both legs to strike, one at a time, and you do not want to confuse your horse with unnecessary corrections.

After you have done this work for a while and your horse became more consistent start touching him higher closer to his shoulders or/and chest. It is important to get away from low parts of his legs because from the saddle you will tap on the shoulders and not legs. If he understands the new location of the touch you can ask him to strike with either leg on both reins. Do not do it all the time though. Keep coming back to striking with inside leg only and asking for a high strong action.

I have been doing this work with Santo for about a month now. I feel that he is ready for the next step. I will start working on it and later will write a blog on how to do it and on our progress. Remember 5-10 minutes of this work is plenty for your horse. The slower you start the faster you will progress without many drawbacks. Watch how your horse learns, adjust your teaching accordingly. Do not work on it every single time you ride your horse. Trust me, drilling this exercises will not create a Spanish walk in shorter time it only makes your horse sour to such work.

Happy riding...

More on imbalances of the seat

Irina Yastrebova — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:31:00 -0700

After I discovered that my left groin wasn't really attached to a saddle I have been working on it diligently (click here to read the blog about it). At first I would realize that my left knee and bottom of my left thigh grip instead of my left groin area snugly glues itself to the saddle. I still occasionally make that mistake. However, less and less and I can feel right away that it isn't what I want. The true connection of the whole thigh to the saddle creates incredible sense of being one with the horse. This connection does not feel like a grip, but a very snug contact. The hips stay supple and they allow thighs move with the saddle. Which gives the torso freedom to quietly ride in the center of the saddle.

I am not alone with the struggle to connect an upper thigh area. Many of my students have this issue. The repeating pattern that I see is the slow and heavy side of a rider's body usually have this problem. The rider sits too much into the seat bone on that side. Many riders sit into their both seat bones too much. This is a common mistake. However, even riders who start to be aware of their weight distribution in a saddle find that one side is easier to connect in the groin area than the other. The heavy side ends up being behind the motion of a horse and it likes to collapse. The rider literally settles into a chair seat on this side. Because the side is too soft and behind the movement it has hard time being on inside of a circle. The foot and the hand seek balance in the stirrup and rein correspondingly, sometimes riders grip with their knee too. The other side of the body often do not have a problem with groin/upper thigh connection. It's issues lies in too mobile seat bone which floats, slides, bounces, etc. The whole side is very easy to advance forward. Horses feel this imbalance and they very often follow it by dropping their backs under heavy side and by pushing up and out under the light mobile seat bone. Horses who initially had opposite tendencies change their way of going if ridden by such rider year after year. The rider creates a "bumprint" ( Mary Wanless) on his/her horse's back. Creating very centered and even bumprint is very important in order to ride straight and balanced.

The more riders are aware of their seat and it's structure the better they will feel where exactly their horse is at any moment. Learning to listen to and read your seat and a horse under it gives a rider better understanding on how to ride straight. When rider is absolutely centered and level the straight and round horse will fill all the space under the seat. When something is not right rider feels parts of the horse falling away, pushing up and out, tensing, twisting, etc. There is so much information the seat can deliver and it can help to correct crookedness and stiffness. Riders will have a huge hole in their vocabulary of aids if they focus primarily on the reins or lower legs to ride their horse leaving the seat unbalanced and passive, or even worse unbalanced and too active and pushy.

Happy riding...

Introduction to Spanish walk

Irina Yastrebova — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:43:00 -0700

Winter came! The footing in my arena quickly deteriorated and I am riding in hay fields. Santo is excited and it takes him a while to settle down and start working in a field. As long as snow is not too deep and it is not frigid cold we can have quite productive sessions in the fields. However, this blog is about how to start teaching your horse the Spanish walk. My goal for this winter is to teach it to Santo. In 4 months I expect him to do several decent steps in hand. And I will share with you the progress and problems I will encounter. Plus I will tell you exactly what I am doing so you can try to teach the Spanish walk to your horse. There is no age limit for this exercise and Spanish walk is not just for Spanish horses. Any horse of any breed can learn it. Yes, Andalusians usually have more expressive Spanish walks. However, it more depends on conformation and natural freedom of the shoulders. I taught it to 14-year-old Appendix Quarter horse and he showed surprising talent for it.

If you are a serious dressage rider you may ask a question - Why it is a good idea to teach my horse something that is considered a circus trick?
Spanish walk is a wonderful stretching, strengthening and coordination exercise. All horses paw the ground on their own accord. However, they usually do it with favorite leg and they do not move forward at the same time. In Spanish walk the horse must keep its balance toward the haunches in order to free shoulders so it can lift and stretch front legs equally, and develop coordination to walk forward in regular and steady tempo. This is not an easy task. When your horse knows Spanish walk it becomes a tool to teach your horse more expressive passage and extensions.

Before you start teaching your horse the Spanish walk it is a good idea to do shoulder stretching exercise for couple weeks. However, you want to approach this exercise in a certain way. If you already stretch your horses legs forward after tightening the girth continue doing so only add a touch with the whip before picking up the leg. Very lightly tap with the whip on the back of the front leg either above or below the knee, move the whip up and down to find the spot where your horse reacts to it by lifting the leg slightly off the ground. Pick up the leg with your hands and stretch forward while verbally praising your horse. Do the same with the other leg. If you didn't stretch your horse's legs before mounting start stretching either before or after tightening the girth. At first just pick up the leg yourself, after couple days introduce the touch with the whip. Stretch your horse's legs before and after work while you are still in arena. Always touch with the whip first. If your horse does not pick up his leg after several taps with the whip, pick it up yourself. In a few sessions he will start to anticipate and lift them himself.
This preparatory exercise introduces your horse to the idea of lifting front legs from the touch of the whip. You are not demanding an actual lift, just easing off the weight and small bent in the knee is sufficient. Plus by stretching legs you will improve shoulder mobility. You will learn about your horse's asymmetries, one shoulder is always heavier than the other. Ask to lift the leg of a heavy side couple more times. It will teach your horse to trust his other leg with the load and build muscle memory.

In couple weeks I will introduce the next step to Santo's Spanish walk education and then I will write another blog about it. Meanwhile, start working on stretching exercises.

Happy riding...

Mary Bond's books

Irina Yastrebova — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:52:00 -0700

I recently found out about Rolfing or Structural Integration through one of my students. Because I haven't heard of this particular body work method before I immediately requested all the books on the subject I could find in our library system. There were three. One was by Ida Rolf herself, the inventor of the method and other two where by Mary Bond, the student of Ida Rolf. If you have ever wondered how to improve your posture and the overall quality of your life I strongly recommend reading Mary Bond's books. The books are:

The New Rules of Posture: how to sit, stand, and move in the modern world
Balancing Your Body: self-help approach to Rolfing movement

You can read both of these books or just one. They are independent of one another. However, it is very beneficial to read both because you will look at the same principles and ideas from two different perspectives.

I am going to give you one small insert from the first book. It is about proper sitting during driving your car. I found it extremely helpful in retaining my back's length and flexibility, plus I felt more energetic even after long drives. Here is an insert:

Adjust your seat back to be as upright as possible. ...Slide your buttocks as far back as you can into the crack between the backrest and seat. The bottom of the seat back can then support your sacrum. This arrangement will leave several inches of space between your spine and the seat back. Insert a cushion or other prop into this space to support your chest. (notice - the support is for the chest not the lower back)

Now I decided not to use a prop for my ribcage. I kept the sensation that my back is peeled off the backrest and I used abdominal push to stabilize myself during acceleration or deceleration. To my surprise it required a lot of abdominal push, especially, during acceleration. Otherwise, I would lean back into the seat back or hold the wheel with my hands tightly, exactly, as riders hold the reins when horse's movement throws them backwards. Besides back and forth stabilization, there is a lot of left and right stabilization during turns, especially, on highways. Now my drives are super workouts for my core muscles.
One of Mary Wanless image tools is really helpful not just on a horse but during driving too. The image is as follows: Imagine you are wearing a driving harness across your chest and pulling a heavy wagon. This image instantly connects your chest to the pelvis and creates a lot of abdominal push. Try it during driving and riding, especially, in sitting trot.

Happy riding...

Asymmetries. II.

Irina Yastrebova — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:01:00 -0700

I am continuing the previous blog on the upper thigh connection. One of my students asked me questions that made me think about more detailed explanations. Both of the upper inner thighs (groin areas) must be snugly connected to the saddle. You may find that none of your groin areas attached to the saddle enough. However, you still have one side that is easier to push forward than another. The following habitual tendencies can help you figure out which side.

when you cross your legs the top leg will be the forward leg
you kick a ball with this leg
when going steeply downhill you advance your forward side
stepping down you prefer to land on forward leg
it is not a hard rule but usually your dominant hand is on your forward side

While I was thinking about this blog I have read Mary Wanless blog and she said that forward side has a tendency to balance forward over the corresponding seatbone and other side balances backwards. Which is very true and gives you clear visual image. The side which is left behind is usually the weak side and it does not have enough muscle tone to keep up with the horse's movement, so it falls off it's seatbone backwards. The foot of the weak side is most likely to push forward into stirrup to compensate and the rider holds the rein on this side to help for lack of balance. The seatbones will not be centered and during turns toward weak/backward side rider's seatbones will slide outwards and the rider will compensate by leaning in with the shoulders. If you watch riders in your barn you will be able quite easily recognize which is the weak side and which is forward/strong side.

Your horse's asymmetries may complicate the matter. If your horse's concave side is the same as your weak/backward side you will have a very hard time riding to that direction. For example, your right side is weak, your horse concave to the right, you will have a lot of problems riding to the right. Going other way will feel easy, balanced, like it is a different horse. If your weak side is on your horse's convex side you and your horse will even yourselves out. Both directions will have some issues to work on.

Just being more aware of what your body's preferences are can make you a better rider. You start to understand it is not just your horse's fault and you become more responsible for your own actions.

Happy riding...

Discovery of the seat asymmetry on a new level

Irina Yastrebova — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:25:00 -0700

Recently I had a ride on one of my students horse. He is an old gelding and quite crooked. During the ride I have noticed that my left hip was always behind my right one. It took me a while to figure out how to straighten out. At first I tried my usual way - I pushed my left thigh into the saddle. I looked down and to my surprise nothing happened. My left hip was still behind my right one. So I tried other ways and at first nothing worked. Then suddenly I saw myself being straight in the hips. At first I didn't even understand what exactly I did. I moved and twisted and pushed my left hip and thigh trying to reproduce the straightness. And I got it again. This time I caught the movement that brought my hips to straightness. What I had to do is to attach the most upper and inner portion of my left thigh to the saddle. It almost felt to me like I am attaching my left groin area to the saddle. The movement pushed my left hip forward and aligned my hips and it pushed my left knee down and my left heel back (which were couple of my issues I have been working on). At first I was amazed at the sensation, I literally felt like my left hip is a mile ahead of my right but looking straight down on my hips proved me wrong, they were square. After the ride I went home and tried it in my saddle with my horses. At first I didn't catch the crookedness and thought may me that old horse is so crooked he made me crooked plus the different saddle and bla, bla, bla...

As you can predict it wasn't the case. I had an issue - the left front side of my seat was falling off the saddle backwards more into the seatbone. This would push me to the right on left circles, my left side would be left behind on right circles. These are only couple things in the long list of issues that started to make sense to me. Before I would think that my thigh is not connected to the saddle enough, and it is partially right answer. However, I focused on the lower portion of my thigh not at the groin area. Even Mary Wanless' idea of thighs being connected to the saddle like letter A from top to bottom didn't ring the alarm because I felt my thighs connected. What I didn't realize is that my left thigh had the connection more to the back of the thigh along the hamstrings muscles instead being to the inner front along very short adductor muscles that run from pubic bone (hence the sensation of the groin area being attached). Now this difference screams at me. My horses were telling me about it but not as clearly and ruthlessly as an old guy did. May be because the horses I ride at home are young and it is hard to pinpoint the cause of their mistakes. For example, Goodwyn would change behind in canter on the right lead during circle to the right. At first I thought he is just weak behind and the problem will disappear on it's own in time. Or, sometimes I tried to hold his haunches with outside leg thinking he is swinging out and changing because of that, didn't help. To my surprise and delight since I learned to connect my left thigh/hip position he had not made the mistake once.

Again horses showed me that it really pays off to listen to them. This discovery was amazing and humbling experience and it opened a door to the new path that I am very excited to take.

Happy riding...

Do not argue with your horse

Irina Yastrebova — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:20:00 -0700

Very often we find ourselves in situations that our horses are not responding or behaving the way we want. It can happen on the ground, in the saddle, anywhere, anytime... When I see such situations I notice that people often start arguing with their horses without much success and it can continue on for quite a long period of time. For example, a rider constantly bumping her horse with the legs but the horse does not change the way of going. Or, a horse spooks from a door or some other object in an arena and rider gets frustrated and starts kicking and pulling trying to get her horse close. The horse of course gets even more frightened and upset. Even though these two examples are very different at the first glance they both have the same underlying issue - Rider continues to do the same thing even though it is not productive. Rider argues with her horse without any positive outcome

Training horses in many ways like raising children. Some parents just know how to deal with their kids and others spoil them and then get upset with them and argue a lot. I notice people behave in a similar way around horses. Riders and horsepeople in general very often:

Do not stay connected and engaged mentally and emotionally with their horses when they are near them.
Reluctant to correct wrong behavior because they are afraid their horse will not love them afterwards.
Let emotions run wild when they are correcting inappropriate behavior and these emotions cloud their judgment and ability to see true dynamics of the situation.
Do not asses the situation clearly and jump into action on a wrong assumption, usually blaming the horse.
Start nagging at the horse without any consideration for the effects of their behavior.

To work effectively with horses either on the ground or in the saddle riders must develop very clear, cool and positive attitude no matter what they have to deal with. It is WAY easier said than done. And I am speaking from experience. To be assertive and at the same time positive and calm takes practice and self-discipline.

Now, lets see what we need to work on in order to teach our horses to listen to us so we can teach them an appropriate behavior:

Stay very calm, positive and focused on your horse as soon as you see him in his paddock or stall. From that moment and until you turn him out after work he and his actions occupy your whole mind. Be mentally and emotionally engaged with your horse.
Be very vigilant to notice that correction is needed as soon as possible, even better before the wrong behavior even happens. Do not blank out and hope that things will resolve on their own. Usually it gets worse.
Ask for a proper action with very light aids. It doesn't matter you are on the ground or in the saddle. Do not pull on the lead rope, do not pull on the reins - it is the same! The aids at your disposal are body language, voice, lead rope, hands, seat, legs, whip, spurs...
If the light request is ignored do not repeat the same action. Change something!You must get your horse's attention before he can respond. This change must be small at first- sharper movement from you, slightly stronger voice, light touch with a whip or spurs. If that is not enough quickly make your actions big and dramatic - fast and sharp actions of the whip, jump at him with your hands high and wide in the air if that is the only way to get his attention, etc. Be creative. It is not about getting physical even though you must sometimes. It is about impressing your horse. Once I had to throw a pine cone to "explain" to one mare she had to move and I meant NOW, she was behind the fence that is why I couldn't reach her with anything else :). Success greatly depends on your knowledge of the horse and with practice you will know how much drama to create if you have to.
This is very important piece of the puzzle. No matter how big and dramatic your actions may become you must only act it. Make your horse believe you are mad at him but do not be actually mad at him! (This one is hardest for me).
If you had to resort to drama you are not looking for a proper respond you were asking with light aids in the beginning. Your goal is very simple. You are looking to change your horse's actions, to make him do something, other than what he was doing before.
As soon as he does stop acting instantly, pause yourself for a moment to give yourself and your horse a chance to reboot your systems, take a deep breath. And request a proper behavior again with light aids.
Be aware of the fact that your horse may not understand your clues. In this situation get his attention and then teach him the proper response. You must always evaluate the current situation and it's dynamics. Your mind must be very calm, clear and positive in order to help you as much as possible in assessing the situation. Negative emotions will cloud your mind and you will create unnecessary pressure on your horse.
After you got correct respond from the light aids praise your horse lavishly. Show him your love and affection. But be mindful how you do it. Some horses are very friendly and thrive on lots of love. Others are more on aloof side and can be bothered or even offended by too much love.

The above list is not a recipe or doctrine to follow. However, this way of doing things has proven itself for me, especially, when dealing with very inappropriate, even dangerous behavior such as biting, striking with the front feet, pushing, etc. Use your common sense, be creative. Not all situations require drama. Actually, it happens rather rarely. The thing is you have to be ready to act. You have to have such mindset that you will correct your horse and act dramatically if needed at any moment. It doesn't matter how well your horse behaves, never ever assume he will do what you want all the time. Horses constantly reevaluate their herd status, they do the same with people. The better you are at catching them and correcting tiny transgressions the less drama is needed. Have an attitude that you do not argue with your horse. Your horse will start to look up to you, feel safe with you and as a consequence listen to you because you are so sure of yourself, calm, positive, very kind and nice most of the time but sharp and effective if necessary. The last but not least advice - always remember about safety for yourself, your horse and everyone around you. It is better not to act at all then put yourself or someone in danger because of your actions. Good luck!

Happy riding...

Core for half-halts

Irina Yastrebova — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:05:00 -0700

Half-halts are a vital part of riding. They help to control the horse's balance, movement and focus. However, for many riders this concept is extremely illusive and confusing. They struggle to grasp the idea and execute it properly on a horse. From my observations one of the most common missing links is an activation of the core muscles during half-halts. For more information about core muscles engagement click here

I have talked a lot about importance of core muscles in riding. However, they are absolutely vital in half-halts. The problem with "seeing" how core muscles work in good riders is because they give the rider an appearance of being quiet, appearance of "doing nothing". Even small hand movements are very easily seen. However, strong engaged core is not so much visible unless you know what to look for. Using hands as only means for half-halts puts rider behind the motion, compromises rider's balance, makes rider pull and hang on the reins. Instant release is impossible and horse will most likely drop his back and pull or go behind the bit.

One of the easy and effective ways to check if you are using core during half-halt is in rising trot. This is what I want you to do:

Ask your horse for a forward active trot. Simply go with him without trying to slow him down or rebalance him. Rising trot.
Now ask for a half-halt but only during sitting moment of the rising trot. For the next moment you have to soften your contact during rising phase of the trot.
Repeat every stride until your horse slows down or even makes a transition to walk.
It is impossible to release in time if you are simply pulling on the reins. You will end up rising on the other leg.
Mistakes that show you are not engaging your core muscles for half-halts are: falling backwards, hands are moving too much back and too much forward, switching the rising trot to the other leg, landing heavily into saddle, catching your horse in the mouth

This simple tool can really teach you a lot about how to execute half-halts and what to look for in your horse's respond. Doing half-halts only during sitting phase of your rising trot creates perfect timing, you will be half-halting your horse when his inside hind leg just landed on the ground but not yet started to push off into flight. When the above exercise goes well and you start to feel of being in control and in balance start half-halting during rising phase only, half-halt only inside rein, or only outside rein. Observe your horse's reactions and make notes which of your half-halts feel most effective. Try to analyze this information so you understand what is happening during your rides and why...

Happy riding...