Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.
This week’s question posed is: On a more forward horse that has its own engine, how do you find, maintain, and adjust rhythm and pace?
Here are their answers:
“On a more forward horse, one of the biggest problems I find is that riders look to work too slowly, so that they feel like they have control and are waiting for the horse to get strong or speed up. That often leads to a moment where they have overbalanced the horse, and now have to kick or send the horse very forward to get the strides down the line, for example. Then the horse becomes hotter… and rightfully so.
I find if the horse has a motor, I like to first make sure the horse gets used to a light amount of leg pressure on the flat. Once they accept that, it will be easier to keep the horse between your leg and hand. Then I like to allow the horse to come through the turn so I can meet the jump balancing a little vs the opposite. If you hold and keep holding, you will probably find yourself in a situation where you have to eventually send the horse forward. It becomes a cycle of kick and pull, which makes a horse with a motor much hotter. Keep the horse relaxed by letting them work with a little pace, and keeping them straight between a light leg pressure” -Patricia Griffith
Read more from Patricia and listen to her on the Plaidcast here.
“Stay balanced without adding pressure to the horse. Let them settle into a consistent rhythm, and maintain with a light feel. Rider self balance is key.” –John Abott
For almost all horses that tend to be forward-thinking, mastering your body control and balance is key. That way, you can use your position to dictate the pace without having to go to your hand too often. Sometimes a different bit may be in order, but be careful not to “band-aid” an issue with a bigger bit before addressing the cause of the quickness and the rider’s influence first.” -Allyson Hartenburg
Read more Trainer Tuesday responses from Allyson here.
“On a more forward and sensitive horse, I feel that my job is way easier! I don’t have to worry as much about keeping them in front of my leg and making sure they are responsive, rather I am teaching them to react correctly to my seat, voice, and hand. When a horse has difficulty maintaining the pace at the canter, I will bring them back to a walk, or a trot, and make them maintain the speed at the slower gate correctly first. At the walk or trot, I’ll have a looser rein and soft hand and let the horse move at a nice pace. When I feel them increase from that rhythm, I will pull back using a direct rein, and apply even pressure with both hands and say woah to slow them down.
Once the horse returns to that nice starting pace, I go back to a looser rein and soft contact with their mouth. Their reward for listening to my aid and voice command is the release of the pressure from my hand. At the canter, I will do a similar exercise, but incorporate my seat, so that the horse learns that when my seat sinks into the saddle, and my weight shifts back slightly, that’s the cue is to slow down and shorten their step. When they do return to the rhythm I want, I soften my arm and lighten my seat again so that they feel a release of pressure from my aids.
When it comes to jumping and maintaining a pace, one of my go-to exercises with a forward horse is a bounce pole in front of a small vertical, and a landing pole on the backside of the jump. This exercise helps me to teach the horse not to rush forward and make a bid on the approach to the jump. The pole on the backside helps to teach the horse to balance back to the desired stride length on the landing side of the jump. With a forward horse, I try to make sure that I am not hanging on the mouth or using my hand unnecessarily. I have found that a horse who grabs the bit and runs, has often learned that behavior as a response to unwanted contact and pressure from the rider’s hands. I try to teach the horse to accept my hand in a polite and soft way first, and as soon as I feel them soften and relax back to the desired pace, I get off their mouth to give them what they wanted in the first place, soft contact!” -Alexandra Arute-Kacheris
Read more Trainer Tuesday responses from Alexandra here.
“On a forward horse, you must first ASK them to go forward. Go in the direction they want to begin. Get them truly in front of the leg. It might mean a galloping lap, or two, or four! When you start to feel the horse thinking it would be cool to slow down, put leg on and go a bit longer. Then, ask the horse for a bit of collection by sinking in, using a half halt, reducing (but not eliminating) leg. Only expect collection for a short time, and open back up.
The keys are going forward first and the rehearsal of switching gears. Make sure you reward with relaxing pressure when the horse responds with going either forward or collecting. As the horse gets more and more responsive to this exercise, you will find the key to riding a sensitive, forward going horse: you use your leg to go forward and to come back. Use of hand should be to a minimum. Additionally, I usually prefer a soft bit on a sensitive, forward goer.” -Mary Ann Thomas
Read more from Mary Ann here.
“With a horse that gets strong or quick, the first thing to address is “Why are they quick”? It is because they are anxious, or because they are enthusiastic? If they are anxious, it’s time to take a few steps back and build some confidence. If they are enthusiastic, you next have to determine what diffuses the extra energy for that particular horse. For some, it may be riding softer, with a lighter seat and hand. For some, it may be increasing that connection – every horse has individual preferences and a good trainer can help you discover those for your horse.
“When riding or training a horse with its own motor, I concentrate on shape, balance, and track. I frequently use cavalettis on a bend that are three or four strides apart to help establish balance and rhythm.” -Mary Mielenz
Read more Trainer Tuesday responses from Mary here.
“As with all horses in my program, we are constantly working on our horses rideability on the flat. When working with a horse that has natural impulsion, I may take a few more walk breaks and maybe even work on his rideability at the walk a little more than I would with a horse that you have to create the impulsion with.
I want to create impulsion, or the horse’s desire to go forward by closing my leg, doing lots of upwards and downwards transitions, and maybe even a little cavaletti work. Set up two cavalettis 72 feet apart and make the horse do six strides and then seven strides and then back to six.Most horses with correct training will be calm and submissive which makes them more apt to accept the training.” -Gregory Franklin
Read more from Gregory here.
