GOT TRAINING PROBLEMS? ASK THE HORSE FIXER! © 2002 by JP Giacomini
Copyright ©2002, PUBLISHED 2002
Wes: My question concerns self-carriage in the canter. My Spanish Mustang stallion is finally “following my seat” with his back (instead of ignoring me completely), thanks to your help at the last clinic. I found it easiest to make my seat work effectively by cantering him. As you know, he used to loose his self-carriage and rush the rhythm all the time as a way to control me, particularly at the walk and trot. Since I have controlled the canter, I have gotten his attention at the trot also. We are still working on improving the walk, which is sometimes OK, sometimes still hurried, but vastly better than it was. I guess I am probably not the only one in that situation!
JP: You are right: maintaining consistent balance of the horse is an issue for ANY rider. This is why Self-Carriage is one of the 7 Essential Goals described in JP’s Essential Horsemanship Method™. They are common to all disciplines, from trail to dressage or jumping, in passing by reining and cutting). It must be worked on from the first day in the round pen and improved at every phase of the training from then on.
The reason canter helped you is because it is the gait with the slowest natural rhythm and also the most obvious back motion. As a result, it has proven easier (than in the other gaits) for you to "catch" that motion and make your seat more active and therefore more effective. Now you can apply that new skill to the trot (a gait that your horse finds very easy to rush and in which he doesn't need to round his back) and eventually at the walk, which is hard to influence even for more advanced riders (because it has less speed and therefore less energy to shape/work with).
Wes: Now I can put him into a more collected canter [slower], from a regular canter, using my seat. My question is this: when he falls onto his front-end (looses
self-carriage), should I correct his balance with my hands while in motion or should I stop him, regain his balance (put him on his rear end) and canter again?
JP: I suggest you need 3 different approaches, as follow: Riders of ANY discipline will benefit from this work, even if they are not very advanced. Practicing simple exercises which are a little bit harder to do than your routine is what creates progress for horse AND rider.
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You can correct the horse’s balance after a moderate loss of self-carriage by lifting his front-end with your hands (level with each other) vertically (not backwards) with an intermittent action. This is, simply put, a half-halt (“a halt that changes it’s mind”)
This is why this exercise works: each time you lift the neck a little (then let it stay up on it’s own by releasing the contact), you help the horse correct the posture that made him fall forward (“onto his face”). The traction of the bracchio-humeral muscles (the big ones under the neck) acting in a vertical direction are what help a horse to be light on his feet. Contrary to popular belief, balance comes primarily from the front-end whose job is to act mostly upwards and a little bit from back to front, while the back-end’s job is to act mostly from back to front for propulsion (drive/push when the hind-leg is on the ground behind the body) and a little bit for balance (when the hind leg is on the ground under the body).
How-to: This is done as follows: lift the head with the stride when the front-end gets off the ground (that's when your body tends to go slightly forward, so limit your forward lean and use your hands upwards - on contact with the mouth - by straightening your elbows in the lift rather than bending them) and drop the contact when the back-end is off the ground (that's when your body is slightly back). Avoid pushing on the stirrups (or you will load his shoulders even more) or sitting heavily (or you will lock the back).
Repeat every 2 or 3 strides, then less and less often as self-carriage improves. With more experience, you can combine these half-halts with a steady, "holding" squeeze of the legs placed forward to help him briefly tighten his chest muscles, as long as you figure out how to do it without your seat driving the horse forward in any way. Do not think in terms of lowering/loading his hind end, just elevating his front end.
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As soon as you get improvement, practice the opposite exercise to test your results. Let the horse canter in his natural posture (neck extended) because you need to check the effectiveness of your half-halts by no longer needing them or they will become a crutch!
This is why this exercise works: This position will challenge his equilibrium more than he wishes to do and survival instinct will force him to save his balance naturally by engaging the hind-legs further under the body. This exercise also offers the benefit of helping to round the back (this may have been compromised by too many half-halts, in case you get a little carried away with your newly found half-halting power :~).
How-to: You must help the horse lower his head by lowering/widening your hands (towards your knees) and encourage him to stretch his neck out by sliding the reins out of your fingers (he must FOLLOW the reins, not TAKE them out of your hands). Make your seat heavy further back in the saddle (to compensate a little for the excess weight you have placed on the front-end) and keep your seat passive (as not to drive the horse into anymore speed). If you are in enough control of your legs, you may also squeeze them VERY QUIETLY for several strides at a time, to help him hold his stomach up.
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The sequence of halt & rein-back followed by a depart into any gait is the best exercise to improve the horse’s balance. Contrary to the half-halt, (which is a correction from which you have to eventually wean you and the horse from), you can repeat this exercise for the entire horse’s life. It will give him a chance to figure out his self-carriage at every stage of training without your constant help. At first, depart into the walk, then the trot and eventually a QUIET canter.
This is why this exercise works:
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The halt with elevation of the front end is a specific flexion of the haunches (back-end).
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The rein-back is a specific flexion of the back coming from the stretch of both the hind-leg on the ground (passive forward engagement) under the body that stretches the back muscles on that side and the (active backward engagement) of the same side front-leg moving under the body, resulting in a lift of the withers simultaneously.
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Backwards motion is mechanically opposite to forward motion (DUH!) and it helps reposition the weight towards the back of the horse.
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Departs are a positive action that eliminate the loss of balance due to excessive inertia and improve willingness to obey and readiness to act NOW (Impulsion).
How to: Rein-back is best prepared from the ground by alternately tapping the front legs rhythmically from the front in different places (tap from the pastern to the forearm according to which part of the leg you need to animate, tap more the outside or the inside of the leg to correct the direction). Practice repetitively until perfected, first with the horse’s head up, then progressively let him lower it.
Rein back has an enormous gymnastic value (but it must happen - lightly & HAPPILY - with the front foot nearly reaching the hind foot at every step). It also has a great positive effect on behavior because it teaches the horse Respect when he GIVES GROUND to the handler and teaches him Trust when he is required to move forward TOWARD the handler.
Wes, we will discuss your question on counter-canter next month. Good luck, JP.
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