Q: I do dressage with my very lazy, thick-skinned Friesian. He doesn’t respect my leg or whip. What can I do to get a better response?

A: There are classical training methods to address the situation you have with your lazy horse. These involve tuning the horse to the aids, which is a humane system involving groundwork with a whip, voice cues, praise, and enough repetition until he clearly understands you and wants to comply.

Tack up your horse in a snaffle bridle and a saddle with the stirrups run up. You need a whip that is a bit longer than a regulation-length dressage whip; more like a buggy whip, but without the extra little lash that is usually about 8 to 10 inches long. If you have a buggy whip with such a lash, tape the lash to the stock, or cut it off and put tape around the end so it won’t unravel.

Have treats on hand. Stand by your horse’s left side and stroke him slowly and gently with the whip, reassuring him with your voice that you are not going to hurt him and that he is a good boy. Stroke him first on the shoulder with the grip of the whip (not raising the long stock into the air). If he isn’t frightened, then slowly raise the whip and gently stroke him over his rump and down his left hind leg, reassuring him with your voice. If he tolerates this well, give him a treat.

Now, holding the left rein near the bit with your left hand (reins around his neck) and the whip in your right hand, stroke your horse gently over his rump and down to his hamstring area and tap lightly, asking him to step sideways away from you with his hindquarters. If he does this correctly, he will lift his left hind leg and cross it in front of his right hind leg in a leg-yielding fashion, similar to a few steps of a turn on the forehand. If he does this well, praise him. Repeat it after a few seconds, followed by verbal praise and a treat. Repeat on the other side of his body, working to get him to cross his right hind leg over his left hind leg. Remember to praise him when he’s successful.

Next, mount up, and after walking for a minute or two, go back to the spot where you did the groundwork and ask for a few steps of a turn on the forehand, carrying the whip on the side of your active leg. Be sure to praise your horse for any effort. This can be in the form of your voice and a pat. Then, ask him to go straight forward at a brisk walk, closing your lower legs simultaneously and then releasing them a bit, and touch him lightly with the whip. Carry the whip in your inside hand (when riding to the left, this would be your left hand).

Apply the same principle to asking for the trot. When your horse feels lazy or is very slow to react, tap him behind your leg (not on his haunches) with multiple quick taps and say, “Trr-ot!” Use this technique for the trot-canter transitions as well.

My additional advice is to consider the horse’s potential to be an enjoyable dressage mount. If after trying the method I described there is very little improvement in his responsiveness, think about having an even more experienced rider than yourself ride and evaluate him. It may be that his temperament is so gentle that getting him to respond quickly to the forward and forward-sideways aids is not going to be possible beyond a certain point.

Liked this article? Here’s more advice for horse training troubleshooting:
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CINDY SYDNOR has been long-listed for the U.S. Equestrian Team and is a dressage trainer and “R” judge based in North Carolina.

This article originally appeared in the October 2014 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Lazy Dressage Horse appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

A: The difficulty you are having is a fairly common problem. First, check that your horse is sound and comfortable, and that his bridle and saddle fit well. If his back were sore on the left side for some reason, it could account for his tendency to lean on the right shoulder and avoid taking the left lead.

The best exercise to equalize balance across your horse’s shoulders is riding him straight. However, I’m going to suggest that you teach or review lateral exercises, especially away from your right leg. The two types of lateral exercises I use most often are turn on the forehand and leg-yielding from the quarterline out to the rail. When these are going well, you will be able to ride your horse straight.

For the turn on the forehand away from the right leg, ride on the left rein in the arena and come slightly off the rail. Halt your horse and praise him. Then put your outside (right) leg behind the girth and sit evenly, straight and tall in the saddle. Use the pressure of your calf (not your heel) behind the girth, pressing and releasing the pressure, along with the right rein tightening slightly while simultaneously releasing the leg pressure. The left rein should stay in contact and be passive, but tighten it a little if your horse tries to walk straight forward instead of yielding laterally to the pressure of your leg and rein.

Exercise 1: Turn on the Forehand

Ideally, your horse will step sideways to the left with his hindquarters, crossing his right hind leg in front of his left. It will take about three or four of these crossing strides to complete the 180-degree turn on the forehand. Allow him to walk straight forward when the turn is complete, and praise him. Try to do the same thing in the opposite direction—a turn on the forehand away from the left leg.

I suspect your horse will do it more easily when responding to your left leg than to your right leg. This is because he is accustomed to leaning on his right shoulder, and it is not as easy for him to figure out the balance and coordination of moving away from your right leg. But with practice, he will get better at it. If you use a whip, apply it gently just behind the calf of your active leg.

When the turn on the forehand is going well, you can work on the second exercise, a quarterline leg-yield out to the track. It’s good to practice using your aids at the walk first, but you will be glad to know that it’s actually easier for the horse at the trot.

Exercise 2: Quarterline Leg-Yield

Riding to the right, turn onto the second quarterline (halfway between the centerline and the track) from the short side of the arena. Go straight for several horse lengths. Then, sitting evenly on both seatbones, place your right leg a little behind the girth, keeping a steady, firm, passive outside left rein. Press with your right leg to move your horse sideways and forward to the rail.

Next, try it at the rising trot. Apply your leg and rein when you come down into the saddle. It’s easier to find the right timing if you’re posting and are on the correct diagonal. The inside right rein puts a very slight bend in the horse’s neck, and you should take gently on it each time you use your inside leg. Your horse’s neck should be almost straight. Try not to bend his neck too much, which will make him lean on his outside (left) shoulder.

Practice leg-yielding in both directions. If you have trouble moving your horse away from your right leg, rather than using the whip harshly, go back to the turn on the forehand and explain it to him clearly again. Remember to praise him when he tries, even if it isn’t perfect. Horses learn from clear, positive feedback.

When you prepare for the left lead canter depart, go on the 20-meter circle to the left at the walk. Remind your horse to pay attention and to be responsive to your right leg and rein by asking him to leg-yield away from your right leg with a slight bend to the right (to the outside of the circle, also called “counterbending”) a few times. If he does this well, it means that he is letting you move him off his heavy right shoulder, which was part of the problem originally. Praise him for this.

Ask for the Left Lead

Stay on the circle to the left at the working trot rising. Then sit the trot and briefly but slightly counterbend him to remind him to pay attention to your outside aids. Next, straighten him back onto the line of the circle, remembering to keep your outside rein firm enough that he doesn’t bulge out over his right shoulder, and ask for the canter: Sit a little heavier on the left seatbone; lengthen the left leg with your heel down; close the left leg almost on the girth; put the outside leg slightly behind the girth; give a slight squeeze on the outside rein; and squeeze with the outside leg. The outside rein and outside leg are applied almost simultaneously. These are the two things that mean “canter.” You can also use your voice calmly by saying “can-TER!”

One other thing to keep in mind is that the outside hind leg initiates the canter. So, in this case, your horse’s right hind initiates the left lead canter. If you carry a whip, put it in your outside hand and use it very gently behind your lower leg to activate his right hind leg in the left canter depart.

Liked this article? Here are others you’ll enjoy:
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CINDY SYDNOR was long-listed for the U.S. Equestrian Team from 1976 to 1979, and is a respected dressage trainer and “R” judge based in North Carolina.

This article originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of Horse Illustrated. Click here to subscribe!

The post Ask the Expert: One Lead Wonder appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

A: The training scale is an easy place to start and will give you a path to follow in developing your horse, whether he is young or simply new to dressage. It goes like this:

1. Rhythm
2. Suppleness/Relaxation
3. Connection
4. Impulsion
5. Straightness
6. Collection

First, be sure your horse is absolutely sound. Hoof sensitivity and other soundness problems can cause a horse to take shorter and more irregular strides.

Start by working on regularity of the rhythm of the three gaits. In order to improve the regularity of your horse’s trot, I would recommend that you longe him in a saddle, snaffle bridle and side reins, using a 32-foot longeline and a good, long longe whip. If you don’t know how to longe, the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Instructor Certification Lungeing Manual is inexpensive and can be ordered online through the USDF website (www.usdf.org). If you have an instructor who is good at longeing, I would also recommend getting his or her help. It’s much more difficult than it looks!

When longeing your horse, the tempo of his trot can gradually be regulated and made more active and forward if he is lazy, or slowed down if he is tense and rushing. It’s nice for a horse to learn the correct tempo on the longeline because he doesn’t have to carry a rider’s weight. And staying on the same 20-meter circle for five to seven minutes in each direction gives him more time to settle into a correct rhythm.

Once he is maintaining the tempo that is correct for him—in which he is tracking up, relaxing through his topline into a round frame, swinging through his back, and staying nicely out on the circle making contact with the longeline and side reins—he should be able to go like this when ridden.

The next step is to begin riding your horse after a short warm-up on the longeline. It’s good to have a ground person or instructor who can help you match the tempo you accomplished on the longeline.

When the regularity of the trot becomes easier to establish, you will simultaneously be working successfully on the next two levels of the training scale: suppleness/relaxation and connection, which refers to your horse’s acceptance of contact with the bit and your hands. When all of these things are beginning to work for you, you can add a little impulsion (push from behind), and his gaits should show improvement.

These skills have to be well-established before a horse is ready for collection. Additionally, the muscle development necessary for a horse to execute collection is built up through the first four elements of the training scale—and it takes months, even years, to accomplish. In other words, collection depends on well-established basics. Good basics take time, but instilling them in a horse’s training is the mark of a really good trainer and a happy horse.

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CINDY SYDNOR has been an examiner for the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) instructor/trainer program for 20 years and spent 35 years as a United States Equestrian Federation “R” dressage judge. She and her husband live in Snow Camp, N.C. Currently, Cindy owns and rides four horses and keeps busy by teaching and giving clinics.

This article originally appeared in the October 2013 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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