gait change – Horse Listening

Bold Transitions That Look Effortless And Feel Great

This one is good for the horses that tend to "suck back" before transitions and/or "run out" after the transitions.

There are transitions and then there are Transitions. The good ones are precise, strong and balanced. They are so clear and easily done that it looks like the rider didn't do anything. The horse stays round, energetic and bold. The gait change is matter-of-fact, easy. In fact, good transitions are critical for a seamless, harmonized ride.

The opposite is easily obvious to the onlooker. Poorly executed transitions are sluggish and slow to develop. The horse seems to labor through the transition, the rider has to use obvious aids and still it takes time to get the gait change. The horse hollows his back, falls further to the forehand and maybe stumbles or runs through the rider's aids. The rider might struggle to keep balance through the lurches until the gait change finally happens.

For the purposes of this exercise, the word "transition" can mean several changes:

- upward or downward progressive transitions (walk to trot, canter to trot)

- upward or downward non-progressive transitions (walk to canter, trot to halt)

- change of direction (trot from the left to the right)

- straight line to turn (change of direction across the diagonal to a left turn into the corner)

Exercise

We often talk about it but we often forget to actually do it. Every transition can benefit from it. There is nothing more important for it.

What is it?

Energy. Impulsion. Oomph.

It actually sounds simple. All you need to do is ask for a little more energy before and after the transition. Let's try it with a progressive, upward transition.

Let's say you are trotting to the left and want to pick up a canter after the next corner. This is a good way to encourage a young horse to canter as the horse sees all the space ahead of him as he comes out of the corner.

As you approach the corner, you feel your horse slow down momentarily. This is quite normal, especially if you are riding in an indoor arena - the horse backs off a bit when he's faced with the walls that appear to come at him. A more trained horse understands that he is going to turn through the corner and have the long side ahead.

Your "oomph" moment occurs a few strides before the transition.

Use both your legs for energy and lighten your seat to allow the energy over the back.
Then do a small half-halt before asking for the gait change.
Ask for the canter.
Once the horse is cantering, ask for another energy surge.
Use another half-halt afterward to not allow the horse to just run out from under you.

You see what I mean. It's basically like you are strengthening both your body (in terms of tone and energy) and your horse's movement as you go into and out of the transition.

Done well, there will be no obvious lurch or energy surge. In fact, the remarkable result will be that it looks like nothing happened at all, except a fluidity of movement, a calm, relaxed tempo, lack of conflict and confident, bold movement. Think connection, steady, consistency.

The reason this happens is that the horse won't slow every few strides, won't break stride and have to change gait again and won't have to go through the resultant imbalances. The rider won't kick the horse every few strides, won't wait for the gait change and then have to recover and won't be lurches in the saddle again and again.

At first, it might seem like you're asking for energy many times before and after the transition. You're right - you probably are! It will take time for you and your horse to become accustomed to the amount of energy it takes to move freely through the many changes we require over the course of a ride. After a while, it simply becomes second nature to prepare and complete all changes this way. Once you get used to doing it yourself, your horse will likely be right there with you with no hint of suck back or run out. Because as you know, all riding problems start and end with the rider!

Next time you ride, give this a try. Those five steps above happen very quickly in rapid succession, so prepare ahead of time and know what you're going to do before you go through with it. Maybe have someone on the ground to help be your eyes and tell you how the horse looks to, through and after the transition.

How did it go? Let us know in the comments below.

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From Horse Listening Book 2: Forward And Round To Training Success

"Regardless of discipline, what would be the most significant effect a rider would want to have on her horse?

We all want our horses to improve in their athletic

development, skill acquisition and connectedness. Much of our rider development and training efforts go into working toward our show or personal goals....

But the best riders aspire to do one essential thing each and every day, regardless of goals and lesson plans: they work hard to improve their horse’s way of going.

Because proper balance and weight carriage is essential to a horse’s longevity. Each and every minute of each and every ride has the potential to contribute to your horse’s health and well-being.

Or not."

Just as with all the Horse Listening Collection Books, this book is focused on helping the rider improve for the sake of the horse. But this book goes deeper into the best training articles from the blog - horse-centered theory, strategies and ideas you can try with your own horse.

The book begins with the horse's hind end (!), considers the horse's back, moves on to rider development, and fills it all in with the fundamentals of horse riding so your horse can be:

happier in his body

happier in his "work"

better balanced all-around

Available as an eBook or paperback.

The Five Stages of a Transition

We can all use work on our transitions. I think even the most educated horse and rider can always develop better transitions. There are so many things to work on if you stop to really think about the different stages that horses and riders go through as they become more secure in their aids.

Whether you are working on upward transitions or downward, progressive or non-progressive, there are certain aspects to look for in every well executed gait change.

With young horses, you'll reward even a successful effort. Once your horse has developed enough strength and balance, you can have higher expectations. Some horse/rider combinations can go through the first three or four stages over the course of a few months. Others can take longer - it all depends on each partner. Irrespective of the time it might take to go through these stages, it's good to be aware of how transitions can progress from the basic to the more advanced.

Let's start at the beginning.

Gait Change

The first goal we have for young or untrained horses is to get the transition in the first place. At this stage, we should be working mostly on communicating that the horse's legs need to change gait when we ask for it. So if your horse does change gait, you let him know he's on the right track.

You don't really concern yourself with any bobbles or hiccups along the way. If he falls to the forehand or sideways, you accept it and help him rebalance a few strides after the transition. If he rushes into the next gait, you ride the rush and do your best to harmonize. If he throws his head up or down, you allow it as long as it isn't dangerous. He is putting effort into doing what you want and you don't want to stifle his attempts in any way.

You are only developing a method of communication at this point. Encourage him when your horse begins to understand.

Throughness

The next thing to work toward is how well your horse allows his (and your) energy to "come through" during the transition. So this is when fluidity becomes more of a factor. If you put energy in (through seat and legs), it should be transferred through the horse so that he can not only change his legs to the new gait, but also allow his hind legs to step deeper underneath his body, and his top line to round even just a little.

By allowing his energy through, the horse can begin to become more supple and less tense. At this point, doing the transition can improve all of his gaits, especially because he is becoming more "ahead of the leg" (which just means that he is able to allow his energy in the front end as in the hind end).

Make sure that you are ready for an energy surge. If your horse truly "amps up" his energy, you need to ride it, not get left behind. Go with him and teach him that it's good to reach forward, especially going into and out of a transition.

Balance

At this point, you can become more careful about your horse maintaining balance before and after the transition. In my opinion, doing this sooner in his education might cause him to become reluctant to go forward. So first make sure he is willing and confident in making the transition in the first place.

A good transition is done from the hind end. So now you can ask your horse to balance just a bit to the hind end before and after heading into the new gait. This is when effective half-halts become critical.

You can prepare for a transition with two or three half-halts (in rhythm with your horse's strides), do the transition, and then half-halt again once or twice to help the horse from falling to the forehand. So basically, you are asking for balance before the legs change and then balance again after the legs are in the new gait. As your horse becomes stronger, your balancing requests can become shorter and lighter, but you may need to be "there" for your horse in the beginning.

Precision

Once you have a forward, through and balanced transition, you can start to become really picky - and expect it to happen in a specific place. So let's say you are on the rail and you decide the transition should happen in the corner before A (this is an easy way to start with a young or inexperienced horse). So give yourself three to five strides to get the transition, while you ride through that corner.

Another time, try it coming out of a corner. So you pass A and give yourself three to five strides for the transition. Try to prevent your horse from falling in off the rail at this point - you just want a leg change without a deek or a dive or a fall to the forehand.

As your horse becomes more proficient, you can start asking at a letter. For example, pick the letter A and make your transition as your leg and shoulder passes the letter. Prepare ahead of time and then ask as you go by. Then pick another letter further down the rail for another transition. Turn it into a game and see how accurate you both can become.

Finally

This last stage is really just the icing on the cake. Once you have precision, you can really get down to working on becoming invisible. It's all well and good to be able to be effective, but you can't stop there. If you haven't already developed super quiet aids in the process, now is the time to learn to "whisper". By now, your horse is on your aids, willing and confident, round and balanced, and working with you on a moment's notice.

There really should be very little that onlookers should be able to observe. No pulling, no loss of balance, no flailing legs, no falling of the upper body, no boisterous voice command - nothing. If they watch you ride, they see nothing - except, of course, that the horse made the transition beautifully, seemingly on his own accord. Just plain, simple harmony.

Well, that is what we're all aiming for anyway. I do know it can be done, but I also know it might take some of us years to accomplish consistent, accurate, soft transitions. But isn't this why we're in it for the long haul? There is always something more to learn and another goal to reach.

What stage are you and your horse at in your transitions? Is there anything you can add to the above system? Please comment below.

Horse Listening – Book 2: Forward and Round to Training Success

Available as an eBook or paperback.

From the Book:

"But the best riders aspire to do one essential thing each and every day, regardless of goals and lesson plans: they work hard to improve their horse’s way of going.
Because proper balance and weight carriage is essential to a horse’s longevity. Each and every minute of each and every ride has the potential to contribute to your horse’s health and well-being.
Or not."
Just as with all the Horse Listening Collection Books, this book is focused on helping the rider improve for the sake of the horse. But this book goes deeper into the best training articles from the blog - horse-centered theory, strategies and ideas you can try with your own horse.
The book begins with the horse's hind end (!), considers the horse's back, moves on to rider development, and fills it all in with the fundamentals of horse riding so your horse can be:

happier in his body

happier in his "work"

better balanced all-around
Available in eBook or paperback.

What Do Leg Aids Mean?

leg aid on turn — Photo Credit NBanaszak Photography

The leg aids are one of the most basic, "natural" aids we have to communicate with the horse. All riders regularly use their legs to give messages to the horse, but most of the time, the legs mean go faster or change gait.

Fortunately, there are many other uses for leg aids. Using them for the "go" message is good to use when you are a novice rider and beginning to grapple with the various aids. However, as you develop your skills, your aids can evolve to become less intrusive and more specific. Instead of relying on them only to get the horse to move his legs faster or transition to a new gait, we might discover more involved messages that can be given with a sophisticated leg aid.

Although there are many variations of how to use your legs, we will discuss their purpose in this article. Also, the other aids (weight, hands, seat bones) must be employed along with the legs for all movements, but here we will look only at the legs.

What the leg aids do not mean:

Gait change.

Riders are taught early in their education that the legs should be positioned in particular ways to indicate gait change. While this is an effective method to communicate a particular gait to a horse, riders often confuse the two leg kick as a gait change. Soon enough, the horse thinks, "upward transition" to any leg use.

It might seem that a quick change of gaits is desirable. However, what you miss out on by letting the horse "leak" into the next gait is the opportunity to allow the horse to use his back and engage within a gait.

To get a fluid gait change, use your leg positions but initiate the transition with your seat.

Tempo change.

Changing leg speed is somewhat related to the gait change above. If the horse can't change gaits in response to leg, then surely it must go faster within the gait! The problem is that by allowing the horse to go faster faster faster, you suddenly find yourself on the forehand and out of balance. Half-halts become difficult to do and you often have to resort to pulling the horse to slow down and regain balance.

Once again, regulate the tempo with your seat.

Pain.

People often feel that it is necessary to use strong kicking legs.

Kicking is unfair if it is being used to inflict pain. Just as with any other aid, legs (and spurs) should be used as a method of communication and not for causing discomfort or distress to the horse.

What they do mean:

Go (impulsion)!

Leg aids tell the horse to step deeper underneath the body with the hind legs. There might or might not be a gait change involved. However, the leg speed should not change nor should the gait change be initiated solely by the legs.

The legs aids may result in a slight whiplash effect for the rider as the horse engages the hind end and creates a stronger, more active stride. This is good!

Reach for the bit (longitudinal flexion).

Two legs can encourage a horse to lift his back. Along with impulsion, the horse can learn to allow the energy over the topline so that the back will lift, round and therefore the horse can reach forward to the bit.

Bend (lateral flexion).

Stepping away from the leg aid allows the horse to bend "through" the rib cage. The space that is created by a sideways shift of the ribs allows the horse to bring the inside hind leg deeper under the body. This is often helpful for the horse to balance better through turns and corners. These leg aids are also useful for shoulder-in and haunches-in.

Step away (lateral movement).

The leg aid that lingers is asking the horse to step away in a lateral manner. These leg aids are used for movements such as leg yields, half-pass and full pass (a.k.a. side pass).

Bear in mind that the legs are just a part of the overall communication process that goes into aiding the horse. If we are clear on why we use leg aids, the "how" becomes easier and makes more sense.

Can you think of anything else leg aids do or do not mean?

Horses. Riding. Life.

Tag: gait change

Bold Transitions That Look Effortless And Feel Great

Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!

From Horse Listening Book 2: Forward And Round To Training Success

The Five Stages of a Transition

Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!

Horse Listening – Book 2: Forward and Round to Training Success

What Do Leg Aids Mean?

What the leg aids do not mean:

What they do mean:

Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!

Buy the book for many more riding tips! Horse Listening – The Book: Stepping Forward to Effective Riding