Get Rid Of That Tension: Four Steps To Improved Suppleness

suppleness

Suppleness can be an elusive concept for many people as well as horses. On the one hand, "finding" suppleness can be a rather long term and difficult undertaking, especially for novice horses or riders. On the other, suppleness is the key to all good movement. Without suppleness, you and your horse are left to always ride in tension and with a counterproductive posture.

Each component listed below takes time to learn and develop. In fact, you will likely need to go through these steps every time you learn something new with your horse. Every new skill will cause a certain amount of tension until both you and your horse figure out how to do the movement with better balance and impulsion.

I use these steps to help me stay focused on what needs to be done when. In other words, you can't go to increase the energy if you haven't found a clear rhythm yet. Do this for every single movement - a simple trot circle, or a walk pirouette, a lengthen or a half pass. It doesn't really matter what you're doing. Just work on each component of the movement in this order, and work towards reducing tension and improving suppleness.

1.Rhythm

First off, find rhythm. Pay attention to your horse's footfalls. Is he doing a clear 2-beat in the trot? Can you hear an even 1,2,3 - suspension in the canter? Listen closely, feel for the footfalls, and make sure the rhythm is crystal clear.

If you hear muddled footsteps, take note of your aids. Maybe you need to strengthen your seat aids, or use more leg for better impulsion. Maybe you need to actually slow down a bit to allow your horse enough time for each footfall.

In each case, focus on finding a good rhythm for your horse. He should be able to maintain it, regularly, for several strides. Don't go on to Step 2 until you have a clear, strong rhythm.

2. Energy

Next, work on energy level. There are times when almost all horses need to increase energy. It might happen as you come into a corner, or when you are turning on a small circle. Your horse might "suck back" in a lateral movement like a shoulder-in or leg yield. The idea is to get the rhythm first, then recognize when your horse is letting the energy "out the back end."

Use your legs and follow with your seat. Ask your horse for more energy, which should translate into bigger strides and a rounder back. If your horse flattens and just rushes along, use half-halts to rebalance. Make sure you have rhythm, then ask for energy all over again.

3. Longitudinal Flexion

Once you have rhythm and energy, you can focus on getting your horse to move "over the back." The energy you now have can be transferred over the back to allow your horse to round better. Half-halts help a lot, but equally important is your seat and upper body balance. Try to stay with the horse's movement (don't get left behind) and then lighten your seat (tighten your buttocks) so that you don't inadvertently stop the energy in the saddle area.

Ride the energy, go with the forward motion, and then use your half-halts to keep your horse's balance from falling to the forehand.

4. Lateral Flexion

After you have the horse moving over the back, you can focus on side-to-side flexion and bend. I find that once the horse finds longitudinal flexion, he'll flex laterally much more easily than if he was tight over the back. So first, you must have rhythm, energy and roundness.




Then work on the sides. You can ask for a mild flex to the inside (or outside too) using just your upper body position and light fingers. Or you can work on a true bend using your seat, leg aids and upper body and hands.

When bending, make sure you don't overbend - a 20-meter circle or turn has only a mild bend. Increase the amount of bend as your circle gets smaller. But make sure you bend through the body, not just the neck. Your leg, seat, upper body and hands should be also bent according to your circle.

Use the outside rein to prevent an overbend but use your inside leg and seat to create the bend in the first place. Be sure to have mini-releases on your inside rein (make the rein "flutter") so you don't take steady pressure and prevent the inside hind leg from coming under the body.

There are surely many other ways to improve your horse's suppleness but I find this method works well, especially if you are riding without an instructor. You can just go through each part in your mind.

As you get better at it, you'll go through each step fairly quickly. In fact, you might get through all four steps within 2-3 strides of your horse. Do you have rhythm? Great, then get some energy. Enough energy? Then let the energy come over the back. Enough roundness? Then let's work on bend.

Final note: I find that as you go through these steps with your horse, your own tension starts to dissipate as well. For some people, breaking down the steps helps a lot to focus their intention. Other people might want to keep things more cohesive, and try to get it all together at the same time. 

In all cases, listen to your horse. Look for a rounder, swingier movement. Listen for snorts and deep breaths. Feel for lightness, better balance and maybe even floppy ears!

What do you do to improve suppleness? If you give this method a try, let us know how it worked out.

Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!

Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions. 

This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.

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

Stop printing off the articles! Your favorite training articles are compiled in this beautifully bound paperback book. Have everything at your fingertips - this book can be taken to the barn as a quick refresher or leisurely read at home.
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.

Three Steps To “Brilliance” In Horse Riding

Brilliance
Photo Credit: NBanaszak Photography

Let's say you and your horse are doing pretty well in all your movements.

Let's also say that you've got a good grasp of the aids, and are using them effectively.

So you do well, especially if you show, but even if you don't. You ride almost imperceptibly and your horse moves along with accuracy.

What's next?

You could learn new skills. Challenge yourself and your horse with movements you haven't done before, that require more collection or self-carriage.

Or, you could work on what you already know - only make it better.

Brilliance

In dressage, we often talk about this evasive concept of "brilliance". Lots of people can get the job done, but not everyone can achieve "brilliance".

It's more than just putting down a pattern, although the pattern is an essential component.

It's more than the movements, although the movements are enhanced by brilliance.

You can't take your eyes off brilliance. You somehow become captivated by the performance in front of you. Time stands still, and you find yourself teleported into an equine-driven story that mesmerizes you and stops your breath.

The rider almost seems to disappear. The horse seems to love every second.

Brilliance can be demonstrated in a show environment, competitive activity, or just in your back yard. You can find brilliance in the nearest riding ring, in any discipline and in any riding style.

But the key question is: how do you develop it?

The First Step: Lateral Flexion and Bend

Maintaining a steady lateral position in the direction of movement is the first key to relaxation for the horse.

Flexion refers to the horse looking in the direction of travel. It is achieved by turning the head in toward the arc of the turn, at the amount needed. So if you are on a large circle, only a small amount of flexion is needed.

The inside hand (and rein) is responsible for flexion. Make sure your own shoulders are "open" into the direction you're going in. Don't point your shoulders left while riding right! Use small finger squeezes to encourage your horse to look into the direction of travel. The smaller the circle, the more the horse should be looking in.

Bend happens in the body, and is the result of the horse "wrapping around" your inside leg. So bend is initiated by your inside leg. The horse's body should be bent into the turn pretty much to the same degree as the horse's head. So a large circle requires a fairly small bend while smaller circles should get the most bend through the horse's body.

Position your inside leg at the girth, and your outside leg behind the girth. Encourage your horse to shift away from your inside leg as you apply pressure. Your seat should also be pointing into the direction of movement and you should have more weight on the inside seat bone.

But there's more to brilliance than just bend and flexion.

The Second Step: Longitudinal Flexion

This is a fancy term for developing "roundness" in your horse. To me, longitudinal means "over the top line". The more flexion you have over the back, the rounder your horse moves and feels. The horse reaches deeper with the hind legs, the back rises (and drops equally in rhythm with the stride), the neck elevation rises and the neck gets thicker near the withers. You might see the neck muscles begin to contract and relax in the movement (as opposed to not being able to see any muscle movement at all).

Essentially, your horse begins to collect, even if only a little.

How much your horse can step underneath the body with his hind legs dictates how round he can get. The rounder he can get, the freer he can move in his body, and the better he can carry your weight. Roundness is an important part of "freeness", meaning that he can allow the energy you initiate come through his body and into the movement itself.

Longitudinal flexion dictates how flashy the horse can look. Even the flattest horse can develop animated, sweeping movement when he begins to learn to round.

Develop better roundness through energizing the horse with legs and seat, and half-halting and releasing in time so that the horse doesn't just move faster or change gait. Rather, you want him to move bigger, stronger, rounder (you have to ride that way in your seat too).

Third step: Activity

Your horse can have lateral and longitudinal flexion but still be a little short of "brilliance". That is because there is another key component that acts as the icing on the cake.

Here's one tip: you can probably never have enough activity in your horse's movement. So just when you think you have enough energy and bounce, you can probably add a shade more.

More movement, more energy, more freedom. (psst!! Not faster!)

Even if you work at a relatively slow pace (think western pleasure), you can still encourage more activity. Keep the flexions and work on allowing, or even developing, your horse's ability to move freely, especially in the front end.

The energy should not be stifled, but rather let through the body.




There should be no tension - in the topline, the underline, or anywhere else. The horse should look active but relaxed at the same time.

And the clincher - if all this falls into place together at the same time, he will appear happy. Think snorts, floppy ears, bright eyes, soft poll and jaw. Enthusiastic. Interested.

And What About You?

Well, the beauty of riding in brilliance is that all the attention is taken away from you. Your job is to disappear into the horse, becoming only a prop as he does his thing.

Of course, we all know there is a lot more to it than that. But that is what it looks like.

One more note: brilliance doesn't happen every time you ride, although you can encourage it using the three steps above.

It doesn't even necessarily happen over the course of a whole ride. You might find brilliance one movement at a time, or minutes at a time. Don't worry. Keep working toward adding together moments of brilliance until you can maintain it longer and longer. It is a skill that can be developed - both of you can work toward it.

Can you think of other aspects to achieving brilliance in riding? Let us know in the comments below.

Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!

Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the  Horse Listening Practice Sessions. 

This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.

Click here to read more and to join one of the most complete programs on the Internet!

Horse Listening

I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!

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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?

Finally! The Ultimate Rider-Centered Program!

Ready for something completely different? If you liked what you read here, you might be interested in the Horse Listening Practice Sessions. 

This is NOT a program where you watch other people's riding lessons. Start working with your horse from Day 1.

Click here to read more and to join one of the most complete programs on the Internet!

Horse Listening

I don't believe in putting my work behind a paywall. But there are expenses in every venture. If you really liked this article, consider tipping us! Your tip will help me keep producing more riding TIPS (pun!) with free access to everyone. With thanks for reading!

Horse Listening The Book
Click to learn more.

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

Available as an eBook or paperback.

Read more here:

https://www.horselistening.com2012/07/10/how-do-you-know-your-horse-is-using-his-back/

https://www.horselistening.com2012/08/08/riding-is-simple-but-not-easy/

https://www.horselistening.com2013/01/10/move-to-stay-still-on-horseback/

https://www.horselistening.com2012/02/19/do-you-make-this-timing-mistake-when-riding-your-horse/