The Step-By-Step teaching process of single-rein riding combined with clicker training creates a great way to learn dressage and to chunk the training down for your horse.
The posts that follow come from the_click_that_teaches email discussion list. They cover questions about dressage, and single-rein riding and clicker training can be used in this discipline of riding.
February 17, 2006
Anna wrote:
"everyone talks of the inside leg reaching actively foreward on a turn . But it doesnt , surely , the outside leg has to do the greater action . I dont know if Jord Ann is reading this , she can usualy answer these things ..
Jord-Ann responded:
Feb. 17, 2006
Anna ....
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are thinking that the outside track
is larger than the inside track, so therefore the outside fore and
hind have to make the greater effort? (Now that we're watching the
Olympics!)
You are correct, but this is a consideration of more advanced work.
We're always teaching the horse how to "carry" the rider, first with
balance, then with balance and style :)
Stepping under with the inside hind is a "first stage" training
consideration for balance.
I don't have a lot of experience describing the feel of bending when
you pass through that first stage, except to tell you that it's a
unique feeling - the horse is not really yielding from the (rider's)
inside leg, but is stretching around it. So when it starts to work, it
really is training "do" rather than "don't" - by that I mean, if your
horse is still dropping his inside shoulder sometimes, or falling onto
the forehand, and the rider uses the inside leg to ask the horse to
yield/bend around that leg to re-establish balance, it's a very
different feeling than asking for the outside of the horse to stretch
around your leg, which I do by asking with the outside weight aids (I
use a little more pressure in the outside stirrup). Once you have
this, corners, perfect circles, different degrees of shoulder-in and a
distinct improvement in the gaits all start to appear.
Sometimes just a different view of "bending" gives you better results.
So I can appreciate your thinking here - it works for me :)
But it's also part of noticing what works best for an individual
horse - capitalizing on what the horse responds to. That takes a bit
of experimenting sometimes :)
Hope this helps?
Jord-Ann
Click here to return to the Frequently Asked Questions Home Page
************************************************************************
Feb. 19, 2006
Jord-Ann wrote
Anna wrote:
Isnt it amazing how , for just about every piece of advice , someone
can give you equally plausible opposite advice ... and the answer
is always " it depends .. " .
A BHSriding instructor I visited couple years
ago , wanted me to turn off the outside rein , this having become
the modern way of riding . Very strange .
Let me help you here Anna, because I can see you already know the
answer :)
We were discussing the use of the outside aids to balance bending, on a circle or really any lateral work. I rode in the UK at a BHS establishment for a few years as a child, so I think I can follow the reasoning :)
Let's say you are jumping, and your horse is indicating that running out in front of the fence might be an option. How do you correct that?
Let's say the run-out is to the left of the fence - do you use your
right rein to turn the horse opposite the direction he wants to go?
No, because you are leaving the left shoulder open to pop out and voila, you've assisted the horse in going left. Instead, you straighten the horse with the left rein, or block the energy from popping out the left shoulder.
In more advanced flat-work, the idea is essentially the same. If you are turning right with the right rein and the horse is drifting left, it means that there is a "hole" in the rider's aids that is letting the energy leak out to the left. This can be as small as opening the contact of your knee on the saddle. Even something this small can make a difference, not only in an advanced horse, but a green one too. (You
can bet, as you've learned from C/T, that the horse is usually gathering a lot more information from you than you can imagine!) When you close all the little sluice-gates (your outside aids, who are just channelling energy to the right) that let the energy leak out, just a little extra pressure in your outside stirrup or seat will turn
the horse - and in an more advanced scenario you don't need any extra
information from the inside rein.
Ok, I will say that this is a bit simplistic - there are lots of factors working here. The rider's body must be positioned for a turn (put your shoulders where you want the horse's shoulders), the rider must be committed to making a turn (intent), the horse should be at least beginning to understand that the aids are not just pushing him
around, but have specific meanings that result in a better deal for him - better balance, and that they are quiet when there's no need for more information :)
So the BHS person was not "wrong", but they either don't understand or communicate or teach all the reasoning behind the role of the outside aids. Just another infraction of the rule of shaping/learning that says "raise the criteria in increments small enough that the subject has a reasonable chance of success (or understanding)".
See, you already know it :)
Jord-Ann
************************************************************************
Click here to return to the Frequently Asked Questions Home Page
Questions about contact and support:
Kathi wrote:
> I was very excited to start to do more 2 rein riding this fall and
> really thinking that my horse was "asking" for this support and
> security- as I con't'd to play with 2 rein riding- what felt
> secure and supporting started to quickly digress to where we had
come
> from- not light/ restrictive/ lost the hind end quality etc- me with
> see sawing hands
Anna wrote: There is a WAZ PNH yahoo list where people are trying to
join PNH training to classical dressage , and the novices like me are having
problems reconciling , going foreward seeking a contact as in
classical , with , having taught horses to give to the bit , which
comes from western riding .
In response Jord-Ann wrote the following post on contact and support.
Feb. 26, 2006
Interesting how the ideas of contact and support become confused.
There are different conceptions of classical dressage. One idea is
that a horse that is "seated" on the haunches is in a state of self-
maintained balance that does not change. Even in movements that
require what appears to be an extension of the gait, the "one" balance
does not change - what changes is the *amplitude* of the gait.
Another idea is that balance is adjustable, from collection to
extended gaits, and the rider is responsible for "gymnasticising" the
horse for these different states of balance, and they must be under
the rider's control.
Then there are different ideas of "working" or forward riding.
Both of these also use the idea of adjustable balance. A horse that,
for instance, works cattle, must have an adjustable balance. But the
horse must be responsible for self-adjusting his balance for the job
at hand. A cross-country horse, or a jumper must also have "adjustable
balance", but it must be under the control of the rider to some degree.
So on one hand, you have a horse that self maintains his balance, and
on the other you have a horse that must allow his rider to adjust his
balance.
When you look at it in this way, it's clear that a horse that is
responsible for his own balance will not rely on the rider's hand for
support/help. He may seek contact, but this is more of a "checking in"
with the rider, a psychological instead of physical "aid" (support).
The type of contact that is a product of the idea of adjustable
balance generally means that the rider and horse should be in constant
communication about how and where the balance will change. This is
where the ideas of support and contact become intertwined, not always
in a good way - the rider is or feels responsible for balancing the
horse. It shouldn't, but often appears as the rider "supporting" the
horse with his hands (constant contact).
The only time the ideas of contact and support are truly in agreement
is when a horse is working at speed (racing, chasing, cross-country).
In this type of work, a strong constant contact actually does support
the horse's balance for *sustained* maximum forward propulsion.
Just my 2 cents :)
Jord-Ann
************************************************************************
Click here to return to the Frequently Asked Questions Home Page