ArtfulRiding

09/22/2022

Why is the shoulder in so important, and why is it so hard?

I can’t tell you how many different versions I see of the shoulder in every time I get a new student. It’s amazing how easy it is to do it wrong and actually end up throwing your horse off balance or building stiffness when you are trying to do the exact opposite.

To make it uber simple, there are two things you are looking for when you are training the shoulder in.
1. Bend
2. Angle

This seems simple enough, but it isn’t.

What is shoulder in?

The shoulder in is an exercise that bends and collects the inside hind leg and should be trained in both directions. The hind leg is sent forward and under the horse, supporting the forehand and lifting the “up and forward” movement of the outside front leg.

In the shoulder in, the weight of the horse is on the inside due to the bend. The horse is balancing on his inside front leg and carrying himself forward in the direction of travel with the inside hind leg. The inside of the horse will therefore have a downward rotation as the hind leg steps forward and under, and the outside of the horse will have an upward rotation as the hind leg lifts it. This means that the outside foreleg/shoulder should always be lifted and light in the shoulder in.

If your horse is falling toward the outside shoulder in the shoulder in, the exercise is being ridden incorrectly and you are putting the horse on the forehand.

The aids of the shoulder in should be as follows:

If the shoulder in is performed with a left bend whilst traveling right, then both reins must be moving left to ask both shoulders to turn and bend to the inside. Since the haunches remain straight on the fence, the hips of the rider remain almost straight to match them; however, the head, shoulders and torso of the rider turn to match the angle of the horse’s shoulders.

When this happens, a slight twist travels from the torso into the hips of the rider, causing the inside leg/hip to open to the inside slightly whilst still staying at the girth, and the outside leg closes on the horse from the hip to the knee and the upper thigh can naturally move back a little due to the twist. You should feel as if the twist is causing you to sit slightly more on your inside seat bone but still able to distribute your overall weight equally/centered on both sides of the horse.

To read the rest of the article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/why-is-the-shoulder-in-so-important-and-why-is-it-so-hard

09/14/2022

Improving Contact, Connection and Feel Through Self Awareness

When I think about Contact, Connection and Feel, I think about them in connection with Balance.

My main goal is always Balance in body and mind of the horse. The mind will be peaceful and in balance if the body is. As the rider, it is my assignment to help the horse maintain equilibrium when I’m in the saddle.

Because horses are naturally on the forehand, this natural balance becomes an imbalance when a rider mounts due to the additional weight being added primarily to the forehand. To counter this imbalance, I can use the weight of my body (especially my torso) and the stabilizing effects of my hips, seat and hands to rebalance both ends of the horse.

Where the rider sits in the saddle is considered the “center of gravity”. This is the spot that needs to be supported by the hind legs and can affect the balance of the whole horse both positively and negatively. Understanding the center of gravity is like visualizing standing in the middle of a seesaw: if you stand in the middle, you can keep both ends equally elevated. If you want to elevate one side a little more than the other, then you have to shift your weight (the center of gravity) more to the other side, effectively lowering that side.

It’s the same process that we need to go through with the horse.

Collection is the process of actually lowering the haunches and closing the base so the hind legs can step further under. To keep it simple, Collection is accomplished primarily through the increasing difficulty of the combinations of lateral exercises.

However, before we can establish Collection, we first have to rebalance or level out the horse so that both ends are balanced, and the weight has been shifted from the forehand to the middle of the horse. The rider in this process now consciously controls the center of gravity depending on how they shift the weight of their own center of gravity.

To start and continue this process, we need 4 things.
– Impulsion
– Contact
– Connection
– Feel

1. Everything starts with Impulsion. I train Impulsion on a loose rein. If a horse has difficulty with Contact, Connection, Framing or being light and soft, then I separate these aids and focus on teaching only one aid at a time until I have fixed the issue and can combine them. I simply release the reins and teach the horse how to move off my legs forward, willing and straight with zero rein pressure. The response has to be immediate and match what I’m asking – in other words, I don’t want my horse overreacting or under reacting to my request. The horse should also learn to maintain the same speed, gait and direction I put him in without needing additional aids. This means that I shouldn’t have to continuously ask for him to go forward with my legs. He should keep going once asked – by himself. This is called Self Impulsion. Until I ask for a different aid, he should not change the impulsion.

2. Contact is when the slack is taken out of the reins, thereby giving the rider’s hands a “direct” effect on the bit. When the rider has a direct effect on the bit, they can lift, lower, stretch or contract the head, neck, shoulders and forehand of the horse to change how the weight is distributed through the rest of the body.

3. Connection is when the horse accepts the contact of the rider’s hands to the bit and allows this touch to affect his whole body and shift his weight. For example, when the rider takes contact to the bit, the horse should respond by first giving the jaw and the poll; and, secondly allowing the “give” to flow all the way through his body to the hind leg joints. As the “give” flows through the body, the center of gravity (also called the center of weight) should flow backwards with it shifting more weight into the hind leg joints, causing them to bend and gradually through progressive training take on more and more weight increasing the bend.

4. Feel, in my opinion, is self-development of the rider. It’s the ability to observe with your eyes and senses primarily in your own body what it feels like to move in balance, to know when a horse “gives” the jaw and poll to the hand, shifts the weight etc., and know how to respond to that in a timely manner.

To read the entire article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/improving-contact-connection-and-feel-through-self-awareness

09/01/2022

Contact and Connection - Is Resistance really a bad thing?

There are horses that go behind the bit and there are horses that go above the bit.

Both types of horses are trying to get away from what’s called Contact.

But why is Contact so uncomfortable for the horse and what is Contact anyway?

“Contact” is where two surfaces touch. So, if I reach out my hand and touch your shoulder, the two of us are now in “Contact”. This doesn’t mean that we are in Connection though, it just means that one of us, in this case me, has made physical Contact through physical touch with someone or something else.

With the horse, Contact occurs when the slack is taken out of the reins and the hand thereby makes a direct contact with the bit.

In the moment of Contact, there arises a slight friction between the two surfaces; for example, the friction between my hand and your shoulder in the area that’s being touched or the friction between my hand and the bit.

You might refer to this friction as a form of Resistance.

Resistance is not a bad thing, it’s actually 100% necessary to create a good Contact and a good Connection. It’s just the degree of resistance that matters.

For example, if two people are holding hands there is friction between the hands. This is the Contact point. But the hands are just resting lightly in each other, one hand is not pulling or squashing the other in a painful way causing too much Resistance and therefore discomfort.

There are two ways to apply Resistance incorrectly so that you don’t get the result you want, which should always be lightness and suppleness. Here they are:

Applying too much Resistance - this could show up by pulling on the reins, having a hard non-releasing hand, hanging on the rein, not bending in the elbows so your hands are like concrete, etc. = you have no feel, so you are not listening to your horse.
Applying too little Resistance - this is the Uber soft hand that releases whether the horse is pulling or whether he’s soft, thereby teaching him nothing - always giving, no support on the outside rein, loose reins all the time. Generally, it’s a lack of Contact = missing Connection = you and your horse are not in it together because you are also not listening to your horse.

To read the rest of the article, click on the following link:
http://artfulriding.com/contact-and-connection-is-resistance-really-a-bad-thing

08/25/2022

5 ways to ride the leg yield incorrectly and how to finally get it right!

Riding the horse forward is one thing, asking your horse to step sideways is another. Asking him to do both at the same time is the true challenge.

The leg yield is a great exercise for creating better control of the shoulders and haunches and for creating more straightness in your horse overall.

When the leg yield is ridden correctly, the horse has a small inside flexion of the head and neck (in the opposite direction of travel) which should cause a slight bend through the whole body of the horse causing the inside hind leg to step under the center of weight and lift the horse forwards and sideways. The shoulders should lead the motion a little, but the haunches should be almost aligned with the shoulders, not trailing behind.

Unfortunately, there are many ways to ride this movement incorrectly causing the wrong muscles to get activated.

These are some of the most common mistakes I see:
1. The horse is overbent on the inside rein causing him to fall through the outside shoulder and leave his haunches trailing behind.
2. The horse is not traveling forward straight (perpendicular to the short side) and then sideways but is instead traveling on the diagonal with his main body and only facing the short side with his head and neck. This is caused by lack of outside rein use and lack of straightness in the rider’s body.
3. The rider has pushed the haunches over too much with their inside leg and the horse falls on the inside shoulder and is now unable to make it across the diagonal as they are facing the wrong way with the balance on the wrong shoulder.
4. The horse has the incorrect bend or a twist through his head/neck causing the horse to take the shape of the half pass instead of the leg yield.
5. The horse is going too sideways and not forwards enough resulting in a lack of rhythm and impulsion. It feels like you’re never going to get to the other side and you arrive at the fence way before the corner.

Here’s a couple of ways to help you get it right instead:
* When you are first starting the leg yield, make sure that you are easily able to ride a shoulder fore two-track on the fence as well as on a bigger circle like a 15 or 20 meter. This way you know that you understand correct bend and flexion of the inside body before you try to ride the leg yield.
* When a horse is riding a two-track shoulder fore he should be slightly bent to the inside, never flexed more than to the point of the inside shoulder. This allows him to balance slightly more on the inside shoulder as he elevates the outside shoulder in the movement.

To read the rest of the article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/5-ways-to-ride-the-leg-yield-incorrectly-and-how-to-finally-get-it-right

08/12/2022

Does your horse reflect your fears and resistance?

Horses are amazing mirrors into our soul. One thing that I’ve learned over the many years I’ve trained horses is that if you want the horse to behave differently, start by changing what he is reflecting.

Horses and many other animals mirror emotions that humans have. Most of the time humans aren’t even conscious of the emotions and energies we are sending out and, therefore, we fail to notice what the horse is reflecting back to us. Instead, we blame it on the horse, i.e., something must be physically wrong, or maybe it’s because they were abused in the past, or maybe this horse just doesn’t like it when you… (add in some random story).

Many training problems have been resolved by observing the interaction between owner and horse and adjusting accordingly. For example:

Are you always looking for resistance from the horse? If so, you will approach the horse with resistance and expectation of resistance, and his choice will be to mirror that back to you in various ways.

Are you afraid of abandonment or not being good enough? If so, your horse will probably turn away from you in the stall, not want to be caught in the pasture, refuse the jump or something like that.

Are you scared of your horse? If so, your horse will dominate you, walk all over you, do scary things, kick out, etc.

Your horse will reflect your biggest fear back to you unconsciously.

Training horses becomes much easier once you realize this. As it turns out, all you have to change is not the mirror, but what is being reflected in the mirror = You.

It’s really the same with life. If you are meeting resistance, what can you change or let go of in order to change what’s being reflected?

To read the full article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/does-your-horse-reflect-your-fears-and-resistance

07/28/2022

There’s no such thing as “good enough”!

There is no such thing as “good enough” - and I mean that in a positive way.

I hear this fear of “not being good enough” repeated all the time when I leave my clients with homework assignments between lessons or training sessions.

Riders are so afraid to make mistakes, do the wrong thing and potentially “make things worse.”

Nobody said that we have to be perfect all the time, do everything right even if we’ve never done it before and that practice is something only failures do…. Or, maybe someone did actually say exactly that or some version of it at some point in our lives.

I think there’s a lot of shame in the horse community about letting ourselves be seen by others. Most riders are terrified that they won’t look great in the saddle or ride perfectly in comparison to someone else that they know, or Olympic riders on TV.

It’s a lot of pressure and I think everyone I’ve ever known that works with horses personally or professionally has experienced this fear of just not being good enough or not being “as good as the others”.

At the end of the day, we have to be willing to let that go if we want to be good at all. Professionals practice more than amateurs. That’s what makes them so good. It’s not because they were born great. Sure, they might have a knack for certain things but, at the end of the day, it comes down to how often you practice. Even if you suck the worst anybody has ever sucked, with practice you can’t help but improve.

The question is, how bad do you want it?

There is no such thing as good enough.

Let me say that again, there is no such thing as good enough.

To read the full article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-good-enough

07/20/2022

The 6 Secrets to Always Having a Great Ride!

I learned many years ago that the secrets to having the best ride every single time are:

1. Set a clear intention and picture your successful outcome even if you have no idea how it will come about. Just imagine it magically happening and act accordingly.

2. Set expectations but never attach to them.

3. Release attachment to short term outcomes. It’s all about the journey and the connection.

4. Stop judging and evaluating your results. Just observe objectively; in other words, be present.

5. Focus on being happy and having a good ride.

6. Have the confidence and courage to explore new things and keep chipping away towards your goal. Be consistent.

I’ve always been super goal oriented, result and purpose driven. The feeling this creates inside of me is a mixture of excitement, happiness, meaning and fulfillment, but also anxiety, fear, stress and pressure.

I’ve come to realize (and most of the time accept) that you can’t have one without the other. When you go after your dreams and focus on growing them, you automatically grow your resistance at the same time. It would be wonderful if this didn’t happen and you just sailed towards your dreams and goals without any obstacles or resistance, but in most cases that just isn’t how it goes.

As we dare to live bigger, we take up more space, we show up more, become more visible, become more heard and whatever we fear becomes bigger too.

You can’t climb to the heights of a great mountain without realizing that the fall is equally daunting.

It’s scary to grow. It’s not possible to grow by doing the same things, sticking to the same actions, thoughts, beliefs, etc. It all has to change, evolve and transform. When we observe physical growth, it is also painful because you are literally growing out of your previous meat suit. There’s a reason why the expression "growing pains" exists, and it is spiritual and mental too.

There is no growth without pain, but it’s good pain. It has a purpose, not like the type of perpetual pain created by the mind in resistance and reluctance of growth, holding on to thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve you or straight up limit you.

This is where the secrets come in. My experience is that with many riders they get too attached to success or failure. They set high expectations, have no plan and judge themselves, their horses and their results harshly after each ride, thus creating a pressure filled environment and a cycle of disappointment that is hard to break free of.

To read the full article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/the-6-secrets-to-always-having-a-great-ride

07/14/2022

07/13/2022

Mindful Tips to a Calmer Horse

When I get a horse in training that seems nervous, anxious, scared, or simply has no focus, my first step is not to go for a ride and try to fix things there.

Instead, it starts with creating a mental or spiritual connection with the horse in the barn.

I see a lot of horse owners who seem to be in a rush when they arrive at the barn; everything is moving at lightning speeds from the second they arrive, to the horse being brushed, saddled and ridden.

With such a hectic agenda surrounding the horses, no wonder they become unfocused, distracted, nervous, etc.

Keep in mind that the horse (as far as I know) doesn’t have an agenda and, if they do, it is much different from ours.

The agenda of the horse could look something like this:

1. Survive by eating, plus relax and conserve energy to ensure excess energy for running, if a threat, is encountered.
2. Easy to Moderate slow movement such as walking several miles a day to new grazing areas.
3. Connect with other herd members for safety in numbers.
4. Procreate if not gelded or spayed.

These are all things that we take away from them, if you think about it.

1. They often can’t eat 24/7, and they get fed grain and such that isn’t necessarily healthy or natural for them, increasing their risk of colic, etc.
2. They have us running around stressing them out, and intense training sessions or, if they belong to a riding school, potentially several training sessions in one day.
3. They don’t get to hang out with us humans much because we are in such a hurry, and in many places horses are kept in separate stalls where they can’t touch or connect with other horses.
4. The purpose of procreating is taken away from most horses early on in life, and so the only purpose left is to avoid discomfort and move toward comfort, if possible, and be there when we need them.

It’s not really a very fulfilling life.

To read the entire article, go to: http://artfulriding.com/mindful-tips-to-a-calmer-horse

07/13/2022

*****Philosophy of Lightness for Eventers!*****

Classical Dressage Clinic with Celie Weston July 29th to August 1st in Aiken, South Carolina.

Celie Weston is a European Clinician located in Florida who focuses on a unique blend of Classical Dressage, Natural Horsemanship and Biomechanics. This combo has proven very successful in helping event riders who themselves need to be very versatile in multiple disciplines.

Celie's main focus is to create harmony, balance and correct movement, whilst giving the rider the ultimate clarity via classical principles to accomplish their goals and continue progressing in dressage and jumping.

Click on the link to learn more… https://artfulriding.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&c=202&m=231

Listen to Your Horse by...

07/02/2022

This is such a common problem. If you tip your pelvis forward, you lose all core strength and, since your core is the same as your seat which is the primary aid, then you are missing out on the biggest and easiest way to communicate with your horse and have him understand you. If you're collapsing in the core and leaning over backwards, you will be behind the center of gravity and out of rhythm with the horse. Core activity will also be very difficult, sitting the trot will be impossible.

The correct position is lift your sternum, relax your shoulders and tuck your pelvis slightly - just enough to support the lower back. This will ensure you are in self carriage, your legs can hang long and your core is engaged.

07/01/2022

Vertical balance. The horse should not be leaning, over bending, falling out or falling in, and neither should the rider. If your aids are functioning correctly, you don't need to contort your body to get the horse to do the right thing. It all comes down to whether your horse understands the aids correctly and responds to them with lightness. I only see riders contort themselves to make up for horses that don't respond to the aids as they should.

06/30/2022

The Jaw Flexion, the hock and the circle are connected… here’s how!

Horses are born asymmetrical from birth. They are either left-handed or right-handed. Some say it is caused by which direction they lay in the uterus.

I’m sure there is more to it. Either way, asymmetry causes the horse to be generally hollow on one side and convex on the other.

This is a problem when we ride them because they lose straightness and balance.

In one direction they fall in on the circle with the shoulder, in the other direction they fall out with the same shoulder. Sometimes they also fall in and out with the haunches.

If for example a horse is left bent, observed from the left side they will tend to over-bend the neck and shoulder on the inside and fall out of the circle over the right shoulder. The haunches overcompensate by swinging into the left. To simplify, the head of the horse goes left, shoulder goes right, and haunches go left, so the horse is almost shaped like a horseshoe.

Observed from the right side, the horse is looking out of the circle, falling in on his right shoulder and the haunches are leaving the circle to the outside. It’s the same horseshoe just observed from the other side.

But why does it matter whether the horse can travel in a correct bend you might ask?

Training the horse to be more symmetrical is important for so many reasons.

To ensure that the horse is loading all 4 legs equally with weight
To avoid injury to the right front (from too much weight)
To avoid injury to the left hind (from too much push and twisting)
To help the horse step to the center of gravity and lift his withers to free the thoracic sling
To ensure the joints stay aligned
To increase softness on the reins
To improve balance, it’s hard to balance if your legs are in the wrong position
To increase impulsion and self-carriage.
And more…

To read the entire article, go to: https://artfulriding.com/the-jaw-flexion-the-hock-and-the-circle-are-connected-heres-how

06/30/2022

Another great illustration (don't know who the artist is) of bended straight and straight straight. The horse on the left is kinked. I always teach my students to focus on the shape of the body first before focusing on frame, ramener or anything else. Get the shoulders straight and the neck and head in alignment with the shoulders and then just ride the hind legs forward in the same shape as the shoulders! That's straightness.

06/30/2022

I can, I will, I am doing...

Where do you need to apply this to yourself or your horse training?

06/29/2022

Something I often tell new students is that sitting the trot is not hard when the hind leg takes a big enough stride to step under the center of graavity and lift up the back. The upwards swinging back is always comfortable and easy to sit. Of course, this can only happen if the horse is not on the forehand. If on the forehand, the length of stride won't improve the trot by much. When we bounce in the trot, it is because there is no support under the back and you end up catching the front leg or bumping between the rhythm of the front leg and hind leg. It's what you might call no man's land where there is no support.

06/28/2022

Good visual of what it might look like when the horse leans to the inside of the circle. It is actually the withers that are leaning, causing the horse to lose vertical balance. The shoulders and withers should stay upright, thereby keeping the "wings" horizontal. I want a Pegasus.😊

06/27/2022

I can't remember the artist of this drawing, but this is actually a good way to describe the feeling of contact. When the horse is stretching over the topline, keeping the throat latch open and the nose on the vertical or slightly in front of the vertical, the horse holds the bit in his mouth and pulls it lightly forward, giving the feel of filling out the reins or in the photo tightening the string. The contact should always be light though. Otherwise the horse is not in self carriage.