Obstacle of the week: turn on the forehand (TOF)
Here I am with Limonero, an imported Lusitano gelding. As I prep by asking for more shortened steps in the walk you can clearly see that he tightens in his back and gets fussy in the connection. More importantly, notice the change in the clarity of rhythm in his walk steps. This is a common problem, especially in the walk, with horses that are pushed into collection before they have the strength and elasticity to manage it. I am working through it with this horse in our daily work, but I want to stress the importance here; notice the tendency towards lateral walk, a major fault at any level. When you see the comment "rhythm varies" or "lost rhythm" on your test sheet, this is what the judge is talking about. We want to see clear, steady rhythm in all gaits in all movements and tempo like a metronome throughout your entire ride.
In the first TOF with the haunches to the right, I half halt gently on my outside rein, making sure I stay elastic with it and not rigid. I prefer to keep my horse's head and neck fairly straight in the TOF to keep the shoulders balanced and centered, but the assessment criteria allows for counter flexion. I keep my body centered as well for the turn, leaning in one direction throws the horse's center of gravity off. The turn is a little large with the front feet crossing, ( they should not) so I half halt a bit more to tighten it up, but I pay the price with another loss of rhythm when the left front foot sticks, only one step, but it takes the score down even more. (Without the initial rhythm change this would only be a point or so, but with the problems in the preparation my score for this first turn could easily be in the 4 range.) I activate him gently with my whip as I exit the turn to encourage him to stay stepping with all four feet. For the second turn (haunches left) I compensate by making the turn larger and activating Limonero in my preparation to be sure he doesn't stic
Obstacle of the week: Sidepass Rails
Here is Diva's Lady, an imported German Riding Pony mare, at level 5.
I had a nervous horse that day, and Diva has a flair for the dramatic, so on my approach I concentrate on a quality canter and a clear downward transition while giving Diva confidence by keeping my legs snug. I keep Diva pointed directly at the first pole as I pass through the markers and then maneuver her haunches around to my right to start the first sidepass. At this level it's critical to keep the bend in the direction of travel, so I keep my right leg aids at the girth to encourage bend and activity while supporting (but not restricting) with my outside rein. I want the shoulders to lead slightly in the sidepass, but if I allow them to lead too much then the angle will get too extreme, and I risk knocking a pole down because the feet have less space to step. My inside leg (the leg that is INSIDE the bend) stays rather active to keep the angle and the bend from varying.
It's critical as well that I keep the walk rhythm, which was difficult that day due to Diva's tension, and the crossing needs to stay consistent. I don't want the crossing to be uneven or the front legs to cross in front and then in back, or sidestepping, all of which take the score down. Just like I want nice even steps in all the gaits throughout my ride, I want nice even steps here too.
As I transition from the right pole to the left I am very careful to sidepass the entire first pole without allowing Diva to step over it. I straighten and change the bend, and so my leg position also changes to left leg at the girth and right leg slightly back. Diva's tension shows a little here and she leads slightly with the haunches to start the second pole, but I concentrate on left bend, activity, steadying my angle and quality of the steps. As I finish the second pole, I straighten Diva and again I have to change the bend to prepare for my canter transition and a turn to the right.
Obstacle of the week: well, not really an obstacle but a movement, the turn on the haunches.
This is a difficult movement to perform correctly, so this is a rather long explanation. I see mistakes all the way up to the upper levels, in working equitation as well as in the dressage shows.
The most important thing to understand is that the correct rhythm must be maintained. The minute your horseās hoof sticks or spins even one step your score goes way down, the more steps that stick the more your score suffers. Personally I prefer to see larger turns with correct rhythm rather than riders that make them too small for their horseās level of training.
Here are Joni and I practicing movements 8 & 9 from the USAWE level 4 dressage test. Joni is an extremely sensitive horse with a precarious rhythm in the walk, so I have to really focus on keeping a clear four beat walk rhythm at all times. He shows his tension and anticipation before the first turn to the left by losing rhythm slightly, although he keeps the footfalls nice and even in the turn itself.
As I prep for the TOH, I shorten Joniās steps and his frame while encouraging him with my legs to stay active and āquickā behind. I solidify his bend in the direction of the turn with a shoulder-in like positioning, and I keep my inside leg actively monitoring that bend all the way through the movement. He could definitely be more engaged on his hindquarters and the turn ideally should be smaller for the best score, but my focus here is keeping him calm with a clear rhythm throughout. After the first turn he anticipates and loses rhythm again, jigging a few steps, but Iām able to recover the walk and he gives me a decent collected walk the rest of the way to the next diagonal line.
You can clearly see my prep for the second TOH to the right, and I take my time, 5 or even 6 steps of straight collecting steps before I ask Joni to start the turn; I want to be absolutely sure he is waiting for me, not
Obstacle of the week, Drums!
Here I am several years ago on Diva at level 5 riding the drums. Diva was very tense that day, spooky and looking for distractions. You can see her spook sideways on the turn to the approach and swap leads back and forth. Nevertheless, she comes back rather nicely once I point her to the first drum.
There is a costly mistake on the first drum, can you catch it?
I try to sit deep to keep her from unseating me if she decides to spook again, I focus on keeping the symmetry and activity I need in the canter so I can get a good change exactly between the two drums I am passing through. I am careful not to lean and throw my body at the change, especially on a horse this size; changes in my balance can really have a strong influence on a small horse. I am able to settle her and keep her mind on the job, and I get some rather nice loops around all three drums with good bend, and the changes are clean. Diva is a German Riding Pony, and at only 14.1 hands she makes this look pretty easy, and I am able to ride nice, tight loops around all three drums. On the third drum I lose the rhythm slightly, just a small interruption in the jump and activity, again because she is looking at something and wanting to spook. At this level these things are important, much more so than at the lower levels. Judges really want to see a steady, active tempo in the canter through all the turns and the changes, calm and without resistance. I was able to ride through this little distraction and salvage the rest of the element for a decent departure. Lucky for me, with her small size she is easy to control!
Did you catch the big mistake on the first drum? Diva swaps leads behind right between drums 1 and 2 on the first turn, just one step and then back to correct, but this is a very costly mistake. I don't remember if the judges caught this that day, it's easy to miss, but if they did, the score should have been in the negatives, with maybe a bit more ta
Obstacle of the week, double slalom!
For me, this obstacle is the true test of your readiness at any level. Make no mistake, this is difficult for the horse to perform well, and without the correct balance relative to the criteria of the level you are riding, your training mistakes will show very clearly in the double slalom!
Here I am schooling Ike on a normal day at home. I had been having trouble keeping his haunches straight out of the turns so he was struggling with the changes and swapping leads behind. We did some basic straightening exercises and came back to the slalom several times, concentrating on turning his shoulders and keeping the haunches as straight as possible out of the turn so he can balance for the change. I am careful to keep the quality of the canter throughout; just as in tempi changes in dressage, the quality of the canter determines the quality of the change, and slaloms are simply tempis with turns. I try to focus on the quality of the canter immediately after the change to prepare for the next turn, and through the turn to prepare for the change, and so on. In the double slalom there is NO time to sit on your laurels, you must always be readying your horse for the turn or the change! For the lower levels you would be preparing for the change of bend rather than the flying change, but my point is to PREPARE!
In this clip my half circles are a bit large for competitive purposes, but in practice I try to keep things a little easier when my horse is struggling to do what I ask. In this exercise I like to practice different counts and be able to nail 7, 8, 9 or even 10 strides between changes.
I strive for quality every day in my riding, playing with exercises instead of drilling them. Often this means that my plans for a particular ride might change depending on how my horse feels that day. I use the obstacles in different ways, not always riding them the way they were intended, or in their entirety, so my horse stays a happy pa
Obstacle of the week, the Bank
This is one we don't often get to ride, or even judge, because it's rare to see one in an arena setting. I love to see courses set up in a field, since it's more true to the intent of the sport and there's a chance to navigate less even ground and challenge my skills.
Here I am on Tiger at level 4, but this could be level 2-7 as well, since the execution is the same at all levels, with the exception of the allowance of trot or canter at level 2.
As I approach, I try to keep the balance in the canter without losing any momentum. Since Tiger is a bold and game guy, he is ready to go and doesn't hesitate at all, even though we never had the opportunity to school this at home. I make sure to keep my elbows and hips elastic and following, being careful not to bang him in the mouth or back as he jumps up. My goal is to keep the canter strides all the way across and still help him balance for the down bank in order to help him land on the correct lead for the turn, so I do my best to half halt but stay out of his way. For a better score I could have kept him a bit more contained on the down bank, but since I wasn't really sure how this would go I was happy to keep the canter strides even and regular. I plan my turn to the next obstacle as we land, gauging how much I need to bring Tiger back to balance him. Luckily there was plenty of room in this arena for me to do so.
I hope you get the chance to ride this fun obstacle sometime.
Good rides this week everyone!
Rein Back L
Obstacle of the week: the Rein Back L
Here are Ike and I doing the rein back L at level 5.
As I approach, as with every obstacle, I am concentrating first and foremost on my downward transition. Transitions are considered part of every obstacle and also play a role in your collective marks for Navigation and Impulsion, so it's critical as you go up the levels to work diligently on your transitions to make them clean and balanced by using collecting steps before you ask. It's also useful to remember that as you collect you must activate the hind legs to keep a "quickness" to the steps; a slow hind leg goes out behind instead of under the center of balance, causing most of the horse's weight to drop onto the forehand. When this happens you are sure to get trot steps or resistance in the contact. Judges want to see the horse sit into the transitions, balancing his weight in the haunches and lifting the shoulders, staying light in the contact, and by the time you get to level 4, there should be ZERO trot steps on the EOH course!
Here I use half halts and concentrate on a clear walk rhythm as I enter the corridor, and since Ike was tense that day, I am careful not to block him too much in the halt or force him too close to the bell. He is restless and does not maintain his immobility here, and I lose points for leaning too much, but trust me, it would have been worse had I pushed the issue with him!
In the rein back I find it much more effective to use the shoulders to control the swing of the haunches rather than trying to control with my legs: just like you use the steering wheel in your truck to control which way your trailer turns, the same goes for the horse: if you feel the haunches start to swing left, turn the shoulders slightly left momentarily (maintaining the rein back steps) and the horse will straighten. It's critical to make tiny adjustments though, not major ones, or you will over correct, and the horse will go crooked the opposite way and create
Obstacle of the week part 2: Pen
Here is another version of the Pen at level 4.
Here Ike shows a good canter on the approach, but since he was super spooky and resistant that day I chose to transition to the walk pretty early to give myself a good chance of getting him to go into the pen at all. He surprised me by being quite brave and obedient on the entry, and shows a good walk, although maybe a bit too forward for the purposes of the pen, where I would like to see a calmer, quieter stride. I concentrate again on keeping him in front of my leg, because when he is spooky he will balk strongly and I don't want him to stop and have problems inside the pen, so again my tradeoff for the more forward walk here. He loses a bit of rhythm just inside the opening before the turn, and again in the turn due to his tension, damaging my score considerably. (which is a moot point because I ended up DQing later on the course) The second loop is fine, and prepping for the approach to the next obstacle I start to change the bend a bit just before the exit to let Ike know I want the right lead. On the depart he shows his tension and becomes quite resistant while spooking at the banners on the fence line, but I do my best to keep him focused on me and going forward in front of my leg.
Good rides this week everyone!
Obstacle of the week, the Pen.
Here is Tiger again, performing the pen at level 4.
On my approach I collect by shortening and energizing the steps in the canter before I ask for the downward transition to walk. I am careful to nail the downward without any trot steps at this level. Because my next obstacle is in the direction of the camera, I chose to circle right first so I can exit the pen in the right direction without having to make an awkward turn.
Because Tiger does not have a good quality walk, I do my best to relax his back and focus on clean rhythm. I allow him to stretch a little into the contact and I keep a clear 4 beat walk by staying tall with a gentle swing, not a push, of my seat and arms to allow his neck and back to oscillate, encouraging bend through Tiger's body with my inside leg. As I exit the pen for the turn here, I do not maintain a straight perpendicular path, and I go way too far out. I was taught early in my WE training to go to the side like this to help me remember which way to go back in, but I have since learned that a perpendicular path from the center of the pen opening is a higher degree of difficulty and will score better, and indeed at levels 6-7 is required in the USAWE rulebook. During the turn I focus on balancing Tiger on his hind legs while keeping the walk rhythm clean. Tiger shows a slightly better walk quality on the second circle, and gives me a nice upward transition, again without ANY trot steps at this level, although I could have asked a little more promptly after crossing the opening.
Thanks for watching, stay tuned for more video variety coming soon!
Working Equitation obstacle of the week: Bull line
Here are Tiger and I again at level 4, cantering the bull line.
For this obstacle I can't stress enough the importance of requesting permission to adjust the pole. This is the one element in WE that you are allowed to approach before the bell rings, and even the steadiest of steeds can look a little at the open top of the barrel, so DO adjust the pole, even if it is placed just how you like it, and give your horse a chance to see it up close. If you forget to ask, and the pole is placed too far away for you to reach it, your line will almost certainly be compromised. I always adjust the pole, or if the judge mandates that the ground crew will adjust for me, I still stand next to them as they adjust it to give my horse that last look at it.
You can see that I exit the pen at the beginning of the clip, and I change the bend and be SURE to get the correct lead for my approach, which is the right lead since I use my right hand for the obstacles. In every approach to an obstacle I try to make as few lead changes as possible, to keep the navigation lines as smooth as I can. For the bull line you want to be on the right lead if you are handling obstacles right handed, and on the left lead if handling with the left hand. If I were riding at a lower level, I would be very careful to plan my downward transition in plenty of time to collect my horse, change the reins into one hand, and be straight before I reach the pick up. In this line I could show better bend to the right for a higher score, and at level 4 I would like to see a more engaged canter, balanced more in the haunches.
I do my best to stay solid on my seat bones without leaning over to pick up the pole, as this would cause Tiger to adjust his balance to compensate and lose straightness. I ask him to be a little rounder on my approach to make sure he stays solid on my aids without pulling once I put both reins in to my left hand.
This was several years ag
Leg yields at the trot
One of my favorite exercises for suppleness and straightening my horses is the leg yield. I use it every day in my warmup and anytime I feel my horse resisting my bending aids. This is a basic movement that I start early in the training process, and to gauge the horseās reaction to my aids.
The leg yield is a forward lateral movement performed with the horseās body straight and the poll slightly flexed away from the direction of travel, while the inside legs cross in front of the outside legs.
The shoulders should be slightly in advance of the haunches.
Here I am riding Jonico in several leg yields to both sides. As I make my turn I use my outside aids to keep him from bulging through the turn and make him very straight before I ask him to move sideways. I keep his head and neck aligned between his shoulders while playing a bit with tiny flexions at the poll to keep him from stiffening so I can maintain my ability to make minute adjustments to the angle. Jonico is more advanced so here, rather than flexing him away from the direction of travel, I start to ask for more flexion and bend in the direction of travel as I work towards positioning for half pass. I remember to keep his tempo and ground cover exactly the same throughout the entire movement.
If your horse struggles with staying forward or drops the shoulders too much in the leg yield I suggest re-establishing straightness and reaction to your driving aids before continuing your lateral positioning again.
Working Equitation Obstacle of the week: Figure 8 at the Canter, level 4!
Today's clip is of Tiger and I (sorry for the poor video quality).
On the approach I do my best to keep Tiger absolutely centered between the barrels on the right lead with a slight right flexion to prepare him to begin the turn.
I have heard many of my clinic students say they have been taught to make these turns with a haunches-in position: In my experience this makes it very difficult for the horse to balance, stay active and straighten in time to make the change. Instead, I ride a little towards shoulder-fore through the turns, steering his shoulders while keeping his neck somewhat straight. As I begin my first circle, I am careful to keep his neck aligned between his shoulders as they turn, as Tiger is super "gumby" flexible and tends to overbend easily, causing the shoulders to fall out. I focus on keeping his haunches active and tracking directly behind his shoulders, while being careful not to allow them to fall into or lead through the turn. I straighten and collect for the downward transition, concentrate on getting 2 to 3 clean, collected walk steps, then ask for the upward to left lead. Here my change could be better centered for a higher score, and Tiger gets a bit braced in the neck in the upward, causing my left circle to start a little large, but I try to keep the quality regardless of the loss in precision. To finish I again try to nail the center of the two barrels and show my straightness for a stride or two before making my turn to the next obstacle.
Have good rides this week everyone!
