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Ode to a Rogue…I wrote a little article on my running blog about rogue horses. Rogue Horses / October 8, 2008 http://juliawolffe.blogspot.com/
It made me think about many of the horses from my past. The training method I discussed briefly in my blog was developed after much trial and much error and some success. Now, as a teacher, how do I teach this lesson to those who could use the lessons but do not have the chance to experience such things?? The true “rogues” in my life cemented the importance of the directives that I laid out in my article. These horses taught me hard lessons…the kind that will never be forgotten.
I’ve become spoiled in my easy life of semi- retirement and students I know and love with horses that – for the most part – are the most complacent bunch of animals you could ask for. Not one of them attacks you in the stall or pins you up against the wall. Not one of them flips themselves over backward at the drop of a hat. Not one bolts off through a barbed wire fence. Not one sidles over to “cow-kick” you. Nope, I suddenly have horses that I only dreamed of twenty years ago. I appreciate that and I only hope that my riders can guess how lucky they are…or are they??
What of struggle? Will my riders really learn the lessons of patience, persistence, trust, and empathy without having to work through a “rogue?” A rogue teaches these lessons…better than I ever could. A rogue defines training time and method. A rogue makes the rider struggle – both physically and mentally. The rogue makes one humble.
How are these lessons taught otherwise?? I don’t know. It has to come from the love of horses I guess. And it has to come from the maturity (or whatever it is) to be humble and not always self-serving. The best riders are those who respect horses as horses and as individual souls. Xenophon (BC 431 – 350) said, "For what the horse does under compulsion is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer.” And this recognition of things done “without understanding” or without respect is what the rogue horse teaches the rider. The rogue horse demands respect (understanding) by being the savage that it is. To learn this lesson without this equine guide has to come from within the rider…from a love of horses that creates an almost insane desire to understand it. How do you teach that??
I would ask that all riders be honest and examine a few self half-halts that I have listed below:
- Do not judge the horse for stupidity when you do not explain the exercise clearly in a manner that your horse can understand.
- Do not judge the horse for laziness when you do nothing physically taxing yourself. (and NO, riding is not personally, physically taxing…the horse works harder…)
- Do not judge the horse for deceit when you have not practiced the lessons enough for him to perform them.
- Do not judge the horse for restlessness when you have failed at comforting him.
- Do not judge the horse for anger when you treat it with anger yourself.
- Do not judge the horse for not listening when you have done nothing to make it trust you.
This list could go on but I hope that the point has been made. Without the rogue around to make the rider honest, it is up to the rider to constantly work on awareness. Without the rogue around the rider has no reminder to stay “present.” Without the rogue around the rider’s agenda becomes too full of the “white noise” that has nothing to do with understanding or training horses. Without the rogue around the rider has to somehow learn that it is important to stay in the moment and understand the horse…so that it will then understand the rider. Only then can one call themselves a true horse person. On the rogue, you HAVE TO try to understand or risk being maimed or killed. My hope is that without the rogue around, your love of horses will make you want to do it.
How about that "long and low" thing? Low & Slow or Long and Low… the evolution…
As your horses enter a more advanced phase of their training, it is important that we think about the way in which we stretch and relax them. The old “supple and release” on a 20 meter circle has not totally disappeared but we are new and improved these days! Now we add some more appropriate exercises into the mix AND we expect a different carriage in our “stretchy circles” than we had in the past. Long and low has evolved. Your horses (esp. Wolf, Dutch, & Frits) are no longer green…they are filled with a little knowledge (which can be a dangerous thing if not controlled!!!!!!) As a beginner dressage horse, your horse’s balance was almost exclusively on the forehand. Its muscles were weak. The carrying muscles of the belly (stretched by too much hay!!) were relatively unneeded to give support to the back muscles. The hindquarters were only asked to carry for short moments of getting up or down and the occasional playtime. The back and neck muscles were flaccid…only stretching enough to eat or look around. Propulsion was normally slow… looking for groovy grazing opportunities.
Enter the rider…
We pushed it forward, causing it to get its front legs off the ground faster and (hopefully) catch up with the hind legs. We taught it to round and lower its neck in order to raise the back muscles and avoid the horse pulling itself along with its under neck and chest muscles. We created half-halts to “catch” some of that forward momentum and transfer it back into the hindquarters (manifested in a steadier tempo) so the horse learned to balance better on all four legs and developed new muscling in the gaskin, hindquarter, shoulder, back, and upper neck to do this. Long and low stretchy circles at their best!!
The evolution…
Your horses are comfortable on all four legs. Are they always looking for that 5th leg (your hands?) Sure! If you will give it to them! They are happy to have you in the lead…however you determine that! But they have learned to carry you/themselves a little better. With the addition of more difficult figures, shoulder-in, travers, renvers, half-pass, and multiple transitions they have learned to sit down / rock back on to their hindquarters more often. Now they have begun to develop muscles in their stomachs (yes, Dutch’s are hard to see!) and more muscles along their top lines and throughout their haunches. They are moving differently as their bodies change to becoming more athletic. Self carriage is possible and TO BE EXPECTED.
Evolution of the rider’s job…
Low and slow…or whatever you want to call it…is an imperative part of your training as you enter this phase of work in COLLECTION. The horse in collection has a longer top line than the green horse but moves in a shorter frame... a trainer must never forget this! The trainer must continue to stretch the horse throughout its ridden life. The 20 meter stretchy circles should now be with more cadence (expression or bounce) and should have a DEFINATE self carriage, regularity, and forwardness (sticking to the figure.) The trainer must now add more stretching exercises to the work. Perhaps lengthening and shortening the stride. Perhaps a lower, slower shoulder-in or half-pass. The horse working in collection gets tired! It has to be checked (with low and slow) fairly often to make sure the work load was appropriate.
Onward…
Straight talk... N2N…an uplifting experience
Upkeep. Reevaluation. Random Acts…(or not SO random.) This is the nature of training. This is why we subject ourselves to lessons, clinics, and even horse shows to some point. Now and again it is good to step back and look at the whole picture. When we ride, regardless of having a methodology and a grand scheme, we are often doing progressive piece work. As most of our sessions are private and most other times you are riding alone, sometimes it is easy to skip over basic “shut up and ride” mentality as you concentrate on one little issue or another. So…as I thought about what to give you for work whilst I am on vacation for the next week, I stepped back and looked at our big picture. Now you all get to do a little upkeep.
This is where N2N comes in.
N2N means Next to Neck. It is something that I want in your riding vocabulary (the mental one that plays WHILE you are mounted) for the next couple of weeks. Next to Neck.
We are closer to collection with our horses. Collection requires a thrust, a degree of straightness, and a suppleness through the topline so that we have the ability to put the horse on the bit and get a clear half halt to promote this change of balance. (Boy, that was a LONG sentence!!!) Our horses are pretty fit. The degree of thrust that they are capable of is plenty for their levels of collection. It is our straightness and suppleness that we must monitor and work on in this next couple of weeks if we are to progress along toward our collection goal.
Bending is your friend. It engages the inside hind leg, stretches and contracts the horse’s body laterally, and encourages the horse to self balance. Cool. Changing the bend and bending / straightening exercises are a great tool for making the horse supple (and therefore more straight and collectible!!!) Bending with correct intent is what we are after with N2N so pay CLOSE attention now…this is bending for REAL and is more like a BEST friend.
For all practical purposes, N2N means your ability to keep your outside rein (and you SHOULD know which one that is at ALL times!!!!!!!) NEXT to your horse’s neck. No problem you say?? Whatever!!!!! ALL of us need to concentrate on this one!
- Next to means side by side…as in walking arm in arm with your friend.
- It is NOT next to as in “I am elbowing in to pass you in line” kind of thing.
- It is NOT next to as in “you have bad BO and I am avoiding you” kind of thing.
- The outside rein should NOT have lateral (sideways) pressure against it.
- The outside rein should NOT be away (separated) from the neck
We have done a lot of work lately on the inside lateral flexion at the poll and on the longitudinal flexion at the poll. These need to stay soft while we work on this next order of business. Remember that more suppleness, and consequently more collection, requires MORE respect of your driving aids from your horse. No time for squeezing or thumping around up there. Think NO tension. Think N2N.
Read on for HUGE hint and NO FAIL method for getting this done!!!
Ok, the exercises that I will give you here are simple. You can add whatever else you wish. There is an important RULE however, that will make N2N work properly for you. Ignore this and your work will be less effective…and harder to boot!! This is the HANDS TOGETHER rule. This means…elbows in, reins short enough, and hands no further apart than if you had a pair of handcuffs on. Hands should be carried at, or just in front of, the pommel. Your concentration is on stabilizing POMMEL to POLL (hey, how aboutP2P!!!) You are to stabilize the base of the neck and align the shoulders so they are truly perpendicular with the neck…P2P!!!!!!!!
Warm up:
Any exercises that lead to a relaxed tempo and attentive horse. (OMG, you can do this on your own!!) Once everyone is loose, the second half of your warm up needs to be done with a “check stick” for YOU. A “check stick” is a stick or short jumping bat that you will carry under both thumbs while you ride. Your hands will be in fists, as normal, onyour reins. The stick will ensure that your thumbs are on top AND should keep your hands more level, even, and closer together. Use a short stick so it will encourage you to keep your hands like “in handcuffs.” Also, as you set your tempo, be sure to practice lowering the inside leg, relaxing the lower back and using your abs for good posture so that your weight placement does not slide to the outside.
Main work:
Changing the bend and bend / straighten. Broken lines (KXH, etc,) 10 meter circles, transitions…all in trot and canter with any variations of gait or pace that you want to throw in. The two main exercises are the broken line with 10 meter circles (changing the bend) and the plain broken line (bend / straighten.)
The broken line with ten meter circles works on your ability to establish N2N quickly with the exercise itself helping you with rebalance issues. Once this exercise is going well, it is helpful to add transitions throughout to check impulsion and half halt timing. Your broken line MUST be ridden accurately. Obviously, this is easier if you DO NOT drift on the circles. Remember the exercise is circle inside in the corner, circle out (a new inside) at X, and then circle inside in the corner. This is two little changes of bend with circles to back you up (ANOTHER reason to NOT drift on your circles and have them help you.) If your horse drifts on the circle or squiggles on the straight lines then you can rest assured that this is what happens EVERYTIME you change a bend with your horse. Scary, huh???? This means no forward, straightness, suppleness OR collection! Horrors!!
The plain broken line works on your ability to have N2N while you half halt, slightly counter flex, half halt again while maintaining your impulsion and weight into the inside leg (which remains the same throughout.) This works on your ability to keep the shoulders of the horse in alignment while performing all the above… collection should happen pretty easily if you ride it as described.
That’s it. Your work toward the BIG PICTURE... a fully trained horse. Collection takes years to develop just in relation to the amount of muscle that needs to be put on the horse. Collection is not just a “dressage” thing. All of us would like our horses to go in “self-carriage” and be better at performing for us (while carrying us!!) Collection can NOT, NEVER EVER, NOT, NOT, NOT happen without impulsion (controlled energy,) suppleness, and straightness (for the level.) N2N…P2P…and your focus on these, right now, are the KEY to your next step in progressing in your training…your work toward the BIG PICTURE.
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