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 about P2P!!!)  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, on your 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.

You have 12 days without me around…get busy!!!

Since the horseshow season is upon us, I decided that it would be a perfect time to discuss just how all this fits into your training of your horse.  I have listed all of the requirements of each of our national levels below and it is a good idea for you to look at them.  Be honest with yourself and see if you have confirmed the level that you are showing at.  If you have not then you cannot go to the shows with the idea of winning…that would be a huge training mistake and would encourage you to make huge faux pas in your training just in pursuit of a bit of satin and silver.  Go to shows of course!  Even if you are not quite “ready” it is ok as long as you always respect your horse and its current ability.  For those of you with a less strong constitution, you should only go if you are schooling one level ABOVE the level you are showing.  Either way, showing is a great way to break up the boredom or test your skills.  Just be level headed about it all…

TRAINING LEVEL

To confirm that the horse’s muscles are supple and loose, and that it moves freely forward in a clear and steady rhythm, accepting contact with the bit.

Training Level Movements:

20m circles at trot and canter

Diagonal lines

Corners and turns

Centerline

Medium and Free walk

Working trot and canter

Simple transitions gait to gait

Stretch down in working trot

FIRST LEVEL

To confirm that the horse, in addition to the requirements of Training Level, has developed thrust (pushing power) and achieved a degree of balance and throughness.

First Level Movements:

All previous

15m circles at trot

10m circles at canter

Leg yield

Counter canter loops

Trot to halt to trot

Lengthening stride in trot and canter

SECOND LEVEL

To confirm that the horse, having demonstrated that it has achieved the thrust (pushing power) required at First Level, now shows that through additional training it accepts more weight on the hindquarters (collection), shows the thrust required at medium paces, and is reliably on the bit.

Second Level Movements:

All previous

Collected trot and canter

Shortening stride in walk

Medium trot and canter

Shoulder-in

Travers

Renvers

Turn on the haunches

Rein back

Counter canter

Simple changes (canter/walk/canter)

10m circles at canter

Collected trot – halt – collected trot 

THIRD LEVEL

To confirm that the horse has achieved the requirements of Second Level.  It now demonstrates at each movement, especially the medium and extended paces and in the transitions to and from collected movements, rhythm, suppleness, acceptance of the bit, throughness, impulsion, straightness and collection.  There must be a clear distinction between the paces.

Third Level:

All previous

Extended trot and canter

Extended walk

Half pass at trot and canter

Single flying change of lead

Rein release in collected canter

FOURTH LEVEL

To confirm that the horse has achieved the requirements of Third Level.  These tests are of medium difficulty, designed to confirm that the horse has acquired a high degree of suppleness, impulsion, throughness, balance, and lightness while always remaining reliably on the bit, and that its movements are straight, energetic, and cadenced with the transitions precise and smooth.

Fourth Level:

All previous

Collected canter – halt – collected trot

Counter change of hand in trot half pass

Counter change of hand in shoulder-in

Collected walk

Walk pirouette

Half pirouette in canter

Tempi changes every 4^th stride

Tempi changes every 3^rd stride

Medium canter – collected canter – flying change

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 5^th 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…

Think of your mission.  Warm-up, stress, stretch, stress, stretch, stress, stretch, yada, yada…end with the stretch, even if it is just a “walking out.”  Your “stesses” are hard and short.  Your stretches are long or short in duration but EFFECTIVE.  If they are not effective then you cannot work again…it will be of no benefit.  The most effective stretch will enable you to put the horse truly “on the bit” where it is in self carriage, bendable, and highly submissive to your aids.

Moral… Swinging tail, relaxed ears, bouncing neck, saliva appears…

1.      Canter / Transitions

2.     Position / Figures

3.     Field / Jump Day

These three topics are the standard exercises that I have established as our main goals for training each week.  This is how I would like to organize our schooling for the remainder of the year.  I would like to fit all three in at least once each week and in this order preferably… #1 on Tuesday, #2 on Thursday, and # 3 on the weekend on your own.  It would be a good idea to fit in a lunge or ground work session too every week… either as its own exercise or in conjunction with a “free” day.

It would also be nice to do some of the following exercises if anyone wants to look into this and help to organize.

• Video tape days


• Houston clinic(s) with Bill Solyntjes


• Indoor arena work


• Ride to music work

Tuesdays:

Canter in the field

Canter poles

Whip work in canter

Canter boxes

Counter canter

Medium & Extended gaits

TRANSITIONS (c-w-c, t-h-t, etc…)

Thursdays:

For Postion:                                                   For Figures: 

No stirrups                                                     10m trot / canter

No whip work                                                Shoulder-in, Renvers, Travers

Lower leg (standing, tied)                           Turn on the Haunches

Hands (stick, tied)                                        Rein Back

Neck brace days                                          Basic corner, circle, serpentine loops

Weight placement (stirrups, seat)             center line work

Weekend on your own: 

“Gallop” transitions and figures in the field

Jumping (arena or field)

Trail Ride