|
2005 USDF National Symposium by Gerd Heuschmann, DVM and Klaus Balkenhol The session opened with the presentation of a horse that had the outline of the vertebrae, withers, nuchal ligaments and haunches painted on it, so that we could see the effect of the neck position and neck length on the support through its back, as well as its movement—a superb demonstration! A stiff back muscle allows the horse to flex its hind leg, but will not allow the horse to bring it under his body—therefore the horse can present an impressive picture in the trot but cannot really bring the leg forward. You may see a lot of hock action, but you won’t see the forward reach in the hind limb. The horse must be given the time to stretch. Time is money—with horses, it is money spent on vet bills if adequate time is not spent on training young horses properly. The outside side rein functions the same as the outside rein would when riding. When lungeing a young horse, the horse is allowed to look to the outside for balance initially. A young horse in the field looks to the outside in turns—for balance. Only as the horse gets stronger, more muscled, and more balanced, is the young horse straightened and eventually asked to follow the line of the circle while lunged. The abdominal muscle connects the sternum to the pelvis, and it DOES lift the back when it contracts. HOWEVER, it contracts during the moment of suspension, functioning to pull the pelvis forward. This is the phase of stride when the rider’s weight is least apparent to the horse. It is relaxed when the rider’s full weight is on the horse’s back. “V” side reins (or, as was done today, threading the side reins through the bit rein, and then to the surcingle) can help show the horse the way forward and down. The horse was initially lunged in the “normal” fashion, but was a bit tense because of the unfamiliar surroundings, and needed the encouragement to stretch, and so Klaus changed the side reins to go through the bit and back to the surcingle. The lunge line was then held low (but not so low that the horse could get a leg over it) to encourage the horse to stretch, which the young horse willingly did, followed by a lovely swing in its back. This also allowed better half halts from the handler. Younger horses cannot stretch as low as older horses, particularly at canter, and cannot sustain it as long. When deciding whether or not a young horse is ready to start work, remember that maturity is MENTAL and PHYSICAL. We want to partner with the horse’s brilliance and nobility, not enslave him or smother him. We must guard against the temptation to move ahead too fast with a sensitive horse that learns quickly. More muscle mass (seen especially in colts and stallions) does not necessarily mean stronger. Only experienced trainers should work with young/inexperienced horses. Young/inexperienced riders should work with experienced horses. Stallions require particular experience. Their psyche cannot be underestimated. The handler must take care to remain in the alpha position. The stallion would, by nature, like to become alpha. If a colt will not be bred, Klaus recommends that he become a gelding. “The best dressage stallion is a gelding.” It simplifies things for everyone, and only a few people have the right personality to be stallion owners. Klaus recommends a lungeing cavesson and, particularly when working with youngsters, patience, patience, patience. We have particular responsibilities to our 3 and 4 year-old horses to allow them to develop their musculature first. Klaus sees auction horses presented as if they are 7 or 8 year-old horses with piaffe and passage already established, and says that too many end up later at the vet clinic with injuries and not living up to their initial promise. Their musculature is not strong enough to sustain this level of work, and continuing transfers the strain to their tendons, ligaments and bones. The next demonstration horse was 5 years old. KB had the rider work the horse forward and deep on a circle, flexing the horse to ask for increased contact with the bit. As soon as the horse accepted the contact, the rider was to immediately release. The secret (and this was stressed REPEATEDLY in the symposium) to taking was in the immediate giving in response… not throwing away of the contact, but immediately lightening it so that the horse knew that he had given the correct response. KB and GH pointed out that a rider should only work for 20 minutes at a time. If at the end of 20 minutes, a horse develops a problem in the gaits, the problem would be due to muscle fatigue, and “pushing the horse through” would be the wrong response on the part of the rider. The correct response would be to give the horse a few minutes of rest and to then begin the work again. The ages of 5, 6 and 7 are the ages when the biggest mistakes can occur. Attendees were cautioned against the use of draw reins as an “aid” for the rider. KB suggested teaching half pass by riding a diagonal, and then asking the horse to move the haunches over (as if in travers). Then the half pass comes from a secure rhythm. In shoulder-in, it is too easy for the rhythm to be disturbed, and he does not teach it out of shoulder-in for this reason. Shoulder-in may be the “mother” of all lateral work, but the risk of losing rhythm is too great—better to teach half pass out of the security of rhythm in the diagonal. In transitions, do not be too eager to give up the contact. Keep the contact one more moment into the first walk step, then gradually release so that the horse isn’t thrown away as he is trying to find his balance into walk. The purity of the gait must be kept. Loss due to tension must be penalized. International competition seems to be on a path leading away from this principle. A new Grand Prix test/directives may be needed where looseness and suppleness again become paramount in importance. Taking a hot horse to Grand Prix is an art. Getting one there while keeping the gaits pure will be difficult, no matter how much talent the horse has. The rider must always test the training scale. Some young horses are far along in their training, and can go easily from shoulder-in to travers, which is not an easy movement, requiring losgelassenheit. When a horse is worked quietly. The horse moves more and more through the back towards the hand. Shoulder-in should demonstrate a clear lateral bend from head to tail. The horse must be taught to accept the aids in a sensitive way. In the walk, as the horse to move forward actively from the leg, then leave him alone. If the horse does not respond, ask sharply. The horse must also respond immediately when the reins are shortened. The horse must also be taught to pay attention to the rider in ALL situations. This begins at home. The horse must go in complete relaxation and follow the rider’s aids willingly. Even on a hack, the rider must concentrate, and be certain that the horse is marching actively forward from the rider’s aids, and that the horse is on the aids. In the walk pirouette, the horse must accept collection behind, then pirouette as if doing the pirouette around a post. In doing transitions within the trot, the horse must stay active behind and not be allowed to go into a false passage-y trot. He must stay energetic or he will later on have trouble in the passage-piaffe transition. The rider must avoid letting the horse go into the false swinging passage-like trot. There was also discussion of the FEI 5 and 6 year-old tests, and several different answers. After some questioning and clarification, inside and outside the symposium, the upshot is that the program itself is not bad... many (but not all) 5 and 6 year-old horses can do the work quite easily IF they are prepared properly. The problem is that they MUST be prepared properly. It takes at least a year, and probably closer to 18 months to develop the necessary muscle to do the work, which means that a gymnastic program must begin well in advance of preparing for such a competition. Furthermore, excessive schooling of the movements in the tests is wrong. Attention should be paid, in an ongoing basis, to the gymnasticizing of the horse, and the maintenance of suppleness. Correct work, with an eye towards suppleness, is always to the benefit of the horse, and a supple horse should be able to perform those tests with ease. The problem lies in that there is now a tendency to approach them as a sales competition, going for the artificially elevated trots, just as we see in the higher levels of competition, and THAT is bad. In the shoulder-in, rhythm is paramount. Only from a good rider seat can you get good results. It is the rider’s job to preserve and enhance the horse’s keenness and expression.
|
|