> How do you get the horse to attain self-carriage? (I'm sure that's a > big topic!)
>From a RMH trainer: "Our focus is on a horse that puts no weight on the reins and responds to the slightest touch. Because the basic foundation of our training method is teaching the horse self carriage or lightness, horses will always perform better in whatever type of equine endeavor you choose to enter." I'll include some text from an article about self-carriage, then we can look at how to describe it, and attain it, in more easily understandable ways. Self-Carriage by Adam Bailey, excerpts from an article entitled: The Alexander Technique: How it Helps Horseback Riders I've discussed the benefits for riders of reducing muscle. Perhaps the most important benefit of all is that it helps riders to pursue self-carriage in their horse. In this sense, the Alexander Technique dovetails beautifully with classical horsemanship, for many riders and teachers of horsemanship agree that "doing less" plays an important part in developing self-carriage. Let me offer two examples of this. I once saw a banner in a riding arena that said, "Where force ends, dressage begins." Second, let us consider Charles de Kunffy's description of self-carriage in his book The Ethics and Passions of Dressage. He says that, first and foremost, self-carriage must involve the relaxation and stretching of the horse's musculature, which will "facilitate the horse's ability to absorb the concussions of the impact on the ground throughout his entirety and, therefore, reduce or even eliminate trauma to his joints and muscles." He goes on to say that, if we want to achieve this result, then "all tensions and blocking of mobility caused by harsh hands, should be avoided. The hands and the reins should neither inhibit the horse's strides, nor confine his neck. The horse must have utter freedom from restrictive rein contact. Instead, one ought to offer a soft and steady hand -- and at times even a yielding hand -- independent of the balancing activities of the rider, to a confident horse that is stretching towards the bit and seeks an even contact with it." De Kunffy is clearly arguing that one prerequisite of self-carriage is a lessening of undue tension. But what exactly is self-carriage? What are the elements that make it up? Let me offer a simple description. First, as we saw in the de Kunffy quote, self-carriage involves the horse's head leading forward and out from a free and flexible neck and poll. This is sometimes referred to as the horse going "in the bridle" or "on the bit". In other words, we want the horse's head to move not into a set position, but in such a way so that he meets the contact of the bit and of our hands, with his mouth. At the same time, he lifts his back, so that it becomes rounded, as well as free from tension. That is, ideally he is experiencing "throughness" in the relationship of his head, neck and back. Finally, his hindquarters become deeply engaged - paradoxically so that his forehand (head, neck and shoulders) can lift and lighten. The latter is sometimes referred to as the "relative lifting" of the forehand. That is, the rider does not directly lift the horse's forehand. Rather, the rider helps the horse to engage his hindquarters and then the horse's forehand will lift automatically. The effect is not unlike that of a seesaw, except that the movement of parts that we are after is much more internal and subtle than the movement of an actual seesaw. _________________________ Now, my opinion of this part of the article is that the writer has the order of the body parts backwards (head, back, hind), whereas we believe that we work on the head last, so the order that makes more sense is: hindquarters, back, then head / neck which does not have to be "set" as if everything else is OK, the head will fall in the right place naturally. Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
