By Dr. Ritter: This is something that I keep seeing over and over in clinics, at shows, and other places. It concerns amateurs and professionals alike, and it infuriates me.
There are too many riders who kick and grip and poke and prod and yank and jerk on their poor horses with such an ABSOLUTE ABSENCE of any FEEL whatsoever that it is really mind boggling. So far, I have always been too polite to ask them: "Do you touch your spouse or your child like that?" - although I have often thought it. They act with such aggression that I wonder if they even like horses, and it is offensive to me beyond words. Of course, these horses are stiff and hard and either completely withdrawn, or fearful and spooky, or angry. These riders would probably say that they ride that way because their horse is so stiff and insensitive. The truth is that it's the other way around. Their horses are so stiff and insensitive, because they are being ridden with these incredibly insensitive, offensive aids. On the ground, these people are often perfectly nice, civilized citizens, but as soon as they mount a horse ... Imagine being a student under a teacher who never explains to you really what is expected of you and how to do what you are being asked to do, but who punishes you regularly for giving the "wrong" answer. And to make it worse, the "teacher" asks you to perform certain tasks, while at the same time making it physically impossible through interference for you to execute the demand. Since you can't comply with the demand, you get punished again. To make things more confusing, you only get punished some of the time, but not all the time, for reasons you don't understand. And you get punished for some transgressions, but not for all of them, and not in any consistent, predictable pattern. It's an absolute nightmare scenario, and it's the reality for many, many horses. Here are some very simple guidelines that will make the horses' lives a whole lot better, if the riders have the thoughtfulness (!) and self discipline (!) to implement them: - Whenever you apply any aid, begin with the most delicate touch, as if you were touching a small child - even if you know that the horse is out of tune and will not respond. If the horse ignores the small aid, you can repeat it and increase its intensity as if you were turning up the volume on your stereo, until you reach the horse's response threshold. This threshold can be moved through training!! Horses can be tuned to become either more responsive, or more tolerant (hypersensitive horses are just as unpleasant to ride as dull ones). - Think of aids not just as commands, but as two way radio signals. While you are applying an aid, you can feel the horse's body and mind through this aid. Every aid is a probe into the horse's body and mind. Ask yourself: What is the horse's attitude towards this aid? How far does this aid penetrate the horse's body? Does it get stuck right under the skin, or does it go all the way through the body until it reaches its destination? The answer you find in the horse will determine how to proceed from here. - Always try to find out how the horse feels, what he is thinking. Identify stiff, locked up muscle groups, as well as false bends that do not allow the energy of the hindquarters nor the aids to go through the body. - Balance the horse, dissolve muscle blockages, and elimate false bends (energy leaks), until all muscle groups in the rider's body are connected to all muscle groups in the horse's body and to the ground through the horse's legs, so that any aid can reach any part of the horse's body at any time, without getting stuck. - Hard, jerky aids will create a stiff, defensive horse. If you want your horse to open up to you and engage in a conversation with you, don't offend him with your language and with the way you treat him. - Use soft aids, even on a stiff horse, which is by no means easy. These aids sometimes need to be strong. Most people don't realize that an aid can be both strong and soft, or light and sharp, and every possible combination in between. Producing these nuances is an essential skill for good riding that needs to be practiced and perfected over the years. - Kicking and gripping legs and spurs make the horse lock up his rib cage and belly muscles, which will only diminish the impulsion and responsiveness, not increase it. If the horse ignores the light calf aid, then a quick, light vibration of the whip needs to explain the calf aid to the horse. If he ignores the vibration of the whip, then the vibration has to become faster and sharper, until the horse reacts. Almost all horses will respond favorably to this process. - All rein aids have to be supported by the rider's weight and seat. - Stiff rider's hips make the horse lock up his back and hips. If the rider's hips don't move, the horse's back can't move. If the horse's back can't move, his hind legs can't move. And the hind legs are the motor of the horse. - Stiff wrists and hands that are disconnected from the seat and weight make the horse lock up his jaw and poll and drop his back. - Insufficiently engaged core muscles swallow the impulses of the hind legs as well as the rein aids and make the horse drop his back and loose all impulsion. - Short, sharp, jerky rein aids will make the horse brace his jaw and poll and neck more, not less. - Perching forward puts the horse onto his forehand, and together with tight hips it pushes the horse behind the leg. The horse has no choice but to suck back. - The rider obviously has to ask the horse to perform turns and transitions and movements. But at the same time - and this is even more important - the rider has to ALLOW the horse to execute the request. This sounds logical, but you would not believe how often riders violate this principle - without even being aware of it. - Take the foot off the brake, before you step on the gas: Remove all blockages in your own body before you apply a driving aid. - Before asking the horse to do anything, fix your seat, then prepare the horse, so that he knows what is coming and he is in a physical state of balance that enables him to execute the request. Then guide him carefully through the line of travel and the exercise without interfering, without ambushing, and without abandoning him at any point. - When the horse makes a mistake, then DON'T PUNISH the poor thing, but EXPLAIN to him the part of the exercise he didn't understand, or the aid he didn't respond to correctly. - Always encourage your horse to think, which means allowing him to find the right answer through trial and error sometimes. - Have a dialogue with your horse. Ask him a question. Listen to his answer, think about it, then give him feedback and try to perfect the exercise through a teamwork effort (with the rider as the team leader). - Always think: What can I do to make my horse's job easier? How can I help my horse in this exercise? Where does my weight need to be? Where does he need my assistance? Where do I need to be with my seat and weight in order to stay out of the way and let him do his job as best he can? - If problems arise with an exercise, think: What are the prerequisites that we have to fulfill in order to be able to do this exercise? Which one of these prerequisites is missing? What is holding the horse back and preventing him from executing the movement, turn, or transition? When you have identified the missing link, work on improving the underlying basic skill (like bending, turning, moving the hips sideways, moving the shoulders sideways, pushing, carrying, stopping, etc.) In other words, don't drill, but educate and develop the horse's body and mind. - Poorly ridden arena patterns and poor alignment of the horse's hips and shoulders unbalance the horse and make him invert. - An inconsistent tempo unbalances the horse and makes him invert. - An unbalanced, stiff rider unbalances the horse and makes him invert. - Chasing the horse puts him onto the forehand and makes him strung out and stiff. - Learn to sit, because only a balanced, supple seat allows the rider to receive all the information that the horse sends out in a constant stream, only this correct seat allows the horse to move efficiently and comfortably, in good balance under the rider, and only this correct seat allows the rider to apply precise and appropriate aids. - Learn to feel, because only if you feel everything that is happening underneath you will you have the all the information you need in order to make an informed decision about which aid to apply at any given moment, which exercise to choose next, etc. - Learn to think and to analyse and diagnose, because only a thinking rider is able to develop his horse's body and mind to fulfill his natural potential without harming him psychologically or physically. The list is by no means complete. These are just the most important things that come to mind that I seem to have to repeat over and over in almost every single lesson, especially with new students. Thomas Ritter Ritter Dressage www.classicaldressage.com White Horse Vale Lipizzans www.whv-lipizzans.com
