[QUOTE=grayarabpony;3299000]
WindEqSong, I don’t see how a horse can maintain its stretch if it falls on its forehand. In a training level test a horse is penalized for falling on its forehand during a stretchy circle. And I’m not a C1 rider. I have a little Half Arab pony who when she stretches properly is in self carriage, and has that wonderful floaty almost slow motion-feeling trot with a constant rhythm like a metronome which is what we are going after as a base in all 3 gaits in dressage. If she falls onto her forehand she speeds up and has to raise her head to balance herself.[/QUOTE]
grayarabpony have you not seen a lovely ground covering tb just learning to stretch down and swing over it’s back? Sometimes they get too long and too low and when they are 1st learning it under their rider that is also just learning it, it is not in perfect balance yet. This horse rider is not yet ready to show the stretchy circle or training level test one. Am I saying that falling on the forehand is ideal-NO!! does it happen when one is learning to ask for the stretch-yes, sometimes.
With this in mind in regard to your original question on the training scale, I as this imaginary riders instructor have already taught her to stay steady in the walk, trot, canter counting out loud if necessary to maintain a steady tempo, I have talked about the purity of her horse’s gaits, how to feel if the canter gets strung out or four beat and how to correct it , if her horse is regular Where her general position needs to be to be in the best balance she can be to help her horse at her level.
For me the training scale when teaching a new student gives me a roadmap and helps with lesson plans for that student. In this instance it is fairly linear as I don’t teach them impulsion or collection before straightness, or straightness before relaxation, I teach them in order.
When an experienced rider is riding a 3yo, they are riding many of the things on the training scale as they have become muscle memory. With the timing of the aids, placement of the aids, the previously developed core muscles, the steadiness of the contact the young horse becomes straight, This rider has ridden so many musical freestyles in her life and counted so many strides that they ride a steady tempo always without even thinking about it. Asking the horse to accept the circle of the aids and come from the fwd driving aids softly into the elastic contact is again, like breathing. There is no on the forehand while teaching the horse to stretch as the rider keeps their weight in a place where the horse will carry more of his behind. For this experienced rider, the training scale is a way to check ourselves…
Rhythm, check, regularity, check, relaxation, check, contact, check straightness check. When the rider can say check, the basics are good and there is harmony with the horse.
