Depends whether you believe in teaching neck reining as a technique for steering
The way I’ve been taught, nobody ever speaks of neck reining as a thing in and of itself. The bridle horse rider aims to keep their hand in a 2"x2" box above their saddle horn, but it’s not the act of laying the rein on the neck that is related to turning, else counterbent figures are essentially impossible. In it’s pure state, the rein speaks mainly to brace and imbalance, and in no way to direction.
The rubber neck philosophy is an interesting one. In general, western riders bend too much and english riders not enough. The bend has to be appropriate to the size of the figure and the gait being performed, but if the bend has to be held it’s not benefiting the horse. The horse needs to be released into the figure, and if they adopt the appropriate bend, it’s a reflection of correct biomechanics. Holding a horse in a bend when they would not choose to do so on their own has little actual benefit long-term…it’s not reflecting SELF carriage, but HELD carriage.
[QUOTE=OneGrayPony;7007531]
I’m sure it comes with some physical cues - I don’t want to be misleading - just not ones that I notice.[/QUOTE]
I’ll preface this by saying that obviously physical aids are required in training horses, but I don’t believe that all aids are physical. Additionally, physical aids not backed up by intention are completely a waste of time.
Here’s an easy example…using a flag. I can wave a flag at my horse without having any intention behind it, and he should just ignore it. I can make the exact same physical movements with intention and use those to ask him to move. This is what I call the “not for you” exercise.
I’ve made a point of making sure I’m doing the exact same physical actions…no extra tension, no glances, etc, and there’s a distinct difference merely due to intention. Again I freely admit some may think I’m kidding myself (the “Clever Hans” effect), but I don’t personally believe that.
The riding equivalent would be to touch my horse with a spur with intention, and without. If I was required to be 100% diligent about never making a wrong move (ie if I demanded that every time I make a certain move my horse has to do a certain thing), I’d quickly end up with a jittery (or dull) horse. As such, I make a point of training my horse so that I can make actions without intention that aren’t meant for him (try to make a rope horse without doing this!). He’s not required to jump out of his skin every time I touch him with a spur, but if I use it with intention he better moveNOW because he’s missed a bunch of requests before that! lol
Not sure I’m quite reading this right, but the more advanced the work becomes, the EASIER it should be if the foundation is built right. It might be physically harder for the horse to do, but it shouldn’t be “work” to accomplish.
Ah, the old case of the light-but-not-soft horse strikes again!
As an example, it would be next to impossible for us to get a job done together if I walked away every time you tried to talk to me. That’s what riding a reactive, light horse can feel like. If every time you use the rein he ducks behind it, or every time you move your leg he shoots forward, it’s tough to get much done.
Counter-intuitively, it can sometimes be necessary to make a horse heavy and dull before you can have an honest conversation with them. At least a heavy horse is one you can have a conversation with, after all. Then you can rebuild, create a soft mind and body, and then add lightness as refinement where the softness doesn’t leave.
The last thing you want to do is have to keep your aids and requests small enough to stay under the radar. That’s fine in as much as you don’t want to overface them, but if you have to stay quiet all the time, you’ll never be safe (you can’t control life!).
You need to build towards building a horse that can stay soft under a LOT of pressure while not getting bothered, because that’s what life does.
If pressure can be measured from 0 to 10, and your horse gets bothered by aids that represent a pressure of 4, you can’t just forever use aids of 3 or less. You need to introduce situations where you talk about 4’s, and work through them. That way when a dog jumps out from behind a car, and that’s an 8 to your horse, you don’t end up parting company! If you’ve never talked about how to handle an 8, you just might.
I dealt with that at the Buck Brannaman clinic. I use the flag with my horse and I made a point of working on that kind of exercise ahead of time. So there are times when I wave the flag around and expect my horse to just stand there and chill, and there are times I wave my flag around and expect him to react.
What I didn’t plan for ahead of time was OTHER people waving their flags and coming close to their/their horse’s space (because there were about 30 of us in the class!) or them/their horse coming close to my space. I really didn’t have a way to train for that type of environment ahead of time so it was a learn-as-you-go situation.
The phrase “not for you” is what I would say to my horse. If he reacted to someone else’s flag, I would say “that’s not for you - you have your own flag” and really within just a couple of times, he got it and didn’t pay attention to the other flag-wavers. Of course, I’m sure it has to do with getting his attention and having him be with me mentally instead of elsewhere, but I thought us using the same phrasing was funny.
I’ve also said “you can teach a horse to canter by whistling dixie” but I’ve never actually done it. :winkgrin:
As far as this comment:
“You can’t ride a hackamore on contact, and the worst sin there is to not release entirely. Snaffles sort of exist somewhere in between depending on your training philosophy”
You ride in a hackamore on no contact, then, unless you are purposely doing something? I tried riding in my snaffle the other day on a loopy rein ( like I saw Buck do when warming up Reuben ) but my english training kicked in and a loopy no-contact rein turned into a very long rein with moderate contact and my hands in my lap (a la my hunter original background). I videoed myself and when I watched it I was bummed. So then the next day (yesterday) I decided to REALLY loop the reins for my canter work - no contact for up transition, riding in the gait, or down transition. At first I think my horse was confused but then he seemed pretty happy about it. Would that type of approach be one to prepare him for going in the bosal? Is there any preparation you do for going into the bosal?
First of all, I have to say that this thread has brought me out of retirement. I have read Adam`s posts on Dr. Debs site and have really appreciated the effort he puts in to explaining things and his priceless contributions which he shares. Thank you Adam.
On the subject of riding as if your horse is reading your mind…well, the horse is not only reading your intent like previously stated but, your horse is reading your body and your balance, your weight and your focus. What you may think is silent to you is well noticed by your horse. One of the things that comes to mind to really emphasize this is learning the art of stirrup stepping, just by thinking of your weight going into the ground when a foot is in the air or a foot is weighted turns a bit of your focus there and influences the horses balance, speed, weight. “My horses body becomes my body.” Ray Hunt
For those that ask about bosals and contact, yes, you don’t hold contact with bosals, they are not made for that, but for very light bumping.
If someone insist on riding in a bosal with contact, horses learn to “run thru it”, because their nose becomes insensitive from the constant pressure from contact.
A bosal is a signaling device you teach the horse to respond to by engaging their mind to respond to it, not by, like any bit can be, asking and if not forcing to obey.
You can’t pull back on a horse’s nose with a bosal and win that tug of war, not more than a few times.
With a bit, you can and can go to more and more bit, if that is how you use the bit.
Can’t use like that with a bosal.
Remember, bosals are good initial training on the ground to give to it and little purposeful bumps and tugs with immediate release, already releasing before your hand has felt the contact.
For direct rein guidance, use a sidepull or snaffle.
[QUOTE=aktill;7008360]
In general, western riders bend too much and english riders not enough. The bend has to be appropriate to the size of the figure and the gait being performed, but if the bend has to be held it’s not benefiting the horse. The horse needs to be released into the figure, and if they adopt the appropriate bend, it’s a reflection of correct biomechanics. Holding a horse in a bend when they would not choose to do so on their own has little actual benefit long-term…it’s not reflecting SELF carriage, but HELD carriage.[/QUOTE]
The way a good western guy explained it to me: All of the over bending (not important to him or recommended) or changing the bend is really about allowing straightness and self-carriage to be the reward.
In other words, the horse is always using “all four corners” and has to keep his shoulders up to move around laterally or bend. So when he gets soft and light and straight, you leave him alone. Pretty soon, he’s happy to stay there.
And I was also taught that the broke western horse involved using your hand like a joystick that moved in a small box just ahead of the horn.
It’s a clear and simple picture. It also helps you figure out what else you have to do with your body or teach your horse so that you can get everything you want with your hand still in that 2" x 2" box.
On the subject of riding as if your horse is reading your mind…well, the horse is not only reading your intent like previously stated but, your horse is reading your body and your balance, your weight and your focus. What you may think is silent to you is well noticed by your horse. One of the things that comes to mind to really emphasize this is learning the art of stirrup stepping, just by thinking of your weight going into the ground when a foot is in the air or a foot is weighted turns a bit of your focus there and influences the horses balance, speed, weigh
This is what I was trying to get across, albeit in a bumbly manner.
Not sure I’m quite reading this right, but the more advanced the work becomes, the EASIER it should be if the foundation is built right. It might be physically harder for the horse to do, but it shouldn’t be “work” to accomplish.
Yes - I was just ruminating on the fact that I have done it for basic riding but never really thought about it with doing other things, such as bend etc.
And I’m certainly not talking about staying whisper quiet under a horse so as not to piss them off, although I have ridden there at the beginning on a super sensitive horse, but rather using the aid before the aid (re: the thought and intention pieces) means that the volume is typically quieter - they have a chance to respond without skipping straight to the kick (which in my lingo is the yell). I think we are talking about the same thing.
Just like I can sit up there and flap my legs about and wave my arms like a lunatic and it shouldn’t mean anything at all, but when I’m asking for something serious the thought and intention is first. Yep - totally.
The one I’m working with now I’m struggling to make that initial connection with because he is too well trained to “traditional” aids, but he doesn’t know me yet. So if someone on the rail says “woah” as we pass by, he connects to that. We are starting to connect but it is going to take more time, because he’s listening for the word from whomever. I feel like with him we have his obedience but not his mind.
Acknowledging him as intelligent and changing things up is helping. Giving him that chance to answer the question wrong before the direct physical cue also.
[QUOTE=mvp;7007895]
So another question arises: After I have taught the horse what I want in a snaffle, does it matter that I go to a bosal as the intermediate stage before a shanked bit?[/QUOTE]
Nope, that’s how Buck does it, and how I did with my guy.
I actually went:
sidepull
snaffle
5/8 hackamore
3/8 hackamore
3/8 two rein with spade
…and flip back and forth at will.
Sidepull yes, mechanical hack NO. They can’t be used in a way to avoid smearing rein signals in a very crude way. They’re only hackamores in name, not function.
A hackamore is to a snaffle as a spade bit is to a curb bit.
There’s more refinement available with signal gear, and in particular, the bosal in a hackamore actually encourages the horse to lengthen the topline. While a bosal has both a strong longitudinal and mild lateral action, a snaffle or sidepull is a lateral-only tool.
[QUOTE=mvp;7007895]
That’s because at some point, he’ll hold the reins to the bosal in some combination with the reins to the shank bit. The two can’t be too far off… or can they?[/QUOTE]
With all the talk about cues and aids, contact etc. never underestimate the value of just “blending in”. Think of flocks of birds, schools of fish, a herd of horses…they all must blend in and feel for eachother so as not to crash when there is a change of direction. A lot of confidence building in the horse can be accomplished by “just” blending in. I put parentheses around JUST because as humans we sometimes think that we have to be busy or exaggerate to influence. By following the horses movement with finese we blend in and they see that as helping them stay in balance and from there we may be able to start to give direction without alerting the horse to protect themselves. The less we use, the more we “blend in”.
Yes, but a lot of that blending is subtle adjustment in body language though right? And I don’t mean it artificially, because your “hey move over” thought and intention may look different than mine.
Boy is it hard to put some of this stuff into words!!
The trouble is, using any aid to block is far less useful then using a redirecting aid, because blocking aids usually counterpose the horse against himself.
Something isn’t translating here between us, because the blocking I’m speaking of is into a release, not held, and the block itself is a redirection.
Back to the most basic…to start a turn, and assuming that I am also using my legs to confer my intention, I offer a feel on the inside rein, which is NOT a pull on the rein. I will probably move my hand, by picking it up and to the inside of the circle, and the result is that the horse turns his head in the direction I want to bend. He is also mentally with me, and ‘straight on the circle’ with the inside rear leg stepping under the body shadow- his body is following the feel as well as his nose and neck.
Now, say my horse doesn’t follow my feel. I will use pressure somewhere- if he is not bent enough, the inside rein will engage his mouth, and be released when he softens to the rein aid. If he bends too far, the outside rein will engage in a ‘block’, again releasing when the horse softens to the aid. Often, in an exercise such as a short serpentine, the horse will not be mentally with me at the beginning- which is why I am riding a short serpentine. The horse will likely offer several alternative ideas, trying to maintain a brace in the neck and hips. There will be a lot of blocks in here, and releases into softness. Those releases of physical braces against my aids (pressure, release because the horse is not agreeing to go with me on an offered feel) are what lead to the release of the MENTAL braces, and how I go about getting a horse back ‘with me’ when I am on his back if I have lost his attention through my own inattention to my horse.
I think I see what you are saying, though- riding on contact, with the horse always compelled to be pushed and pulled to be directed, is not ideal and is certainly not a feel. Rather, the rider is keeping the horse on a short leash, in a constant-block-state that does not allow the horse to make any other decisions.
What I have been noticing is that people who DO know how to use those little blocks as I am defining them, how to go down a rein, how to use pressure and release with their aids to get their horse to release a brace, have their reins shorter than people who don’t understand how to communicate that. And in particular, I notice too-long reins persist until a rider understands how to make that block properly with the outside rein.
Also, reflecting back, I think these ‘blocking’ aids done properly (with pressure and release) are how a good rider is communicating with a horse that doesn’t know very well how to adjust his feet and body to make a turn. In other words, like a horse mentally committed to a circle, but leaning one way or otherwise not moving straight on the circle because the horse doesn’t know how to move that way.
To me blending in means following; go with the horse in the most harmonious way you can; allow your body to meld into the horse`s movement. In otherwords, not interfere. Horses do not want to be out of balance because being out of balance takes away their ability to flee…horses live by their movement because fleeing is their main way of protecting themselves. If we are WITH the horse, then the horse gains confidence because we are not a hazzard to their well being. Now, if a person can enhance the horses movement by allowing collection/ balance with perfect timing and minimal movement from our own bodies how good can THAT be? Horses already know how to collect with a rider OFF of their backs, they also know how to re-balance, they are constantly re-adjusting to stay in balance. The problems happen when we try to direct the movement without disturbing the balance. Horses need direction but…how do we do that?, afterall the horse does not know what plan you may have. Solution is…we do less and the horse comes from his side to follow our feel. You have already shown him that you can come from YOUR side and follow his when you blended in to his movement without interference.
If you have ever read True Horsemanship Through Feel and read about how Bill Dorrance began Beauty`s transformation, you will see how this “blending in” can be so beneficial.
The way a good western guy explained it to me: All of the over bending (not important to him or recommended) or changing the bend is really about allowing straightness and self-carriage to be the reward.
I don’t think I agree with this…
When I ask for an exaggerated bend or a change of direction (as a short serpentine, perhaps where the horse is making tight turns as though around a small sagebrush), I am addressing a brace in the horse, or multiple braces in the horse. This bending is about having the horse give softly, laterally at the poll, and at the loin. When the horse can release his physical braces, I have to hang in there and stay with it, because the next thing the horse does is release his mental braces. That is what gets us on a feel, and THAT is the ultimate reward for us both.
Horses who have been overbent or are constantly being asked to rubberneck around with the nose at the stirrup (and the head tipped, ears not parallel to the ground) can get in some trouble. The rider releases, and goes on to another exercise, when the horse bobs his nose behind the vertical or ‘beyond the lateral’ (overbent rubberneck), while the horse is still mentally uptight. And thus, the rider builds trouble and evasion into the horse rather than lateral suppleness.
I see this a WHOLE LOT from some of the TV clinicians, and I just can’t watch as they describe their uptight and overbent horses as ‘soft and collected’. Yuck.
[QUOTE=Fillabeana;7009081]
I don’t think I agree with this…
When I ask for an exaggerated bend or a change of direction (as a short serpentine, perhaps where the horse is making tight turns as though around a small sagebrush), I am addressing a brace in the horse, or multiple braces in the horse. This bending is about having the horse give softly, laterally at the poll, and at the loin. When the horse can release his physical braces, I have to hang in there and stay with it, because the next thing the horse does is release his mental braces. That is what gets us on a feel, and THAT is the ultimate reward for us both.
Horses who have been overbent or are constantly being asked to rubberneck around with the nose at the stirrup (and the head tipped, ears not parallel to the ground) can get in some trouble. The rider releases, and goes on to another exercise, when the horse bobs his nose behind the vertical or ‘beyond the lateral’ (overbent rubberneck), while the horse is still mentally uptight. And thus, the rider builds trouble and evasion into the horse rather than lateral suppleness.
I see this a WHOLE LOT from some of the TV clinicians, and I just can’t watch as they describe their uptight and overbent horses as ‘soft and collected’. Yuck.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think the bendy cowboy I quoted or I ever used bending in that “head tied to the stirrup” kind of extreme that you are talking about.
For both of us, yeah, you talked a lot about your hand and bent the neck some, but the release was about the horse stepping under with his inside hind leg. So the whole body was involved. Being an Englisher, I took that immediately to the leg.
I never pick up my hand unless I have applied leg on that side first. If I do my job well, inside leg means “reach under with that hind leg, lift up your shoulders… and if you don’t do that and stay soft with your neck, I’ll pick up my inside hand… then I’ll add more inside leg sure as God made little green apples, you’ll have to do more work with your hind end and you’ll wish you had just answered my leg sans hand.”
Also, cowboy who was a superb teacher had a dirt-simple way of getting people to use and feel that “inside rein controls the inside hind leg thing.”
He’d tell the untalented rider to pick up the inside hand. The other rein could be dropped entirely. He should hold it, or raise it, or add leg until the horse stepped under with the inside hind leg. The rider couldn’t get that done or feel it? All you had to do was turn your head, body and arm until you were looking at the base of the horse’s tail. Somewhere in there, the horse surely steps over. And something about looking almost backward on a horse gets you to feel a big step sideways with his hind end.
It sounds crude and you don’t need it often, but it is a helpful exercise to use once in a while for very stuck horses and people
“I think I see what you are saying, though- riding on contact, with the horse always compelled to be pushed and pulled to be directed, is not ideal and is certainly not a feel. Rather, the rider is keeping the horse on a short leash, in a constant-block-state that does not allow the horse to make any other decisions.”
I hope you wont mind me commenting. I am a transplant from the dressage world (and had the same issue with the concept of indirect contact in the beginning of this journey) and started embracing this type of horsemanship about 25 years ago. (that doesnt make me an expert by any means)
We start to teach a horse to follow a feel when we first pick up the leadrope with our groundwork. The horse and the person right then and there decide that they will operate, with a mental contact, the horse learns to follow the person`s direction without taking the slack out of the rope (and the person learns to not pull either, they meet in the middle) and then that way of operating transfers to the saddle. The contact becomes a mental contact, …not a tactile one so much as we have with the dressage concept of contact…This type of contact is IN-direct meaning the horse is now following the persons feel. If we ride with the reins taught, even somewhat stretched (even if we are good dressage riders and learn to release within the contact; that would be considered correct in dressage), the horse waits for the rein to give him direction instead of developing that mental connection with the rider.
Ya, this stuff is hard to put into words because it has to come from your guts.
@ re-runs. I’m so glad a Dressager brought up the contact issue.
I think I understand what you “push into the bit types” want. I understand (kinda) why you want that: I think you guys think that it has something to do with making sure that the horse is really “through” or pushing from behind. Also, dressage tests have introduced the stretchy circles to make sure that folks aren’t just teaching their horses to pose. Rather, they want the horse to always take up as much (or as little) rein as the rider offers.
But here’s my big question: Why all this stuff about the length of rein if controlling the head and neck was actually about controlling the shoulders and hind end? In other words, if I can ride around with a loop in the reins and my horse is using his hind end, what is it about that loop in the reins that’s bad training or bad for the horse’s physical development?
I do agree that it’s good for horses to be able to really stretch and go “long and low.” I think I can teach that using a snaffle and reins that usually have a loop in them.
I hope my question makes sense. I have asked versions of this question before in DressageWorld and I don’t remember getting an answer that didn’t depend on a reference to “this is how it is done in this discipline. If you don’t like it, there’s the door.” I can accept that I suck at dressage, but that still doesn’t explain why there is only one kind of contact with the reins that ever gets the shoulders to hind end the way we want.
I have been around so long that I was there before the idea of putting the stretchy circle was in the tests. The Prix St. James test thought up by Col. Von Ziegner (my mentor) was the first idea of checking a horses self carriage to be true by riding parts of a Prix St. George test with the same carriage as a training level one, if the rider desires. He also believed that all horses should be able to go cross country, that it was good for their mental and physical health and just like the Vaqueros, that one should develope their horse OUTSIDE of the arena where the horse can really move and have a purpose. It does wonderful things for a horse to have a job and to stretch its mind and body.
Riding with a loop in the rein is mostly about trust. As humans we think we can MAKE things happen and having that contact gives us the feeling as if we are in control, which is a total myth because a horse can ignore or blow through the strongest contact “IF he has a mind to.” The horsemanship of the Dorrance Bros. and Ray Hunt addresses the mind of the horse because if you have the mind, the body comes with it.
If you ride in a snaffle with slobber straps, the slobber straps give the horse a signal before you take the slack out of the rein and if the rider understands the concept and the horse is soft and “with” the rider, without the braces that nature puts in the horse to protect itself (remember this is about meeting in the middle, both sides trusting the other) then when the rider picks up the rein the horse feels it (like he does on the leadrope) and it is an ALERT, and takes the place of the dressage riders half halt. Of course, if the horse is hooked on to your seat then just your thought will send attention to that part of the riders body (unconscious) and the horse will be in tune to the rider enough to pick that up and want to GO WITH the rider… hense…it looks like the horse is " doing what the rider wants of it`s own accord". (the ultimate goal of any true dressage rider that follows the old principles)
“I hope my question makes sense. I have asked versions of this question before in DressageWorld and I don’t remember getting an answer that didn’t depend on a reference to “this is how it is done in this discipline. If you don’t like it, there’s the door.” I can accept that I suck at dressage, but that still doesn’t explain why there is only one kind of contact with the reins that ever gets the shoulders to hind end the way we want.”
Your question makes perfect sense and the fact that you have that question means you are searching. With the kind of riding that the Dorrance bro. taught, you are riding the whole horse with your whole body…both moving along as one. IF your horse is hooked on your seat and giving you his attention, he will always try to stay balanced under your seat and you can do anything you want with a minimal of rein. (and that philosophy is the one that is needed to eventually, in increments, get a person to the hackamore and then on to the spade, straight up in the bridle)
Good question about contact in the dressage world. Having been in the dressage world recently (albeit at the lower levels) and in the english world my entire life, I’m finding it hard to “let go” of contact in my western bridle.
Here are some tidbits that I’ve picked up along the way about contact. Well, yes, there’s the “this is the way it is and don’t question it” approach. There’s also the “ride the horse forward into your hand” which is the most common descriptor. The rider’s legs create momentum and push from the horse’s hind end and move the horse forward with impulsion. Hands “catch” the energy, blocking it from leaving the horse out the nose and recirculating it through the body back to the hind end, thus creating a circle of energy whereby the impulsion is not lost and is “within the rectangle” (a term Buck mentioned in the clinic but not related to contact but to your horse’s attention) so to speak.
Then of course there’s submission and so a horse accepting contact and moving forward into contact is “submitting” and that is something one is scored on at a show. Of course contact isn’t the only thing that shows submission, but it is probably the most obvious and easiest to comment on (above the bit, below the bit, opening mouth, grinding teeth, crossing jaw, sticking tongue out as examples).
Then there is the idea that with contact comes balance between the horse and rider and the horse is (ideally) on the aids which then leads to the horse being “through.” There is a fine balance point - think water-skiing - where you are “carrying” your horse and your horse is “carrying” you through contact. I don’t know that that is the best descriptor, but it is what comes to mind at the moment. If you are the water-skier and you’ve gotten up on your skis, there’s this fine balance going on and there’s also “feel” in the rope and you move your joints to stay with the motion (this is obviously an over-simplification and I don’t think that people should water-ski on their horse’s mouths - just using an example of something where you do want steady contact). If the boat abruptly jerks forward or slows down, that contact will disappear and may cause you to lose your concentration or break out of your balance. Same for riding. If you always have a light contact with your horse then a half-halt isn’t a surprise. You’re not dropping and picking up contact which would be distracting to your horse. You’re always there. He is always ready to hear you.
Now, a light contact is ideal (at least for me) in dressage world. But I think that so many people ride horses that are too much for them, size-wise and/or gait-wise, that they end up hanging on the horse’s mouth because they don’t have the strength or ability to ride any other way.
With my most recent dressage trainer, I did find that there was more contact than I wanted. With my other horse, my shoulders would hurt at the end of a lesson! That was too much for me because I like to ride with a light contact.
If I look back at the clinic with Buck where he was talking about longitudinal flexion and showing how to get a “soft feel” then I think my last trainer would say that the release given when the horse drops his nose to vertical would teach him to mechanically drop his head but not be “through” in his body and would therefore be incorrect (as a dressage term - there’s “correct” when talking about training and movement). In dressage (at least with this trainer), the horse gets his own release/reward in his body when he gets his body to the right place. So by virtue of being straight, forward, on the aids, then the horse can easily put his body into the correct frame (which is a word I hate but is easily understood) and he rewards himself by feeling lightness and energy and connectedness with the rider. This is very hard to do!
I could possibly have more to type but have to go out and do chores now…
Does the concept of submission not bother anyone other than me? This was what I had issues with in competitive dressage. I want my horse to decide willingly that I’m worth following, and the idea that a certain head position without gaping etc is “submission” just…irks me. Do I want my horse to respond to me “under pressure”? Yes, but I want it to be because he understands that 90% of the time we’re doing things together but in moments of peril I ought to be able to say “here trust me” and sometimes he ought to be able to say the same thing.
As far as the recycling of energy goes, I think that’s like algebra - everyone understands how to do it, but very few can explain why it works. As Pocket Pony mentioned, I think it is about the mind, but not perhaps the way I’d like to think of it.
