School of a young horse, part 2.

Very often, the inept use of controls, harsh, and sometimes rough handling of a young horse leads to its excitation and resistance, disruption of the rhythm of movement and other shortcomings. To restore the correct reaction of the horse to the requirements of the rider after a warm-up on the lunge, riding in a circle with a diameter of 15-25 m should be used. In work, only the internal “released” or guiding reins are used. The main goal of the exercise is to eliminate the resistance (opposition) of the horse, to develop obedience and attentiveness. You should always start work with riding in steps of 10-15 minutes, after which you should switch to a trot. In this case, the reins should not be pulled, but soft contact with the horse’s mouth should be maintained. The rider must in every possible way avoid actions that cause enslavement of the muscles of the horse. To do this, you need to gently sit in the saddle, flexibly follow the movements of the horse, and often ride on a lighter seat.

The work of the occasion is of a certain nature. For example, when driving to the right in a circle, the right rein is pulled with its withdrawal to the side, and this tension should be of a variable nature. The guiding action is carried out until the horse goes in the desired direction and turns the neck (without resistance) to the right. When the resistance of the neck muscles ceases, the reins should be immediately released. If suddenly the horse intends to deviate from the movement in a circle, the rider again tightens the guiding rein and leaves it in this position until the horse walks as required. The horse will soon realize that obedience and compliance with the reins are rewarded by getting rid of the “action” of the bit that is unpleasant for him. The basis of training a horse is to immediately reward him for obedience. The reward for the horse is the complete cessation of the reins. If the reward is late, then the horse does not associate the rider’s yielding with the cessation of the reins. Thus, these light, guiding actions are applied with such frequency and intensity as to make the horse move in the intended circle. The outside rein must be loosened, it is used in case of danger of the horse going into a canter.

As already mentioned, you should not force the horse to shorten his movements too much. A hot or nervous horse will not calm down until it is taught to keep its head and neck in a natural and extended position when moving. This exercise will quickly develop the horse’s mouth sensitivity, snaffle chewing and neck arching, if only the rider can handle his hands skillfully and gently and keep the guiding rein high enough.

When the horse is walking calmly, the rider may begin to tighten both reins slightly to have very little effect on the horse’s mouth. In this way, he will train the horse to gradually “take” the bit (rein) by keeping the head and neck in a naturally extended position. It should be remembered that if the horse raises his head too high, then the rider’s hands should also be raised higher, while “revitalizing” the horse’s mouth by moving the bit slowly, very lightly while lightly pulling on the reins. As soon as the horse yields and lowers his head, he is immediately rewarded with loosening the tension on the reins, which allows him to lower his head to a normal position.

The rider should be aware that when the reins are pulled, the horse reacts by pulling his head in the opposite direction. And the task of the rider is to strive not to extinguish this natural property of the horse.

Never use reins and legs vigorously at the same time. This adversely affects the freedom of movement and reduces the capture of space at every step of any gait.

The gait should be supported by proper leg application and head position. Depending on the state of the horse (degree of excitation), the exercise in riding in a circle will take from 5 to 20 minutes in each direction.

Then the horse is lifted into a free (working) canter and again ride in a circle, first in one direction, then in the other. When cantering in a circle, the rider must pick up the inside rein and press the outside leg. Only a slight tension on the rein should be done. The outer leg is used more vigorously than the inner leg. Legs, as well as hands, should be used alternately: weakening the pressure when the horse obeys and immediately increasing it when resisting or disobeying.

As a result of the systematic, persistent application of the described exercises, after two or three months of work, the horse becomes calmer, gets used to the rider’s demand to keep his head extended, and responds correctly to the action of the reins and legs. At the same time, relaxation of the back muscles and a calm holding of the snaffle in the mouth (taking the rein) are observed.

After the horse becomes calm when moving in a circle, proceed to the next stage – learning to change the gaits (acceleration, deceleration and stops).

From this stage, the horse is taught to use the rider’s body as a means of control, preceded by the action of the legs and reins. The help of the rider’s body in controlling the horse is not so much in the slopes of the body itself, but in the pressure (encumbrance) that his ischial bones produce on the horse’s back, in different directions: – forward (with increased gait), – back (when stopping, reining back, reducing the gait), – to the sides (when turning, lateral movements).

As with other controls, the rider’s body weight (mass) transfer must be kept to the strictly necessary minimum for it to be effective.

Transitions are the most difficult for a horse, especially a young and easily excitable one. Here are exercises that will allow you to teach the horse to regulate the gait and speed of movement and to maintain balance correctly. These exercises must be repeated and repeated.

All movements of the arms (hands and elbows) while pulling the reins must be performed gently and gradually. The rider’s hands counteract the force of the horse’s head, so that when the horse yields to the rider, the rider does not move his hands towards himself, but, on the contrary, releases the reins, moving his hands forward in order to reward the horse for obedience. When the gait slows down, the reins are re-tensioned somewhat, with a minimal slope of the body back.

When stopped, the reins are immediately released completely as a reward for obedience. The rider does not lean back, but remains slightly leaning forward. After the horse has become obedient and calm when working on a circle and has begun to obey the slightest movement of the rider’s hands, it should be trained to walk on a sufficiently long (released) rein and stop after a few steps. As soon as the horse comes to a halt, the rider’s fingers are immediately released completely, the reins are released and the horse is allowed to rest in place, with a pat on the neck for a few seconds. Then, in obedience to the minimal forward slope of the rider’s body and a slight movement of the legs, the horse should move forward. As the horse learns to stop quickly and stand calmly, the rest periods should be progressively shorter so that these stops last only 1-2 seconds.

Then the horse is taught to transition from a trot to a walk and vice versa. After moving at a calm pace for a few moments, the horse is transferred to a trot. and when she switches to a uniform balanced movement, she is again transferred to a step. The periods of trot and walk should be shortened more and more, and the transitions from gait to gait should be more frequent. After a few lessons, the horse should often be trained to gradually pick up the trot, then bring it to a slow trot, and finally stop it. During this stage, which lasts 3-4 months, you need to constantly work on stops at different speeds. In practice, the horse’s ability to instantly shorten and stop lies in the control of the momentum of his body, which is an indispensable quality of a sports horse.

Third stage. In order to better (sensitive) assimilation by the horse of various means of control at the third stage of training, the so-called neck rein should be used. Such an occasion is widely used in sports games when changing directions in cases where the reins have to be held in one hand. For example, when using the right “neck” rein to move the horse to the left, the right hand should move perpendicular to the neck to the left. To be most effective, the reins should rest on the right side of the upper neck, as this part of the neck is more sensitive. By first using the left loose rein, and then immediately switching to the right neck one, you can quickly train the horse to obey this rein alone. Since the horse has previously been calmed by working on a free rein in a circle by changing the speed of the ride, stopping, spirals and zigzags can be started at a trot. In this case, the rider usually uses the outside leg to activate the horse’s hind legs. Once the horse understands the meaning of the outside rein touching his neck, keep the inside hand (guiding the rein) completely passive. For example, when pivoting to the left, the right neck rein and right leg are used. Later, when cantering in spirals and zigzags, the horse should be brought to the trot immediately before changing direction, otherwise a change of leg in the canter would be required or the horse would counter-canter.

A horse that obeys the aids in circles, spirals and turns is prepared for shoulder-in movements.

The essence of this exercise lies in the movement of the horse in one and a half tracks with the deviation of the front part of its body from the line of motion by no more than 35⁰ (first time at 15-20⁰). In this case, the rear outer leg follows the trail of the front inner leg, and the body is bent in the direction opposite to the direction of movement. Let’s take the “right inner shoulder” as an example. The horse bends all over the spine (except for the sacrum) and moves to the left side, keeping his body at an acute angle to the direction of movement. This exercise requires the horse to try to bring its front and hind legs as close as possible with each step. Thus, the horse seems to bend around the right leg of the rider so that his right shoulder is inside the curve formed by the bent spine. With each step, the right front leg will have to be transferred (crossed) in front of the left front, and the rear right, respectively, in front of the rear left. In this case, the muscles of the left side of the body are stretched, and the muscles of the right are reduced. sdfsd video jokes fsdfs It should be emphasized that the essential thing in this exercise is not a formal requirement to “put” the horse’s shoulder inward, but to make it step forward through the outside leg in a bent position with the inside hind leg. When moving “shoulder in” the main role is played by the curvature of the horse. The rider looks in the direction the horse is moving. The position of the hands and legs must be impeccable. All aids must be in such interaction as to exclude the possibility for the horse to lean back or rush forward.

The main points to which the rider should pay attention when teaching the horse to move “shoulder in”:     a) when shortening the inside rein, they should act in such a way as to achieve curvature of the entire spine (body) of the horse. In this case, the bending of the neck is limited by the action of the outside rein so that this bending corresponds to the general bending of the horse’s body;     b) the impulse, that is, the desire of the horse to move forward, should be supported all the time by the legs;     c) stop the exercises before the horse, irritated by the monotonous movements that bored him, begins to resist.

The shoulder-in exercise is first carried out at the walk and at a working trot, and later on at a non-vigorous reduced and medium trot. It is most convenient to start the movement “shoulder inward” from the wall from a volt or from the corner of the arena. The horse is already bent in a circle. After mastering this exercise, you can begin to work out lateral movements.

It is impossible to exclude work on cavaletti (keys) from the number of effective methods of dressage of young horses, Cavaletti allow the trainer to work out the movements of the horse without using pain stimuli. At the same time, in a playful, relaxed manner, the young horse is passed, as a rule, on a lunge on cavaletti, set at different distances and heights. The height of the cavaletti comes in two variants: the first is 15-20 cm, the second is 30-35 cm. The smallest height for a step and a trot is 15-20 cm. It is important that the cavaletti diverge evenly around the circumference in rays. The distance for the trot is 130 cm in the middle. This leaves enough room on the outside and inside to lengthen or shorten the trot. For the step exercise, the distance in the middle should be 80 cm. At each lesson, before putting the horse on cavaletti, it should be “washed” in both directions for 10-15 minutes in the middle circle. After a warm-up, she is transferred to the outer circle (usually driving to the left). From the very first time, it is necessary to bring the horse to the middle of the system, where the distance between the cavaletti is most convenient for the horse. Depending on his plan, the coach reduces or increases the radius of the horse’s movement. In the first case, the horse is forced to shorten its movements, in the second, to lengthen it. The constant change of movement in the middle circle with overcoming the cavaletti on the outer circles makes the horse supple and obedient.

Reprises of movement through cavaletti should not take more than 20 minutes. The cord should be attached only to the capsung. Work on the cavaletti under the rider is practically no different from the work described on the lunge.

Along with the dressage of a young horse, one should not forget about its versatile development, improvement of the cardiovascular, respiratory and muscular systems. For this purpose, the most suitable training is field riding in free gaits – walk, trot and canter. Therefore, at least twice a week, it is necessary to conduct field training with a total volume of up to 1,5-2 hours. The alternation of repetitions in this case may look like this: step – 15-20 minutes, trot – 10, step – 10, trot – 15, step – 10, gallop – 5-7, trot – 5, step – 25-30 minutes. It is desirable to carry out such training on slightly rough terrain, using field roads and paths. During work, especially when walking, you can perform a few simple dressage exercises.