​This month I am reviewing a half 10 metre circle performed by Kimberly Pap and Sonnenburg’s Jersey competing at the VHO Trophy 2023 starting at 3 minutes 40 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cvqPdPVOsI

The half circle should give the horse and rider an opportunity to prepare for the next movement, a few strides to help the horse rebalance itself, and for the rider to check the engagement of the haunches. However, this chance is missed by the rider. The half pass preceding this turn is made with very extravagant strides and speed. The horse has disengaged his haunches and become unbalanced through the movement. (Picture A).

​To bring the horse back in time to make the half circle, the rider pulls the reins, blocking the horse. The horse has no engagement of the hind leg and is unable to balance itself correctly,  and drops his weight towards his right foreleg to balance. (Picture B).

​As they begin the turn, the disengagement of the haunchesand weight towards the shoulder means that the impulsion, instead of balancing the horse, causes him to lean to the inside. The rider is unbalanced and using the reins for support and overbending the horse's neck. (Picture C and D).

Because he is disengaged, the horse moves his inside hind foot towards the outside, crossing his left hindleg. With his balance totally compromised, the horse uses his inside foreleg to stay upright. (Picture E and F)

​At the end of the half circle, the horse is still completely out of balance as he enters the centre line with his weight towards his forehand, and disengaged haunches. (Picture G)

Below is a photo of a horse and rider correctly balanced on a circle.

​Training Riders, Transforming Horses
© Diane Followell

With the Olympic games in Paris this summer, I am taking a look at some of the advanced movements that will be shown in the dressage competitions, how they should look and the problems that can occur.

In my last blog I reviewed tempi flying changes, “A View of Tempi Flying Changes" (click here to read) and this month I am taking a look at piaffe. The piaffe is on Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s Facebook page, showing a few steps of piaffe in a warmup arena, and can be found here; https://www.facebook.com/reel/389800653416534

Although this is only a few steps of piaffe, it is a good example of the movement. The horse is light and well engaged in his haunches. The joints of the hind legs are flexing and the feet are raised to the same height and move up and down without deviation.

The rider sits softly with relaxed legs and the weight of the reins in her hands. The horse is able to place its head and neck where it feels most comfortable without the rider dictating the position.

As the rider makes a turn in the piaffe, the steps remain the same. At the end of the movement, the horse moves calmly forward.

​Training Riders, Transforming Horses
© Diane Followell

 For my blogs this year I am looking at some of the movements that we see at higher levels of competition and reviewing what is desired from the movement, and some of the problems that can occur.

This month I am looking at the sequence of flying changes at every stride performed by Edward Gal at the Dutch Dressage Championships in 2021. The full video of the test can be seen here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzwxmnhGWvA&t=274s. The particular section I am discussing in this blog is a sequence of flying changes made at every stride which start at 4 minutes 15 seconds. For reference, below is the definition of a flying change from the FEI rules.

4.8 Flying Change of leg. The flying change is performed in one (1) stride with the front and hind legs changing at the same moment. The change of the leading front and hind leg takes place during the moment of suspension. The aids should be precise and unobtrusive.
Flying Changes of leg can also be executed at every 4th, 3rd 2nd or at every stride. The Horse, even in the series, remains light, calm and straight with lively impulsion, maintaining the same rhythm and balance throughout the series concerned. In order not to restrict or restrain the lightness, fluency and ground cover of the flying changes in series, enough impulsion must be maintained.
 
The main issue that can be seen with these flying changes is the impulsion being blocked by the rider’s hands. Impulsion has become the main force that dressage focuses on to the detriment of other qualities. Many horses now perform a flying change with weight in their forehand, disengaged haunches and a lack of lightness. This forces the horse to make the flying change by pushing up from their fore hand and swinging their haunches from side to side, not straight and effortlessly flowing as they should be. In a flying change the rhythm and tempo of the canter should not change and the horse’s legs should appear to switch effortlessly under their body with no upward bounce. 
 
The issues with this sequence of flying changes begins with the turn on to the diagonal. At this point there is a backwards action on the inside rein, and the horse swings it’s head to the right (4 minutes 18 seconds). This is immediately followed by a heavy action on the left rein causing the horse to twist its nose to the left. These aids take the horse off balance immediately prior to the flying change sequence.

​Throughout the sequence of changes, the rider maintains a backward pressure on the reins. This blocks the horse from coming through correctly with its hind legs, placing weight into the forehand and causing the horse to make the transition from one lead to the other by swing its haunches from side to side. (A) (B) (C) (D)

​The rider continues to contract the horse through its head, neck and shoulders with a restrictive hand through the sequence of steps. This prevents the horse from flowing through with its hind legs and after a few strides, the 3-beat canter breaks down into a 4-beat canter. The horse makes more exaggerated movement in each stride, bouncing up from its front legs rather than swinging smoothly through. (E) (4 minutes 25 seconds).

​Correct flying changes should be straight and flow through the horse’s body from the hind legs. This gives a smooth transition between the strides where the leg sequence changes effortlessly under the horse without the forehand leaping off the ground and preserves the 3-beat rhythm. 

​Training Riders, Transforming Horses
© Diane Followell

Within dressage training there is a great emphasis on developing a straight horse, and riders work carefully to create this quality. However, without balance a horse will never be straight. Imagine walking along a narrow wooden beam. When your balance is perfect, walking along the beam is easy, but when you are unbalanced, you wobble from side to side, arms waving to regain your balance and prevent you falling off.

When a rider is unbalanced, they make it hard for their horse to move freely in any movement. Unbalanced horses use their shoulders and neck to support themselves making it difficult for the rider to turn or move them on a straight line as the horse continually falls to one side.

By regularly riding some simple exercises, such as correct circles and serpentines, it is possible to develop a horse who is supple to both sides. Accurately ridden, these exercises improve the horse’s balance, freeing the forehand, and allowing them to release and lengthen their neck. As the horse’s shoulder becomes free from supporting the horse’s weight, the horse is more balanced, and the impulsion from their haunches starts to elevate the forehand.
 
Compare the two pictures of half pass below. Both horses are in the same phase of half pass steps, the red lines show where the rider’s balance is on each horse. The horse on the left is balanced and stepping freely into the half pass. The horse on the right has been taken off balance by the rider’s position behind the movement, and the horse is blocked though his right shoulder and foreleg.

​​For more information on exercises to help balance your horse please see my blogs on circles - Foundations-circles-and-corners, spiralling exercises  and serpentines and also a blog about the rider’s influence on balance.

​Have you ever wondered why it’s worth perfecting a circle? It may feel as though a circle is a basic movement, useful for young horses and in a warmup, but after that the benefits of a simple movement can often be forgotten as we move onto more interesting things.

Circles provide a foundation for all the other work and they are extremely useful throughout a training session. For a novice horse or rider, a circle teaches the basics of balance and engagement. For a more advanced horse, a circle rebalances and reengages them, that is, if they are ridden correctly.

A correct circle is very hard to ride for both horse and rider. Many horses fall in or out of the shape without the rider even being aware of it. The major benefits of the exercise are wasted, and poorly executed circles can leave your horse more out of balance before.

To quote Nuno Oliveira, “a circle is a correct geometric shape, not a potato or an egg.”

Whilst different trainers use different aids for a circle, the qualities that come from the movement should be:

• Suppling and strengthening the horse on both sides to create a more even and straighter horse.
• Engaging their inside hind leg to build collection and impulsion.
• Placing (or replacing) the horse round the rider’s inside leg and creating the connection to the outside rein.
• Creating a horse that is balanced, both left and right and from back to front, in preparation for another movement.

To ride a circle, the rider’s hips should match the position of the horse’s hips, and the rider’s shoulder should match the position of the horse’s shoulders. This means that they rider needs to rotate at their waist, advancing their outside shoulder without allowing their inside seat bone to follow the movement, which would bring their hips out of position.
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Simply trying to make a circle by use of the inside rein only achieves a twisted and resistant position in the horse’s head and neck. The difference can be felt by the rider and can be clearly seen in the pictures below.

Whilst a lot of time is spent thinking about which bit to use, nose bands tend to be used solely to keep a horse’s mouth shut. Mostly riders use a flash or a cavesson, done up tightly to prevent the horse from opening its mouth. Apart from the obvious physical pain and harm that this inflicts on a horse, it masks a very important communication channel between a horse and their rider.
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The art of dressage riding is to finesse the communication between the horse and rider so that, to an observer, the rider appears to be doing nothing. Part of achieving this is having the horse soft and mobile throughout their work, and the horse’s mouth is a very good reflection the level of that relationship between horse and rider.
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For example, if a horse is finding an exercise difficult or feels too much pressure from the rider’s hands, this will show first through the horse’s mouth with blocks such as fixing the jaw, opening the mouth or putting their tongue over the bit.

Tightening the nose band to prevent this behaviour does not solve the problem. Unable to express himself via his mouth, horses often become harder in the jaw and the tension occurs elsewhere in his body. As the stress ripples throughout the horse’s body, blocks can often be seen in the horses neck, back and hind legs.

The solution is to change what you are doing, rather than increasingly tightening the nose band. It may be as simple as modifying an exercise slightly, or you may need to look a bit deeper at how you are asking. Riding with a softer hand and working more tactfully from your seat and back or with your leg.
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The connection between bit and rider’s hands should always be the weight of the reins. For very skilled riders, the slightest tension in the horse’s mouth is felt in their hands, and they make appropriate adjustments to make the horse comfortable. With a nose band that is done up tightly, the horse is unable to speak to the rider and training becomes an exercise in force.

Half pass is a movement across the diagonal of the arena, where the horse’s body remains roughly parallel to the side of the school and they step forward and then sideways. It follows on from shoulder-in and develops greater flexibility and strength in the horse. Half pass can be ridden in walk, trot and canter.

It needs to be developed with care so that the horse remains in his haunches, leading the movement with his inside hind, not his inside shoulder.

• The horse should step forward and sideways, with a slight bend in the direction of the movement. Different horses will have a degree of bend that is correct for them and the rider must know this and choose the correct bend for the horse.
• The half pass should finish with more inside leg and outside rein than inside rein and outside leg.
• The horse should maintain an even bend throughout their body.
• The rhythm should remain consistent.

Go back to shoulder in and circles if the horse has difficulty in half pass.
Common faults are;

• The horse put weight into their inside shoulder.
• This horse twists his head and does not bend through his body.
• The haunches precede the forehand.
• The forehand is too far ahead of the haunches, haunches trailing.
• The rider sits to the outside unbalancing the horse.
• The rider creates half pass by using the inside rein and outside leg, twisting the horse.
• The horse loses the rhythm and speeds up or slows down.

​Look at the pictures below and see which half pass you think is most correct.

For more information on correcting problems in half pass please see
Half pass – Correcting Problems – Horse twists the head.
Half Pass – Correcting problems 2 – Changes to the rhythm.
Half pass – Correcting problems 3 Quarters or forehand lead too much.
Half pass – Correcting problems 4 – Horse confuses aids for canter.

Shoulder-in is the aspirin of dressage – Nuno Oliveira.

In his book, School of Horsemanship, published in 1733, François de la Guérinière describes shoulder-in as the alpha and omega of all exercises for developing suppleness and agility in horses.  An exercise used by classical dressage trainers for centuries, unchanged and instantly recognisable, it is one of the earliest lateral movements taught to horses.

Well ridden, shoulder-in provides major benefits in the schooling of horses, essentially the suppling of the horse’s shoulders, preparation for the horse to be placed into their haunches and it trains the horse to move away from the rider’s leg.

The basic principle of shoulder-in is that the horse brings their shoulder away from the line of travel, with the hind legs remaining on the line of travel, and then the horse proceeds stepping slightly sideways in the original direction. The angle may vary from horse to horse, depending on their conformation, suppleness and level of training, but all shoulder in shoulder exhibit the same qualities.
 

• The haunches should remain near the wall, the shoulders should be about 45 cms to 60 cms away from the wall.
• The horse’s inside foreleg should cross the outside foreleg, and their inside hind leg should cross the outside hind leg.
• They should remain equally bent through their body.
• The haunches must be engaged under their body. The degree to which they can achieve this is influenced by their conformation and level of training.
• The steps shoulder be small so the hind legs cross closely.

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Common faults are;

• The horse drops to their outside shoulder and straightens their body with an exaggerated bend in their necks.
• The horse does not cross their hind legs and steps forward from the line of travel.
• The horse places weight in their inside shoulder and braces their ribs against the rider’s leg, accompanied by stepping forward.
• The horse turns their shoulders too far to the inside and steps forward.
• The horse pushes the haunches out rather than moving their shoulders inwards.

Have a look at the pictures below, the horses are in the same stride in shoulder-in, but the pictures look quite different. Both horses show a good degree of suppleness but the horse on the right has disengaged his haunches, hollowed his back and is dropping towards his outside shoulder.
​

One of the most important things I learnt from Nuno Oliveira is that you cannot train each horse exactly the same way. Although there were many Lusitano horses at Mr Oliveira’s stables, we also trained other breeds, Selle Francais, Arabian, Russian Budyonny and Thoroughbred among others, and Mr Oliveira adapted his methods to suit each horse’s physical and mental needs throughout their training.
 
By closely observing the horse that I am working with I can see how and why they move in a particular way. Some things to look for are;

• Evenness of stride.
• The action of the hind legs, particularly the hocks.
• The movement of the shoulders, does the stride flow out from the shoulder or is it blocked and short?
• Is one shoulder heavier than the other?
• Does the neck look supple or does it appear rigid, either in a specific place or throughout the length?
• Listen to the footfalls, is the rhythm even or are the steps heavy?

 
Choosing an appropriate exercise encourages the horse to release restrictions they may have by developing suppleness, strength and balance. Sometimes it is necessary to be a little creative and adapt an exercise or develop a new pattern of work that is more effective for the horse and if the exercise is not working as you expected, again analyse where the problem is and make the necessary changes or use a new exercise.
 
If the rider is not sitting well it has a huge impact on the way the horse moves. Working on the rider’s position, balance and aids is central to creating a horse that is well balanced and supple. If the rider is off balance their horse will be constantly adjusting his balance to compensate, and the rider’s aids will be unclear which leads to difficulty in communication.
 
Watch the horse continually and make small adjustments as necessary. Don’t expect too much, be satisfied with small improvements and give plenty of rests, tired horses become sour, and always reward their efforts.

Following on from circles and the serpentine exercises, another useful movement is to ride shallow loops. These are performed down the long side of school and can vary in depth from 2 metres to 10 metres. These are used to supple and strengthen your horse and great attention needs to be taken on the quality of the changes of bend.
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A basic shallow loop

1. Start by riding the short end of the school well so your horse is balanced as the come to the long side.
2. Bring your horse off the track about 2m and then make a slight change of bend to the outside of the school.
3. As you straighten, parallel to the long side of the school, maintain a very slight outside flexion.
4. Start to move back towards the track and as you do this carefully change the bend to the inside again in preparation for the next corner.

Throughout, be attentive to your horse’s balance and having correct changes of bend in balance.

Variations.

1. Do half loops by coming off the track and then riding straight to the end of the school, or by turning onto an inner track and then performing the second part of the loop moving back to the track. These variations are easier as you only need to do 2 changes of bend.

​2. Increase the depth of the loop so your horse has to turn more through the loop.

3. Introduce some lateral steps to the work. Begin by riding off the track with a well-balanced inside bend. Keeping the same bend, move down the inner track, parallel to the wall in a slight shoulder fore position. At the end either go straight towards the short side or move back to the track with an inside bend, taking care to ensure that your horse does not drop to their outside shoulder.

​4. This can then be developed further to a few steps if shoulder-in. I find that this exercise works well with horses who tend to try to run through their riders’ aids when shoulder-in is asked on the long side.
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©Training Riders, Transforming Horses