Oakley Diaries - 7: I'm Obsessed with Lightness

Way back when I was about 16, we had an night at the manège that is etched in my memory.

It was a "perfect" moment.

But it didn't start that way, it started out as a very, very imperfect evening. Mssr. Godot wanted us to passage and the horses just wouldn't. They leaned on the bits too much, some were too fast, others didn't passage so much as fade to a walk from lack of energy. And he sat in his booth overlooking the arena, calling out "Tempo! Tempo! Non, non, non! Plus d'impulsion! Plus d'impulsion!"

Finally, he got up in frustration and stepped back into his booth and we could see him put a record on the player.

Suddenly, blaring out the speakers, flooding the arena came Ode to Joy.

He sat back at the window, and once more called out "Tempo! Tempo! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!", smacking his hand down on the sill with each "tak" in time to the rhythm of the music.

Then the magical moment came about.

I cannot say for the horses behind me, but I could see that my horse and the three in front of me all started trotting on the beat, on the same foot, in unison. We all began to passage, the reins easily held in our hands, just a touch of slack, just the lightest, but very real connection to the horse's mouths, seat firmly and cleanly in the saddle, horses heads brought in and their haunches in collection as we danced to the music.

It felt like heaven.

I've been trying to get back to that place ever since.

Well, finally, I'm getting closer. After years of wondering how, I've finally learned how to get my horse to go lightly, in balance, without pulling. What a revelation. See, in the past few years, I had almost began to think that maybe I'd mis-rememberd something. No one (it seemed) actually taught to ride like that.

  • I've had instructors who praised me for getting my horse for being 'on the bit' when the horse was actually just resting his heavy head in my hands.
  • I've had instructors counsel me to put so much force on the reins that my hands cramped up from the effort.
  • I've had instructors who constantly told me to grip the reins tighter and pull on the horse's mouth, because I kept loosening my fingers the way I remembered.

When I finally attended a top level dressage competition, I was appalled:

  • I saw horses struggling, gasping for air, their heads hauled in close on reins so tight you could strum a tune on them. I could almost see the riders knuckles pop through their gloves. (I was taught to have reins with a very slight slackness in them, fingers soft and light so that the mere twitch of a finger was enough to get the horse to respond.)
  • I saw horses so constrained their tails continually swished in annoyance. (The horses I learned to ride on never leaned on their bits and rarely swished their tails.)
  • I saw spur-marks on the flanks of horses constantly being prodded at every step. (I was taught that light pressure from my calves should be enough... use the spurs only if necessary, as a last resort.)
  • I saw five-star competitors riding with their toes pointed so far downward they looked as if they were wearing 5" heels. (Yet every single riding manual, book, or video stresses heels down!)

Everywhere I went, I saw heavy hands and hard feet and horses gathered up, rather than collected.

Yet I found people who agreed with me, that aids should be light and clear, spurs used sparingly, the whip necessary but judiciously. No, I hadn't mis-remembered anything, but what I still didn't grasp was I learned to ride in lightness, with delicate aids because I was on well-mannered, carefully-trained horses.

That's how I learned to ride back then; what I never knew was how to get the horse to be like that.

I quickly found that simply riding in lightness is not enough: if the horse is used to being handled roughly, then trying to ride in lightness without first teaching the horse to be light is merely giving over to the horse and losing control. The horse doesn't think 'ah, a light hand. Oh, thank you', the horse thinks 'Ha! You just gave to my demand' and assumes they are now in control and get to decide if you're going to refuse that fence or run from the wind.

Through my coach, I finally found, thanks to modern technology, how-to training videos and Oakley is responding beautifully -- when he's not too excited to concentrate. (We're working on that.)

In simple terms, I ask gently with the lightest pressure and wait one second. If he gives and softens to the rein, great. If not, then I grab the rein and fimly pull (don't jerk) my hand to my hip and glue it there to get his head around and hold it there, against all pressure until he does give and soften. As soon as the horse gives, I instantly drop the rein: release all pressure and give back. Horses learn from the release of pressure, not from pressure. And start one side at a time. As Nolan wrote (in 1853), flex the horse's head to one side then to the other side. Once the horse learns that gentle pressure is always followed by irresistible pressure on one rein at a time, they quickly will give to very gentle pressure. Then teach them to give to gentle pressure on both reins at once, so they quickly learn to tuck their head. Then begin the exercise at the walk and so on. Soon, instead of fighting or leaning on the bit, they learn to carry their own head, and they bring their own hindquarters under and collect themselves. And that is the foundation of lightness.

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Comment by Barbara F. on May 30, 2012 at 6:43pm

Hey Jackie, yes, definitely a horse doesn't have to be collected to be light. When I hack, my horse is in a semi-round, very relaxed frame and very light, on a very soft contact.

When I am warming up, he is on contact. Not heavy, but more contact than when he is collected.

My concern is that people don't focus solely on the reins to achieve lightness.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on May 30, 2012 at 5:41pm

A horse does not HAVE to be in collection with engaged hindquarters to be light.  The horses I ride are not engaged in the hindquarters and they still instantly obey tweaks of my little finger (when given at the correct moment of the horse's stride.)  One mare has occult spavin with the other hind leg having stifle and fetlock joint problems, she most definitely is not carrying more weight on her rear yet she is the lightest horse I ride.

But then I always insist that the horses carry their own heads, and since I am no longer galloping fast or going cross-country I no longer have to give the horse support and I refuse to waste my limited energy holding up the horses' heads.     

 

Comment by Barbara F. on May 30, 2012 at 4:51pm

Hmmm... not the technique I use for gaining lightness, but an interesting approach. I gain lightness entirely through engagement of the hindquarters. The more my horse sits, the lighter he is in front.

 In other words, if I have resistence, I fix it with the hind end. Always.

 

p.s. I'm not talking about flexion or roundness- just lightness. The others are a different discusison.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on May 30, 2012 at 1:01pm

It is really, really sad that many dressage "teachers" essentially teach the riders to keep their seat by pulling on the reins.  Since a light-handed rider cannot seem to win in today's competitive dressage both the riding teacher and student think this is the proper way to do advanced riding. 

My, how times have changed.

Comment by E. Allan Buck on May 30, 2012 at 12:10pm

BRAVO

It is all in the soft, supple fingers not the hand.

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