Outline for the seat and aids

 

 

 

 

The suppling exercises and

use of the reins

 

 

Marie Eisersiö

 

May 7, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

The seat on horseback

 

The human has decided to ride on the horse and we owe it to him to be as little of a burden as possible. The best seat on horseback is the seat that joins and follows the horse’s movement every step of the way, a seat that influences the horse without causing unnecessary tension in neither the horse’s body nor the rider’s.

 

In teaching a new student, whether complete beginner who never sat on a horse before or a rider that has been riding all their life. Starting the student on the lungeline, and working with the seat is the most effective way to advance further in their education. A rider that is incapable of accompany the horse’s movement will never get very far in equitation.

 

When mounted on horseback, the rider should be seated like when standing, with his knees bent and his legs apart.

When standing on the ground our upper body is balanced over our hips. But when we are on horseback, our upper body has to be balanced without the legs, which means we have to balance over our seat bones instead. The seat bones are situated a little further in and further back in the body. To place the seat bones in the middle of the saddle, the whole pelvis has to be tilted backwards and up.

We call this fixing the seat.

To fix the seat you put one hand on the pommel, kick up both legs at the same time and pull yourself forward with the hand. This places you at the front of the saddle, right up by the pommel, and your seat bones in the deepest part of the saddle.

Sitting this far forward in the saddle puts the rider on the strongest part of the horse’s back, right behind the withers, where the horse’s back also moves the least.

It is the least disturbing to the horse.

Fixing the seat should be done whenever the rider feels like she is out of balance or that she slid back in the saddle.

 

Now the rider should be able to lift both legs up of the horse and the upper body should stay the same, not having to shift back or forward to maintain balance.

Having the seat bones in under the body makes it possible to follow the horse’s movements with the lengthening of the spine. The back can round into the horse’s movement and absorb the shocks easier than if the rider is sitting hollow backed.

 

 

 

    

 

Suppling exercises for improving the seat

 

Between the exercises the rider should be reminded to fix their seat whenever their position is not correct.

All the exercises are for developing suppleness and coordination. The rider has to be able to move all parts of his body independently.

 

Kick down – The kick down is done by lifting one leg at the time or both and then kick down towards the ground.

Supples hip joint and get momentum in hip joint. Releasing the muscles on the front side of the hip. Releasing tense muscles in legs.

The rider might be bouncing because of tension in legs, especially inside of leg, taking the legs off and kick down, releases the tension. To lower knee.

The kick down leg also imitates an impulsive leg, while the leg that is still placed on the horse is a positional leg.

 

Kick up – One arm stretched out shoulder height, kicking up forward with a straight leg towards the hand. It is important that the arm stays still and the leg kicks up straight.  Develops suppleness of hip joint and lower back. Coordination of legs and arms. Make sure the leg that stays on the horse does not come off the horse’s side.

Can be used in canter departs as a very small action.

 

Lean back – Closing the legs around the horse’s body and lean back as far as possible without the legs start sliding forward.

Get a feel for enveloping the horse with the legs, and stretch front of hip.  

Learning to lean back and be able to remember to stay back instead of leaning forward. Shifts the balance around.

Resemblance to one stage of canter. Used in jumping sitting down over obstacles, and airs above ground.

Keep legs on while pushing with the seat.

 

Arm circles – Circle the arms underhand. One or both at the same time.

To supple upper body, shoulders and arms. Can add moving fingers for relaxation. Coordination when pushing with seat and arm circles at the same time or doing kick down legs. Get shoulders back and a more upright position.

 

Scissor-legs – Swinging the legs back and fourth with straight legs from the hips.

For suppleness in hips and loin. Only move legs, not upper body. Fluency.

A small scissor-leg for increasing walk, trot and for flying changes.

 

One hand on the horse’s opposite side’s hip – Placing for ex the right hand on the horse’s left hip, fingers pointing backwards, trying to lower the knees and the heels and arching up through the entire body.

Stretching front side of body, lowers knee and supples sides.

 

Touch heel to hand – The thigh and knee stays low on the saddle and the lower leg is kicked up to the hand on the side.

Suppling of leg and hip. Develop independence of lower leg to rest of body.

 

Lift up legs and cycle – Both legs lifted of saddle with legs bent. Can add cycling with legs.

Checking balance over seat bones, makes seat heavy in saddle, and easier to find the push with the seat. Develops more movement in the hip.

 

Kick back – Like a kick down leg but aiming back towards the horse’s hindlegs. It is important that the rider does not start leaning forward.

For lowering the knee, making leg longer, stretch the front of the leg and movement in hip.

 

Ankle circles – Keep leg in its proper place and make circles with the ankles one way and then the other.

To supple ankle joint, for finding stirrups, stirrup work and later on can become steering with feet.

 

Box in the air – Box forward, straight up, behind the back and down towards ground.

To supple upper body, coordination when adding the kick down legs.

 

 

 

Baton-exercises

 

The exercises with the baton are a preparation for using a whip and reins. The rider can no longer support themselves with one hand on the pommel and learns to stay on solely by suppleness in the seat and enveloping the legs around the horse’s barrel. The rider should have been prepared for this by frequently taking the hand of the pommel in the earlier exercises. But only when the instructor can see that the student is ready.

 

We start at first by holding the baton upright in the right hand, slightly tilted towards the horse’s left ear. This is the basic position.

 

Point to the different parts of horse – The student is asked to point to the four quadrants of the horse in lateral and diagonal pairs. For example pointing to the left lateral would mean pointing to the horse’s left shoulder and then left rear. Pointing to the left diagonal would be pointing to the left shoulder and right rear. The diagonal is always determined by the front leg.

When pointing with the baton the fingernails should be turned down towards the horse.

This exercise is to get the student oriented around the horse’s body with the whip, to understand where to influence the horse to move him in different directions using the whip and understand the meaning of lateral and diagonal on a horse.

 

Climb up the baton – Holding the baton upright placing one hand above the other all the way up to the top and back down.

 

Reverse the baton– Holding baton upright, grabbing the top of it with one hand and switch it and then grab the top with the other hand and switch it.

 

 

 

Holding the baton horizontally, with about the width of the bit in between the hands.

 

Half-halt – Circling the baton from below to above and back, making a round smooth circle with the baton.

Relaxation in arms and shoulders, moving seat but keep hands independently and relatively still. Coordination. Preparation for doing the half-halt with the reins.

 

Reverse half-halt – Same as above though reversed direction. Preparation for the reversed half-halt on reins.

 

Kayak – Kayaking with the baton. Suppling the wrists, coordination.

 

Kick down leg and kick up leg touching the baton with leg – To perform higher kick-downs and kick-ups.

 

 

The passes

 

Holding the baton upright.

 

Pass the baton behind the neck

Behind the back

Diagonally over left and right shoulder

Under the horse’s neck

Under the rider’s leg

 

Develop independence of upper body. Be able to maintain the push with the seat while doing stuff with arms, hands and upper body.

 

 

 

Stirrup work

 

Work with stirrups on the lunge is primarily for two-point and posting trot. Practice dropping and finding the stirrups at walk and trot.

Switching in between :

Two- point

Posting without touching the saddle

Posting

Posting without stirrups

 

 

 

Canter work

 

When the student has developed a supple, balanced seat, can do all the above exercises with ease and has suppressed the instinct of leaning forward, then it is time to move to the canter.

All these exercises can be done at canter.

 

 

 

 

 

The reins

 

The reins can be held in two hands or one hand. The rider should be able to steer and halt his horse on either.

When held in two hands the rein is going between the little finger and the third finger, and comes out between the index finger and thumb. The hand is held like a cup, and the rein is primarily held between the index finger and thumb. The hand is half-open to be able to move the finger and feel the horse mouth. A closed fist is insensitive and will not be able to play with the fingers.

The hand has to always be mobile and feel the horse’s mouth. There has to be a conversation going on.

There is light, gentle and firm rein contact. More then firm is pulling.

 

 

 

 

Halt by the combined effect

 

The first thing a student should learn to do with the reins is halt by the combined effect. It teaches them a way of stopping a horse without pulling on the reins and it also teaches proper rein length.

The halt by the combined effect is done by first closing the legs on the horse’s sides, then stretching up with the upper part of the body, and at last, if needed, closing the hands on the reins. If the horse doesn’t stop it means that the reins were too long. The student learns to shorten the reins instead of pulling back the hand.

When a rider pulls on the horse’s mouth it makes the horse pulls against. And even more important, the horse is 6-7 times faster then a human in reaction time and when a rider pulls, the horse will have stopped and the rider will still be pulling. While for us is might seem like a short time, for the horse it is an eternity.

The horse doesn’t learn what to do from the aids we are giving but from the release of the aids. He understands that he did the right thing by our aids ceasing. In pulling the release is way too late if existing.

At the instant that the horse halts, the aids have to release. The release can even come when the horse is thinking about stopping.

Francois Baucher, lived around 1850, was using the halt by the combined effect, in his early work, but with very sharp spurs. 

 

 

 

 

Half-halt

 

The horse is naturally built with more weight on the forehand. In riding horses we want to be able to shift the horse’s weight around, the half-halt is a way of shifting the horse’s weight from the forehand to the haunches. Providing that the hindlegs are under, the more the head is elevated, the more weight is shifted over to the rear.

When the horse moves he generally uses a combination of weight and force. The weight being the horse leaning forward. Force being the lifting of the legs and putting them forward. In dressage we want to minimize the weight.

The half-halt is a circular action from below to above and back. It is the stretching up of the rider’s chest, keeping the elbows by the sides, which makes the hand perform a circle. As the rider stretches up the horse should elevate its head. Then the hand follows the rein so it doesn’t become slack, therefore the back in the circle.

If there is resistance in the horse’s jaw, the rider needs to vibrate the rein to soften the horse’s mouth again. The mouth has to be relaxed and alive.

The half-halt is done on a single rein. The horse can go against two reins, but not one rein.

The first thing that happens when the half-halt is applied is that the horse’s head is elevated without the speed changing. If the head is elevated even more the horse will start to slow down. Then halt and, at last, backing up. This happens as the horse is asked to put more and more weight on the hindquarters. The horse is put in a place where he can’t go forwards anymore.

The rider is using natural authority to control the horse.

The half-halt is a preparation for movements.  

 

 

 

 

Rein aids

 

The student should learn to ride on one rein at the time, knowing how to correctly balance a horse on a single rein. If the rider is doing too much when riding on a single rein, it becomes very obvious, the horse will overbend in the neck or resist. Learning how little needs to be done and how and when to get obedience to the aids.

There are five rein-effects. Direct rein, indirect rein, direct rein of opposition, indirect rein of opposition in front of the withers and indirect rein of opposition behind the withers. The reins which use opposition will not be covered here.

 

 

 

 

Direct rein

 

The direct rein is also called the opening rein. It is opening away from the horse’s body. It is done with the elbow kept by the rider’s side, opening with the fingernails up. This way there can be no pulling on the rein. If the rider rides with the hands like when she rides a bike, there will most likely be pulling backwards, the hand will be hanging on the reins and be a lot more insensitive.

When the thumb is held up the bones inside the rider’s lower arm is lined up right.

The direct rein act out towards the side and can also act slightly forward.

All horses know the direct rein from being led, and the direct rein can also be reinforced.

The direct rein puts the horse on the forehand, the horse is turning around the same side’s frontleg. If the horse is asked to elevate as well, which slows the forehand, the movement of the haunches is directed out to the side, where the door is open, and it becomes a turn on the forehand.

 

 

 

 

Indirect rein

 

Indirect rein is also called neck rein. It is towards the horse’s body, the horse should move away from the pressure. The rider should act with his fingernails turned up towards the horse’s neck, but never crossing over the neck. The hairs on the horse’s neck can be lifted and the hand can be elevated for more obedience. The indirect rein has to be taught, unless he already done a lot of moving away from pressure from the ground.

The indirect rein turns the horse’s shoulders around its haunches, and more specifically around the opposite sides hindleg. When adding some half-halt to slow the haunches down, it becomes a turn on the haunches.