- Text by Sarah Warne-Furtado for Eurodressage
Where does a rider begin? Imagine you have a horse, or access to a horse and the will to ride, and the desire to become the best rider you can be. The equestrian community is filled with advice on the scales, steps and challenges of training a horse. There are endless discussions about how to ride a particular movement, what to do when a horse resists, and how to solve specific training problems. The German Training Scale, the AEBC Training Scale, and Baucher’s progression are all fantastic resources for riders who already understand the fundamentals of riding.
What about the rider who doesn’t? Or what about the rider, who does, but doesn’t know how to apply them correctly? What does this rider need to have achieved before they progress, so we don’t end up with riders hauling their horses around the arena, constantly giving conflicting aids, with the horse swishing and flicking its way desperately around the test?
What is the step by step break down of what the rider must achieve before they can move on?
Step by Step
Many years ago I wrote an article “Classical training the rider training scale” for Eurodressage in which I asked some of the legends of dressage how they would rank different rider attributes. Mental awareness came up often as one of the most important aspects, so we can assume that is a must have. However imagine that you do have mental awareness, empathy, body awareness and humility, then what? Or what if you are already out competing but the horse is not in self carriage?
I’ve thought about this much lately as I try to ride again after eleven years off riding. If I want to just go and get on a horse and do a shoulder-in I will be able to do that, but will it be any good? Probably not. But why? What do I need to be able to do first?
So let’s break it down.
1. Are you physically capable of sitting on a horse?
Before we discuss aids, feel or collection, the rider’s body must be physically capable of sitting comfortably on a horse.
For me, this means having sufficient mobility in the hips that you can easily lift both legs away from the saddle and replace them without effort. Watch Ingrid Klimke ride. She frequently demonstrates this exercise and does it with apparent ease. There is space between her legs and the saddle. Is there space in yours?
If not, one of two things is happening. Either you lack the necessary mobility and need to improve flexibility in the hips and hip flexors, or (as was the case for me) you have the flexibility but are gripping on for dear life. In that case, the solution is not stretching but confidence, and confidence often begins with finding a horse that matches your current mental and physical ability.
Only once you can sit comfortably, with the freedom to open the hip, can you begin to develop balance.
2. Can you maintain your balance?
Balance is more than sitting in the middle of the horse’s back, although that is certainly part of it.Countless times I have seen riders swear they are straight while one stirrup hangs several centimetres lower than the other. If you are unsure, have someone film you riding away from the camera in all three gaits.
True balance is learning to organise your body for the movement before it happens so that when the horse moves, you remain effortlessly aligned. Watch a rider making a good walk-to-canter transition. The rider subtly adjusts before the horse leaves the ground, and to the observer appears to remain perfectly vertical. Balance is closely linked to rhythm and coordination. Can you feel a change in tempo before it happens? Can you maintain the beat without interfering with it?
Even if you have good rhythm and coordination, balance on a horse is difficult to learn on an unbalanced horse. Experience on balanced horses helps enormously, and for transitions, few exercises are more valuable than working on the lunge without reins.
3. Do you have independent aids?
Can you apply one aid without unintentionally engaging another? Can you shift your weight onto the inside seat bone without collapsing through the waist? Can you use your leg without your hand holding? Can you use your hand without your leg tightening?
Many riders think they are giving one aid when in reality they are giving three. Independence means knowing exactly what your seat, hands and legs are doing, and being able to use each separately when required and in synchrony when appropriate. Often the answer is “of course I can do that’ but when trying to apply that consciously you may get a bit of a surprise.
4. Do you have feel?
This one is tricky. I believe there are two categories of riders: those who know what they are searching for and those who are still trying to discover it. Either way, feel is fundamental. Without it, riding becomes little more than gymnastics performed on top of a horse while the horse attempts to compensate underneath. For a long time I thought feel was something you either possessed or you did not, like the ability to sing, dance or learn languages.
In an interview about retraining riders, Kyra Kyrklund told me that feel can be developed if riders experience a horse in balance and understand what that balance should feel like. Developing a relaxed and balanced seat also contributes to feel. As Kyra explained:
“It is through a relaxed and balanced seat that one develops the correct feeling, and through correct feeling that one develops a relaxed and balanced seat.”
One gives rise to the other.
5. Do you have timing?
Timing is where balance, independence and feel begin to come together. A perfectly applied aid at the wrong moment is no longer an effective aid. The rider who trusts the horse’s balance can wait, observe and intervene only when necessary. The rider who does not trust the horse often rushes, repeats or holds the aid, creating tension and confusion.Miguel Ralao often used to say “Don’t be afraid to let the mistake happen”. Timing is understanding when to intervene, how much to intervene and when to leave the horse alone.
6. Can you influence the horse?
Influence is not control, but the ability to alter the horse’s balance, posture or movement through subtle, organised changes in your own body. The horse follows because the rider is organised, not because the rider is forceful. Can you “sit to where you want to go," as Monica Theodorescu said, and remain relaxed so that the horse can organise himself underneath your centre of mass? Only when balance, independence, feel and timing are established can rider influence become light and effective.
7. Do you have self-carriage?
This is the culmination of rider training. Rider self-carriage is the harmonious application of balance, independence, feel, timing and influence. At this stage the rider appears to be doing almost nothing at all, because underneath that poise are all these other elements working effortlessly together. The rider is no longer holding themselves in position or managing every step, but communicating with the horse at a whisper, carrying themselves so effectively that the horse can carry them effortlessly.
Just as collection is the culmination of the horse’s training, self-carriage is the culmination of the rider’s. When the body allows, and balance becomes independence, independence becomes feel, feel becomes timing and timing becomes influence, we finally have a rider.
In Summary
1. Balance – can you stay with the movement?
2. Independence – can you move one aid without disturbing another?
3. Feel – can you perceive what the horse is doing?
4. Timing – can you apply the aid at the right moment?
5. Influence – can you change the horse’s balance, posture or movement?
6. Self-Carriage – can you do less and get more?
Photo © Astrid Appels
Related Link
Training articles on Eurodressage