Remembering those who sacrificed for us so that we may have a Gift of Freedom.
Have a blessed and safe July 4th!
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Do you have a gaited horse that’s heavy on the forehand and leans on the bit? Counter bend exercises have helped my gaited horses find balance and lightness.
By Jennifer Klitzke
For years I rode true bends along the arc of on a circle as I trained my non gaited and gaited horses. While the true bend helps the horse strengthen the inside hind leg as it steps under its body mass, it wasn’t helping my naturally gaited horse find balance and lightness through the shoulders.
Why? Because my horses were on the forehand and I needed to teach a shoulder moving exercise before introducing true bend exercises. It wasn’t until I learned a simple but effective exercise called the counter bend neck rein turn that we found lightness, straightness and balance in the shoulders.
Introduced to me during a French dressage clinic, the counter bend neck rein turn became a game-changer on our journey towards balance. This exercise shifts the horse’s balance from the outside shoulder to the inside shoulder. The horse’s outside foreleg steps forward while the inside foreleg steps into the circle as if the horse is extending sideways. It is a terrific exercise to help the horse find shoulder balance, straightness, and lightness.
After this clinic I began applying counter bend neck rein turns with my naturally gaited horses. This exercise began at a slow walk before increasing the tempo to a slow smooth gait. We did counter bend turns in a variety of patterns such as serpentines, squares, figure eights, circles and random turns any time we needed to regain balance and lightness in the shoulders.
To my amazement, the counter bend neck rein turns have freed up my horses’ shoulders and improved the quality of our true bends. My naturally gaited horses have become lighter in my hands because they are less on the forehand and more balanced overall.
Counter bend turns have helped my naturally gaited horses became lighter on the forehand, lighter in the bridle, more balanced in the shoulders. Then I began to re-introduce true bends, shoulder-in and shoulder-fore exercises as long as Lady remained light in the shoulders. I began to notice improvement in engagement and lifting her back to a neutral position.
Together the counter bend and true bend exercises have improved bit acceptance, balance, engagement from behind, activating the abdominal muscles to lift the back, and lifting the chest and shoulders, plus Lady’s naturally smooth fox trot is getting faster without breaking into a hard trot!
Counter bend neck rein turns have helped us find lightness and balance in the shoulders and now I can apply shoulder in and haunches in with greater balance and effectiveness!
More exercises for gaited horses to develop quality smooth gaits.
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A key in improving quality smooth gaits for the naturally gaited horse is mental and physical relaxation. So, where do you start?
Does Rhythm Produce Relaxation?
How Tension Affects the Horse and Rider
How French Dressage for the Gaited Horse Leads to Relaxation
How to Introduce the Gaited Horse to Accept and Follow Snaffle Bit Contact
How Relaxation in Mind and Body Creates Smooth Gaits
Does a Relaxed Rider Make a Difference?
I began riding dressage with non-gaited horses in 1988. Back then we didn’t have videos, the internet, and the plethora of resources we have today. We were fortunate to have a traveling instructor to teach us.
The Pyramid of Training began with rhythm followed by relaxation. We believed that rhythm produced relaxation. So, for my first 20 years of dressage riding with non-gaited horses, I either lunged my horse until they relaxed (or worn out) or I rode them in 20-meter circles until they were relaxed (or bord). This is what was taught and what I did. I didn’t know there was another way.
In 2007, I acquired a three-year-old naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse, Makana. I continued the dressage I learned with non-gaited horses. When she was young, Makana often worried about her surroundings and tensed her body. Tension created stiff movement. Was it quality smooth gaits. Not really. Mostly step pacing and a pacey canter.
Makana’s spooking certainly didn’t create relaxation in me. My tense reaction only reinforced her fear, step pacing, and perpetuated her worry. If I continued to ride her while she is worried, I felt like I was riding a stiff plank blowing in the wind, swirling around with each spook−praying to God that I stayed on long enough to establish rhythm in hopes of bringing about relaxation.
I wondered how long does a nervous rider ride a nervous horse through spooks and tension before rhythm is established and relaxation sets in for the horse?
If I could sweat it out, riding a step pacing stiff plank in the wind for an hour, was this really the best approach? What was I teaching my horse? Am I conveying anything positive to my horse through miles of tension? By working a worried horse, wasn’t I training my horse to be worried and reinforcing her fear with my fear? I certainly was reinforcing my fear!
Perhaps a relaxed rider could have helped Makana through her tension and spooking to rhythm until she relaxed. For me, it wasn’t working.
With my naturally gaited foxtrotting horse, Lady, when she was tense in her lower jaw, mouth, and poll, she tensed her back and that meant a rocky ride. Leaving it up to her, she’d grab the bit and blast off into a hard, hollow trot. If I pulled on the bit to slow her down, she trotted off even faster. She wasn’t having fun, and neither was I.
Perhaps after a few miles of a hard trot, Lady would have been tired enough to relax into a smooth gait. However, what kind of muscle memory was she learning if I were to lunge and/or ride Lady through the rhythm of a hard, hollow trot for miles until she wore out into relaxation? Wasn’t she just learning to run away in tension until she gave up? I had to find another way.
In 2013, I began studying French dressage and applying it with my gaited horses. I began learning ways to lead my horses into relaxation of mind and body.
I purchased French Dressage Master, Philippe Karl’s DVDs: Classic vs Classique, Classical Dressage Volumes 1-4, and The School of Legerete. I also purchased and study his books: Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage and The Art of Riding.
In addition, I purchased Another Horsemanship, by the late French Dressage Master Jean-Claude Racinet and a video produced by one of his students, Lisa Maxwell, Getting Started in Lightness: The French Classical Dressage of Francois Baucher as Taught by Jean-Claude Racinet.
While Karl and the late Racinet teach dressage for non-gaited horses, I have found these methods work well for my naturally gaited horses and for me as the rider and trainer. The core of the French dressage philosophy is “respect for the horse” and the foundation of training is relaxation and balance (developed by the hand aid) and impulsion (developed by the leg aid) with separation of the “stop” and “go” aids. The ideal is to train the horse to be responsive to the lightest hand and leg aids.
Instead of lunging and riding a worried or tense horse for miles and miles in hopes to develop rhythm leading to relaxation, I have learned in-hand relaxation and balancing exercises. Then I proceed with the same relaxation and balancing exercises from the saddle at a halt and then at a slow walk. Progressively over time, I increase the tempo to a smooth gait and canter.
Anytime the horse begins to get tense or anxious, I slow down the tempo until relaxation is restored.
Through the work in-hand relaxation and balancing exercises, I’ve developed a better partnership of communication and trust with my gaited horses. I’ve found that learning these in-hand relaxation and balancing exercises make riding easier, since my horses already understand what I’m asking for. Within a few minutes of in-hand exercises, my horses are relaxed and ready for quality smooth gaits.
I might have an idea about what I’d like to work on during a riding session, but I am open to adjust these ideas to meet my horse needs. This way we have a productive ride.
Anytime my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse gets worried, or my Foxtrotting mare gets tense in her body, I just ease down to a slow walk, halt or even dismount to work in-hand and restore relaxation. I don’t proceed until I’ve established relaxation of mind and body.
For me and my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse, Makana, we don’t pass “GO” before she is relaxed in her mind, then her body. And for my naturally gaited foxtrotting mare, Lady, we don’t proceed until she has relaxation in her body, and then her mind.
Without relaxation, there is no quality rhythm, no quality steps, no trainable or teachable horse to produce quality smooth gaits.
Thankfully French dressage has been the training philosophy I needed for my naturally gaited horses. Directing the horse to relaxation in mind makes a teachable horse−less tense and distracted and able to stay more focused on our time together. Teaching the gaited horse to relax its body leads to smoother gaits.
Relaxation of the horse’s jaw and back are especially important for the naturally gaited horse. The gaited horse is more prone to pacing when there is tension in the mouth, lower jaw, poll, and back, and has learned bit avoidance.
My Tennessee Walking Horse has learned to relax her mouth, lower jaw, poll, and back. The step pace and lateral canter are gone. Now she has quality smooth gaits such as flat walk, running walk and saddle rack, and her canter is a quality three-beat canter.
For my foxtrotting mare, by relaxing her mouth and lower jaw helps her relax her back. The hollow, hard trot is gone. Now she consistently offers a smooth gait.
Applying French dressage with my gaited horses in hand and in saddle has built my confidence as the trusted leader in our partnership. It has also helped me be a more relaxed rider when we increase the tempo to a smooth gait or canter.
Over the last several years, I have learned tools that have helped me become a more relaxed and confident rider. My relaxation and confidence lead my naturally gaited horses into relaxation of mind and body. From this relaxation in both me and my horses I can then help them produce quality, smooth gaits.
Learn more about Dressage for the Gaited Horse
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By Jennifer Klitzke
You don’t have to show dressage to learn how to ride dressage with your naturally gaited horse. Dressage doesn’t require that you ride in an english saddle. Dressage doesn’t even require that you ride in an arena, but here are a few things to consider if dressage is a good choice for you.
If you’ve answered “yes” to all 10 questions, you are a PERFECT candidate for dressage, and your naturally gaited horse will thank you!
Dressage isn’t for everyone, though. And that is okay. For those who ride once a week or once a month or for those who are unable to take regular lessons with an experienced dressage instructor, dressage isn’t going to be good choice.
Here’s why.
The main ways dressage riding uses to communicate with your horse are through your balanced riding position and effective use and timing of your reins, legs, seat and weight aids.
The effective use and timing of rider aids and a balanced riding position can develop these attributes and lead your naturally gaited horse to quality smooth gaits on cue and a partnership of harmony.
Unfortunately, becoming an effective dressage rider can’t be grasped in a two-minute Youtube video. It takes commitment and an investment of time and money–often years–of regular lessons in order to develop a balanced riding position and effective use and timing of rein, leg, seat, and weight aids. In fact, top dressage riders continue to take regular lessons, because dressage cannot be perfected and riders never stop learning. Dressage is a journey.
Dressage lessons are an education. You can expect to pay $50-$75 or more for a 45-minute lesson. The more experienced the dressage instructor, the more you will pay for a lesson. Some instructors pay a facility fee to teach there. If you use a school horse, it will also cost. Traveling clinicians cost even more because of their expertise, insurance, and added travel and lodging expenses.
It also takes commitment to develop your horse physically for dressage. This means you need to ride your horse up to six days a week. Your riding sessions don’t need to be long, just consistent. This will help you and your horse progress. Riding three days a week can help maintain your horse’s training and conditioning. If you desire to advance with your horse, you’ll need to ride more often.
So much of learning how to become a dressage rider is developing the sense of feel. The best way to learn feel is with an experienced dressage instructor who can help you become aware of how it feels when the horse is moving well, what to do when it doesn’t feel right, and how to direct your horse back to the feeling of right. After you have learned how it feels with one horse, it takes time to discern the feeling of right when riding different horses.
Sometimes progress is slow. Sometimes there are set backs. Sometimes it feels like you hit a brick wall with your training or you can’t figure how to overcome a bad riding habit or mental obstacles such as the fear of falling off. Dressage riders press on and overcome obstacles and work through these conflicts with their instructors.
Becoming a dressage rider is entering a relationship with the horse and learning how to work through conflict, discerning if you’re encountering resistance, if your horse is trying to tell you it hurts or it isn’t clear with your instructions. A dressage rider is always searching for resolution with day-to-day conflict and breaking through a recurring issue. When that happens it makes the struggle worth it!
Becoming a dressage rider and working through conflict with my horses and facing my riding fears have taught me to be a better and more understanding and compassionate person with people.
What sets dressage riders apart from pleasure riders is their utter passion for learning and improving their riding and their horse’s development. A dressage rider can be consumed with enjoyment by just traveling in a 20-meter circle. A pleasure rider would say, “Boring!”
Why? To a dressage rider, every step of that 20-meter circle is a thinking, sensing and feeling world, and communicating with their horse through the reins, legs, seat and weight aids.
Oops, falling in. Communication to restore. Good horse. Release and reward. Oops, need more engagement. Communication to restore. Good horse. Release and reward. Oops, falling on the forehand. Communication to restore. Good horse. Release and reward. Oops, rushing a bit. Communication to restore. Good horse. Release and reward. Oops, getting tense in the jaw and back. Communication to restore. Good horse. Release and reward.
Hurrah! Seven amazing steps in a row with balance, relaxation, rhythm, engagement, connection, and deep even strides. The feeling is euphoric! Praise and release and enjoy the ride until the next communication to restore. No worries.
Dressage isn’t something you do only at a show. The purpose of dressage shows are to perform before a trained dressage judge the effectiveness of your balanced riding position and the use and timing of your rein, leg, seat and weight aids. Together, this balanced riding position and set of aids communicate with the horse to lead the horse through the test requirements.
Dressage shows feature a series of tests beginning with Introductory level on up to Grand Prix–what you see in the Olympics–only with trotting horses.
Dressage isn’t something you do only at shows.
Every dressage test is written to evaluate flexibility in both directions. This checks for how ambidextrous the horse has become through its training. During the ride, a scribe writes the judge’s scores and feedback on the test. Riders can take home the test sheet with comments and scores. The test results confirm whether the rider and horse are ready to move up to the next level in training. Generally, if they are consistently scoring over 65%, they are ready to move up. Showing Gaited Dressage>
Dressage offers many benefits for your naturally gaited horse such as prolonging your horse’s soundness. Dressage teaches the rider to help the horse find relaxation in its mind, body and travel more balanced on all four legs, and activate the abdominal muscles to lift the back from a hollow to neutral position. Plus, dressage is a humane training method that doesn’t use heavy shoes and pads, harsh bits, big spurs, and artificial training aids. This helps the horse stay sounder longer.
Dressage offers benefits for the rider as well such as helping your naturally gaited horse break up pace and the hard trot for a smooth natural ride that is easier on the rider’s body.
Dressage is a two-way communication between the rider and horse through a balanced riding position and effective use and timing of rein, leg, seat and weight aids.
So, if you LOVE the process of learning and improving your riding position and effective use and timing of your aids to help develop your horse, and you enjoy riding often, at least three days a week, dressage is a great choice!
You’ll need to find an experienced dressage instructor who will school you in developing a balanced riding position and becoming effective with your rein, leg, seat, and weight aids at the proper timing. This will help you communicate consistently with your horse in ways your horse understands. You don’t need to find a gaited dressage instructor to teach you this.
For me, I took regular lessons with my dressage instructor for 12 years. I took two lessons a month. After each lesson, I kept a notebook and wrote down everything we worked, everything I learned, and I practiced what I learned until the next lesson. Many dressage riders I know take one or two lessons a week. If I had the money, I would have done the same, so I made best use with the lessons I could afford.
My regular dressage lessons ended when my husband and I moved to a rural hobby farm. Not much dressage where I live, let alone gaited dressage.
Yet, I still take as many lessons as I can with dressage and gaited dressage clinicians who come to my state, like Jennie Jackson.
Bottom line, to learn dressage, you need to take regular lessons for a long time. Olympic dressage riders take regular lessons. Dressage is a riding discipline that cannot be perfected. That’s why I love dressage so much. Every ride is new. It never gets boring, because there is always something to improve, usually with me, and then my horse follows.
If you have the option of choosing from several dressage instructors, I would watch how they teach and find the instructor who suits you best. Ask them questions about their teaching style and how their approach with a new dressage student and one with a horse that gaits instead of trots.
Every instructor has their own style and personality. Some are direct, firm and to the point, others are gentle and encouraging and instill confidence, others are driven to achieve and desire to see their students in competition, others are laid back, fun and could care less about showing. Some are better teachers than riders. Some are better riders than teachers. Some have a set curriculum that all students work through. Some meet the individual needs of you and your horse. Some have thick accents that make it hard to understand what they are saying. Some cost more than others. Some travel to your barn. Others require that you trailer your horse to their facility.
Getting to know your instructor can be uncomfortable. I remember a couple of my instructors spent our first couple lessons working in hand. I never even got on my horse! And this was after over 20 years of riding. I had to be open minded to hear what I was being taught if I wanted to learn from these instructors. One of my teachers is an instructor in training with Philippe Karl, and I needed to learn how to work in hand. It makes riding easier. I am so grateful!
Dressage is a partnership between the rider and the horse. We are in a relationship together. Sometimes a circle. Sometimes sorting cows. Sometimes on the trail.
Enjoy the journey!
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Do you have months and months and months of winter time off? Then spring arrives and you can’t wait to ride again. Only your horse has grown a sagging hay belly and is desperately out of shape. Now what?
By Jennifer Klitzke
Ever since my husband and I moved to our farm, it feels like I have to start all over again each spring after five months off. On one hand, I love seeing my horses every day even though the winters get long without an indoor arena. The downside is having to start the first month of spring getting back to where we left off in the fall.
When I used to board my horses, I rode year-round in an indoor arena during the winter months. This kept me and my horses in shape, and we didn’t have the downtime we have now.
Yet, winter offers me time to read my dressage books. Time to study our videos. Time to reflect on how we are doing and what we need to improve upon.
In my winter studies, I became aware of a few things in my riding that I have started to apply now that spring is here.
Reading Philippe Karl’s Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage offers many insights about why horses are crooked, the symptoms of crookedness, and a how good dressage program helps horses become ambidextrous and equally flexible. This spring I am making a conscious effort to stretch stiffer outside muscles to become even with the flexible side. Read more>
It occurred to me that teaching the naturally gaited horse to engage the hind quarters to step deeper under its body and engage its abdominal muscles to lift its back are two separate functions. Both are essential for top line muscle development. I have noticed that engaging the hindquarters does not automatically engage the abdominal muscles to lift the back to a neutral position.
I wrongly believed that by engaging the hindquarters for a deeper step under the body also engaged the abdominal muscles to lift the back. This may be the case for some horses, but not all.
For me, I had to recognize this on video and photos and then begin to develop a sense of feel while in the saddle for when the horse’s back was hollow and when the horse’s back was neutral.
When I ask the horse for a quality rein back, I feel the back and wither lift. So this is the feeling I seek to maintain. The rein back, transitions between gaits, and a quality canter engage the abdominal muscles and so does a stretching trot.
Now that it is spring, I have started a few new tactics with my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse Makana and naturally gaited fox trotting mare Lady. Neither are spring chickens. Both are 16 years old. And both have developed sagging hay bellies over winter.
While in the cross ties, I have started to apply belly lifts. I poke them in the belly until they lift their back to a neutral position. I ask them to hold their back up for a few seconds. Then I release and praise them, rub their belly, and give them a snack. I do the belly lift about six times on both sides.
Then I take each horse to the round pen for free lunging. Normally I tack up my horse with a saddle and bridle, cross the irons, and loop the reins. For the purpose of this post, I free lunged Lady without tack to show how free lunging in trot and canter improve engagement of the hind quarters and abdominal muscles to lift the back.
Allowing the naturally gaited horse to trot at liberty will not ruin the horse’s smooth gait. In fact, teaching a gaited horse a quality trot on cue can improve the quality of smooth gait.
I have been free lunging both Lady and Makana for 20 minutes each five days a week. I ask them to travel counter clock wise more than clock wise so that they stretch their stiffer outside muscles.
After free lunging, I work each horse in hand for 5-10 minutes to soften the jaw and poll and encourage the horse to taste the bit. Then I ride for another 20 minutes.
We should be back in shape before you know it!
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