Introduction
During the late 90s, I went through a phase where I rode my horses very calmly and quietly so that they felt light and soft and pleasant. Then I rode in a clinic with Arthur Kottas and he told me: “You’re riding like an old lady!” He clearly wanted a lot more energy than I was asking for. After we had returned home I pulled out my videos of the SRS to look at the performances of the young stallions in order to get an impression of how much energy he was talking about. I was impressed with how much power and energy these horses showed in the video. From then on, I decided to ask for more power and energy from my horses, which helped me to improve together with them.
Energy as a Parameter of the Gait
Energy is not an official part of the training pyramid. It’s not really a formal category of training, although teachers will sometimes ask students to ride a more energetic walk, trot, or canter. I suspect that when teachers tell the students to “ride more forward” they often mean “create more energy”, but the word “forward” tends to lead to more speed, rather than more energy or more power.
The closest thing in the official terminology is Schwung/Impulsion, but it’s not quite the same as energy. The German word “Schwung” is derived from the verb “schwingen” = to swing, which refers to the rhythmic swinging motion of the horse’s back. The English term “Impulsion” could be interpreted as being derived from the impulse of the hind leg pushing against the ground in order to propel the horse’s body upward and forward. True Schwung/impulsion is the result of balance, straightness, suppleness, combined with energy/power.
The energy or power that I’m referring to here is a parameter of the horse’s gait that is perhaps similar to the rpm or the torque of an engine. It’s the energy output with which the horse is working. It’s the effort the horse puts into his work. Some horses have naturally low energy, which typically also translates into a low muscle tone. Some horses are energy conservers and seem to work only at 50% capacity, if they can get away with it (just like some humans do as well). Other horses throw themselves into the work and give 100% or more.
How Much Energy?
High performance horses need to move with a high energy output in order to be able to perform advanced dressage movements and to develop brilliance in their gaits. The more challenging the movement, the more energy the horse has to expend. For instance, a corner or volte requires more energy than a 20m circle. A pirouette requires more energy than a volte. A shoulder-in requires more effort than riding straight ahead on a single track. A half pass requires more energy than a shoulder-in. Higher gaits require a higher muscle tone and more energy than the walk, etc.
However, we can’t just get on any old horse and ride full throttle with every ounce of energy the horse can muster from the get go. This could quickly lead to a disaster if the horse isn’t ready for it. We may frighten the horse with our own high energy level, or we may create an explosion and lose control because the horse can’t balance himself when the energy level surpasses a certain limit. Some horses start bucking when they are at risk of falling because this enables them to bring all four feet under the body and stay upright.
There is always an upper limit and a lower limit for everything in riding. We need to respect these limits in order to make progress and to keep the horse sound. If the energy/power with which the horse is moving is too low, we won’t feel a connection in the reins because the impulses of the hind legs can’t reach the bridle. The horse will then be more or less strung out and inverted, the back will be sagging, and the hind legs will remain relatively straight and stiff.
On the other hand, if the energy/power is too high, the horse will be tense and stiff and probably braced against the reins and the rider’s aids. Consequently, Losgelassenheit/relaxation will be lacking.
Riding is often the art of finding the balance between too much and too little, and sometimes we err on the side of doing too much, asking too much, while at other times we are not asking for enough. Finding the optimum between the extremes is a lifelong pursuit.
In my own journey, I went through phases where I prioritized energy at the expense of relaxation (because I grew up riding mostly warmbloods who were lacking in energy). And I went through phases in which I prioritized relaxation at the expense of energy and expressiveness (e.g. at the Arthur Kottas clinic). Finding the perfect blend of energy and relaxation is not always easy.
It’s a Process
When you’re working with a green horse or a rehab horse you often have to be content with a relatively small amount of energy because the horse would otherwise push himself out of balance, lean onto the reins, and brace against the ground and against the rider’s body.
So you have to find the right amount of energy that allows the horse to balance himself, which is closely related to his ability to flex his hind legs and support the body mass with them. More energy usually means that the horse is using more pushing power to propel himself through space. This pushing power has to be matched by the carrying ability of the hind legs. Otherwise the horse will push himself onto the forehand. This requires a certain amount of strength of the flexor muscles, as well as a certain degree of suppleness of the hindquarters and spine.
When your horse is working nicely at the current energy level you have to increase the energy output from time to time in order to move up to the next level. This can bring resistances and stiffnesses to the surface that had been hidden up to this point by the low intensity level of the impulses of the hind legs. Sometimes the horse merely feels a little rougher to sit because the hind legs are pushing more, but they aren’t flexing more yet, which results in a bigger impact of the hind legs on the ground, but without an increased shock absorption. In this case, you maintain the higher energy output and work on increasing the vertical suppleness of the hindquarters, which will translate into softer, springier gaits.
With other horses, the higher energy output brings muscles blockages to the surface that you hadn’t been able to feel at the lower energy level. In those cases, you mobilize the stiff hind leg, poll, neck, spine, or shoulders through targeted exercises. Mobilization removes muscle blockages. And, conversely, removing muscle blockages increases the mobility of a joint.
This is a gradual process in which we increase the energy output incrementally from time to time, and then improve the suppleness and mobility of the hindquarters and spine so that pushing and carrying, extension and flexion of the hind legs match each other. This takes time because it requires considerable strength and stamina on the horse’s part to move powerfully, yet smoothly and lightly, with springy, elastic gaits.
Conclusion
The next time you ride, think about the perfect blend of energy/power and relaxation for this particular horse on this particular day. Is he giving you enough energy on his own? Do you have to prompt him to put more effort into it because he feels sluggish and lackluster? Or is he moving with too much energy, so that he feels tense and braced? Do you have to prioritize calmness and relaxation, rather than power and energy? This depends very much on the horse’s temperament and current training level.
Try to find the optimal blend for this horse and this particular training session. You can increase and decrease the energy level, like turning the heat of a stove up or down. If the stove is too cool, the food won’t cook. If the stove is too hot, the food will burn.
To a certain extent, the horse will mirror your own energy level. If you raise your energy, most horses will raise theirs. If you lower your energy, most horses will follow your lead.
You can also raise the horse’s energy by riding quick sequences of transitions between the gaits and within the gaits, sharp turns, and a few strides of lateral movements.
If you want to calm your horse down, choose a meditative walk or longer reprises in a calm, quiet trot with gentle, flowing arena patterns. You can incorporate lateral movements at the walk or trot as well. Stirrup stepping sequences that ground all four legs can have a calming effect too. The more balanced and grounded the horse is the calmer he will generally be from an emotional or psychological point of view, even if he works at 100% capacity.
When you follow the process outlined above, the horse’s gaits become bigger, more powerful, and more expressive over the years.
