Introduction
Sometimes we are asked about how to structure a training session, or how to build the horse’s training over the years. There are several basic principles that you can follow in structuring the training of your horse in each ride, as well as longterm, through the years. Training should always revolve around refining the basics, such as improving the horse’s body awareness, coordination, balance, straightness, suppleness, permeability, the quality of the gaits, and eventually impulsion and collection. Dressage movements are on the one hand gymnastic tools that help the rider to improve these basics, and on the other hand they allow the rider to gauge to what extent the horse has mastered these basics, where there is need for improvement, where there may be holes in the training, and deficits in the horse’s body awareness or understanding.
Highest Priorities
Here is a list of the highest priorities, as I see them. If you focus on them and continuously work in improving and refining them, you are on fairly safe ground, and your horse will progress. Since we work our horses mostly in motion, everything has to start with choosing an arena pattern, aligning the horse’s feet on this pattern, and establishing a tempo, stride length, and energy level that allows the horse to find his balance and relax.
Even when you work your horse at the halt, you try to balance him by aligning him on the straight line or curved line on which you stopped. You can stop in a lateral movement as well. The horse should then maintain the same angle and bend that he had in motion. You can engage the hind legs more at the halt and shift the weight to one side or the other, or more onto the hind legs. Refining balance is always one of the highest priorities because everything else flows from balance. Without balance, nothing positive can be achieved.
Pick an arena pattern. It could be anything, a circle, a volte, a serpentine, a rectangle, square, triangle or oval. Round patterns tend to be easier for the horse than angular ones. Larger patterns are easier than smaller ones because the tighter a turn, the more weight the inside hind has to support.
Align your horse on the line of travel, so that his left legs are on the left side of the line, his right legs are on the right side of the line, and his spine forms a segment of this line (i.e. on curved lines the horse’s spine has to bend). This helps the horse to find his lateral balance. It’s the beginning of straightness.
Find a tempo, stride length, and energy level that allows the horse to relax. This is the beginning of longitudinal balance. The tempo must be regular like a clock work, neither too fast, nor too slow. Otherwise the horse won’t find his balance and consequently won’t be able to relax. If the strides are too short or too long, he won’t be able to find himself, either. If the energy level is too high, the horse will be too tense. If the energy level is too low, the impulses of the hind legs won’t reach the bit.
Bend the horse in motion to improve his balance, suppleness, flexibility, and strength. This Flexibility training is subdivided into 3 phases:
a) Bending and turning on a single track (circles, voltes, corners, serpentines)
b) Sidestepping while bending against the direction of travel (enlarging the circle, leg yield, turn on the forehand in motion, shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in)
c) Sidestepping while bending in the direction of travel (haunches-in, renvers, half pass)Connect the horse’s hind legs to the reins from back to front by asking one hind leg to push slightly more while letting him feel one of the reins for 2-3 strides.
Connect the horse’s legs to the weight and the ground by slowing down or stopping into each leg.
Teach the horse body awareness and coordination by moving the hips around the shoulders, the shoulders around the hips, moving both hips and shoulders sideways at the same time, picking up individual legs, shifting the weight from one side to the other.
Steps 1-3 establish a preliminary balance, which allows the horse to relax and to take a steady, even rein contact. There may still be stiffnesses and resistances left over, due to conformation flaws or past training issues.
Step 4-7 will help in finding these muscle blockages and to resolve them. Steps 4-7 can be practiced in the same session in various combinations.
The traditional training sequence based on Step 4) was to introduce 20m circle, corner, volte, shoulder-in, haunches-in, half pass in this order. The bend of the corner and the volte is the same as in the lateral movements.
Ride more challenging exercises at first in the walk to give the horse a chance to figure out which leg goes where and which leg has to support the body mass at any given point in the exercise. When it flows well in the walk, try it in the trot. When it flows well in the trot, try it in the canter.
If things fall apart during an exercise, or a movement, come back to the walk or even the halt to reestablish balance and suppleness before resuming the trot or canter and before continuing the movement.
Each movement can be analysed as a composite of several basic elements (pushing, lifting/carrying, turning the shoulders, sidestepping, bending the spine, shifting the weight). If something goes wrong, or if an exercise/movement is challenging for the horse, at least one of these elementary components will be difficult. When you improve this area, the original exercise will be better as well.
You can find out where your horse is in his training by using this list and checking which elements are difficult for him, and which ones are within his possibilities. He may be at a different level in each gait.
The higher the gait, the bigger the strides, and the higher the energy level, the more stiffnesses and resistances tend to come to the surface. Too much power and lengthening the strides too much can upset the horse’s balance and create stiffness and resistance. On the other hand, overloading the haunches and shortening the strides too much can restrict the horse’s movement too much and also lead to stiffness and resistance.
Conclusion
You can use my list of action steps and priorities as a guideline that you follow when you structure a training session. Start with something simple and let it evolve into more complex and more challenging exercises or patterns.
Start slow and gentle to give the horse and yourself a chance to find your bearings. When the exercise feels smooth at the walk, try it at the trot. When the horse can maintain his balance at a lower energy level, you can ask for more power.
Find out where your horse is in his training on any particular day. On some days you will be able to ask more of your horse or introduce a new movement, whereas on other days you may have to go back a step or two and confirm new concepts that you had been teaching him recently. Sometimes we have to go all the way back to the foundation and look for holes before we can continue with more advanced work.
You don’t need to stick slavishly to my list. There is always a certain freedom in the way you can structure your training. It’s meant more as a bit of a compass or a roadmap so that you don’t get completely lost.
