Introduction
You can look at gymnastic exercises from several different angles. You can categorise them, for instance, as #shoulder-turning, #spine-mobilizing, #rib-cage-suppling, #hip-suppling, #hind-leg-strengthening, #straightening, #body-awareness-building, #connecting, etc. exercises. Or you could categorize them as #outside-hind-leg or #inside-hind-leg exercises, or as #outside-aids, or #inside-aids exercises, depending on which aids you are using predominantly, or which hind leg you are targeting.
It’s important to keep in mind that these categorizations are neither absolute nor are they mutually exclusive. An exercise can fulfill more than one gymnastic purpose. But categorizing the exercises according to their gymnastic effect can help us understand a problem or design a custom exercise to address an issue we have identified.
Since exercises have several different properties at the same time, they can belong into several different categories at the same time. It always depends on which aspect you want to focus on at the moment.
And just because you think of an exercise as highlighting the use of the outside aids, for example, doesn’t mean that you don’t need to use the inside aids at certain moments.
Examples
An example for an #inside-aids exercise could be the 1st test of the inside hind leg: Enlarge the circle.
An example for an #outside-aids exercise could be: CSI > volte > leg yield Typical examples of #inside-hind-leg exercises are: Enlarge > go forward, or SI > turn on the haunches
A good #outside-hind-leg exercise could be: CSI > single track > stop into the outside hind leg.
Do-It-Yourself
This way of thinking can help you to design your own gymnastic exercises that teach the horse certain skills, or that draw the horse’s attention to a specific leg or rein aid, or that target a specific hind leg or side of the horse’s body, or that mobilize and strengthen certain areas of the body. The creative possibilities are endless. You begin the design process by thinking from the end and asking yourself what you want to focus on. Then make a mental list of elements that fall under the relevant
category and select those that seem the most appropriate.
Focus on the opposite
We can take this idea one step further. Most riders focus exclusively on the sideways motion in lateral movements. They drive exclusively with their inside leg in the shoulder-in and with their outside leg in the haunches-in and half passes. In pirouettes and turns on the haunches they use only their outside aids.
Focussing too much on the sideways aspect of a lateral movement can easily lead the rider to neglect the aids on the other side of the horse’s body, i.e. the leg aids that support the forward motion. However, in all lateral movements the horse should go forward AS WELL AS sideways, not just sideways. In turns on the haunches and pirouettes the inside hind leg has to lift and step forward under the body mass in every stride.
The quality of the lateral movements in general actually depends to a very large extent on the quality of their forward aspect.
For example, the quality of the shoulder-in and counter shoulder-in depends very much on how well the outside hind legs steps under the body and flexes under the combined weight of horse and rider.
The quality of the haunches-in, renvers, and half pass depends very much on how well the inside hind legs steps under the body and flexes under the combined weight of horse and rider.
In turns on the haunches, passades, and pirouettes, the horse has to turn his shoulders AND go forward at the same time. The quality of the pirouette depends very much on how well the inside hind legs steps under the body and flexes under the combined weight of horse and rider, just like in the half pass.
With these considerations in mind, it is interesting to treat the shoulder-in as an #outside-aids/#outside-hind-leg exercise sometimes. In other words you could prepare the shoulder-in by engaging the outside hind leg for a few steps first so that it is in a better position to support the body while the inside hind leg is crossing.
Once you have initiated the shoulder-in, you could drive the outside hind leg forward, instead of driving the inside hind leg sideways. This often improves the bend because it prevents the horse from getting crooked by swinging his haunches to the outside.
If the quality of the shoulder-in deteriorates, you could interrupt it with a movement that engages the outside hind leg. This has a straightening effect and will correct many common mistakes that happen in the shoulder-in.
Following the same train of thought, you could treat the haunches-in/renvers/half pass like an #inside-aids/#inside-hind-leg exercise sometimes. In other words, you could prepare these movements by engaging the inside hind leg for a few steps first. This improves the bend and enables the outside hind leg to cross more easily.
Once you have initiated the half pass, you could drive the inside hind leg forward instead of driving the outside hind leg sideways. This will help to maintain the bend. It also prevents the haunches from leading, which is a very common mistake in the horse’s hollow direction.
If the quality of the half pass deteriorates, you could interrupt it with a movement that engages the inside hind leg. This restores the bend and the proper support of the body mass by the inside hind leg when the outside hind leg is crossing. It has a straightening effect and will correct many common mistakes that happen in the half pass.
In lengthenings many riders focus too much on the “more forward” aspect, so they get a faster gait, rather than longer, more powerful strides. If you engage and flex the hind legs before the lengthening and sometimes ask the horse to slow down before and during the lengthening, you get a better quality medium or extended trot. This means that you can prepare any lengthening through #collecting exercises. And you can finish any lengthening with a collecting exercise.
Conversely, when people want to collect their horse they often focus on slowing the tempo down or shortening the stride with their reins and perhaps a heavy seat so that they get a stiff horse, with a dropped back, and no impulsion. But if you keep in mind that impulsion is a product of balance, straightness, and suppleness, and you prioritize these three elements, you can add more power/energy over time, and when the horse stays supple and relaxed during the more powerful strides, you can direct the energy in a more vertical direction so that the hind legs move in a ballistic curve that becomes higher and therefore shorter. Collection will then develop without losing suppleness, or energy. In other words, if your goal is to increase the horse’s collection, ride #balancing, #suppling, and #straightening exercises. Then add more energy without sacrificing balance, lightness, and suppleness, and direct the additional energy up through the withers towards the sky.
Conclusion
Changing our focus and looking at a movement from a different angle keeps things fresh and gives us new insights and new ideas. We may detect training issues and knowledge gaps that we would otherwise have missed if we kept riding movements always the same way and focusing on the same things.
