From: Sarabeth
Dear Jessica, I have been studying dressage (in books only) for several years but only started taking dressage lessons a few months ago. I love it but I find that I am often confused by the differences between what I thought I understood from reading all those books and what I am told by my dressage teacher.
My latest confusion has to do with roundness. My teacher says that I should always ride my best and ask my horse to move the best he can. It is okay for me to warm up at a trot on a loose rein (hanging rein with no contact), but as soon as I shorten the rein, I am supposed to put my horse on the bit and make him round. I am a fairly physically fit person, but this activity takes a lot of strength! It's not that I get tired, but I wonder how people manage who are less fit, or can you not ride dressage unless you are very fit and strong? So I am confused about rider fitness. I am also (same subject) concerned about the horse, because all of my dressage books and my teacher agree that a horse has to be strong and fit to go on the bit and stay round. Is it right for me to expect the horse to be round immediately after warmup, and stay round until the end of the lesson, or is that just too much to ask? And how much strength should the rider need to accomplish this?
Thank you for clearing this up! Sarabeth
Riders do need to be fit and strong, and the fitter and stronger they are, the better riders they can be, NOT because they will have more power over their horses and be able to kick and hit them harder, heaven forbid, but because they will be sufficiently strong to have excellent control over their OWN bodies. Without good control of your own body, you can't hope to give light aids, and you can't hope to develop an educated, "listening" seat. When a rider has good tone and good control (neither of which are possible without good "core strength), the rider can be quiet and gentle, use the aids precisely, and be clear. The fit, trained rider will ask the horse for (as an example) a balanced, cadenced trot in a rounded outline, and the fit, trained horse will offer exactly what the rider wanted, then continue to offer it until the rider asks for something else. It doesn't maintain the outline or the cadence because the rider is holding the one and forcing the other, but because its training has brought it to the point at which it UNDERSTANDS what the rider wants, and it is ABLE to stay round.
The warmup on a loose rein is only the very beginning of a proper warmup. Those first ten or fifteen minutes will stimulate the horse's circulation and help its muscles to become physically warm. Once this is accomplished, and you pick up your reins and begin the rest of the warmup, your horse should be working on the aids - but he should not necessarily be ROUND at this point. The remainder of the warmup should consist of everything the horse can do, from the most simple exercises to the most complex and sophisticated ones. By the time you reach the end of the warmup, the horse will have done everything it knows how to do. Throughout the warmup, as the exercises become more difficult and demanding, the horse should become more round, so that by the end of the warmup, he IS round - and that is when the NEW lesson may begin. So, yes, if your horse is working at a sufficiently high level that he is able to become round and sustain his roundness, then he SHOULD become round toward the end of the warmup, and through the lesson that is to follow (with regular breaks for stretching, of course). But that's not quite the same thing as trotting on a loose rein for five or ten minutes and then saying to the horse, "Okay, now GET ROUND RIGHT NOW, AND STAY THAT WAY FOR THE NEXT FORTY MINUTES!"
The horse does indeed need to develop the ability to use its belly and the joints of its hind legs, lift and stretch its back, round UP into the rider's seat, and carry itself.
When you put the horse "on the bit" - and here, let me say that I vastly prefer the expression "on the aids", because "on the bit" seems to put the emphasis on the bit, the reins, and the rider's hands, which encourages front-to-back riding. "On the aids" would begin with seat and legs and end with the rider receiving the horse's energy into her hands and either holding or allowing - the bit and reins and hands being, as they should be, the last and least of all the aids.
"Put" , like "strength", is a word that can lead to all kinds of misunderstandings and miscommunications between teachers and students, and between riders and horses. You need to know exactly what your instructor means when she tells you to "put" the horse in position. There is nothing wrong with showing the horse what you want it to do and encouraging to continue doing it as long as it can do so comfortably. There is a great deal wrong with forcing the horse into a position and attempting to hold it in that position by force.
Imagine yourself as a young ballet student. The instructor asks you to perform a plie in fourth position (the equivalent of you using light aids to ask the horse to round up for a moment). You can't quite get the idea, so the instructor puts one hand on your lower leg and one hand on your back to show you - LIGHTLY and GENTLY - precisely what your posture should be. Then she lets you carry on, and steps in to adjust your position only when you lose your alignment. THAT is good teaching. Now imagine the same situation, but this time, the instructor pulls your leg hard and shoves your back into a position that you cannot achieve without pain, or that you can barely achieve - and that you cannot hold for more than a moment before beginning to cramp. That would be bad - and it would be even worse if she then tried to use force to KEEP your body in that position. At worst, you could be physically injured. At best, you would feel hurt and frightened, you would not trust the instructor, and the next time she came near you with the intention of adjusting your position, you would become tense and rigid, which would ruin the whole point of the lesson, and of ballet lessons in general.
Your horse is in the same situation as that young ballet student. You can ask it to move in ways that will help create the posture you want, but you must do so very gently, and not ask it to sustain the effort to the point of cramping or pain. If you allow the horse to develop its strength and balance gradually, and if you asking for no more than it can give at any time, you will find that the horse will steadily become stronger and better able to do what you want it to do, more easily and for a longer time. Back muscles have to stretch, neck muscles have to stretch, belly muscles have to contract... this is WORK! Ask for a few strides, then allow the horse to relax and and stretch down and out, then put the horse back together (gently!) and ask again. As the muscles develop, the horse will be able to do more and more - and because you haven't forced it or caused it to fear you, the horse will OFFER more each time, and you'll be able to do less and get more. You will ask quietly, the horse will offer generously, and you will accept, with thanks.
Being a soft rider doesn't mean being an incapable or indecisive rider. It means being a strong and definite rider who can offer clear requests to the horse. If you have to hold more, it should be a clarification "Please put this HERE") not an amplification.
You need to think in terms of asking and allowing the horse to do what you want it to do, rather than thinking about "making" it do this or "putting" it in a particular position. Good riding means riding in a way that enables the horse to become steadily stronger, more flexible, and more clear in its understanding, so that when you ask it something, it is able (and eager) to offer you a faster and more enthusiastic response. If you do that, and your training follows a logical progression that develops your horse's body and mind over time, then your horse will always be ready for each new demand, and will find it easy to do what you ask it to do - including "getting round".
Jessica
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