From: Susan
Dear Jessica, thank you for this wonderful service. Your information is better than all the books and magazines in my collection.
I have a question about getting those first lengthenings in dressage. My mare is working very well at Training Level and we have been getting scores in the 60s pretty consistently. I would like to move her up but I am worried about getting lengthenings. I can get them pretty easily at walk, but trot and canter are confusing to her and we end up going faster and faster until she canters (if she's trotting) or I pull her up (if she's cantering). Please help us. I don't want to stay at the same level forever like so many of the riders I see at shows!
Susan
Hi Susan -- thanks for the kind words, but keep reading your books and magazines. There are a lot of very good books out there!
Lengthenings won't be hard for your mare once she understands what it is that you want her to do. Right now, it sounds as though she isn't really certain what you're asking for, and so she offers what comes most easily: an increase in speed.
I think that it's easier to begin with the canter, asking for a lengthened stride on the long side. Come around the short side in a good, round, balanced canter and then come down the long side maintaining the SAME TEMPO while asking for more stride with brief, pulsing leg pressures. Keep a light contact with her mouth, and let her lengthen the reins by an inch or two during the time that you're asking her to lengthen her stride. But be careful to keep your balance unchanged and your head UP as you ask for the lengthening, and let HER lengthen the rein along with her stride.
If YOU try to take the initiative and throw the rein at her, she will lose her rhythm and probably increase the tempo to "catch" herself. Also, if you look down at the reins or at her neck whilst you are allowing the reins to lengthen, your balance will shift forward and instead of a lengthened stride, you'll just get a horse on the forehand. :-(
Once your mare has the idea of lengthening at canter, the trot lengthenings will come more easily to both of you.
The key to a good trot lengthening is to have the horse well balanced BEFORE (and during) the lengthening. At the trot, the easiest way to do this is to put the horse on a 10-meter circle in one corner of the arena. To achieve a good, rhythmic, relaxed 10-meter circle, your mare will have to be balanced, and this is exactly the balance she'll need to perform a trot lengthening.
From the circle, take her down the long side or across the diagonal (the latter will give you more room), keeping the same rhythm, balance, and TEMPO for the first few strides. Then, without changing your balance or looking down, ask with the legs and allow with the hands and seat. Notice and reward ANY tiny increase in stride length.
Like so much else in riding, what matters most about creating a lengthening is the preparation! A balanced, energetic, rhythmic, round horse CAN lengthen its stride without losing any of those qualities -- a horse lacking any of those qualities can NOT. As you prepare for your lengthenings, run through a little checklist in your mind, and ask only when you know that everything is a "go".
Good luck moving up!
Jessica
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