Carl Hester's 'trick'

[wkiwi]

Actually, not a trick at all.
I was lucky enough to watch Carl compete at Hickstead recently and noticed how chilled his horse was compared to some others in the class. Watching carefully, it seemed that every time he checked the horse he then also gave immediately afterward i.e. 'ask and yield'.
This was in direct contrast to some others in the class who seemed to 'take and hold'. Some of these horses looked like the wound tighter and tighter as the test progressed.

I didn't see all the others in the class, but certainly another rider in the top few placings also had a chilled out horse and looked to be using exactly the same riding technique.
Of course, this is a basic principle, but I wonder how many of us actually manage to ask and yield in a competition environment, or whether we tend to get tense and hold too much instead? (Particularly at larger shows when there is more atmosphere/pressure).

I know that i completely messed up a showjump in an important class once, which cost me hundreds in prize money, when the horse would have cleared it easily if i had just stayed chilled myself.
What are other peoples experiences???

 

[Goldenstar]

Watch Edward Gal,with a young or green horse you will see if the horse becomes strong he will halt loose the rien pat then go back to what he was doing .
I don't think it a a trick it's the basis of pressure and release training .

 

[wkiwi]

Yes; as i said, a basic principle.
I was just wondering how well others managed to do it in competition when the pressure is on?
Have you had any moments when you've thought that you've held onto your horses mouth more than you should and its cost you a class/placing?

 

[AdorableAlice]

I guess at his level tension just does not figure in his riding. For us mere mortals it is more tricky !

 

[Puddleduck]

I think his management of his horses also plays apart. They get turned out, go out hacking and get to do normal horse stuff.
I was watching a programme recently where he was showing Valegro at home and talking about how he is cared for. He sent him out hacking with Alan his groom, he was in a hackamore and Carl said he did that to give him a mental break from dressage.

 

[Fuzzypuff]

I think his management of his horses also plays apart. They get turned out, go out hacking and get to do normal horse stuff.
I was watching a programme recently where he was showing Valegro at home and talking about how he is cared for. He sent him out hacking with Alan his groom, he was in a hackamore and Carl said he did that to give him a mental break from dressage.

To be fair, many get turned out and go out hacking, it's just Carl shouts about it particularly well. There is quite a large element of training here, Valegro himself is quite exceptional in temperament, however the other horses are accostomed to big shows from the outset, they will travel abroad and be ridden in the warmup long before they actually compete.

Re the riding, yes this is basic riding, it's just unfortunately many don't get it right, and it is even more difficult in a high pressure situation. It's something I'm not great at but trying hard to get better! Having said that when you are on something that might explode at any given second it is quite hard to trust them enough to give!

 

[PolarSkye]

I think his management of his horses also plays apart. They get turned out, go out hacking and get to do normal horse stuff.
I was watching a programme recently where he was showing Valegro at home and talking about how he is cared for. He sent him out hacking with Alan his groom, he was in a hackamore and Carl said he did that to give him a mental break from dressage.

Clever (or appropriate) management is very, very important . . . we always had specific tack for everything Kali did so that he understood precisely what he was going to be doing and got the appropriate mental break - different bridle/bit combinations for hacking, schooling, jumping and competing, different saddles (obviously) and different boot/bandage combinations - I think it makes a massive difference (along with all the other things like appropriate feed, turnout, routine, etc.).

P

 

[siennamum]

I know what you mean OP. I think its someway towards the definition of good hands. I think it requires real skill & great feel to not pull when a horse is being strong, but to instead give/carry the hands and stay soft while checking.
I certainly find it hard & really good discipline to master. Maybe it's a bit of a lost skill with so many top riders overtly bending & flexing and apparently using the hands in a fairly unforgiving way.

 

[Barnacle]

If you hack a strong horse and it tries to run away with you, pulling isn't going to get you anywhere - or, well, you'll go where the horse wants, and quickly. To me it's second nature to release after a check... If it wasn't, a lot of the horses I ride out would bolt with me when all I wanted was a quiet canter. I wonder if part of the problem is that a lot of riders will only really be schooling day-in, day-out? I honestly think that if YOU hack (nevermind the horse), you learn to do this naturally.

The other thing I'd add is that understanding the basics of how pressure-release training works is important. The release is the reward, so if it doesn't come, you've messed up your training. Maybe in a competition environment this goes out the window but for me, every moment with a horse is training. It may be subtle of course and I don't mean I'm constantly obsessing about it but, for example, only giving a treat after asking for something from the horse or making the horse wait calmly for its feed or even getting the horse to stand an extra moment after first mounting - that sort of little thing - is always in the back of my mind when I interact with them. So the same goes for releasing after applying pressure if the horse does as I ask. It just doesn't make any sense to me not to! Otherwise, why did I apply the pressure to begin with? It's not going to teach my horse a thing unless I follow through.

 

[wkiwi]

Well put Barnacle! (and others).
I wonder if people are not being taught the basics anymore? Mind you, I went through some of the BHS system as a teenager, as well as various other training sources, and I don't remember an instructor actually mentioning the correct way to use this in my first couple of decades of riding. Yet it is in many of the old classic textbooks and even mentioned in Xenophon 400BC.

Do others get this reinforced from their current instructors? Has the focus been lost with trying to get a frame/movements at any cost?
Not just talking dressage here - I was appalled to see so many horses warming up for top-level showjumping in running rein arrangements with their noses pulled near their chests. Of course the pressure to get prize money at the higher levels is enormous, but surely this cannot be right from the horses point of view.

 

[OwnedbyJoe]

I think it is very hard sometimes for people to "allow a horse to do the wrong thing" as it feels unsafe..
How can we teach a horse to stand if we never allow the horse to walk off unasked? The reward comes with the relief of pressure, but the LEARNING comes with the correction of the undesirable behaviour. A horse cannot express the undesirable behaviour (jogging, walking off too soon from the mounting block, even tanking off) if we never let their heads go. Therefore they cannot ever learn what the wrong thing is, so they remain perpetually confused about what the right thing actually is!
All horses should be able to stand, walk and trot on a loose rein (a TRULY loose rein).

 

[MissMistletoe]

A good horseman should know that a horse will normally follow the line with the least pressure, hence giving and taking the rein will at least reward the horse rather than a constant pull on the reins which gives the horse no choice but to pull back and resist more.

I'm not from a competitive background, particularly, but I can imagine it would be hard for one to remember the importance of 'give' when you have a fresh youngster bouncing around the arena! and you are hanging on for dear life!. I guess it depends on how self disciplined you are and how influenced you are by competition nerves, for example or pressure to do well. Some riders seem to just have that edge over others and I agree, that horse management overall can really influence the horse's ability to cope better than others.

It is very sad how some newer riders do lack the correct basic riding skills; eg stopping a horse by pulling both reins backwards hard on the bit is not the way to do it!. There are weight , leg and seat aids which compliment a very gentle squeeze on one rein to steady the horse and finally a very quick squeeze on both reins to apply a "stop please" with instant release.

 

[siennamum]

I think it is far more than a simple thing really though. It isn't just arrest then release. With our strong but ridiculously sensitive horse, he has to learn to follow the bit & stretch longitudinally, which is what it sounds as if Carl was doing. You have to be able to react to the least resistance to the rein, by pushing the horse into a soft hand, off one or both legs.
I find it a bit counter intuitive and of course you have to be able to control all 4 (human limbs) independently as well as you seat aids & do al this with a high degree of subtelty & a very light touch.
It is entirely at odds with some dressage riding I see where if you took a pair of scissors and snipped the reins of the horse storming around with it's chin in & mouth trapped shut, & the reins carrying the weight of a 10st stone, head nodding human, the human would simply fall off the back of the horse - such is the degree they are leaning back at.

 

[kassieg]

I'm not from a competitive background, particularly, but I can imagine it would be hard for one to remember the importance of 'give' when you have a fresh youngster bouncing around the arena! and you are hanging on for dear life!. [/QUOTE]

I do agree with you here instinctively , the last thing we want to do in this situation is drop our reins but it is also the best thing you can do. My old mare used to get like that sometimes out hacking & i would literally have to take my feet out of the stirrups, lengthen my leg & ride on the buckle & you would just feel her whole body drop & relax

It honestly makes me sad when i go to local shows & see the level of understanding of the children, teenagers & even adults have of the basics of training. Not just in ridden work but also in ground work as well. I don't think it is taught so much nowadays especially by bhs instructors.

 

[Cortez]

Carl Hester's "trick" is to simply ride correctly, something that seems to be vanishingly rare judging by current scenes at competitions and other gathering places of contemporary riders. Sad indictment of modern teaching.

 

[PolarSkye]

Worth remembering too that horses should actually go off the release point of the aid . . . leg on/leg off - go/do - it's the application AND release of pressure/aid rather than just the application and it should happen relatively quickly but subtly and kindly.

P

 

[honetpot]

I think he always has an eye the end result not the immediate gain. I have seen him pat a horse on the neck in the middle of a test when it has become unsettled or muddled, so in that case the horse got a extra physical its OK, well done.
Methods of teaching riding tend to concentrate on the mechanics of riding and very few even mention that tension in us can effect the horses movement, and it not just about heels down,back straight and the phrase I think should be banned, on the bit. Constant pressure on the mouth will obviously lead to numbness and eventually scarring of the tissues, a hard mouth. Your weight/body aids are just as important ,probably more in effecting the horses speed,direction and movement.

 

[kc100]

As someone else has mentioned, it goes against human nature and our own survival instincts to 'let go' when a horse is getting strong, we want to hang on for dear life! So you are battling against instinct hence why it is so common for riders to be tense and hold on, making the argument between horse and rider grow and ultimately get worse as we all know the horse will win due to sheer size and strength.

I've had many dressage instructors in my time and like to keep mixing up my training as I enjoy learning from many people, everyone has their own little ways of doing things so I find a combination of many styles and techniques works best for me. One instructor when I rode a particularly strong 17.3hh former hunter taught me the all important 'let go' moment, this horse had a wonderful canter but often got excited in canter so would get progressively stronger and faster until it was full blown wall of death. Instructor shouts at this point 'Give and re-take!', I thought I was going to die but instead horse had nothing left to fight against so slowed right down. Never struggled with canter on him after that, and always got 8's for canter out competing because it was so relaxed and soft.

This was never taught to me in a riding school, I think the problem with RC's is they are just encouraging you to complete a movement rather than riding it correctly. At a good RC you might get a bit of help with riding correctly in a private lesson but in group lessons they rarely have the time to focus on your riding as an individual. So it was only after I left RC's and had a horse on part loan, when I started lessons with proper DR riders and trainers was when I felt my riding truly started to improve.

Another big contributing factor to the problem is competitive riding, especially in dressage, has become about forcing the horse into an 'outline' or whatever the latest trend is to call it, and then hold it there. No-one worries about self carriage and can fake an 'outline' by clever riding. My favourite instructor who used to ride with the Spanish High School teaches relaxation over anything else, and relaxation in the neck is the most important thing you can achieve with your horse. Once you have relaxation you can add anything else you like (expression, collection etc) but without it you cannot ever have the horse working correctly. You can attempt the movements and often a judge may score you well, despite the tension, but a good judge should spot the tension a mile away and mark you down. I've achieved fleeting glimpses of true relaxation and self carriage in a few of the tricky horses I ride and it feels wonderful, like you are floating - then all you need is a few tiny tweaks if the horse loses it to regain the relaxation. That kind of subtle, intuitive and sensitive riding is lost on a lot of people who are just after the high marks and will hold their horse's neck in for the duration of a test because they think that is what is going to score them higher.

Someone else did mention temperament - you cannot overlook the importance this plays in the horse's ability to relax in stressful situations. I chose my youngster based on his sire's temperament and the temperament he showed as a yearling; now he's 2 my choice based on temperament hasnt let me down so far. He takes to all situations like a duck to water, situations that send other youngsters into a spin he takes in his stride and just gets on with it. Very similar to Valegro; he's always clearly been a special horse with a special temperament, when you watch the Fantastic Elastic masterclass from years ago when Valegro was 5 or 6, he doesnt bat an eyelid at the crowd or the situation he's in, just gets on with the work asked of him and enjoys it. Charlotte was riding him and the mistakes that were made all came from the rider!

Too many people are picking 'hot' horses because they want the expression thinking that will be the route to high scores, but in fact they cannot ride one leg of said hot horse and instead get something that is tense and loses marks because of that. Carl can cope with what may be to others quirky hot horses, because he is a pro with years and years of experience riding anything anyone put his way. Most amateurs cannot claim they have had anywhere near that level of experience and therefore often cant cope with the quirks of the pricey warmblood they've bought. If we all bought horses suitable for our experience but with a bit of potential for development, and got ourselves a good classic riding instructor who understands the basics of riding (not competitive riding!) then we'd all be in a very different boat! That was my plan with my youngster and I'm so glad I did it, I dont have the issues left over from someone else's poor schooling and I specifically chose something based on breeding and temperament that would be suitable for the job as a dressage horse when he grows up. But not something too sharp and hot that as an amateur I'd never be able to get on with and enjoy owning & riding.

 

[wkiwi]

I think this sums it up nicely.

 

[tristar]

read any book and it will tell you, if you pull against the horse the horse will pull against you.

completely agree about relaxation, I`ve just spent 6 months with my latest youngster, working on rhythm and relaxation, sometimes he dies a little, so I ask for more by riding out of the arena and around a small field to open him up, then return to the arena with a different horse! no need for strong aids.

when riding a young horse if it has a momentary whoopy I just hang on, then return to normal contact, it doesn't hurt them to learn that they can be contained then rewarded through their own self control.

I think this ability to relax is the true way to unlocking the real power of a horse, the boiled up overcooked horse is a misery to its self and its rider, I hate to see it, and I find horses who are relaxed totally unforgettable, they leave an impression that lasts,