HHO virtual clinic - Week 4

[milliepops]

Unless someone else has suggestions I'm putting these forward for week 4? Happy to give way if someone is sitting on a suggestion though
I've been watching the videos that Hayley Watson-Greaves has been putting on FB regularly and thought these 3 might complement each other and bring a different dimension to what we've been doing so far? I think the 3 together are progressive so anyone can start with the first one, the second would be a development and the 3rd for those who are more established. the videos are self explanatory but I've attempted a summary too

1. flexion exercise. riding large on the track using inside flexion maintaining straightness on the line you are travelling on so the horse doesn't deviate from the track, then develop that by riding on the 3/4 line to really test the straightness you have got on the track. To develop further, flex to inside and outside on the 3/4 line. Can do this in W T and C.

2. starting to teach shoulder-in. A quite simple exercise but I can really see why this is a good approach to help the horse really understand that the shoulders should go to the inside rather than curl around and fall to the outside which often happens!

start by riding a straight shallow diagonal line from the corner to the quarter line (have drawn a diagram because sometimes people get in a muddle with these but the video is helpful). Add inside leg towards the end of the line around your turn.
Later, ride a diagonal line from corner onto the 3/4 line, then put your inside leg on while you ride on the 3/4 line (so giving the shoulder-in aids really), and then ride away from the 3/4 line on another diagonal to the centre line.
this is shown in trot but no reason you couldn't also do walk and canter

3. teaching renvers (loved this video as it shows an international GP horse in his basic "pony" trot which makes it rather more relatable!
starting from shoulder in, adding bend to the outside to produce renvers, maintaining the angle and line. A more advanced horse can do s-in to renvers back to S-in. again W T and C.

 

[milliepops]

Ooh diagrams. Probably people can follow what she says in the video but if not, here's exercise 2: diagonal lines



And the diagonal- shoulder in - diagonal development

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Will give these a go thank you, exercise two pattern would be good to teach half pass too as another progression, so SI move them over a few steps in half pass, back to SI, etc

 

[shortstuff99]

Oooo thank you! Definitely going to give the bottom one a go, my mare likes to hold tension in the neck and this might be a good exercise to help keep it soft and relaxed.

 

[milliepops]

I use shoulder-in to renvers quite a bit for straightness because it stops Kira pushing the outside shoulder down and really engages her hindlegs. I think the 2nd exercise will also highlight straightness issues! I like finding things like this that give you ways to test and improve straightness without hammering the horse, that's a fairly low impact floorplan but if you made the turns really crisp it could be great improving for rideability.

 

[Kat]

Great will try these. I've done part 1 before and we have shoulder in although it needs to be more established, we don't have renvers at all so working through this could be interesting.

 

[Roxylola]

Oh these look good. I'm generally better to the right but my shoulder in right is weaker than left so this might help me even things out

 

[Wheels]

Will give them all a good try over the weekend

 

[rara007]

I started today with exercise 1 driven but with cones marking the line as we don’t have an arena out. I last did this exercise by itself on the big young kwpn I had for ridden years back but I can see even for a grown up horse the control to have the bend where you place it regardless of where you are will really help the straightness and in turn lateral work. We’re practiced at SI both on the edge and the centre line but going straight on 4 tracks with inside bend is in theory easier but does show control rather than rote learnt exercise isywim! Short video today only in trot as we had a human helper with limited patience...! We finished with changing the bend along the line plus a go in canter each leg but no footage of that.

Interesting that to the left I’m ending up windscreening my left hand in but to the right it’s my left doing the funky chicken outwards. Left he’s also trying to swing his outside hind out and there’s a slightly alarming twist to his action but in turn there is more bend. I’ll try again either ridden or with boards rather than cones and try to really let him bend more- I think it’s me limiting it to really subtle at the moment, I didn’t realise from on top quite how subtle it is but I was keen to not end up in SI. TBC...

 

[milliepops]

really interesting to see it as a driven exercise thanks for sharing.

 

[milliepops]

we started with exercise 2 because Darcy can't go large round the school yet without having a meltdown! He's done so little work lately I am going for the setting up for success approach rather than challenging boundaries too much at the moment. In fact before lockdown trainer and I had agreed that I wouldn't ride him at home for a few months because it was becoming counterproductive, so I am quite pleased that these simple exercises are giving us something to build little successes on each time while we can't go anywhere else

Didn't film the first element but here's left and right adding the shoulder in. He tapped into this quite well and started to relax and concentrate, I added some circles to help establish the inside bend now and then when he got a bit wooden. This is the most settled work he has done in months, so while there's loads to improve I feel like the foundation is there at last.

(scuse the emergency handbrake draw reins, we aren't doing Classical Dressage here, we are doing Good Behaviour And Safety. after the first set when he proved himself I tied them in a knot on his neck so I could just ride on the snaffle they are threaded through his neckstrap because he chews them given the chance)

Left first

then right

 

[HufflyPuffly]

He looks super MP especially after time off and hedge of doom.

Skylla was ridiculous tonight, but we worked through the exercises. The video showed she wasn’t straight left so I think that’s why she got herself in knots, so lots of straightness training for us!

Exercise 1:

Exercise 2 ( bit too sideways on four tracks, it’s hard to tell sometimes with her as she just wants to go sideways so much ?):

Exercise 3, she’s not done this before so it’s very wobbly but she tried super hard :

 

[Roxylola]

Draw reins are just a piece of tack, a useful tool when needed. He's got a nice rhythm when hes relaxed in the trot work MP.
Love Skylla - which way do you want me to wriggle now? <3

 

[milliepops]

Draw reins are just a piece of tack, a useful tool when needed. He's got a nice rhythm when hes relaxed in the trot work MP.

Yeah they've made the difference between untrainable bogging off with me to a horse that is able to wait for instructions in lessons we tie them in a knot at the start but at home he hasn't ever quite relaxed enough for that before. So he's on his way again now he knows quite a bit now, just needs to stop sticking his fingers in his ears ?

I really hope we can keep chipping away now over lockdown, cant cope with another winter that tricky ?

 

[Wheels]

Hes looking good MP, his right SI was lovely for his stage of training and his left looked a bit more awkward but he did look like he was trying.

I think this exercise will help M with his canter shoulder in as he finds that a bit confusing but will try it out in walk a trot first and this is also another exercise to do in hand I think

 

[milliepops]

Thanks, yes suppleness left has been more difficult for him from the start but this kind of exercise will help develop it when I twigged to add circles I started to be able to get him more securely into the right hand without tilting his head so much. Doh!

 

[Wheels]

Have you tried changing diagonal for the shoulder in? I know we discussed it re. Leg yield but I always change diagonal for shoulder in as well (unless I'm sitting) as it frees up the inside hind and let's it swing under more. Might be worth a try on the left rein

 

[tatty_v]

Great will try these. I've done part 1 before and we have shoulder in although it needs to be more established, we don't have renvers at all so working through this could be interesting.

Same here, really looking forward to trying them to see where we can get to ?

 

[catkin]

We had a go at exercises 1 and 2 this morning.
I did wonder how this might pan out as Fellboy does set his neck - and was surprised at the results. Also found that my faults were amplified back to me so forced me to sit straight and use aids 'properly' .

After a wibbly-wobbly start we actually got exercise 1.

So onto exercise 2.
By this time we'd got ourselves quite tuned in to what straight felt like, and how subtle any little corrections needed to be.
Fellboy did a couple of steps of shoulder-in, and then we got it - that 'turbo-charged' feeling as the pony went back on his hocks and really went forward in trot

Am so enjoying these exercises

 

[rara007]

I had a talk to myself and improved on exercise 1 driven today. Sure enough keeping hands balanced and letting him stretch was much more effective. Coming a little onto 3 tracks at times but I’ll take that!

Long day at work tomorrow but Monday I’ll look at exercise 2 probably ridden

 

[Roxylola]

Rara, I've done a very little driving and I am in awe that you even attempt this sort of thing. It's not easy from on top so hats off to you for being able to do it from 10 foot away!
Supercob is technically a ride and drive but it's been about a year and anytime we pass his cart in the storage area he spooks at it so I'm taking that to mean he likes being a riding horse ?

 

[milliepops]

agreed Roxy! looks like good progress rara.

Kira had a go today. I wanted to do this with her because we have a bit of an issue with her leaning down on the outside shoulder in shoulder in on the track, I notice it most in canter - shoulder in to travers is a good exercise to get her breathing and letting me ride her especially when she's in one of her ad-libbing changes phases, but the quality of the s-in is not always that good.

Exercise 1, fairly straightforward for Kira I think, she does quite a bit of neck flexions when she gets too set in the neck so this is fairly familiar to her.

Exercise 2, started out a bit blurry round the edges, until I got a grip and made sure that on the left rein she was properly coming off the track straight on the first turn, rather than already starting to push down on the outside shoulder.
right and a bit of iffy left

better left

Exercise 3, only got a clip of the right rein as left was not so visible. It would have been better with the camera on the long side but I had other plans today after these exercises that needed the centre line S-in to renvers is so useful with kira, it really gets her to take the S-in more seriously.

 

[milliepops]

Canter.
Exercise 2 right - same problem as trot, but opposite way round - getting too much neck bend and not enough secure positioning.

Better on the left, once i remembered to collect her and then right was a bit more organised.

Then did some of exercise 3 which made the second exercise more controlled again.

I had wanted to do some unrelated work today because we have our freestyle to video for online dressage hence the random tempis to change the rein we finished with this half pass exercise, I wanted to improve the responsiveness because sometimes it feels like I am doing more than her in HP, so we did some on and back in half pass, in the forward sections it becomes less parallel but I am pleased that she started to take me forward more honestly in the collection so I think it was worthwhile.

 

[milliepops]

Darcy tried again and also tried the renvers exercise in walk. Beyond his ability to do it well, but I don't think it hurts for him to learn there is something else out there that he will need to be able to do. I was pleased with his efforts, green and wobbly but trying to understand what I'm asking for. We did both reins but left rein was mostly out of shot.

Then trot left

and right

Lots to work on as before but I'm just so pleased with his attitude lately, you can't hear it well in the videos but the horses turned out behind the hedge were galloping up and down neighing like idiots and he was doing his very best to ignore them

 

[tatty_v]

We had a go today and I really enjoyed re-discovering the flexion exercise at the start (used to do this all the time when I first got my boy as he was so stiff but have got out of the habit of late!)

Shoulder-in was a bit stiff and against the hand to start with but by the end of the session was nice and fluid in trot on both reins. Would have loved to try in canter but we’re in the field and it’s like concrete at the moment so maybe later in the week after we’ve had some rain.

Tried the renvers but didn’t succeed. I was pleased that he didn’t automatically try swinging his quarters in, but we just basically ended up losing the shoulder-in and going straight (very nicely so it’s not a total loss!) Any tips from the more experienced riders? I wondered if he needed more collection and more “sit” in the hind legs to free up the front end?

 

[milliepops]

Ok so no expert but I have taught various sideways to lots of different horses. The shoulder-in to renvers is a really useful exercise but some of them struggle with it to start with so don't feel like you are in any way unusual it's also a lot for the rider to organise as your inside & outside swap round (compared to riding s-in and travers transitions, say).

Couple of things - how is he with generally changing bend, particularly when it's a bit more of a challenging request? e.g. can you ride with outside flexion on a circle? can you swap from flexion to counter flexion and back easily on a small (10m?) circle, because that would begin to simulate the kind of body bend that is needed, or the responsiveness that you need to have available to you.

Then I would say going from shoulder-in to straight (like leg yield bum to wall) is a stepping stone so being able to get that far is progress you could set that as the interim exercise for a green horse - s-in, LY bum to wall - back to S-in until they learn the basic idea before adding in the new bend to the outside.

I have found this easier to ride on an inner track, don't know whether it's just that they get the outside shoulder glued to the wall or aren't sure that they can bend towards the wall, but for instance i rode this with Darcy as a mash up with exercise 2, so I rode a diagonal line to an inner track to make sure I had the outside shoulder really pointing the way it needed to go, then a few steps S-in to establish the angle, then slowly change the bend - make sure you also change your seatbones so you weight the new inside one (as in new inside bend, which would be your outside seatbone as you go round the arena) .

I would add to make sure that you aren't asking for too much angle as they can end up overfaced and unable to really do what you're asking without losing balance or quality of the pace, a small degree that is under control and well understood is better than going too steep for their ability - you can always add more as it gets more established.

 

[tatty_v]

Thank you so much milliepops, that is massively helpful. He’s got much better at changing the bend in more challenging scenarios, although the key to that is hind leg drive, which tends to die as soon as you ask for something difficult (he’s a smart boy, I think he just stops the forward engine whilst he works out what you’re asking for and whether he can do it).

I’ll have a go with the flexion and counter flexion on the smaller circles to get him into the right frame of mind and body. I also forgot to change my weight so that won’t have helped ? I’ll also have a try of the S-in to leg yield and back to see how he responds.

Thank you so much for the help, I’m so enjoying these exercises and the great feedback and videos etc.

 

[milliepops]

Kira is one that backs off when presented with a challenge so I know that only too well. I think with horses like that it's helpful to break challenging exercises up into manageable chunks that are progressive, so you can insist on the staying forward and engaged, since you're only adding a small bit of difficulty each time. And then when you make it quite difficult, only ask for a few steps where you're really pushing their comfort zone, before going back to something easier, again so you aren't fighting a losing battle.

so when he gets the idea I would ride shoulder-in for 20m, say, really thinking about the quality of the pace, then ask for 5 or 10 steps renvers, then back to S-in and *quality* , and only as it becomes easier to get the renvers steps, would I ask for more of them. it's the getting in and out of renvers that is the key to this exercise I think so you don't need to labour on with it to make it better.

 

[Wheels]

My musings from trying these yesterday

We have done a version of the first exercise before but not for a while so it was good to revisit it. On the right rein M likes to pop his left shoulder out towards the rail and / or come slightly quarters in when bending to the right on a straight line. He does bend with a little encouragement but he wants me to hold him there rather than maintaining it himself. If I give the inside rein he will keep the bend for half a step and then goes straight again. This also happens in the lateral work so we will add this prep work in again more often to try and resolve that. The left bend he is happy to hold that himself even when I give the inside rein.

I forgot to try exercise 1 on the 3/4 line and I really wish I had done it because I think it would have helped with exercise 2

Onto exercise 2 - my arena is tiny so I found myself taking too steep a line and then we ended up with shoulder in on 4 tracks. On the right rein he really wanted to fall back to the track. I then took a longer less angled route but ran out of room for the SI. Final attempt was to just step off the track a few steps and this worked much better. Canter SI right worked for the first ever so will continue with this exercise until we can do it well at the rails. Canter SI left didnt have enough angle so we will try a steeper line next time.

Exercise 3 worked really well in walk and trot on both reins so not much to report there.

Then we went back to exercise 1 - I like to test the 1st exercise again to see if there were improvements as that is a good way to tell whether the work within the session was useful or not. Happy to say that the bend was much easier for him at the end of the session, no shoulder or quarters swinging this way and that, stayed straight in the body and kept the bend slightly longer when I gave the inside rein.

Day off today and we will do the exercises again tomorrow in hand - will try and get vids of that for anyone wanting to try it I hand

Pics show changing from SI to renvers

 

[McFluff]

Thank you for this exercise, it has definitely highlighted the areas we need to work on. My boy can get quite fixed in his neck, so the flexion work will take some time to help us I think. He did the shoulder in well, and I could feel an improvement. One to keep working on!