Lengthened strides?

[ginnyspinner]

Sorry if wrong forum but how do you ask for a lengthened stride? My mare will do working trot beautifully in a nice outline, but I would like an extended pace and was wondering what aids people use to ask for this? Sorry if a bit dim for this forum, but not usually my thing!!!

 

[Partoow]

To develope lengthened paces you need to develope your horses ability to carry more weight on the hind leg, as the old saying goes..' there is no extension witcout ,first, collection'.
To develope this there are a variety of ways that encourge this increased engagement that is collection.
It is important to visualise what it is you are actually asking for. Medium trot is exactly that it requires bigger more ground covering steps and therefore he needs to open his frame and increase the moment of supension. It is not about going faster, it is about bigger steps.Thats why it is only trueley possible after asking for increased engagement, rather like a spring being coiled to contain energy and then releasing it down a corridor.
You need to really think about how you get the half halt, or as i sometimes call them, nearly transitions. really concentrate on being in balance and that you have an even feel in both reins.Use the corners of the school to get good flextion in the corner and keep your upper body tall and 'open'. rather like the wing of a butterfly opening up in the pelvis and lifting up in the breast bone, project this feeling along the long side of the school, at first stay in rising trot, dont throw the rein at your horse keep the contact but have the feeling that the contact is there to be taken forward. I tend to have an open thigh and a close contact with my lower leg so that i can squeeze the trot out into the connection and a little light tap with the whip to increase the activity of the hind leg.Get the increased reaction for just a couple of steps then keep the elbows bent such back a little close the thighs and bring back the trot imagining thet the steps now come more 'up' that forward so that you nearly make a transition back to walk. As he responds to this ask, relax the thigh by opening lift up through the ribs again , keep the contact even and activate the trot forward again squeezing the trot along the floor again get a couple steps again and then bing it back. This is what we call riding transitions within the pace. This trains the reaction and the balance in small 'bite size ' pieces,so that the hind leg is prepared by activating the hock; the half halt [ squashing the spring] and the release forward inthe contact like guide lines for the balance to the bigger steps.
At first it is just the reaction of on and back and the repetition that is important. It is better to keep the 'ask' short and sweet on and back , on and back. by not asking for too much for too long the horse does not get the chance to be thrown out of balance and then loose confidence.
As he learns to stay more connected you can ask for more steps but dont be greedy and keep asking for more and more in terms of length, when you get a reaction at first be happy with that dont get bent out of shape thinking that it is not 'extended trot' . it takes quite a lot of time to develope the strength to balance on the hindleg to maintain a full diagonal of medium and then extended trot. That is why it starts off as 'a few steps of medium' and then at elementery level to medium trot, with the transition at the end being back to working trot on the diagonal. Dont think of the transition being about stopping its not its about rebalancing on the hind leg so thet the 'spring' is there to be released again to balance in the next movement with the horses shoulders always up and open and all times.
when you do ride the transitions 'on and back' on the diagonal the turn on to the center line is the engaging 'moment' make sure you have an even feel in both reins that he is straight down the corridor of your connection then ride the activation as before , you should aim to ride 3-4 transitions at first on the diagonal again keeping the shoulders open so that he lifts through the ribs .
This then teaches the horse to expect to react to the ask but also to stay in balance and not be 'chased' across the diagonal out of balance.
if you are able developing the collection out of shoulder in this is also good and is how i develope the collection in a more advanced horse. when , for example, i was developing transition from collected trot to extended trot and then use the shoulder in to re- engage at the end of the long side.Or another exersise is shoulder-in from say K to E and then change the rein in medium trot to M. This is good because it developes the collection through connection in the shoulder in , it gives balance in the outside rein by taking the shoulder in to medium on the short diagonal and on reaching M you need to establish the new bend for the corner and therefore the new connection to the outside rein and therefore balance.
i hope this is not too wordy an explanation for you and that it makes sense. The important thing is keeping the 'ask' in balance and you the rider staying in balance and not to think of it as going faster but the steps being bigger.
good luck.

 

[Tempi]

i would advise doing it over trotting poles first so you get the feel of what you are meant to be getting as the end result. You should make the trotting poles about a foot wider than you would normally set them out (i advise starting off normally as a warmup over them, and then altering them). Then make sure you have the horse together and between leg and rein, keep a steady rhythm into the poles and squeeze with your inner theigh and rise slightly higher over them to let your horse stretch out over them. Make sure you keep your horses head up (but round) and dont let him flatten and run over the poles.

 

[digger2]

wow just reading that makes me feel completely rubbish at schooling