Novice 20 - "allow the horse to stretch" advice please

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MuddyCob

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Doing Novice 20 at the weekend and one of the movements is 20m circle in trot allowing the horse to stretch. How long should my reins be? Are we talking free walk on a long rein sort of length? Mare will do this movement very nicely at home on a long rein but not sure if my definition of allowing the horse to stretch is the same as the judge's expectation!
OK ramble over - help appreciated
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I hate this movement! It seems so contrary.

Anyway, I usually allow the horse to stretch forward and down, but still in a rounded shape. Still going forward into the contact, but more 'long and low' frame.

From the BD rules on Canter on a long rein - maybe a similar concept
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The horse is allowed the freedom to lower and stretch his head and neck forward and down while the rider maintains a light contact through the reins. The horse should continue to canter in the same rhythm, with suppleness of the back and self carriage.

[/ QUOTE ]
 
I've done this test before- you want the horse with a longer frame, but stretching forwards and down into the contact, so that they are deep and round and working over the back, and be able to show a clear precise difference between the 2 outlines.

You would want the reins not at buckle length and throwing the contact away , but just so that they are long enough to allow the horse some freedom to work longer, rounder and forward than when they are working up and together.

Good luck with it.
 
The contact should not be thrown away, but the horse should take the length of rein offered by the rider forward, down, and out, while maintaining the rhythm and tempo of the working trot.

The neck should stretch down and the head should be well in front of the vertical, not curling in. The reins should not be loopy, but the horse should be offered as much length as it needs to accommodate the stretch.

It is important that you can do this movement as it demonstrates that the horse is capable of self carriage, is not on the forehand and is not pulled into a false outline by your hands. The stretch is one of the fundamentals of dressage.
 
Well, although it is something I use in training (usually after some harder, more 'collected' work) it just seems a bit odd in the middle of a test. OK, the horse should be in self carriage - tested more frequently (or so it seems) with a give and retake of the reins. Horse is expected to stay 'up' softly and in balance. Then with the 'allow to stretch' the horse is expected to follow the contact and stretch into it.

Perhaps it's just my bad luck - I've ended up having to do both in one day in the past, and it just put my back up a bit as it seemed inconsistent! If your horse stretches nicely into the rein, then keeping them 'up' in a trot G + R is not so easy, and you often see riders booting the horse up in front beforehand. Probably my main issue is with the trot G+R actually!
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Halfstep - thank you also as what you describe is what I do in each schooling session anyway so will have a practice tonight to get a feel for doing it in the test
 
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