Working in outline

[sandi_84]

^ This is a new concept for me, when I was younger I didn't do dressage or anything other than potter about but since getting back into the horse world I've been reading a lot about this.
Me and Loki aren't ready to start having a go at this but as always I like to have a wee bank of things to think about for when we've progressed so I thought I'd ask all the lovely HHO-ers how you go about getting your horse to work in outline as I know you aren't supposed to drag your horses head in with your hands

 

[ThePony]

Lol, it was new to me too when I came back to riding!!

Getting an outline is really just a side effect of your horse working correctly. If you work your horse according to the scales of training then it will also happen to work in an outline as a happy coincidence!!

This site gives a really good description of training scales http://www.classicaldressage.co.uk/Training_Scales/training_scales.html

The basics are working easily off your leg, forwards transitions, a soft contact, lateral flexibility and a supple submissive horse. It is much easier said than done and is a difficult thing to describe as getting your horse 'just right' is so much down to feel and will be a fleeting experience initially until you and your horse get to grips with it. Do you have an instructor you could get a few lessons from to get you off to the right start? It will make it much easier for you to then continue with exercises once you are helped onto the right track.

101 schooling exercises is a brilliant book with so many exercises to get you motivated and working on the right tracks.
This site is v comprehensive so I wouldn't try and digest it all at once, but great to dip in and out of http://www.artofriding.com/school.html
Worth a look too http://www.classicalridingannewilson.com/outlineandcontact.htm

 

[sandi_84]

Thank you! Yes I have an instructor to help me out - lots! I do like to read about things like this so I'll definately give them a go!

 

[snoopyinfrance]

I have watched my daughter and her horse being transformed by her instructor.
They worked on exactly what ThePony said and so agree with everything they've said!

Do you have a school with mirrors? My daughter found that a real help to start with, or me taking video after video. That also meant that she could look at how they'd both improved.

The horse's movement have improves so much that he now has floaty, elevated, paces even when he's in the field!

Have fun,

 

[sandi_84]

No mirrors unfortunately so will be getting my camera out at some point so I can watch video's of myself and attempt to improve my riding - I bet if I posted videos now I'd be shouted at for all sorts of misdeeds The yard is planning on building an indoor school sometime in the future so maybe we'll get some mirrors then.. you never know your luck

 

[JessandCharlie]

Okedoke, IMO an outline is a culmination of schooling and gymnastising (that may or may not be a word ) the horse until they are totally free of tension, loose, forward, straight and rhythmic. The reason for riding in a correct outline is to allow the horse to carry us in the best way, to ensure log term soundness and comfort. Imagine the horse's back, there is a ligament running across the spine, that supports the spine. If the back is hollow this ligament (supra spinous ligament) goes slack, so effectively the spine, rather than soft tissue is supporting your weight and that of the massive heart, lungs, gut etc. So we must work to bring the quarters underneath the horse further, to, in effect, tighten the soft tissue and provide support to the spine.

Next we have the nuchal ligament, which runs from the withers to the back of the head and works a bit like a draw bridge. The ligament is a bit like the chain that controls the height of the bridge (neck) if the head is too high, more strain is put on the spine, the back hollows and the nuchal ligament doesn't support the neck as it could. However, if the head is pulled in by the hands, te tendency is almost always that the horse will lower the poll and come behind the vertical. Even one degree BTV will have the effect of pulling the nuchal ligament far too tight across the top cervical vertebra, so it rubs against the bursae (like cushioning sacks) causing pain, inflammation and tearing of the ligament, which can be hard to repair. This is why you are right to not pull the head in the poll must be the highest point when working correctly for this reason, and the 'back, down and in' action of many gadgets causes a low poll position, and often BTV.

So, we must start with relaxation, is your horse relaxed and supple and working freely forward? Working in a long, stretching frame (not too low) can encourage relaxation.

When you loosen the contact, does he speed up, slow down etc? He must be able to hold a rhythm himself, and you must be strict with yourself and not fall into the trap of holding a rhythm with your hands

If you ask for flexion to one side, then the other, what happens? Does he change direction, resist or does he bend nicely with suppleness?

When working do his hind legs place perfectly in line with the fronts, when viewed from the front, can you only see the front legs or does he work slightly crookedly.

You can work through softening and gymnastic exercises (there are loads of good book and exercises on here and t'internet) systematically and eventually it will just 'come'

Hope this makes sense, I'm on my phone so I've cut it short but good luck

J&C

 

[sandi_84]

Okedoke, IMO an outline is a culmination of schooling and gymnastising (that may or may not be a word ) the horse until they are totally free of tension, loose, forward, straight and rhythmic. The reason for riding in a correct outline is to allow the horse to carry us in the best way, to ensure log term soundness and comfort. Imagine the horse's back, there is a ligament running across the spine, that supports the spine. If the back is hollow this ligament (supra spinous ligament) goes slack, so effectively the spine, rather than soft tissue is supporting your weight and that of the massive heart, lungs, gut etc. So we must work to bring the quarters underneath the horse further, to, in effect, tighten the soft tissue and provide support to the spine.

Next we have the nuchal ligament, which runs from the withers to the back of the head and works a bit like a draw bridge. The ligament is a bit like the chain that controls the height of the bridge (neck) if the head is too high, more strain is put on the spine, the back hollows and the nuchal ligament doesn't support the neck as it could. However, if the head is pulled in by the hands, te tendency is almost always that the horse will lower the poll and come behind the vertical. Even one degree BTV will have the effect of pulling the nuchal ligament far too tight across the top cervical vertebra, so it rubs against the bursae (like cushioning sacks) causing pain, inflammation and tearing of the ligament, which can be hard to repair. This is why you are right to not pull the head in the poll must be the highest point when working correctly for this reason, and the 'back, down and in' action of many gadgets causes a low poll position, and often BTV.

So, we must start with relaxation, is your horse relaxed and supple and working freely forward? Working in a long, stretching frame (not too low) can encourage relaxation.

When you loosen the contact, does he speed up, slow down etc? He must be able to hold a rhythm himself, and you must be strict with yourself and not fall into the trap of holding a rhythm with your hands

If you ask for flexion to one side, then the other, what happens? Does he change direction, resist or does he bend nicely with suppleness?

When working do his hind legs place perfectly in line with the fronts, when viewed from the front, can you only see the front legs or does he work slightly crookedly.

You can work through softening and gymnastic exercises (there are loads of good book and exercises on here and t'internet) systematically and eventually it will just 'come'

Hope this makes sense, I'm on my phone so I've cut it short but good luck

J&C

My word! Fabby post! It definately makes sense Are you and instructer by any chance? That was very informative, thank you!
We are still at the - working towards a nice balanced steady rhythm walk and small amounts of trot - stage atm, he's quite wobbly, can't do straight lines particularly well away from the sides of the school (but we are getting better), our bending needs lots of work and he's not 100% sure what to do with leg aides yet although he did have a nice moment of clarity yesterday and was responding to just my leg on 20m circles - I need to get on top of my legs as it were so I can be sure I'm sending clear signals and I think that will help him a lot. He will relax after about 5-10 minutes but because of wobblyness and a tendancy to nap back to the gate I have to keep him actively moving forward so I'm not actually sure what would happen if I let him go on a free reign. I have been trying to be carefull not to hold him too much with my hands and just keep a light contact though so we'll work on a bit of loose-er contact next time we are in the school and see what happens Again because we are at the really basic level because of the greeness (and my -not-particularly-experienced-anymore- riding) we haven't attempted anything "fancy" like flexion as we move but again if I can get him in a nice quiet moment where he is moving freely and in a nice steady rhythm I'm up for giving it a go, it'll be interesting to see how he copes with it
As to the last bit about working in line or crookedly, I'm really not sure I will be getting my camera out (and a handy helper to record for me) to take a few vids so I can have a look at how I can improve my riding technique so I'll keep an eye out for this too!

 

[JessandCharlie]

You're welcome not an instructor, just a geek Perhaps one day

Sounds like a good start to me You can start asking for little flexions at halt first if it's easier. I find it helps encourage them to mouth the bit and relax the jaw. I started this from the ground with my lad, so he understood more easily. Say you're standing on the right, with horse tacked up, pass the left rein over the centre o the neck so you can hold it from your side, at the same angle to the angle you would hold the rein if you were on him, and take the right bit ring in your right hand, and ask him to bend to the right slightly, by gently sponging the bit ring, allowing but maintaining the contact on the 'outside' rein. Repeat on the other side. Having you as a physical 'barrier' type thig might just teach him that he doesn't have to follow his nose, and can flex his neck a tad without turning, and can be loose and mouth the bit with practice you'll be able to build up more suppleness from the ground, and build it up to being on board.

If you can't get hold of a camera man, you could always tie it to a fence post at the end of a long side, so you can watch it back. Often they will naturally be slightly 'banana shaped' and move with the quarters to one side. Oz naturally moves with his quarters a smidge to the right, and will drop the right contact if allowed, due to more stiffness on the right than the left. So I've used lots of left leg yield and left flexions to stretch the muscles on his righ t side. He is pretty much even now, and as a result much softer and more 'through' and works better over his back so you can use the insight gained from videoing for straightness to supple him on his stiff side and even him up and soften him (don't just work on one rein of course, but be aware which side is more contracted)

Again, leg yield can be started from the ground, just asking him to move over in the stable at first, and then progressing to working from the 3/4 line to the outside track and then back again. Turn on the forehand can really help it, and can also be started on the ground. It's made a huge difference to lateral flexibility and step in oz

Don't forget, you won't hop on one day and think 'today, I will teach an outline' It's something you can start building up to now with the other foundations. In working on one tiny aspect each time you ride, you will soon have a lovely soft, supple horse without even knowing you've done it

J&C

 

[sandi_84]

You're welcome not an instructor, just a geek Perhaps one day

Don't forget, you won't hop on one day and think 'today, I will teach an outline' It's something you can start building up to now with the other foundations. In working on one tiny aspect each time you ride, you will soon have a lovely soft, supple horse without even knowing you've done it

J&C

Ha ha! Well geeks are chic now don't'cher know? If you use that sort of imagery (drawbridge) and give clear, well thought out instructions like your reply to my post you will make an excellent teacher

Good idea about flexion from the ground, I would never have thought of that He's getting pretty good at moving away from hand pressure so hopefully we will be getting in some leg yield practice when we have learn't how to walk in a straight line

Don't worry, I go in with an aim in mind - like "today we are going to work on getting our straight lines actually looking like straight lines" or "today I'm going to focus on lots of circles and bends" or "we need more work on transitions methinks" - rather than "we will master piaffe today!" Rome definately wasn't built in a day and all that jazz

 

[JessandCharlie]

Aah, thank you I'd love to to teach one day

Except, I would have to engage brain before talking more often I meant leg yield to the right (so moving off left leg) to stretch out the muscles on the rift side of the body, rather than left LY. Duh

Sounds like you've got it sussed, working in straightness and bending, which will really help Would love to hear an update some time

J&C

 

[sandi_84]

Aah, thank you I'd love to to teach one day

Except, I would have to engage brain before talking more often I meant leg yield to the right (so moving off left leg) to stretch out the muscles on the rift side of the body, rather than left LY. Duh

Sounds like you've got it sussed, working in straightness and bending, which will really help Would love to hear an update some time

J&C

Hee hee I didn't even notice the totally on purpose to see if you were paying attention mistake
Don't you worry, I'll use any excuse to talk about my lad If it's an actual progress update that's a bonus ha ha!