Relaxation & Swing
In dressage, one of the movements required from our horses, particularly in the early stages is long and low.
Long and low is when our horses actively seek the contact out forward and down. They "open" their back and its used to develop relaxation and swing within the stride.
While it might seem like a basic exercise it can be a difficult movement to achieve for 4 reasons:
1. Letting go of the mouth can be damn scary!
If you're in the early stages of you or your horses riding career it can feel like letting go of the horses mouth and the bit is letting go of control. Even more so for a lot of riders in the early stages of their career who are using the horses mouth to balance (this is why I keep my beginners on the lunge until they can prove they have an independent seat and not using the reins to balance).
The goal is to have a horse that you can ride for not that you have to hold back but for some horses that seems impossible and every time you let go of their mouth it results in them speeding up or bucking.
Which leads us to point no. 2..
2. For physical relaxation we need mental relaxation
To develop a horse we can ride forward (not have to hold back), we need to have our horses understanding cue training to seek the release of pressure, manage their emotional responses to what is being asked of them and consenting, willing and engaging in the exercise (This is why our ridden membership includes the groundwork membership for free).
There is a lot of prework we need to do not just for accepting, listening to and following the bit but also in learning how to learn and how to self regulate emotionally. In the process we develop a level of communication with our horse where they can tell us their needs and if there is something wrong or if they are happy, willing and consenting.
When our horse is engaged in the exercises, knows how to learn, can self regulate emotional reactions to our asks and get into a deep state of relaxation when working with us and bring that relaxation up into a focused work ethic we have the mental relaxation required for the physical relaxation for long and low.
3. Musculoskeletal conditioning.
To be able to take their nose out, forward and down, they need to have a supple topline.
To be able to have a supple topline and carry us they need significant muscle development.
Our horses start their ridden career with forwardness that is established from pulling with their chest and shoulders. In the training process, we want to get our horses transferring weight in to their hindquarters, tracking up evenly from behind and using their topline to hold their balance. There is quite a lot of muscular development and exercises that goes in to that.
We can force our horses head done with side reins, shambons and other artificial aids but that isn't of benefit to our horses overall soundness and musculoskeletal health. The head coming down to stretch and back up into a frame should be the end result of good posture training, not force or tricks.
Which brings us to the final point…
4. Acceptance of contact
To get your horse to actively seek and communicate with your they need to be consenting and accepting of the piece of mental we use in their mouths.
We want to ride our horses for acceptance and communication, not force. See-sawing our horses head down (and yes, we see a number of professionals using this) or forcing their head down with equipment is detrimental to their soundness and musculoskeletal health.
Forcing our horse’s head into a position when their body isn’t ready for that movement is what will break your horse!
View this demonstration on long & low in a horse that is ready vs one that is incapable (for now)
Acceptance of contact requires a lot of balance and a strongly independent seat from us and a lot of trust from our horses and an understanding of cue training morphing into understand how to communicate through aids.
When we teach our horses to seek the release of pressure, there is no release of pressure when asking our horses to work in to contact so they need to actually be quite well educated in communication. We can teach them to find the release of pressure by holding their head above the bit or going behind it, but again both are detrimental to them physically.
We teach acceptance of the contact by using
rein back over the pole (on the ground);
in hand work;
taking the hands wide to maintain consistency of the weight of the contact if the horse is trying to seek the release of pressure by going above the bit;
using our arena movements to develop forwardness, straightness, balance, engagement, throughness and relaxation and swing and finally self carriage.
It is only then that we can feel confident that the long and low they give us is benfiting their development.
So, does this all sound like the “too hard basket” to you?
Lucky we have this awesome membership for you to join that lays the process out for you!