Why is the frame so important in competition?

Why should we want to work our horse in a frame?

The purpose of working our horse in a frame is to reduce the concussion and impact of riding on their musculoskeletal system and hopefully make movement, in particular movement under saddle feel good. Although it has also helped horses with arthritis and injury rehab feel good in the paddock as well.

A frame is not about points on your dressage test. It is not just about the pretty pony.

The true purpose of the working frame seems to be lost to the drive to improve percentages, win ribbons or trophies, and impress the judges.

The frame established for the motivation of competition is often rushed because we feel the pressure to impress our peers and critics.

Rushing the development of frame doesn’t enhance the horses movement, and in actual fact limits it.

Whereas the frame, established with the motivation of structural soundness for our horses to carry us, is a steady process of helping our horses along their pathway of development as told to us by our horses.

This may sound a little weird but our horses know what feels good and what doesn’t. The trick though is differentiating between whether our horse is being lazy or uncomfortable. And this also is the true reason for the progression of exercises in the different levels of dressage.

• The 20m circles in trot and canter, serpentines, transitions and long and low develop the quality of movement for prelim

• The 15m circles in trot and canter, lengthened strides and leg yield develop the quality of movement for novice

• The 10m circles in trot and canter, shoulder in and traver develop the quality of paces towards collection for elementary.

So the trick is, are you competing in prelim with prelim quality of working paces, and comparing yourself to the horse that is training elementary with elementary quality working paces that just happens to be competing in prelim?

Even the horse that is training novice will bring so much more quality to the paces because that’s what the movements they are training develops!

Is this what the judges are comparing you to when they are saying more frame, more bend, more impulsion, more forward?

Trying to force that elementary quality of movement with aids alone is what damages the horses structural soundness. Whereas doing the exercises correctly, that build upon one another to achieve that novice/elementary quality of movement, builds the horses soundness.

The working frame is just the end result of good posture established by solid training and exercises and reduces the concussions of a horse working hollow with poor posture.

The horse rushed or forced into the frame still has the same poor posture and hollowness but just looks pretty doing it, so can get the marks and accolades. But it does long term damage to the horses soundness both their physical soundness and their mental soundness.

Honestly, I do enjoy the challenge of the competition. But I think that a silk ribbon is worth far less than the pain and expense of a structurally unsound horse.

Don’t you?

If you want to establish the working frame so that movement feels good for your horse (whether you want to compete or not), enrolments for the Green to Self Carriage Course are opening for a short time only. We break down the aids, movement and exercises to their most basic form and then build them up to developing sound self carriage ready for collection.