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

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.

Is a high head the sign of a disobedient horse?

Is a horse, carrying its head high, a sign they are resisting you?

Is that resistance then disobedience?

For a long period of my riding career exactly that. I thought a horse flexed through the neck and soft in the mouth was submission and anything else was resistance.

A horse that worked with its head up or out was being disobedient.

And then I became a trainer and rode professionally…

And I quickly learnt that a horse could still work with its head up and have submission and that initially green horses and green broken horses do need to lift their head and work for periods of time with their head up.

Whether their head was in the air had nothing to do with how submissive they were.

A horse that works with its head up can still listen perfectly to the halt aid and the steering.

In fact in my experience I have found more horses with better submission working out of a frame then in a frame.

Think about it - how does a horse differentiate between the aid that asks it to tuck their nose and the aid that ask them to stop? The aid is essentially the same - (preferrably) a light, backwards pressure on the reins.

An experienced rider will say seat, of course.

But there are a lot of riders that don’t yet know how to ride with their seat, that can tuck their horses head into a false frame and then the horse has now lost its brakes. So they put on harsher bits and nose bands to try and get the brakes working but what is truly missing is the communication.

But its not just the rider, sometimes it’s the horse.

It can take a little bit even when using the seat for the horse to differentiate between a frame aid and a halt aid, especially if they have been trained without that differentiation previously. Even if they have had that differentiation trained in, with a different ride who doesn’t use their seat the same the horse can still get confused.

So the type of riding that is typically called resistance under saddle I would say is more closely akin to limited musculoskeletal development than actually resisting and challenging the aid.

My green horses on training these days have far better submission to the aids while working hollow than the horses I trained for frame equals submission in my younger years, because submission has to do with communication whereas frame has to do with musculoskeletal development.

And it isn’t easy to get there. It doesn’t happen over night.

I remember as a kid my idealised instructor got a new horse that was green and was not yet ready to work in a frame. I saw her riding it hollow and thought well maybe she isn’t as good of a rider as I thought. Maybe it was just the horse that was not good.

It takes a green broken horse with no injuries or trauma at least 6 months to 2 years to work steadily and consistently in a working frame that positively compliments the musculoskeletal system - and that’s something we don’t talk about enough.

It’s not an easy process to develop the forwardness, engagement, swing, elasticity, core, topline elasticity and postural skills for the horse to work in good self carriage AND understand its aids well that perfectly primes it for the balance needed for the career we are hoping to follow with our horse.

This is why we developed a whole course for it.

If you are not sure what a healthy working frame, self carriage and good aids should look like so that you are ready for collection, then check it out.

I only trail ride, do I really need flatwork?

Flatwork or having your horse work in self carriage is the most basic and foundational prerequisite to any style of riding you want to do with your horse.

It develops a language. Your flatwork training is where you introduce and teach your horse aids and cues so that your horse knows what you want and can ask of you support and help.

It develops balance. The exercises that you use to develop self carriage are very basically developing balance and ensuring your horse is sure footed.

It creates functional movement. Movement is medicine. Flatwork done correctly enhances your horses movement and without other trauma or injury helps them have a long and healthy riding career.

It fosters learning. Done correctly, your flatwork training is a great place to show up for your horse as a leader and help them look for answers. It teaches them how to respond to pressure and you can use it to instil confidence and curiousity in your horse that will be of benefit on the trails

Flatwork doesn’t have to be in the arena. It can be done in the paddock, on the trails, through the hills, on the beach. It is just basically develop a positive relationship under saddle and with movement.

3 Secrets That Will Progress Your Dressage Riding

If you missed the webinar on April 4th, here’s a sneaky replay!

Interested to learn more about the Green to Self Carriage Course? Click here for more details!

Training an elastic topline

Movement is dynamic.

What this means is that it is ever changing, adapts to stress, becomes limited when unsupported and increases in range of action when supported.

When we try to force a certain way of moving, it actually limits the horses freedom of movement. When we focus on their core strength and balance, it increases their freedown to move.

This is why we need to exercise and condition our horses to perform the movements we ask.

When they are exercising we are creating an environmental stress that their body is adapting to. When that stress is too much, or there is an underlying injury or imbalance the body adapts to reduce movement to protect from injury. When there is just enough over a period of time the body adapts to support movement and in becomes enhanced.

In fact, with all things going perfect and no underlying physical or training, from introducing a new exercise it takes:

-        6 – 8 weeks to develop coordination of the movement (the nerves to innervate the muscles)

-        3 – 4 months for muscle condition

-        6 – 12 months for bone and ligament density and the movement to become part of their conformation.

So from the time an exercise is introduced it will take at least 6 – 12 months for your horse to be able to do it easily no matter how hard you push them. That’s just how long it will take for their body adapt to the movement.

When we are talking about an elastic topline that is basically what we are talking about. The horses self carriage muscles are developed so that the horse can relax and swing in their movement, their stride and their frame is adjustable and they have some degree of lateral flexibility for bend and leg yield.

The one place you can go wrong with working on an elastic topline is to do too much suppling work without balancing it with strengthening work. For example long and low with canter transitions, 10m loops with rein back and polls. Suppling the muscles also makes them weak. Strengthening the muscles makes them tight. Again this is what we are talking about with movement being dynamic.

The elastic topline is the end result of combining our suppling exercises with our strengthening exercises. Asking for the movement evenly in both directions and shortening and lengthening the stride, frame and lateral muscles through bend.

The Secret To The Frame - Training Thursday Replay

Uncover the real secret of the working frame, what it takes to get there, and what can slow your progress.

Replay from the Facebook Group IMPROVE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR HORSE #TrainingThursdayLive session 27/2/2020. Join the Facebook Group HERE if you would like to submit your own training request.

Is Your Horse a Master "Self-Carriage Evading" Artist?

Horses evade being in a working brain and working in self carriage like I avoid my computer before I have my morning coffee. "Oh look the dishes need washing, hmm maybe I should sweep that way I will concentrate better, and my working space is messy better find a home for everything. Oh the place I was going to put what was messing up my desk is messy; I should clean that as well!"

Before you know it, its 3 hrs later, I haven't opened the computer yet but at least my house is clean, right? I bet you can relate and so can your horse. I don't know what it is about getting into a working brain but some days it's so damn hard! Taking inspired action is the easiest way to get into work mode but that is a discussion for another day. Today we are talking about the art of evasion and I'm going to put it to you straight, our horses are pros at it and we rarely even notice.

What is self carriage?

Self carriage is:

• When a horse transfers its weight off the forehand onto the hindquarters and drives from its hindquarters instead of pulling with its chest and shoulders.

• When a horse engages its balances points and holds itself from its core allowing for suppleness of its extremities.

• When a horse stops bracing through its joints for balance because it has engaged its core and is able to swing over its back and through its neck and shoulders.

For self carriage horses require:

• Discipline

• Sensitivity to the connecting aids

• Purpose and drive

• Balance

When a horse comes into self carriage it can squat through the hindquarters without losing forwardness, flex over the topline without dumping its weight onto the forehand and be extremely manoeuvrable and versatile in its movement without sucking behind the bit. This is actually really hard to achieve, not only in how to communicate to our horse this is what we want but also once they understand to convince them to do it. Even if you have flexed your horses head into a "frame" it doesn't mean they are in self carriage and you are potentially doing more damage to their musculoskeletal system than good. These horses will have a tight, strong underneck from balancing on their forehand, issues with their back (behavioural issues at the extreme with bucking, rearing and bolting) or physical issues with their croup protruding, sway backed and irregular in their stride to name a few problems. They may be pretending that they are engaged but have just hyper flexed through their pelvis and as a result won't work straight and can't pick up off the forehand or they will be strung out dragging the hindquarters. 

As our horses motivator, exercise physiologist and trainer it is our responsibility to ensure they are working correctly, because it is us that then want to go and sit on the weakest part of their body and expect them to perform athletically. If I went to a PT that didn't understand correct technique I would be at a high risk of injury because I do not know how to use my body safely and correctly in exercises I haven't done before. It is the same for your horse; you have to show them good technique to avoid short term damage and long term wear and tear and early retirement due to unsoundness. 

If it’s not good for the horse to evade, why are they so good at it!?

Well this comes back to me needing a coffee to get motivated. I know I should be working and future me will appreciate the past me for the work but right now.... bleh ... except for oooh coffee!! Ok now I can work. What coffee is doing is evoking some of the feel good hormone dopamine and dopamine particularly likes goals achieved. I have a very vivid memory as a child at school doing school work and I was particularly good at "evading" work. To be honest I suck at getting myself into a working brain, once I'm there all good but getting stuck in, nope that's not for me. My grandma always used to say Katie you need to "apply yourself". At the time I would do the annoying kid "I am!!!" but secretly I was thinking I don't even understand what you mean. I get it now though, "applying yourself" to a task means committing yourself 110% to getting the task at hand done. Without procrastination and excuses. Get stuck in, get it done and get it done well. And it requires determination, dedication and practise but it also requires rest. "Applying yourself" is harnessing your will power, exerting maximum effort and normally requires your adrenals tapping into your energy reserve. Your will power and adrenals become exhausted when in constant use. We want our day to day function to be at about 50 - 60% of our capabilities. So that when we go in to dig deeper for more and during periods of stress we have energy reserves to access. Adequate nutrition, vitamins and minerals and healthy happy hormone production are all integral to this but again this is a story for another day. 

So getting back on track your horses evasion is a complex biochemical pathway protecting it from depleting its energy reserves that it needs to stay safe. After millennia of evolution the horses’ body only exerts 100% effort when needed during periods of stress and to stay safe when their life is threatened. So you can get this effort required by stressing them mentally and physically and threatening their safety (both not particularly good methods for training practices and safety when riding) ... OR ... you can inspire your horse to dance with you using happy hormone motivators and establish a training process so that they actually enjoy and like spending time with you. 

How does your horse evade self carriage?

When establishing self carriage we are trying to stack the horses’ body compartments on top of each other. So it makes sense that the way the horse evades is to create misalignment of these body compartments.

• Dumping their weight onto the inside or the outside shoulder

• Twisting their hindquarters in or out

• Running through the contact, grabbing the bit and pulling

• Sucking behind the aids, either going too slow sucking off the go aid, or rounding too deep and sucking behind the contact

• Leaning on the reins and yanking the reins

Developing self carriage

Developing self carriage is simultaneously incredibly easy and a lifetime's art form. This is because movement is dynamic and changes with environmental stress. Once a horse has conditioned and adapted to a new exercise they will then adapt to be able to do it with the least possible effort, so we need to make the exercises harder and more intricate to keep those core muscles and nerves to those muscles firing (also known as the period of plateau). 

During these periods of plateau we need to maintain consistency with our training and wait for our horses’ body to catch up. It is important not to stress the horses’ body to heavily during this period. You want to give the horse at least 6 months of the same exercises to truly consolidate it as part of their conformation before pushing for more. Stress should be applied intermittently so that you can trigger healthy adaptations to exercise and not run the horse health down.

Enrol as a student and be guided down the path of development (or correction) to true Self Carriage here!

 

Are You Riding A False Frame?

Are you riding a false frame?

What IS a false frame?

A false frame is when the rein aids have been used to control the flexion and angles of the neck instead of the flexion and angles of the hocks. The reins have been used to create “submission” to the bit instead of “acceptance” of the bit.

In this way the horse can have its head down in a frame - but it is still working on the forehand.

The self carriage muscles get developed incorrectly, with the horse rotating the pelvis under for “engagement” instead of transferring weight onto the haunches and getting deeper into their hocks.

This puts a lot of stress on their croup and they often will twist and collapse through the pelvis. The topline, especially behind the whither where the saddle sits, becomes weak and hyper extended from over flexing through their neck and crest instead of engaging their core and using their back muscles. When they are in a false frame they are often behind the vertical.

Your horse is not working in true self carriage.

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Signs a horse isn’t working correctly in self carriage.

The horse is swinging its head left and right as it works.

If a horse is swinging its head left and right as its working, particularly in walk and trot, the rider is see-sawing its mouth left and right to keep its head down. This works particularly well if the rider can time the pressure of the bit for when the foreleg is lifted. The horse can’t pull and resist the contact and has to put its head down.

Flexing away at the third vertebrae.

A horse in a true frame should feel like its almost pulling through the bit, but that you can half halt and rebalance them without resistance. This means they are working through to contact and flexing correctly at the pole with the pole as the highest point.

When they are working behind the vertical, flexing away at the third vertebrae, they are balanced on the forehand and just tucking their nose down, staying hollow through the back.

Bulky, bulging muscles at the top of the neck behind the pole.

These muscles show that the horse hasn’t been taught how to work in a frame with a soft relaxed jaw and gullet. It will have its mouth clamped down on the bit and against the bit.

This means they can’t correctly flex or bend and have had their head held in flexion - which isn’t true flexion.

To get bend the rider will be yielding the shoulders out/displacing the shoulders so to get the horse “soft” because they won’t be able to pull into the bit this way. You will also sometimes see the horses swinging their head left and right as well.

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Just because a horse has its head down doesn’t mean it is working correctly.

In fact a horse that has been made to work with its head down without engaging their core muscles correctly will have more musculoskeletal problems then a horse that is worked hollow.

It is important that if you are wanting to take the physical soundness of your horse into consideration that you can identify horses that are working in a false frame or are using themselves correctly, rather than just “are they working in a frame or not”. This will give you the best tools to know which techniques work and who to ask advice from - and who is doing it just for show and accolades.

Need help developing your horse's self carriage?

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Is your riding hurting your horses' self carriage?

A horse in self carriage is a remarkable feeling. But it takes more than good training for your horse to achieve self carriage.

What is self carriage? The best description I can share is when the horse is balanced in his or her movement with an even, forward stride and not reliant on the riders hand or leg for support. Self carriage requires engagement of the core. 

While the horse may not be reliant on the riders hand or leg for support to engage his or her core, it is crucial that the rider also be balanced.

Imagine that you are walking with your own core engaged. It may not be easy but it is doable. Now imagine you are trying to do the same exercise holding a 10kg bag of potatoes.

Not so easy, right?

This is exactly what a horse experiences every time they have a rider on their back that is off balance.

Not only is it important to build self carriage in your horse, but it is also important to build your own self carriage to support your horses' development.

What exercises are you using to improve your self carriage?