covering” stride.
To begin with, as you ride, use your legs in time with the horse’s natural rhythm of the four beat, side to side walk. When the hind foot is about to leave the ground, feel the ribcage against your leg. Start pushing with your leg, activating the horse’s hind leg to cover more ground. Remember to ride in the natural rhythm with your seat bones to continue the horse forward.
Now try to duplicate it in the arena. It’s called getting a horse in front of your leg, and it will relax your horse over its back and teach it to push towards contact (the opposite would be the tense horse that sucks behind the bit).
Impulsion is created by training. The rider adds to the horse’s natural gaits. By adding thrust, you gain looseness and suppleness, as well as teaching the horse to carry the weight of the rider in a more effective way. Using the design of the horse more efficiently brings the horse into a higher realm of balance, and is the experience every horse person should have.
The greater the range of motion, the greater the degree you will be able to achieve of collection and impulsion. A supple horse moves with a forward, open, and arched neck. Its hind legs are open, reaching (flexing) forward, which will reflect in a topline that becomes stretched and lifted as well. Great movement, balance, straightness, collection—all are a result of a chain of events through the horse’s body. Any blockages must be suppled into fluidity. Congratulations if you achieve this shape in your riding. There’s a new sheriff in town!
In these moments of creative expression, of harmony and partnership, my horse doesn’t care what I look like, what I am wearing, or what saddle I am in (as long as it fits); he cares about how I am sitting. He doesn’t really care how long my whip is, the style of my boots, or even the type of bit I use, or don’t use; he cares about how I use them.
In our own personal horsemanship journey, it is important to remember that we all have a belief in our horse. A belief we want to share with someone. Everyone wants to share their passion with other like-minded people. You are a part of ____add your own place____ where you are free to share that passion.
Membership into a world of horsemanship is just a belief that, together, you and your horse can do something great. Harmony and partnership between you and your horse and rider being the essence of what you should build.
Dutchess, my new rescued mare, “met” up with Patriot over the summer. In spite of the fact that she thinks she’s a little wild weanling in a great big mare’s body (when it suits her). In spite of the fact that she’s got a fat-Morgan’s-health-drama diagnosis, it looks like Patriot will add another part to his resume since they are expecting a June foal.
Giddy-up and have a great holiday with your four-footed gift!
I have been training horses for over 30 years and value the western horse lifestyle in my approach to training. Giving clinics and seminars on how to reach your full potential with your horse through the training foundation of Cowboy Dressage makes me happier than a full breeze from a corn-eatin’ horse.
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horse looks like as a shape is merely a reflection of what is being created behind you in the hinds of the horse.
The exercise I use starts with teaching the horse to step up underneath its body. The goal is to bring to the horse (and rider) a clearer definition of “forward.” This activation results in a more forward stepping (reaching) hind leg, and brings a beautiful resonation from the hind feet, through the spine, to the head of the horse. Riders need this experience to catch on to what riding can really become. With many horses trained to compress their natural gaits, or brace against the hand of the rider, this exercise will work those faults out by suppling a horse over its back and opening up the natural frame of the horse and ushering in the key component of looseness.
The novice horse to this concept is the lazy horse and the tense horse. Both are either braced against (above) the bit or behind it. Both are behind your leg, and have a short, stiff stride. The hind legs are out behind the body and are not engaged. Because these horses are heavy on the forehand, they are out of balance.
Next time you are on the trail, let your horse define “forward” for you. Try to observe when your horse starts to move into a smoother and suppler gait. Developing thrust is developing engagement, something draw reins and curb bits will never achieve, because looseness is really teaching the horse to stretch out its body, with the head and neck really stretched forwards and down toward the trail, thus creating the “ground