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In the paddock or in the wild, we can see horses playing or challenging each other with a naturally collected outline and a flexed poll. But a horse

will hold this posture for moments only before returning to his most natural and comfortable stance - head and neck lowered and most of his weight on the forehand. And when he does collect, he will also instinctively lift his back and use muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones all over his body to properly support this posture.

In training for dressage, one of the most damaging things we can do to a horse - especially a young horse - is demand an “outline”. A beautiful outline is something that will, if the training is correct, develop naturally over a period of years. To insist on it before the horse is ready can and does lead to premature breakdown in body, mind – and spirit.

A short neck destroys balance Horses have evolved to carry most of their weight on the forehand most of the time, and freedom of the neck and head is a crucial factor in being able to balance this weight. A green horse has natural balance, but all that is changed when we expect him to carry a rider as well. Now he must find a new balance. This alone may take many months, depending on the horse, his conformation, temperament and natural ability.

Training a horse to perform the higher movements with grace and beauty is not possible without conserving the horse’s natural balance. For flying changes, pirouette, half pass, or any other advanced movement, the horse must have superior balance. A short contact used to create a short neck and to force poll flexion will interfere with this balance. Take the flying change or the half pass, for example.

We should never have too much contact. We should use the reins to gently guide the horse in the direction of the leading rein, then we should change softly, allowing the horse time to organize his legs and adjust all his vertebrae. Superior balance becomes even more crucial for the airs-above-ground, such as levade, courbette and capriole. Interfere with the mouth, have the contact too short at the wrong time, and you will cause the horse to shorten his neck and thus lose his balance.

How short is “too short”? Of course, training with too long a neck can cause problems, too. If the horse is not encouraged to seek contact with the rider’s hands, to lift a little, he will never learn to carry himself in a way that will help him develop the muscles he needs.

But how short is too short and how long is too long? How much contact is the right amount to allow the horse to work with his neck in the optimal position? It depends on each individual horse and the level of his training.

In any type of training, the nose must be in front of the vertical AT ALL

TIMES. If we force a green horse to work with a short contact he will go behind the vertical in an effort to evade the pain we are creating in his mouth, neck, and back.

A nose behind the vertical causes the poll to become stiff. The neck rounds too much, which makes the topline muscles too tense. The muscles underneath the neck “suck up” as the horse tries to support himself in this uncomfortable posture. The seven neck vertebrae become stiff and tense, which causes the rest of the vertebrae (the horse has fifty-four in all, from the poll to the tail) to also become stiff and tense.

Schooling the Horse: The Importance of Lengthening the Neck

by Manolo Mendez, Specialist of In-hand and Classical Equitation with writer Ysabella Dean

Manolo Mendez was the first Head Rider, and one of six founding members of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. Based in Jerez, Spain, the school is one of the four classical schools which also include the Cadre Noir in Saumur, the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art in Lisbon. A master horseman with over forty years of experience spanning classical dressage, doma vaquera and jumping, Manolo is dedicated to a soft, sympathetic and thorough training method which prepares horses physically and psychologically for each stage of training from training to Grand Prix and Haute Ecole.

For more information and more articles visit: www.manolomendezdressage.com

© 2011 Manolo Mendez Dressage

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“A nose behind the vertical

causes the poll to become stiff”

Shoulder-fore. Manolo and Dinamico in shoulder fore. Note the attentive ears, relaxed tail and independent balance of both rider and horse

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With a horse working at a high level we may need more contact, but this is because a horse at a high level has developed the ability and the stamina to hold himself in a collected outline with his poll flexed. It is still a light contact: he does not need to be held there. Shorter contact should always be the by-product of physical development, not the means by which physical development is achieved. If it is the means, then it will be the wrong physical development.

Even so, we should not work even a highly trained horse in a collected frame for the entire workout but should instead integrate rest periods from collection which will allow him to stretch out from time to time. In general for a horse that has not reached this level of collection, a lot of the work in leading up to collection should be done on a gentle, fine contact and we should also encourage him to stretch down and out with his neck and head, to seek our hands through the reins. This is called “long and low”.

“Long and low” or “deep and round”? Long and low is not the same thing at all as the “deep and round” principle, which relies on bringing the horse behind the vertical with a lowered head and a shortened neck.

Working a horse deep and round is often achieved with side reins and running reins, and is thought to lift the horse’s back and stretch the spine by enabling the hind legs to come through properly. In fact, when a horse is worked too deep in the neck, his back must arch down. This will indeed cause him to work his back legs harder to compensate, but there is too much movement in the stifle and the hock, and not enough in the body. The hind end is not working in harmony with the front end because the bridge between them - the back - is not moving. With the legs working so hard, they hit the ground harder. This will over time cause concussion to the hock and stifle, along with stiffening of the spine and pelvic area.

Deep and round restricts the respiratory system and blood supply, and the horse can’t see where he is going. The horse ends up weak in the spine.

You cannot always see the damage immediately; it happens over time.

In the beginning was the long neck Dressage is an art form and, like any art form, it needs time and the right conditions in which to grow and flourish. The rider and his horse must work together, in harmony, to develop balance, rhythm, coordination and skill. We do not teach the horse passage or piaffe or tempi changes: movements he was born to do. But to do them with the same grace and beauty under saddle means we must work within his natural limitations, building his strength and willingness. If we don’t, we end up with a pale copy of the real thing. Allowing him to work with his neck long and low is where it all truly begins. a

0422 726 132 : : annj@alphalink.com.au www.alphalink . com.au / ~annj

“..when a horse is worked too deep in the neck, his back must arch down. This will indeed

cause him to work his back legs harder to compensate, but there is too much movement in the

stifle and the hock, and not enough in

the body.”

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..44 45..

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Developing the Basics: Step by StepManolo Mendez, Specialist of in-hand and Classical Equitation. With writers Ysabelle Dean and C.Larrouilh

Dinamico XII is an imported Andalusian stallion. The photos from daily training represent only some of the exercices Manolo uses in his training. Dinamico is trained by Manolo and compaigned by his working pupil Chantelle Matthews. Dinamico was: 2010 Victorian State Champion, Led Spanish Entire, Andalusian State Competition; 2010 Victorian State Champion Ridden Spanish Entire; 2010 Victorian State Champion; Overall Ridden Andalusian, 2010 ASPR Dressage Competition, Lara, Melbourne; Novice Champion 1st 2B and 2nd 2D, 2010 Dressage Festival -National Competition Novice 2nd placing in 2C. Represented the Australian Andalusian Society in 2010 Equitana giving daily demonstrations and led the stallion parade.

After a couple of more collected strides, Manolo asks Dinamico to move out into extended canter while maintaining the same quality of straightness, forward, and balance. This play between working, collected and extended gaits (walk, trot and canter) allows Manolo to develop the horse’s balance, elasticity,strength and confidence slowly and methodically.

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J ust as we would never pressure a kindergarden child to jump straight into high school and expect them to be able to

think critically and produce A+ essays overnight, we should never “jump steps” or rush the levels in the training of our horses.

It is vitally important to the success of the horse and rider partnership and to the harmonious physical, mental and emotional development of the horse that the horse understands each aid, each request, each exercise that he is asked to perform. It is the rider’s responsibility to ensure that the horse is prepared properly and has the physical capabilities, flexibility and balance necessary to be successful before introducing a new request, the next exercise. Instead of having a set of rigid expectations based on the horse age, breed, pedigree and the rider’s goals and ambition, the rider should train the horse they have in front of them: what do its muscles look like, how confident is it? what does it understand? How long does it take to warmup? What working routines work better for him? Only by knowing his horse and adapting his training to his individual needs will the rider truly be able to forge a partnership with his horse.

Just as important is not to start any bending and flexion exercises until the horse is able to walk, trot and canter around the arena in a nice, comfortable rhythm with light and even contact. It is vital that the rider learns to use the reins as a pair, not individually. The reins must be of absolutely equal length and the contact should follow the horse and help shape his posture but never constrict him or support him - the horse’s balance, his self carriage should be independent from the rider. Riders need to look first to themselves when their horse is crooked. Very often a rider will use too much inside (or outside) rein, which causes the horse’s head to tilt and the poll and spine to stiffen, inhibiting the horse’s head carriage and ability to flex throughout its entire body. After a short time, the horse’s muscles begin to set in patterns that can shorten one side of the body and pull it out of alignment. The longer the rider’s crookedness is left un-adressed, the harder it will be to release and lengthen the bunched up, tight, braced muscles and restore symmetry so that both sides of the horse

work with regularity and evenness - and teach the horse what it feels like to travel straight and free again.

Once the horse is happy and confident going large round the arena, we can start a small flexion exercise coming out of each corner. Don’t make the corners too deep for a green horse; just ask him for a little flexion to the inside as you go round the corner.

Next we can start asking for the five metre loop. This may seem like a simple exercise, but it is not. The rider must ensure it is performed softly and the change of flexion (the degree of which depends on the size of the loop) throughout the body of the horse is not asked for abruptly at the apex of the loop but prepared for carefully. We need to take plenty of time to develop our horse’s muscles, tendons and ligaments so that the horse can easily bend through every vertebra of the spine equally, from the poll to the tail. If the flexion is not soft and the spine cannot bend naturally, we are not creating suppleness, we are creating problems ranging from stiffness to early arthritic changes as well as destroying the quality of horse’s movement as our horse’s legs movement can be determined by the condition of its topline. How you ride your horse’s spine and the use of contact determines if your horse will be a back mover, very desirable, or a leg mover, very undesirable.

The five metre loop should be introduced down one side of the arena only, and performed here and there but not repeated over and over again. The purpose of this exercise is to help us develop SOFTNESS in flexion, and to introduce the horse to the bend that will, over a period of time, get larger. It requires the rider to FEEL his horse’s balance and rhythm and help him meet the change of bend evenly.

The five metre loop introduces the first steps of a three-loop serpentine. But it is ONLY when the horse is truly comfortable, with an easy head carriage (Nose in front of the vertical, neck telescoped forward, down and out with soft “swimmer” muscles) on a nice following contact that we consider building the size of the loop to 10 meters, 15 meters, and then to the three-loop serpentine (with 15 meter loops). But this is further

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Developing the Basics: Step by Step

Introducing collection. Manolo rides Dinamico on a 10 or15 meter circle and asks for a couple of strides of more collected canter before asking him to move out straight and forward out of collection. Note Manolo’s light seat and slight weighing to the inside of the bend.

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down the road: the 15 meter loop should not be done with a young horse.

If the horse has a little more trouble flexing more to one side than the other, we must not force the issue, but instead find ways to work around any resistance. For instance, if you are doing 3 loop serpentine and your horse is a little stiff to the right in the three-loop serpentine, start this exercise on the left rein and turn the middle loop into a 15 meter circle. This will give you time to gently correct the problem, and allow the horse the chance to build confidence about flexing to the right. You can then continue the serpentine and finish with your last loop to the left.

It is the rider’s job to not get locked into a conflict with his horse when he cannot perform an exercise. Too often I teach riders who will accuse the horse of trying to “get away with something” or of being lazy or ill willed when the horse is physically not ready for the work asked or not understanding what is being asked of him. The rider uses his spur or whip and gets frustrated and the horse gets more confused, anxious and reactive. A rider who wants a good partnership with his horse should take a step back and observe what is happening. Is my horse able to perform this exercise on one side but not the other? is he crooked or not stepping evenly? Which leg does he favor or not? How is he in the bridle? Am I asking correctly? Am I asking for perfection instead of accepting good work in progress? Does my horse understand me? Am I blocking him? What patterns and exercises would help him so instead of fighting to “make him” do an exercise, I build up to it gradually so when I “ask him” he is willing and able to work with me. If you ride to help your horse, your horse will recognize this and as his trust grows so will he desire to please you. Going straightThe horse must learn to travel straight very early on. This is where he develops much of his gymnastic ability. A young horse should do more straight work than circle work, and should not be asked for any flexion on straight lines, just to go straight. The rider’s hands should have gentle, light contact on even reins when traveling on a straight line.

To be able to go straight, the horse’s topline needs to be de-contracted so that the legs can move with good rhythm, good freedom. For the topline to be de-contracted, the spine cannot be blocked and so the TMJ and poll should not be blocked as they are the

two first two joints in the body. An easy way to think about how your horse work is to remember that the hind legs follow what the forelegs do and the nose dictates how much freedom the shoulder of the horse has -ideally if you drew a line down the profile of your horse and one down the angle of its shoulder, the lines should be parallel to each other. Instead of rushing your horse around thinking “drive the hind leg under, more, more” think of riding the whole horse with a soft arch in the neck and energy traveling throughout the whole horse without being blocked. This means

not breaking the horse’s neck at the third vertebra or causing the hind leg to trail behind or to hit the ground too soon by trying to put the horse on the bit or “make him” round with a short, ungiving, restricting contact.

The repetitive nature of circles, if too many are performed, puts a terrible strain on the horse’s muscles, ligaments and tendons – and can destroy his confidence. Too often, we see hock injuries from performing too many circles.

In the same manner, incorrectly applied half halts will also damage the horse’s legs by stopping the motion of the leg at the wrong time and causing it to him to hit the ground hard. Instead of thinking of half halting all the time, use your feel to know when your horse is loosing his balance and decide what exercise, pattern, action you can take to help him, how you can set him up for the exercise differently without using the reins to carry him.

On too short a rein, the young horse does not have the room to use his neck to compensate for loosing his balance while he figures out how to carry the rider and develops the strength to do it easily. Too much unrelenting contact means the horse will not be able to develop independent balance, self carriage and eventually correct collection.

It is very important not to repeat any exercise too many times. Not only does it put too much strain on the same muscles again and again, but also it creates boredom and sourness. No one wants to do the same thing over and over, and neither does the horse.

We must always keep the work fun and interesting, so the horse comes back to the next session with great enthusiasm.

A natural walk is the foundation for good paces It is also important to encourage the walk. It should be

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Shoulder-in. Manolo is gently shaping Dinamico’s posture and asking for a set amount of angle and bend through his body without interfering with his self-carriage. Note the rider’s head and torso’s alignment with the horse’s head and chest and the even, light contact which guides but does not restrict the horse.

“It is the rider’s job to not get locked into a conflict with his

horse when he cannot

perform an exercise.”

..50 51..

nice and relaxed, with great beauty. You must allow the horse to walk free and relaxed and not drill or drive too much, each horse has a different rhythm, find your horse’s and let it flourish. Your pelvis should be relaxed so each seat and hip bone can move independently, in time with the horse. Allow your shoulders, elbows and arms to move softly, so as not to obstruct the horse’s movement. We must remember never to restrict the horse’s natural head nod at walk and canter (there is no head nod at the trot). The rider must have equal contact on both reins, and follow the horse’s normal head carriage, so as not to block the head movement in any way.

Once the horse is comfortable and relaxed, we occasionally halt, then walk again and give a pat.

Encouraging a free walk is the foundation for good movement in all gaits. A good trot and canter both develop from a good walk. We can also gradually teach the horse to distinguish between free, extended, medium and collected walk through becoming attentive to the movement of the rider’s body. When the rider becomes stiller, the horse will learn to still and collect his own movement, and vice versa.

Sitting trot makes young horses hollowTo sit the trot on the young horse is not good. When a horse is only three or four, his bones are not even completely formed. At this stage the horse’s muscles are not developed properly, either.

The young horse is naturally a little on the forehand, and perhaps a little hollow through the spine. To sit the trot will only encourage those “hollow” muscles to develop.

The horse has to be able to flex and bend, and the spine must be supple in every single vertebra. If we do sitting trot on the horse before the horse has developed the correct muscles, we will start to jam the vertebrae together.

Just imagine if someone sat on your spine … You would have to be very fit, very strong, and yet very flexible to be able to cope, and not to get sore in only a matter of minutes! Only when the horse has found his natural balance under the rider, and has rhythm and

timing, can we start the sitting trot. Some horses will take longer than others to find these qualities. Some take longer because their riders are stiff or have not yet found the right balance themselves.

Too often riders insist on sitting the trot because they believe posting is for novice riders and they believe being able to sit the trot is a sign of being a good rider. That is not correct. A good rider is someone who learns about the body of its horse and makes every effort to ensure they ride it in a way that will make him stronger, fitter, suppler and happier. This means posting on a horse with a weak back whether it is a young horse or an older horse coming back to work or one that had a saddle fitting problem.

Good breathing leads to good workRiders very rarely concentrate on their breathing, and they often don’t think about how the horse is breathing, either.

The rider must learn to breathe deeply, with “softness in the air”. We must also listen to, and feel the horse’s breathing. A young horse will often breathe too fast, because he may be a little tense about what is expected, and he is not yet completely fit. It is important to give a young horse plenty of breaks to recover his breath. It is terrible when the horse is taking stiff, frightened breaths. He cannot relax and become soft and attentive to what is being asked of him; he cannot discover enjoyment in his work.

A rider can feel the horse’s ribcage between its legs, opening and closing with each breath, feel the horse’s heart beating softly or like a hammer. Because of this we should not tighten our girths too strongly, or for that matter the noseband or flash. We should make every effort to make the horse comfortable. Imagine having a belt on that is very tight and having to run, do sit ups, etc..how long would you be able to keep it up?

Proper breathing encourages athleticism and mental concentration because it helps supply oxygen to the muscles and brain. All athletes work on their breathing. Don’t forget that your horse is an athlete, too. It is most important to be soft, to be natural. Be careful never to instill fear in the horse, so that his natural breathing will develop and he will

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Canter half pass right. Manolo setting Dinamico

up for canter half pass right working on moving forward and sideways fluidly and in

rhythm.

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never learn to shallow breath or simply block his breath altogether.

By encouraging the horse’s softness, and following the young horse’s natural movement, rather than enforcing unnatural movement, or stiffening or stopping the horse’s movement, we will help the horse develop his natural breathing.

Develop soft transitions earlyGood breathing is very important for transitions. We must keep our own breathing very soft, otherwise the horse will become very tense and stiff very quickly.

It is very important that we start to think about our transitions carefully at an early stage. Transitions should be soft and very careful. We should practice transitions on a straight line, and make sure that the horse is not rushing or running away from the leg.

With a young horse, ask for transitions on a straight line only – not on a circle. He will not understand how to keep the bend and do the transition, and you will create tension and resistance.

Transitions must be done with softness, either with the leg, OR with the rein only. To a young horse, the leg means “go forward” and the hand means “slow down”. We must not confuse the horse in the early stages by using both at the same time – this is would be like driving with the handbreak and accelerator at the same time. However, before asking for the transition, we do ask with the hand for the horse to go a little lower with his head and neck. We want the nose to be in front of the vertical, not on it or behind it. Then we give a little release with the reins and ask the horse to go forward from our leg.

Balance between the hand and legOne of the greatest challenges for the rider is to learn how to balance the horse “between the hand and the leg”. Initially, balance is about making sure the young horse can differentiate between hand and leg aids, and the rider learning what is too much or too little aiding.

If the leg is too tight, then the horse will rush. If the rein is too tight or too loose then that is not “balanced” either.

Later, balance becomes about learning how to develop feel, so that we are using the hand and the leg together – in total unison. But we have to build up to this stage slowly. We must be careful never to apply too much pressure.

Above all, we must learn how to release at the appropriate time, so that the horse is never held

in between hand and leg. Instead he receives the reward of release, which makes him more comfortable and confident that he is doing what is being asked.

In later years and advanced training, e.g., in piaffe, it is the balance between the leg and the hand that creates true brilliance. In flying changes, if we use the rein only, we will create great problems. If we use the leg only, we will also create great problems.

Beautiful music It is only when the hand and leg are used together, in total

harmony and in total unison, in the way that is appropriate for each horse at each stage of training, that we will develop the horse correctly.

It is like playing the guitar. Think of the hand on the strings as the legs on the horse. The hand on the frets is like the rider’s hands on the reins. When we are just learning the guitar, we keep the tune simple. As our skill levels increase, we learn to play chords and more complicated tunes, and develop a better feel for creating a more harmonious sound. We must work the frets and strings separately and yet together to get the desired sound.

Our horse is the guitar. It is up to each rider to become a fine musician, and to treat our instrument with care and respect so that it will last a long time, and help us create truly beautiful music.

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www.manolomendezdressage.com

Center pic: Dinamico representing the Andalusian Society at Equitana, Melbourne 2010. Dinamico and his young rider trotting confidently forward showing the result of kind, empathetic and methodical training. a

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