All of the elements of the Training Scale are evidenced and promoted by the excellence of rider Charlotte Dujardin’s seat schooling uppermost level exercises in a snaffle bridle.

Thanks to BHS Honorary Fellow Carl Hester for narration.

The curator intentionally makes this entry without still or video images, in order that a reader may imagine connecting the sensations individually involved in effecting contact when astride.

“Obtaining and maintaining soft contact- that is contact with the leg, seat and, reins is a considerably more complicated concept than any addressed thus far by this course. It entails, on the part of the rider, an awareness of his calves and –through his boot and saddle flap– a “feel” of the side of the horse. Simultaneously, the rider must be aware of the inside of his thigh, his seat bones, and lower back, and– through the saddle flap, the seat of the saddle, and the pad underneath it– “feel” the horse’s back. Also simultaneously, the rider must be aware of his own shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers, and –through his gloves, reins, and bit– the horse’s neck and head to get a “feel” of the horse’s mouth. It is all to be connected.

Actually, it is more complicated than that, or vastly simpler, once you understand that what we really want to do is feel and then control the horse’s individual hind legs, and, thereby controlling it’s back and shoulders. Which is why it is more apt to say that we “put the horse in front of the rider’s leg” than to say that we “put the horse on the bit” as an indication of a more intense, more energized degree of “riding on contact”.

Now, if all of this is complicated for a rider, who is, after all, a human being possessed of intelligence superior to the horse which, partner though it is becoming, is still an animal, then learning to go “on contact” is immensely more difficult for a horse. The horse must have that identical set of awarenesses, albeit in reverse, and must submit its animal will to its “feel” of, i.e. stimulation by, the rider. So be sympathetic, and question yourself if things are not going well.

More specifically, recheck the correctness of your overall position, and your position’s ability to fluidly follow and absorb the motion of the horse, without, in any way, interfering with the balancing gestures of the as yet undeveloped equine athlete. To do this, it is wise for the trainer, whether novice or vastly experienced, to develop or
refurbish his own seat and “feel” for contact by riding schooled horses alternately with green prospects. Whether riding a green or schooled horse, the mechanics of putting the horse “on contact” are the same. “

From Australia to Russia…a young horse of high quality, known as Dante,

changed sponsorship through auction in Germany December 2014.

We shall watch for progress in his development.

Three Good Gaits

Three Good Gaits

9/23/12 In keeping with the mission of DressageUnderground, which is to collect and exhibit only excellent examples of the multiple facets of the discipline, crafts, arts, and self-disciplines that constitute Dressage, this article is included.

It is written by Dr. Camie Heleski – Dept. of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA for The International Society for Equitation and was published in Astrid Appel’s EuroDressage.com. DressageUnderground is printing it in full, and followed by a video defining proper cavesson fit.

This curator will preface the article by reminding the reader that riding IS training, that to ride the correct progression of exercises correctly is to train a horse correctly, and conversely, that to ride a correctly trained horse incorrectly is to un-train the horse, and that even to ride exercises correctly, but in incorrect progression, is counter-productive.

“Equitation Science is a relatively young field. The profile of Equitation Science has been raised significantly during the last decade due to an emphasis on measuring the objective, quantifiable aspects of horse-human interactions.

For example, we can use rein tension gauges to objectively measure how much tension is taking place between the bit and the rider’s hands during different riding exercises. This coupled with carefully monitoring the horse’s behaviour in response to different rein tensions begins to give us an understanding of which tensions are perceived more or less positively by the horse. We might further add to the rigor of this type of experiment by also measuring heart rates and, perhaps, cortisol levels.

Just because we can utilize quantifiable measurements that are repeatable by other scientists, does this automatically benefit the horse’s welfare? Does it automatically answer our initial question? For example, what of horses that have already become habituated to high levels of rein tension over many years of being ridden in that manner. They may show no significantly aversive behaviours as compared to a horse ridden with a lighter hand, they may show no significantly different cortisol levels or heart rates as compared to the more lightly ridden horse. Does that give us an automatic “green light” to proceed with relatively high tension riding? In my mind, it does not.

There is an important interplay between scientific scrutiny and ethical assessment that must take place if we truly wish to enhance the horse’s wellbeing in its interactions with us. Scientific evaluation and ethical assessment should not be at odds with one another, rather they should complement one another. As stated in the 2010 conference of this same meeting, science without ethical assessment can be problematic, but so can ethical assessment (or kneejerk assumptions) without scientific study.

Horses are a highly adaptable species. If we stall them individually for 23 1/2 hours per day in a solid walled box stall, exercise them for 1/2 h/day in an indoor arena, yet they show no evidence of ulcers, loss of bone density, nor stereotypic behaviour, does this make it an acceptable housing method? If we survey a warm up arena, and note the 10 most harshly handled horses in the arena (from our human perspective), yet, upon measurement, they show no measurable differences from 10 control horses, what does this tell us?

The benefits of science and its application to the field of equitation science surely outweigh its limitations, but we must always remember to keep our eyes open, watch the whole horse, listen to the whole horse and sometimes remember to trust our horsemanship instincts that brought us to this field to start with.

Does your training stand the test of science? The following 8 principles were originally defined in the peer-reviewed scientific literature (McGreevy and McLean, 2007). The application of these principles is not restricted to any single method of horse-training, and we do not expect that just one system will emerge. There are many possible systems of optimal horse-training that adhere to all of these principles.

FIRST PRINCIPLES IN HORSE-TRAINING

1. Understand and use learning theory appropriately. Learning theory explains positive and negative reinforcement and how they work in establishing habitual responses to light, clear signals. (Note that “positive” and “negative” when applied to reinforcement are not value judgements, as in “good” or “bad”, but arithmetical descriptions of whether the behaviour is reinforced by having something added or something taken away, e.g., pressure. For example, when the horse responds to a turn signal and the rein pressure is immediately released, negative reinforcement has been applied.)    It is critical in the training context that the horse’s responses are correctly reinforced and that the animal is not subjected to continuous or relentless pressure. Prompt and correct reinforcement makes it more likely that the horse will respond in the same way in future. Learning theory explains how classical conditioning and habituation can be correctly used in horse-training.

2. To avoid confusion, train signals that are easy to discriminate There are many responses required in horse-training systems but only a limited number of areas on the horse’s body to which unique signals can be delivered. From the horse’s viewpoint, overlapping signal sites can be very confusing, so it is essential that signals are applied consistently in areas that are as isolated and separate from one another as possible.

3. Train and shape responses one-at-a-time (again, to avoid confusion) It is a prerequisite for effective learning that responses are trained one- at-a-time. To do this, each response must be broken down into its smallest possible components and then put together in a process called “shaping”.

4. Train only one response per signal To avoid confusing the horse, it is essential that each signal elicits just one response. (However, there is no problem with a particular response being elicited by more than one signal.) Sometimes a response may be complex and consist of several trained elements. These should be shaped (or built up) progressively. For example, the “go forward” response is expected to include an immediate reaction to a light signal, a consistent rhythm as the animal moves in a straight line and with a particular head carriage. Each of these components should be added progressively within the whole learned response to a “go forward” signal.

5. For a habit to form effectively, a learned response must be an exact copy of the ones before. For clarity, a complete sequence of responses must be offered by the horse within a consistent structure (e.g., transitions should be made within a defined number of footfalls). Habit formation applies to transitions in which the number of footfalls must be the same for each transition and this must be learned.

6. Train persistence of responses (self-carriage) It is a fundamental characteristic of ethical training systems that, once each response is elicited, the animal should maintain the behaviour. The horse should not be subjected to continuing signals from leg (spur) or rein pressure.

7. Avoid and dissociate flight responses (because they resist extinction and trigger fear problems) When animals experience fear, all characteristics of the environment at the time (including any humans present) may become associated with the fear. It is well-known that fear responses do not fade as other responses do and that fearful animals tend not to trial new learned responses. It is essential to avoid causing fear during training.

8. Benchmark relaxation (to ensure the absence of conflict) Relaxation during training must be a top priority, so when conflict behaviours are observed in the horse, we must carefully examine and modify our training methods so that these behaviours are minimised and ultimately avoided. To recognise the importance of calmness in enabling effective learning and ethical training, any restraining equipment, such as nosebands, should be loose enough to allow conflict behaviours to be recognised and dealt with as they emerge.

by Dr. Heleski – Dept. of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA

Source: 2012 ISES Conference”

The Proceedings of the 2012 Conference of the International Society for Equitation Science

are available here:

http://www.equitationscience.com/documents/Conferences/ISESConferenceProceedings2012.pdf

As a discerning reader may perceive, my blogging is as much an effort to crystallize my own thoughts on various aspects of Dressage, as to facilitate the learning of others who share this fascination, or, are even curious about it. More often than not, my concern is the Training Scale. So I was jogged to again attend CONTACT when I received this morning, from a thoughtful student, this missive:

111114124 sent you a video: “Uta Gräf // Graf & Le Noir – bitless riding May 2011”

Thank you for the news, I read it today.

Do you like bitless riding? Watch this video.

Uta Gräf // Graf & Le Noir – bitless riding May 2011

Le Noir born 2000 black Holstein stallion by Leandro x Caletto I and his rider Uta Gräf at home training some Grand Prix movements with bitless bridle.

To which I responded:

The video you sent provides an excellent example of how a rider may sit on a trained horse.

Thank you.

I have been thinking a lot about CONTACT recently, and about bitless riding. And reading Dr. Hilary Clayton’s research on both bitless bridles and ‘simple’ snaffles. You may read some of her findings in the link to Conference Proceedings from the article 2011 Autumn Digest: International Society for Equitation Science in the pages of DressageUnderground.

Bitless bridles facilitate the lesson of making horse and rider more conscious of the rider’s seat than hands. So they are valuable as a teaching aid. Although I do not, personally, wish to see bitless bridles in competition, I do wish that our National Federation would permit snaffles (bridoons without bits) in competition through Grand Prix Level, as is permitted in Britain, because I believe it would facilitate development of competitive riders seats as riders work up through the national levels.

Christopher Hyams, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA Http://DressageUnderground.wordpress.com

Thinking further about this, I am reminded of how my own horsemanship was elevated by riding bitless, for months on end, some 35 years ago, when, came into my life an otherwise beautifully conformed, but ‘parrot mouthed,’ four year old gelding. He was the first foal of both sire and dam, whom his breeder could not bear to cull. Not knowing where the gene came from, she gelded the sire, and vowed never to breed the mare again. She raised the foal healthfully, and had backed him. My first impression of Teddy  was that his potential as an athlete, and his personality, were undeniable. He wanted to play with me. The breeder offered to give him to me, with a bill of sale and no registration papers. I had looked the gift horse in the mouth, and could not turn him away.

I then spent nine months schooling him.  When, early on, I would ordinarily have hung a bit in the lunge cavesson, I didn’t.  I just continued on by transferring from voice commands  to leg and hand influences through the cavesson.  Soon I assembled, from odd bridle parts, a bitless bridle. Having then learned the exactly correct dimensions for Teddy, I had a hippy leather worker make a bridle to my specifications, and continued to school Teddy in his custom-made headstall.

About a year after my first meeting Teddy, it was time for a riding student to be introduced to foxhunting on her own, previously seasoned, field hunter. Having not fitted up a hunting horse for myself, but thinking Teddy ready, I vanned him to the fixture with the client’s horse. At the meet, the Hunt Secretary graciously welcomed my rider entry, but voiced her annoyance at Teddy’s head-gear. It was early in cubbing season, and we were all properly attired, but you would have thought I had shown up at The Blessing unbraided, in dungarees.  “That’s NOT a bridle” said my long-time, friend, who let me hunt back with my client, nonetheless.

Coincidentally, the Hunt Secretary did, herself , that day, have guests – a couple visiting from another Midwestern hunt.  The wife of the couple, ogled Teddy from the moment of hearing her hostess’s annoyed voice, looked over her shoulder every chance she got from near front of the small field, and liked what she saw. And bought him for her son, who hunted him with their pack, and hunt raced him, for a few seasons before going off to school, at which point Teddy became both a Whipper-in AND Guest horse, ever going in his bitless bridle.

But back to Dressage craft, and CONTACT. Here’s another video of Uta Graf testing to qualify for a Medien Cup Final in Holland, the same horse. Studying this video, I see only the most minor of outside rein contact problems in corners. And wonder whether the horse’s preparatory time might have been better spent in a loose ring snaffle than bitless bridle.

https://www.youtube.com/v/pUAMwuyAus0?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

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