© Antti Walnestedt
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Nature has
given horses a pattern for moving. They can move in different directions, in
different tempo, in different gaits and they can execute movements that makes a
rider jealous. All this they do of their own without any influence from humans.
To make the horse do the same things under a rider he needs to teach the rider
first. The best riding teacher you can get is the horse, he tells you how he
wants the rider to sit in the different movements. If the rider all the time is sitting where the horse wants him, he can do advanced dressage movements. By always being out of his way, and not hinder the movements you can get very far in a short time. If the horse did not do what you wanted, the aids were wrong. The horse works as a copy machine, the rider's upper body and arms direct his front part, the seat and the upper leg direct his hind quarters. By combining these two parts, the horse can be made to do the movements. The lower leg has only got one function, that is to raise the horse's feet above the ground. From standing still, the horse can move forwards, backwards, sideways, lie down and jump over things. He can combine two movements, f. ex. forwards and sideways at the same time, like in half pass or leg yielding. He can not combine opposites, f.ex. lie down and jump over things at the same time, that's why you should not use opposite aids at the same time. There is no sense at all in driving the horse forwards with spurs and pulling him back with the bit, the horse will only try to get away and may get violent in his attempt to escape. He can also give up and resign to the lack of sense. A resigned horse can never be a brilliant horse, possibly only mediocre. |
When a horse
moves he moves his point of balance toward where he is going. F. ex. if he is
moving forwards it is not enough just lifting one leg and putting it forwards,
he also needs to shift his center of gravity. Nature has made the horse with
about 60 % of his weight on his forehand, when he is standing neutrally. When the horse moves forwards his weight is moved forwards, when he is standing still his weight is neutral, in piaffe the horse is trotting in place and his weight is neutral, in rein back his weight is moved backwards. While riding it is important that the riders point of balance coincides with the horse's as much as possible. The horse has no problem with his own balance but if the rider disturbs him by being in the wrong spot the horse may get problems, an experienced older horse can normally resolve it, but a green horse can get into trouble. Where the rider sits is important, if the rider is always sitting too far forwards he can create difficulties for the horse to move his weight back, a requisite for collecting. At maximal collection all the weight is on the hind legs and it is possible for the horse to lift his forehand off the ground. There are two ways to use the balance, adding weight to create movement in a certain direction or removing weight to make moving easier. Taking hold of the rein in combination with moving your weight back works like a brake, the horse can be made to change from canter to trot, from trot to walk, from walk to halt and from halt to rein back by sitting down and moving the weight backwards. In a pirouette, f.ex. the weight is removed from the foreleg that is going to move to make the turning easier. |
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 Piaffe is trotting in place, with horse and rider in equilibrium. |
 The rider balances backwards and the horse goes backwards. |
