Category Archives: Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Gaited Dressage: The Feeling of Balance

Gaited Dressage: The Feeling of Balance

By Jennifer Klitzke

High scoring dressage tests award the horse and rider who demonstrate a culmination of rhythm (with energy and tempo), relaxation (elasticity and suppleness), connection (acceptance of the aids and bit), impulsion (energy and thrust, straightness with alignment and balance), and collection (engagement, self carriage, and lightness of the forehand) as they move through a series of gaits, transitions, and movements precisely on the letter. Gait quality, harmony, and submission are factors in scoring, as well as rider’s position and use of aids as they are applied to ride the horse through the required movements of the test.

From time to time I’ve seen “needs more balance” written on gaited dressage tests I’ve ridden. While I know that balance is a dressage essential, I began to explore the “feeling of balance” as I ride my naturally gaited Walking horse. What does it feel like when my horse is in balance? What does it feel like when my horse is out of balance? As the rider, how can I identify, restore and maintain my horse’s balance?

Recently two of my favorite traveling clinicians came to town: international bio-mechanics riding coach Mary Wanless and successful Grand Prix dressage rider Heather Blitz (who is also a long-time student of Mary’s). While Mary’s clinic helped each rider discover the feeling of a balanced riding position, Heather’s clinic offered metaphors to help rider’s get in touch with the feeling of their horse’s balance and offered terrific training tips whenever their horses lost balance. Both clinics featured trotting horses, yet the teachings of rider bio-mechanics and the feeling of balance certainly translate to the riding of gaited horses.

In regards to the feeling of balance, Heather encouraged riders to imagine a medicine ball inside the horse’s body while they rode and to notice where the weight of it tends to rest. If it feels like it rests in the horse’s chest then the horse tends to be more on the forehand, and if the medicine ball feels as if it is right beneath the rider’s seat, that indicates that the horse is more in balance with the rider.

Heather’s “medicine ball” metaphor has helped me gain rider awareness with the feeling of balance. My awareness of balance is an essential first step in me being able to guide my naturally gaited Walking horse into reposition her body as she learns better balance. Whenever my mare feels like her balance is in her chest instead of beneath my seat, or whenever she leans on the bit or rushes with short, quick strides, I calmly and quietly half half, halt or halt and softly rein back a couple steps until I feel her balance shift from in front of the saddle to under my seat. Then I calmly and gently cue her forward.

The more we practice this at a flatwalk, the more balanced steps we have in succession. It feels like my seat and my horse’s core snap together like a Lego, and we travel together as one unit with power from her hindquarters through her body, an engaged abdomen which lifts her back and withers, and the forward energy flows through my fists and pushes forward towards the bit with each head nod.

I’m so excited with how this feels and the difference it is making in our gaited dressage. Please share your thoughts as you experiment with the medicine ball metaphor and the feeling of balance.

Overcoming Riding Fear, Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Rider Biomechanics and the Gaited Horse

Rider Biomechanics and the Gaited Horse

Does rider position impact the quality of movement with the naturally gaited horse? In what ways can a rider help the horse through riding position?

Rider Biomechanics and the
Naturally Gaited Horse

By Jennifer Klitzke

In 1989, a series of falls led me to paralyzing fear and panic attacks at the thought of riding. I faced a cross-roads: Do I give up my passion for riding horses or face my fear?

Thankfully, the latter won out.

Facing my riding fear introduced me to The Natural Rider, a book written by riding biomechanic expert Mary Wanless. In her book, she outlines ways to become an empowered and effective rider through breathing and relaxation; right-brain visualization that engages multiple body parts at the same time; and developing an engaged core for a more secure balanced riding position.

Over time, these concepts helped me overcome my riding fear. I became a more relaxed, confident, and effective rider, both mentally and physically.

Twenty years later, I learned that the England-native author/clinician was traveling to my state to teach a three-day riding biomechanic clinic. I cleared my schedule to attend as an auditor and re-acclimate myself to the concepts that saved my riding career.

Instead of fixating on the horse’s errors, Mary challenges riders to fix their position first. Often a horse will rush or lose their balance because the rider has lost their balance. If a rider is relaxed and balanced over the horse’s center of gravity, the horse is more likely to mirror balance and relaxation.

For the rider, this means:

  • Developing an awareness of body balance over the horse’s center of gravity
  • Aligning ear, hip, and heel
  • Breathing deep into the belly to produce relaxation
  • Maintaining symmetry between the front side and back side, right side and left side
  • Riding with a lowered center of gravity by isokinetic engagement of core muscles that bring balance, power, and impact
  • Developing stillness from core tone reducing noise (the extraneous body movements sent to my horse) so aids are more clear and the horse becomes more responsive
  • Wrapping these steps into right-brain visualizations that can impact multiple body parts

I couldn’t get home fast enough to apply these clinic insights with my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse, Makana and naturally gaited fox trotting horse, Lady.

Each time my naturally gaited horse loses balance or rushes, this reminds me to fix my position first. Each time I do, I find my horse naturally aligns with my balanced riding position quicker than if just fix my horse with my rein and leg aids alone. My horse feels more balanced, more through from the hindquarters, relaxed through the back and neck to the bit, and she takes deeper, steadier steps under her belly in her natural smooth gaits.

While Mary’s clinic featured non-gaited horses, I find that her rider biomechanic paradigm applies equally well with riders of naturally gaited horses.

Two decades after reading The Natural Rider I am grateful to have met Mary Wanless in person whose rider biomechanic concepts have pushed me through fear instead of giving up and onto becoming a better rider.

Today Mary has rekindled my passion for riding like I had in the beginning. She’s given me a rider biomechanic paradigm that impacts the quality of my riding with my naturally gaited horses.

Mary Wanless has written many books since The Natural Rider, including Ride With Your Mind, Ride With Your Mind Essentials, Ride With Your Mind Masterclass, For the Good of the Rider, For the Good of the Horse, Ride With Your Mind Clinic: Rider Biomechanics from Basics to Brilliance.

Visit: www.Mary Wanless.com.

What are your thoughts? Please reach out and send me a message or stay connected by subscribing to the Naturally Gaited youtube channel and “like” us on facebook.com/naturallygaited.

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Gaited Dressage: Rider Position and Connection

naturally-gaited-dressage-is-more-than-trot-connection-jennifer-klitzke

By Jennifer Klitzke

Since last year’s Jennie Jackson Clinic: Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse, I’ve established more forwardness at a flat walk with my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse mare. “Forwardness” is a prerequisite for “connection,” otherwise my mare would meet contact with halt.

Riding Position
In preparation for connection, Jennie addressed my riding position. First she provided an eye-opening illustration. Jennie took my reins and placed them behind my lower back. Then she pulled back and asked, “How does that feel?” I said, “Ouch! It hollows my back!” Jennie asked, “So, how do you think it feels to your horse each time you press your weight into your irons?” Point well made.

Jennie lowered my irons by four holes and for the first time, I literally felt my seat and thighs melt into my saddle. This position provides clearer communication with my horse and allows my lower legs and ankles to wrap around my mare as needed to activate her belly which lifts and round her back. My mare is far more comfortable and less fussy.

Connection
Contact in flat walk with my rather lazy mare has always inferred “stop,” so I’ve gotten into the habit of throwing my reins away and believing that I had been riding with lightness. Riding without contact isn’t connection, just as headset isn’t riding on-the-bit.

Jennie explained that connection is an art form and a whole book could be written about it. So for me to grasp the fullness of connection in a couple lessons is not realistic, but I did get a good feel of it that I hope to maintain it moving forward until I see Jennie next.

Coming from the trotting horse dressage world, riding a head-shaking horse has been a mystery to me. I had always been taught to follow the horse’s walk movement with my hands, so naturally I thought to do the same through the flat walk and running walk. However, my interpretation of this was rather active— sloppy to a judge and noisy to a horse.

Jennie explained that at a flat walk, my elbows are to remain softly still at my sides instead of moving franticly to and fro with my mare’s head movement. It feels like my elbows are connected with my abdominal core—not lock in rigidly, but softly connected. My hands are held much closer together than I am used to (a bit’s width apart from each other), and my fingers loosely hold the reins, but tightly enough so that the reins don’t lengthen by slipping through my fingers.

Our work in connection begins at a medium walk to establish the bend in a shoulder-fore position where my inside lower leg asks my mare to bend through the ribs and encourages her inside hind leg to step under her belly toward her outside fore leg. The outside indirect rein captures the energy and helps to keep her neck straight and the outside shoulder from falling out.

Once my riding position and the connection are established, we transition from medium walk to a flat walk on a 15-meter circle. If my mare evades the contact by taking short, quick steps (what Jennie refers to as “flat walking in a tight skirt”) we leg yield to a 20-meter circle while maintaining the bend and connection.

To enlarge the circle, Jennie said, “Imagine that your belly button has an eyeball and point it towards the direction you want to travel.” What a simple metaphor that works every time! Immediately, my mare’s head nod returns, and I feel her hind steps grow deeper beneath me.

Another strategy Jennie taught me when my mare evades by flat walking in a tight skirt, is to apply a one to three stride half halt using my seat and closing my fingers on the outside rein. Just before my mare slows to a walk, I urge her forward to a deep stepping flat walk. Each time my mare moves forward with deep steps, I feel the energy from her hindquarters travel into the soft connection with my hands while my riding position remains still and held together through my inner core.

Throughout the lesson, Jennie reminded me to breathe deep into my belly to help me stay relaxed and ride with soft eyes by looking ahead with less of a concentrated and focused vision. A still riding position blends core tone, relaxation, and deep breathing and is not to be confused with rigidness, tension or stiffness; just as a relaxed riding position is not to be confused with sloppiness.

Combining a still riding position with connection will be our new home work for the coming days. Thank you Jennie for traveling to Minnesota for the second year in a row!

For more about Jennie Jackson and Dressage en Gaite, visit facebook.com/groups/JennieJacksonDressageEnGaite.

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Clinics, Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Gaited Dressage: Taking Hands vs. Giving Hands

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gaited-dressage-giving-hands

By Jennifer Klitzke

How much does a horse sense from a rider? Can my insecurities get transmitted to my horse through my reins? Can this really affect how my horse moves? These questions were raised at a recent gaited dressage clinic with Larry Whitesell and Jennifer Bauer. I spent five full days taking in new perspectives and training techniques—as much as my brain could hold. Among the many “ah-huh” moments was an exercise we did that showed the difference between “taking hands” versus “giving hands.”

Jennifer led us through a dismounted exercise. She held one end of the reins as the rider and each of us took turns holding the other end of the reins as the horse. When it was my turn, I closed my eyes, held the other end of the reins, and followed the rhythm of gait she established on a light connection. When Jennifer changed something like clenching her jaw, tensing her shoulders, holding her breath, or looking down vs. ahead, each of us immediately felt heaviness through the light rein contact. Amazing! If I can feel these changes through light rein contact, just what would it transmit to the horse?

Then Jennifer let each of us experience the effects of “taking hands” versus “giving hands.” Taking hands follow the horse’s rhythm in a non-pulling backward motion while riding with giving hands follow the horse’s rhythm forward. When Jennifer’s motion with the reins demonstrated giving hands, it gave each of us the feeling of freedom to move in lightness. Then when she demonstrated taking hands, it felt constrained. If I can feel the difference between taking and giving hands through light rein contact, imagine how much more is communicated to my horse through my seat and weight aids?

Up until this point, I had not been conscious of whether or not I rode with taking or giving hands. For years I had battled with riding fear and had unknowingly developed a “taking hands” riding mindset as a reaction to stay safe and in control. Then I began to think about the mixed messages I had been sending my horse whenever I unconsciously rode with taking hands and at the same time squeezing my horse to go forward. Or the times I had anticipated a spook, tensed my body, held my breath, and rode with taking hands instead of riding my horse forward into balance and relaxation.

Experiencing the difference between taking hands and giving hands has given me new awareness to ride my horse with a forward hand and body position and mindset. I am already noticing a difference this is making with my horse—more willingness to more freely forward with less leg on my part.

What a powerful exercise. Why not find a friend and try this exercise for yourself? You’ll be amazed with how much of an impact a riding mindset and position can have on your horse’s way of going, and just how much can be communicated through a light rein contact.

For more about Larry Whitesell, his training DVDs and clinic schedule, visit www.WhitesellGaitedHorsemanship.com.
For more about Jennifer Bauer, visit www.gaitedhorsemanship.com

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Dressage and The Feeling of Right

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naturally-gaited-the-feeling-of-right-jennifer-klitzke

Dressage and the Feeling of Right with the Gaited Horse

By Jennifer Klitzke

So much of riding dressage is how it feels when it is “right” and how it feels when it needs correction to bring the horse back to the feeling of “right” again.

It’s easier to train horses using dressage when the feeling of “right” is engrained. Yet it takes time to develop this. That’s why lessons are so important for me. A trained eye can coach me to correct movement, position, connection and let me know when it is correct so I can hold onto that feeling of right for when I practice on my own. Nothing beats one-on-one coaching with someone who understand the mechanics of a four-beat smooth gait combined with dressage principles of relaxation, rhythm, forward movement without rushing, connection, symmetry, and collection. If only I lived closer to a gaited dressage instructor!

There are many of good dressage instructors but few who are familiar with the biomechanics of an evenly timed four-beat flat walk. The trotting horse has a stationary head and neck, so riding on-the-bit is less complicated compared with the expressive head and neck nod!

Using today’s technology, I’ve been watching gaited dressage videos for how it looks when it is “right.” I study the headshake, depth of step, speed, headset, rider’s position and rein connection. Then I capture a ride or two each week on video and compare. This has been a powerful tool for me between clinics.

Since getting into dressage for the gaited horse in 2007, I have explored how to ride my Walking Horse on-the-bit, meaning how to ride my horse from back to front by capturing the forward energy through the reins to the bit. I’ve asked many gaited riders the question: how do you ride a head shaking horse on the bit without disrupting the head nod? I have yet to get an answer that I am able to translate to my own riding. I think I’ve been asking the wrong question. I need to ask, “How does riding on-the-bit feel like on a head-shaking horse in the flat walk and running walk?”

It is important to note that riding on-the-bit is more than rein contact. A balanced riding position is a key factor. Last November I audited a bio-mechanics clinic taught by author and international riding instructor Mary Wanless. Since the clinic I have been studying her video series, “Ride With Your Mind” and applying it to my rides with my Tennessee walking horse.

As for a balanced riding position, I’ve been:

  • Combining inner and outer body alignment
  • Stillness
  • Bearing down of the inside anatomy to lower my center of gravity
  • Increasing my seat coverage on the saddle
  • Snugging my inner thighs with the dressage saddle to distribute my weight and lighten the load on my horse’s back

Then I apply Mary’s “suspension bridge” analogy to keep from falling into the hollow of my horse’s back. It’s like my knees and hips are the pillars of a suspension bridge. I aim to expand the distance between my knees and hips over the hollow of the mare’s back which supports my weight across her back. This helps my mare move more forward, lifting her back, stepping deeper under her body, and reaching up from the wither to produce a higher headset and deeper head nod.

Now to memorize the feeling of right so I can correct myself when we need to hit the reset button.

For more about Mary Wanless and her “Ride With Your Mind” video series, visit: mary-wanless.com.