My teacher rode with Tom Dorrence. Tom thought most horses had trouble in the hindquarters. I work on this all the time and I believe if people understood this one piece they could get along with a hell of a lot of horses. What I like to see in this exercise is for the horse to be able to plant and pivot on the inside front and really reach with the inside hind. I like to get to where I just tip my horse's nose taking the rein like my fingers are covered with blisters. I don't like to see horses with their heads bent to the point where their nose is touching my knee. This to me the most important exercise there is if for no other reason, it's an emergency brake. It's the first thing I think a new rider should learn. Thank you for the great video. "It not what you do but how you do it". Word from my teacher as well.
Thank you for this! I've noticed over the years that the western world has the concepts of bending so much better than much of the dressage community. Yet, if I say I learned to do bending exercises from a western horseman, I get the "you are nuts" look. I have a 4 y.o. Lusitano mare, I use these exercises, as well as the 1-rein stop every time I ride. Instead of doing 25 circles hoping I can eventually get some bend and balance, I can get it immediately. Amazing to see a top rider like yourself do these exercises!!!!
Excellent!!! I am a Western rider from years back. My wife got a young Friesian Cross and I got her Dressage horse. I haven't ridden in 15 years and hadn't cantered in 18 years. I am moving into Western Dressage so I am beginning to learn how my horses has been taught and also learning the Dressage language. Who knows... Maybe I'll exchange my cowboy hat boots for a combat helmet and military boots.... Well maybe not.. LOL Bridge
100% agree. Love your videos. I have always thought I had a different school of thought for cross-training by incorporating different training exercises from different disciplines. Like you Joseph, I have a reining/ranch horse background, and I also bring Draft hitch background and add carriage driving to my program.
I have never, never heard that flexion exercise communicated in such a clear manner. You explain so many more tiny aspects of this exercise: where the poll should be, "playful" on the rein, how to handle resistance, why this is the most important piece to bring from western, the loss of shoulder involvement. I want so badly to arrange lessons from you! You're speaking my language!
An old fashioned exercise I've used for years is to ride a 20 meter square with turn on the forehand in motion at each corner. Walk and trot mainly but there's also value in doing this at canter with a stronger, more advanced horse.
Yes yes yes! This exercise is PERFECT for an older OTTB i ride! I also taught him side passes as well. Added in turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. Since he cannot get a brain transplant and he is 18, these exercises are a reset when he hypes himself up. This horse does not get tired. Longer he goes more energy he gets. I decided to do this for a refocus and it works! BOOM
What a gorgeous boy! At about 5 mins. in, when he finally 'got it' 💡💡💡 in the opposite direction - he deserved an "immediate" Good Boy & a neck rub. I was so worried he was about to go down. He was so confused but worked through it. 👏👏👏
2:33 it's like calligraphy dressage riding to me. It's more refined in the communication of each individual foot. You still do it in restaurant riding, but it's a little different because partly the way of the make of the saddles that's why bareback riding feels so much different
I use the same exercises ( truly ) & teach it to my students as well . I've produced many Country Int'l Championships in Europe ( Dressage , 3 Day , Showjumping ) but as well have ridden NRHA money earners when younger ...I've had a very fortunate life , career and good riding is good riding . You can never have enough tools in your kit !
Yes really getting the horses stretching over back and sacroiliac. Will for sure be trying this on my young horses. I do use this exercise but perhaps not to the degree I’m seeing here and don’t work thro the “blocks”.
606 if you'll put your right leg forward in front of the girth you can ask that right leg to stay and queue that flexion easier with your left leg behind the cinch and I wouldn't be tapping with it at all because then your asking for that side instead of being clear
I think what you talking about and Tristan Tuckers basic TRT method has much in common. Different articulations of same movement. Both in working flection and higher levels of flexibility in general, and teaching them to be better coordinate and move their legs which later on is greatly needed in dressage advance movements.. and on the other hand it really helps them to relax into their own body. Awesome horse as always. You two have a special eye and great work afterwords to develop them so nicely. Amazing job , inspiring and aspiring
You are, as you know, moving into controversial territory here and that’s good. You are touching around the area of the Ramener Outre. When I started hearing the heated arguments about Rollkur a few years ago, it struck me that they were talking about the Ramener Outre done wrong! This Western version of the exaggerated turn on the forehand comes from the Spanish horsemen who landed in the western US (conquistadors) and who used a classical school that got handed down to the American cowboy. The late Miguel Tavaora wrote an amazing article in The Horse magazine. You’ve probably read it, and many like it, as I think you know more about the classical school and the attempts made by DeCarpentry, Oliveria and others to combine La Gueriniere and Baucher and have succeeded to some extent, some of the time ,with some of the horses, ridden by genius riders. I have come to the conclusion that only the most talented and intuitive riders can do it but contemplating it provides tantalizing consideration. The “flexions”, lateral and direct, are introduced at the halt. At the walk the lateral work can be combined into a combination of all the lateral movements on the same bend. For instance, haunches in can become a walk pirouette by and bringing the shoulders around in front of the haunches. An example of the elementary exercise would be turn on the forehand, to leg yield, to turn on the haunches, to half pass, to turn on the forehand etc with change of bend added for increased difficulty and suppleness. Ideally, each movement is done for only a few steps but without any interruption in the rhythm, contact or connection. The “power” of the ultimate lateral flexion of the neck is that it activates the inside hind leg without the use of the rider’s leg but with submission to the contact being primary. Riding the whole horse comes from riding and suppling the parts separately. Shoulder in, for example,asks for stepping under with one hind leg at a time. When the horse understands, he can be asked for some level of engagement and collection but the sequence is gradual and rational. I get excited when I see pieces of a discarded art that I think could have value in the future of horse training when they are put together in the right way. It occurred to me in the middle of a lesson years ago, in the flash of a light bulb moment, that, as you say, it’s not so much what we do as how we do it. We can sabotage any method given enough time and frustration. Thanks so much for your tactful explanations.
Outside reign doesn't drop the inside shoulder. Don't overuse the inside reign (which will drop the shoulder)**but you do need the inside, it's a balancing act. Outside leg to push through and of course shoulders square on top of your horse, use your weight to help the turn but you stay square. Inside leg like the reign is a balancing act and where you feel your horse.
NOT a good exercise. You are riding just the head and the neck. You have no controll over the hindleggs. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD ! And stopp picking with the spurs !!!
My teacher rode with Tom Dorrence. Tom thought most horses had trouble in the hindquarters. I work on this all the time and I believe if people understood this one piece they could get along with a hell of a lot of horses. What I like to see in this exercise is for the horse to be able to plant and pivot on the inside front and really reach with the inside hind. I like to get to where I just tip my horse's nose taking the rein like my fingers are covered with blisters. I don't like to see horses with their heads bent to the point where their nose is touching my knee. This to me the most important exercise there is if for no other reason, it's an emergency brake. It's the first thing I think a new rider should learn. Thank you for the great video. "It not what you do but how you do it". Word from my teacher as well.
🎶🎶🎶Thank you for your superb insight‼️🎶🎶🎶
Thank you for this! I've noticed over the years that the western world has the concepts of bending so much better than much of the dressage community. Yet, if I say I learned to do bending exercises from a western horseman, I get the "you are nuts" look. I have a 4 y.o. Lusitano mare, I use these exercises, as well as the 1-rein stop every time I ride. Instead of doing 25 circles hoping I can eventually get some bend and balance, I can get it immediately. Amazing to see a top rider like yourself do these exercises!!!!
Thank you for that convincing demonstration of using tools of western and dressage riding either in a sovereign way.
Excellent!!! I am a Western rider from years back. My wife got a young Friesian Cross and I got her Dressage horse. I haven't ridden in 15 years and hadn't cantered in 18 years. I am moving into Western Dressage so I am beginning to learn how my horses has been taught and also learning the Dressage language. Who knows... Maybe I'll exchange my cowboy hat boots for a combat helmet and military boots.... Well maybe not.. LOL
Bridge
Good safety practice to interrupt a bolting attempt and achieve relaxation.
100% agree. Love your videos. I have always thought I had a different school of thought for cross-training by incorporating different training exercises from different disciplines. Like you Joseph, I have a reining/ranch horse background, and I also bring Draft hitch background and add carriage driving to my program.
I have never, never heard that flexion exercise communicated in such a clear manner. You explain so many more tiny aspects of this exercise: where the poll should be, "playful" on the rein, how to handle resistance, why this is the most important piece to bring from western, the loss of shoulder involvement. I want so badly to arrange lessons from you! You're speaking my language!
Thanks for showing this.
Love when you teach! Looking forward to further ‘deep diving’
Great explanation and demo on an absolutely beautiful horse!
Luv that visual and your connection to the Western Discipline…
An old fashioned exercise I've used for years is to ride a 20 meter square with turn on the forehand in motion at each corner. Walk and trot mainly but there's also value in doing this at canter with a stronger, more advanced horse.
Excellent tutorial! Thank you!
Yes yes yes! This exercise is PERFECT for an older OTTB i ride! I also taught him side passes as well. Added in turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. Since he cannot get a brain transplant and he is 18, these exercises are a reset when he hypes himself up. This horse does not get tired. Longer he goes more energy he gets. I decided to do this for a refocus and it works! BOOM
Yep just love these 'How to ask for' videos . 🇬🇧
I like how you explain this, thank you! I’ve had 2 different dressage trainers show me this exercise, I often do it in hand too before I start riding.
What a gorgeous boy! At about 5 mins. in, when he finally 'got it' 💡💡💡 in the opposite direction - he deserved an "immediate" Good Boy & a neck rub. I was so worried he was about to go down. He was so confused but worked through it. 👏👏👏
I love when you teach and cross-train! Will definitely be trying this on MY mare who rears (& bucks)
2:33 it's like calligraphy dressage riding to me. It's more refined in the communication of each individual foot. You still do it in restaurant riding, but it's a little different because partly the way of the make of the saddles that's why bareback riding feels so much different
I use the same exercises ( truly ) & teach it to my students as well .
I've produced many Country Int'l Championships in Europe ( Dressage , 3 Day , Showjumping ) but as well have ridden NRHA money earners when younger ...I've had a very fortunate life , career and good riding is good riding .
You can never have enough tools in your kit !
Yes really getting the horses stretching over back and sacroiliac. Will for sure be trying this on my young horses. I do use this exercise but perhaps not to the degree I’m seeing here and don’t work thro the “blocks”.
Well done!!
606 if you'll put your right leg forward in front of the girth you can ask that right leg to stay and queue that flexion easier with your left leg behind the cinch and I wouldn't be tapping with it at all because then your asking for that side instead of being clear
I think what you talking about and Tristan Tuckers basic TRT method has much in common. Different articulations of same movement. Both in working flection and higher levels of flexibility in general, and teaching them to be better coordinate and move their legs which later on is greatly needed in dressage advance movements.. and on the other hand it really helps them to relax into their own body. Awesome horse as always. You two have a special eye and great work afterwords to develop them so nicely. Amazing job , inspiring and aspiring
Yes! I see a lot of TRT type similarities
That’s the first thing I thought!
7:48, yeah when he was having that incident I was thinking if you would let up on your outside of the reign he would have had an easier go
You are, as you know, moving into controversial territory here and that’s good. You are touching around the area of the Ramener Outre. When I started hearing the heated arguments about Rollkur a few years ago, it struck me that they were talking about the Ramener Outre done wrong! This Western version of the exaggerated turn on the forehand comes from the Spanish horsemen who landed in the western US (conquistadors) and who used a classical school that got handed down to the American cowboy.
The late Miguel Tavaora wrote an amazing article in The Horse magazine. You’ve probably read it, and many like it, as I think you know more about the classical school and the attempts made by DeCarpentry, Oliveria and others to combine La Gueriniere and Baucher and have succeeded to some extent, some of the time ,with some of the horses, ridden by genius riders. I have come to the conclusion that only the most talented and intuitive riders can do it but contemplating it provides tantalizing consideration.
The “flexions”, lateral and direct, are introduced at the halt. At the walk the lateral work can be combined into a combination of all the lateral movements on the same bend. For instance, haunches in can become a walk pirouette by and bringing the shoulders around in front of the haunches. An example of the elementary exercise would be turn on the forehand, to leg yield, to turn on the haunches, to half pass, to turn on the forehand etc with change of bend added for increased difficulty and suppleness. Ideally, each movement is done for only a few steps but without any interruption in the rhythm, contact or connection.
The “power” of the ultimate lateral flexion of the neck is that it activates the inside hind leg without the use of the rider’s leg but with submission to the contact being primary. Riding the whole horse comes from riding and suppling the parts separately. Shoulder in, for example,asks for stepping under with one hind leg at a time. When the horse understands, he can be asked for some level of engagement and collection but the sequence is gradual and rational.
I get excited when I see pieces of a discarded art that I think could have value in the future of horse training when they are put together in the right way. It occurred to me in the middle of a lesson years ago, in the flash of a light bulb moment, that, as you say, it’s not so much what we do as how we do it. We can sabotage any method given enough time and frustration. Thanks so much for your tactful explanations.
The turn on the forehand used to be in the first level tests.
This movement has to come into the dressage. That would be fine👍🏻😊🙋🏻♀️
Outside reign doesn't drop the inside shoulder. Don't overuse the inside reign (which will drop the shoulder)**but you do need the inside, it's a balancing act. Outside leg to push through and of course shoulders square on top of your horse, use your weight to help the turn but you stay square. Inside leg like the reign is a balancing act and where you feel your horse.
Take the spurs off. He listens without them. There is no need for the constant prod.
NOT a good exercise. You are riding just the head and the neck. You have no controll over the hindleggs. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD ! And stopp picking with the spurs !!!