Strides for Success

Tag: serpentine

  • Serpentines; Making Them Work for You in Your Schooling

    Serpentines; Making Them Work for You in Your Schooling

    Serpentines, Making them work for you in your schooling

    What this episode is all about & how it can help you:-

    • Understand the difference between controlling versus influencing
    • How markers can help you become more mindful throughout the movement
    • Why I suggest slowing things down initially
    • How to begin working on improving your serpentines today

    [smart_track_player url=”https://op3.dev/e/traffic.libsyn.com/dailystridespodcast/1057-Serpentines-Making-them-Work-for-You-in-Your-Schooling.mp3″ title=”Serpentines; Making them Work for You In Your Schooling” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” tweet_text=”Are you ‘flying’ through your serpentines – or are they a well thought out school movement for you and your horse?” hashtag=”Podcast #Equestrian” twitter_username=”strides_success” ]

    Serpentines really are the exercise or movement that ‘have it all’ when it comes to working or schooling your horse in the arena.  Suppleness, straightness, rhythm, relaxation and a whole host of other principles in between.

    Yet, so many riders fail to make the most out of their serpentines and never really get further than ‘flying’ around the loops full speed ahead!  In this episode of the Daily Strides Podcast I am going to give you a few ideas on how you can get the most out of this basic schooling movement in your riding.

    Deciding on Which Serpentine Suits You

    First of all, let’s quickly chat about what a serpentine is and deciding how many loops is right for you and your horse.  The serpentine is, simply put, like riding the letter s in the arena, but with extra loops added in where necessary.

    The amount of loops in your serpentine will be determined by the size of your arena and how developed both you and your horse are in your training.

    The more loops in your serpentines, the more suppleness will be required to maintain the forwardness and the ‘shape’ of the movement over all.

    Most riders start out with a traditional 3 looped serpentine.  Any odd number of loops will see you finish the movement on the same rein you begun.  An even number or loops will have you change rein when you complete the movement.

    Controlling Versus Influencing in the Saddle

    Many riders have the mindset that they must ‘control’ their horse.  Control every movement, every step.  The rhythm, the forwardness… Even down to how their horse moves and uses his body.  If you are one of these ‘controlling’ riders, I’m afraid I’m going to have to burst your bubble…

    The only thing you can control while riding is yourself.  You cannot control your horse.  However, by controlling yourself, you can learn to have more influence over your horse…  

    One of the aims of correct training with your horse should be getting to the point where your horse takes responsibility for his own movements and actions.  You will ‘control’ yourself and he will control his self.

    Controlling everything is exhausting and results in your focus being place on the wrong things when riding.  Holding your horse up with your inside leg.  Or creating a fixed or rigid ‘frame’ for your horse to work in and therefore removing all suppleness.

    Correct Rather than Control

    As you ride your serpentines over the coming weeks, think of asking your horse to do something and then allowing him to do it.  Don’t be the rider who is always looking over your horses shoulder waiting for him to make a mistake!

    If he goes off track, or makes a ‘mistake’, yes, correct him – but then try to get out-of-the-way again and allow him to continue on.

    This way, you are allowing your horse to begin thinking for himself and taking responsibility for his own actions.  Shifting your mindset around this topic is the is the beginning of working towards self carriage with your horse.

    Using Markers to Help Your Accuracy

    Very often when riders set out to ride a serpentine, they get a little off track with the true shape of the movement they want to ride.  It can end up looking more like a zig-zag rather than a series of equal bends connected by straight lines.

    Before you ride your next serpentine, rather go out and mark the exact track that you want to ride.  The loops, the track as you cross the arena.  The shape, the sizes, the centre line. 

    You can use anything at all, once it is safe, to mark out the path you want to ride on.  Tyres, cones, stones, poles, uprights.  My only concern with using poles or uprights is that sometimes the horse can ‘cling’ to them a little.

    Slowing Down and Starting from Walk

    Once you have your path marked out, I then suggest getting into the arena on your horse and begin working on riding the movement.  Start in walk.  Ride the movement a few times in the walk and begin being mindful to what is going on underneath you.

    Serpentines have a lot of different moving parts as you ride through them and taking the time to notice each stride in walk will help you begin getting the most out of the exercise.

    Notice where you begin, the middle of the short side of your arena.  Pay attention to how you transition between straight and flexed.  How well is your horse ‘staying on track’ through the exercise itself.

    If there was a drone above you, taking a video, would your horses back, from tail to poll, be on the same track all the way through as the one you laid out?

    Most riders think about transitions as going up and down between gaits or gears.  However, a transition is simply a change.  I am going to recommend that, as you ride through the serpentine, becoming really mindful on how you are transitioning between the loops.

    Incorporating Serpentines into Your Schooling

    From here, begin thinking about the best way you can ask  your horse to actually ride the serpentines and then getting out of his way and allowing him to do just that.  No leaning or shoving or holding things up.

    It is common for riders to become a little too enthusiastic with your inside rein as you ride the basic serpentine…

    Notice the suppleness and the bend.  Notice how your horse is coping with the transitions between loops and if you are truly helping him or hindering the process.

    Once you have mastered the exercise in walk, I would then suggest taking things a step further by riding the exercise in trot.  Keep your focus on the ‘eye in the sky’ and how it would look if viewed from above.

    Also make sure you are not ‘controlling’ everything, but rather setting things up and then allowing them to happen. 

    There are so many other ways to add variations to your serpentines.  We have a whole collection of trainings inside of Daily Strides Premium themed around doing just this, which you can begin working on today when you join.

    Happy Riding

    Lorna

    Links mentioned in the episode:-

     

  • Riding a Serpentine

    Riding a Serpentine

    Do you , like many riders, find yourself overlooking the humble serpentine as being too basic and easy a schooling movement to be of any real consequence to your horses development?  If so, I would love to challenge you that the modest serpentine, if ridden and worked on correctly, can be a fantastic training aid for both your horse;  and for you as a rider…

    [smart_track_player url=”https://op3.dev/e/traffic.libsyn.com/dailystridespodcast/SFA386-Serpentines-for-Straightness-Balance-and-Suppleness.mp3″ title=”Serpentines for Straightness, Balance and Suppleness” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” tweet_text=”Back to basics with the suppling serpentine… ” hashtag=”horseriding #schooling #equestrian” twitter_username=”strides_success” ]

    The serpentine is the sort of exercise that can be used over and over again, daily if necessary,  to improve your horses balance and rhythm, as well as his straightness, suppleness,  bend, and can also help, later, with lateral movement.

    Serpentines

    They are a great tool that you can use to first assess your horses rhythm, balance and straightness.  Serpentines will often show up any favoring of one side to the other in your horse which, once identified, allows you to develop a solid strategy from where to jump start not only your horses training, but also your own.

    The serpentine is also a great tool that riders to use to improve and develop their own skills in the saddle.   I have found them extremely useful in helping to keep riders looking forward and thinking ahead as to where they are going, and how the movement they are riding now will affect this.   This combination will ensure that are looking up and ahead, while still riding the specific movement you are riding at that moment.

    Unfortunately many riders see the serpentine as being merely a basic riding school movement and not giving it the attention it deserves while being ridden.   This is where the potential is greatest for riders to get this wonderful and helpful movement wrong.

    One of the first steps to riding a correct serpentine is to continuously monitor and feel what is happening underneath you, adjusting all the time to the different requirements of you as a rider, as you and your horse progress through the serpentine.

    I have found that many riders tend to get ahead of the movement while riding a serpentine, both physically with their upper bodies and mentally, in their heads.

    Serpentines teaches control on the riders part, to wait for each aspect of the movement as they ride through.

    I have also seen riders leaning and collapsing through their upper bodies as they ride through a serpentine.  It is almost as though they wish to get through the serpentine as quickly as possible and are physically willing their horses on and forward through the movement.

    Serpentines for Balance, Suppleness and Control

    On the other side of the spectrum, I will find riders taking far too much of a hold on the reins or head and resulting on the horse going or leaning on to the forehand and becoming heavy.  Part of riding the horse through a serpentine involves allowing your horse to carry himself through the movement and

    Lack of preparation will result in late transitions or inaccurate changes of flexion which affect the whole exercise.  It will also show up inconsistencies in tempo, bend and general suppleness of both horse and rider.

    The next time you are in the arena riding, really use the time spent riding through the serpentine movement to, firstly, notice which side you and your horse find easier.  Look out for any differences between the shape, bend and later transitions from one rein to the other.

    I suggest taking the time before you mount up to mark out your serpentine, so you initially don’t have to worry about hitting the correct parts of the arena or figuring out where to go.   Use poles or cones, however bearing in mind that sometimes riding over a pole each time may cause you and your horse to lose concentration… Maybe two parallel poles to ride through may work better.

    Ride the serpentine first in walk and then work up to trot.   Try and keep all of the loops the same size and aim for accuracy throughout the movement.  Ride the serpentine from both directions and begin from both A and C on the arena so your horse does not begin to anticipate the movement.  You can start initially with a large 3 loop serpentine and then, as you and your horse become more balanced over time, look to creating a 4 loop serpentine and even a 5 loop, depending on your arena and experience level.

    Also concentrate on the ‘straight’ part between the loops.  Use this space to half halt and re-balance your horse.  You can initially have as many as 4 or 5 strides of ‘straight’ with a green horse and slowly as balance improves, work to 1 stride of straightness.

    Pay particular attention to your horses shoulders, are they ‘falling out’ or or is maybe your horse using the rail as support?  If so, you can begin by ‘shortening’ the width of your serpentine, by riding the outer most point of each ‘loop’ about 2 to 3 meters before you reach the track of the arena fence.  Again, as you ride through the movement, analyse how well balanced your horse is when the fence or track is no longer there to support him.

    Look for any leaning in from both you or your horse.  Also try and keep the tempo and bend all the way through.  See is your horse is willing to wait for each movement or if he is rushing through.  This can often indicate a lack of balance and is something which should be corrected early in your horses training.

    As always, come back to walk if there are problems and work through them from the walk before trying again in the trot.

    Once both you and your horse are happy and confident riding through the initial 3 loop serpentine,  you can begin to add variations to the exercise.  One of these is to ‘close’ each loop into a circle, which you can ride for 1 or more circuits before continuing on with the traditional serpentine itself.

    This exercise can be used to re-balance the horse, and also, can slow things down if necessary or change things up if your horse is beginning to anticipate the movement and run through it.

    As you are riding each circle, make sure you don’t get ahead of your horses movement and ahead of the vertical with your upper body.  Use your bending aids to correctly to ride the circle and then half halt as you leave the circle before then straightening your horse, crossing the center line and then continue on with your serpentine, bending the other way.

    30 Day Rider Fitness Challenge

    Another variation you can use of the traditional serpentine is flexing your horse away from the direction he is working on each loop and thus asking your horse for some shoulder-fore as you go around each loop.  However, your horse does need to be supple and obedient to the aids, as well as supple and balanced, before attempting to perform this particular movement.

    Finally, you can work transitions into your serpentine, both incorporating different gaits and transitions within the initial gait itself.   This can be built up to cantering your serpentine, crossing the center line and changing bend through trot and later canter itself by performing flying changes.

    Happy riding!
    Lorna