Strides for Success

Tag: strenght

  • How Engaged is Your Horse’s Core?

    How Engaged is Your Horse’s Core?

    How Engaged is Your Horses Core?

    So how do you know if your horse is really engaged? If he is using his body to the best of his abilities at that moment in time. For many riders, we know that it is important, however, we struggle to make it happen consistently.

    Being able to successfully and correctly engage your horse’s core is essential for ‘good’ work to happen when your horse is being ridden. I know, ‘good’ is a little generic, however, it is true!

    In order for your horse to successfully connect through the energy, he must be engaged. And in order for that to happen, you the rider, need to understand what it means when it is done right.

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    The Flow of Energy

    When your horse’s core is engaged, it means that energy is able to flow through your horse’s body. Through the container that is you and your horse when you are riding. This energy flows from back to front. From the hindquarters, through to the front end of the horse. Rear-wheel drive.

    Your horse’s core strength will determine how much energy can flow through the channel or container at any given point.

    Your horses core must be engaged if the energy is to flow correctly. If your horse is going to use himself to the best of his abilities. He will be pushing, propelling or thrusting himself forward.  The energy will be carrying through.

    Engaging your horse’s core is absolutely foundational to correct training and long term functionality in your horse.

    Forwardness is Key

    Unfortunately, so many riders only look for the end result. The finished product. They will short cut the process of getting the result so that it ‘looks’ right. The obsession with ‘on the bit’ is all about this end result. Rather make sure that your horse is moving forward and thinking forward.

    Think of your horses back being like an electrical cable or water pipe. This cable or pipe will only be able to deliver the capacity of what that particular size can carry. In order to deliver or move more, the pipe or cable will have to expand or multiply.

    With your horses back, he must strengthen or develop in order for his body to successfully deliver more energy from back to front. In order for him to remain ‘engaged’ and moving forward.

    Removing ‘The Blockage’…

    In my experience, blockages can show up in two different ways.  A lack of consideration from the rider with regards to what it takes for the horse to truly ‘engage’ and carry himself.  And also, too much interference, whether intentional or not, from the rider!

    Most riders understand this concept of energy, strength and development.  Unfortunately many make the mistake of expecting too much too soon. You know that one day in the gym, no matter how many hours you spend, it will not suddenly result in you being able to lift enormous amounts of weights. Your horse is the same.

    One or two days of training will not suddenly result in your horse being able to engage and carry himself for prolonged periods when being worked and ridden. It will take time.

    As mentioned, the second way energy can be blocked is due to the riders blocking it!. This is often due to fidgeting, shuffling, twisting, turning, digging holes with their seat bones… All of the things that cause the energy to leak out and fail to flow through.

    When the energy fails to flow through, the horse never improves or strengthens his core.

    Start with Short Periods

    So, to develop your horse correctly and begin building his core strength, you will have to start somewhere. Start small. A stride or two initially. Many riders think ‘short periods’ and 20 minutes is their idea of short… I challenge you to try ‘planking’ for 20 minutes when you have never really planked before.

    Depending on what you’re doing, 20 minutes can sometimes feel like a lifetime! The same applies to your horse.

    Asking for too much too soon will result in your horse’s body looking for short cuts. Easier ways to do the things that he is doing. Unfortunately for you, these easier ways are rarely the correct or right ways. So, keep things short and sweet and focus on riding a few correct strides at a time. Then learning to string those ‘good’ strides together in order to create longer periods of engaged work.

    Start with the Halt

    I am going to suggest that you begin paying more attention to each halt. The quality of each halt that happens when you are riding. Earlier I mentioned how important forwardness is, both physically moving forward and thinking forward. The halt is no different.

    When a horse is thinking forward in a halt, the energy remains ‘engaged’ within his body. It is there, ready and waiting to be directed when the rider chooses to do so.

    That, of course, is a ‘good’ halt (there’s that word again!). The horse looks focused on the task. He looks eager. The contact between horse and rider has in no way diminished. Which brings me to the rider of the horse who has halted so nicely. They, too, are carrying themselves. Being responsible for their own body and their own contribution to this wonderful halt which has occurred…

    This is very different from the horse who ‘falls’ into the halt. The energy has left, usually leaked out or, sometimes, spilled out somewhere while getting into a halt. The back end is ‘open’. The front end is in fierce resistance to the rider’s efforts towards the contact.

    And the rider… Oh, the rider is bearing down, usually crooked as an S hook. Lost in a pointless tug of war they cannot win because there is no one even holding the other end of that imaginary rope…

    You Can Try This Yourself…

    Wherever you are right now, I want you to engage your core. You can do this if you are standing or sitting. Lying down is not a great example, so if you are – please sit up! But standing or sitting, when you engage your core, can you feel how you ‘grow’ a little? Can you also feel how you become a little more present and focused?

    Your horse has a similar result when he engages his core. He ‘grows’ a little, meaning he carries himself better. He also becomes more focused on what he is doing.

    The stronger and more developed your horse becomes, the longer he will be able to maintain a more engaged core. Which means the energy can flow more ‘unhindered’. It also will allow more energy to flow.

    I mentioned earlier how, often, it is the rider who gets in the way of the energy flowing. The rider causes the horse to ‘disengage’ through is core. So I am going to suggest that when you are initially working on this, you do so from a place that allows your horse to feel this for himself. Unhindered.

    Working on the Lunge

    On the lunge is the perfect place for this to happen. You are influencing using your aids. Your horse is responding to your aids, however, he now has space to really explore how it feels in his body. Without the rider tainting the end result!

    But there is one caveat to this; you must be lunging your horse correctly and consistently in order for it to work.

    You have to lunge your horse in a way that uses your aids to communicate just like you would in the saddle. Your aids on the ground literally take over from your aids in the saddle… The lunge line is the reins. Your lunge whip becomes your legs. And no, you don’t whip or hit your horse just like you don’t kick his sides black and blue with your legs! Your body position and language become your seat.

    Correct lunging will allow you to work specifically on engaging your horse’s core, without you getting in the way. It also allows you a different perspective. The perspective of the trainer or coach, rather than the rider.

    Just like I said at the beginning, steady and consistent work done correctly will develop your horse in a way he can learn to use his core. Once he has figured out what is expected of him, you can simply get into the saddle and then begin working from that perspective.

    Happy Riding
    Lorna

    Lunging For Riding

    If you are interested in go further with your horse on the lunge, I am going to encourage you to check out my digital program, Lunging for Riding – Results with Just 10 Minutes a Day. In there I will guide you through different exercises you can do, on the lunge, that will benefit both you and your horse when you are in the saddle.

    And don’t worry if you’re not great at lunging; I take you step-by-step through the process. You will learn how to lunge correctly and how, in the coming weeks months and years, you can use this fantastic tool to continue working with your horse in a way that will only enhance your communication in the saddle.

    This really affordable program is one that I want as many riders as possible to use and take action on. I want you to get the results that you are looking for. This program will help you do just that. It is fully digital and online, meaning you can do it from anywhere in the world. All you need is a horse, a small ‘flattish’ piece of land, a lunge line, a lunge whip, and an open mind. Find out more about Lunging for Riding – Results With Just 10 Minutes a Day HERE

    Other episodes, posts, and resources similar to this one:-

  • Developing Strong Hind Quarters in Your Horse

    Developing Strong Hind Quarters in Your Horse

    Developing Strong Hind Quarters in Your Horse

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

    • Understand what strength is
    • Figure out how it relates to suppleness
    • Work on straightness to strengthen your horse
    • Notice when things begin to develop

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    Have you found yourself wondering or wishing about your horses top line or frame?  You probably have heard that they are related to how your horse is working, but struggle to really connect the pieces together in the saddle.

    This episode of the Daily Strides Podcast is all about specifically the hindquarters and building strength in the hindquarters in your horse, which will lead to overall development.

    Time & Consistent Correct Training

    Riders are often looking for quick fixes. They want their horse to be on the bit.  They want the horse to be working in a ‘frame’.   But they are forgetting that strength takes time.

    If I sent you to the gym today, and asked you to do a certain amount of exercises, your success would depend on your current fitness level.   Whether you could do it, or not.  Of course if you push past what you are physically able to do, you are probably going to injure yourself; or wake up the next morning feeling incredibly sore.

    This is the same for our horses. Very often people are asking their horse to work within parameters that the horse is not used to working in.

    When this happens, the horses current level of development will be challenged as well.  It is not comfortable for your horse.  Neither is it enjoyable and there is a high risk of causing injury.  The other ‘outcome’ of pushing too hard or too fast is that your horse may begin to compensate elsewhere, and you will end up training the horse ‘backwards’.

    What is True Strength?

    Strength is your horse’s ability to propel itself forward. When buying a car you will look at the engine of the car. The hindquarters are the engine of your horse, so this is where you need to spend a lot of your time maintaining and developing your horse. So everything you are doing is for the good of the engine – the hindquarters.

    Strength, as well as being your horses ability to propel himself forward, is also his ability to correctly carry himself.

    As he becomes stronger, your training will ask different questions.  These ‘questions’ will require him to carry himself differently.  He needs to be physically strong enough in order to correctly do just that, and then develop further in his abilities.

    How Strenght Relates to Suppleness

    I believe that strength and suppleness are very closely connected, and so too is straightness. I suggest starting with suppleness, which leads to strength, which leads to straightness.

    Suppleness is basically asking your horse to become more ‘limber’.  This increases the overall ease and flow when being ridden. I don’t believe that suppleness is standing still asking your horse to eat a carrot somewhere at its elbow.

    Suppleness when ridden requires movement.  It is your horse is working and moving, and is able to use himself to the best of his ability.

    Working on Straightness to Strengthen Your Horse

    As you begin to correctly build and improve the horse’s suppleness (and your suppleness as a rider) you will find that you both become stronger. That strength then leads to the straightness.

    Straightness is important because if your horse is straight it means that he is pushing or thrusting forward equally from behind. One side is not firing stronger that the other side!

    Obviously straightness is not only to do with the hindquarters, it is also to do with the whole body, as is suppleness and strength. But I am focusing on the hindquarters today.

    As you begin to build this, the horse can begin to carry themselves differently which engages the core. As the core begins to get more engaged, you will begin to see his top line develop and he will begin to naturally carry himself better.

    This simply means that his weight is being carried differently as he is working. 

    The Cycles in Your Horses Development

    You will notice that as he begins to develop more strenght, he will carry himself differently which will lead to him becoming straighter.

    The cycle will keep repeating and developing as his training develops; suppleness, strength, straightness. These three principles keep building on each other.

    You will notice as you begin to invest time working on this that your horse will begin to feel different as he carries himself more correctly.  You will also probably notice that your horse will begin to work into the contact.

    The improvement in the contact is the result of correct development allowing him to carry himself more.  This allows him to take more responsibility for his half of the contact. 

    He will no longer lean or depend on you.  He will truly be able to contribute to the correct development of the contact, which is a little like agreeing to hold hands.  You become equal partners and it is a mutual agreement that the two of you have come to.  He must first of all be physically strong enough to do this.

    Noticing when Things Begin to Develop

    Consistency requires just that, constant attention to detail in your riding and training.   I also believe in applying consistency to how mindful you are about your horses development.

    Notice where your horse is, and notice any weaknesses that show up. Notice if you maybe ask for a bend to the left, is he rather bracing against you or is his head tilting to the side. He may also be struggling to track up one side or the other.

    It is so important to begin noticing things like this, because it is only by noticing them that you can then begin to work on them.

    Developing Symmetry in Your Horse

    Most horses, just like us, tend to favour one side over the other. Next time you ride your horse, begin paying attention to how much ‘ease and flow’ there is doing the same exercise on both reins.

    If you do notice a weakness of one side or a favouring of the other, take a more long term approach when dealing with it. 

    So many riders make the mistake of hammering on the weak side. If someone made you continually do something which you find difficult over and over again,I am sure you would start to feel definite resentment beginning to grow.

    Your horse is no different. Rather sprinkle the ‘difficult’ exercises or questions in between things which he enjoys and finds easier.   Allowing him to do the things that he finds easier right now in his present situation, and rather just sprinkling in these more challenging questions, allows him to feel good about working and developing himself.

    How to Know When Things Begin to Develop?

    Normally one of the first indications many riders get is through a downward transition. As you go down let’s say from canter into trot, you will feel that there is a lovely lightness the first two strides of the trot.  Now, the downside is that it will probably be for just that amount of time, one or two strides, and then it is lost and become a little heavier again.

    But that lightness through that initial transition is where he engaged himself, held himself and carried himself and is the beginning of true strenght in his body. 

    He just was not physically, or perhaps mentally, strong enough to continue.  As part of our OTTB Owners Program and also the Clarity and Confidence Riding Program,  I talk a lot about how the horse has to develop mentally through all the different principles, as well as physically.

    He must not only physically feel that he can carry himself, but also that he has the confidence to continue carrying himself going forward. 

    Celebrate Those Initial Steps

    When you begin to notice those initial couple of strides as they start to happen, your goal as the rider is to try and get more of those ‘feeling good’ moments.  More lightness that lasts longer, and are closer together in frequency.

    Simply put, over time you are lengthening the ‘feeling good’ moments for your horse, so the contrasting not so desirable parts are becoming shorter and less frequent. Over time you will build it from where it is a glimpse every now and then of what you want, to where what you want is the mainstay of the ride

    Happy Riding

    Lorna

    Links mentioned in the episode:-