- Breeding
- Horse Breeding, Part 2: Breeding and Gestation
- Breeding Costs: Things to Consider
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Buying a Horse
- How to Buy Horses: A Step by Step Process
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- General Horse Articles
- Learn to Draw a Horse's Head by Tracing Over a Photo
- Are Equine Business Studies Worth the Price?
- Riding Tree: Relaxation
- Horse Feeding
- You’ve Got the Right Feed, Now What?: Proper Feeding Practices
- Keeping the Horse Replenished - Equine Electrolytes
- Healthy Horse Boutique Supports Haddad Staller In Her Olympic Quest
- Horse Grooming
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- Horse Health Issues
- OmegaTri & the Equine - Reducing Inflammation, Restoring Balance
- A Look at Horse Feed
- Let Sleeping Horses Lie: A Look at Horse Sleep Patterns
- Horse Training
- Training Mythunderstandings: Applied Heeding: Backing
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- Training Mythunderstandings: Teach Your Horse Anything in 3 Simple Steps
- Horses & History
- Horsing around the Sierra Madre - 1974 Style.
- Battle-Ready: A History of the War Horse
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Horses & Sports
- Submit Your Grant Proposal To USA Equestrian Trust
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Nearly $7 Million Generated Annually for the District of Columbia
Establishing Rhythm, Don’t Interrupt Me
01/15/2009 - By Faith Meredith
Faith Meredith
Establishing Rhythm, Don’t Interrupt Me
Establishing Rhythm, Don’t Interrupt Me
by Faith Meredith
Director, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
Executed and linked together in a flowing rhythm, the individual movements in a dressage test or reining pattern become an expressive dance between horse and rider. Without rhythm, that same sequence of movements becomes a mechanical sequence of gymnastic exercises. It can be as uncomfortable to watch.
Just to review, rhythm means the beat, the regularity of the horse’s footballs. Think of it as the cadence set by the signature in a piece of music. We want to hear and feel four even, steady beats at the walk, two at the trot or jog, and three at the canter. Tempo is the measure of the time between the beats while a stride is the distance covered by all four feet within a given gait before the pattern of footfalls repeats. The tempo may vary as the length of the horse’s stride changes from normal to extended (longer stride) or to collected (shorter stride) but the rhythm should remain regular and consistent.
In our program at Meredith Manor, the rhythmic relationship between horse and rider begins on the ground. It starts as the handler catches the horse then continues while she grooms it then leads it to the arena. If she does anything that startles the horse such as jerking on the lead rope or letting the hoof she cleaned just drop to the floor, she interrupts the rhythmic feeling she wants to create from the moment she arrives in the horse’s pasture or stall. When we do ground work with our horses or longe them, we continue working in rhythmic patterns. The horse mirrors the rhythm we present to him. Rhythm is the bottom rung in our training tree because it is the essential tool we use to establish relaxation, the second rung.
Rhythm not only helps the horse remain relaxed at all gaits. It is also essential if the horse is to become balanced and able to execute smooth up or down transitions. Without rhythm, the horse will be unable to advance in its training. Those even, regular footfalls create a ride that, to an observer, flows smoothly from movement to movement with seamless transitions regardless of changes in tempo or gait.
The rider carries the responsibility for establishing rhythm into the horse’s saddle work. It takes a good rider with a truly independent seat to help a green horse learn to use its body rhythmically. Anything that the rider does to interrupt the evenness of the horse’s footfalls interrupts the horse’s rhythm. If the rider momentarily gets out of balance and grabs at the reins for support, she interrupts the horse’s rhythm. If the rider is unable to follow the horse’s motion, she interrupts the horse’s rhythm whenever she falls forward or gets left behind.
An independent seat is critical to helping a horse establish rhythm because it is the seat that is the primary aid a rider uses to establish rhythm. If a horse becomes nervous or excited, inexperienced riders often try to correct the problem with stronger rein aids or they instinctively grip with their legs. From the horse’s standpoint, these things only raise the excitement level and interrupt the rhythm even more. The rider with an independent seat can use her seat to reestablish rhythm without necessarily changing whatever she was doing with her rein and leg aids when the horse became excited. In doing so, she helps the horse relax.
A rider with an independent seat can show a green youngster what rhythm feels like. In the beginning, the horse may have difficulty finding its balance while carrying a rider. Or uneven muscling may mean it has uneven gaits. The rider who can set a steady rhythm with her seat can help the green horse through these awkward stages.
Sometimes horses lose their rhythm because their riders confuse “forward” with “faster.” The rider interrupts the natural flow of the horse’s footfalls with leg aids that are too strong and the horse leaps forward into a faster tempo instead of smoothly transitioning into it. A careful observer notes that the interruption of the strong aid has created tension in the horse and his muscles look tight and hard. When a horse is moving rhythmically, its muscles not only look strong but also relaxed and soft.
The green rider can begin to get a feel for rhythm by counting the beats in the gait out loud. Humming or singing a song that matches the horse’s rhythm also helps. If an insecure seat interrupts the horse’s rhythm, longeing exercises can help develop balance and the ability to follow the horse’s motion.
Once the rider has a basic feel for rhythm, she can begin to work on walk-trot transitions and half halts in all kinds of combinations. This is an excellent way for the novice rider to learn to use her seat rhythmically and to get her horse paying attention to her seat as an aid. Once horse and rider are working rhythmically on the flat, they can repeat these transition exercises on uneven ground or while working up and down hills. Working over ground poles or cavaletti is a classic training technique to teach the horse a sense of rhythm and to teach the rider to allow the horse to move forward freely.
Establishing good rhythm is a difficult without the help of an experienced observer. Setting and changing the distances between ground poles or cavaletti, for instance, must be done with careful consideration of the individual horse’s normal stride and current level of training. When the rider does something that interrupts the rhythm, an experienced instructor can pinpoint whether the cause was a lack of balance, an inability to follow the horse’s motion, an incorrectly applied rein or leg aid, or a problem with coordinating the aids. Then he or she can find an exercise prescription that addresses the rider’s specific problem.
While rhythm may be a simple concept to describe, it is a complicated goal to achieve. Good rhythm depends on the ability of the rider to fully coordination all the aids and to use them to influence the horse. It also requires that the horse’s muscles be gymnastically developed so that he can carry himself in a steady rhythm over a period of time. In order for a horse and rider to flow rhythmically through a dressage test or reining pattern, they must first put in a lot of hours of hard work. Just keep riding.
****
Faith Meredith
As the Director of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre for over 20 years, Faith has played an integral role in the development of the Centre's current curriculum and programs. Faith takes a hands on approach to managing the day-to-day affairs of Meredith Manor. She not only directs and coordinates the activities of the Centre's entire staff but also remains in close touch with the student body through her riding classes.
As a horse industry professional for 30 years, Faith has successfully trained and competed horses through FEI levels of dressage. She currently coaches riders in dressage, reining, and eventing. She holds a BS Degree in Education from Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts
. © 2001-2008 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All rights reserved.
Faith Meredith has successfully trained and competed through FEI levels of dressage during her more than 30 years as a horse professional. She currently coaches riders in dressage, reining, and eventing in her capacity as the Director of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre (147 Saddle Lane, Waverly, WV 26184; 800.679.2603; www.meredithmanor.edu), an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.
