Welcome to our tape introducing tempo, transitions and lengthening and shortening of the stride.
Now this is where we really begin to apply the basic body balance and ways of sitting
that we've learnt in the previous tapes to some of the movements.
In a sense the transitions are a kind of microcosm.
There are times where if there's anything that's not quite right this is when it's
going to show up.
In a sense if something can go wrong it will go wrong.
There are absolute demands for precision on the rider.
There's a quote I like very much which I used in the Masterclass book from Arthur C. Clark.
He says any sufficiently developed technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Now what we're doing here is we're looking at the technology of riding, applying it to
these transitions and you'll see very very clearly when it goes right and when it goes
wrong.
Transitions are the proof of the pudding, they're the ultimate test and there's a tremendous
amount of learning when you can get these right.
Yes, stay there.
This is going to feel horrible to you, you're probably, it does, so poor Judith hates it.
Come on, be really back here Judith, just do it and hate it, you're allowed to hate
it, that's it.
Now how does that feel?
Dreadful.
This is early on in Judith's second lesson and she's still struggling to get her alignment
in rising trot.
Early she rode with her leg almost straight down and her upper body hunched forward.
Here with her stirrup upper hole she's doing it much better but she's finding it difficult
to adjust to the new balance.
Her horse is running on rather, his tempo is a bit fast and a while later when she was
feeling more comfortable we began to tackle this directly.
So having begun to set up here a trot that's moving forward well with the horse reaching
into the rain nicely we're going to pay some more attention to setting up the correct tempo.
So Judith I'm sure you probably know that when you ask for impulsion what the horse
very often wants to do is to take a quicker shorter step.
He goes faster by running faster and when you really think about regulating the tempo
and getting that one, two, one, two, one, two back where you want it again he tends
to say oh it's too difficult to take a powerful step in this I'll just get slow and lazy.
Now we're going to do a numbering exercise for this so we're going to call five the point
where we have a very powerful big impulsive step in the tempo we want.
Okay?
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten is the horse running on running on and running on more
so we've asked for impulsion then but begun to lose the tempo.
Four, three, two, one, down to zero would be where we have the tempo we want but the
horse is just copping out on impulsion on power and where we've got those two perfectly
in balance would be five.
So this marking that we're doing here is very different to the kind of marking you do in
a dressage test this is just a useful way of regulating we could have too much we could
have too little we're looking for a middle point.
So as you ride round I'm going to say to you now and you're going to give me the number
that you think it is right and we're just going to see if we can find a way to balance
everything at five and again as you look at this you folks can look and see and predict
if you can see whether Judith really is on five whether we're veering up six, seven
or we've lost impulsion we're veering down four, three.
What would this be Judith?
About four and a half.
About four and a half yes so we have control of the tempo but his engine's off so as you
say to him come on sweetheart a little bit more be very careful that you keep your pauses.
What number's this now?
Yes that's right so it's still down below five so the engine does have to come on if
you you know risk it if you flip past five to six it doesn't really matter he has to
go quite a bit more okay what number's this okay that's right we're just about there round
there's good make sure the engine stays on.
In order to be able to control the horse's tempo at rising trot the rider has to be able
to make a pause in the air at the top of the rise and a pause in the saddle as she
sits this is the way that she slows everything down it doesn't work to just think of being
more slow in the rise and more slow as you sit if you do that what happens is the ride
starts to go soggy the rider loses muscle tone and loses the real definition.
To make a pause like that you've got to have high muscle tone and you've also got to have
the right angle to the pelvis if your back is hollow and your seat bones are pointing
backwards you're going to land in the saddle and feel like the horse just catapults you
straight out again that you don't have any possibility of making this pause so it requires
a body alignment that has seat bones straight down no hollow in the back a way of landing
where you're really in control of what you're doing and you're at very high tone that way
you can get the horse to dance to your tune instead of you ending up catapulted and thrown
about so you dance to his.
Run him Judith okay what number is this Judith yes so have we lost the tempo as we've gained
that impulsion and you've lost the sense of a pause in the air at the top of the rise
and a pause in the saddle as you sit so see if you can firm up your thighs firm up your
bear down that's very good you're nearly there good girl what number is this okay well done
it feels rounder huh yep and you've got to be careful Judith because every time you use
your leg and give an aid that says go your body by regulating your rise and your seat
effectively also says slow and every time you use your body thinking of the pause in
the air at the top of the rise and the pause in the saddle as you sit that was well done
and your body with that regulation says slow your leg has to be there to say go otherwise
you'll say oh it's too difficult and be careful Judith anything you do to slow is not with
the hand okay it really isn't with the hand it's with the pause in the air at the top
of the rise the pause in the saddle as you sit what number is this Judith yeah that's
right so you've really done overkill here and your whole rise has gone a bit soggy let's
send him forward a bit more put the thrust back into your rise that's it now what's happened
to the pauses and what number is this yes that's right so you shot right past the correct point
here now see if you can think pause and whenever your body says slow remember your leg has to keep
saying go what number is this okay so just be ready there keep regulating with your leg as you're
organizing with your body it's a little a smidgen under five huh it's a bit underpowered we need
to have a little bit more power risk it may go wrong Judith Anna that's better that's better
risk that it may go wrong what number is this five okay as you come around here keep doing it that's
right good what number is this okay good girl good yeah the rise and sit and everything here
are good what's the number now yeah that's right X the middle point here circle see if you can
circle on a five 20 meter circle what's the number now yeah that's right so you did overkill huh you
overcorrected for the fact you knew he'd tend to slow on the circle what's the number now
okay let's see if you can refine how to really solidify and organize your thighs now that's
it right another circle coming across from the half marker here now see so Judith you did well
there to set up a five as best you did tell us what you had to think about what you had to do I
had to keep thinking about the pause and keeping the leg on so the go and stop at the same time
but also I had to count to myself so that I didn't whenever I was more aware when he ran right more
aware than you've been in the past of when he ran yes and of the need to keep a pause and what
was harder for you to stop five becoming six or to stop five becoming four five becoming four to
stop five becoming four so in other words when you'd set the tempo to put in that little bit
more impulsion to move at what we're calling a five is really the biggest athletic demand on a
horse to run in a six is easy to be underpowered and just not put the power into that slower tempo
is easy but five is a really big gymnastic demand it's also quite a demand on the rider
because Judith initially when she let's say gone up towards six or seven wanted to use her hand to
slow it down rather than using her body to control the tempo she really has to be able to do a pause
in the air at the top of the rise a pause in the saddle as she sits think of it this way if you're
a really good rider on top of the horse you go one two one two one two one two and if you're
immovable from that tempo whether you're rising or sitting the horse has no choice but to go one
two one two underneath you but if the horse can go one two one two one two and take you with him
you're dancing to his tune for him to dance to your tune requires tremendous stability in the
body a lot of thought control a lot of body control and a tremendous athletic demand for the
horse this is Alex who we met on our tape rising trot working on the bit and she's riding a very
green six-year-old who she's not ridden before he was rather keen on pulling her about and they're
so little of her that unless she can really get her act together this isn't difficult for him after
we had done some more work in trot and Alex had him more established we began to work directly with
the down transitions so Alex when you're around the corner and you're on the long side when you're
ready to ride a halt so as Alex is riding these halts you can see there's a period of time where
the horse is bearing down against the bit she's starting to pull on the rain and essentially he
doesn't stop so as Alex rides these halts we can see that the horse really wants to bear down into
her hand so there's a sort of a and then eventually it stops when the whole happens right the horse
will go walk walk walk stop really clean and direct without that sense of the clockwork winding
down and gradually slowing until he holds now Alex as you come around to hold again here really
pay attention to the bearing down to the front line of your body and to the position your seat
bones point in and be sure he's forward and then hold again when you're ready
okay now Alex did you stay bearing down okay did you lean forward did you lean back okay and then
I think probably came back as well one of the things I was most aware of as Alex did that was
that as she came off her seat bones what happened was she pushed down in the stirrups and stretched
up her upper body that will make her tummy pull in and as soon as that happened she sunk what's
going to make the whole work cleanly here is if she can keep the alignment of her body so she doesn't
scrunch this way she doesn't hollow that way she keeps these parallel vertical lines she keeps
her seat bones pointing straight down she keeps the bearing down and she doesn't do the stretch
up towards stretch down when the horse does a down transition and comes on to his forehand
it's rather as if if this was the bit and this was his mouth he will come strongly against the
bit like this expecting the bit to pull back and there will be that sort of perpetual motion
effect where he leans down on the bit the bit pulls back the horse doesn't stop what we want
is that instead of pulling back which will obviously happen if the rider pulls back on
the rein and also loses the stability in her body we want the bit to act like a brick wall
so let's suppose here's the bit it's going to act like a brick wall here's the horse's mouth
he comes against the bit expecting the bit to pull back he will almost say to the rider come on play
the game pull back against me that's how we always do it but the rider keeps her body position keeps
the bear down keeps the alignment over her feet and says no I won't pull you just hit this brick
wall until at some point the horse says okay and it's as if he bounces off the brick wall to lower
his croup next time round he hits the brick wall says oh come on play the old game the rider says
won't play and he says all right and sits down till soon enough he just hits that ball a little
bit and then he sits down at that point in time the rider needs to use very very little hand in
a downward transition it will happen almost by virtue of her just stopping her body almost like
you'd stop a trampoline at this point in time when the horse says come on pull back against me that's
how we always do it the rider is going to feel a very strong contact into the rain if she can hold
her body alignment and keep a passive resistance the horse will have then to just change his mind
and sit down the moment her body comes back that middle she pulls back a little she allows to happen
the whole will never be clean clear or direct and we'll add in another piece for you here Alex so as
you ride the halt pay attention to your own body alignment and also pay attention to the shape of
his back does it stay rounded does it go flat does it go hollow can you keep the round up
underneath you so what happened that time okay there's a very interesting mirror in terms of
what happens in the rider's body when she has it right and what happens in the horse's body when
he has it right too so when the rider bears down she not only engages her abdominal muscles she
also engages her back muscles try this now if you put your hand under your sternum here and put your
thumb and your first finger just on each side of your spine there now as you bear down you should
feel not only the pressure here but a sense of these two long back muscles pushing out against
your fingers it's as if they become like two pieces of rope they're more defined and more
easy to feel so the change in your front has generated a change in your back it's allowed you
to connect the power of your pelvis through into the upper body now I believe that when the horse
works correctly he bears down too what happens then is that the power of his pelvis is connected
through into the forehand his abdominal muscles have to be so instead of being let's say lengthened
from his sternum to his pubic bone they shorten a little bit as that happens the back can come up
when he's in carriage you can literally feel these two long back muscles here which are
essentially what you're sitting on and they will fill out a bit as if from being flat and rather
indistinct like this they become defined like two pieces of rope that you can literally feel and
you can sit on now when that happens you're beginning to get into correct movement and good
work the mirror works another way too because you can bet if you're riding that your back is
hollow that your seat bones are pointing backwards that your horse's back will be hollow too you see
if you can think of having him so he comes even more round underneath you so your thighs are really
well in place your bearing down is really well in place good girl walk on again so again we lost
his attention we lost his back that little bit come up the three-quarter line be sure you have
front line oh whoops okay what happened that time I felt like he really rubbed hold of the
rain yeah so he really tried to go he effectively went you know so much for all this sitting down
with your quarters I've had it let's do it this way and he got you that little bit out of the
this is an exercise I use to explain the dynamics of the rider-horse interaction so Alex put forward
the same arm as leg that's it just make a fist here right now Alex is going to be the rider and
I'm going to be the horse and I'm going to see if I can pull Alex which I can very easily so okay I
can still pull her forward so Alex you determine here that you're not going to let me pull you
forward right you're the kind of rider who's not going to be pulled about by your horse or I'm
still pulling her forward let's even get a bit more strong here okay now when I let go suddenly
then Alex toppled backwards that shows that what she's actually doing here in her attempt not to
be pulled forward by the horse is pulling back let's try again so I'm going to test Alex by
letting go really sudden suddenly and if I do and she just topples back a little bit we know she
wasn't quite in balance so Alex you want to get yourself here where I'm not going to pull you
forward but if I let go suddenly you won't topple back okay so you have to see how stable you can
get yourself here whoops I'm starting to pull you forward I'm still pulling you forward now this time
as I test you we can tell you're pulling back oh again I got you pulling forward this time again
we've got to pull back let's try this with me look if I just stabilize myself here you take hold of
my arm so as you pull really pull on a level don't pull down if you pull down you get a
mechanical advantage over your partner here so you want to just pull on the level of her arm and
when you want to test me let go really suddenly okay we're on the right track
you're pulling a little bit off to the to that side there see if you can pull directly in the
line of my arm that's it now I had it really stable that time now if you look when Alex
lets go you'll see a little spring go through my body there's just a little a little jerk that
happens let's come and look at Claire and Suki here so Suki as you let go Claire stays pretty
stable now let's just look at what would happen if it went wrong if Suki actually pulled Claire
forward so Claire let yourself be pulled forward this angle here would close and that angle there
would open so Claire's got to hold herself where that doesn't happen she'll also find here that
the weight tends to come down on her front foot and she loses weight on the back foot is that true
okay so come back into place again now she's got to hold this angle here and not let that angle open
so in fact what we want to happen is that if Suki could pull Claire forward that the body instead
of doing this would do that keeping its own line up keeping its own integrity so pay attention
Claire to the angle at the back here pay attention to keeping weight in the back foot now the front
thigh here is really important too because if Claire thinks about her thigh bone pulling out
of her hip socket and she thinks of the thigh here being a buffer she can help utilize that to stop
herself folding forward over it she's got to keep this buffer in the front thigh this angle
here and a sense of weight down through the back foot she's got a very nice alignment of her spine
here and she really thinks of bearing down keeps her feet as a really good open contact with the
floor no curling of her toes so her toenails go down to the floor and if she can do that she
should be very strong so Suki you put it to the test here and then let go that's great
okay so be ready Alex to feel that you're holding his back up under your seat
you're holding the front of your body you're holding that line up
good girl now he really wanted to pull you off didn't he but you actually held in place there
very well let's walk on and we'll put you into trot sitting
yeah it's got a big pull yes yes it looks like it's a big pull when when he decides to do it
and what's happening here as we ride this set of halts is that we're meeting the pull down
resistance that Alex has met as well in trot the horse kind of says well maybe I can carry a bit
but really I want to do this and if she can challenge that evasion through the walk-hulk
transitions and find that she can get the horses back there it's going to make it easier for her
and riding a sequence of walk-hulk transitions like this can particularly help you before you
take trot sitting initially judith rode sitting trot with the very straight down leg that she
also had rising but this time she was leaning back in the water skiing position
if we cut the reins you can tell that she'd topple over backwards and this is a setup for
a bad transition down the horse is not in his own balance and she's not in hers they're already
counterbalanced against each other and pulling on the rein judith's weight is concentrating down
what I call the man trap the hollow in the horse's back that the rider so often slips into
having her weight here reinforces this hollow as does her backward traction on the rein so
we didn't work with the transitions down until we changed this dynamic and bored them both more into
their own balance let's meet her again as we're doing this work she's still a little bit back
with her upper body a little bit high with the hand the lower leg not quite in place and rather
more wobbly than she was on the other side so judith let's have you bring yourself to vertical
okay this is going to be a feeling of being closer towards his neck
keep having your thigh snug and keep bringing your right foot that little bit more back under you
okay now he needs to be a wee bit more forward here
and just check you are getting as if you were pushing a baby buggy the feeling in the rain
and the hand here of as if you were pushing a baby buggy that's right now you're on the right
lines good girl which way do you prefer riding on judith okay now let me ask you another question
about this if you thought of your two thighs like iron bars which one would be more solid
strong and convincingly an iron bar and which one would be more mushy soggy and just unconvincing
okay so give me numbers out of 10 for the two of them didn't this still you can see how her
right hand tries to make up for the ineffectiveness of her right thigh by coming across the horse's
neck rate them out of 10 for strength okay the left one is about an eight and the right one's
between five and six between a five and six so there's really quite a big difference here
and on the right one where is it mushiest and where is it firmest
it's firmest by the knee and softer up by the head right let's put judith on the left drain
where it's easier for her and we'll see what happens now when she rides some transitions
okay and somewhere around here be sure you've got his back be sure you got your thighs walk trot
notice how he pricked his ears in the transition up this is a moment when the rider typically
loses the horse's attention and pays the price as his back hollows with his attention too
so as you go walk trot really pay attention to the shape of his back and to staying with him okay
okay so that time he came back into work rather on his forehand what happened to the shape of his
back judith hollowed it hollowed and what did you feel in your hand uh it became very heavy right
okay as you take walk trot here have his attention keep your thighs in place keep feeling for the
roundness of his back be ready to stay with him once again judith does not have the horse's
attention and without it she has little hope of doing a good transition
notice as judith goes into this next transition down how hollow the horse is
okay that wasn't so wrong as the last one
okay have his attention judith that means his ears that's it that means his ears have at least
got to be flicking out sideways now judith's doing well here with getting his attention
but look what happens in the transition itself the back in the transition up did it stay up
no so it hollowed a little bit huh as you gave the aid yeah
after riders have learned and understood about not falling down the man trap and they've learned
how to get this counterbalance with the thigh muscles here there's another concept i often
teach them about the horse's back and how to hold it in carriage and judith and i are going to have
a go at this now so judith you probably know that the horse's back is rather like a suspension bridge
the staunchens are the wither and the croup and between them the ligaments that join into all the
spinal processes here pull from the middle this lot towards the croup this lot towards the wither
they literally do act like the wires that hold up the middle of a suspension bridge
along with that we have ligaments that when they work well hold the neck and bring that into
carriage and the ligaments that will also lift the tail so the tail too is carried and this whole
ligament system is like a suspension bridge with these two staunchens here
but for judith while she's riding it will be more helpful to imagine almost as if there
were staunchens within the staunchens one at her knee here and one at her hip here
now if the horse wants to hollow his back what he does effectively is to collapse his staunchens
the ligaments go slack the bridge hangs down and that's what makes the man trap
now if she can think of her thigh and this famous iron bar thigh bone like it's a girder over these
staunchens here holding them apart so they can't collapse she's going to have a way of really
holding his back up so judith what that means is that we've got to keep the knee reaching
her down away from you this way and almost a sense of this noble here coming back a little
bit as if the knee could pull here and that bit could pull there to make the thigh act like a
girder and to make the whole thigh bone really solid now judith tends to lose it being solid
down here and soggiest up at the top and it puts her in a place where the horse isn't really quite
in front of her and isn't quite in carriage as well as thinking of the thigh like the girder
over the suspension bridge to understand what i'm talking about you could also use an analogy to a
catapult if you thought of the rider's two knees being on the y shape of the catapult here her
thighs being the elastic and the pelvis being the stone it's really a question of going the knee
pulls away the pelvis pulls back that puts the thigh muscles like their elastic bands under
tension and it makes this a longer thinner v shape it's so much easier for the rider to have
the thigh where it's a short fat soggy v shape and when it's like that it can't act like the girder
over the suspension bridge to stop him collapsing his staunchens good girl that's right okay now let
it go wrong judith so where does it land there now over his ears so it goes right up over his
ears and it must be much more diffuse much more like the watering can spray it is okay so let's
see if you can get yourself where you've got that real feeling in your thigh like it's the catapult
elastic like it's the girder in the suspension bridge that's correct that just clicked into
place beautifully what give me your own description what would be your description of it here
i feel the ligaments in my seat are really strong
whereabouts in your seat underneath my seat bone so there's a real feeling underneath your seat
bones or something strengthening yeah is there a difference in the thigh very much stronger
very much stronger down the front the inside the underneath
um the inside and around underneath okay now be careful you're losing that front line stay vertical
okay good god that's great now let it go for us again
and how does that make everything change i start moving around so as you're going to come into the
up transition judith pay attention to being the girder over his suspension bridge to really
keeping the back up if you have his attention that's much much easier just till the critical
moment hey yeah now obviously the down transitions at the time when the horse is most likely to
collapse the staunchens in a sense the transitions down are the proof of the pudding they're never
going to work right until in the gate we started from we have a good carriage of the back we have
a rider in a stable position where a bearing down is much stronger than the hold on the rein
and where she's taking the horse if we haven't got those it's inevitable that the down transition
is going to be a disaster but when you do the transition itself it's really important to pay
attention to several factors in your body one would be that you really keep bearing down
everybody's tendency is to do a downward transition to pull their tummy in to grow up with the upper
body quite possibly to lean back and very often also to push in the stirrups this puts them in
the water skiing position so what inevitably will happen is that the horse goes into the rain
hollows his back that little bit dives on his forehand and doesn't really stop
you get the situation that one of my pupils once called perpetual motion
that the rider's pulling the horse is pulling and at the very worst it just goes
and eventually it grinds to a halt we want a transition that's clean clear and direct
so that goes walk walk walk stop you understand me so fast okay so the factors in that are to make
are to make sure that we do the opposite to this syndrome the lean back grow up pull in your tummy
push on your feet which lends up of course with pull on the rain so what we need is a vertical body
the seat bones staying where they point straight down the angle here staying the same and it can
be very helpful to monitor that angle at the front there if you lean back this angle has to open
if you stay vertical the angle stays the same and when you ride a good down transition on a
horse that would much rather hollow and pull down into the bit you can sometimes find these tendons
up here really hurt from the strain of doing it so you keep your bearing down you keep the
angle of your body you keep your thigh out in front of you the foot light into the stirrup
think of being with your thigh the girder over his suspension bridge
if you do this and the thigh goes vertical you don't have a girder anymore
you're much more likely to go down the hole that he makes and look what happens in this transition
coming up the horse has very little impulsion and he doesn't pull down against judith this time
their interaction changes because instead of leaning back judith goes soggy and the horse
just went splat walk on as you go to ride the walk halt judith don't make the mistake of letting
your body go floppy if you go floppy he'll go floppy and then you'll get that very soggy sort
of feeling as he comes into halt when the rider is going to ride a walk halt transition
it's very tempting to let the horse kind of wind down a bit like a clockwork toy so he just goes
slower slower slower stop now i often say to the rider it's a bit like coming up to a brick wall
if i'm going to stop in front of this brick wall here it's much easier for me if i go up to it go
up to it go up to it go up to it stop it's much more challenging for me if instead i keep my
impulsion right up to the last moment so i'm going to run run run run stop that's what the
rider has to think of in a walk halt it's go go go go before you stop not wind down
when everything works right the push out from the rider's tummy just here should land you
can move your hands a minute right here and this little indentation in front of the wither where
a breastplate would sit it's almost as if there was a power hose aiming out from her tummy and
psst going straight to that point
very often the rider's bear down isn't like a power hose at all it's rather like the spray from
a watering can it's kind of diffuse it doesn't have that really powerful focus directed quality
to it very often too it doesn't land out here at the wither quite often the rider's bear down
might land here or it might land there or it might land there or it may even go way out in
space over the horse's ears if we use an analogy to the horse like a stuffed toy horse when the
horse is really in carriage and working right it's as if his body was really full of stuffing like
he's a brand new stuffed toy horse his rib cage blows out and his back lifts his neck comes into
carriage as if he's really bursting with stuffing he's not like an elderly limp sort of stuffed toy
like this now if the rider's push lands on the neck here it's rather as if the horse had managed
to push this much stuffing back behind her if it lands on the neck here it's as if the horse
had pushed that much stuffing back behind her so the horse is trying to get the stuffing going
backwards through his body the rider wants to get the stuffing coming forwards and really
filling out his body and the horse's neck will only really fill up with stuffing and the horse
will only be in front of her when the push from her lower tummy here does land at the breastplate
now the secret to this is finding the right place to push out from if the push lands too far forward
it's because the rider's tummy is too far forward and she's pushing from a too far forward place
now that's where this catapult idea comes in so although the rider is extending the thigh this
way you're also bringing the whole line of your tummy now don't lean back right that's important
you've got to keep the pubic bone belly button sternum line you've got to keep your seat bones
straight down but there's a sense of drawing this bit back it's almost as if a piece of string
passed across the front of you here from one side to the other and somebody was pulling on
the string like this almost pulling Rachel's pelvis back so her tummy comes back behind her thigh
and her thigh is out in front of her tummy
good girl that's right okay now let it go wrong Judith
so where does it land there now over his ears so it goes right up over his ears and it must be much
more diffuse much more like the watering can spray it is okay so let's see if you can get yourself
where you've got that real feeling in your thigh like it's the catapult elastic like it's the girder
in the suspension bridge that's correct that just clicked into place beautifully
what give me your own description what would be your description of it here
i feel the ligaments in my seat are really strong whereabouts in your seat
underneath my seat bone so there's a real feeling underneath your seat bones or something
strengthening yeah is there a difference in the thigh very much stronger very much stronger
down the front the inside the underneath um at the inside and around underneath okay now be
careful you're losing that front line stay vertical okay good god that's great now let it go for us
again and how does that make everything change i start moving around good girl keep being back
there keep being this still keep feeling those ligaments so you're really well in place and now
let it go that's right and how does it change start moving too much in the saddle so you start
moving too much in the saddle and your whole pelvic area must feel much soggier yes see if
you can reorganize here refine the solidity in the thigh be the girder over the suspension bridge
keep the walk marching on keep being aware of the seat bones of that front angle of the shape of
his back okay that was a little sloppy what went wrong i lost his attention and i went to lean
backwards right okay walk on again be ready to stay vertical do not lean back hold the angle
stay vertical be in place okay what happened that time i went um softer in my body and he
went to lean down and i corrected it so it didn't get as worse as it could have been
okay let's walk on again
so really hold the firmness in your body judith if you go soggy you're going to blow it
right okay if you go soggy it's going to go wrong hold yourself in place hold the bear down
hold the thighs hold the back well ridden
drop when you're ready check you got the back okay have the angle at the front keep pushing
back off your knees well ridden what made it work judith not leaning back and more in with the knees
right okay yep so let's keep taking it again
so you've got to stay vertical huh no leaning back really reinforce the iron bar thigh bones
really have the whole thing snug stay so long stay with the knee stay aware with the front angle
just lost his attention a little bit so was his push was your push forward bigger was his push
back bigger uh his push back yeah that's right okay take trot again
so as you push back off the knees and hold the angle what we're aiming to do is that
your push forward is bigger than his push back right staying vertical keeping the seat bones
straight down staying snug thighs think push back off your knees stay with the thighs stay
with the body stay in place good girl now i knew that would be good i could see how well
your body was set up before you did it trot again good girl ready again with those thighs
well done okay let's do one more we're very nearly done i think
so run me through it judith what makes it work not letting back
really snugging with the thigh and the knee keep and imagine staying in front of me okay
so keep the thigh and knee there keep him in front of you keep staying in place well done
this is suki riding luby the speedy little horse that towed kim around the school in the early
part of her lesson on our tape rising trot working on the bit we're working here on a
circle to make it easier for suki to keep taking the horse really snug your thighs
suki really shrunk through your body let's see if you can come to trot oh well ridden
come to trot across here into that next wall push back off your knees keep bearing down good
she's leaving you behind that little bit with the first step of trot canter again
good girl so this time around suki see if you can take trot as you cross the center line keep
taking her so she's getting a little bit hyper snug in more bear down more well ridden well
corrective firm up your thighs more be ready to go with her okay canter again the canter trot
transition is a bug bear for very many riders and the truth of the matter is that the trot
and the truth of the matter is you're not going to get them good until you can ride a really good
trot walk transition and a really good walk halt transition the reason we've paid so much attention
here to the walk halt transition is that it's the prototype for all the other down transitions
when you understand the biomechanics of this you fundamentally understood how they work
now if you blow it what you're going to do is our old water skiing phenomena you lean back
you pull your tummy in you grow up tall you hollow your back you stop breathing you straighten your
leg and push down into the stirrup as soon as you do that you're pulling the horse is pulling the
best thing that happens is you have a pulling match and the chances are the horse won't slow down
he'll play motorboat while you play water skier now what has to happen if instead is
that you really stabilize your body you hold this front angle here so you don't let yourself lean
back you have a really good strong bearing down with the ribs staying down towards the hips
the thighs are firm and snug and pulling out of the hip socket there being the girder over the
horse's suspension bridge because here in the down transitions is when he's most likely to want to
collapse his staunchens but we've got to get even more precise than this let's think about
the rider's seat bones now if my fists were the rider's seat bones and she's here in canto left
they'd be positioned here left seat bone in advance right seat bone back the movement goes
the rider has to break the seat bones from there with the outside seat bone advancing it goes
then she's in trot so from canta seat bones like this she has to stabilize her body have her bearing
down have everything in place break the sequence with the outside seat bone advancing that's the
first step of trot and there she is take time to really establish the trot before you canta
so you're sure you got your thighs you're sure you're taking her
you're sure you're snug enough keep pushed back off your knees okay that's better that's good
good girl and across here if you can stay shrunk have your girders keep taking her
good girl okay canta again good girl that's it
okay and keeping light your hands suki so you really start the transition down from your body
ready again bear down low down push forward from the back of you good girl keep taking her stay in
trot good okay and come on back through to walk a minute for most people the up transitions are
easier than the transitions down but a lot of people do get themselves into trouble in the
trot to canta transition now that happens when what they essentially do is the equivalent of
putting their foot on the accelerator the trot canta transition is much more like changing gear
you're changing from trot gear to canta gear if you just are there with both legs kind go go go
you're going to get a trot that runs on or maybe extends but nothing you did said to the horse
change gear so we'd have your seat bones here in trot from going trot trot trot
trot the canta aid begins with the outside seat bone boom boom is like you put your seat bones
into canta you see if you're a really good rider and you go into canter on top the horse has no
choice but to go into canter underneath you if you fluff it about and lose your seat and go wobbly
the horse can do practically what he likes underneath you so it's a question of this gear
change trot trot trot trot boom to get the first canta step good girl
and we'll write it on that side of the circle somewhere so suki keep plugging in you've got
a little bit of a bump here see if you can really plug in be ready with the two seat bones ready
with the bearing down keep taking her oh very well ridden best yet come and walk that was well done
so suki's made quite a creditable job here of riding those transitions on this rather fiery
little horse so suki let's have your feedback what do you have to pay attention to the most
really keeping the seat bones plugged in so keeping yourself plugged in as soon as you
start to get a backwards forwards movement of your seat bones over the top of the horse's back
you can't make it work no she's off she's off anything else
um keeping the back right seat bone very close and narrow and not thinking about the hand as
i'm actually going from trot uh canta through to trot right so you've got to be very careful
in effect that you're maintaining your pelvic positioning with this right seat bone well back
and that you don't begin to dominate with your hand being stronger than your bear down
yeah yeah so especially on a horse like this to dominate with the hand on the transitions down
is going to create you endless problems but it does take a tremendous amount of strength in
the body to be able to push down stronger than your hold even though you want to ride a transition
down there's another interesting point suki's brought out here which is canter itself is
asymmetrical it's the four-legged equivalent of skipping because of its inherent asymmetry
it really requires this inside hip and seat bone forward outside hip and seat bone back position
from the rider if you lose that you can lose your steering the horse can change behind
it's very important to hold it
when we shorten the stride within a gate what we're really dealing with
is the half halt now i never set out to teach these deliberately the truth of the matter is
that they're far too subtle for the rider's conscious mind to try and deal with what she
normally ends up doing is something much much too crude more along the lines of what i call a half
hall so what i do instead is i wait until the time when they start happening by accident as
the rider begins to make some very good position corrections now this is what started happening to
kim as she was riding luby here and trying to get the measure of her so kim gets to do a lengthened
trot even though she didn't want to and here the horse is taking her and she's just water skiing
now if your seat bones start to point forwards kim and your front starts to give way you're sunk
that's where you topple backwards you begin to start water skiing and she begins to start
motorboating what you've got to do is be ready to be there with her firm up your thigh again
especially down by your knee think of squashing my fingers that's great keep having your foot
back under you keep bearing down lots kim careful the knee careful the thigh careful the foot
who's taking who i'm taking her oh no she's taking me it's all right don't worry knee careful the knee
kim careful the foot bear down lots just go just to help you really bear down as you breathe out
just go reorganize your front re-snug in the thigh that's it good girl as kim comes out of
this corner here and onto the long side she corrects her position very well she lightens
the pressure of her foot into the stirrup brings her foot into alignment back underneath her and
changes the angle of her thigh bringing it more out in front of her look again at this in slow motion
and watch the response of the horse who was leaning down into the rain ready to speed off
and leave kim water skiing but instead the horse's whole forehand elevates now kim thought she was
riding a position correction but what she actually did was far more far reaching than this
she completely reorganized the horse's balance underneath her
look at suki riding this same horse again she shows us a significant lengthening and suki is
able to keep taking the horse throughout although she doesn't quite dare to let her neck lengthen
enough look now at the shortening in slow motion and notice how the horse again elevates in front
and how she keeps exactly the same tempo and the suki comes along the long side here she's almost
on the verge of extended trot notice that the tempo again stays the same throughout
and as she comes around this time she just overcooks it a bit
go go go good girl good girl good girl hard luck
judith is about to try and lengthen the stride along the next long side
she has the opposite problem to kim and to suki in that when she says go the response of her
horse is half-hearted but here's another problem just listen to his footfall and notice the change
in the tempo
okay so back behind the crest of the wave right here's with her to your navel good girl you're
nearly there you're nearly there let's talk a bit here about the dynamics of lengthening and
shortening when the rider rides a lengthening here in sitting trot what she normally does is
just come a little bit back with the upper body so she comes a little bit back here as the horse
extends now what she's doing is she's utilizing the dynamic of the water skier motorboat effect
now hopefully she's doing that without really water skiing pushing on the stirrups pulling on
the reins but by bringing her center of gravity back a little bit she's having the horse lengthen
his center of gravity out in front of her to get in that longer frame and take a bigger step
so in the length and shorten the center the rider's center of gravity has come back behind the
horses so judith let's suppose you get to the end of the long side you've ridden medium trot
and you go whoa what are you doing doing a water skier so he carries on so so you're bringing your
center of gravity even more behind his yeah you will water ski more he will motorboat more
and rather than the down transition you want you're going to find the horse just
plowing on into your hand so to help you understand what needs to happen
no let's let's do it from so so rather than your center of gravity coming even more back behind
the horses as you ride the length and shorten what's going to have to happen come vertical again so
you're going to actually have to catch up to the horse and get your center of gravity over his again
now you don't very often see riders do this more often you see riders get to the long side get to
the end and really go whoa this way you don't so often see them get their center of gravity
forward over the horses again now let's give you an analogy to help you understand this so
judith have you ever been sailing or been surfing yes surfing you've been surfing now if you haven't
you can probably understand this but it's a nice analogy to draw towards surfing or planing in
sailing when you're surfing or sailing you're riding along on the crest of a wave
and if when you're learning to surf you miss the wave as i used to do so many times as a kid
you can't say whoa wave wait for me waves don't wait the person who gets to the end of the long
side is essentially saying whoa horse wait for me bring your center of gravity back under mine
again but horses are like waves they don't do that they don't wait for the rider instead of
that the rider has to catch up to the horse so it's as if here's the horse like the wave here's
the rider in the lengthening she's come a little bit back from the crest of the wave as she wants
to shorten what she has to do is to bring her body forward right up onto the crest of that wave it's
a sense of as if the horse's wither just here had strings attached onto it pulling his wither up
towards her navel so the wave comes up and she brings herself forward onto the top of it
when that happens right it can happen just in one stride the riders realigned her center of gravity
she's done a half halt as opposed to what we most commonly see which i often call a half hole
okay
keep bearing down oh very good you're close again
this is where you get tempted to do one more one more one more and one more isn't it
okay last one judith whatever happens here last one
rev him up a little bit huh the lengthening didn't quite happen there
oh beautiful on the crest of the wave judith keep bearing down well ridden okay you were very close
so you've been riding here walk halt trot walk lengthen shorten what have you learned
let's uh through the transition down i mustn't go soggy i've got to keep very firm in my thigh
and keeping the angle of the the hip so i don't lean backwards right so there's two things that
would have gone wrong before and what would have gone wrong here for judith is very typical of the
majority of riders so she would have thought oh it's time to stop and you'd have flopped on a walk
halt maybe you'd have just flopped yeah trot walk takes a little more doing and she would have done
it by coming back and pulling back so what's the effect of that on him now he feels that he stays
in front of me he doesn't do a nose dive he stays up and lights in the transition so that's when
you've got your front you've got your body what about when you lose it then he does a nose dives
on his forehand we lose everything right okay so what are the pieces you've got to pay attention
to the most to really keep yourself there really keeping the thigh and the knee snug into the saddle
very much and far more than i really wanted to far more than you wanted to yeah so judith would
have loved to have just gone flop in these down transitions rather than really put in the extra
degree of muscle tone that they take okay you did well well done very often when a rider comes to
work with me for the first time one of the things they say to me is i really want help with my
transitions and what they're normally most concerned about is the transitions down and
when i look at them it's clear they really do need help with their transitions but it's also
clear that they need help maybe cycling all the way back to the issues we covered in our first tape
body balance the basics so i may have to realign their body i may have to teach them how to
incorrect correctly at the horse's back whether that's in rising trot or later on in sitting trot
and canter it's only when those are really working right and when the horse trusts the rider because
to do a good transition down he has to really trust her sitting and really trust her hand
when he does that they become very simple you know the reality is in learning to ride
that we spend about 95 98 percent of our time journeying and two or three or five percent of
our time arriving most people are just longing to arrive but the secret is to really enjoy the
journey because when you enjoy the journey you enjoy learning and that's really what it's all
about so i wish you that that you learn to pay attention in a way to experiment in a way to have
fun in a way that makes riding truly a pleasure for you and your horse
you