The Riding Aids E-Book

Clarissa L. Busch

• Herausgeber: Cadmos Publishing
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 105

Beschreibung

The Riding Aids are the medium through which the rider's wishes must be expressed. The author explains the elementary terms of the rider's aids in easily understood terms, starting with the relaxed, balanced seat which forms the basis of all riding. Natural aids using the weight of the body as well as legs and hands are initially explained individually, then shown in practical co-ordination: How do I bring my horse to a halt? How do I change from the trot to the walk, from the walk to the canter?

Leseprobe

THE RIDING AIDS

BASIC TERMS OF HARMONIOUS COMMUNICATION BETWEEN RIDER AND HORSE

CLARISSA L. BUSCH

A note on headwear

The photographs in this book are of highly experienced riders and were composed specifically to illustrate particular points in the text concerning the various aids. In a small number of photographs, the riders are shown wearing no riding hat, as was their personal choice. This is not to be encouraged and it is assumed that most riders will prefer at all times to wear appropriate safety headwear when riding.

Copyright of German edition © 2000 by Cadmos Verlag

Copyright of this edition © 2002 by Cadmos Equestrian

Translated by Konstanze Allsopp

Layout OF THE PRINT EDITION: Ravenstein Brain Pool

Photos without reference: Peter Prohn

E-Book conversion: Satzweiss.com Print Web Software GmbH

All rights are reserved.

Reprint or storage in electronic media only with written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 3-86127-905-3

eISBN 978-0-85788-692-7

Inhalt

THE RIDER’S AIDS

THE WEIGHT AIDS

THE LEG AIDS

THE REIN AIDS

CO-ORDINATION OF THE AIDS

THE HALF-HALT

THE FULL HALT

THE RIDER´S AIDS ON THE MOVING HORSE

AT THE WALK

AT THE TROT

AT THE CANTER

ADDITIONAL AIDS

VOICE

USE OF THE WHIP

USE OF THE SPURS

THE RIDER’S FEEL

RIDING TRANSITIONS

WALK TO HALT

TROT TO WALK

TROT TO HALT

CANTER TO TROT

CANTER TO WALK

DRESSAGE MOVEMENT AND EXERCISES

RIDING INTO CORNERS

CHANGING THE REIN DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE SCHOOL

RIDING A 20-METRE CIRCLE

CHANGING THE REIN IN A FIGURE OF EIGHT FROM A CIRCLE

CHANGING THE REIN THROUGH THE CIRCLE

SIMPLE SERPENTINE

DOUBLE SERPENTINE

SERPENTINE WITH LOOPS TOUCHING THE SIDE OF THE ARENA

TURN ON THE FOREHAND

LEG-YIELDING

LEG-YIELDING TOWARDS THE CENTRE OF THE SCHOOL AND BACK OUT

LEG-YIELDING AT THE TROT

VOLTES

REIN-BACK

VOLTES AT THE CANTER

HALF-VOLTES AT THE CANTER BACK TO THE TRACK TO CHANGE REINS

COUNTER-CANTER

TURN ON THE HAUNCHES AND DEMI-PIROUETTE AT THE WALK

WALKING ON A LONG REIN

GIVE AND RETAKE REINS FOR A FEW STRIDES WITHOUT CHANGE OF TEMPO

JUMPING

THE RIDER’S AIDS

The aids are the language between horse and rider. The signals of the rider’s aids allow the horse and rider to communicate with each other. This communication is not - as one might think at first - unilaterally directed from the rider to the horse. The horse has the choice of accepting the aids willingly or fighting against them, thereby signalling to the rider what the latter is doing wrong.

The term “aids” is used for the invisible co-ordination between the unity of rider and horse. In the ideal case, the rider should only have to think of the execution of the task for the horse to react promptly and correctly. However, it takes a long time to attain this goal. One pre-requisite is that the rider and horse have both learned this language of the aids.

In principle, an inexperienced rider should always learn the aids from a well-trained horse, and a young horse should learn the aids from an experienced rider, in order to eliminate the many misunderstandings which would occur otherwise, and which would have a negative effect on the training of horse and rider in the future.

It is often assumed that the horse will automatically understand correctly applied aids and will react to them in text book fashion. This, however, does not usually happen because the situation described in equitation manuals is normally based on a carefully trained and highly gifted horse. In real life, most horses which are not ridden in high-performance competitions will only experience a brief and not always perfect training period. Riding school horses, in particular, often learn the aids under different riders and in a great variety of ways. Such horses tend to learn that they will only have to accept what the rider seriously intends to enforce. The horse will simply ignore vague and poorly defined aids which are not applied with the necessary willpower.

Independent of this, the physical predisposition of horses varies greatly. Some lessons or paces will be easier to perform, others a horse will find harder to achieve. This also needs to be taken into account when applying the aids to the horse. For the rider, these considerations mean that he will have to coordinate his aids with the training status of the horse. The aids are always given in the same way, but their intensity and method of application depend to a large degree on the schooling status of the horse. The rider will only develop a feeling for this after years of riding many different horses. A less experienced rider should therefore ask his riding instructor for helpful hints.

A correct seat is the first prerequisite for the rider to be able to apply the aids correctly. Flexible aids which are independent of the rider’s and horse’s motion can only be applied if the rider has a balanced and relaxed seat. The balance, in particular, is extremely important for the execution of the aids.

A correct seat, upright and relaxed, invisible aids and the horse moving in harmony with its rider.

The number one rule is to find and maintain one’s balance on the horse’s back. Under no circumstances should the rider have to hold on or even have the feeling that he needs to hold on to something. He should always balance his weight so it lies directly above the horse’s centre of gravity. Thus, the rider only maintains his seat on the horse by always sitting directly vertically above the horse’s spine.

When riding turns, the rider must ensure that he sits in the middle. That way, he will not have to cling onto the horse with his hands or legs. Another sign of lack of balance is lifting one’s hands, as the rider tries to compensate his lack of balance with his hands, instead of maintaining it solely with his upper body. The seat needs to be so balanced that the rider is capable of holding his hands absolutely still and using only conscious restraining and yielding rein aids. He must prevent his hands following the movement of his body at all costs. Similarly the rider’s legs must never thump against the horse’s sides following the rider’s motion. They need to be used to drive the horse in a controlled manner. In order to achieve this balance, the initial training of the rider should include extensive lungeing lessons. Even when the rider has reached a more advanced stage, it will not harm him to occasionally take a lungeing lesson to correct his seat. In this context, however, the important thing is not a one-off correction but the constant work of the rider concerning his or her seat. During the lungeing lesson, the instructor will only point out the rider’s mistakes to him. A visible improvement of the seat will only occur if the rider continuously checks and corrects his seat himself whenever he is on a horse.

Lungeing lessons: safety for beginners, intensive correction of the seat for advanced riders.

The rider gives way in the outer hip joint, pulls up the inner shoulder and holds her head in a crooked position. This upsets the balance for both horse and rider.

THE WEIGHT AIDS

Weight is the most important but at the same time the least active aid of the rider. Simply by sitting upright and thereby pressing down with his weight onto the horse’s spine, is the horse encouraged to move forwards. This makes it very important that the rider sits straight and upright, without hollowing his back, hunching up his shoulders and curving his spine outwards. The weight aids are transferred to the horse’s back via the seat bones. If the rider is sitting relaxed and without tension, he should be able to feel how his seat bones press down on the saddle (they are located more or less in the centre of each buttock). Many riders press their weight away from the horse by tensing up their seat muscles. It is important to relax these muscles and really let the entire weight fall down until you can feel the pressure against the seat bones. This relaxation of the muscles is just as important when in motion.

The rider correctly shifts her centre of balance inwards during the curve on the circle line without giving with the outer hip.

There are unilateral and bilateral weight aids. When moving forward at the walk or trot, the rider must use bilateral weight aids. He is sitting vertically over the centre of the horse and both seat bones press down on the saddle with equal weight. In all curves, during the canter and for all lateral work, the rider uses unilateral weight aids. In this case, the rider transfers the weight to the inside of the bent horse. This automatically relieves the outside of the horse. The rider should make sure that he does not give with the hip, thus thrusting it outwards, because he is trying to bring his upper body more to one side. The shifting of the weight should be carried out solely by moving the outer, restraining leg back and thereby increasing the load on the inner hip.

When the rider stretches his position in the saddle, the well-schooled horse will collect itself together, its impulsion becoming more pronounced - the effect of the mysterious bracing of the back. Photo: Kruck

When performing the rein-back and riding in the forward seat, both sides of the horse are relieved of the burden of the weight aids. This means that the buttocks remain in touch with the saddle but the two seat bones no longer apply any pressure on the back of the horse. The forward seat has to be learned, in particular, for riding out on hacks or across country and for jumping, in order to be able to relieve the horse’s back. In this position, the influence of the weight aids occurs via the thighs which rest against the saddle. These act either as forward-driving or restraining aids.

Giving in the hip joint (i.e. bending in the hip) is a serious fault which, once it has become a habit, is very difficult to correct and overcome. It will make life difficult for the rider in all future lessons, because the horse will become increasingly difficult on the respective side, due to the incorrect weight influence. This can even lead to uneven steps and serious problems of balance once the muscles of the horse have developed unevenly due to the unilateral burden of the rider’s weight. If possible, you should always take the chance to ride towards a mirror and check whether you are sitting straight on the horse or whether your hip joints are folded to one side. This fault can be seen best at the trot or canter. For this purpose, the riding instructor should inspect the rider’s seat from the front and back. If the fault has become established, it needs to be eliminated immediately. To do this the rider needs to lift the shoulder, which will be lower due to the bent hips, in an exaggerated fashion to correct the fault and pull the other shoulder down. At the same time he must check whether the hip has slid to one side of the saddle. The back centre of the rider’s seat should be in line with the middle of the saddle.

Bracing the Back