All horses, regardless of their breed or the discipline in which they are
used, need to work off of their rear ends. The rear end of any horse is its
"engine" so to speak.
But we have to have the horse in the physical condition to perform at its
best and that takes time, time, time.....work, work and more work.
Fortunately the saddle time is a pleasure for most of us!
Horses in general need to be forward moving, and that forward movement must
be initiated from the rear first. Horses need to be schooled to start by
moving their rear leg first when asked to walk from a halt, to bring their
rear ends up under themselves and "push off." By doing this, the front end
is naturally elevated. In order for any horse to be able to do this, the
back muscles along the spine have to be strengthened (indeed the entire
topline has to be strengthened) so that the horse can initiate this
self-carriage. Take a look at your horse and look at its spine. If it is
hollow along both sides of the spine, or if the spine is elevated, the horse
cannot even begin to work properly with its rear end. These muscles have to
be strengthened and built up for the horse to work properly. It does take a
lot of time and consistent training to achieve this. We can't forget that
driving with the rear end isn't only for upward transitions and work at
speed. Downward transitions also must be initiated from the rear. The horse
must stop with his hind end first, and the front end last. So, even in a
downward transition the leg aids must be correctly used and the horse must be
driven forward into a halt. We can never allow ourselves to just sit down
and say "whoa" or "walk" or whatever. We have to drive the horse forward
into the halt, forward into the walk (even if it is a downward transition)
etc.
There are many ways to strengthen your horse's back. Work up hills at the
trot, work in 20 meter circles, leg yielding, shoulder in work, renvers and
tranvers, all work to make the horse's body strong and supple. Work over
ground poles, consistently making the distance longer between the poles.
Don't allow the horse to take two strides between the poles, just lengthen
itself to maintain the one stride cadence. The horse will lengthen its back,
strengthen its back and become more athletic as a result. I could go on and
on about ways to strengthen the back and add suppleness to your horse.
Remember you have to create the impulsion and then tell the horse (through
half-halts or whatever) exactly how far to go. By doing this you horse will
begin to naturally elevate, drive up from behind and work better for you.
If a horse is supple and flexible it makes everything easier for it to do.
So the worry that you would give up the rear end engagement for good tolt
(or walk, or trot, or canter....) is not a worry. Tolt can only improve if
your horse is schooled and strengthened in its back and all of the other
gaits will improve too. Your horse will be happier too, because it is better
able to work when it is in the proper condition to do so. All of your slow
work at the walk, trot and canter should be very forward moving and always
with allowing (and demanding) the horse work off of its rear. It is
something which takes a lot of time, training and conditioning but in the end
it is the only way.
It is very very important to get the horse moving forward, then get the horse
moving forward consistently, then get the horse moving forward consistently
in the manner you want using rear end engagement.
Hope that all makes sense. My two cents worth on rear end engagement and I
guess you can tell it is a very important issue with me. We train all of our
horses to work from the rear end, no matter if they are riding or driving
horses.
When asking for a halt, or any downward transition for that matter, you have
to first let the horse know that something is going to change (via the half
halt). Then you drive the horse forward into the bit and sit lightly and ask
for the downward transition and/or halt. It sounds counterproductive I know,
but that is how it works. You want the horse to bring its rear end up
underneath itself and stop with the rear end first, this elevating the front
and coming to a halt (or walk or trot or whatever).
You do not want to allow the horse to stop with the front end first, nor do
you allow yourself to collapse into the saddle like a sack of potatoes. You
have ride the horse into the halt or downward transition from the leg, and
with impulsion.
In order to stay rounded and supple, the horse must have good back muscles
which have been built up slowly to allow for this kind of work. If a horse
becomes hollow, it cannot work in collection nor can it work off of its rear
end.
Just one thing to add: while the back muscles are
quite important, the abdominal muscles are even more important for proper
engagement of the rear end, and esp. for the lift in the back. If the
horse tightens the muscles up top, the back hollows. But if the
abdominals are tightened, the back comes up. Think of the back as a bow,
and the abdominal muscles as the string that is pulled down/tightened,
resulting in the bow being more convex upwards. I better not start
writing about the ligaments along the topline etc., as I can't supplement
that with some sketches, and I'm not good enough with words.
Just wonder if any Icelandic Trainers would agree with this method. The
training methods and way of riding, as far as what I can see, can be so
different here on our domestic horses than what is done in Iceland. How do
Icelanders condition for strong Rear End Drive on their horses? If you
have a horse that is weak in tolt, would you still do alot of trot and
conditioning work as stated in the previous post.
The facts and process you talk
about in building back strength are so elementary and so necessary for the
training of any horse. The only difficult part is actually being disciplined
enough to do it so that, for instance, each time you halt your horse, he/she
is not collapsing into the halt,etc. . Many new owners are under the
assumption that all you do for the tolt is ride fast. There is alot more to
it than that, and if they are serious and want to get the best out of their
horses and themselves, they need to concentrate on the basics.
She
taught me how to stop without collapsing. What an perfect way to build
collection for tolt. I've never been taught that before. Not even at
clinics given by trainer from Iceland. I don't assume that the only way to
get tolt is to ride fast. I've got some very nice calm tolters here in my
herd, although I prefer the ones that can kick in faster and more powerful.
The reason I asked the question is because all Icelandics from Iceland
come here and have the attitude to go fast. I don't mind it, in fact I've
gotten quite good at getting on to a moving horse. I'm just trying to analize the difference in training methods
and hoping to pin point what is best for this breed. It seems the more I
learn about riding Icelandics, I find what I've learned in the past is not
necessarily the finer points of riding Icelandics.
While it is true that some horses are naturally more talented than others, it
is not true that any horse will not benefit from the proper conditioning and
training. I certainly do not enspouse "endless" trotting and work up and
down hills, nor do I enspouse endless trotting poles. But these are training
tools which do in fact help even naturally talented horses get better.
Even the most talented individual needs to be kept in the proper shape to do
their job. I horse may be a natural tolter, or trotter or
whatever....tracking up very very well. Then we add the rider, who isn't
always balanced, isn't always so naturally talented and the entire picture
changes.
I hold fast to the training techniques we utilize in our program with all of
our horses....Icelandics, Friesians and therapeutic riding horses.
>>If the
horse tightens the muscles up top, the back hollows. But if the
abdominals are tightened, the back comes up. Think of the back as a
bow,
and the abdominal muscles as the string that is pulled down/tightened,
resulting in the bow being more convex upwards. <<
On the gaited horse list there has been a discussion about back
flexion. The consensus there is that a trotting horse should move just
as Stefanie describes, but that a racking horse needs to have
"ventro-flexion", some hollowing of the back, in order to gait, and that
if you train him to raise his back you will loose the gait. I'd love to
hear more about this from some of our good trainers on this list.
I have been told this
about the hollow back by gaited trainers and Icelandic trainers, along with
the opposite, that the horse must of course round up, by different Icelandic
trainers. I most recently asked about it at a clinic with,
where my question was greeted with shocked gasps from the participants. The clinician
had us all try to tolt ourselves each way, and of course no one could do it
with hollowed backs. it does seem like common sense. I too would like to
hear the reasoning here.
How can you be collected and have your rear end under
you, with your back hollowed? It just doesn't work. The back naturally rounds
when the rear end tucks in.
My trainer has worked extensively with Paso Finos in the past. She is a firm
believer that a horse must have a strong back and that is what we have been
working on with my horse. It really only makes sense. If I expect the horse to
carry me and be balanced and tolt with me on her back, which is not easy
really (try race walking and see how tiring it can be!), then her back must
be strong.
Everything my trainer is doing with us makes perfect
sense. But I still worry sometimes that we might do something to
"mess up" some inherent Icelandic trait. This is the first Icelandic that
my trainer has worked with although she was familiar with the breed. On the
other side of the coin, Icelandics are still horses and horses need strong
backs to support us and do what we ask of them. A hollow back does not seem
strong, a rounded back does. From talking with as many different Icelandic
trainers that I can, it seems that my trainer is on the right track and so far
my horse is not messed up. I'd love to hear more discussion about hollow/rounded
backs, etc.
When a horse just slows down and puts on the brakes in
the front without using the hind end, he throws himself on the forehand and
all of the shock is taken up by the front end. If you keep the hind end
going with enough impulsion, then the horse can change gaites in a downward
transition by using his whole body in a balanced way. That means less wear
on one part. That also means alot of training to keep the horse using
himself no matter what gait he is in. He will more more balanced and less
likely to trip. As I said it just takes alot of athletic working on
transitioins on the part of both horse and rider.
Here goes....even if the horse is in condition and has been trained properly
for downward transitions, one still has to ask for them correctly every time.
I teach my students to exhale and sit down (albeit lightly) in the saddle
for all downward transitions. So that is correct. Sitting correctly and
breathing is all very very important. But, never ever to become a totally
disengaged "sack of potatoes". When you do this, you stop talking to the
horse altogether, allowing it to hollow and stop with the front end first.
If you have been riding and using your aids correctly, and then all of a
sudden stop talking to your horse (with your legs, your seat etc.) how can it
have any idea to stay round, and balance itself? Then you start saying to
the horse...."do as I say not as I do." You do not stay in tune and
collected, you cease to ride....why should the horse stay engaged and
continue to do his job?
You really do have to continue to use the leg right up to the time of halt.
It is confusing I know, and as the training progresses and the horse becomes
in better condition, the amount of leg may decrease and it should decrease.
Cues become much more subtle, but they are still there. Take a look at a
lower level dressage horse doing a training level test and compare it to the
Grand Prix horse or Intermediare horse. The aids become more and more subtle
as the horse progresses, sometimes to the point where it looks as if the
horse is doing it all on its own. But I can guarantee you the rider is
actively riding the horse, and the aids are constantly being applied. They
have just become more subtle to get the same desired result.
You have toask. If you ask a horse to do something it has been trained and
is in condition to do, you give it the direction to do it right. Even if the
horse has been trained and conditioned, and we do not ask, then how can we
expect it just to know what to do?
I realize that not everyone rides upper level dressage and not everyone rides
dressage at all. But these techniques are the basis for all training.
Last winter I boarded my Icelandic Horse and took weekly lessons from the dressage instructor. She had zero experience with Icelandics, but was willing to take me on. Since the tolt was out of her experience she did not work with it at all. We worked at the walk, trot, and canter. We worked at developing a BALANCED trot. We worked with transitions from trot to canter to trot, etc. We tried to develop a more balanced and collected canter to stop his tendency to pace at speed. I know this makes some of you cringe, that I would try to curb pace. But I think you would agree that it's okay not to have him change to pace or any other gait without being asked to do so. And although I really would like to try flying pace, I don't think this is wise without the proper place and conditions and someone in the know to help me.
But, the point of all this is that all the trot work, collection work, etc., improved his tolt, also. I don't think you have to worry about wrecking inherent Icelandic abilities, I think rear-end drive ENHANCES these gaits. I actually didn't tolt him for quite awhile because I was trying to get him to change from trot to canter and back to trot WITHOUT tolting steps thrown in. When this was accomplished and I again asked for tolt it was fantastic!!!
So, "Trot On!!!!" and enjoy what it does for the tolt!!
