Suppleness - Using a Jumping Exercise to Improve Flat work

Borrowing the Brilliance of Others

The majority of the training exercises that I do with my horses are variations of lessons I have taken and then made my own through practice on different horses. I have had the good fortune to practice exercises on lots of different horses and have learned that certain exercises benefit horses in different ways. The other way that I have developed my training program is by watching other people teach. At a recent A Hunter/Jumper show I was lucky enough to walk through the covered arena and spot one of my favorite instructors to watch, Don Stewart. Since my background is boot strap eventing, equitation horses and riders are like an exotic curiosity for me. I say that with a sense of humor, but with acknowledgment that just watching an equitation guru like Don Stewart teach a routine lesson fills my head with ideas. The lesson that I saw at the show was a lesson with jumps and poles on a circle. There is a similar exercise outlined in the book 101 Jumping Exercises.

As I watched Don Stewart teach his lesson I took particular notice of the softness and rhythm of the horses as they turned on the circle. The horses lifted their shoulders and carried themselves in balance so that the jumps passed effortlessly beneath them as if part of the canter stride. The jumps were no larger than 2'6" and the poles played as important a role as the jumps. The riders practiced staying with the horse, not ahead or behind the motion. I was quickly convinced this type of exercise needed to become a part of my training program with my young horses.

The Set-Up

I set up my exercise at home using three sets of standards placed beside one another approximately 30-40' apart. I placed poles between the standards and perpendicular to the standards approximately 3-4 turning strides away. This gave me three possible jumps with poles to work with on a figure of eight. I started all of the horses out with just poles on the ground and tried to maintain a rhythm at the trot and then progress to the canter. The horses showed me how much they could handle and if they quickly understood the poles I progressed to adding low x's between the standards.

Each horse handled the exercise differently depending on their physical and training weaknesses. I discovered holes in what they knew and how they handled the challenges. Overall I felt that the horses found it was difficult to stay supple on the turns but the exercise required that they use their backs and step under in order to get from each pole to the next. I also experienced my own weaknesses and discovered (again) that being still and letting the horse do its job is never easy.

Example #1 - Ashley and Crimson

I did this exercise with a couple of horses before Ashley came for a lesson on her horse, Crimson, an off-the-track-thoroughbred that we have been working with for about 6 months. Crimson is a large bodied thoroughbred with a big barrel that struggles to lift his back and step under with his inside hind. This in turn makes him difficult to keep connected from back to front and supple in his turns. I knew from the experience with the other horses that this exercise would help focus our lesson and help Crimson use his hind-end.

Ashley began trotting the poles on a circle after a short warmup. As she navigated the poles on the circle, she had to be very specific about her aids in order to travel from the center of one pole to the next. This involved coordinated use of the reins and leg aids to keep his shoulders and hind legs staying on the same path. I don't think she or I imagined what a challenge this would be for the both of them. But the improvements in Crimson were immediate. Whereas before she had been struggling to keep Crimson consistently bent on the circle without losing his shoulder, the specific path of the poles kept her timing of her aids accurate and her eye consistently looking ahead.

The poles made Crimson more aware of his feet and he lifted his shoulder through the turn as opposed to leaning against Ashley's inside leg which had become his habit. As he relaxed and understood he started to soften his neck and back and easily come "on the bit" for Ashley.

We did not try to canter the poles before we added an x to one of the sets of standards. Crimson, like most of the off-the-track thoroughbreds struggles to keep his canter rhythm on the circle. Instead we used the jump like a canter transition. Ashley worked to keep her hands following him over the small jump, he maintained a canter on the other side of the x and she worked to keep him steering to the next pole. As his canter became disorganized she returned to the trot and repeated the exercise. In this way he practiced using his body correctly without a lot of struggle with the bit and Ashley could focus on following him and staying balanced herself.

Example # 2 - Rocky and I practice using both reins to turn

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity for someone to document my ride on Rocky through the exercise. My goals for Rocky were to use the exercise to improve his technique over the fences and help him see his distance to the fence on a turn. He is a naturally very clever with his feet about poles and jumps but he has a tendency to leap off the ground from any spot he feels necessary regardless of distance from the jump. This creates a challenge for me as a rider to stay with him and limits the height I am willing to jump until he becomes confident about his distances. As I did the exercise I found that the technique over the fences and his confidence about his distances improved as the suppleness in his canter improved.

Rocky has a tendency to swing his hips to the outside of the circle in an effort to avoid having to engage his hind-end. The intermittent poles and jump required him to keep his hind-end working. Also I could feel that I was throwing him onto his forehand by pulling with my inside rein on the turns. I had to concentrate to stay over the center of him and turn with both reins in order not to change his balance and inadvertently his lead as he tried to rebalance beneath me.

A Supple Jump - A Better Horse

Elmar Pollman-Schweckhorst mentions in his book, Training the Modern Show Jumper, that you can not access the full potential of a horse without the horse being supple: "With a supple horse, it is easier to make use of his power." This is just as accurate a statement when it comes to dressage as jumping. The horse has to learn to turn and maneuver its body without bracing against the rider. He has to be willing to do this, not forced. The horses in the lesson I observed Don Stewart teach at the show made the jumping on a circle exercise look easy. Their canter rhythm was unhurried, balanced and flexible. And the jumps were effortless. Regardless of whether the ultimate goal is a supple jumper or a supple dressage horse, the exercises with poles require that the horse work on engagement and stepping under their body without over involvement of the rider. The rider instead has to pay attention to the coordination of their turning aids and staying balanced over the center of the horse. My advice, don't expect to get it right the first time. Ashley and I can both attest that those equitation horses and riders made it look a lot easier than it is. There's hours of practicing exercises like these behind the effortless balance and suppleness those horses and riders demonstrate. But what a wonderful ride that must be!