Summary notes from the March 7, 2020 workshop with Rick (Remarque , Sosa and Billygirl), Amanda (Diamond), and Jennifer (Hero).

 

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PARTICIPANTS

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Rick is a third-year student of Straightness Training and his three horses are all at different levels of education; Amanda is beginning her second year of studying (bitless) academic horsemanship. Jennifer is exploring Straightness Training and is in its very initial stages. 

 

We've planned a day to go over longeing fundamentals, making a list of basic points for the trainers to prioritize, assessing the level of each horse, choosing exercises and creating personalized plans to progress them. Morning was spent in discussion and viewing of videos of other experienced trainers and their longework; we spent the rest of the day giving each horse individual attention and noting their particular talents and challenges.

 

Following are some general points pertaining to the day's topic....

 

 

PURPOSE and PREPARATION

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• Work on the longe is another component of academic horsemanship, its purpose is to continue the education of the horse and further develop its balance, suppleness, shape, tempo, takt and schwung.

• The horse is liberated from our direct influence when on the longe; we no longer can achieve physical manipulation and shaping of its body. On the longe, we have the opportunity to  assess its comprehension of the aids and its willingness to partner with us.

• Always remember that the goal of longeing is to educate the horse, not force it to submit or tire it out.

• The horse that has been properly educated to the secondary aids in the groundwork on the short lead is ready to have distance taken from it to further the schooling on the longe. We've taught the horse to search to the hand, to have the forward-down posture, the correct stellning of the skull into the spine creating the bend and fostering connection from hind-to-fore. We have influence of the inside hind to step under well and to free the outside shoulder. We have influence of the outside hind to help us complete the frame on the circle. 

• Lack of cooperation on the longe suggests a return to the basic groundwork to establish clarity in the language of aids.

 

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TOOLS

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• Use the light caveson to best influence the spine of the horse, as the longeline connected to its middle ring can lead the skull directly. Only use of the caveson can place the jaw correctly into the head; longeing with a line attached to a halter or bit may ruin the movement of the spine and indirectly cause evasions such as head-tilting and avoidance of the connection to the spine. 

• Auxiliary tack such as surcingles or side-reins are not a tool of academic longework; rather the horse is given freedom to learn and keep proper shape on its own.

• It’s a priority to learn the correct length of longeline for your needs and become fluid in handling it. Directing the energy of the line is important for forwarding the horse’s energy and communicating various degrees of the halt. 

• Body language should mirror your intentions and the whip aids should match the training the horse already knows on the ground. You should follow these general principals with your body language and  adapt them to your individual style while respecting the principles.  

• The body position can remain neutral, can drive the horse forward or slow the horse down, enlarge or reduce the circle. Influence of the horse’s forehand or hindquarter can by achieved by moving one’s body towards it.

• Don’t forget use of the voice and constructing a consistent vocabulary to communicate with the horse from afar.

• The whip aids can drive the horse forward; experiment with the length to determine which best suits your horse. Often the sight of a short whip is enough and the longer whip with a lash works best for a horse needing more encouragement. 

• The longe gives the trainer great freedom to adapt and individualize a style of working with the horse according to its temperament, conformation and abilities.

 

 

SOME BASIC RULES

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• Our initial attention is given to the horse keeping the stellning and the stepping-under of its hindlegs under the point of weight; we allow it to place its head as it likes.  

• Don’t forget to observe the direction of energy from the forward-swinging forelegs. We want freedom of the shoulder originating from the correctly-placed hind legs.

• Watch that the horse isn’t moving with weight on the shoulders and pushing backwards with the hind legs; keep the hind legs stepping under the point of weight and carrying/lifting forward under the body. 

• If the hindquarter is stepping poorly, fix the stellning of the skull into the bend; if the the stellning/bending is faulty, activate the hindquarter and attend to the stepping-under and correct placement of the hooves.  

• Observe these individual sequences that influence the skull, the spine, the forehand, the hindlegs, etc., and then holistically work with the horse. It’s important to train your eye so you can recognize when things are going wrong. 

• Transitions to walk and halt start the education on the longe. Stop straight on the circle and aim for instant cooperation to these things. 

• There should be no weight on the longe; if there is, there is weight on the forehand and the outer line will be tensed. Attend to the hindquarter and re-shape the horse to carry itself. 

• Choose the size of your circle with an eye to the individual level of the horse.

• Forward motion and collecting aids should be clearly taught and a clear reaction expected. This includes whip aids to the inside and outside hind legs. 

• The less ability the horse has, the larger the circle; the more balanced horse can move on the smaller circle. The size of the circle should not hinder the freedom of the horse’s movement. 

• How far you collect the horse isn’t important; the horse’s understanding of the aid is key. It is correct if it gives the collection reaction; its suppleness and balance will progress so that collection becomes better over time.

• Transition from walk to trot by taking the diagonal inside hindleg forward while giving a half-halt on the line. 

• When the horse can transition well from halt and walk, begin work in collection with the quarter-in aid. 

• The canter transition is asked for with the travers (outside) aid; the inside whip forwards the canter and the outside whip collects it.

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EYES ON THE ACTION

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• To proceed into the longeing position, take distance from a balanced horse showing correct stellning/bending in the groundwork and ask the inside hind leg forward, keeping the shape onto the circle. 

• Utilize aids of the whip and body language to keep your horse moving in a ‘straight’ bent shape on the circle.

• Stepping-under on the longe entails the horse’s inside hind hoof stepping into the track of the inside front or between the forelegs. 

• Always have an eye for the front legs swinging in the direction of movement; the inside hind should be stepping easily forward with freedom and the outside hind leg also stepping under the point of balance; watch for the outside hind stepping away/outside the point of balance so you can correct this. 

• The inside shoulder can be addressed to push the horse outwards.

• Issues with the outside hind leg can be further educated in the groundwork to gain more control over it and to be able to better frame and correct the shape of the horse on the longe.

 

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BALANCE and CONTROL of CENTRIFUGAL POWER

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• Centrifugal force of moving on the circle pushes the horse to the outside and it may compensate by leaning; keeping vertical balance is the priority and goal.

• Always keep the stellning/bending and an eye on the horse as a whole to ensure vertical balance and re-shape the horse as needed. 

• Centrifugal force and therefore leaning will increase with a higher speed, small circle, or bigger horse. Lower speed, larger circle and a smaller horse make it easier to maintain shape and control.

• Return to groundwork if stellning/bending consistently is lost to re-confirm the aids and re-establish shape. 

 

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ADVANCED LONGEING

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• At the basic level, and for effective work on the longe, the horse only needs to understand the half-halts on the caveson and for the trainer to have influence of the inside of the horse by teaching it to respond to the whip aid for an inside rein or an inside leg. 

• A horse who has difficulty maintaining the basic shape on the longe can be taught the aids for the outside rein and outside leg. This is done by teaching the reaction with the whip over the neck to the outside shoulder and over the back to the outside hind leg. Having complete influence in this way gives the trainer the ability to fully frame and shape the horse’s body and movement. 

• A horse that is particularly open to communication...that can learn the degrees of halt to school halt..that can keep the stellning/bending and allow itself to be shaped by the trainer leading its forehand and hindquarter with precision...can be given a complete education including passage, piaffe, canter-pirouette and levade on the longeline.

 

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THE HORSES 

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• REMARQUE - A 7-year-old PRE gelding. Rick’s star is a handsome bay guy who likes to partner-up. He’s open and attuned to body language and really is a delight to work with on the longe. Our time today was spent breaking down the way this horse tunes into Rick and finding the best way to communicate tiny details. A beautiful halt, playful temperament, and Rick’s attention to the basics two years back makes this horse shine. Rick utilizes continuing groundwork, advanced longeing, and time under saddle to progress his education. Handwork and possibly long-reining will begin this fall. Wish he was mine!

• SOSA - A 4-year-old Mustang mare. A heavy-bodied baroque-type horse of uncertain origin, she has flashes of brilliance! Smart but stubborn, she is not under saddle yet. We determined the key to this mare was a combination of many breaks, some well-placed treats to reward her efforts, and a thorough love of being massaged. Again, Rick’s attention to the basics means this horse has a lovely shape in her first months of work on the longe. We talked about spending more time with her personally and just hanging out to build more focus and deepen the horse/human relationship. Sosa is still kinda/sorta wild and not really sure that schooling can be fun! Rick will continue her basics on the ground and longe before we begin introducing her to the saddle this fall/winter. 

• BILLYGIRL - A 12-year-old Azteca mare. Rick’s rescue horse has had some let-down time and is slowly getting used to humans again. She resists being touched, can be over-reactive to body language or even a subtle gesture, however her reactions aren't necessarily panicky. Rick wants to get past the ‘project horse’ label and really try to help this girl, but has been unable to establish the basic groundwork due to the obvious discomfort she has towards humans coming close to her. Notable is her curious watchfulness, open and innocent face and a desire to be included in what's going on--then a firm indication of don't get too close to me. We talked about cultivating her curiosity, working at a distance, respecting her personal space and going through exercises to educate her from afar. We did some exercises in groundwork at 6'-7’ distance—a subtle dance due to her over-reactions—and then took more distance to put her in a longeing position. Going back and forth like this enabled us to eventually get quite close after about 20 minutes (3 feet) and she gave a correct response to the whip gestures. Rick will simply continue on this way and use his best judgement to patiently and gently push at her boundaries.

• DIAMOND - A 7-year-old Paso Fino cross gelding. Diamond had never been a good gaiting horse and Amanda bought him with the intention of emphasizing a normal walk/trot/canter and even eradicating his impure gaiting. This has been the continual backdrop of her work with him and she has pretty much succeeded removing this guy's sticky, impure gaiting through a heavy emphasis on straightness training foundations. However, while focus on the academic groundwork--where she's had the benefit of being up close to him and able to physically correct him--has been a success, she's been having ongoing difficulty attaining the same results at a distance on the longe. Today we worked on some different approaches to communicating with Diamond, including a more defined sense of body language and re-affirming the whip aids and putting to test these things from afar. Amanda admits her mental block has been wanting to truly be 'at a distance' with her longework and she's resisted taking steps back---but has decided that spending a good amount of time in-between close and far may be a better bridge to getting where she needs. What a beautiful little horse!

• HERO - a 14-year-old Welsh Cob. Hero is a fancy-footed pony with a mind of his own. Jennifer has owned him for several years without doing much with him, and is interested in exploring Straightness Training to re-educate him and improve his work ethic. We went over fitting a caveson and doing some demos with the other horses to show why it's so important to have the lead attached to the ring on the nose for groundwork and longeing to correctly learn shape and connection; she had been attempting some straightness training basics in a nylon halter and had been mostly unable to attain these even minimally.  Jennifer had a lightbulb moment seeing how the caveson can 'lead' the spine of the horse and affect the bend, and Hero had super improvement the first time he wore it. This pair plans to continue exploring the ST program--now with the proper tack--and may be back to see us in the fall/winter. 

 

 

A really fun day with entertaining horses and dedicated trainers. We’ll revisit in another six months or so!