Can an endurance horse go "round"?

From: Lesley

Dear Doctor J, I've been reading your books for years and love them all. I even got to audit one of your clinics once when you were teaching in Vancouver, and I'm still hoping to ride with you one day.

I'm a beginning endurance rider (and ex-dressage beginner rider) who is falling totally in love with this sport. The people are so nice and the horses seem so happy, it's everything I dreamed that dressage ought to be but somehow it never worked out like that (except for your clinics which is why I want to ride with you). I love the freedom that our endurance horses have. But it worries me some that I see so many of them going very flat and sometimes even "upside down", with their hind legs out behind them. I know that the aims and goals of endurance and dressage aren't the same, but I feel that some balance and roundness would be good for our endurance horses too. But when I suggest this, I am always told, in the nicest way of course, that endurance horses can't be expected to rely on contact to keep them round and the riders can't be expected to put that kind of pressure on their horses for so many miles and hours. It's fine for a five-minute dressage test but not for a long ride over tough terrain.

I sort of accepted this, it does make sense in a way, but last week my friend and I watched a video of a famous endurance rider who was talking about how bad it was to let a horse go hollow all the time, so now I'm back to wondering. Would it be good or even fair for me to want my endurance horse to be round? And if this is okay, just how much is enough roundness, and would I have to use a lot of contact every minute? I don't think I can do that. I think I understand why roundness is good for horses, but I don't think I can have the strength and "endurance" Thanks, Doctor J.

Lesley

P.S. This has nothing to do with my question, but I thought you would like to know this. My boyfriend's sister is a dressage rider who worked with Dr. Reiner Klimke for several years before he died, and she said I should tell you that he was a great admirer of yours and always spoke highly of your philosophy and your teaching. She said I should tell you because if he had ever said anything like that about her, she would surely want to know, and she would die happy. ;-)

Now, let's look at your question. The short answer is "yes". The more detailed answer will depend on the amount of roundness you ask for, and THAT will have to depend on the amount of roundness your horse is able to offer. Note the word "offer". Roundness isn't something that the rider can create with reins or seat or spurs or any combination of those things. Roundness isn't a circus trick, it's a way of moving and holding itself that begins with the horse's hind legs, belly, and back, and finally shows itself in the relative elevation of the front end, the lifted, arched neck, and the head hanging from the top of that arch.

You can't create roundness overnight. You can't force roundness. When you see a dressage horse with an arched neck, don't assume it's round. Look behind the neck - at the withers, at the back, at the hindquarters and hind legs. Roundness BEGINS with the hind legs - and although we talk a lot about the horse's BACK lifting and stretching into roundness, this doesn't come from any action of the horse's back, but from the horse using its BELLY muscles. In other words, horses are just like humans in that they must use their abdominal muscles in order to allow their backs to stretch and widen. People don't talk much about teaching horses to use their abdominal muscles, but that's an essential component of dressage, and should be an essential component of endurance riding.

When someone says "Look at that horse, he's round", or "Look, he's on the bit", look closely, and don't be fooled by a head and neck position. Whatever is going on in FRONT of the saddle, it doesn't count unless it's the reflection - and result of - what's happening BEHIND and UNDER the saddle.

Looking at a horse with an arched neck created by "strong contact" (read: "a pulling rider") will show you a horse with an arched neck, nothing more. It isn't round, it's just uncomfortable, carrying its head and neck in an artificial, forced position. It's also well on its way to having muscle cramps, spasms, and permanent damage, everywhere - from the jaw, poll, neck, and shoulders all the way through the back, hindquarters, and hind legs. There's a reason that horses forced into this sort of false frame tend to become lame in the hocks.

The truly round horse, on the other hand, is COMFORTABLE being round, because it has been encouraged to develop its muscles and carrying power through years - yes, years - of sensible, progressive, systematic, building-block work. The rider's goal is to help the horse develop its body so that it can carry itself and its rider in balance, without the human pulling on the reins to curve the horse's neck, and without the horse, reacting to the pain of a cramping neck and back, leaning on the bit to try to get away from the pain.

The kind of roundness you want, in a dressage horse or a hunter or a jumper or a trail horse or an endurance horse, is the sort of functional roundness that promotes soundness, helps the horse move well and comfortably, and will, if the rider continues to ride and train the horse well, eventually culminate in SELF-CARRIAGE. There is no "heavy contact" in this roundness, because the horse gradually balances himself and his rider more and more comfortably until, with engaged hindquarters, strong belly, and lifted, stretched back, the horse arches his own neck COMFORTABLY and works with just a whisper of contact from the rider's hand.

Will your young horse begin like this? No. At first, he's likely to be unsure of where all of his own body parts - let alone the rider's! - are going. Instead of bending his hind legs, using his belly muscles, stretching his back, lifting his shoulders, and raising his front end, a young or green horse will tend to stiffen his back under the rider, push with the hind legs instead of carrying with them, and travel downhill, on the forehand, pushing against the bit.

A young horse that's just learning to balance himself under a rider will usually want a stronger contact, possibly even as much as a pound or two of contact at certain times. But the trend will be toward lighter and lighter contact, so over the years, as the horse is developing through correct training, the contact will be measured in ounces, then in fractions of ounces, until it matches the weight of a very lightly stretched rein. A horse in self-carriage will work on light contact, very light contact, and sometimes on NO contact at all. In NO case is there any question of the rider FORCING or CREATING the roundness by putting pressure on the horse's mouth - the horse OFFERS the roundness because it can, and because it has gotten into the habit of moving well. The rider is ultimately responsible for all this, of course, but through slow, systematic development of the horse's body, NOT through pushing and pulling in the short term.

Don't worry about needing to create spectacular roundness - the ultimate collection of the upper-level dressage horse. All you need to do is help your horse become strong, balanced, coordinated, and CONNECTED, and if you do that, the amount of roundness he'll be able to offer you at any given time will be exactly the right amount for that moment. You'll feel his back lift under your seat instead of dropping away from it, he'll be lighter in your hands, not heavier, and he'll be stronger, fitter, and better able to perform - and enjoy - demanding work. By using his hindquarters and belly more effectively, he'll be able to move more smoothly and cover more ground, becoming an "efficient" mover (high praise for any working horse).

Of course, there IS one catch to all this - in order to best help your horse become strong and supple and connected and round and effective, you need to be all those things yourself. Don't forget that your primary obligation is to avoid getting in your horse's way, and that's much more easily said than done. If you are a fit, balanced, supple, connected rider, you'll be "round" and efficient yourself, and in addition to being able to avoid interfering with your horse, you'll actually be able to HELP him. Dressage or endurance? It doesn't matter, because in either case, both horse and rider need to be athletes and partners. Roundness isn't something you do TO your horse, like stuffing him into a bundt cake pan, it's something that you help your horse develop, so that he can work hard, enjoy it, and stay sound.

If you'll contact me again, privately, I will put you in touch with one of my long-term dressage students who is also an instructor. Her name is Sue Brown. She lives just a couple of hours north of Seattle, teaches endurance riders, and would be a wonderful person for you to work with. Her dressage knowledge has helped her become a truly good endurance teacher and trainer, with skills that give her riders and their horses a definite "edge". And - just in case you wondered - all of her horses are LIGHT in the hand. Can you tell that I'm very proud of her? ;-)

Jessica

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