From: Anita
Dear Jessica, you probably don't remember me but I rode with you about five years ago, in Vancouver. You did a question and answer session the first evening of the clinic and we kept asking questions for almost three hours, and you were very nice about staying much later than the schedule! One of the questions that someone asked you was about the "stretchy chewy circle" where the horse is supposed to stretch its neck and head down at the trot on a 20m circle. I was still trying to write down all of my notes from your answer to the previous question and I don't remember everything you said about this circle. But now I am actually preparing to ride the tests with this movement, and I wish I had written down everything you said.
My horse is very nice and kind, but he is not very talented for dressage (according to my instructor, and also according to everyone who sees him), and we have not yet been able to do this movement. Usually either I don't remember to let the reins loose, and he just trots in a circle with no change (and no stretch either), or else I remember to drop the reins and then instead of stretching down he just pops his head straight up in the air. He also pops it up when I try to pick up the reins again. My instructor says that in the beginning I should just use my elbows, but my arms are short and I think I do need to give him more rein than just what I can give him by locking my elbows open. I need to learn to do this movement, but it doesn't seem to matter how soon I give him the reins, the result is never that nice stretchy chewy circle that the riders in your clinic were getting. So could you please summarize what you said then? It will help me so much as I prepare for my next show! If you remember me at all, I was the somewhat overweight blonde rider on the somewhat overweight MorganxAppaloosa with no spots, and it was our very first time at a dressage clinic!
Anita
Putting aside the question of your horse's innate talent for dressage, let's just focus on what that movement IS, what it's FOR, what it MEANS, and how you can improve the way you and your horse do it.
It's not a complicated movement, although many riders make it more complicated than it is. ;-) It's really a simple matter of riding a 20-meter circle at rising trot - something you've done hundreds if not thousands of times before. The ONLY difference between an ordinary 20-meter trot circle and THIS movement is that in the case of the movement, the horse is supposed to stretch his head and neck downward as you allow him the rein to do so, then bring his head and neck back up as you take back the rein.
The trick to this movement - and yes, there is a trick - is to think about it differently. The stretching of the horse's head and neck doesn't mean that you give the horse a special signal and he reaches forward and down. It means that whilst riding the horse in a balanced, rhythmic, energetic, forward circle, on soft, stretchy contact, you ALLOW the horse to stretch forward and down - something that he should ALWAYS be ready and happy to do, because (a) he should be in a position to do that stretch easily, and (b) the stretch should feel very good to him. When you shorten your reins and he brings his head and neck back up at the end of the movement, he should be happy to do that, too, because he's just had a lovely stretch, and he should feel GOOD. In other words, the "stretchy chewy circle" is essentially exactly the same as any other correctly-ridden circle, only THIS time, you INVITE and ALLOW the horse to initiate the stretch. It's not about MAKING the horse stretch! Or, to put it another way, EVERY twenty-meter trot circle should have the potential to BECOME a "stretchy chewy circle". ;-)
This isn't a circus trick - it's an important moment for horse and rider. The purpose of every dressage test is to allow the judge to evaluate your horse's training and your riding, so that you'll know how accurate your own perceptions are, and so that you can have some help in deciding when to continue at the same level and polish your performance, when to move ahead and tackle a more difficult series of movements, and when you might need to drop back for a little while so as to fill in the gaps that you might not even have noticed without the judge's comments.
The specific purpose of THIS movement is to verify two things: First, is the horse not just accepting the bit, but eagerly reaching for it, actively seeking to maintain the contact with the rider's hand? Second, is the horse sufficiently balanced to stretch its topline and follow the bit as far as the rider will let it go - even to the ground if need be - whilst maintaining the contact AND its energy and balance and rhythm?
If the answers are YES, then good! You're working correctly and you are heading in the right direction. If the answers are NO - to ANY of those questions - then you've discovered a very fundamental GAP in your training, and you'll need to go back and fill it before you can hope to work at this level or move up.
If you take a dressage test apart into a series of individual movements and components, you'll find that there's nothing exotic or esoteric about any of them. They're training exercises! Circles, straight lines, positions, bends, turns; regular rhythmic gaits; balanced transitions; square halts. These are ALL things that you should be practicing and improving and refining ALL the time, whether you're "doing dressage" or "just riding around".
So, where does this leave you in terms of practicing the "chewy stretchy circle"?
Begin by practicing a lot of GOOD circles (remember, QUALITY ALWAYS COUNTS!) at rising trot. When you are sure that you and the horse are both balanced, that your horse's trot rhythm is absolutely clear and that his tempo is neither too fast nor too slow, and that your horse has looked for, and found, a soft, steady contact with your hands, you can begin.
When you are ready for the "stretchy chewy" moment, don't change ANYTHING at all - ride your horse forward with energy, keeping the rhythm and tempo and contact just as they were, and now, very very slowly, allow half an inch or an inch -certainly no more than an inch - of the reins to slide through your fingers. Keep looking where you are going - if you drop your head to see whether your horse is dropping HIS head, he will, but he'll drop the contact as well, and then he'll feel lost and his head and neck will pop up.
Remember to allow the reins to slip very slowly through your fingers - the idea is NOT to throw the reins on the horse's neck and tell him "There, out in front of you, down there, that's where the bit went, GO FETCH!" He's not a dog, and he won't understand that. He'll just know that you were holding hands with his mouth, and then you suddenly dropped him on his own, and he was a little bit startled and a little bit worried, and he lost his balance and then threw his head up to regain it.
The idea of letting the reins slide through your fingers SLOWLY is that you never actually lose contact - the horse feels the contact getting too light for comfort, so he reaches for the bit, and you let the reins slip a little more, and he continues to reach, but all the time he should still be balanced and rhythmic, with no change of tempo. THAT way, as he reaches, he'll stretch his topline. If you just DROP the reins and he DIVES for the bit, he'll drop his neck and his withers, and you'll suddenly feel that you're going downhill on a not-very-balanced horse. So let them slide, half an inch at a time (later you'll be able to let them slide an inch at a time if you like), so that you don't surprise your horse.
Right - that's the part where the horse stretches forward and down. At the end of the circle, you have to bring him back up again! You'll need to keep the same position and remember the same priorities - stay balanced so that your horse can continue to be balanced, continue to rise (your energy and the forward movement of your hips should remain unchanged), and as you touch down just behind the pommel, use your legs lightly and close your fingers tightly on the reins for just an instant. The next time you touch down behind the pommel, do the same thing again. Your posture says "Keep going - same balance and rhythm and tempo"; your legs say "A little more forward, please", and at almost the same time, your hands say "Bring your neck up and your head in just a little, please" - and then by relaxing, they say "That's it, thank you!". When you do it this way, there is no loss of energy, the horse doesn't fall on his forehand or drop his back, and you don't change position and therefore cause the horse to change position. Instead, you're communicating with him every step of the way - first by indicating "It's okay for you to reach and stretch your topline now, as long as nothing else changes," (to which the horse's response should be "Hooray, a stretch, that feels GOOD!") and then "Okay, don't change anything else, but please bring your head and neck back up, starting here and now", to which the horse's response should be "Oh, okay, fine, no problem, here they are!").
Assume that your horse CAN do this, because, actually, he can, and he should. It's a wonderful gymnastic exercise for a horse, and essential for any dresage horse, because it's one of the basic, elementary training exercises that is used EVERY day, all the way to FEI Level - and beyond.
Assume that YOU can do this, because, actually, you can. ;-) The more you do it, and the better you do it, the easier it will become and the more stretch you will get. I know what your instructor means by telling you to use just your elbows - at first, the horse (especially if somewhat stiff and unaccustomed to this exercise) will be able to reach/stretch comfortably only briefly, and for only a few inches. If your horse is very stiff, two inches of rein may be all it can reach for whilst maintaining the contact, and if this is the case, don't ask it to reach as far as it can reach and then drop it by throwing the reins away - if you do, the horse will never gain the confidence it needs to relax and reach forward. If you take it a little at a time, always asking for just a fraction of an inch more, the horse will relax more and reach more and develop the ability to stretch its topline better and more effectively. In the early stages, with a stiff horse, you may never need to change your grip on the reins - most people can give a horse another two inches of rein just by moving their arms forward and/or opening their elbows. If you do this, it will also make your life easier when it's time to bring the horse back up, because you won't need to shorten your reins - bending your elbows a little more, and /or bringing your elbows back towards your body, will be all you'll need to do. HOWEVER, you may as well begin practicing lenthening and shortening your reins quietly, because as soon as your horse has been gynmasticized enough to stretch more effectively, you'll NEED those skills.
The judge isn't looking at you to see whether you can perform a "trick" - the question is whether your horse can stretch its topline comfortably and visibly, ON CONTACT, without losing its balance or its rhythm - or changing its tempo. Since it can do this ONLY if the rider is also balanced and correct and allowing, the horse's actions - as always - will tell the judge about the correctness of YOUR posture and actions. Don't worry - if it's all correct, the judge will definitely notice even a two-inch change in the reach of the horse's head and neck. A two-inch CORRECT reach means that the horse is seeking the contact, its neck is lifting from the withers, its back is lifted and stretching, its hindquarters are working, and its belly muscles are engaged. In terms of scores, this will get you a better one than you could hope to get if you threw the reins away and the horse's head and neck dropped like a rock and the horse hit the dirt with its chin. Yes, it would be much more than a two-inch change - but it wouldn't be a proper stretch, it wouldn't be correct, and it wouldn't indicate that your training is helping to develop the horse's physique or its understanding. With luck, at your competition the judge will tell you all of these things, either in the comments or through the scores (as explained by your instructor), and you and your instructor will be able to take those scores and the judge's comments and devise a set of exercises that will help you improve those areas in which you and your horse are not as strong as you would like to be.
Enjoy your next show - and all of your shows in future.
Jessica
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