WILLIAM MICKLEM - HELP NOT HINDER Part 1

F H B

My son Leo came home from a lesson with a local equestrian club last weekI cant believe how complicated they make it, he exclaimed! You wouldnt believe what you have to do to get canter! My heart sankwhy do we do this to our children? Why do we do this to so many riders. Simplicity is at the very heart of successful riding, whether you are aiming at the Olympics or a wonderful Sunday afternoon ride with a friend. Any loss of simplicity is a loss in potential.

The complicated combination of aids and long sequences of aids many use to do a simple transition or exercise is a source of great concern for me, not only because it is hugely inefficient but because it prevents so many riders from enjoying their sport and progressing as they should. As to what the horses thinkwell suffice to say they are very long suffering!

ONE AID ONE ANSWER

The command to do a half halt before every corner and before every transition, or to do half a dozen things to get canter, goes down that awful non-communication road of words (aids) without meaning and throwaway phrases.of chatter rather than words that matter. Often the preparation is so repetitive and mechanical that it becomes not preparation but part of a connected sequence of aids, all of which are required to actually achieve something very simple. It is madness because it is a sequence that could be substituted by just one aid. One aid one answer is not a bad aim.

SHOW JUMPING AIDS

I love Tim Stockdales blogs because they contain so much straightforward simple advice. Which is typical of a high level show jumper. When a show jumper goes into the ring for a round they dont want to keep making corrections and giving complicated aids. Instead they just need to concentrate on the right line (direction) and the right speed as they go round their course and feel good strides to the fences. They expect their horses to keep doing whatever they have been asked to do, without frequent aids, so they can concentrate on these priorities. Similarly I gradually expect all my horses to stay in whatever pace and speed I put them in until I ask for something different. So when in canter I teach them to stay in canter, with only the occasional aid, just as `Tim Stockdales horses stay in their show jumping canter between each fence without continual use of the leg or hand from Tim. Then the horses are also able to concentrate better on the job in handas shown here with Tim in this fabulous shot.

DRESSAGE AIDS

Surprise, surprise the same thing applies in Dressage. As a rider turns down the diagonal line to start 15 one time flying changes, it is truly a matter of expecting the horse to keep the right canter as you give one aid for a flying change followed immediately by the next aid for the next flying change, to which the horse has to respond to immediately. Aid, change, aid, change, aid, change, fifteen times. Now this is the point. the preparation for sequence changes begins with a transition from trot to canter, when you give one aid and go straight into canter aid, cantertaking the maximum time of one canter stride. The preparation is to have a good trot and your horse understanding the aid.

It may take several days, sometimes much longer when retraining, to initially produce a good trot with your horse coming through the back, but then you have nothing more to do before the transition.....and with a good trot and a good canter a good trot canter transition is pretty much inevitable. Of course day by day you can stlll improve the way of going and the trust and communication level, but you do this without meaningless chatter.

HELPFUL CROSS COUNTRY AIDS

Going across country, simplicity is even more important. With the speed of a galloping horse and how quickly things happen, not to mention the many variables of terrain and fences, it is vital to keep things simple.....and vital to ensure in your training that the horse is taught to do as much as possible with you doing as little as possible.

So why do we call our cues the aids? It is because the original word for aids was HELPS so you will read in the original manuscripts of those such as the Duke of Newcastle use the helps. This shines a different light both on the meaning of the word aids and why we now use the term aids. We need to help or aid the horsethat is what the aids are foryes they are a way of communicating but they are meant to help the horse.not hinder through complication and overuse.

A COMMUNICATION CONTINUUM....F.H.B.

Therefore I talk about F.H.B. F.H.B. normally stands for Family Hold Back, when visitors come to call unexpectedly and there is a shortage of food..but I use the same mneumonic to remember the key points in a communication continuum. F. is for FEEL, H. is for HELP and B. is for BUILD. First we have to FEEL what is happening with our horse, and the need to work at our feel is a universal daily priority in riding. There is no point in communicating without feel because we would then be operating in a vacuumtreating each horse as an identical machine.

Then we HELP the horse in a precise way with precise aids, all the while putting down the BUILDing blocks for the futureAcceptance, Calmness, Forwardness, Straightness, Purity.whether it is flying changes, jumping against the clock or pleasure riding. To do this we have to study our sport and use a coach to learn about these building blocks and priorities. and all the while we FEEL the changes and progress before HELPing once again, so it is a true continuum.and when put into practise very happy days for you and your horse. William

www.WilliamMicklem.com

NEXT WEEK HELP NOT HINDER Part 2

My brother David was 10 years old and was being run away with, galloping down the main A30 spine road through Cornwall.what happened next and why horses are amazing students.

WILLIAM MICKLEM - HELP NOT HINDER Part 1

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