WILLIAM MICKLEM - HELP NOT HINDER Part 2

Spit in their right ear!

My first pony was a dock tailed 28 year old laminitic, dock tailed, coloured cob called Gay Boy. (As my second pony was called Cocky Boy it was no surprise that I was a rather confused child!) I was a very nervous rider initially and came to riding later than my three brothers, but Gay Boy offered the perfect blend of qualities. Any pony that age and with sore feet had to be quiet I reasoned. Yet he loved being ridden and was incredibly responsive. Gay Boy was the best. At the end of a Pony Club rally at Chiverton, about seven miles from our home, my youngest brother David, then 10, was given the honour of riding Gay Boy home the first part of this journey involving riding for two miles down the main road, the A30, running the length of Cornwall.

FULL SPEED AHEAD

So David set off down this road followed by my Father in his car to check he was safe. However Gay Boy knew the way home and was a little over enthusiastic. As David pulled on the reins Gay Boy went faster and soon was in full short stepping flight down the A30. David was always tenacious in face of a challenge, but was somewhat shocked as he became aware that my Father was alongside shouting at him through the car window. At first he thought this was just anger at allowing gay Boy to canter on the paved road, but slowly he became aware that my Father was actually shouting an instruction..Drop the reins, drop the bloody reins!

Now it takes quite a leap of faith to drop the reins when you are charging down the road out of control and every logical electron in your brain tells you to pull harder on the reins. But my father was not the sort of man to be ignored. So David dropped the reins and yes Gay Boy stopped! The answer was quite simple. Gay Boy had pulled a cart delivering milk for many years and had learnt that whenever the reins were dropped he stopped, while the driver jumped down and milk was unloaded, and whenever the reins were picked up again he went forwards.

RUSSIAN AIDS

I had a similar experience in Kiev in Russia in 1973, when I arrived late at the trotting track where the English event team were being given the experience of sitting behind a trotter in a sulky. I arrived late to find everyone else was at the far side of the track, while there was one horse and groom waiting at the entrance. With the obstacle of a total language barrier combined with the foolishness of youth I just assumed this trotter was for me.

Having got on the sulky I flapped the reins on the horses rump to move off. Very little happened and I thought I had drawn the short straw and been left the one unwilling horse. In frustration I pulled the reins to stop and get out.the response was instantaneous. He shot forward, going much faster than was good for my nerves! However Davids experience on Gay Boy all those years ago came flooding back and I eased the reins and we came to a gradual halt.

A GREAT STUDENT

These examples illustrate the source of many of the disputes regarding aids. The problem is that because the horse responds in the desired way to our own particular aids we assume that they are the right aids. However a horse can learn any aid for any exercise, even diametrically opposite aids. It happens with the basics. turning, stopping and going forwards on a daily basis. It causes endless confusion for riders and coaches and hinders the working life of so many horses. Instead what we should be asking ourselves is what is the simplest and most efficient aid or combination of aids. What we should be asking ourselves is what is most HELPFUL to our horse.

SPIT IN THEIR RIGHT EAR

The dressage trainer Robert Hall used to say that you can spit in their right ear to teach a horse to canter! He was making the same point that any aid can be used to get canter, as long as it is repeated clearly and consistently, but that did not mean it was efficient, logical and helpful. By an extraordinary coincidence the King of Barnmice communicators, Geoffrey Pannell from Australia, related something similar recently about a coach, Colleen Kelly, with whom he had a lesson. Ill let him take up the story:

Then she had me do something so completely alien to me , I thought she had lost her marbles!!!!! She wanted me to spit in his ear to get him to go!!! --------- OK , let me explain that. She didn't actually want me to hack a loogy in his ear. Just make the sound psst, like air escapeing from a tyre. At the same time flicking the outside rein at his neck. Initially to make him turn when approaching the rail. So , I thought , oh well I've thrown that lesson money in the bin!!!

OK so I gave it a try, guess what , he turned , no surprise there. She got me to do that a few times to make some square turns . Then we had to use NO LEGS AT ALL , something alien to me, to get him to trot, after a couple of goes he trots, now into canter , same way, jumped into nicely. Now Coleen got me to not flick the the rein ,just spit in his ear, PSST, forward to walk, PSST, forward to trot, PSST, forward to canter, VERY EASY NO RESISTING. Now I have to say , it works very well, every time I went PSST he was off like a bucket of prawns in the sun.

In the past we had been haveing a few issues with the odd pig root when asking for the canter, doesn't do that now. I have been using this with a couple of the school horses here and it's working a treat. The pupils leg position stays more still , they are sitting better and more still , I have to say I'm gobsmacked that this works so well. One of my problems as a rider has always been that I do have a tendency to over ride at times . Well ,I went showjumping the other day and if I felt my horse back off a little in front of a jump , I just spat in his ear and away we went, no over riding at all!!! -------------------- Now I'll leave others to decide if I have gone doolally, clearly I'm not in a position to judge my sanity.

A REMARKABLE STUDENT

No Geoffrey is not doolallyit does work and there are several important lessons to be treasured from this story. Not the least being that it is so important that we find ways to communicate with our horses in a simple, clear and horse friendly manner. However the problem is that we are not allowed to use the voice in competition dressage and you might well run out of spit at a crucial moment! I think this example given by Geoffrey is of real relevance to good communication, but I also believe there are still better ways to progress from this point and send a horse forwards, as well as differentiate between each pace, variation of pace, and variation of exercise.

Many people do say if it works thats all that matters, however we should not forget that many aids that work are indeed doolally when put in a wider context! I often demonstrate this by doing something silly to ask for cantersomething like pulling on the hairs behind the saddle. If you do this when asking for canter, while also using the aids your trained horse is familiar with, you can in a matter of minutes just use the hair pulling with no other aids and the horse will canter. They are remarkable students but it does not make hair pulling a sensible aid.

I APOLOGISE TO YOU ALL

The fact that there are so many different aids ordered for the same tasks by different coaches and trainers is a huge weakness of equestrian sports and a divisive force. I apologise to all riders that as coaches we have failed to put our house in order. Just think of a few of the contradictions..some use the legs to go forwards while others use the legs to stop; some lighten the rein to turn while others increase the pressure; some use the left leg to canter right while others use the left leg to canter left; some move their body back to go forwards while others move their body forwards; some are taught to stop by pressing with their seats while others are taught to press on their irons, therefore lightening their seats.

CANTER CONFUSION

Then when it comes to the canter aid and flying changes we could fill up several paragraphs with the contradictory and mind bogglingly complicated aids on offer. Most of them work, just as there are many roads to Rome, but many are so inefficient and complicated that they will never leave the door open to high level work. The point is there has to be a best wayor at the very most two or three best ways ..a way that is suitable for high level work and all sports. A way that will get you to Rome without going on too many minor roads, without finding too many diversions or dead ends.a way that will produce happy days for you and your horse whatever your level. William

http://www.WilliamMicklem.com

NEXT WEEK HELP NOT HINDER - Part 3

Some answers, some key points, and some more lunacy from the world of equine communication that leaves riders and horses short changed and hindered in their work.

WILLIAM MICKLEM - HELP NOT HINDER Part 2

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