WILLIAM MICKLEM - HELP NOT HINDER Part 4

Steps two and three to great hands

Our first task when riding is to send our horse forwards, using any aids or combination of aids (even the pppst in the right ear) and any exercise that your horse can easily understand and respond to. Therefore you might ask why I started last week with the rein contact rather than with the use of the leg and other forward aids. The answer is that to ride forwards successfully demands an allowing hand as a prerequisite, so hence my initial focus in this area.but next time Ill concentrate on the forward aids.

YES WE CAN

In the meantime I promise you that your time and effort on achieving great hands will not be wasted. Many trainers in the past talked about great hands as though they were only possessed by a few elite masters and were not within the grasp of most riders. This is simply not true. We need to remember that every elite rider was once a beginner rider without skills, and I very much hope that the simple exercises included in this blog will open the door to many more having great hands.

STEP 2 TO GREAT HANDS GET COORDINATED

Many of us think we have an allowing hand but without doubt most of us can gradually improve our degree of allowing, even by say 1%, and as a result improve both the acceptance and response from our horseprobably by more than 1%. We do this by the tiny incremental improvements brought about by continually practising an allowing hand each ride, inviting your horse to take the hand, and by working on the coordination and independent use of the hands and arms both when riding and when off the horse.

Most of us need to become more ambidextrous and give the same allowing contact from each hand. In a sport that demands an equal use of both sides of the body and limbs from the rider, but is populated by normal one-sided human beings, this is an important area for improvement. I encourage riders to become more ambidextrous by doing simple things such as holding their coffee cup in their less coordinated hand, and all manner of other daily tasks such as opening doors, throwing and catching balls and even cleaning the teeth with this hand! Try it today and see how many days it takes before it feels normal.

Connected to this I encourage riders to work on their posture and shoulder suppleness on an ongoing basis. You will find some great exercises for this in my book The Complete Horse Riding Manual. In addition we all turn in one direction more fluently than the other, which has a big effect on our riding of circles and the use of our limbs. Once again this is something we can improve off the horse as we spin and dance our way through our regular stable and household tasks!

TWO MORE SIMPLE EXERCISES

I also recommend sitting down opposite a friend with a pair of reins and practising going with the movement as one of you take the role of the horse and one of the rider. A great idea is to close your eyes while you are doing this, in order to isolate the feel in the rein. This is a very effective exercise. I actually have a mechanical rein simulator with scales to measure the contact from each hand as the rider goes with the movement. It consistently proves how quickly it is possible to improve the allowing rein contact with a little awareness and daily practise.

Hacking out in walk with a rein contact is another great way to practise and improve your allowing rein contact. In walk all horses should move the head and neck forward and back twice every stride and your hands should allow this. Start by calling out the four beats of the walk (inside hind, inside fore, outside hind, outside fore.1, 2, 3, 4.so the inside hind is 1 and the outside hind is 3) then on both the 1 & 3 start saying forwards. As you say this your hands should actually go forwards, all the while keeping a bend in your elbows so that you can more quickly go with the movement by using BOTH the elbow and shoulder joints.

However as the result of past restrictions some horses will have got in the habit of not moving their head, or even moving the head unnaturally backwards at this moment, so be patient. NB In trot there will be less movement of the head but in canter there should be a definite forward movement each stride as the horse moves into the period of suspension.

THE DEAD END APPROACH

To regularly fix the hand or have a non-allowing hand, other than in emergencies, is a dead end philosophy that plagues the horse world and leaves thousands of horses in discomfort. It is part of the fixation on the position of the head and neck to the exclusion of everything else, and part of the gadget culture that in turn encourages further non-allowing hand and rein contacts. And please be reassured, an allowing hand and small rein aids are what you will be using for the majority of time, even with an advanced horse. Too many use a rein of opposition or, worst of all, fight their horse, before they have learnt how to truly go with the movement.

Equally to give the rein away as an aid is also a dead end approach that takes you apart from your horse, however briefly, and away from precise secret communication. In carriage driving, especially with a pair or team of horses, giving away the outside rein to turn is normal, given the practical constraints of the length of the reins and the way a horse is harnessed, but with a riding horse this is not the most efficient way to turn. Instead we should ask our horse to turn and allow the bend and response that this brings. Then we stay 100% with our horse and can make further small changes at any time.

Some trainers also take a leg out of contact to turnand there is no doubt you can train a horse to do this.but just as with giving the rein contact away it takes you apart from your horse and limits what is possible at a higher level. As far as possible I always want to leave the door open to higher-level work. Where there are options regarding aids I choose the one that is most simple, which normally is also the one that is most appropriate for advanced work.

STEP 3 TO GREAT HANDS BELIEF

To achieve great allowing hands should be a top priority for the vast majority of riders. It will boost your effectiveness and produce happier horses. But I am well aware that you will only put this into practise, and seek those tiny incremental daily improvements I mentioned earlier, if you believe in it. Sadly there are too many riders who dont believe in its importance. So just remind yourself that dressage is all about the development of the natural outline and paces of the horse, and that includes the head and neck position. And just remind yourself that a jumping horse that has full use of their head and neck also has a chance to fully use the back and be able to finish the jump properly. And just remind yourself that going with your horse will allow that precise and close communication that really defines the strength of your partnership.

Great allowing hands are a key requirement if you are to be a good partner and help your horse do their work. So get better hands and then great hands by (1) establishing a good positional balance, (2) developing your coordination and suppleness, and (3) in particular by having the belief in the importance of letting the hands go with the horses mouth.

My 12 year old son Leo putting this into practise last week, riding a horse for the first time in public on a horse in her very first competition...a big step up from a 13 hand pony....showing that you don't need to be an advanced rider to have great hands:

JACK LE GOFF

One of the worlds truly great coaches, Jack Le Goff, died recently. A few days ago I asked Olympic Gold medallist David OConnor, who was a student of Jack for many years, what made him special as a coach. Without hesitation he answered He gave riders and horses belief.the belief that they could do the job.

I first met Jack le Goff in New England in the 1970s and marvelled at the standard of his young USA riders (and their great hands) and marvelled at his coaching and marvelled at his mind. I love asking great coaches questions and his answers were without doubt some of the best..logical, precise and memorable. So one day, at a lecture in Groton Massachusetts, I asked him whether he had a strategy for answering questions. Yes he said I do the same as I do in my coaching I prioritise. There is no doubt that going with your horses is a priority and are the key to great hands. I always remember Jack Le Goffs answer and I will always remember his joie de vivre.its what life is all about. Happy days. William

www.WilliamMicklem.com

STILL TO COME Giving aids, forward aids, the magic spot, refining aids, and the strange case of the Olympic dressage horse who could only be ridden by one rider.

PS This may be a hugely important subject but I am well aware it is not very exciting. so for those of you who have shown the perseverance to get to this point over the last four weeks give yourself a pat on the back and a little treatI am impressed.!

WILLIAM MICKLEM - HELP NOT HINDER Part 4

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