Baby Got Back ... Legs

We are glorious. Worship before our majesty.
(Wtaf tho? What gait even is this?)

October's lesson homework has been focused on quickening Bast's hind end. I feel this is one of the most important building blocks for a dressage horse, and one that is often missed by those who haven't moved past the lower levels. Without a very forward thinking hind end, the connection simply cannot truly exist. Bast's love for being behind the vertical or opening his mouth can be solved in this way.

Ugh. So curled. I need to bump him up and push forward here.

My trainer also believes it's important to engage the hind end engine early. This is especially important for a horse like Bast who likes to pull himself along with his shoulders, and escape his "box" by bulging through the front end. I'm thankful for this, as she is full of ideas to help me develop Bast.

Pictured: A horse bulging right out of his box and forgetting entirely he has hind legs.

So what exercises are we doing to quicken the hind end?

We start off in the trot. Once Bast has a good rhythm going, I slow my posting as if I am going to ask him to walk. The goal is to get him to slow his trot while keeping up the energy with his hind legs. This takes a lot of awareness. The moment he shifts his weight onto his front end, even slightly, I must be ready with the leg or wave of the dressage whip. It doesn't take much to inspire Bast to put in more effort at this time. Once he keeps up his energy behind and starts pushing over his back, I release and ask him to take that energy and trot forward.

Go forward! To victory better balance and impulsion!

Not only is this developing strength for Bast, but also a starter exercise to develop a strong and straight start for the medium gaits.

Note: This trot will not help you make a better medium. No, instead, this trot should be burned off the face of the earth through careful beatings encouragement of the hind legs. Also the rider could not stand up so high while pulling randomly on the left rein.

Another exercise works the, admittedly weak, canter departs. I sit the trot on a circle, ensuring Bast is active behind with the leg/whip waving. As is his tendency, he will often dive onto his right shoulder and barge into my hand. He may also leap into the air or push forward into a downhill gallop. In the case of any of this, I flex him away from the shoulder where his weight is pushing down, while simultaneously adding leg to encourage him to come over his back instead. Once he starts stepping under, a miracle happens and he stops pulling me out of the saddle and actually becomes flexible and nice to ride.

Plz horse. Stop trying to run downhill on level ground and leave your hind legs behind. It's so awkward.

At this point, I'm able to work on slowing his canter while keeping him active enough behind to not break. To the right this is getting easier and easier. Last week we had a breakthrough to the right that resulted in a completely new canter. As my trainer said "Oh! He does have a nice canter in there somewhere!"

See, we can canter appropriately at times... 

To the left, things are more difficult. The canter is getting nicer, but the transition is still very stiff. I tend to lose Bast's right shoulder too easily, which allows him to escape and unload his hind end. He often twists this direction to take the pushing load off his hind right and keep his hind left from having to step very far under. This seems like a weakness issue that should be resolved with more repetitions of this work.

Bast in his best impression of a weasel pretzel. Note to self: the inside rein does not fix this. Just stop pulling on it, mkay?

While these exercises are mentally and physically taxing for Bast, they are really good work to do every day. That said, they are also making it very important we work on proper stretching. With all the compression work, I try to take plenty of breaks in the work to allow him to stretch in the walk. I also try to end every ride with a good amount of stretching trot, without allowing him to fall on the forehand or bulge out through his shoulder.

#alwaysaddimpulsion

I'm really happy with how much better he is getting at both things! Hopefully by next week we won't completely embarrass ourselves with my trainer. I hate coming to a lesson without having done adequate homework! Don't you?