1) With your stirrups, go at the posting trot, then cease posting at the top of the "up" phase of the motion and stay poised above your horse’s withers, taking the shock of your horse’s movement in your knees and ankles. You can do this exercise at all three gaits. Maintain a soft, consistent connection with your horse’s mouth by carrying your hands just above the withers with supple elbows. Do not straighten your knees or rest your weight against your horse’s neck. (While this is more comfortable for you, an incorrect position avoids the difficulty of this exercise and, even worse, drives your weight straight down into your horse’s withers with every step or stride.)

2) Posting the trot without stirrups is an excellent exercise to strengthen your lower leg position. It has additional advantages: it's an exercise that you can do without any special facilities, and is something you should do before attempting my next exercise.  Before you start, place your knees a little high in the saddle so that you have sufficient leverage to produce your posting motion. This exercise is surprisingly difficult to do, and you will find your knees slip down after a few minutes. When this happens, practice lifting your knee up in the saddle. This is the same motion you need to make when attempting to regain your stirrup after it becomes dislodged, so you are practicing something that will make you safer and more effective, as well as fitter. While posting, remember to relax your elbows as you rise, so that your hands do not move up and down with your posting motion.

Build a similar gymnastic in an enclosed area to form your “jumping chute.” Make sure your horse is calm, and understands the exercise, before you start jumping without reins or stirrups.

© Jim Wofford

3) For this third exercise, you need three things: a neck-strap, a jumping chute and a suitable horse. By “suitable,” I mean you need a horse that will trot and canter quietly over gymnastics such as you see illustrated here. The neck-strap is easy; use a spare stirrup leather, adjusted one-third of the way up your horse’s neck. The jumping chute is a little more complicated. Using an indoor arena, or an enclosed outdoor arena, place a gymnastic line of jumps down one long side.  Start with a placing pole 9 feet in front of a small vertical, then build a second vertical 18 feet away, followed 19 feet later by an oxer. Put wings on the inside standard of each jump. (The wall serves as the wing on the other side of the jump.)

Once you have measured the distances and made sure the jumps are perpendicular to the wall, remove all the rails except two poles on the ground 9 feet apart on the end of the gymnastic where you will build the first vertical, leaving all three wings in place.

When you first start to build the gymnastic, keep your reins and stirrups. Rehearse your horse through the gymnastic as you gradually add one more jump. If your horse shows any signs of over-exuberance, teach him that you expect him to trot quietly into the placing rail and the following gymnastic, then canter away from the gymnastic and pull up to a halt in the corner at the end of the line of jumps. I have my students perform a turn on the forehand or a turn on the haunches, depending on the level of training of the horse, and walk out of the corner before attempting the gymnastic again. This helps prevent your horse from bolting through the corner while he attempts to launch you into the rafters.

Once your horse is settled, take a short break while you tie a knot in your reins. This is just to shorten the reins, and place a knot in your reins you can easily locate and pick up again … after you have jumped the gymnastic without your reins.

Bill Steinkraus, who combined form and function to win a show jumping gold medal in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, still sets the standard for riders who want to ride well over fences. In this photo taken at the first fence of the 1967 Hickstead Derby, his lower leg position provides him with a stable platform for his aids, and Bold Minstrel is responding with an effortless jump. Horse and rider's nonchalant attitude belie the fact that this fence is well over 4 feet. Bill's foot has entered the stirrup correctly, with the ball of his foot on the tread of the stirrup, and his little toe against the outside branch of the stirrup. His leg is turned out at the same angle as that with which he walks. Although his heels are lower than his toes, they have not been forced completely down; there

I want you to trot into the gymnastic, keeping your stirrups (for now) and holding your reins—but this time, drop the reins on the neck just before the placing pole and cross your arms in front of you. Obviously, regain your reins after the gymnastic and pull up in the corner, as you taught your horse to do earlier. You can do this exercise with your arms crossed in front of you, crossed behind you or extended at shoulder height.

Take another break while you make sure your neck strap is adjusted correctly one-third of the way up your horse’s neck. (If it is too loose, you will find yourself pulling with your hands in your lap, which is ineffective.)  This time, I want you to cross your stirrups in front of the saddle, and hold the neck strap while you jump the gymnastic. Once you drop your stirrups, make sure that you keep your knees up against the knee roll of your saddle. If you allow your knees to slip down in the saddle, you will not be able to follow the jumping motion correctly. (You may need to remove the stirrups altogether if they cause too much interference with your thigh.)

Practice the gymnastic several times using the neck strap, to make sure that your position is secure. Once you are confident in the strength and security of your lower leg, you can do the same arm exercises as before, but this time do them without your stirrups. Continue to pull up to a walk at the end of the line, for safety reasons.

Unless you are a very experienced rider, you should not expect to complete all of these exercises in your first session. If you are just coming back to jumping after a break, it will take you several lessons, plus some serious gym-time, to develop the strength and fitness required. However, the added stability and security of your jumping position will be worth the effort.

I mentioned last month that we need to go back to basics, and I wasn’t kidding. Over the next several months, I intend to review the fundamental mechanics of each of the three positions used by eventers (dressage, show jumping and cross country) and to provide exercises to improve each. The result of sound basics in each of the disciplines is better communication with your horse, which leads to improved performance. Practicing your basics is hard work, but it is absorbing and intriguing and it pays off in better results

Show-jumper Bill Steinkraus, the first U.S. Olympic individual gold medalist, says the rider’s position “is a stable platform from which the skilled rider can apply his aids with the precision of a surgeon.” This is especially true of our dressage position, where we begin our return to basics.

At the halt, you should sit in the saddle on three points: the two seat bones and the pubic bone. If you are aligned correctly, an imaginary vertical line will pass from your ear through the point of your shoulder, your hip and your heel. In The Gymnasium of the Horse, Gustav Steinbrecht says your upper body will form a right angle with the horse’s back. This explains why ­upper-level dressage riders appear to sit with their shoulders behind their hips: Their horses are collected, which causes a lowering of the croup. While the relationship between your position and your horse’s back should not change, your horse may change the relationship between his back and the ground.

While seated, maintain a slight forward arch in the small of your back. There are good reasons for this. First, it is the natural shape of the human spine. In addition, it allows you to have the maximum range of motion possible in your waist. Sitting in this position at the halt is easy. The difficult part is maintaining a correct position while your horse is moving. I can take a person who has never ridden, buy her thousands of dollars worth of boots and breeches and put her on a horse at the halt. By adjusting her limbs, I can photograph her exactly in the shape we are discussing. However, the moment the horse moves, that person will dissolve into terrified gripping and pulling.

We can learn to follow our horse’s motion only by ceaseless practice, and the best way to practice maintaining the correct dressage position in motion is on the longe line with no reins or stirrups.

Get Started
I am going to suggest exercises to help you develop a deeper, more balanced three-point position. By moving your arms while keeping your legs still or applying your legs while your arms remain quiet, you will ­increase the independence of your position.

Before you begin, make sure the horse you use is suitable—he’s quiet, preferably with three good paces. You also need an experienced person holding the longe line. Tack up your horse with a snaffle bridle and elastic side reins.

For safety reasons, practice the following exercises in an enclosed area only. Wear an ASTM-approved helmet but no spurs. A safety vest is optional, as is an air vest. (If you’re wearing an air vest, make sure the lanyard will allow your full range of motion during these exercises; otherwise, you might accidentally cause the vest to inflate with interesting results.)
Some of my more-advanced exercises will test your balance and the security of your three-point position. If your coach or friend holding the longe line suspects that you are even slightly dislodged, he or she should bring the horse to the walk or the halt until you regain your balance.

Start each of these exercises by holding the pommel with your outside hand and putting your inside arm behind your waist as shown in the photo on the facing page. You can maintain this position while engaged in leg exercises; however, if you are engaged in your upper-body exercises, you will have to release the pommel and perform the exercise without using your hands for security.
In between exercises or if you feel insecure in the saddle, grasp the pommel to pull yourself forward into the deepest point of the saddle and hold yourself in the correct position. While holding the pommel, allow your legs to hang as straight as possible and let your toes point down. (When you regain your stirrups, have the feeling that the stirrups push your toes up, rather than push your heels down past the stirrup.) At first, you will have to resort to holding the pommel quite often when you work on a longe line without reins or stirrups; use the pommel rather than grip with your legs.
Your ability to maintain your position without either holding the pommel or gripping with your legs will improve with practice. You want to develop as deep a position as possible, and any grip with your knees or thighs will cause your position to become shallower rather than deeper. As your position improves, you will need less and less contact with the pommel until finally you have a dressage position that is truly independent of your horse’s motion, one you can maintain without reins or stirrups.

After you have briefly warmed up your horse, you can begin the following exercises at the halt, walk, trot or canter, depending on your horse, your fitness, the stability of your position and your confidence. Take great care that when you move one part of your body, you keep the other parts quiet. This is easier to say than to do, but it is an essential skill if your aids are to be precise. Once you progress to doing the exercises in motion, practice them for a few minutes in one direction, halt, change your horse’s side reins for work on the other hand and repeat the exercise.

Winter riding is exhilarating, but it can pose some problems. Here, we outline six potential winter-riding challenges, then give you the expert fix for each one.

Challenge #1: Physical fitness. Your horse probably isn’t getting as much exercise as he did when temperatures were balmy. The end result is that he’s probably losing some of his physical fitness.

The fix: When you do ride, be considerate of your horse’s needs. Warm up slowly. Stay alert for any signs of fatigue, such as heavy breathing, sweating, “stumping,” or bad steps.

Challenge #2: Dander. Dust and dead skin cells tend to accumulate against your horse’s skin under his dense winter coat.

The fix: Spend time deep-grooming your horse to remove any buildup so you don’t risk dander irritation under tack. Clipping his belly, or doing a trace clip of the belly and halfway up the chest wall, will make these areas easier to keep clean. (If you clip, blanket your horse so he’ll be insulated from the cold.)

Otherwise, use a curry and lots of elbow grease to deeply clean and loosen material close to the skin surface. A vacuum works best for removing dirt, hair, and debris, but vigorous brushing with a fairly stiff bristle brush will get the job done, too.

Challenge #3: Joint stiffness. Cold weather quickly stiffens areas of arthritis or old injuries.

The fix: A brisk rub with a warming liniment, plus stretching and flexing by hand, will help your horse loosen up more quickly. Wear heavy rubber house-cleaning gloves to protect your hands from the chemicals and the cold. Wrapping legs overnight also helps keep the joints more flexible.

Challenge #4: Frozen ground. Frozen ground creates concussion on your horse’s feet and joints. It’s like working him on concrete. And frozen, uneven ground can easily bruise the bottom of his foot, and may even cut the frog.

The fix: Consider protection in the form of hoof boots for barefoot horses, or pads under shoes. Many hoof boots can also be worn over shoes.

Challenge #5: Icy ground. Ice is a particularly treacherous situation, as your horse can slip and fall, risking serious injury.

Studs in shoes provide traction on icy surfaces, but they also increase leg strain.

Photo by Bob Langrish

The fix: A barefoot horse will have better grip on ice than a horse in shoes. But even the barefoot horse will be safer on ice with boots. Borium, or studs in shoes, provide much better traction, but at the price of more strain on the joints, ligaments, and tendons. Boots over shoes is another option.

Challenge #6: Snowballing. Riding in snow is fun, but can result in snowballing — the accumulation of ice and snow in the bottom of the foot. Snow melts a bit on contact with the hoof, then refreezes quickly, creating a mound of snow and ice that is difficult to remove.

A barefoot horse with a well-maintained, nicely rounded, concave foot may be able to pop out the snow naturally. But a longer-toed, flatter-footed (or shod) horse cannot. Regular full, flat pads don’t solve the problem, because snow will still build up between the pad bottom and the shoe walls.

The fix: Full pads with a large bubble in the middle, called “snow popper pads” used to be popular. They work by compressing when the foot hits the ground and popping out again when the leg is lifted, forcing the snow out of the bottom of the foot.

That part works well, but some horses find the pressure uncomfortable. Such pads also don’t allow the bottom of the foot to “breathe,” predisposing the hoof to softening of the sole, along with bacterial growth.

A better solution is a rim snow pad. These pads fit under the shoe and extend out over the sole for a short distance without covering the whole sole. Pad movement when the horse walks and trots forces out the snow.

Another solution is boots over shoes. When you’re done riding, just take them off.

Eleanor M. Kellon, DVM, currently works as a writer, teacher, and internal medicine/nutrition consultant. Prior to this, Dr. Kellon has had more than 10 years experience in private practice. She also has extensive experience with performance horses. She’s based in Pennsylvania, where she and her husband raise, train, and race Standardbreds. Her most recent book is Horse Journal Guide to Equine Supplements and Nutraceuticals (Globe Pequot Press).

Heather Sansom is the author of rider fitness ebooks Complete Core Workout for Riders, and a regular columnist in several equestrian publications including Dressage Today. Equifitt.com offers personalized coaching through clinics and convenient online coaching available anywhere. Clinics available include fitness, yoga and fitness, and sport-psychology and fitness. You can get a free subscription to monthly rider fit tips, or download the ebooks at Equifitt.com.

"A self-going horse is only possible when the rider is quiet." --Reiner Klimke

I was recently reviewing some old Reiner Klimke videos. When he said this sentence it jumped right out at me: What an excellent way to summarize so much.

In last month's piece we discussed how to get more flexibility along your spine in order to be able to follow the wave of the horse's motion in your back. Quietness as a rider is often misinterpreted as stillness--absolute lack of motion. Now that we have tools like YouTube, we have many more opportunities to watch top-level riders and they do indeed look motionless much of the time.

Apparent motionlessness is achieved in your back by the ability to absorb and carry the motion of the horse up through every joint between every vertebra in your spine, and not by stiffness or rigidity. Flexibility and softness in your back is critical if you do not want to block this wave of energy from your horse. Flexibility and softness become suppleness when they are combined with adequate strength for you to support your body in alignment. On its own, flexibility results in either a floppy body or a physically 'busy' one that is too pushed here and there. We want to follow the motion of the horse, but always with the ability to also lead.

When we watch high-level riders and they appear to our eye as motionless, it is common mimic that in our own riding. However, as with many aspects of correct riding, there is an outside and an inside. For example, on the outside, a rider who's size is well matched to their horse will carry their hands slightly above and slightly ahead of the pommel with nice bend in their elbow to achieve that straight line from elbow to bit.

However, when a rider who's proportion to their horse does not work out so neatly sees this and tries to put their hands in that exact spot in relation to the pommel, they may end up with long arms and locked elbows. They have achieved the outer guideline, but not the functional requirement for riding which is to have soft elbows and a nice line from elbow to bit.

The functional requirement is based on biomechanics. If the rider is short on a long horse, or long on a short horse, their posture when functionally correct, will not match the visual expectation for hand position. The same would apply for a rider with a structural limitation such as different limb length. A rider with different physical leg lengths may be tempted to ride with one stirrup shorter to achieve visual symmetry, at great cost to their seat position due to very different femur and hip angles. The important aspect for the horse is not the leg length, but balance and straightness in the seat bones. The seat bones are the base for a rider. The way your middle, shoulders and head stack on top of your seat bones in a balanced way is what the late Sally Swift referred to as the "building blocks" in her famous book Centered Riding.

"You can't have control over your horse's balance until you have control over your own balance. To be balanced.you need to be sitting equally on both seat bones and strong in your middle section so that your horse can't displace you." --Kyra Kyrklund, Dressage Today article "Smaller Steps for Greater Balance"

Turning flexibility into real quietness requires two more components: strength in your core, and balance. This month, we look at balance because the strength you need depends on your balance. For example, if you are not well balanced (you shift to the side, tip forward, lean your shoulders back, or your feet creep forward), you will find yourself trying to use strength to fight your own body in order to achieve alignment or apply aids. The result of the biomechanical argument going on in your body will be tension. Tension blocks motion.

Flexibility and softness in your spine are only a part of the equation for quiet riding. Your back will not stay supple if your body is tilted forward or backward and not correctly vertical. Try standing on your feet, tipping forward as far as you can and holding the position without stepping forward for as long as you can. Observe the strain beginning to build up in your back. If you rock forward in the saddle, your back muscles and facial tissue will tighten up to support you.

7 a.m.: After I arrive at the barn and feed the horses, the team’s long-time groom, Ruben, starts cleaning the stalls while I clean the water buckets. Almost all the horses wear standing wraps every night, so I unwrap and reroll them.

9 a.m.: We start to work the horses. At home in Idaho, we usually start earlier than this because we have more staff. I ride the first horse while Ruben gets the next one ready. I usually ride Wizard first, but I like to mix it up so I can get used to riding them at different times of day in prep for a show.
The 45-minute session includes a hack for 10 minutes followed by 30 minutes of working with Debbie, going through movements or whatever we are focusing on that day. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we work on training. One or two days I just do long-and-low work in the ring or go on a trail ride. The last day of the week we just handwalk and get to relax. The horses keep the same schedule, so (for example) Sundays and Mondays we all (horses and I) get a light day or day off completely.
When I finish, Ruben cleans and hoses the horse. Depending on time, I will help him out before getting on my next horse. Once he is done with cooling the horse down, Ruben will put on a magnetic blanket and ice the legs. I work down the list until I get through riding the four horses we have in Florida.

1 p.m.: I finish riding and eat yogurt and granola with a little chicken salad from the store or something similar that you can have on the go.

1:20 p.m.: We start handwalking and grazing the horses for 30 minutes each, starting with the horse that worked first. Throughout the day we will clean tack, roll wraps and complete all the other chores that need to be done at the barn. Also, in the afternoon I go over their legs with a fine-toothed comb, especially in Florida (with all of the bacteria that live there). I then go through their bodies with a fine-toothed comb, and if I feel soreness, we use laser therapy on it to stay on top of things. The magnetic blanket is better for overall therapy, but the laser treatment helps target things more specifically.

3:30/4 p.m.: We wrap all the horses in standing wraps for the night. Then we make up and feed dinner with their supplements. They are all on Nutrena feed and Glänzen 3 as well as Strongid CE wormer electrolytes. They also might get Adequan® and Legend® if they are due for it. Because of the expense of having a massage therapist come in and work on the horses, I work with them and other caregivers to see what I can learn to do myself and maintain that.

5 p.m.: We pick stalls, clean and refill water buckets and do afternoon cleanup (that includes washing down the trunks and moving them so we can sweep underneath everything).

6 p.m.: I will work on paperwork, show entries and returning phone calls. After that, I go to the gym for at least an hour or an hour and a half to workout (see Rider Fitness, p. 50).

8 p.m.: We finish the barn work and eat dinner. I usually have a salad, frozen dinner or make something like stir fry. We have snacks like apples and bananas and granola bars throughout the day. A lot of times, I will cook and eat with Debbie because we share a house.
At home, I also teach and will share/trade off the horses with Debbie. I will do a lot of teaching and clinics, and on my day off I will do a lot of outside teaching. I am a really sociable person and want to have a balance, so when I have days off, where I am not teaching, I try to go out with people my age. But you are definitely giving things up, and it is easier for me to do this when I am at home in Idaho. Besides being in Florida now, I have to travel a lot, and I miss out on things with boyfriends and family. I have friends who are supportive, and with them I can just go out and dance or hike.

Bachelor stallions play chase in the New Bolton Center semi-feral herd.

© Charles Mann

A: Even we scientists have ­noticed that—in the horse world at least—boys seem to have more “fun” than girls. Although it’s anthropomorphizing to assume that horses enjoy the activities that look playful to us, animal behaviorists have defined and studied equine playlike behavior: object play (e.g., nibbling, chewing, pawing), locomotor play (e.g., running, bucking, chasing), play sexual ­behavior and play fighting. And we have observed males doing these behaviors more than females, both in domestic situations and in more natural conditions.

This dichotomy begins at an early age, when both fillies and colts play, but colts spend a little more time playing. Puberty changes things even more dramatically. Once a filly begins to ovulate—in the spring of ­either her yearling or ­2-year-old year—she cuts back substantially on her playtime. From that point on, she spends most of her time eating, resting and nursing foals.

Mature stallions, on the other hand, continue to play. Bachelor stallions (stallions living on their own or with other stallions), particularly, spend a great deal of time playing. Harem stallions (actively breeding stallions associated with a harem of mares) play less than bachelors, but it’s not unusual to see them “horsing around” with youngsters.

Animal behaviorists use classical reasons to explain these observations. As with many species, play is believed to help teach young horses the rules of society: what’s too much physical contact, who’s in charge and so on. It also develops physical skills and, in mature animals, helps to maintain fitness and athletic ability. In the wild, this conditioning is much more important to stallions, whose job it is to defend the herd from intruders—other stallions and predators. Muted fighting behavior, in essence, keeps them in practice.

Mares, on the other hand, have a different purpose in life: providing food for their fetuses and foals. They seem to focus more on energy conservation (to produce healthy babies and milk) than physical conditioning. In response to a threat, they usually form a circle or semi-circle around their young, with their tails pointing out toward the threat—leaving more aggressive fighting up to the stallions.

In more natural conditions, mares even seem to leave the parenting up to the stallions. After foals are about 10 days old, harem stallions do the primary parenting, such as retrieving the foals when they wander off and entertaining them when they’re bored. They’re much like a human dad who plays rough-and-tumble on the living room floor on a Sunday afternoon while mom’s doing the dishes.

Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Sue McDonnell, PhD, has spent 13 years studying a ­semi-feral herd of ponies on the New Bolton Center campus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. A leader in her field, she published the book A Practical Field Guide to Horse Behavior in 2003. Sue’s specialty is stallion behavior.

This article originally appeared in the March 2007 issue of Practical Horseman magazine. Read more from Dr. McDonnell in the July 2012 issue.