Pacha - july 31, 2009

Before taking a break for a few weeks holiday, I have tried to develop a training programme for Pacha, intended to J., his young owner. I drew on the learnings of this first year of training, and established the following suggested agenda for J.'s forthcoming sessions:

Objective:
Improve calmness, the first pillar of Gal L'Hotte's quote

Process:
Relax by stretching the back, and telescoping the neck 'far in front'
Begin to increase engagement by lifting the back via lateral bending exercises.
Frequent request for cession de machoires

Equipment:
Simple broken steel snaffle, draw reins, no spurs, no stick.

First 15 minutes:
Walk work, interspersed with halts for which one shall look for square position, relaxed jaw and stillness. Make sure that the walk is always active and energetic, but never hasty. Leg aids shall be discreet in their action, which should only consist in light touching and brushing with calf - not squeezing. Hands shall be as usual VERY light.During the whole work, avoid any hastiness of the strides, and on the opposite look for strides as long as possible, and cadence as low as possible. Look for a steady head carriage, and if Pacha attempts lifting his head and hollowing his back, relax ('badiner') on one side of the mouth by a gentle tension of the draw rein, very lightly and shortly. Apart from this case, draw reins shall always be LOOPED.
Start with walking on the track with reins long, looking for forward down, then adjust the reins and walk on circles at the two hands (with a little more emphasis on the left hand) of various diameters, and ask descente d'encolure on the inside hand which relaxes (light contact, half opened inside forearm, whilst outside rein keeps its contact unchanged). Execute descending spirals (diminishing radius), then ascending ones.Then work in a corner on a small circle (6m) making sure Pacha does not move out of this circle. Make several change of hands (on S shaped lines inside the circle). This at both hands.Move on to lateral work, after readjusting reins slightly shorter to get a placer slightly higher (not yet complete ramener though). Ask leg yield with EXTERNAL BEND on half diagonals, walking straight once on the middle line;this on both hands. Go then one step further with bend inversions:For instance, start from H to X, on LY to the right leg with right bend (the horse is 'bent around the bending leg'. Walk straight at X over a few strides then ask a LY to the left leg towards K.
Then, ask LY around the shoulders, making a quarter of a turn around the forehand, but make sure that the fore legs are not standing in place, rather draw a very small circle while the hind legs move on a wider, concentrical circle. Should Pacha block himself on the fore legs, stop the exercise, relax the jaw and walk on the track forward.Finally, ask a few strides of shoulder-in, always at the end of a circle where it is tangent to the track. Make sure the inside rein is almost loose. Again should Pacha stops or blocks himself, stop the movement, release the rein, straighten him up and walk forward, energetically with telescoped neck.

Next 30 minutes:
Trot work. Start at sitting trot. This goes against general practice, but is suited to Pacha, because sitting trot calms him down and reassures him, whereas starting with posting trot might warm him up too much. After ten minutes during which one will have performed the same exercises as above, ask trot de travail at posting trot on the track. NEVER use posting trot to do figures. This gait must be associated in Pacha's mind with (re)generating controlled forward impulsion via longitudinal extension on the large side of the arena, straight and during which his attention should only focus on cadence (regular, with strides as long as possible, and speed variations). Make sure the placer is horizontal, the back is 'giving' and the hind limbs push forward and beneath. To this aim, use seat aid mainly in moving perfectly in sync with each stride, with minimal elevation above the saddle and making oneself a bit heavier when being in the saddle. Always avoid too much legs.Come back to sitting trot and carry on alternating sitting trot with figures, with posting trot straight, until the stage of shoulder in (sitting of course) which will end this chapter.

Next ten minutes:
Canter. Ask first canter strike-offs in half suspension, in order to avoid too much load on Pacha's back. Hands low, look for the slowest possible cadence, with a low placer (but not behind the vertical). Should Pacha get hollow and stir up himself with hasty, short strides ('knitting'), release the hand, come back to sitting trot and calm on circles. Do NOT attempt a new strike-off before you feel Pacha calm again. Be patient!
Perform a few such strike-offs at the two leads, sitting a little deeper each time. Do not canter more than one arena tour each time.A great milestone will be reached when Pacha performs all strike-offs in calmnes, without rushing in and get steady in the tempo of a little, round, canter. We will get there!
Finish the session with relaxation at walk, loosed reins, and patting him for the good work done!
Take the reins again to giving a proper attitude, and achieve a square, still and relaxed final halt.