THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLENESS

The cause of all problems encountered during the training of horses (assuming the horse is in good health) boils down to a lack of suppleness. This refers to the mental and physical relaxation that is required before any serious work can be asked of the horse.

For instance, if the horse resists turning to the left, or goes above the bit, if he takes tense or uneven steps, or kicks out at the rider’s leg, or even bolts! -there is a lack of suppleness. Trying to solve any of these problems using force will impede the achievement of suppleness even further. Although the horse may appear to comply (turn to the left/ drop his head/ stop running away etc) he will not be relaxed in his mind and therefore cannot be relaxed in his body. Any work carried out in this way will not be of benefit to the development of the horse’s musculature or mindset and will actually lead to the overdevelopment of the wrong muscles and potentially eventual lameness.

The time it takes to achieve suppleness depends on many factors; the horse’s education and temperament, the rider’s skill (and temperament), the weather, the surroundings, whether the horse is tight and sore from previous work or from standing in a stable, and so on.

According to some of my old riding bibles, some very talented riders could achieve suppleness immediately by riding a few steps of piaffe.

For most horse’s a good place to start is an extended period of walk on a long rein at the start of the training session. As long as it is safe to do so, this is a good time for the rider to work on their own suppleness (and therefore seat), by doing various exercises in the saddle.

As trot work is started it is important to have only a soft connection to the horse’s mouth, and to not place importance on the position of the head. The important factor is the development of thrust and the engagement of the hindlimbs further underneath the horse’s body, which will lead to the ‘falling down’ of the head and correct contact with the bit.

The horse must go forward.

Oftentimes rider’s confuse forwardness with speed which results in the horse running and falling onto the forehand. The horse is not engaging his hindquarters underneath his body (they are strung out behind) and his weight falls more onto his front legs, and onto the bit.

The rider then tries to ‘half halt’ or resist with the bit but as the hindquarters aren’t engaged underneath the back and ready to carry the weight, it falls to the lumbar vertebrae (the weakest part of the horse’s back) which collapse under the pressure, and the horse may even knuckle down with one of his hindlimbs.

For a horse to become supple, it is important that the rider’s weight does not disturb the horse’s movement, but instead follows the movement with a supple seat. A good rider can encourage a stiff back to become supple via the massaging movements of their pelvis in time with the horse’s strides.

It takes time for a rider to develop this feel and it is easiest on a circle,  concentrating on engaging the horse’s inside leg with the rider’s inside leg and seat bone at the moment the limb is about to leave the ground and enter the swing phase. When done correctly the horse will set down his inside hindleg further forward and more underneath the body so that it takes more weight and is caused to flex more.

This lowers the horse’s inside hip which makes the rider naturally sit lower with their inside seat bone. The inner side of the horse is shortened which means the outer side is lengthened and the horse takes up the rider’s outside rein.

The horse is now connected from the inside leg to outside rein!