Developing the haunches

Still in the process of organizing and editing but thought I would get to a post in the mean time! Expect a brief Buck Brannaman post Monday and hopefully regular posting thereafter and especially January onward. Although I try to maintain a list of blog-able topics, any suggested topics are always appreciated!

So the topic at hand: helping a horse who was raised in a small (really small) flat pen for 5 years and does not know what to do with his rear end.

In my opinion the best thing a person can do when raising a horse is turnout turnout turnout - 24/7 preferably. Even in mud, icy footing, and in freezing rain - horses adapt. Most of the time I feel we stall our horses for our own comfort and benefit, rather than the horse's. Research shows that turnout not only benefits our horses mentally but also physically (which should be obvious). Regular physical exercise translates to stronger bones, ligaments, and muscles, which help ensure long-term soundness and health. Lack thereof produces the opposite. Keeping a horse stalled so many hours a day, or keeping a horse in a very small pen, will also contribute to a lack of physical strength and also development. Turning such a horse out after being cooped up regularly/daily and especially if the horse has spent an extended and long-term period of time cooped up without sufficient physical exercise, can lead to injury. Hence the benefit of 24/7 turnout. Should you acquire a horse who has spent an extensive amount of its life cooped up, the ideal would be gradual progressive exercise. Starting with progressive turnout time and space, hand-walking, then riding at the walk for a long period of time prior to including the trot and (much) later, the canter. When a person starts riding such a horse or even a young horse, their shoulders should be back but their seat light - they should not be sitting on the horse's back yet.

The focus of the horse's training should - generally - follow the training scale (regardless of discipline), which commences with relaxation, rhythm, suppleness. Next comes contact (which the horse initiates by reaching down into the bit as a result of a loose back and drive from behind), impulsion is developed, straightness may be developed, and finally, collection occurs. Each of the steps, or blocks, of the training scale pyramid, relate back to one another and as the foundation in particular is progressed and developed, the following step naturally and harmoniously begins to also occur as the horse's mental collection and their physical strength and balance develops. Elmar Pollmann-Schweckhorst presents a wonderful 'alternative' training scale that he refers to in his book 'Training the Modern Jumper'. His version of the training scale is presented as balance and responsiveness to the aids being at the center of a number of inter-related circles. The 6 inter-connected circles are collection, impulsion, contact, suppleness, rhythm, and alignment or straightness. This is because, for example, as impulsion is developed, contact is improved and as say collection is developed, so is rhythm, suppleness, and relaxation. Each step of the training scale relates back to other steps and vice versa.

With the above in mind, the first goal after relaxation, rhythm, and suppleness (or even as these steps are developed), should be to develop 'pushing power' - this is the horse's hind end. Only AFTER sufficient pushing power is developed, can a rider develop 'carrying power'. Pushing power represents the horse's ability to push forward off his hind end. Carrying power relates to the horse's ability to carry itself (using its neck, back, and abdominal systems) as a result of sufficient pushing power.

Three important exercises a person can do to build hind end power in a horse - 'pushing power' - is to use ground poles, cavalletti, and hills. The reason these three exercises work to develop the horse's hind end is because they encourage the horse - naturally - to push forward and drive from behind. With ground poles and cavalletti and also hills, it is very important to allow the horse to reach over his back and downward into the bit. The rider should be quiet, soft, and independent. Their role should be to guide the horse but not to specifically tell the horse what to do. By guiding the horse only and using exercises such as the aforementioned to encourage the horse to move a certain way, the horse is the one to initiate the movement, which develops a more natural, pure, true movement borne of harmony.

When I first get on a horse's back, the first three exercises I teach that horse is to 1 - bend its neck nose to my foot and to relax, 2 - turn on the haunches from the bend, and 3 - turn on the forehand from the turn on the haunches. The TOH's and TOF's are specifically taught first on the ground, where the horse learns to move away from pressure, among other things. Developing the TOF and TOH allows me control of the horse's shoulders and hind end. Control of these allows me to progressively develop the components of the training scale and, specifically as it relates to the topic at hand, to teach a horse to move off its hind end.

1- From the halt, I run my hand halfway down the rein and gently (but firmly) grip the rein between pointer finger and thumb. I gently apply the rest of my fingers as I bring my hand to my thigh, resting my fist on my thigh, thumb upward. Your elbow should be elastic - this means that if the horse tries to yank its head back, you follow its movement, then re-ask for the bend immediately without ever losing contact. Like an elastic - stretch as the horse resists, recoil as the horse gives. Ask the horse to 'give' to the pressure progressively to the point where the horse is relaxed and giving (not leaning) to the pressure of the rein, with its nose about by your foot. This may take several sessions. If the horse leans when it brings its nose around, apply a little more pressure at that point and release - teach the horse that you want it to release rather than lean.

2 - From the bend, as the horse is halted and relaxed, bring your fist from your thigh to your belly button, thumb facing outward. As you do this, slide your inside leg (the leg inside the bend) back a little to direct the horse's haunches over, while looking at the horse's haunches. Both hand placement (which tips the horse's nose up and encourages them to shift their haunches) and eye placement (which shifts your body into the correct position in the saddle) are vital.

3 - From the turn on the forehand (or from a few steps of back-up), take your fist from your belly button to straight out from your side. Your arm should be raised to the same height as your shoulder and be aligned horizontally straight outward, thumb facing forward in your fist. Your outside leg (ie, for a turn on the haunches to the right, right arm out, your left leg would be your outside leg) should slide forward a couple inches to be at the girth - apply it. The arm placement is important as it lifts the horse's nose up in such a way that it encourages the horse to lift its shoulder. The leg is what instructs the horse to move over. The horse should roll back onto its haunches and you should feel his shoulder lift as he pivots on his hind feet (which remain still except to pivot - they should remain within a small circle drawn in the sand say a couple feet in diameter), instead of shuffling around his front with his shoulder dropped. The ideal might be to ride a horse already versed in this before trying it on your own horse if your horse does not yet know how to do a correct turn on the haunches, so you can learn the difference in feel between a raised and a dropped shoulder. Be sure, when asking for this maneuver, not to tense your thighs and hips and to block your horse with your inside leg. When applying the outside leg, we might tend to tense our leg to hold the pressure, which will travel to our hips and cause us to almost weight the inside thigh. This 'closes the door' so to speak, for the horse to lift and move its shoulder to the inside for the turn on the haunches because of the counter pressure applied. Make sure your seat remains light, balanced, and centered. If you hold pressure with your outside leg at the girth for more than a moment or two, pulsate your pressure rather than holding. Holding will create tension, whereas pulsating your leg and heel against the horse a little a) increases the pressure to the horse and b) allows your leg and hips to stay better relaxed.

With the horse well versed in moving off pressure, we can take this into motion. As with anything, start at the walk to introduce the exercise, but then move onto the trot as soon as both you and the horse 'get it'. Working an exercise too much at the walk, especially if not done carefully and with a lot of interspersed forward, can only serve to destroy the natural forward walk of a horse.

In general, a horse learns how to use its butt as it learns to balance, bend, and progressively engage appropriately. It is part of an entire progressive process. This can be initially taught on circles, serpentines, and corners and later progress to asking for engagement on a straight line. Circles and corners where the horse is bent naturally teach the horse to balance and engage because he must engage to maintain proper balance. The key is to maintain a soft following feel on the reins (again - elastic elbow) and an independent seat with shoulders back.

Keep your hands at an appropriate height (up to a few inches above the base of the neck) and wide apart. Wide apart, the rider creates a sort of 'tunnel' where the horse can remain 'between the aids'. Whenever the horse moves outside these aids, the rider corrects with leg and hand. When the horse remains 'inside the aids' (ie, along the wall or what), the rider allows - the rider remains quiet. Your outside rein in particular should be a couple more inches away from the horse's neck, horizontally, than your inside rein. Your inside rein may lift occasionally to ask the horse to lift its inside shoulder. Your outside rein is your supporting rein - you create energy and drive with your inside leg, which is captured in the outside rein as the horse almost 'pushes' into it. The result is a lot of channeled energy, recycled inside leg to outside rein.

NEVER ever ever cross your reins over your horse's neck (unless riding one-handed western, in which case collection and lateral flexion should already be developed to a high level) - this is where most riders get into trouble. Your hands remain on each side of your horse's neck. End of story. By crossing your hands over your horse's neck when riding two-handed, you miscommunicate to your horse, lose precision and control, and you allow energy to be lost. An outside supporting rein and an inside rein that aids in initiating bend and softness is key - a key that is lost when you cross your hands over your horse's neck.

On corners, your outside rein out from the horse's neck and your inside leg driving into that outside rein is especially important. As the horse relaxes over its back and drives forward, the head will naturally drop as the base of the horse's neck raises, as the back is raised (pulling the vertebrae at the base of the neck toward the horse's pelvis) and the pelvis tipped as the haunches are engaged. Start with corners and circles. Progressive Schooling Exercises for Dressage & Jumping by Islay Auty is a wonderful book - even for the western rider - full of progressive exercises from which to build off of to teach a horse to engage his behind and progressively develop collection. In such a way, we can progressively teach our horse to use its haunches more.

When the horse is ready, the rider can also start asking for shoulder-in, which benefits in that it creates greater relaxation and suppleness and also straightness. It also asks the horse for more engagement from behind. The shoulder-in however should not be asked for until the horse has developed sufficient strength. A couple future blogs will cover the topics of shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in, travers, renvers, and half-pass, as well as the correct leg yield. Leg yields are a great 'introductory' exercise to also engage a horse from behind. The horse's shoulders should just barely lead and his body (or spine!) should be almost parallel to the track we are leg yielding toward (ie, the long side of the arena if leg yielding from the centerline). Most horses want to fall out at the shoulder (close the door - close the outside rein in that case and even briefly apply a little outside leg at the girth to stop the falling out) and leave the hind end trailing (ask for more engagement - inside leg back behind the girth to ask the haunches to keep up with the shoulder). This is normal - just pick at it and do not ask for too much from your horse at once: this might mean only asking for a few steps before moving on to the next exercise. Often when introducing this exercise I will ask for one or two steps, then lots of forward. I open my hands and push the horse forward if necessary. When I feel the horse is fully forward and he has mentally moved on from the exercise, I ask for another one or two steps. Each time, each session, those one or two steps become better (maybe included with 3 or 4 'bad' steps but important tries), and we start asking for more steps. It takes time to build. More on this in future blogs, including how to obtain a proper leg yield and how to start teaching it.

Another exercise that can be of great benefit is to spiral your circles in and out - this also introduces the half pass. Start at the walk with a 20m circle, then later progress to the trot (or jog, if western). Ask the horse to maintain correct bend on your circle - nose should be slightly tipped to the inside with a little inside rein and inside leg (at the girth to prevent the horse falling in on the circle), spine should be bent evenly. Outside rein is supportive and firm and prevents the horse from falling out. Outside leg should be applied behind the girth to direct the haunches. Apply increased outside leg and push the horse - gradually - into the center of the circle. Spiral your circle down over several laps of the circle (I especially love to do this in fresh snow or freshly-harrowed sand so I can see even spirals). When you get to the center of the circle, spiral your horse back out - again, in the same gradual fashion, this time using your inside leg to push your horse out. Maintain your aids in the proper position and do not use rein to pull your horse in to the spiral or to pull him out. Leg and seat! This maneuver develops greater engagement and suppleness from the horse.

Another exercise is to do transitions - between and within gaits. Start on a 20m circle (the larger the circle, the easier for the horse - if your horse struggles at 20m, make the circle bigger so he can perform the task successfully) at the trot. Place 4 cones spaced evenly along the parameter of the circle so you create a square or diamond within your circle. Pick up the trot at cone #1, halt at cone #3 (you should have completed half the circle). Be precise and get exactly what you want - this means your horse should neither be trampling cones nor halting beyond a cone. He should be halting precisely next to the cone and should remain put at the halt (if he keeps moving his feet, be persistent in gently correcting him and putting him exactly back on the spot you wanted him to halt on - then ask him to move out before it becomes his idea). Precision is important because if it is not important to you, it won't be important to your horse. Precision to your aids not being important to your horse will come back to haunt you on every front because precision is required everywhere for everything. Halt for a moment, then ask your horse to pick up the trot (from the halt) to cone #1. Halt. Trot to cone #3. Halt. Trot to cone #1. Halt. Rinse, lather, repeat. When your horse is responsive and successful, ask him to pause at cones #3 and #1 rather than fully halting. More on half-halts in a future blog, but the key ingredients to the pause are: close your hands (with a western horse, close your hands and lift the weight of your reins slightly), take a deep breath in and hold in that 'pause', slightly roll your pelvis and shoulders back in that same 'pause', then release. During this pause, you should feel a slowing in your horse's motion as his front lightens slightly and he steps further beneath himself. Closing your hands should be done as if there were a little bird in your hand - just a very gentle hold or squeeze. When you release, you should simply be able to open your hands and allow the horse to again move out. Some seat and leg may be required initially or occasionally. Do this at every second cone, exactly at the cone. If you are late to a cone and know your ask lack precision, forget that cone and ask at the next cone. The pause should last no longer than half a second. This exercise may later be progressed to asking at every single cone (first for the halt, then the pause) and later by decreasing the circle size to 10m. Transitions between gaits (halt to canter, halt to trot, canter to walk... etc) and within gaits (ie, the 'pause' in a trot or canter) are important to developing pushing power and teaching a horse to use its hind end properly. In the pause or the halt or the downward transition, the horse should engage a little more, driving his hind end beneath him. Then with the forward or upward transition, the horse uses his hind to push off - the increased engagement gives him more drive. This not only physically develops pushing power but it also teaches the horse to engage from behind more.

A last variation of the transition exercises I might do with a horse (one I have been using recently in particular) is to ask the horse to trot, halt and do a rein-back. More about the rein-back, specifically, in future blogs. The rein-back should be a smooth continuance of the forward motion the horse previously had, in a backward motion. The horse should step back in diagonal pairs. The horse should also release and relax his jaw where he engages from behind, lightens his front, and drops his poll - wait for that relaxation and acceptance before releasing if possible however only ask for a few steps at a time. So... trot. Halt. Rein-back. And push the horse back into the trot from the rein-back. Expect a prompt response. Something else I can do to also incorporate control of the shoulder in this exercise (and to change things up) is to do a halt upon reaching the corner of the arena, rein-back, 90 degree turn on the haunches at the corner of the arena to complete the turn, then trot off. Rinse, lather, repeat for the other four corners. Coming out of the turn on the haunches, you already have the horse on his haunches so use that to immediately push him into the trot, thereby making efficient use of his being on his haunches at that time.

How to create a frame

I see this question a lot: how do I get my horse to round it's back, lower its head, and work from behind? Actually, a great deal of the time people forget to ask the latter ("and work from behind"), not realising that it is not about the head but rather about the hind - that the head will follow the hind naturally and that the head really does not have to be 'played' with.

To start off, I highly recommend the following for your own further research into collection - how it is achieved, why it is achieved, and the involved biomechanics of the horse:

Sustainable Dressage - this blog contains a wealth of information I have yet to fully tap into thanks to the absolute overwhelming multitude of information presented!

Tug of War: Classical Versus "Modern" Dressage by Dr. Gerd Heuschmann - it is extremely enlightening and reveals a great deal of knowledge of collection via understanding the biomechanics of the horse. This is a vital part of any horseman's library.

Progressive School Exercises for Dressage & Jumping by Islay Auty BA, FBHS - this is just another of those simple books that contains a great deal of progressive exercises, but it is encompassed of exactly the types of exercises and patters that I use and recommend when teaching the horse collection.

In my opinion, I believe the comprehension of 'correct' collection (developing one's eye), the biomechanics of the horse, and how to achieve 'natural' collection are of the utmost importance to any rider/trainer/horse owner, regardless of the discipline. Regardless of discipline, it pays to teach our horses to use themselves efficiently. Firstly, such benefits a horse in relation to their soundness. Horses are not made to carry the weight of a rider and teaching them to carry themselves in an efficient and correct manner ensures they may carry the weight of a rider with little or no detriment to them physically. Second, teaching a horse to use itself in a correct and efficient manner better enables them to succeed in their chosen discipline. The cow horse, cutter, or reiner, benefit from collection in that they are balanced. With their weight shifted off of their front and onto the haunches, they may better be able to - with a freer front end - thrust forward into a gallop and slide into a stop or change direction rapidly. The jumper with its weight shifted onto its hind will have better propulsion over jumps, better scope, and better form.

The method(s) many riders are taught neglects taking into account the whole horse, the bigger picture, and instead focuses on individual physical aspects. Particularly, riders will almost obsessively focus on the head and on teaching it to drop, often via use of a martingale or draw reins or by bumping or see-sawing on the horse's mouth. There are many variations to this but ultimately a false frame is created whereby the horse is not fully engaged from behind. In lieu of the aforementioned, the rider needs to focus on the HAUNCHES. As the haunches are developed and the horse increasingly engages, the back rounds and lifts, the front end lightens, the horse raises its neck from its base, and the head drops into place according to the horse's level of training and strength.

The focus in developing true and correct collection in the horse should be on encouraging the horse to carry himself efficiently, by his own means - classically. This means patterns and exercises where the hands are light and guiding and the legs are quiet, that essentially 'enlighten' the horse as to what to do, but do not directly tell or force the horse into a particular frame. In this fashion, they only 'frame-up' as per their current training level and strength and their frame is one that includes relaxation. Furthermore, their frame is 'correct' and efficient. In such a way, the horse will simply 'come together' naturally, with guidance and refinement from the rider: the horse will start tracking up and loading bent hocks, tipping his pelvis. He will commence lifting his back, and his head will come down and he will reach forward to actively seek the bit. The rider's seat should be balanced and independent with no pushing so hard that the rider is leaned way back (as is often seen) and there should be no pulling back or holding of the horse's mouth. The hand closes as appropriate, and opens as appropriate, without moving. In such a way, the energy may be channeled and recycled through the horse - without actually creating or damming the flow through aids; the flow is already established by the horse and is simply guided through their body.

This is also where the Dressage Training Scale is vital, regardless of your discipline. Dressage is a foundation and regardless of your discipline, a strong foundation is a strong foundation - dressage offers that possibility for a strong foundation that will enable success in any direction later. The Training Scale is as follows:
1. Rhythm
2. Suppleness
3. Contact
4. Impulsion
5. Straightness
6. Collection
It is a progressive 'ladder' that is designed to be applied in that specific order, albeit each step will feed into and build off other steps. Place those six building blocks into a pyramid with collection at the top and rhythm at the bottom, you can begin to see how it is progressive and how each 'block' builds upon another. Keep in mind too that to have rhythm and suppleness, one requires relaxation. Thus one of the first goals in developing the horse should be to develop relaxation.

Relaxation is required for rhythm - the tense horse will be constantly increasing and decreasing its rhythm and tempo. To achieve such rhythm and relaxation, the horse must be both mentally and emotionally relaxed, which will then automatically reflect in a physical sense (barring any physical issues).

Once rhythm is established, we also find suppleness - the looseness and flexibility of the horse. Suppleness is comprised of both lateral and longitudinal components: lateral being sideways and bend along a circle (such as in the ribs), and longitudinal being along the horse's length from jaw to tail.

With suppleness achieved, the horse begins to seek contact. Where before the horse is expected to accept contact (ie, not evade the rider's hands), the horse who increasingly engages from behind and is relaxed and supple will start to actually seek the bit and chew it from the rider's hands with further progression of the training scale. This also requires a very forward thinking horse, hence the importance of developing and encouraging forward in the horse from the very start.

With contact we can begin to refine what we have and establish further impulsion, where the horse steps under himself further (engages) and sends power through the hind end to the rider's hand and to his front end (which lifts). Impulsion appears as a forward moving horse who is loose and supple; the hocks are engaged and bent (loaded) as well as far-reaching beneath the horse's barrel. This is achieved through willingness on the horse's part and not through constant nagging on the part of the rider. Impulsion should be thought of as THRUST. With thrust, the horse will increasingly seek the rider's hand - contact.

With the requirements of 1-4, straightness is mostly achieved naturally and ultimately is when the hind hoof steps in the line of the fore hoof (in collection though the hind may step slightly to the inside, but not to the outside, which would indicate the horse is traveling with its hindquarters in on the circle = crookedness). Straightness is achieved when the horse is supple and conditioned equally laterally (both sides are equally loose and strong).

With all preceding five building blocks established, we naturally achieve our golden goal of collection - it is not made or forced, but rather is the ultimate and simple result of the building blocks of the pyramid. The horse reaches further under but by engaging the hocks actually takes shorter steps and compresses its frame. The pelvis tilts and the croup drops, and the forehand lightens so that the horse appears to be traveling 'uphill'. Since collection is not made, the rider should ultimately be able to, on a fully and 'correctly' collected horse, be able to drop all communication with the horse (legs and hands), and the horse still finish the movement. This test is the result of the horse initiating collection and carrying itself; the rider is not creating the collection nor are they carrying the horse themselves. In such a manner, the rider may then further encourage and guide the horse to the highest level of collection.


The following exercises and patterns may be used in the context of the training scale to help develop the horse toward collection:

Rhythm
To achieve rhythm we first of all want the horse forward-moving, relaxed, and loose in its movements. This is partially achieved through the rider maintaining rhythm themselves (ride to music, to a metronome, or simply relax your body and ensure you create an example of rhythm the horse can then follow), in their riding. This means that at the trot, the rider posts in a rhythmic manner and allows the horse to move forward; if you have trouble keeping out of the horse's mouth, ride on the buckle - if you do not feel safe riding on the buckle, you've got work to do! Initially, you can have an instructor/equine-savvy bystander also longe you and your horse if you have trouble riding your horse on a loose rein; as such the individual on the ground can have control yet you can allow your horse the opportunity to relax and develop rhythm. In my experiences rhythm is often best achieved working along straight lines as opposed to circles, yet circles tend to relax the horse because horses move in circular patterns when stressed (check out Temple Grandin's work); this is where figure-8's along the long side of the entire arena can help because they include both long straight lines and some circular lines (plus, it is a specific, distinct pattern, which is also comforting to the horse according to its instincts). Rhythm is established through mental and emotional relaxation in the horse, which will result in physical relaxation and thus rhythm. I develop mental and emotional relaxation in the horse on the ground first, developing respect and trust, and teaching the horse to be calmer, braver, smarter in general. Under-saddle, patterns and exercises in general are calming to the horse, as are patterns and exercises that are circular in nature (as previously mentioned). Relaxation and thus rhythm are established through a general mindset and method on part of the rider, which might require a professional to help. Above all, it is established with soft, light aids, and patience and good leadership on part of the rider. The rider must remember to have very elastic elbows and a following hand.

Suppleness
This is obviously develope-able only when relaxation and rhythm are achieved. The next step then is to develop suppleness Travers, shoulder-in, side-pass, half-pass, leg yield, bends along a straight line (ie. come down the long centre-line and have your horse bend without leaving said line, using the least possible amount of leg and especially hands), circles, figure-8's, serpentines, spiraling in and out on a circle at the w/t/c - all great exercises to encourage and increase bi-lateral suppleness. The exercises should be done with light riding and should be refined to the point of little interference and guidance by the rider, where the horse is soft, accepting, and supple. The exercise book I mentioned at the start of this blog has some fabulous exercises to create suppleness, and an instructor usually has a number of exercises and patterns up their sleeve! Jane Savoie has a plus/minus poll-suppling exercise I will iterate at a later date: I highly suggest reading her books and purchasing some of her educational material and using the suppling exercises she describes.

Contact
The horse must be soft and supple and accepting of contact - meaning they are responsive to the rider's hands and are light, soft, and relaxed. With development and progression through the training scale, the horse will start to seek contact - he will push into your hands with a soft mouth and chew the reins into a lengthened frame if you allow him the lengthened rein. It is not up to the rider to establish 'on the bit', but rather the horse, when they are ready; if the rider progressively schools through the Training Scale, they will find the horse will not only grow to accept contact, but it will also actively pick up the bit in its mouth.

Impulsion
The primary exercise I use to develop forward and to start to introduce impulsion is the point-to-point exercise; I find it works brilliant with horses who are inclined to shorten and elevate rather than lengthen and move forward, as well as for those horses who would normally be classified as 'lazy'. This exercise was taught to me by Jonathan Field, who is a fantastic horseman. Another method of specifically developing a desire in the horse to move forward is to just move the horse out long and forward - drop contact and allow the horse to move forward in an extended trot (slight push with your legs, but [important!] do not nag the horse, or by posting higher in the trot) and/or gallop. You may also use jumps or hacking out to encourage forward. Giving a horse a job to do whereby he is naturally inclined to be forward can be greatly beneficial. Establish that forward thinking. To be clear, forward is different from impulsion, but one requires forward so as to develop impulsion. Forward is the horse moving out forward willingly and freely, in front of the rider's leg. The horse should stride out with momentum and energy. Impulsion requires the horse to THRUST from behind. To land with a bent hock and push forward with its haunches engaged as opposed to strung out behind him. A specific exercise that may be used to develop impulsion is one I learned from Mette Rosencrantz while watching her conduct a clinic last year: start out on a 20m circle, set up with 4 pairs of cones dispersed evenly along the circle. Start out by trotting half the circle and walking the other half the circle, sharpening the transitions, then progress the exercise to trotting through one set of cones (the horse has to go through the pairs of cones, no going around them!), and walking through the next, and so forth. Lastly, Rosencrantz had the riders trot the 20m circle, slowing through each second set of cones, then, once rider and horse had a good grasp of that, slowing through each set of cones. The horse was already forward-moving and the rider did not pull back to achieve downward transitions and a slowing in pace. They simply relaxed into their seat, tensed their abs, and closed their hands. When asking for an upwards transition or to increase the pace, they were asked not to use leg but to open their hands and to pick up their energy. The rider should not have to use leg because the horse should already be forward thinking. With the latter part of the exercise, the horse was asked to slow to a near-walk, without actually walking, then to pick up an upbeat trot. In such a way, the horse was naturally balanced onto its hindquarters and would gather and compress itself, without losing forward momentum. Once the exercise was completed successfully on the 20m circle, it was then completed on a 10m circle, which you will find much more difficult! The key in developing thrust from behind is developing strength in the haunches (ground poles, jumps, hills, trot work all especially target this) and transitions transitions transitions.

Straightness
Is achieved through achievement and development of the prior building blocks of the training scale and can also be further refined through exercises such as the shoulder-in. An instructor can provide one with additional exercises to work on that will further develop straightness in the horse and to be a person's eyes on the ground (particularly as you develop the feel for when your horse is straight versus crooked)!

Collection
The goal and ultimate result of achieving the first 5 components of the Dressage Training Scale. Once the prior components, and thus collection, is/are achieved, all that is left is to refine and further shape what you have, to continue along a continuum of increased collection.