Level 2/3 Stage 9
Finesse
Riding with a String
The Soft Feel
Baking through an L
Turn on the haunches
Finesse: elegance, refinement, polish, style
Being able to ride with Finesse completes the Four Savvys. This means you can ride with short reins, vertical flexion, accuracy and the soft feel.. with your horse mentally, emotionally and physically collected. In Level 3 we begin to explore this Savvy but its not until Level 4 that it is explored in full.
There are quite some preparations required before asking a horse to respond to you with finesse. Your feel, balance, independent seat, focus, communication ability and the horse’s respect and impulsion need to be firmly in place. If not, then you fall into the trap that most riders all over the world are in. The horse is faced to assume a collected frame in spite of the rider’s inadequacies and the horse’s lack of preparation. This is why people turn to the use of tie downs, martingales, rogues and harsh bits, to overpower the resistance, force a head set and make up for bad hands and not enough knowledge. They either don’t have enough patience to develop the horse mentally and emotionally first, or they don’t know how.
In studying natural horsemanship we are committed to developing the horse through psychology, communication and understanding as opposed to force, fear and intimidation. In order for our horses to reach their full potential we need to be capable of eliciting it. This is why we are studying to become Horsemen, in every sense of the word…so we can be good enough for the horse.
Collection
Collection is the sum total of respect, impulsion and flexion properly combined:
Respect = mental collection
Impulsion = emotional collection
Flexion = physical collection
Refinement mean trading a long flex for a short flex
As you get more and more refined in your communications, your leg and rein aids don’t need to be so exaggerated any more. Our philosophy on teaching both horse and rider can be summed up in this way:
“exaggerate to teach, refine as you go along”
It’s easier to learn this way and is much clearer for both you and the horse, it’s black and white.
Self Discipline
If you can have enough discipline to priorly and properly prepare your horse by following each Level in this program, by the time you complete Level 4 you’ll have the skills, the understanding that it takes to develop a horse to quite a high level. You’ll have savvy. And then you can go on and apply it to any sport or discipline you are interested in… and bring other horses through the whole program in probably a third of the time, because you’re not learning anymore. You can teach a horse what you know, you’ll have something to offer him.
Respect and warm up phase
- Ground Skills or Liberty
- Impulsion Checks
- FreeStyle riding
Teaching Phase
- Riding with a string
- Vertical Flexion and the Soft Feel
- Backing through an “L”
- Turn on the haunches
(Note: you may combine some of these in the one teaching phase however be sure that the time you spend on it is well broken up with periods of FreeStyle so the horse doesn’t get frustrated).
Summary
Being able to ride with Finesse completes the Four Savvys for Level 2/3.
It introduces short reins, vertical flexion, accuracy…and the soft feel.
Prerequisites are high (if you want to do this well). Your feel, balance, independent seat, focus, communication and the horse’s respect and impulsion need to be firmly in place. If not, you fall into the trap most riders are in: using artificial aids to make up for their bad hands and not enough knowledge.
This is about developing the horse through psychology, communication and understanding.
Collection is the sum total of respect, impulsion and flexion properly combined: mental, emotional and physical collection.
Exaggerate to teach, refine as you go along.
Now it’s time to trade a long flex for a short flex.
The discipline lies in taking the time it takes to properly prepare both you and your horse. Level 4 should be your goal.
After this, developing another horse won’t take you nearly as long and you’ll have more to offer him.
Respect and warm up phases must include impulsion checks and a lot of FreeStyle riding.
If you do more than one of these teaching phases in one session, break the up with FreeStyle in between so your horse doesn’t get frustrated.
1. Riding with a String
Before you can ask a horse to accept total contact in his mouth, you should be able to ride close with a String around his neck. its a good test of positive reflexes, of respect and impulsion. The horse also feels less criticised because any mistakes or imbalance on your part is felt on his neck and not in his mouth.
This Task is test of your ability to harmonise with your horse without a bit in his mouth, yet in a very concentrated form.
Techniques & Success Tips
- Prior and Proper preparation! If you haven’t done this before, leave your bridle on and pretend it isn’t there. You might also want to start in a small corral instead of a big open field! Learn to work up to the Task little by little.
- Chunk for success, which means break the Task into little achievable chunks! As you successfully accomplish each chunk, make it a bigger one…raise the degree of difficulty.
- Loop the Horseman’s String around the base of your horse’s neck and use the String ends exactly as if they were reins.
- Teach your horse yield softly from pressure on his neck. Loop the Horseman’s String around his neck so you can hold it with two hands.
- Before teaching this, you should be well prepared on the ground by making sure your horse yields away from the Progress String, drop the String as a reward. This will help him get lighter and lighter.
To back up
0. at ease
1. lift string ends
2. slide one hand down both ends of the String causing them to come together
3. separate into two hands, hold String in the “crook” of your thumbs, no pressure
4,5,6,7. individually close each finger from index to pinky
8. hunker down with your back (soften you belly and round your back – don’t hollow it or lean back)
9. bring you elbows steadily back to your sides, focus and ride “backwards” with your belly button.
Although this is being used specifically for your back up, it is the way you will end up doing all your downward transitions when you are riding with Finesse. But instead of starting at step 0 or 1, you’ll already be at step 7 because this is where vertical flexion occurs (see 2. Soft Feel & Vertical Flexion for more information). You’ll be starting to develop what is known as a “seat connection”. More on this in Level 4.
- Focus up and a long way ahead. This will help you keep your back straight… and you should be increasingly particular about straightness as you get better at riding with a String.
- Ride as if you have a bit but never forget you haven’t. In other words, don’t change a thing… ride as you naturally would, it would not be unusual to be tense about riding your horse for the first time without a bridle or halter on his head, so if you are a bit apprehensive your horse will notice the change in you, If you can chunk for success and get to where you don’t behave any differently than when you do have something on his head, your horse will respond as if nothing has changed!
- Going backwards with the String around your horse’s neck before you do anything else is like checking your lateral flexion before moving your horse forward. if you can’t go backwards, don’t go forwards!
- If your horse does not yield form the pressure of the String, get back on the ground and make sure his Game No. 2 (Porcupine) is excellent. If it take more than phase 1 or 2 at most then it’s not going to be any better when you are on his back and it will be even worse the faster you go. Preparation is important here.
- Apart from the fact that you have a String around your horse’s neck, this Task develops your focus and communication without a bridle. Your reins become less and less important and your body communication means everything. Ride with you whole body focused.
Disengage the hindquarters
- Use your indirect rein exactly the same as if you had reins
– your finger should be curled in a fist
– lift the rein towards your belly button (you can’t get all the way there because you have short reins. This is a a short flex, a refined version of the indirect rein you learned in Level 1).
– your finger nails should be turned upward, little finger in line with your belly button.
– your focus should be over your horse’s tail so your pelvis tips naturally
– your inside leg should be pushing the back section of zone 3 to help the hindquarters to disengage
– your outside hand and leg are doing nothing
Ride forward, circle to the right and left
- Ride exactly as if you have a bridle on! Your legs do what your hands do… open you inside leg and hand, close your outside leg and hand. Create a corridor with you body that guides your horse in a circle.
- Teach your horse to go where your belly button goes: focus strongly on the direction with your eyes and your belly button and allow your body to guide your horse along the track of your focus.
- Use a direct rein to guide the front end of your horse, with exactly the same technique as if you had reins attached zone 1
– your fingers should open out straight, palm down, rein held in the crook of your thumb
– your focus should be 4 o’clock high depending on if you are going right or left
– belly button should be focused where your eyes are
– your inside leg should be open and your outside leg closed
- Stop and back up
- Build your sessions to where you can walk and trot and be able to guide your horse left and right and be able to come down to a graceful and straight back up for both these gaits.
Pitfalls
- incorrect hand positions for direct and indirect reins, turning the hands upside down, leaning into the turn, direct rein lower than outside rein.
Summary
Riding with a String around your horse’s neck is a good test of positive reflexes, respect and impulsion.
It’s a concentrated task involving finesse.
Leave the bridle on but pretend it isn’t there. You might even start in a small corral.
Loop the sting around the base of your horse’s neck, use the ends like reins.
Before trying this, make sure your horse backs nicely in the Porcupine Games in this zone.
Now do the same with the String both on the ground and on his back. Release the instant your horse responds.
To back up, use the 9 step back up exactly the same way, closing finger by finger, etc.
Although this is for the back up, its the way you will end up doing all your downward transition when riding with Finesse. You’ll just be at step 7 all the time and need only to go to 8 and 9.
Focus a long way, keep you back straight.
Ride as if you have the bit but never forget you haven’t. In other words, don’t change a thing.
Being able to back up is like checking your lateral flexion before moving forward. If you can’t go backwards, don’t go forwards.
Through this task, you reins become less important. Body communication means everything.
To disengage the hindquarter, use your String exactly as thought it is a rein. Fingernails up, bring it in the direction of your belly button, in a short flex because your “reins” are short.
Ride forward, circle right and left:
Use a direct rein to guide the front end of your horse. Lift your leading rein, turn your belly button, close your outside leg, open your inside.
Your palm should be down, little finger outmost with the direct rein.
Hand positions being in correct, leading rein lower the the outside rein being the most common problem we observe.
2. Vertical Flexion & The soft Feel
- What is vertical flexion?
- What is a soft feel?
- ground preparations
- obtaining the soft feel
Riding close to your horse in a concentrated form, with contact and collection, is one of the hardest things to do well. It means you have to have an independent seat, a lot of feel for your horse’s mouth, you already can do a lot of things with your horse and now you are going to refine the techniques. Most importantly you no longer have to use the bit as a set of brakes so you can use it to communicate…with finesse.
For many people, collection means a “head set” or that the horse is “on the bit”. The problem with this perception is that it puts emphasis on getting the horse’s head in and down by using the bit, when in fact collection, roundness and a soft feel through the reins to the horse’s mouth are achieved through, respect, impulsion and flexion properly combined.
Vertical Flexion
Vertical Flexion is something many people aspire to with a horse. It is submissive head position used for communication and the engagement of the hindquarters. The neck is arched, the head on a vertical position perpendicular to the ground.
Unfortunately, it is also something that people want now whether they have the horse’s respect and impulsion or not! To this end, all kinds of tie down, martingales, over checks, under check, rogues, champions and other fancy longing devices and bits have been designed to MAKE the horse vertically flex his neck. Not only is this a false or unnatural means to an end, but it actually can cause a lot of problems. here’s why:
- When horse is vertically flexed his hindquarters are engaged. They become very powerful. If a horse is forced into vertical flexion and this power is applied without respect and impulsion, a horse will use his power for negative and disrespectful behaviour. Vertical flexion actually helps the horse to buck, to rear, to take off, to strike…it actually adds power to the bad behaviour.
- Without respect or impulsion the vertical flexion becomes nothing more than a head set. The horse will often find a way to avoid the physical constraints and begin to use opposing muscles to gain relief. Looking at the horse’s musculature will indicate this the underside of his neck will be strong, and his top line weak.
A horse that give vertical flexion because he has respect and impulsion for his rider will give it with a soft feel, no resistance, no pushing on the bit, and will use his top line muscles to become round, and the power in his hindquarters to be used positively for his halts, slide stops, collection and beauty of paces.
I believe that horses would only be ridden no more than 20% of the time with short, concentrated reins. Looking at it from the horse’s point of view, this is a bit like ballroom dancing… there’s only so long you can dance close before you need a little freedom again. Be mindful of how much concentration and energy it takes for you horse to assume this position. Don’t exhaust him or over do it. If you don’t recognise this you’ll develop resistance, evasiveness through claustrophobia or a dullness that will be increasingly hard to correct.
Respect, Impulsion, Flexion
Vertical flexion with a Soft Feel is a sign of an advanced horse. It is developed over a period of time and through an understanding that respect give you impulsion… and that respect and impulsion give you flexion.
This simple formula will mean more and more to you as you progress. It’ll encourage you to learn more about getting true respect and true impulsion. It’ll also help you to understand that if you are having trouble in your flexion system, to trek backwards through the formula and fix it at the impulsion or respect levels. The more you understand this, the more you will realise why artificial aids are not the answer for a Horseman.
In Level 2/3 the main study is impulsion. Once we have impulsion then we can start to explore flexion. That is why the soft feel and vertical flexion are not introduce until the end of the program: at Stage 9.
We will teach the horse to give with the hackamore, and we will teach the soft feel with the snaffle bit. But understand now that a soft feel can even apply to how your horse responds at the end of the lead rope. A soft feel in the bit is nearly an extension of this.
The soft feel
This is a feel you obtain through the reins from your horse. A horse that is full of opposition reflex, fear and claustrophobia will give you a horse or dead feel. Another reason for a dead feel is hard and insensitive hands. I’ll never forget being on a branding and going to get one of the cowboy’s horses that had come untied and started to wander. He was wearing a shank bit and when I took a hold of the reins that horse just pushed woodenly against the bit as thought he couldn’t feel a thing. It was a shock to my system to feel how abused that mouth must have been over the years for him to put that much pressure against my hand and to be totally insensitive to following the feel.
I don’t think most people know how good a horse can feel in your hands when you have taken the time to teach him how to yield to pressure and to have respect and impulsion before gathering up the reins. But once you do feel it, you’ll strive to have every horse you ever touch feel that good to you.
How to teach a soft feel
There are a few important ingredients:
- hands that close slowly and open quickly
- hands that are as dependable as fence posts, that are steady and firm
- releasing at the right time, when it feels good to you
Hands that close slowly and open quickly
If your tendency is to grab quickly and hold on, you are going to have to completely reprogram yourself! These are good predator techniques but when it comes to handling prey animals, you need to be able to do the opposite.
You’ll learn to close your hand one finger at a time until it becomes a firm first. And when your hors gives to that pressure, to release instantly. Sometimes as you are closing each finger, you’ll need to suddenly release to reward a give from your horse.
Get into the habit now of closing your fingers like a fan, starting with the index finger and finishing with you little finger.
Be as dependable as a fence post
If you hands move when you walk, jiggle or jerk when you ride, your horse will brace himself and get dull the feel. It will desensitise him. What you need to do is develop an”independent seat” both on the ground and on the horse’s back. This means that whatever your body is doing does not affect your hands.
Also, once you have closed your fingers say for bending your horse or in holding a concentrated reins, they are immovable. if your horse can nudge and move your hands he’ll start to do it more and more and with greater and greater disrespect.
You need to have steel hands in velvet gloves. This means that you handle the reins with grace, but once your fist is closed, its like a rock. This will teach your horse that he has to give to the pressure in order to gain comfort. It won’t take long before you feel absolutely no resistance to your hands and your horse adjusts his head and neck, even his whole posture to give the soft feel.
