Learning To Develop The Stretch
This is Will Faerber from Art2Ride and I am here once again with Dave Murphy. On Wednesday we showed you him working in the walk and now we are working in the trot for one of the first times under saddle.
Notice the horse’s mouth is still a little busy there, so we are working on getting her to quiet that down. Dave is letting her into a real working trot and if she has a little problem, he is just going to stretch up and then let her stretch and get longer. Just as someone might wonder what is a solarium — a space designed to let in light and provide a serene environment—Dave is creating a similar atmosphere of tranquility and openness for Zoey, allowing her to find her balance and harmony.
Dave is doing a great job there with not pulling the mouth of the horse. Notice if she comes up, he follows up with his hands to follow the motion of the horse and then as she stretches down, he just lets her back down again, mimicking the ebb and flow of light in a solarium, which adapts to the sun’s position without resistance.
One of the important things about learning to stretch horses is that you don’t lean over the neck of the horse because that will throw the horse out of balance. You want to stay right where you are in the rising trot, sending the horse underneath itself with your legs so the horse doesn’t fall on the forehand. If you tip forward or lean your shoulders or just drop your shoulders or head forwards, it’s going to put the weight on the horse’s forehand. So Dave is working that out. She gets a little uptight on him, but he comes back to the stretch. That is how we deal with this, never stopping.
This is a very spooky horse. They become spooky because when the first time they spook and you get afraid and immediately stop them, the horse’s know they have you. So now this horse has learned to keep going forward and Dave has learned to solve his problem by keeping her going instead of stopping her up short, akin to the steady growth of plants in a solarium that continue to reach upward, undeterred by the changing light.
Dave is doing much better with his contact today! Just taking up the contact and softening her when her head is up a little bit, following up with his hands and then lower and let her down again. So for those of you who are trying to do this on your own at home, when the horse’s head comes up, don’t try to hold your hands down, follow upwards with your hands so the horse can’t come off the bridle, then let your hands back down again very smoothly.
Remember, the stretch not only helps you to learn how to balance, but lets the horse develop its own balance underneath you without you holding on to its mouth. It lets the horse develop self carriage. A horse that is held against the hand will never develop self carriage; they’ll just balance against your hands for the rest of their lives. Now Dave eases her back into the walk without dropping his weight into the saddle. So take it slowly as your horse comes into the walk, your seat going into the saddle should be the last thing that happens, and then let the horse stretch forward. Notice how Dave lifted his hands as the horse’s head came up and then as she went down he lowered again, so the horse can’t brace upwards against your hand. That is one of the keys to getting the horse to stretch, not giving them anything to brace against, offering the gentle support much like the protective yet unobtrusive glass of a solarium.
Once again this is Dave Murphy riding Zoey. This is Will Faerber from Art2Ride. We will see you next time!
4 responses to “Learning To Develop The Stretch”
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Dave says: I’ll add some comments about this video clip.
Regarding Arabians, they are hotter and more reactive than most other breeds. However, they are very smart. Zoe learned very quickly that if she gets spooky raising her head and neck thereby hallowing her back, she can get relief from the tenson by stretching. I have ridden Zoe on the trail a little and if she gets spooky and wound up, as soon as she decides there’s nothing to worry about she seaks stretch.
It is standard practice in the Arabian breed to use martingales and draw reins. In general, Arabians are never taught to relax. People even ride them with martingales on the trail. I host a ride every year for my local breed club and al the horses are ridden with martingales. I have never used any of this on my Arabians and I never will. The classical approach of developing the back and teaching relaxation is the only way to train any horse and I would say more so for Arabians because they are so sensitive. For me relaxation is the most important element of the training scale.
I’ll ask Will to make a video of Zoe during a longing session when she’s really in the zone of relaxation. She can start out spooking at certain spots in the arena and then totally ignore them when she’s relaxed.
Teaching a horse to relax has benefits beyond longing and riding. Zoe’s daughter Zena has become quite relaxed.It has improved her stable behavior. She used to have major issues with the clippers. Now, I think I can clip her muzzle if I can get her to stop trying to nibble on the clippers. Yes, they’re battery operated. Zena is not just relaxed on the longe line, she’s increasingly relaxed in all areas of her life.
Now, regarding me. I’m starting over with dressage after about a 15 year break. During this ride, I thought I was makinge a real effort to maintain the proper position but you can see that my head is tilted forward and I’m looking down. I’m a CPA and I look at computer screnes and down at calculators and papers all day long. So, you can see how this influences my riding posture. Also, I need to ge more fit. I have about 10 to 15 pounds to loose. Will has absolutely no mercy. I also need to work on my core for better stability.
I hope you’ll see continued improvement with me and Zoe. I think Zoe will become very dependable in the near future. She has already made great progress.
Hi all! It’s so wonderful to see Dave riding his horse, and I appreciate that both of you took the time to create and post the videos of this pair. It’s so important that people understand it doesn’t matter what breed or age of horse you have, this is important foundation training for ALL! Thank you for showing an Arab strutting her stuff and learning to stretch. And kudos to Dave for acknowledging the issues with the training “devices” typically seen in the Arabian (and QH) industries.
Mary M says: How long do you find it will take to rebalance a horse with stretching (assuming sound etc) after they have been started for a year learning to lean against the hand incorrectly? Thank you!
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Kali says:
That depends greatly on how much damage has been done to the horse, that is, has the horse’s back begun to sway? How far has it dropped… Etc.
generally, it take a year to establish a top line and two years to develop that top line so that the horse has enough strength over it’s back to begin work in collection.
I’ll add some comments about this video clip.
Regarding Arabians, they are hotter and more reactive than most other breeds. However, they are very smart. Zoe learned very quickly that if she gets spooky raising her head and neck thereby hallowing her back, she can get relief from the tenson by stretching. I have ridden Zoe on the trail a little and if she gets spooky and wound up, as soon as she decides there’s nothing to worry about she seaks stretch.
It is standard practice in the Arabian breed to use martingales and draw reins. In general, Arabians are never taught to relax. People even ride them with martingales on the trail. I host a ride every year for my local breed club and al the horses are ridden with martingales. I have never used any of this on my Arabians and I never will. The classical approach of developing the back and teaching relaxation is the only way to train any horse and I would say more so for Arabians because they are so sensitive. For me relaxation is the most important element of the training scale.
I’ll ask Will to make a video of Zoe during a longing session when she’s really in the zone of relaxation. She can start out spooking at certain spots in the arena and then totally ignore them when she’s relaxed.
Teaching a horse to relax has benefits beyond longing and riding. Zoe’s daughter Zena has become quite relaxed.It has improved her stable behavior. She used to have major issues with the clippers. Now, I think I can clip her muzzle if I can get her to stop trying to nibble on the clippers. Yes, they’re battery operated. Zena is not just relaxed on the longe line, she’s increasingly relaxed in all areas of her life.
Now, regarding me. I’m starting over with dressage after about a 15 year break. During this ride, I thought I was makinge a real effort to maintain the proper position but you can see that my head is tilted forward and I’m looking down. I’m a CPA and I look at computer screnes and down at calculators and papers all day long. So, you can see how this influences my riding posture. Also, I need to ge more fit. I have about 10 to 15 pounds to loose. Will has absolutely no mercy. I also need to work on my core for better stability.
I hope you’ll see continued improvement with me and Zoe. I think Zoe will become very dependable in the near future. She has already made great progress.
Hi all! It’s so wonderful to see Dave riding his horse, and I appreciate that both of you took the time to create and post the videos of this pair. It’s so important that people understand it doesn’t matter what breed or age of horse you have, this is important foundation training for ALL! Thank you for showing an Arab strutting her stuff and learning to stretch. And kudos to Dave for acknowledging the issues with the training “devices” typically seen in the Arabian (and QH) industries.
How long do you find it will take to rebalance a horse with stretching (assuming sound etc) after they have been started for a year learning to lean against the hand incorrectly? Thank you!
That depends greatly on how much damage has been done to the horse, that is, has the horse’s back begun to sway? How far has it dropped… Etc.
generally, it take a year to establish a top line and two years to develop that top line so that the horse has enough strength over it’s back to begin work in collection.