We’ve improved our feel and timing by communicating with contact yields on long-lines and our light yields in the Pinch Test, plus we have advanced our confidence, emotional fitness and independent seat by riding bareback and beginning impulsion programmes. We then took all this to new heights (and speeds) by beginning galloping, jumping and flying lead changes. It has been an interesting and full journey so far through Level 2.
We have now reached the point in the programme where we will take all that we have done to date and begin to refine it, to lessen our cues and phases, offer and receive more lightness and subtleness and to have a closer and more accurate interaction between our horse and us.
As we discussed in Level 1, contact riding is about shortening up our reins and having a more direct and close contact between the two of us. In Level 1 we did this when riding backwards in the re-bounds and in riding sideways. Now in Level 2 we will take this one step further and begin to add in soft feel. We will discuss Soft Feel at length in the coming articles, for now understand that basically it is a soft, light communication between horse and human via the human's seat, through his arms to his hands, down the reins and to the horse’s mouth via the bit. It is your horse wanting and willingly listening for and taking your requests lightly.
Being in such close contact with very short reins, is obviously a claustrophobic position for your horse to be in, in fact it is a form of flight test. Many horses if not properly prepared, will have a great deal of trouble with this kind of confinement and become extremely stressed. By asking for this type of confined position, we are asking our horse to become short from nose to tail, engaging his whole body. In effect this empowers him as it engages his hindquarter. This is the point at which time we must be sure our horse is prepared mentally, emotionally and physically in order to engage in a positive manner. If not, we are simply empowering a scared, confused prey animal that is stronger, faster, quicker and more keyed in for survival than we are.
To date we have spent much time and effort in teaching our horses to yield from pressure and this, in part, is why at this level we will do very little forward movement with soft feel. Combine this with the fact that horses will more naturally put themselves into soft feel when going backwards and sideways, as it is easier for them to move in these directions when using their hindquarters. Your horse will naturally be more willing and feel less troubled with this new challenge when going in these directions than when going forward. So, we will leave forward into pressure for Level 3, when our horse better understands the yield and is more confident offering it to us.
So, be sure you help your horse out with this new area of savvy, by working on your independent seat and emotional fitness and look forward to an even closer relationship with your horse.
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.