Learn the benefits of training your horse 'long & low' in canter.

The Old Masters used to say; ‘Train in a walk, establish in a trot, test in the canter’. In this lesson Jenku encourages Herman to stretch his frame and work 'long and low'. Herman has already learned to target a plastic cone on the ground in the previous seasons. Now that he has that figured out, Jenku shows us how to use our body language to train your horse to relax and lower his head.

Once Herman is consistently walking with his head lowered, Jenku ups the criteria and asks him to trot. Herman lifts his head, but because he doesn’t get rewarded for this, he quickly realises that the treats only come when his head is lowered. You can now start spacing your rewards and instead of rewarding him every time he lowers his head, you can reward when he has lowered his head twice in a row. This is how you’ll train your horse to stay down for longer periods of time. But what’s the point? Muscles work in pairs, so the abdominal muscles can only work properly and get the hind legs swinging when the back is relaxed. The back muscles are only able to relax when the horse has his head lowered.

A fascinating insight into 'collection' you won't ever have seen before!

There’s nothing in conventional training that gives you the tools to teach your horse how to come into 'vertical flexion' without gadgets and gizmos. If your horse is food motivated, you can redirect his energy into something useful for dressage and train a cue for vertical flexion. This is also a great exercise for rainy days, as you can train this in the stable. A horse’s neck acts as a balancing pole. If you can train the neck to go into different positions, then you can influence his body and shift his weight around.

In this lesson Jenku initially lures Herman into the correct position using food. Jenku clicks and rewards when Herman flexes at his poll. As Herman gets more familiar with this shape, Jenku only needs a hand signal to cue vertical flexion, and it doesn’t take Herman long to figure out what he needs to do. The next phase of the exercise is to help Herman tuck his pelvis under so that his abdominals contract. He looks like a ‘sheep on a shoebox’, and helps him redistribute his weight for optimal movement. Add vertical flexion to this and - without reins or other aids - you’re able to condition your horse’s body and get him fit and ready for collected work.

Learn how to set up transitions and shift your horse's weight to the hind.

This exercise is not for beginners, but rather for those who have watched and learned from the previous lessons and already have built some 'buttons' into their horses. The aids for the direct canter are clear. Herman needs to rein back one deliberate footstep at a time. When his weight has shifted towards his hind quarters, Jenku raises his hand so that he lifts his poll, the whip is at Herman’s inside shoulder and with one cluck, he strikes off in canter.

This can’t be done if Herman is heavy on the forehand or slow to respond to the canter cue. Jenku clicks and rewards him as soon as he strikes off. If he makes a mistake – such as striking off disunited, Jenku provides feedback and Herman tries again. This mindset is focussed on success and incremental gains. It assumes you will try, fail, try, improve. Repeat. While food is the most obvious reward, when your horse is working and lactic acid is building up in his muscles, by inviting him in to rest, you’re also rewarding him. He’ll soon realise that being with you, is a good place to be and that training is rewarding rather than punishing.

Understand your horse's biomechanics and everything suddenly makes sense.

Horses 'think in pictures', so if you’ve watched the previous lessons you will have learned that pointing down means 'long and low', your arm extended away from you means move forward or extend your neck while your finger pointing skywards means, poll up. It’s important to remember, however, that true flexion doesn’t happen by holding your horse in a false frame in front.

In this lesson Jenku really explains the horse biomechanics so that finally we understand what is meant by ‘riding the horse from ‘back to front’. He demonstrates how it is the result of the hind legs swinging forward and under to where the rider would be sitting. Then the abdominals kick in and the horse is able to lift his back, his withers rise, the base of the neck comes up, the poll lifts and his head falls into place naturally at the end of his neck. Finally it all makes sense when Jenku explains it! Don’t worry if you get stuck. Slow down, go back a stage and start again. The set up is really important and you need to make sure your horse is supple through his body with a good lateral bend. Practising a little every day is the key to improvement.