Lateral Work for a Hot, Tense Horse
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2024
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#dressage #lateralwork #horsetraining
Does your horse ever get hot and tense, and you just can’t seem to calm them down? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Riding a tense horse can be tricky - but remember - all that extra energy really is a great thing - you've just got to learn to channel it into something productive!
The first Grand Prix horse I trained, Trump, was a crazy half-thoroughbred. He was so tense and tricky when he was young, and my trainer at the time, Sue, would always say to me, "One day, when you are doing the Grand Prix, you will appreciate all that energy!" She was right!
When your horse gets hot and tense and wants to rush, the worst thing you can do is pull back on the reins, take your legs off, and try to force them to calm down. The best thing to do when your horse gets tense is to breathe, stay calm, and envelope them with your aids.
If I have a hot tense horse, I go straight to riding circles and bending lines, lateral movements, and focus on a steady tempo and contact to help my horse accept my aids in a way that will help him calm down. With a hot tense horse, you want to allow them to move forward and let some of their energy out, but don't let them run wild crazy either. Focus on maintaining a steady tempo and make the work almost a little boring!
Here are some exercises I use on a hot/tense horse:
- 10-meter circles
- Serpentines
- Leg-yield
- Turn on the Forehand
- Shoulder-in
- Haunches-in
When riding these exercises, focus on riding from your seat and finding moments when you can give the reins. Check out the video where I demonstrate all of this with Mercurio who can get hot and jiggy when he gets excited, and let me know in the comments below if these tips help you and your horse!
Happy Riding!
Amelia
00:00 Introduction
00:17 Lateral work for relaxation
03:28 Finding relaxation in the walk
06:46 Finding what work for your horse
09:24 Outro/End of video - บันเทิง
Check out my free Patterns and Figures PDF: amelianewcombdressage.com/lead-gen-patterns-figures-o/
Thank You Amelia!!!
On occasion, my PRE likes to get himself wound up and thinks it’s all go. I do multiple 15 metre circles at trot or walk down the long sides until he realizes that every time he wants to speed off or be silly he has to circle. Because he anticipates like crazy he figures it out fairly quickly. The repetition of the circles is almost meditative for him and calms him down. I also alternate with lateral work, but have found the circle strategy really works the most consistently.
I find that a productive, relaxed canter session is super helpful for those hotter/anxious horses as well. Working especially with hotter breeds like thoroughbreds, etc. it is such a benefit to work their brain versus "lunging it out of them," which creates a more fit/more anxious horse without resolving the main concern. I find it interesting that when they do accept the leg, they end up enjoying the "push" and support of my leg!
My mare is the same way - hot, but relaxes more in canter. So when she's hot, I do a lot of canter work (circles, simple changes, etc) and wait until she relaxes. As soon as she settles and submits to the aids, I reward her by walking on a loose rein and usually if I've done it right she walks calmly and is super chill. Then when I pick her up and go back to work, that's when I do the hard stuff. Then when it's good, back to walk and reward so that she learns that submission and relaxation get rewarded and if she's hot and resistant she just has to keep working.
My mare leans on the left rein and my trainer always reminds me that when she leans on it I have to relax it and take away her lean, take away what she’s leaning on, if that makes sense. She also can get hot. Retired jumper so she’s all business til she gets the signal that the show’s over. I do some leg yields and circles and also go over some poles. I’ll trot one, walk the second, etc to keep her listening. She anticipates and gets anxious to please so it’s important to keep on her with what I DO want so she doesn’t jig at the walk or think about cantering without permission. 😂
I’ve had her almost a year and we’ve both made great progress, I’m so thrilled. I like what you said about doing boring stuff. When I first got her, some days we just walked (BORING!!) but it helped reprogram her from “gallop over stuff fast” to “maybe there’s other jobs to do.” I’m going to remember the tips from this video when I ride tomorrow if she’s a bit hot.
Yes! I think this will help a lot - let me know how it goes!
@@AmeliaNewcombDressage She was peppy but relaxed on Sunday, so no "boring" exercises needed. She had impulsion and energy, but came back from the canter to a relaxed beautiful walk (hard for her, once she canters, she doesn't want to walk). Today was a lesson, and she had more pep than I'd have liked, but it was a learning moment of course, as she tried to canter over a pole we were supposed to trot, and then turn in the opposite direction we were supposed to go. 🤦♀🤷♀🙄😵💫🦄🦄🦄
I stayed upright though and that's what counts!
In all seriousness, she's very safe and takes good care of me, but I did have to hold my own as she broke into a canter and tried to turn right when the instructions was to trot the pole, turn left, and either pick up the canter from the trot or come back to a walk first. No choice for me. Oh well.
LOVE your videos and stuff! 💞💞💞💞
You're so right about keeping them busy with boring stuff, I often do weaving in and out of cones as a way to help release energy
That's a great way to get them focused!
Thanks Amelia. Lateral work always helps to warm up your reactive horse, especially if you haven't been undersaddle for a couple of days because of the weather.
Ok, I see this with my Arab. She's 11 so Is set in her ways but she also is wanting to please me. Can you suggest more ideas here as well? Mares have a tendency to do the ol " oh ya, well I'll show you" tude when they don't want to listen. I'm pretty much training her as green.
This was great. Thank you!
Thank you for this video. This is exactly what I’m working on with my horse now.
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent !!!
Thank you
Thank you so much !
Awesome advice as always. Btw, I love that top - I would think it would be a super visual for a student to wear in a lesson for a trainer to see imbalance or asymmetry in the rider's upper body.
Yes! I sell them in my store: dressagebyamelia.com
Very helpful, thank you. ❤
You're so welcome!
That is true.
if the horses i ride are tense there is no way i can do canter cause then it'd definitely turn into a gallop against my will! many boring shapes may work though
Ok, I just watched very closely when you told him to move over and I did not see your legs move at all. Your reins stayed firm until the reward. How do you get that move over in the first place?
With the leg aid!
Hi Amelia , where can i find a shirt/ jacket like you are wearing ? love the stripes for visiual. gina
I sell them on my store! dressagebyamelia.com
Here's my issue though any time I try to do lateral work Call my temporary all he wants to do to lateral work after. He becomes overly sensitive
Be sure to break it up with going forward!
This is the video I’ve been looking for! Though I do have a specific question. I’ve been having problems riding the simple change on a straight line. My horse is very hot and sensitive and when we come down to a walk from the canter, unless we trot him or have him walk on the long rein immediately, he would tense up in the medium walk and sort of drift his hind to the outside. Is there a training method to help him be relaxed in the few steps of walk during the simple change to keep him straight?
Great Question! So it's important to remember that Relaxation is part of suppleness on the training scale, which is a few steps before straightness on the training scale. So we have to solve the relaxation/lack of suppleness first before we can have our horse straight (in any work!). Adding a 10m walk circle as soon as you transition from canter to trot can help with the lateral bend and help the walk be more supple/relaxed over the topline. Then once they can do that reliably, you make it less and less lateral bend, so from the 10m circle you go into a leg-yield in the walk, then shoulder in, then a little shoulder fore. Until eventually they can be straighter with the suppleness still in their body.
Even if it just came out of the box?
👍
Please anyone watching- if you’re interested in having the Pixio system, reply with a comment. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to use mine, so it’s been unused for a long time. I’d love to sell it for a super affordable price to someone who will use it for Dressage ❤️ hoping Amelia doesn’t mind my comment… I genuinely just want it to go to one of her students 😌