Using Transitions To Improve Horse’s Impulsion

January 18, 2008

The clinicians at Equine Affaire really can make or break the experience. People who are excellent riders, even good trainers, aren’t always the best teachers — at least in a public setting. The first year my mom and I went to Equine Affaire in Columbus, OH, the hunter/jumper clinics were taught by R. Scott Evans and Shelby French (I highly recommend their American System of Forward Riding DVD and workbook). They were some of the best teachers I’ve seen; they were incredibly knowledgeable, down to earth, funny, and explained themselves, their exercises, and what was happening with certain riders very well. This year we had the priviledge of seeing Nona Garson, one of our nation’s top jumper riders and former Olympian. She knew her stuff, but she wasn’t as good at interacting with the audience and keeping us informed. The first year, the guy doing dressage was awful. He knew his stuff, but he spoke in montone, never addressed the audience, and seemed bored. This year the dressage clinics were taught by Pam Goodrich, and she was amazing. She was quite hilarious, and her teaching methods were incredibly effective for both the riders and the audience.

Pam spent a good deal of the clinic working with two riders on creating better impulsion; getting their horses to reach under with their hind legs, use their hind end, and round through their back. And it was a pretty simple exercise.

She started out by having one rider doing walk-trot-walk transitions. Ask the horse for trot, and as soon as he was in a solid trot, immediately ask for walk. As soon as he was walking, immediately ask for trot, and then back to walk as soon as he was in a nice trot. The result is only a few strides at each gait between transitions. It’s important to do most of the work from your seat, driving forward and asking for slow, and to keep the horse collected and in hand throughout the exercise.

The other rider was on a 20-meter circle doing canter-walk-canter transitions. Same thing. Ask for the canter, and as soon as the horse takes a few strides of good canter, ask for walk. Once the horse is walking calmly, ask for canter. Again, the result is just a few strides at each gait between transitions. Again, driving and slowing from the seat and keeping the horse collected.

After doing the transitions repeatedly (I mean a good 8 or 9 times at least), let your horse trot or canter and you will feel a big difference in their movement. If you feel your horse starting to lose the impulsion, go back to the walk-trot-walk or walk-canter-walk transitions.

The exercise is incredibly effective because the transitions cause the horse to reach under with her back legs and round through her back and neck. It encourages the correct impulsion naturally.

I came home from Equine Affaire and tested this on Marahute, and was amazed at how quickly it made a difference, and how different–and better!–her movement was.

I would only recommend this exercise for a horse and rider team who already has solid transitions from walk to canter and back again, whose canter is collected and balanced, and who knows how to move from the seat. If you fit these qualifications, you really should try this simple exercise. You’ll feel a dramatic difference!

*If you have any exercises you like to use for creating impulsion, feel free to share them in the comments!

Posted in Riding and showing, Training