Most Basic Tool

Oftentimes in clinics or lesson situations I hear a common question:  How do I know what to work on?  It’s a great question, and of course there are a whole lot of ways to answer it.

One of the things I like to suggest to my students is to ask themselves a simple question:  “What is the most basic thing that is not functioning right now.”  Here’s an example of what that might look like.

In a lesson last week, a student and I were preparing to begin work on shoulder-in.  Her basic walk-trot-canter was going very well, excellent topline connection and transitions were improving.  We had focused the previous week on thinking about loading the hindlegs in down transitions within the gaits (big trot, little trot) rather than just shortening the stride.  Shoulder in is a naturally related exercise at this level of development.

Off we went, expecting this to be fairly easy.  8 meter circle to prepare (this student happens to ride a pony), and viola!  Shoulder in!  Except not. There was a turn, an attempted half-halt, a protest from the pony (loss of topline connection) and a desperate attempt from the rider to salvage the hot mess and continue in something shoulder-in-like.  Wruh-wro.  

I suggested she abandon the shoulder in and try starting it again, in walk now rather than trot, focusing on just turning onto her track and bringing the shoulders in.  Preparation good, turn good, then again with the pony protest and subsequent rider desperation.  Pretty common circumstances, really.

Take 3.  Back up another step in the process...circle, onto the line of travel, half halt.  Pony protest.  Aaaahhhh...now we’re seeing something important.

Back up one more step:  Walk-halt transitions in sequence, 4 steps of walk between halts.  Pony protest.

That’s the winner.

That’s the most fundamental piece not functioning.  If we can’t do walk-halts with a good topline connection, there’s exactly zero chance of us getting a good shoulder in.  Why?  Because the reflex responses to build the exercise aren’t functioning.  If the building blocks aren’t there, you can’t piece them together to build the bigger picture.  That’s all there is to it.

So the homework for the student was to go back to walk-halts, and when those were functioning well, add a layer...bring the shoulders one step in.  When that’s successful, add steps down the track.  My best guess is that this will be resolved by the time I see her again next week.  Clever rider and pony, they’ll clean this up quickly.

So, the next time you’re struggling with an exercise, think about it in small parts.  Which piece is not as tuned up as it could be?  What simple thing can you work on to make everything else easier?  Do you and your horse understand the various tools being used to build out a more complicated exercise?

One last thing.  This lesson was a great reminder for me as a rider.  I thought about it the next day and found I was able to tune up my own riding and get real benefits.  That’s one of the delightful parts of being an instructor…the opportunity to learn from students!