58/ MARCH/APRIL 2011 THE RIDER Going in Circles to Change Direction By Faith Meredith


Director of Riding, Mered- ith Manor International Equestrian Centre


WAVERLY, WV—The circle is the basic school figure both horses and rid- ers must master if they want to compete at the upper levels. Circle work at the walk, trot and canter helps horses develop the muscles that enable them to track correctly on any line, straight or curved. It chal- lenges riders to coordinate their aids and communicate clearly with their horses.


The importance of circle work to sports like reining and dressage is obvious but do not forget that riders execute a quarter of a circle every time they come to the corner of an arena. In fact, new maneu- vers are typically taught as the horse is moving through or coming out of an arena corner before rid- ers attempt them on a cir- cle.


For example, riders first start making simple changes of direction at the walk and trot by leaving a corner and starting across an arena’s diagonal. The rider leaves the corner with the inside rein softly posi- tioning the horse’s head to the inside of the bend, the outside rein defining the size of the circle, slightly more weight on her inside seat bone, her driving inside leg at the girth and a keeping or holding outside


leg a little behind the girth. As the rider approaches the center of the arena she begins to pre- pare the horse for the new direction of travel by riding the horse for a few strides with even pressure in both reins, on both seat bones, and with both legs at the girth. If the horse resists or slows down or come above the bit or speeds up, the rider must be ready to apply the appropriate aids to correct the horse’s response. As she approach- es the corner diagonally opposite the one where she started, she repositions the horse’s head slightly to the inside of what will be the new directional bend and adjusts her new inside and outside seat and leg aids. As horse and rider progress to riding full cir- cles with the correct bend, changing direction through the circle becomes a good


test of the rider’s ability to coordinate the aids. The rider must adjust her aids to increase the bend slight- ly in order to come off of the circle track and begin moving toward the center of the circle. The leg which has been her outside “keep- ing” leg now comes up alongside the girth and becomes the new inside driving leg. As the horse moves through the center of the circle, the rider uses the new inside leg to move the horse into the new out- side rein and smoothly readjusts her rein and seat aids to ask the horse for a bend in the opposite direc- tion. As the horse moves back out to the circle track, the rider must adjust her leg aid pressures as the horse reaches to track to prevent him from drifting outside of it. As the change of direction occurs, horses tend to lose forward motion, go above the bit or become crooked. Changing direction through the circle is a more advanced exer- cise that riders should not attempt until they can change direction across the arena diagonal correctly. Direction changes at the canter require changing leads. Again, we use diago- nally linked circles in arena corners to teach green hors- es or riders how to change direction on a straightaway before they attempt it on a full circle.


Simple changes of lead are taught first from the trot. The rider leaves the corner in a canter and starts across the diagonal. As he approaches the mid- dle of the arena, he asks the horse for a downward tran- sition from the canter to a few strides of trot. Then he asks the horse to pick up the canter again on the new lead. To do this, again, requires a change from the circle aids already described to equal rein,


seat and leg pressures. As the rider approaches the center, he uses a half halt to ask the horse to trot by momentarily increasing weight on both seat bones. I tell my students to “think trot” in their seat, increas- ing and holding pressure with both legs and holding with both reins. As the horse picks up trot, the rider prepares for the new lead in the new direction by slightly positioning the horse’s head in the new direction, increasing weight on the new inside seat bone, keeping the new inside leg at the girth, slid- ing the new outside leg a little behind the girth, and slightly taking or resisting on the new outside rein. Start this exercise taking as many trot steps as needed and gradually work until the rider can choose the number of trot steps the horse takes before picking up the new lead in the new direction. Again, a good beginning exercise is to move the horse away from the new inside leg into the new outside rein. As profi- ciency increases, the rider can begin to connect two full circles in a figure eight, changing the canter lead through a few steps of trot where the circles overlap. A flying change of leads during the moment of suspension in the canter is an advanced directional change. The aids, the same as those described above, are applied just as the inside front leg on the “old” lead steps down. However, the rider needs more than an understand- ing of the correct aids to correctly execute a flying change. He must have an independent seat with com- plete body control. He must not only be able to smoothly coordinate the changes of aids but also to influence the horse effec- tively with each of them


individually. The horse must be able to carry itself in balance, pick up either lead easily, do simple changes through both the walk and trot with ease, and make transitions from working to medium canter or slow canter to faster canter. Flying changes can be taught across a diagonal line or from circle to circle in a figure eight.


Circle work physical- ly challenges joints and muscles. The horse’s age, training level and current physical condition should be carefully considered to avoid making the horse sore. Horses that begin to associate circle work with soreness can become ring sour. Unless a horse is well conditioned and already working at an advance level, avoid riding circles of less than 20 meters (65


feet). Start with just a circle or two and add more circle time gradually. As the gait increase from walk to trot to canter, so do the physi- cal stresses on joints and muscles. As the gait increases, time spent on circle work should decrease until the horses’ condition increases.


Faith Meredith coach- es riders in dressage, rein- ing, and eventing and has successfully trained and competed horses through FEI levels of dressage. She is the Director of Meredith Manor International Eques- trian Centre (Route 1, Box 66, Waverly, WV 26184; 1-800-679-2603; http://www.meredith- manor.com), an ACCET accredited equestrian edu- cational institution.


Coming Events Continued from page56.


Female Saddle. www.schleese.com Admission $10. 519-924-3031, greys.on.grass@sympatico.ca , www.facebook.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass May 14th, 9 am. - Held at Greys On Grass Equine Education Centre, Markdale, On. Greg Crispin presents “Leading with Quiet, Confidence”


338-2570, 519-323-6580. Max. 8 participants., Admis- sion $110./ horse & rider, Auditors $15., www.face- book.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass June 2nd, 7 pm. - An Introduction to Photonic Light Therapy. Held at Greys On Grass Equine Education Centre, Markdale, On. What it is, how it works and what the health, benefits are for horses and their owners. Open to everyone. Admission $10., www.schleese.com Admission $10.


519-924-3031, greys.on.grass@sympatico.ca www.face- book.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass June 3rd - Sun. June 5th, 9 - 4:30 - Photonic Light Therapy” ( 3 day level 1 equine course). Held at Greys On Grass Equine Education Centre, Markdale, On. 3 day “red light therapy” course. For info. and to register, visit www.photonichealth.com,


greys.on.grass@sympatico.ca www.facebook.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass June 21st, 7 pm. - Confident Horsemanship Anne Gage clinic and demo. Held at Greys On Grass Equine Education Centre, Markdale, www.annegage.com Admission $10., 519-924-3031, greys.on.grass@sympa- tico.ca


www.facebook.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass July 7th, 7pm. - Sandy Webster “Gaits of Change and Overcoming Fear”. Held at Greys On Grass Equine Edu- cation Centre, Markdale, On, www.gaitsofchange.com Adm. $10., 519-924-3031, greys.on.grass@sympatico.ca www.facebook.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass August 11th, 7pm. Tim Fortune and his Natural Horse- manship demo, Held at Greys On Grass Equine Educa- tion Centre, Markdale, On www.timfortune.ca Admission $10. 519-924-3031, greys.on.grass@sympatico.ca , www.facebook.com/pages/Greys-On-Grass


519-924-3031, Register at 519-


www.therider.com 1-877-743-3715


Send us all your events for


our next issue


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80