fingers in order to follow the horse and give soft signals. Conversely, the horse has to learn to follow and yield to the contact without being hindered or helped by the seat and legs. The horse on long lines learns to organize himself and
accord his speed, direction and position to the hand in very complex arrangements. At first Toti occasionally fell through the outside rein for instance, but later learned that the inside rein meant to go sideways on command and to follow both reins when they were released forward. At the same time, the horse learns to watch the feet of the trainer and get some clues from their movement, direction and speed. This delicate work engaged his mind as well as his body: Toti has to guess Cedar’s (my assistant trainer) intentions to perform the right movement rather than fall into the evasion that resembles the right movement (doing a shoulder-in on demand versus falling sideways as a resistance). This work produces self-carriage, but also self-impulsion: the reins can control how fast the horse goes by holding him back, but they can also make him go faster when he loses impulsion by little slaps on his hips or shoulders. The lateral work is produced by lateral actions of
the reins. For instance in a left shoulder-in, the trainer being behind and left of the horse, the right/outside rein release will allow the right/outside shoulder to advance (acting toward 12:00 o’clock) and turn up to a point, at which the release stops and the hand moves exactly at the same speed than the horse. Then, it will contain it (acting toward 7:00 o’clock in relation to the horse’s axis) or lead it (acting toward 4:00 o’clock). At the same time, the left/inside rein action (acting toward 7:00 o’clock) deviates the haunches outward by slowing down the inside shoulder. The rein can also act directly on the haunches by direct pressure: if the trainer is placed behind the horse on his right during a left shoulder-in, the left rein will press on the left haunch and use the front end as a point of leverage.
The German modern tradition has been obsessed with using the shoulder fore (and a minimum shoulder-in on three tracks) for the purpose of always having the hind legs under the mass. It is a good exercise when teaching the horse to maintain the length of his stride forward in the trot shoulder-in and for flexing the inside leg under in the canter shoulder fore. This idea came from the most important German writer, Gustav Steinbrecht (see his book The Gymnasium of the Horse). If we read it carefully, we see his lateral work, like that of his mentor La Guérin- ière, was done at angles up to 70 degrees from the wall. When it comes to seriously suppling the haunches and the shoulders, we need to watch the Portuguese train- ing tradition that is much closer to the classical ideal of Newcastle, La Guérinière, Marialva and Steinbrecht. Lusita- nos are very flexible horses with great mobility, which is necessary in the bullring. This lateral work has been the best way to prepare a horse for collection, used by the classical masters from La Guérinière to Oliveira. Young sport horses, particularly strong Warmbloods with springy gaits like Toti, need to work at much bigger angles than the three track shoulder-in commonly used today. The first lateral exercise we did with Toti on the long lines is the counter shoulder-in, using the wall as a “back off” measure (hence limiting the use of the reins to control his front end). The trainer pushes the horse forward while slowing his front end toward the wall, so the croup devi- ates and the hind legs start to open and cross. The open- ing of the outside hind is very important because it is the first way to supple the horse and to give room to the inside hind to come under the body. Progressively, Toti learned to go around the corner in
a counter shoulder-in, keeping his angle throughout the turn. Then he progressed to a full circle in the open side of the arena (without the help of the wall). By practic- ing turns toward the outside of the circle, he learned two concepts: transition from yielding to the inside rein (flex the hind legs in the shoulder-in) to following the outside
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COUNTER SHOULDER-IN RIGHT, head to the wall. Cedar is leading Toti who is crossing his right hind and about to pick up his right front. The inside rein is activating the right side and the outside rein is leading the shoulder along the wall. HALT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARENA. Toti is learning to halt in all places, staying straight and calm. It is nearly a square halt and the front legs are vertical. Cedar’s hands are coming up to correct the head position and bringing the poll to the highest point in the halt. SMALL CIRCLE IN TROT with inside bend. The contact is very light as always, and Toti’s right hind is coming well under. His body is practically upright, which is the goal to be sought in all turns.
Rider is Cedar Potts, assistant trainer at Baroque Farms USA. Warmbloods Today 49
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