Article
Changing Paces:
Training Tips on Transitions
Transitions are the cornerstones of schooling - no matter how great your horse's paces are, the whole picture will be ruined unless they are connected with fluid transitions. Learning to ride your transitions correctly will not only better the transitions themselves but improve your horse's way of going by encouraging him to engage his hindquarters and increase impulsion. So, whatever level you and your horse have reached in your schooling, improving your transitions will help you take a step further.
What is a transition?
A transition is a change of pace, such as from walk to trot, or a change within a pace, such as from working trot to medium trot. It can be either PROGRESSIVE, where the horse works through the gaits, eg from walk to trot, or DIRECT where the intermediate gait is by-passed, eg from walk to canter.
Moving On Up
Improving your upwards transitions will help all of your horse's paces by encouraging him to use his hindquarters more and make it easier for him to maintain his balance. However, it's important you explain clearly to your horse what you want him to do:
*You must warn the horse before you ride a transition. Ride a half halt or series of half halts to check he's awake and attentive and improve his impulsion and balance.
*If your horse is unbalanced, it will show during transitions, so watch to see his neck remains supple throughout as this is is main rebalancing mechanism. If you haven't prepared properly for the transition he will stiffen his neck muscles and hollow against you to rebalance himself.
*The key to good transitions is explaining clearly to your horse what you want him to do. If your horse misunderstands your commands, eg if he gets over-excited or runs ever-faster instead of changing gait, calm him down and ask again, this time thinking about the aids before you apply them. Also, use your voice to help him understand what your other aids mean.
*Don't contradict yourself by having too harsh a rein contact as you squeeze with your legs. However, you must maintain a soft contact with the horse's mouth or he'll think you want him to increase the tempo rather than change the gait.
*Squeeze with both legs to ask your horse to go forwards into the new gait. Allow him a moment to respond but, if he doesn't, reinforce the aid with a tap of the whip behind your leg to encourage him to respect the aid. Release your leg aid once he has responded. This is much more effective than continually nagging with your legs which your horse will soon ignore.
*To improve impulsion in all transitions, think of asking your horse to take the first stride of the new gait with his hindlegs.
How many transitions?
Riding aimlessly around the arena may exercise your horse but it won't educate him. Whatever you are working on, transitions will keep your horse interested during schooling sessions while improving his way of going - they'll slow a hurrying horse and make a sluggish one more responsive. As a checkpoint, don't ride more than once around the arena without making a transition.
Tutor's Tips
- Once your horse responds immediately to your transition aids, try making your signals increasingly subtle without losing obedience. Aim towards feeling like you're driving a new car with power-assisted brakes rather than an old truck!
- If you expect your horse's transitions to be smooth and co-ordinated, your aids must be the same.
- Keep your head up or you will encourage your horse's weight onto his forehand.
- If your horse gets stressed during transitions, try riding him long and low through plenty of transitions until he relaxes and accepts the change of pace.
- Aim to keep your horse round and relaxed throughout. Riding transitions on a circle can help if your horse loses his balance through the change.
- Aim to establish the rhythm of the new pace as soon as possible. Applying too harsh an aid will push the horse out of his natural rhythm - experiment until you know what works for your horse.
Downwards transitions
Maintaining your impulsion is relatively easy during upwards transitions because the horse needs to be going forwards to achieve the change of pace. In downwards transitions, however, it's much more difficult to keep that forward movement:
*A psychological approach really works with downwards transitions! As you apply the aids, think about the rhythm of the new pace and use a calming voice to encourage the horse to want the transition himself. If you're riding a transition into a halt, learn to feel when the horse's legs are square.
*It's very easy to tip forwards during a downward transition but this will only unbalance the horse, pushing more weight onto his forehand. Instead, sit up, look up and open your shoulders. Many people find it helps to 'brace' their backs, but think of tightening the muscles in your back rather than stiffening your back as a whole if you try this. Your seat must stay relaxed.
*Unless the horse's quarters are engaged, he will tip onto his forehand or become hollow during a downward transition. Aim to teach the horse self-carriage so he can change from one gait into another without losing balance or leaning on your hands to maintain it. To achieve this in a transition from trot to walk, think of asking the hindlegs to trot for one more stride than the forelegs to give you the feeling of how much impulsion to aim for. Riding half-halts before and after the transition will also engage the quarters.
*Rather than giving one continuous pull, squeeze and release the rein to ensure your horse listens to you. To ask for the downwards transition, think of containing the horse's energy which you're creating with your legs in a non-allowing hand for a moment, and then allowing that energy forwards again. if the horse doesn't respond, ask and release again, making the aid more definite, but don't keep pulling or the horse will set his neck and jaw against you. Sponging the reins will help relax the horse's neck and jaw and stop him leaning on your hands. Think of a circle of energy connecting your hands, legs and the horse's mouth, and your legs and the horse's hindquarters.
*Your leg aids are just as important as your hand aids during downwards transitions. You may achieve a transition from trot to walk just by squeezing the reins but unless you squeeze and support with your legs as well, the transition will be lacking in impulsion and the following gait will suffer.
Direct Transitions
Direct transitions by-pass an intermediary gait, so the horse goes straight from halt to trot, or from walk to canter, or vice versa. Although these transitions need a degree of collection and engagement, you can use them to teach your horse to be more responsive. Again, riding the upwards transitions is more straightforward, so establish these first.
From walk to canter...
- Ride your horse on a 10m circle to establish inside bend to help the correct canter strike-off and engage his inside hindleg.
- Before you even think about cantering, increase the energy levels in walk. Use alternate legs aids to build up the energy, containing it by sponging the reins.
- When you feel the horse has sufficient energy, slip your outside leg behind the girth to warn him of the forthcoming transition.
- Squeeze with both legs as the horse's inside forelegs comes to the ground. He will then just have picked up his outside hindleg and should make a clean strike -off.
- While you need to allow a little with your hands, don't throw away the contact, especially with the outside rein, or your horse will run forwards in trot. You must keep the energy contained to achieve canter.
- In canter, allow the forward movement with your hands and rebalance if necessary with half-halts.
From canter to walk...
- Before you try a direct downward transition, make sure your progressive transitions are balanced.
- Establish a balanced trot before asking your horse to canter on a 20m circle. Aim for a slow but energetic canter verging on a collected canter by asking for energy with your legs and containing it with your hands.
- After no more than 10 strides of canter, decrease the size of the circle slightly to automatically slow the horse down.
- Ask for walk by momentarily squeezing the rein. Release and if the horse doesn't respond, ask again more strongly.
- Keep your legs on the sides of the horse to support him and keep him going forwards.
- Once the horse walks, reward him by yielding with your hands. Don't rush the walk or you'll confuse the horse.
Exercises to try
Once your horse understands direct transitions you can use them to ride simple changes of rein. Start by riding a figure of eight, allowing at least 10 steps of walk in the middle of the school before asking for canter on the other rein, using the natural bend of the circle to help achieve the correct strike-off.
If the hose begins to anticipate the second strike-off, walk for longer in the centre until he relaxes. A few steps of leg-yielding can also take his mind off the second strike-off.
Once your horse is proficient at this, try riding the changes across the diagonal, but make sure you accentuate the new inside bend to get the correct strike-off.
When it all goes wrong...
*Taking one long pull on your horse's mouth will only make him resist, stiffen his neck and hollow his back, or overbend and fall onto his forehand. You must aim for co-operation rather than coercion
.
*Flap your legs like this and your horse's legs will do the same. if you want the horse to stay forwards through the transition with his hindlegs engaged you must support him with your legs.
Be Precise
Accurate transitions point to a well-schooled horse and a co-ordinated rider which is why they are an important part of any dressage test.
Aim to ride all your transitions accurately and it will be second nature to get them right when you enter the dressage arena for real. Each transition should occur when your leg reaches the marker but you'll need to prepare with a half-halt before the marker. Ask for the transition as his head reaches the marker - he should then make the transition a moment later as your leg reaches the marker. If this is still not accurate, gauge how much time he needs to respond and work out where you apply your aids accordingly.
Stick to your principles out hacking too by deciding where you want to make the transition and insisting on an accurate response. Instead of letting downwards transitions peter out when your horse decides, think ahead, be firm and ride accurately.
You never need miss a marker again!