Even More Refinement of the Aids

After my great ride on Saturday, I was prepped to school the flying changes for Sunday's lesson with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage. After some warming up exercises, I put Izzy into the canter and tried the left to right change, the one we rarely get. Like I had done the day before, I rode the canter half pass from centerline, hit the rail, and ... got the change! I thanked Sean for the lesson and said we were done. We both laughed, but he didn't hang up. We gave Izzy a walk break and knew there was nothing else we should do with that change for the day.

The good thing is that Izzy definitely knows what he's supposed to do. Just like Speedy did, he anticipates the change, but he won't wait for my aid, and when he does, he gets the flying part, but not necessarily the changing part. I know this is completely my fault. My aids are not yet clear enough for him to simply jump and change.

Photo from last weekend.

As Sean and I talked about it, he instructed that I ask with an even quieter aid. He suggested less leg. I explained that I don't really ask with the leg. To do the changes with Speedy, I scissored my legs (inside leg to the back, back leg to the new inside), scooped with my seat, and half halted with the outside rein. It went like this: canter, canter, leg change, scoop, and ... CHANGE! I had to be a bit dramatic with Speedy to get the hop he needed to get off the ground.

That's when I realized that with Izzy, what needed to be quieter was the CHANGE moment of my aid. Instead of the driving scoop, Sean suggested I change my leg position but only shift my weight to sit on the new inside seat bone. To feel that quieter aid, I asked Izzy to simply canter as I focused on just my inside seat bone. As we cantered, I moved his body around doing little leg yields and other straightening exercises without losing contact with my inside seat bone. 

Late April

When I felt Izzy was ready, I rode a half circle into a tear drop, straightened him, and then shifted my weight the tiniest bit over to the new inside seat bone. Sure enough, Izzy jumped, but he didn't change. I was super excited about the effort he gave because it showed me that my aid has been much too loud. This horse is far more sensitive than Speedy. Once I am able to get the aid that he likes, he easily does what I ask. Now I know that I just need to work a little more on organizing myself, and we'll get the change easily.

Besides just shifting my weight, Sean also talked about two other components of the flying change that I need to work on. The first is of course getting Izzy straight. Izzy likes to fall out on his right shoulder. When we canter left, that means I have to pick up his shoulder to get it in front of his hind end. To the right, I have to work hard to get the inside bend because his shoulder wants to be in the way. I can open my left rein just a bit to draw the shoulder over and out. All of this is important in the flying change because he can't be balanced if he's falling to the right.

Also from April.

The final thing Sean had me think about is when to ask for the change. I am pretty sure I am not alone when it comes to riders knowing which hind leg is on the ground. I've been working on it; a turn on the haunches is a great way to feel the hind legs moving. In the canter though, I can't always feel it. Recently I read something about doing the half halt in the canter when the mane flys up. It was a visual aid to help when doing canter to walk transitions. When I asked Sean about that visual, he explained that the mane is a good visual, but he likes to think about asking when the withers come up which is that same moment. For a struggling rider - me, the mane is easier to see than the withers are.

The reason that moment works to know when to half halt in the canter is because that is when the hind legs are coming off the ground. If you half halt at that moment, you are keeping the hind legs underneath the horse instead of letting them lag behind. This will encourage the horse to step underneath himself to either allow for the canter to walk or to switch leads. That wasn't Sean's exact explanation, but I am pretty sure that's what he meant.

Early April - trying to get our timing right.

This has been a crazy week at work, so I haven't had time to ride to try all of this out, but I love having homework. When I know what I need to change, it's usually pretty easy for me to do. It's hard to fix something when you don't know it is working right. Now I know that I need to catch that wayward right shoulder, half halt when the legs are coming off the ground (mane goes up), and simply sit on the new inside seat bone as I change my leg position.

​How hard can it be?