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Connection with the horse

How to work on preciseness, lightness and pushing power in the turns

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The set-up of this exercise made by Michel is extremely effective in encouraging the rider to stay mentally present and physically active on all the “commanding aids”. The feedback  is immediate and it gives the riders the opportunity to be aware of the quality of their position and actions.

Niveau de difficulté: 
Débutant
Goal: 

This new exercise stands out if you need to improve the steering and thrust of your horse on a precise track. It also gives you an excellent opportunity to work on your position, as well as the discreetness of your aids. It improves your capability to control your mind while the difficulties arise.  Once again, in this video, you will note how much the determination of the rider is a key to ride successfully this exercise.

You will learn how to optimize the pushing power of your horse just by working on his flexion. This work will improve the balance of the horse by distributing his weight on all his feet equally.  However, the exercise will be beneficial only if the rider is able to communicate with light aids and be receptive to the horse’s feedback.

Thus, it is important that you utilise Michel’s advice: doing so encourages the riders to be aware of their position and influence on the horse. The goal is to become precise while implying less constraints to the horse.

This exercise is shown on the sheet A4 of the Training program 1

Progress: 

Today, Michel teaches Lucile and her mare Vanille.
At the slower gaits, the exercise seems really easy for a well-seasoned rider and horse. However, the canter work is a bit more difficult. It reveals the dissymmetry of the horse or rider and the key elements in the rider’s position to improve.

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Training on a dressage figure

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A comprehensive exercise to set-up all the key elements for a successful jumping course while having fun: a well seated rider, straight jump approaches and landings, some curves well executed, some flying change of leads and yet being in control with a steady rhythm.

 

Niveau de difficulté: 
Intermédiaire
Goal: 

A comprehensive exercise to set-up all the key elements for a successful jumping course while having fun: a well seated rider, straight jump approaches and landings, some curves well executed, some flying change of leads and yet being in control with a steady rhythm.

Progress: 

Michel is teaching Marine and the horse Vivaldi, a stallion owned by the Haras de Hus. The exercise takes place in a field next to the stable. As already said, training the horse outside of the ring not only improves the horse’s level of fitness but it also makes him feel better mentally.

At first, Michel sets up small fences on a serpentine track. This is to make sure that Marine is able to properly manage the tasks set-up by Michel.

 

After Marine went successfully over the exercise several times, Michel raises the height of the fence. He insists on the fact that the rider has to imagine the exercise as successfully achieved as difficulties arise. If one thinks he can’t do the exercise, it will lead to a failure as one programmed it negatively. On the other end, if the rider visualises mentally the exercise being successful before practising it, then he will be able to instinctively react to the situation with some light and useful actions.

 

The fences on this exercise can be swapped with some oxers or small combinations. It matters that everyone is having fun, and that the session ends up well.
 

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Connection and responsiveness of the horse on landing

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This exercise enables the rider to keep his horse responsive and under control, especially when landing from an oxer. Consequently the rider will be able to speed up, slow down, turn or get ready to jump another fence.

Niveau de difficulté: 
Intermédiaire
Goal: 

Riders have a tendency to lose the connection with their horse over the jump and on landing. This problem is accentuated when jumps are large fences like oxers, triple bar fences or water jumps as this profile of fences will trigger longer strides that riders can’t always control.
To teach riders to manage this lack of control after the fence, Michel has set up an exercise that will solve the problem progressively while still making the rider and the horse feel secure.

The rider will be able to practice keeping her horse responsive and under control in order to be able to slow down, speed up or get ready for another fence. The exercise also encourages the horse to remain focused on the rider’s aids whatever the goal is, after the fence.

 

Progress: 

The session takes place in the outdoor arena with Marine who is riding her mare Amanda. First of all, Marine has to manage her mare anxiety as she’s new to Michel’s yard. This exercise is perfect for it, as it doesn’t present any technical challenge for the mare either physical or mental. However, it requires some self-discipline from the rider in terms of position and mind control as she has to stay aware of her position after the jump.

As the exercise goes on, Marine succeeds in improving the connection with Amanda. The mare is under control and steady after landing, which will allow the rider to direct the mare better when she’ll have to jump a course.

Variant / Progression: 

As this exercise is not physically demanding for horses, you can practice it often, even if it means adapting the height of the jump or using ground poles after the oxer.

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Improving the quality of the canter

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This exercise helps the horse reorganize its canter between the jumps, thanks to the ground poles. This work is particularly recommended for horses with a tendency to disunite the canter (cross cantering) in turns.

Niveau de difficulté: 
Intermédiaire
Goal: 

This exercise helps the horse reorganize its canter between the jumps, thanks to the ground poles. This work is particularly recommended for horses with a tendency to disunite the canter (cross fire) in turns.

Progress: 

Michel teaches Dominique on Aiti. He executes the exercise at the same time with Nenuphar Jac to show his student the correct state of mind and body to reach the expected goal. The rider’s priority is to correctly prepare and anticipate each step of the sequence of movements. The set–ups with the flexy jumps are useful to get the horse to reorganize his canter between fences. For that, the rider has to focus as much on the ground poles as on the jumps. He also has to be aware of his vision. As soon as the rider looks down, he ruins his position, loses his connection with the horse; his actions become disorganized and out of phase with the situation. So it’s necessary to come out on top of the exercise mentally and physically with the correct panoramic vision. The rider must be aware of everything and above all of his mind-set to get rid of all the irrelevant thoughts that could disturb his interventions.

The exercise is to be practiced on both hands of course. The rider and the horse can be more comfortable on one side than the other. Even though it’s important to accept some mistakes, as we go along, the aim is to solve the issues and to balance the right and left side work.

Variant / Progression: 

The height of the fences has to be adapted to the level of riders and horses. The point of this exercise isn’t into a physical performance or into the height of fences. But rather, it is into the rider’s ability to control by his mind and his body his path, his speed and the balance of his horse.

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