Geoff Teall on Riding Hunters, Jumpers and Equitation. Geoff Teall
Instinctive Riding
As a rider, give yourself credit for being aware of your horse. Instead of second-guessing yourself, pay attention to your instinct. For instance:
If you think your pace is too slow—it probably is.
If you think your horse is dead to your legs—he probably is.
If you think your horse has a dead mouth—he probably does.
If you think your horse is moving stiffly or feels lame—he probably is.
If you don’t think your horse is reacting correctly—he probably isn’t.
If, in your riding, something “just doesn’t feel right,” don’t be in a hurry to discount it or ignore it. Riding is a tactile, physical exercise that relies at least as much on feel as it does on logic.
“Feeling” often alerts you to problems with your horse, with a course, or with your riding. Once the problems are defined, however, logic helps you solve them.
Watch for “Tack-Masking”
In many ways, riding emulates life. There are no shortcuts to success. Quick fixes and easy cures rarely exist.
Consider your tack, for instance. If you discover that using a particular piece of equipment improves your riding or your horse’s way of going, use it for a while if you must. However, don’t stop there. Apply yourself to determining what caused the improvement. Ask yourself what underlying weakness in structure, experience, or schooling the new equipment is masking. Then work on devising a way to strengthen the inherent weakness, rather than simply patching it.
If you can fix the problem, then, when it is gone, the symptoms of that problem will also disappear. You will have spent your energies getting to the root of the matter, rather than trying to mask or cover one piece of the larger puzzle.
Let’s apply the principle of focusing on causes rather than symptoms to two cases—one where the underlying problem lies with the horse, and one where the problem is the rider’s fault:
Case Study 1: The Heavy Horse
If your horse is heavy and dead to your hands, his lowness, heaviness, and unresponsiveness are all symptoms. The underlying cause, in many cases, is a lack of balance.
If your horse isn’t correctly balanced, he isn’t using his hind end properly. Rather than being balanced over his haunches and using the hindquarters for impulsion, his hind end trails behind him. Therefore, leaning on your hands is the only way he can balance himself.
For many, the quick fix in this case would be to use a stronger bit, such as a gag bit or a Pelham, that would allow the rider to forcibly lift the horse’s head up while riding the horse forward.
If the problem stems from the horse’s hind end, however, trying to fix it from the front (using more bit) isn’t going to help. Pulling the horse’s head up won’t make him lighter in your hands. It also won’t be effective in teaching him to balance himself.
Instead of focusing on the symptom of heaviness, you must address the cause if you are to make a permanent change.
In order to use his hind end for forward impulsion, the horse has to become responsive to your legs. He should move forward from your leg. He should use his hind end to balance himself. Only then will he be able to respond to your hands and get light with his front end.
All the bits in the world won’t make an unbalanced horse move correctly. The best they will do is mask the problem for a time. But, you can use the art of riding—your equitation—to affect your horse’s way of going. Exercises that target the cause of the problem, rather than the symptoms, will result in a horse that moves and responds correctly without relying on equipment for his balance.
Two exercises that are good for improving a horse’s ability to work off his hindquarters are “Push, Don’t Pull” (see p. 148) and “Trot a Round” (see p. 226). Working the horse on these and similar lessons will help correct the root cause of his heaviness. It will enable him to be better balanced and to carry himself properly. Then, there should be no reason to mask the problem with harsher tack.
Case Study 2: Chipping
Focusing on symptoms rather than causes is also easy to do when it comes to the rider’s performance.
A common example in the show ring is “chipping,” or going for a long distance, missing it, and adding a short stride just before the fence. As the rider makes his round, the horse is missing his distances and chipping all over the ring. When this happens, the rider often focuses on the fact that he is chipping, rather than realizing why.
One root problem of chipping could be very simple: not enough pace. If you are working under the pace needed for the course, chipping is a common symptom. To fix the problem, instead of worrying about missing the distance to the fence, simply pick up the pace to the point where the horse is able to perform better.
Another, more complex problem, could be nerves. If you never chip when practicing at home but always do at a horse show, perhaps your environment makes the difference.
If nerves are the problem, work on getting your emotions under better control (for more on managing nervousness, see “Fighting Stage Fright, Nerves, and Other Bogeymen,” p. 81). As you gain more confidence and experience, the chipping will disappear.
Stay Cool
Lack of emotion is the key to seeing beyond symptoms to the underlying cause of a problem.
When trying to get to the bottom of something, choose a moment when you are not emotionally involved with what is going wrong. Don’t hesitate to talk with someone who is educated and uninvolved (or at least less invested in the problem than you are). Ask questions. Don’t be too proud to ask for help to find your solution.
Keeping a cool head is a component of a balanced approach. When talking about the art of equitation, a basic assumption is that you do not allow negative emotions to color your riding.
We have all seen it: for some reason, be it a lack of training, bad footing, or sloppy riding, a horse performs poorly and the rider takes it personally. As the rider rants, the horse invariably reacts negatively—and the drama escalates.
Anytime emotion enters into your schooling or training program, you inevitably make errors in judgment. If you allow emotions to affect your actions, your horse is the one who suffers.
If you ever find yourself feeling angry or upset, or if you feel the urge to strong-arm your horse and ride roughly, stop. Quit whatever it is you’re doing. Clear your head. Take a break. You might even need to dismount and put the horse away.
Don’t allow riding to get to be “Too Much.” It should never put so much pressure on you or have so much significance that it is no longer enjoyable. If you feel that your riding has crossed the “Too Much” line, stop and do something else. Give yourself a chance to settle down before you try again.
Horses do not understand emotional reactions, but they have incredible memories. Distance yourself from the situation if your emotional state makes it necessary. Then come back and try again when you are in better control of yourself.
Less Is More