Transitions, transitions, transitions

One of the most useful training exercises available to every rider is the transition. I know I’ve written about transitions before, but I’ve been watching a friend ride a green horse and it amazed me how much of a difference working on transitions made to the quality of her ride.

Want your horse to be more balanced? Ride transitions.

This horse is very balanced, stepping underneath himself and using his back.

Need to strengthen your horse’s hind end? Ride transitions.

Trying to get your horse off its forehand? Ride transitions.

Teaching obedience? Ride transitions.

Want to improve your horse’s trot or canter? Ride transitions.

Here’s the trick, though. You need to ride them correctly. I never realized how difficult a transition could be until I started riding with a dressage trainer. Suddenly I realized all of my inadequacies. I could not guarantee a transition at a specific letter. A couple of strides before, or a couple of strides after? No problem. Nor were my transitions well balanced. Sometimes my horse would fall into a downward transition with a plunk. The concept of riding forward into a downward transition was completely foreign to me. It never occurred to me that I needed to put my leg on to keep my horse active behind.

Our upward transitions weren’t much better. Instead of rising into the next gait, powered from behind, more often than not my horse would pull himself forward by raising his head and hollowing his back.

It was a humbling experience. I had to rethink my riding strategies and relearn how to ride my horse from back to front but the change was significant. My horse developed new muscles. Good muscles. After a few months he had a top line and his over developed under neck had receded. His gaits were more elastic and balanced. He looked like a different horse.

The lesson of transitions is one that I use daily. Every time I ride I think about the integrity of my transitions. Did my horse step up into the next gait from behind? Was his back up and swinging? If not, I start again. I’ll ride 10 trot strides then walk three strides. I’ll do walk/canter transitions changing leads each time. This gets my horse listening and thinking about going forward.

I also ride transitions within each gait. I think of them as surges. If we’re trotting or cantering, I slow my horse down (while keeping him active) then push him forward, asking him to lengthen his stride. Each time you ask for a transition you encourage your horse to step under himself, engage his hind end and round his back. You’ll see the benefits before you know it.