Back to Basics: A Pre-Season Reboot with Cindy Ishoy

With another winter behind us and show season just around the corner, now is the time many dressage riders start to focus on their tests. We memorize the movements and practice them over and over again in pursuit of perfection. But is this really the most effective way to prepare for competition? Olympic dressage medallist Cindy Ishoy wants you to put those tests away and spend the pre-season focusing on the basics: rhythm, suppleness, and contact.

Training for a competition shouldn’t be any different than the training you do any other day. The key to success isn’t training for one test or practicing a particular set of movements over and over again. Success in the ring comes from correct, consistent riding every time you get on your horse. Ride gymnastically, ride correctly, every day. Every corner has to be precise. Every 10-metre circle has to be accurate, whether you’re riding in the middle of a field or in an arena. Focus on doing it correctly every time you ride at home and it will be easy when you get to a show.

The first three building blocks in the dressage training pyramid are rhythm, suppleness, and contact. Without correctly establishing these basic elements, you and your horse can’t successfully progress up the levels. Unfortunately there’s a growing trend of “fake it ‘til you make it,” where as long as the horse drops its head and looks to be in a pretty frame, it’s accepted. You may get away with this at the lower levels, but as you begin to move up you’ll quickly realize the horse doesn’t have the strength for more advanced work. Then the only solution is to go back to basics and address where the weaknesses lie.

RHYTHM

The most common problem with rhythm is horses slowing down in the collected work. Often riders will focus on the front leg movement without creating enough activity behind. In collection, horses must maintain the same rhythm while becoming more active behind and covering less ground. You must be able to move seamlessly between gaits and within gaits while maintaining the same clear, consistent rhythm, not speeding up and slowing down.

Maintaining rhythm and balance requires strength. The simple and most effective strength training exercise for horses is transitions; you can’t do too many transitions. Most of us don’t do nearly enough. At training level you should be able to do transitions between the gaits from walk to trot, trot to canter, canter to trot, and trot to walk without losing the horse’s rhythm. As you move up the levels you add transitions from the walk and halt, but also transitions within the gaits from collected to medium to extended and back.

Try this at home
Build your horse’s strength and test your ability to maintain the rhythm by repeating transitions within the gait. Begin in working trot and ask for a few steps of medium. Did the rhythm change? Did your horse’s stride get longer, or simply quicker? Repeat from working trot to a few steps of collected trot. Did your horse slow down? Practice moving from collected through working to medium trot until your horse feels elastic, able to increase and decrease on the lightest of aids without losing rhythm. Start with small, achievable goals such as a few good rhythmic steps at each gait. As you improve, you should be able to maintain the rhythm for longer periods. This exercise can also be repeated in walk and canter.

SUPPLENESS

Suppleness is not just about left and right bend. It is both longitudinal and lateral. Horses must be supple in the body, through the rib cage, in the neck, jaw and poll, supple across the back and able to connect the hind end with the front. One of the biggest causes of a lack of suppleness is that many riders tend to hold their horses in position, rather than teaching and allowing them to carry themselves. At the lower levels this shows up in horses who can’t maintain the rhythm and bend through corners and on circles. At higher levels horses don’t have the necessary strength and suppleness for lateral work, or to achieve self-carriage within a light contact.

Try this at home
Circles are a great test of suppleness. The horse must bend its whole body, not just the head and neck, without falling in or out on the circle. Lower-level riders can test their ability to do this first on a 20-metre circle, then 15, 12, and 10. Do you lose the ability to maintain the rhythm and bend? Identify at what size circle it happens, and whether it’s more difficult in one direction than another. Go back to one size bigger and correct the bend before trying the smaller circle again.

For more advanced horses and riders, begin with a half-pass and critically analyse how your horse’s body is positioned. Hindquarters coming in? Use shoulder-in to correct. On the other hand, if the shoulders coming in are the problem, think of a few steps of travers to correct the issue. Shifting between lateral movements will build suppleness and strength. Turn down the centre line and half-pass to B. Straighten for a step or two, then continue down the long side in shoulder-in. Repeat in the opposite direction.

CONTACT

Remembering that the training pyramid is a series of building blocks, it’s not surprising that problems with contact are usually caused by a lack of suppleness and/or rhythm. We too often see a “false frame” where riders are holding the horse in position and riding from front to back instead of pushing the horse forward to the contact. Riders may not understand the muscular and skeletal structure of the horse. We should always think of horses as an athletes and realize they must develop enough strength to correctly perform the movements we ask for. At every level from training to grand prix the horse must accept a light, steady contact, working over the back and reaching forward from the wither to the bit.

Try this at home
Work on a three-loop serpentine, first focusing on the change of bend in each loop. Does the horse maintain the rhythm and correct bend while staying in the same steady, light contact? Test the contact by giving with the inside rein to see if they maintain the connection on the outside rein. Does the horse curl deeper, raise its head or stay in steady contact? Once you can maintain the rhythm, suppleness and contact through the changes of direction, add transitions between gaits – from walk to trot, trot to canter or walk to canter – and within gaits from collected to working to medium. Always test the connection by giving with the hand rather than holding the horse in place.

BACK TO BASICS

Don’t be afraid to allow the horse to make mistakes. That’s how they – and we – learn. Correct the mistake kindly and try again. However, if you don’t achieve the result you want after two or three tries, take a step back. Repetition can be punishment for the horse; when doing the same movement over and over again their muscles begin to tire and burn and they start to resist. Go back to basics. Ask yourself if you’re lacking rhythm, suppleness, and contact and try an easier version of the exercise.

By the same token, horses only need to do an exercise well once. Praise them lavishly and reward them with a break.