David de Wispelaere. Riding in harmony

David William de Wispelaere

Riding in Harmony and Lightness

Application of Classical Principles

Early experience of the young horse

Early experiences of the young horse

The early experiences of a young horse are enormously important.
The start of everything is to gain the trust of the horse. If there is no trust, the horse is afraid and communication is limited.
My intention is, that horses enjoys my company. They should find it interesting to communicate with humans and they should be curious to find out what we want from them.
But, communication is always a two way street; we also have to watch them, listen to them and find out what interest them and makes them happy.
In a lot of breeding farms, especially in the south of Europe, foals are born outside and have very little contact with humans. They live in big herds, a circumstance which can be very enjoyable for the horse but a bit difficult for us. For the lack of contact they are afraid of humans.
My foals learn early on to wear a halter, they are lead to the field and back to their stalls, they learn how to lift all four of their feet and have them picked out and they are groomed now and then.
However they also have their time to be a horse, time to be out in a green field with their mother, to run and play and get exercise.
Once they are weaned from their mother (around 6 months old) I believe it’s equally important that they are at least with one horse their age to keep and train their social skills. In the whole training process we should not forget about these requirements of horses.

Starting a young horse 1

Starting a young horse 1

When the horses are close to 3 years old I start to work with them, prepare them to be ridden.
The ideal situation for this is a round pen. Here I can work the horse without any additional equipment.
Should you not have access to one of them I recommend a cavason (type of longing halter).
to which I attach the longe line. The cavason creates a firm feel on the nose and I can control the horse with minimal pressure. Important is that the cavason is padded with leather so that I never hurt the horses nose. I never attach the longe line to a bit because the horses mouth is by nature very sensitive and we want to keep it this way. Additionally, I want the horse to feel comfortable with the bit and should therefore never be pulled on - not only under the saddle but already starting at the longe.
It’s important to start with simple things and take small steps. Horses should be worked gradually. So, at first no saddle, no bit, no bridle, just the cavason plus the longe line.
Take your time and train the voice commands. Even horses that have never been longed before will after 15 to 20 minutes understand: walk, trot, canter, halt!
It doesn’t matter what language you say it in. What matters is the tone of your voice. If you want the horse to walk, your command should have a calming tone:”waaaaalk”. If you want your horse to go from walk into an upward transition it should have an uplifting quality: “trooooat”.
Again the word is not what makes the command, it could be:”true”, and the horse will still trot.
If the horse is supposed to make for example a downward transition and he is not responding to your command, than try to stretch the word even longer:” waaaaaaaaaaaaaaalk”. Every horse responds to this, unless they had a bad experience and they are afraid.

Starting a young horse 2

Starting a young horse 2

The next phase would be to add a bridle with a bit and a saddle. I like to start with a sir single which is the mildest way to get a horse get used to pressure on the back and belly. If you start with a saddle use a lightweight saddle - a saddle without stirrups.
Take everything gradually. See how the horse reacts, make sure he is not getting nervous, that he is not afraid and that he doesn’t panic. If you do notice that he horse is tense, you have to take a step backwards and maybe longe the horse without saddle or sir single, or maybe hand walk at first.
Traditionally most trainers use side reins with a young horse. In the past I did use them myself to give the horse the idea to go round and to have contact with pressure on the bit.
In recent years though I am not using any side reins and definitely  no draw reins - I don’t even own a pair - I have no use for them.
In the picture above, Goldmark, a Rhinelander gelding,  is able to stretch forward and down without any reins, just has the reins on the bridle wrapped around so he can’t step on them. There is absolutely no pressure and the horse is in phase 1 beginning to stretch and in phase 2 all the stretched down. You can influence this again with your voice. Like I am actually riding. When I notice that the neck is too high, it means that the neck and back muscles are tensed. How do you get the neck lower without the use of reins? I relax the horse - with my voice.

Starting a young horse 2

It is so important to control the energy level, not only when you are riding but also on the longe.
You have to be able to relax your horse before anything else, before you sit on him, before you put your legs on him and before you take rein contact. You have to be able to influence your horse with your voice. Just as well as with your body language. Again it works with every horse, even if you don’t have a whip because most horses are sensitive enough.
When you are longing to the right and you are holding the line in your right hand, try raising your left hand - most horses will go forward. You put your hand down and the horse will slow down. Without sitting on your horses back, you can already effect how he will go and teach him to go with a swinging back and to reach forward and down.
By the time you sit on the horse this situation will not be completely new to him and through voice and body language he understands what you want from him. He has already discovered that he can go in a circle by keeping a steady tempo and move through his whole body.

Starting a young horse 2

Then comes the point of getting on the horses back. For this it’s important to have two people at hand because for 3 to 3
1/2 years the horse is always used to having somebody on the ground, standing next to him. So all of a sudden this person is sitting on his back.
He may go:”Oh and now”? He doesn’t know what to do.
I have started many horses under saddle and I’ve never had the experience that I sit on a horse and he goes off like a bucking bronco at a rodeo. It’s usually the other way around. You can’t get them to move because they are used to being led. Suddenly nobody is there and they are like:Ok,…what are you doing up there? I am just gonna stand and wait  till you are going to lead me!” In this precise situation it’s helpful to have someone on the ground to lead the horse.
I did 17 years ago start my horse ‘Figaro’(now 20), who I brought to Grand Prix. I started him under saddle completely by myself and to get him to go forward I had to take him away from the stable. We walked up the road, I turned him around, got on and:” Ok, now go back to the stable1”
Every horse wants to go back to the stable - that’s where they eat -  and so he did.

Starting a young horse 2

They next day I tried again. Went up the road, turned him around at the exact same point, got on and said:”Let’s go a little further, past the stable!” We went past the stable and came to a small creek that was running behind the barn. We crossed the creek over a wooden bridge - Figaro crossed a wooden bridge the 2nd time I was on his back - we went down another path and I said:”Trot!” and he did trot, down the path around the corner into a small forest.
We came to little incline - and as we all know, when going uphill most horses prefer to canter - and he went into a canter through the woods…the 2nd time I was on his back!

I have to say though that with horse I had spent a lot of time, beginning when he was a foal until he was 3 years old and I sat on him. We knew each other very well and we already understood each other. He trusted me and it was easy for us to communicate.

Developing a good base

Developing a good base

Once the horse is comfortable with the rider on his back - again he is not afraid, there is trust, he is confident, is used to having a bit in his mouth - then it’s time to start training under saddle and developing a good base.
I always compare this process to architecture. You can build a beautiful house and spent a lot of money on exquisite materials, if you didn’t make a proper foundation the house is going to fall down or you will be experiencing big problems at some point.
It is the same with the training of a horse. It is a very important point. The foundation, going back to the early experiences of the horse, stays with the horse. Everything we do with the horse is important, it all has an impact on the career of a horses life.
The first negative experience stays with a horse and it could be very difficult to change, to get it out of him. It takes much longer to undo something, than to do it right from the beginning.
Some of the things that make a good foundation, a good base is to avoid tension.
I find the most resistance from a horse is caused by tension. If you can get rid of tension you are already one big step in the right direction.
How do you avoid tension?

Developing a good base

Tension doesn’t only come from a horse wanting to go too fast, making you pull back on the reins. Yes, this can make a horse tense. However you can also make a lazy horse tense, by squeezing and kicking and spurring and whipping. Even a laid back horse becomes very tight inside. No horse wants to have spurs dug into his side or his ribs kicked or his hindquarters whipped. It is an unpleasant feeling which makes the horse tightens his body to protect himself.
If your horse doesn't want to go forward your voice can help as described before.
You have to be careful with a young horse in the first week of riding. Imagine, you are sitting on his back and you are going in circles. For the horse that might be difficult to understand:”Why should I go in circles? We keep getting back to the same place, it doesn’t make sense!”
You have to be patient and you have to take the time to educate your horse.

Always with light aids! A horse can feel when a fly lands on him. He twitches to get rid of it,  he swishes his tail or shakes his head. If a horse can feel a fly landing on him so he can certainly feel when we touch him with our legs or take a light feel with his mouth!?

Developing a good base

THEY FEEL IT!…but the question is: Do they understand what it means and what we do want with it? This is an important point.
When you put your leg on and he doesn’t go and you kick and he still doesn’t go, which makes you hit him with the whip. It’s clear he doesn’t want to because he doesn’t know what we want. Imagine someone is speaking to you in Russian and you don’t know Russian. Since you are not responding this someone is saying it louder and louder. He is raising his voice but you still don’t understand.
We have to make our language really clear when we want that the horse is supposed to understand us.
Our body language comes into play. It is a matter of physics. If you move with the horse in his walk and you make a point of sitting tall and still, the horse will notice the change and halt - without pulling on the reins. You are getting the horse to understand the meaning of your seat. By  following the horses movement you are telling him to go ahead, to go forward and the more quiet you sit, the more you are saying to the horse to slow down and halt.

Another often misunderstood concept is the contact, the connection between your hands and the horses mouth. I never want the horse to be round by pulling on the reins. I believe that the horse should go round through freedom and not from restriction. When the horse goes round because it is given the freedom to do so he also find it more easy.

Developing a good base

If you are pulling on the reins you have to push that much more with your legs for the horse to go forward. A horse doesn’t need reins to go round.
Heroico, a Spanish stallion, the horse in the paddock and in the round pen with no saddle, no bridle and no rider is going round by nature. He is pushing from behind and he is reaching round with his neck, which brings his back up. By looking at these photos everyone agrees with me that this horse is enjoying life, he is energetic, he is proud and this is what we want to develop under saddle as well. Not only does it look nicer but the difference in the feeling is night and day.
A horse that you have to hold the reins tight to keep his head down and push with your legs to keep him from going forward is never enjoyable to ride…unless you are doing aerobics instead of dressage. Sometimes though you can ride like this and still win a competition. For me it’s a bigger reward if somebody comes up after a test and tells me that my horse looked really happy and maybe from the judges I was 4th placed. I didn’t  win but it didn’t matter.
But it was nice to see that people noticed that my horse was happy, not grinding his teeth, wasn’t sweating profusely with veins popping out of his neck.
That’s the reward, the feeling that I get from my horse, coming out of the arena, proud of himself, that he did it, not that he had to do it. That’s the big difference!

Developing a good base

The other part of developing a good base is to ride the horse in self carriage.
It means that you can let go of the reins and the horse doesn’t put his head up or fall down, that he doesn’t lose his tempo. The feeling, that you can just sit and relax and that the horse keeps going, for at least 4-5 strides without you having to do something physically. This is called self carriage!
You see many pictures of horses in competition nowadays with their mouth wide open, their tongue hanging out and the curb bit drawn back. Well these horses are not in self carriage. You have the feeling that if you cut the reins, the horses would raise their heads up in the air or fall flat on their nose…but not continue to work.
In the photos where I am stretching Evergreen,  in a trot forward and down, I am teaching self carriage. It’s an exaggeration of a horse going round from freedom, not restriction.
Every horse mentally understands this exercise, they love to do it. Every horse can put their head down like that. If you are longing a horse on a grass field and he is not tense, he can eat grass and trot slowly at the same time. It’s a healthy exercise, mentally and physically, it stretches their top line. On the horse it shows that the horse trusts the riders hands. As a contrary, if you give the reins and your horses head goes up, it shows that he doesn’t trust your hands.

Developing a good base

It is not only the riders hands, it’s also the seat and the legs; it all goes together.
If the horse doesn’t trust the riders seat he tenses his back which makes the head go up. The riders response is very important. Never pull on the reins and take your hands wide and low, which so many people do. This is teaching the horse to be round by restriction and not through freedom.
The photo with me cantering Evergreen, underlines the same idea ( not to the same extent like in the trot) but here I am giving my inside hands forward to show the horse that he is able to stay in this balance with out my inside rein. I not only want to ride the horse from back to front but also from inside leg to outside rein.
The horse should always be prepared to ,make a balanced turn to the inside because if you are riding in an arena, a rectangle, there is always another corner coming and the horse has to be prepared. Prepared meaning that he is in balance and that he is stretching into the outside rein.

How to motivate horse and rider

How to motivate horse and rider

How do we get a horse motivated?
You can get a horse motivated by whipping him, spurring him, screaming at him…but this is not going to maintain a self carriage. Reward is more important. The idea is that the horse understands specifically what we want. The best way to teach him that is by rewarding him for the right response to the given aid. It does not have to be to the extreme that you halt and give the horse a treat.
My 20 year old horse Figaro still does a decent Piaffe. But now he demands a treat for it. : Piaffe ok!…now pay!
If you take the horse from the stable to the indoor arena every single day and he works and he goes back and stands for the next 23 hours until you take him out again for the same routine you will take his spirit away.
It has to stay interesting! People with an office job that do the same work 5 days a week, every single day at the same desk, get bored. You need a vacation, to see things, to stay fresh and motivated.
No matter what level your horse is or how valuable, he deserves to be ridden outside now and then.
I want my horses to still have some kind of feel from freedom, of course with boundaries. He still has to listen but if he finds the work boring he wills top listening and become dull.
I f you have a horse that takes a long time to warm up, than why not go out of the arena to get him more awake and inspired for the work? Same as after the work; it is much nicer to cool out with a change of scenery.

How to motivate horse and rider

After a line of Shetland ponies, Appaloosas and Quarter Horses, I got my first Warm blood
25 years ago. Attila came to me as a 7 year old and was described as being very lazy. He was only doing walk, trot and canter. His former riders used to push and push him to go forward, which in turn has made him very slow.At that time I had the opportunity to live 6 month with him in a beautiful environment - the Adirondack mountains. I didn’t have a full time job, didn’t own a car, didn’t have much, which meant not having to pay a lot of bills. Well, I had a lot of time.
I probably spent 4 hours of the day with this horse. There was also an indoor arena but whenever the weather allowed I took him outside and rode through the woods. I also jumped him. We were  surrounded by 1000s of acres of forests and rivers.
I started with Attila in September at a very basic level and by April he was doing Intermediare 1 movements. He was not lazy at all and going very forward now.
What I want to say is, that I got him very motivated, by taking him out into nature and not by pushing him more.

How to motivate horse and rider

To maintain self carriage can be a tricky thing. You really have to stick to the basics. Often when you, for example, start riding canter pirouettes and your horse shows signs of wanting to stop to canter, he’s losing the canter, you are tempted to start pushing and moving and helping with your hands and legs, your seat is getting stiff and you think:”Oh my god he is going to stop!” that things fall apart. If you do this too many times you will lose the self carriage. You will have to go to the gym to get stronger to be able to carry your horse.
Sell carriage is not only easier for the rider, it looks also better from the ground.
The horse can maintain expressiveness and not only  look better in his performance but also be mentally in a better state.
For a horse it is a very unpleasant experience, when it has to do a pirouette, piaffe or passage with spurs in his side and a lot of weight pulling on his mouth, from a rider, that is sitting heavy on his back.

Characteristics of a good Grand Prix Horse

Characteristics of a good Grand Prix Horse

What makes a good Grand Prix horse?
First of all: Good training, good basics which I described before.  The right kind of character.
Of course it helps when  a horse is born with a personality full of fire and energy, loving to show off. However you can also develop a good character, just as you can destroy it by asking too much too soon.
Health - we not only have to take care of the mental health of a horse but also his physical well being. If we push too far too early we might cause irreparable injuries. The horse will never get to Grand Prix.
Confirmation is important. A horse with perfect built has it much easier to go far.
Nevertheless, the 1st horse I experienced piaffe, passage and pirouettes with was a Columbian thoroughbred, named ‘El Sahib’. He was 10 cm higher in his croup than in his withers.
As a 2 year old he was a race horse, as 5 year old a jumper and at 8 he was doing International Grand Prix dressage.
His legs were straight as  a board but he could piaffe and passage without missing a beat.
So confirmation is not everything. It all goes together: Character, health, confirmation - one helps the other or can destroy the other.
But remember not every horse can be  a Grand Prix horse!