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Judging Hunters by Anna Mullin, 4th Edition

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Correct Position at the Canter

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Jessica Springsteen demonstrates the correct position at the canter. Notice that her seat is on the saddle in "three-point position," rather than incorrectly held out of the saddle in "two-point position," which is an error often seen in equitation-on-the-flat classes.

The photo above is an excellent example of the security and balance provided by a rider’s sound position.  All of the angles are correct, with a straight line being formed between the rider’s elbow and the horse’s mouth, a vertical line from the rider’s knee to the toe of her boot, the rider’s upper body in the middle of the horse rather than leaning to one side or the other, and the rider’s eyes looking straight between the horse’s ears.  Jessica is comfortably sitting the canter in “three-point position,” following the motion of the horse with a relaxed seat.   Her upper body is inclined a couple of degrees forward–just enough to be with the motion of the horse.  The balance of the animal is exceptionally good in this photo, too, as a result of the rider collecting it into a medium frame.  (To see a video of Jessica winning the Maclay Finals, go to  http://annamullin.com/horse-videos and scroll down.)

The Rider’s Aids: Natural and Artificial

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Saturday, November 27th, 2010

The rider’s aids are both his natural and artificial means of communicating with the horse. The “natural aids” are the rider’s legs, hands, weight, and on rare occasion, voice.  A subtle “whoa” is acceptable; but yelling “Come on, Sparky, jump this fence!” is not.

The “artificial aids” are the spurs, stick (also called “crop” or “whip”), bit, martingale, or any other type of equipment that reinforces the rider’s body commands.  (For information on the proper use of the stick, see http://annamullin.com/how-to-motivate-a-lazy-horse)

The word “aid” is not only used to describe the means of communication, but also the position of the rider’s body when giving a command. For example, a teacher might ask the student, “What are the aids for the canter?” The student would reply, “The aids for the canter are the inside leg positioned at the girth, the outside leg behind the girth, and the hands posititioned in an inside indirect rein.”  (To see more about “aids” in regard to position of the rider’s body, go to http://annamullin.com/how-to-bend-a-horse)

Correct Position at the Walk

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Carolyn Curcio demonstrates the proper position at the walk. Notice that her knee and toe are on the same vertical line; her heel is pressed down; her calf is in contact with the horse's flesh just behind the girth; her seat is close to the front of the saddle; and her knee is closed against the kneeroll. Her upper body is only a few degrees in front of the vertical---just enough to be with the motion of the horse. There is a direct line between her elbow and the horse's mouth; and her eyes are up, looking between the horse's ears. Furthermore, the horse is beautifully collected into a medium frame and seems to have a calm demeanor, which is the mark of good riding. The only thing I would correct is that her hands are a little flat. They should be turned in at a 30-degree angle from the vertical, whereas they are at about a 50-degree angle in this photo, an error sometimes referred to as "puppy hands."

Direct and Indirect Rein Aids

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

The diagram below shows a left indirect rein (left), a direct rein (center), and a right indirect rein (right).  For a left indirect rein, the rider’s left hand moves back and right hand moves forward, allowing the horse to turn its head to the left.  For a direct rein, both hands are evenly placed and keep the horse’s head and neck straight. In a right indirect rein, the right hand moves back and the left hand moves forward, again allowing the horse to turn its head.  If the hand to the outside of the bend does not move forward, the rider creates “clashing aids,” which is asking the horse to do something while preventing the animal from doing it.  Nothing makes a horse more frustrated than when a rider clashes his aids.

Left Indirect; Direct Rein; Right Indirect Rein

An indirect rein position varies according to the degree of the bend.  For example, when making a small circle, the horse would be bent more acutely, so the inside hand would be back more and the outside hand would have to move forward more to enable the horse to have a greater bend in its neck than if the horse were on a larger circle.  The indirect rein can also be used very subtly.  If a horse is spooking away from something on the outside of the arena, the rider can use a slight inside indirect rein, bending the horse toward the inside of the arena just a little, prohibiting the animal’s eyes from locking onto the spooky object.  In this case, the bend would not be nearly so much as pictured above.

Strengthening the Rider’s Position

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

You must be physically fit in order to remain glued to your horse at all times. Fitness can prevent such accidents as being slung into the fence if your horse stops, or sliding off if it spooks to one side. Ideally, you would like to be so fit and well-coordinated that the only way you would hit the ground is if your horse fell, too.

To help reach this level of fitness, you should practice the following exercises:

  1. maintaining two-point position at the trot with stirrups;
  2. sitting the trot without stirrups
  3. posting the trot without stirrups

Work done in two-point position strengthens the front and inner part of your thighs, so that you’ll soon become fit enough to hold yourself out of the saddle over a fence, rather than weakly dropping your seat onto the horse’s back. Two-point work also strengthens your lower leg, making your calves steadier against the horse’s sides and creating more weight in your heels.

To perform this exercise, first shorten the stirrups to your jumping length. Then pick up the trot and work around the ring in two-point position, with your heels pressed downward, your calves snugly held on the horse’s sides, and your knees and thighs supporting the weight of your upper body. You can grab a bit of mane in one hand to stabilize your upper body, but don’t lean on your hands.

It is essential for beginning riders to practice two-point position daily, since this will provide the security they need to jump safely. It is also a good exercise for an intermdiate or advanced rider, particularly one who has just one horse a day to ride. Two-point position will help upper-level riders achieve and retain the degree of fitness they need to ride over complicated courses.

The second strengthening exercise is sitting the trot without stirrups. It helps you learn to sit comfortably and securely and to remain near the horse’s center of gravity. To prepare, drop your stirrups, pull the buckle on each stirrup down about six or eight inches, then cross the stirrup leathers over the horse’s withers. If you turn the top strap of the leather upside down before you cross it, your inner thigh won’t be resting on a lump that could bruise you.

Your crotch should stay as close to the pommel as possible during this exercise, so that you are forked into the saddle with a secure thigh and knee position. (If you begin to slip backwards, grasp the pommel with one hand and adjust your position by pulling yourself forward.) Your calves should rest snugly against the animal’s sides, and the toes of your boots should be tipped upward, as though you were still riding with your stirrups. When working without stirrups at the sitting trot, then, your leg position should be exactly sthe same as it was when you had stirrups.

The third exercise, which is more strenuous than sitting the trot without stirrups, is posting without them. This strengthens your thighs and calves, stabilizes your knee position, and helps your upper body find its center of gravity over your legs. Your leg position at the posting trot without stirrups should be the same as with stirrups, except that you can carry your knees slightly higher to make up for the lack of support from your irons.

Between every three- to five-minute session of work without stirrups, you can take a break, walking the horse on a long rein and, with your feet out of your stirrups, hanging your legs loosely along the horse’s sides to stretch and relax the muscles so that they will not cramp. It is virtually impossible for most riders to keep posting without stirrrups for even three minutes when they first begin this exercise. In fact, many cannot make more than one circuit of the arena before they feel exhausted. This exercise is very taxing; it is best practiced correctly for short intervals, rather than incorrectly for extended periods of time.

At this point, a fourth set of exercises should be mentioned. Although they do not increase your strength, they help you learn how to stay on the horse through balance rather than through gripping. These exercises entail your being longed without stirrups or reins by an instructor, so that you can concentrate on your body rather than on controlling the horse. To prepare, set the horse up as usual for longeing, except for the stirrups and reins. Remove the stirrups entirely and knot the reins around a clump of mane or around the part of a martingale that rests just in front of the withers.  (There is detailed information about longeing in Chapters 2 and 6 of my book, The Complete Guide to Hunter Seat Training, Showing, and Judging.)

When being longed, try to feel your center of gravity at the various gaits and keep it as closely aligned to the horse’s center of gravity as possible. If you slip backward in the saddle, grab the pommel with your outside hand and the cantle with your inside hand and adjust your seat to the front of the saddle. By remaining close to the pommel and keeping your weight equally distributed on each side of the animal’s body, you will be able to sit comfortably at every gait.

Your leg should remain in a normal riding position while you perform various suppling exercises with your upper body. The exercises required by your instructor should be designed to reduce tension in your body, help you develop better balance, and raise yor level of confidence.

Correcting a Horse that Pulls after Jumping a Fence

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Sunday, October 24th, 2010

To correct a horse that pulls after jumping a fence, you need to practice downward transitions to the halt after jumping each fence, until the horse learns to anticipate collection after the jump. This type of work–pulling the horse up after every fence in schooling–may seem tedious, but is very beneficial in training your horse to have an automatic response of collecting after the fence.

You may need to apply a pulley rein at first, if the horse is very strong. Make sure that your reins are quite short before you try this. Then place one hand in the dip in front of the horse’s withers, while slowly and steadily pulling back with the other hand. The fixed rein position of the hand placed in the dip gives your other hand added force when you pull back. You should be sitting during the application of the pulley rein, so that your back reinforces your hands, if need be. Also, the hand in the dip MUST REMAIN FIXED. If this hand slips and you’re only pulling back with the other hand, you could cause the horse to fall to the ground. (Look at some old cowboy movies and watch how the stuntmen cause their horses to fall by pulling hard on a single rein.)

You may need the pulley rein the first time or two in order to pull up within four or five strides of the fence. The horse should catch on to your routine and begin to anticipate the command to halt. Any slowing of pace or softening of the horse’s mouth should be rewarded with a lighter feel of the reins. Remember, horses only know they’ve performed correctly if the rider shows a clear differentiation between right and wrong by a softening of the aids when the horse gives the proper response.

Jogging for Soundness

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Sunday, October 17th, 2010

During the pandemic, the USEF decided to try a new way of testing a horse’s lameness, which involved trotting the horse in a circle while mounted at the end of a course.  However, an official “jog” has not be ruled out, so the following information explains how to do it. When your horse’s number is called in a class that requires jogging for soundness, you should run briskly beside the animal (as in the photo), rather than being in front and dragging it along.  It is important to practice jogging at home until you’re sure your horse will immediately go forward as you run.  Always stay on a straight line down the arena and be aware that you need to run far enough to allow horses behind you to also pass the judge at the trot.  Make sure your animal keeps a flowing rhythm, for a dull, plodding horse will sometimes appear lame.  Remember, a good jog is the finishing touch on a winner!  

How to Bend a Horse

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Friday, October 8th, 2010

Bending is directing the horse through the use of your hands and legs into a position in which the animal’s body is curved to the left or right from head to tail.  To position the horse in a bend, use the following aids: your hand toward the inside of the curve moves to a point just over and slightly in front of the withers; simultaneously, the outside hand moves away from the horse and forward to allow the animal to bend its neck, with the release of pressure being equal to the amount of pressure added by the inside hand; your leg toward the inside of the bend is positioned at the girth; and the outside leg is positioned behind the girth.  The diagram below shows the placement of the rider’s aids for bending to the left (A), keeping the horse straight (B), and bending to the right (C).  Notice that the rider’s leg affects the placement of the horse’s hind leg on the same side.

The basic purpose of bending is to allow the horse to stay balanced on curves. Instead of letting the animal drift toward the rail or cut into the center of the ring on turns, both of which are common errors, you must use your aids to keep its weight distributed equally on both sides of its body. Bending requires the horse to yield with its inside hind leg, so that the inside hind foot is placed laterally farther underneath the animal’s body on a curve than when the horse is traveling on a straight line. Consequently, bending exercises can be useful in breaking up resistances in the haunches, for the movements require the horse to submit with its inside hind leg, blocking it from rigidly resisting with that leg.

A horse may resist your inside leg, as you attempt to push its body into a bent position, and press its rib cage back against you. This is where tact comes in. The worst thing you can do is wallop the horse in the side with your heel, for the animal is responding naturally to  pressure against its side. It is the horse’s way of saying, “Hey, don’t push me around.” Instead of reacting by adding more force with your leg, try easing off the rein on the opposing side, moving your hand forward and outward in a leading-rein position. This gives the horse a sense of direction, an “open door” through which it can travel.

If you are an inexperienced rider, it will be easiest for you to learn how to bend your horse if you practice placing your aids correctly at the halt, then apply them at the walk in each direction, before you attempt bending at faster gaits. The principle of restricting pace when practicing new techniques holds true in most exercises for the horse or rider. The reason is that the greater the pace, the more the rider is at a disadvantage, since the horse can go farther astray in a shorter time, causing its mistakes to be exaggerated and the rider to become frustrated.

Ahead of the Motion

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

The term, “ahead of the motion,” refers to the rider’s upper body being too far forward, rather than being “with the motion,” or in balance with the horse.  When the rider’s upper body leans ahead of the motion at take-off, the horse will be more inclined to stop at the fences, for the rider’s weight is overloading the forehand at a crucial point in the jumping effort.

The rider is "ahead of the motion," with her upper body leaning too far forward, rather than staying in balance over the horse. Her leg slipping back on the horse's ribcage is a large part of the problem. However, she is correctly looking in the air toward an upcoming fence on a tight turn, so her mind is working, although her position is weak.

This demonstration rider, Cat Montgomery, is "with the motion" of her horse. Her upper body is balanced over a well-positioned leg.

The Canter Depart

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Saturday, September 18th, 2010

It is always easiest to perform the canter depart as you begin to turn a corner, for the bending shape gives the horse a clear idea of the lead it needs to take to keep its balance. If you are riding in an oval-shaped ring, you can practice the canter depart anywhere along the curves; but it is wisest to pick up the canter when the inside foreleg is on the side of the horse closest to the barn or outgate, for all horses are aware of these locations, and some seem to be drawn toward them like a magnet. Thus, the barn or outgate can be used to help you get the proper lead.

Make sure your outside leg–the one toward the railing–is in behind-the-girth position, which is about four inches back from the normal leg position. For a horse that doesn’t want to start the canter sequence properly with its outside hind leg, push the haunches slightly toward the inside of the arena, bending the horse around your inside leg. This will place the horse’s outside hind leg underneath its body, so that only this leg will be able to start the canter depart.

At the walk, monitor the footfalls of the horse’s hind legs with your seat, and be especially aware of every time the horse’s outside hind leg is lifting off the ground and striking forward. Press this leg forward in a marching rhythm with your outside leg, until you feel that the horse has enough momentum to push off immediately into the first canter step. The sequence of footfalls should be: outside hind foot; followed by inside hind foot and outside forefoot striking together; and finally the inside forefoot (the leading leg) striking.

The horse begins the canter sequence with the outside hind leg, which lifts the other three legs.

The inside hind leg and outside foreleg strike together to create the second beat of this three-beat gait.

The inside hind leg creates the third beat of the sequence. Notice the motion of the horse in the three pictures above. First the animal lifts its body, then two feet land together, and the final leg lands, with this sequence creating a rocking motion.

The horse should be slightly bent to the inside for the basic canter depart, which is another means of making the intended lead more clear to the horse. The aids for the canter depart, then, should be:

inside indirect rein
inside leg at the girth
outside leg in behind-the-girth position

To practice the canter depart, you can bisect the arena mentally, forming a “point A” on one short side of the arena, and a “point B” on the other short side. Then pick up the canter every time you get to these points. Once the horse is responding well to this exercise, add canter depart points at the middle of the two long sides of the arena, so that you are practicing the canter depart at four points every time you go around the ring.  Work through this exercise once the first direction, then reverse and work the other direction. This will not only keep your horse’s training even on both sides, but will also help the animal work through the problems on one side by practicing correctly on the other.

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