Contents Kolumnentitel rechts iii Free.pdf · square feet of skin along the ground … The point...

Kolumnentitel rechts iiiContents

Preface 5

Riding Free Starts with Groundwork viii

Groundwork – What’s the Point? 1Coming Up with a Central Theme 6Yielding 8Forward-Downward 9Different Groundwork Techniques 10

Riding Bitless 12

Making a Decision 13Training the Rider 20Talking about Contact 26Where Is the Emergency Brake? 34Bitless – A Carte Blanche? 41The Bit – Still a Restraint in Your Mind 46Exercises 53Dr. Robert Cook‘s Research 64

Working with a Neck Ring 72

Almost “Naked” 73Neck Ring Riding for Beginners 76Self-Carriage Instead of Contact 78Preparing with Groundwork 78Exercises 78Maximizing the Sensitivity of Horse and Rider 84Equipment 86

Duplication Prohibited by Copyright Holders

copyright: Markus & Andrew Eschbach / Trafalgar Square Books www.HorseandRiderBooks.com

iv Riding Free

Riding Bareback 88

Mounting 89The Seat 96First Steps 98

Useful Information 106

Contacting Andrea and Markus Eschbach 107Riding and Training Quick Reference Checklists 108Types of Bitless Bridles 110Final Words 112

Index 114

In many of the pictures in this book, authors Andrea and Markus Eschbach are not wearing riding helmets. They are, however, aware of the significance of being role models and explicitly advise you to wear a helmet complying with current safety standards whenever riding a horse.



Preface

“You should write a book!”

Even though people frequently sug-gested the idea, we never dreamed of becoming book authors ourselves—that is, until recently. Our active life as

horse trainers and clinicians kept us so busy that we could not imagine having the time and energy to write a book. As you can see, we somehow managed!

Again and again, we have been sur-prised by the increasing demand for the techniques we teach—considering the fact that they are nothing new. We

vDuplication Prohibited by Copyright Holders


vi Riding Free

haven’t reinvented the wheel, nor are we hiding the Holy Grail in our barn.

We also have to admit that, like any-one else, we constantly wonder wheth-er we are doing the “right thing.” Our four-legged friends keep reassuring us that we are. Unaffected by the media, the Internet, and current fads and trends, they send us completely honest signals that say: “Keep going! What you are doing is all right!”

Our students can be divided into dif-ferent categories:

> There are the beginning riders who take a critical look at different clini-cians and their techniques, then use common sense to evaluate them, and who do not feel like paying someone to put them down and make them feel bad.

> Then there are those who already know a lot about riding and horses

but still feel the need to discover something new—and those who have tried it all and still cannot get ahead.

> Finally, there are the horse owners who can self-reflectively say to them-selves, “My horse has a problem with me.”

The people who come to us are curi-ous, timid, shy, enthusiastic, confused, intense, resigned, interested, happy, searching, doubtful, questioning, and creative…to name just a few character-istics! It is a mystery to us why so many essentially very different people come to us and want to learn something. But what we do know for sure is that no-body leaves us indifferent.

It might be because people are find-ing themselves in the process?

Andrea and Markus Eschbach



Preface vii

Look at Fabiola (left page) and Smiley (this page) and consider their expression. It is amazing to see how “freedom” positively affects the emotional state of horses.



�� Riding Free

Where Is the Emergency Brake?

Many people ask us if it is dangerous to ride without a bit—especially out on the trails or in an open field! This ques-tion is most commonly asked by people who are fairly experienced riders, and most of them admit having had some bad experience involving a bolting horse in their past. When we ask how they were able to stop their runaway horse, the usual answer is: “Well, I couldn’t. My horse didn’t respond at all! Whatever I tried, it didn’t work.”

The story almost always ends in an involuntary return to the barn, or a fall off the horse, or in the best-case scenar-io, the gradual slowing of the horse af-ter a few hundred yards once his rider was able to regain some degree of con-trol. And in almost every case, the horse was wearing a bit.

As the evidence suggests, even with a metal bit in his mouth, when a horse is out of control the more you pull on the reins, the more the horse acceler-ates. We can personally attest to this experience—in the past we have found ourselves on the back of a panic-strick-en horse racing through a forests at what felt like 60 miles per hour. We know the feeling of helplessness when every attempt at controlling the situa-tion has failed. I also learned about emergency dismount technique the hard way when, on gravel, I boldly jumped off a bolting horse, and my arms and legs left behind some 20 square feet of skin along the ground …

The point is, once a horse reaches uncontrollable speeds, even a sharp bit does not have any effect. The way you pull on the reins does not make much of a difference either (although admit-tedly panicky jerks and attempts at

staying in the saddle by desperately clinging to the reins are the least pro-ductive).

As we’ve already discussed, horses always react to pain and, or if neces-sary, frantic flight. When flight is diffi-cult or impossible, horses will fight what scares them. This is one of the rea-sons why horses cannot really be sub-dued by inducing pain. At some point, they will simply throw themselves into the source of pain. Their physical supe-riority in comparison to ours then be-comes a serious disadvantage: Muscle strength alone cannot stop the horse.


Copyright: Markus & Andrea Eschbach / Trafalgar Square Books www.HorseandRiderBooks.com

Riding Bitless ��

Now you should easily understand why pulling on or holding on to the reins and the additional pain this cre-ates only increases (or possibly even triggers!) the horse’s state of panic. The pain threshold of a horse wearing a bit is definitely crossed more quickly if the reins are handled in an uncontrolled manner. Therefore, a bit must never be your emergency brake as it might fail you and, in fact, increase your chances of further panicking your horse. It would appear that trail rides on well-trained horses wearing bitless bridles are definitely safer!

The Emergency PlanWhat are your options in case your horse does decide to move faster than you want him to? Is there an “emergen-cy plan” you can follow?

As we’ve mentioned, odds are stacked against you once your horse has reached top speed and is unrespon-sive to any of your signals. At that point, there is little to nothing you can do to make him stop—using mechani-cal aids, that is. If you fail to make your horse understand that there are good reasons to slow down, you can pull on

Riding is the greatest pleasure we know. The best way to enjoy moments like the one shown here is to train and school your horse well and create a solid relationship between you and your horse.



the reins as much as you want—to no avail! Bleak prognosis, is it not?

In our humble opinion, most of the well-meant advice, including riding in circles and the like, must be regarded as mere suggestions: Do you believe that in the case of an emergency you will be clear-headed enough to systematically go through your list of braking tech-niques? Unfortunately, it is unrealistic to try to simulate bolting in order to practice and/or hone your reactions.

Reflex TrainingEven though we cannot actually train correct reactions to bolting, we teach our students how to influence their own reflexes in emergency situations. When you become insecure, scared, or startled, your body’s automatic reac-tion to protect its vital organs is to curl into a ball.

This means that you bend forward, curl, and pull your arms and legs to-ward your body in a reflex motion. Oth-

How does our body react when we get scared? Usually, we instinctively try to protect our vital organs by curling into a ball—not helpful when riding! Here, Andrea demonstrates the countermovement to what we would instinctively do.

�� Riding Free Duplication Prohibited by Copyright Holders



erwise a useful mechanism of protec-tion, this behavior generally has negative effects on riding: You lose your balance and are easily propelled forward over your horse’s neck. In addi-tion, jerking your arms backward to-ward your body most certainly causes great discomfort or even pain to your horse’s mouth. And, latching onto your horse’s body with your legs does not make it more likely for you to stay in the saddle but most certainly acceler-ates your horse’s speed!

All of the protective positions in-spired by panic that I’ve just described have fatal effects on a horse that is al-ready bolting. So the first and most im-portant suggestion for what to do when your horse bolts is: Keep calm! This is easy to say yet difficult to put into prac-tice during an actual emergency, we know. We find it is useful to concen-trate on one specific thought—that is, by focusing your thoughts on some-thing specific, it is possible to prevent yourself from slipping into a state of blind panic. Personally, we remind our-selves that where we live, our horses have no actual life-threatening reasons to take off in mindless flight. This thought helps us concentrate on con-veying our certainty to our horse, and feeling that we are responsible for the safety of our horse turns into a concrete task we can concentrate on. In this way, we do “not have the time” to panic.

Even though not everyone is equally good at staying calm, our form of “re-flex training” can help keep you safe. After we explain our physical reaction to threat (protect our vital organs—see p. 36), we practice countermovements. These include leaning backward in-stead of forward, stretching the arms forward, and pushing the feet forward-and-downward into the stirrups.

Leaning backward helps you better maintain a deep and stable position in the saddle. Stretching your arms loos-ens the reins and/or prevents jerking on them. Keeping your legs “away” from your horse’s body prevents you from (involuntarily) telling him to go even faster.

During lessons, we teach our stu-dents to perform these countermove-ments when they hear a previously de-termined acoustic signal such as, for example, hands clapping, or a certain word called out. The most important part of this exercise is to have an imme-diate reaction to the audible cue. Giv-ing up the reins can also be taught in a playful manner. This enables us to im-mediately assume a safe position in the saddle if need be and to prevent danger-ous reactions such as pulling on the reins or holding on to them in panic. A stable position in the saddle can be all we need to maintain a sense of calm in a bolting situation.

Interval BrakingAnother technique to add to your reflex training repertoire is a kind of “ABS” (anti-lock) braking system used in com-bination with exerting pressure on on-ly one rein. After you have learned to give up the reins completely, you need to be able to quickly but gently pick them up again, then brake in intervals, pulling back and then yielding. This technique prevents you from creating resistance in your horse, as you do when you constantly pull on or hang on the reins. By repeatedly applying the braking aids, the probability of reestab-lishing your horse’s suppleness (in body and mind) is much higher.

One-sided rein aids have a similar effect to your ABS system. The prereq-uisite, however, is perfectly trained



lateral flexion or bend. Practice this in a stress-free arena—the better and quicker you can make your horse bend and take a sharp turn by exerting pres-sure on just one rein, the greater the probability that this maneuver will disrupt his forward drive in a runaway situation. You rather elegantly “stall” his engine.

The better the aforementioned exer-cises work under “normal” circum-stances, the more likely they will help you in the case of an actual emergency. It is an advantage if your horse is famil-iar with the aids and maneuvers, as he is then more likely to allow you to rees-tablish control.

Basic Exercise: Halt and WaitWhat is more important than knowing how to handle an emergency? Actually preventing it in the first place by train-ing your horse well—first on the ground, and later in the saddle. Because uncontrolled situations can prove life-threatening to us, we make a point of providing our horses with a thorough

and functional groundwork schooling or “education.” This is actually the only “brake” that is truly effective.

Practice this basic exercise: Make it a habit to ask your horse to come to a complete stop in any situation imagin-able. Then let him stand still and wait for a few seconds. What he is supposed to learn is that you always have the right to make him stop, no matter the circumstances. It is not enough to prac-tice in the arena where your horse will-ingly complies when in other situa-tions he fidgets and impatiently pulls on the lead rope. He should halt and wait on command on the way to the barn, the pasture, or long-awaited food. Does your horse stop on command when the two of you go for a walk and you ask him to halt for a few seconds? Does he patiently wait for you to allow him to lower his head to graze? Will your horse wait until you give him a bucket filled with food or treats, or is he pushy? Has he learned to stand still while you mount or does he walk away before you are seated? When you stop

Left: Braking is not just about “pulling on the reins.” Proper interval braking consists of tightening and loosening the reins, in combination with other aids.

Right: Once the horse has stopped, yielding with your hands marks the completion of halt.

�� Riding Free Duplication Prohibited by Copyright Holders



him and yield the reins, does he pa-tiently wait for you to give the signal to continue walking? How does he react when you are on a trail ride and you ask him to stop in the middle of a wooded area? How about on a dirt road if you ask him to turn around and halt facing the opposite direction? When you are riding in a group, is it possible for you to let others trot or canter ahead while your horse keeps walking?

Practice stopping your horse and asking him to wait whenever you can in all different kinds of everyday situa-tions, on the ground and especially in the saddle. You want your horse’s will-ingness to halt to become a good habit

(as opposed to a bad one!) Make sure that you do this exercise consciously and that you prepare and apply clear and precise aids. Always use your voice and the same vocal command to sup-port your other aids as this can make a huge difference to gaining your horse’s attention in the case of an emergency.

Remember, throughout this book the exercises are designed in much the same way: Always start by performing the exercise on the ground as this makes it easier to transfer the lesson to work under saddle. Efficiently trained groundwork exercises contribute great-ly to safety in the saddle.

Left: The “building blocks” of a horse’s education are explained, practiced, and fine-tuned during groundwork. Here Andrea demonstrates a lesson in backing up in hand, first with pressure placed on the mare’s chest.

Below: Reacting correctly to the subtlest of commands is a result of systematic training and should become a good habit. Note how the mare is quiet and in tune to Andrea in this photo.



Now…What about That Emergency Brake?In the end, it really is a series of steps: Keep calm and maintain a clear head; assume a safe position in the saddle; brake in intervals; use one rein if your horse is well-trained in lateral flexion and bend; talk to your horse; and you can also try steering him into a large circle (which is possible only if he is somewhat responsive and your sur-roundings allow for such a maneuver) or choose a path that leads uphill (which also requires a certain degree of controllability).

The most important thing to note, however, is that only good and diverse preparation can increase your safety on horseback. Bolting horses always pose a danger you need to take very serious-ly as they can put you and themselves

in a life-threatening situation.We are often asked to ride “difficult”

horses. To the surprise of most owners, we categorically refuse to get on a horse right away when we are told he is un-predictable or uncontrollable. You see, when trying to retrain a horse, we do not want to simply resort to an auxilia-ry aid or training device to keep a horse from bolting. We want to find out what causes the behavior. Why does the horse want to or have to run away? We want the horse to understand that there is no need to flee but instead good rea-son to listen to his rider—and we want to establish that from the ground. Be-fore these fundamentals have been dealt with, it makes little sense to get into the saddle—irrespective of the tack and equipment you use.

More often than we would like to, we meet riders who actually get on their horse because they are unable to lead him from the ground! One former race-horse we brought in for retraining was almost impossible to lead in a controlled manner at first, and the solution the owner came up with was that since the horse was so difficult to handle from the ground, it was easier to just get on and ride him. The unfortunate results of this flawed logic were serious spinal

Only after you and your horse have learned to communicate on the ground, and only after he has become willing and obedient in his groundwork, should you advance to actually riding him.

Info Training

Ultimately, your equipment (bit or no bit) should never determine how safe it is for you to ride your horse. Your horse should be willing and obedient and responsive to the aids before you start schooling him under saddle. And once you get on his back, you should feel just as secure with minimal tack as you would with traditional equipment.

�0 Riding Free Duplication Prohibited by Copyright Holders


Contents Kolumnentitel rechts iii Free.pdf · square feet of skin along the ground … The point...

Documents

Transcript of Contents Kolumnentitel rechts iii Free.pdf · square feet of skin along the ground … The point...