GOAL                                                          

The goal of classical horsemanship is letting the horse show his natural movements happily under his rider. Not only in natural horsemanship, but also in classical horsemanship, we consider the natural state of the horse.

Classical horsemanship involves looking at a healthy physical development and the psychic wellness of the horse.

The proof of that is that in the top Spanish riding school, horses, with an average age of 22 years are still healthy and are working well with dressage exercises.

On the contrary, the Dutch dressage horse has an average age of 6 years old!

Classical horsemanship can not be replaced by any other method.

Most of the problems of horse riding and the management of the horses take place because every horse has a slight natural curving. The make up of the body of both human and animal is not equal, the body is asymmetrical and the phenomena left or right-handed exist. Everybody knows whether they are right or left handed, but very few people know whether their horse has a right or left curve. The horse has a natural curve either to the left or the right.  Therefore, one side of the body is more agile and stronger whilst the other side is weaker and more stiff.

In natural circumstances and as long as man and horse go their separate ways, this curving of the horse may not give any problems but from the moment someone starts riding the horse, problems can occur, this is because whilst riding, the horse is carrying more weight.

• Typical problems and symptoms with a horse that is not straight are for instance:

• easy bending to one side and difficult bending to the other side

• unequal contact in the mouth, the horse takes one rein and not the other one

• good canter on one side but difficult canter on the other hand

• speeding up after a canter change

• not square whilst standing

• whilst leg yielding, well on only one side

• head bending incorrectly

• head shaking

• teeth crunching

• extending the trot irregularly

• walking backwards without being able to keep on a straight line

• bucking or rearing

• an extremely nervous horse when being asked to work

• the horses hips are not aligned

• the horse has unequal hooves

• the horse has back problems

• the horse has bone spavin

• the horse has kissing spines

• the horse has navicular disease

The position of the horse already gives us a lot of information about the curving of the horse: the position of the hips, the knees, the shape of the front hooves show us to what side the horse is naturally curved, therefore we can see  if the horse has a left or a right natural curve.

Riders often reinforce the natural curve of their horse by sitting more to one side. This mostly happens unconsciously but because of this, the horse becomes more crooked. These problems get even worse when the rider rides his horse with his head low down without straightening the horses first. Dr. Reiner Klimke says: Only a straightened horse let’s himself collect. If the rider doesn’t know how to straighten the horse, the horse will not use the hindquarters well and will overload his forehand. Straightening the horse is a must to be able to ride a horse! The balance of the horse is severely disturbed if the rider tries to bend the horse, if the horse isn’t straightened correctly. Because of this the horse’s back will be in a forced position. But far too often we see riders pulling their horses head down, using aids such as draw reins and martingales or just strong use of the hand.  If the rider then tries to collect his horse, all the pressure will come down on the front legs, which will become overloaded and the horse will go lame. As the foot is the weakest part of the chain, symptoms will show up here first.

OUR TRAINING METHOD

Our method pays a lot of attention to the natural curve of the horse. A horse stays his whole life more or less curved and the right way to handle that natural curve is the most important part of our training method.

The natural curve is a muscular problem, which can be treated by training the muscles. Only a straightened horse stays healthy. Trough our training method, that is based on classical horsemanship, you can straighten your horse, make him stronger and equally muscled, so he can bear you better. The horse will walk supple, clear and accept the bridle, both hind leg will come under the body and the horse will relax. Like that, the horse stays healthy and wants to work.

Our training method helps a lot of horses with navicular disease. The pain gets less and disappears in most cases, because it makes the horse’s ´back movers´: horses who relax their back and use there belly muscles. Instead of horses who don’t use their back.

With our method, we restore the balance by straightening the horse so his body weight will be equally divided over 4 legs. With that restored natural balance, the rider can work to a ride technical balance, whereby 3/5 of the horse his body weight is worn by his hind quarters.

 Our training method is based on 5 elements:

1. relaxation
2. accepting the bridle
3. straightening
4. collection
5. raise the forehand

During the lessons, clinics and practical courses, we teach you how the rider can relax his horse, and to accept the bridle, straighten the horse, collect him and raise the forehand.

If a horse is taught in a classical way, relaxation is the first step and raise the forehand the last step. If a horse has been ridden trough his natural crookedness, the horse can’t relax and you ‘ll have to straighten the horse first. Relaxation can’t be reached without straightening. As long a horse is walking crooked, even just a little bit, he is out of balance and the hind legs will not step into the tracks of the forelegs.

A horse has to use his belly muscles to relax his back. Only then, the hind quarters can come under and the horse can accept the bridle. Only a straightened horse will have equal contact on both reins and will let him collect.

These 5 elements are  unseparately connected and have to be done in a correct way. The result of this will be a horse which is straightened, collected, with a raised forehand and has an equal contact on the reins that moves his back freely from the back to the front with regularity of paces.

With our method, these elements have been taught to hundreds of horses, with dressage horses, as well with jumping horse, race horses with a lot of success. Help reins are never used, if a rider can work a horse through this training method, help reins, martingale etc are completely unnecessary. The only support we give is the work on the double lunge.

Picture was taken at veterinary Bodegraven in Holland.

THE RIGHT CURVED HORSE 

8 of the 10 people are right handed. So are 8 of the 10 horses curved right and 2 of the 10 curved left.

Following, we’ll talk about the right curved horse, after that the left curved horse.

A right curved horse has a natural bending to the right, will bend easier to the right and more difficult to the left.

HOW DO YOU DIAGNOSE THIS AS A RIDER?

• The right curved horse will seek more support on the left rein, so the horse takes the bit on the left hand side.

• The horse “walks” against the left leg of the rider.

• The saddle will fall more to the left en the rider isn’t sitting straight, but with his body more to the left.

THE LEFT CURVED HORSE                              

A left curved horse has a natural curve to the left, will bend easier to the left en more difficult to the right.

 

The left side of the horse: the concave side the short muscled side the strong muscled side   The left hind leg is the strongest leg and pushes most. The left hip is often higher then the right hip.

The right side of the horse: the convex side the long muscled side the weak muscled side   The right hind leg is the weakest hindleg. The right frontleg bears more weight then the left frontleg.

HOW DO YOU DIAGNOSE THIS AS A RIDER?

• The left curved horse will seek more support on the right rein, so the horse takes the bit on the right hand side.

• The horse “walks” against the right leg of the rider

• The saddle will fall more to the right en the rider isn’t sitting straight, but with his body more to the right.

THE FIRST STEP              

Here you’ll find the first step towards the straightening of a horse. We advice you, if you want to put this theory into practice, to get in contact with us to see where the closest place is you can come for a lesson, so we can give you more personal explanation and advice. Please for an extremely left or right curved horse, the explanation beneath isn’t of use, because they need another training.

A straightened horse is a horse that bends as easy to the left side as to the right side, With equal contact and pressure on the left or right rein. To get this result, the horse may not find any support on the inside rein. The outside rein is always the riding rein. By putting the horse in his contra bending, he’ll have to find his balance himself and like that he’ll straighten himself.

With a right curved horse, start on the right hand side on the inner track and with a left curved horse on the left hand side. Bend your horse to the outside contra flexion, until both reins have the same pressure and the horse tends to go to the outer track. Keep on sitting with your weight to the inside to prevent that your horse actually goes to the outer track. Like this you make the short muscles longer and supple.

After that you change hands and you ride big circles, again in contra flexion. Be sure that your circle is nicely round and always on the same place. From the moment the horse falls on his inner shoulder, put his front quarter to the outside with both reins. If the horse is falling over his outer shoulder, bring the front quarters to the inside with both reins. Watch out your horse is relaxed and straight.

POINTS OF ATTENTION FOR THE RIDER     

• Always look over your horse, never look down; you must feel what’s going on under you.

• Never ride too low with your hands. Your upper arm must go vertically down, from your elbow, you must have al straight line, trough the underarm and rein, to the mouth of your horse.

• A horse that isn’t straightened may never walk low. Only a straightened horse can go forwards-downwards.

• Your inside hand may never be lower then your outside hand. In a bending or on a circle, your inside hand has to be higher then your outside hand.

• Never compensate the crookedness of your horse with your weight. If the horse is falling inside, then put his front quarter outside with your reins and never go outside with your weight! Putting your weight outside gives an enormous tension in the back of your horse, so always stay with your weight in the bending you want to achieve.

• The horse has to go willingly forward. So keep your horse sharp to your aid

• Reward your horse every time he does something good. There are many ways to gain the horse’s confidence and reward in order to make him take pleasure in his work. The horse is not only grateful for any reward but will be stimulated to satisfy his rider.

• Let love and responsibility towards your horse decide all your actions.