Rhythm And Tempo Are The Gold Standard When Your Ride Your Horse

Rhythm And Tempo Are The Gold Standard When Your Ride Your Horse

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When you ride your horse, keep in mind that your priority is maintaining regular rhythm and a tempo that allows your horse to be in good balance.

Riding "movements" is secondary to keeping rhythm and tempo WHILE you do those movements.

So rather than asking yourself, how is my leg yield? Ask yourself, "Am I keeping the right rhythm and tempo during leg yielding?"

Since rhythm and tempo are your priorities during every movement, transition, or exercise, let me define them for you. I want to do this because lots of people use those terms interchangeably, and they don't mean the same thing.

A regular rhythm refers to the even spacing between each step in each gait. Regular rhythm is a priority for all work. The movements and exercises (particularly in dressage) should never be done at the expense of rhythm. Rhythm should always stay the same.

Tempo or speed, however, is a different matter. Tempo is the rate of repetition of the rhythm. You can adjust your horse's tempo depending on what he needs.

When should you ride at a tempo that's faster or slower than normal? Let's take a tense horse as an example.

You go to a horse show, and your horse is nervous and tense. As you start your warm-up, your horse's trot is much too fast. Keep in mind that speed and tension are closely related. The longer you let him go too fast, the tighter he'll get.

Slow him down and ride him in what I call "sub-power" until he takes a breath and relaxes. Once he relaxes, you can speed the tempo back up to a normal working trot.

To slow the tempo, do a downward transition. For example, ask him to go from trot to walk. Then, just as he's about to step into the walk, don't walk.

Instead, jog trot forward. Think about bringing him almost to the walk or "halfway to walk". Just as you feel like he's going to walk, trot forward slowly instead.

If he speeds up again after a few strides, repeat the process until he's willing to stay in the slower trot.

You can also slow the speed by posting up and down slower than he's trotting so he matches his tempo to yours. Use your knees and thighs to stay in the air longer each time you rise.

On the other hand, some of you have lazy horses that adopt a tempo that's too slow and lazy. In that case, ride your horse "over his tempo" to freshen his gait. If you're in rising trot, post faster so he matches his tempo to your posting.

If you're in canter and it feels too slow, ask for an extension. Feel how fast your hips move during the extension. Then when you go back to working canter, keep the same quick tempo by moving your seat "as if" you're still doing an extension.

To sum up, NEVER do movements, transitions, or exercises at the expense of rhythm. Always evaluate the quality of what your horse is doing first and foremost in terms of correct rhythm. In other words, it doesn't do your horse any good to do counter canter in a 4-beat canter. It doesn't do him any good to do shoulder-in in an irregular trot. It doesn't do him any good to do ANY of the movements or exercises if the rhythm is irregular. So don't get caught up doing movements and exercises and forget about rhythm in the process.

About the Author:
Jane Savoie was the reserve rider for the US Olympic Dressage Team in 1992. She has coached at 3 Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens. Jane has written 6 books on training and sports psychology. Go here to learn more about rhythm and tempo



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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