Introduction to the German Training System by Melodye Sweetin
Submitted by: Melodye Sweetin
Phone: 804-639-3488
Email Address: MelodyeSweetin(at)gmail.com
Date Added: 2/12/2010
INTRODUCTION TO THE GERMAN TRAINING SYSTEM
The concept around which this article is focused is the German Training Program, with its systematical build up of a training schedule for a riding horse, taking into account the horse's given abilities such as health, condition, conformation, character and age. This schedule is as useful to the training of the dressage horse as it is to that of the jumping or even hobby horse. I hope it will encourage you to think about the value of these time-honored techniques that aim to preserve and improve the horse.
The explanation of the systematical basic schooling of the horse will give you the theoretical knowledge that is essential to successful riding in the shape of a ladder with six steps. These steps will be explained in detail.
A training concept, built up from a basic condition, with sound physical as well as psychological knowledge of the horse, specialty training, as well as methods of recuperation is the only realistic road to gymnastisize a horse in a way that preserves his health, that encourages him to cooperate and that schools him in his willingness to show himself in the best possible way.
Basic training benefits any horse but it is difficult. That this is the case was a known fact to Gustav Steinbrecht, ground breaker for modern dressage.
"Only few people are aware of how much time, patience and effort is involved in giving a horse a complete training." (from ‘The Gymnasium of the Horse')
PART 1: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF TRAINING
"Without a system nothing works."
(Josef Neckermann)
The goal of training determines the length of the road that leads you there. In other words: The higher the goal, the longer the road! High goals can, by definition, not be reached within a short period of time and that is why it is a good idea to set intermediate goals for yourself along the way. Every time you reach one of these goals you feel you have made progress (and you have!) and you will not get discouraged because you haven't reached the ultimate goal quite yet.
This ultimate goal should be to have maximized your horses' "Rittigkeit" (his willingness to cooperate with his rider) achieved together with perfection of his gaits while keeping him mentally balanced to enable him to come to the highest degree of harmony with his rider.
The sooner you start with a systematical approach, the better it is for the overall well-being of your horse. The main reasons are:
1. A horse that has been correctly ridden and taken care of will have confidence in his rider. This is an important position for you to be in because horses are herd animals and herds have leaders. When you are unquestionably in this position o f authority the horse will naturally be subservient which will make him more willing to work for you.
2. When a horse has been trained with emphasis on correct warm-up of his muscles, ligaments and joints he will have a much more solid background from which he will be better prepared for the essentially hard work dressage is. By first working the horse in a frame that will gradually strengthen his body before moving on to the more collected work, many unnecessary injuries can be prevented.
3. Loosened up muscles that are exercised at a steady rhythm will have better blood circulation and will therefore be better supplied with oxygen and energy.
Obviously, the process of ‘getting there' can not be hurried with short cuts and it will only be realistic when it is built up over many different stages of training and development.
One of the reasons why German dressage and jumping riders have been able to achieve and maintain very high and consistent levels of success is precisely because they use a system, the basic stages of which apply to all disciplines of the equestrian sport.
A systematical way of operating indicates progress made in steps or stages towards the all-encompassing goal of throughness. The six steps of the German Riding System are:
1. Rhythm
2. Looseness or suppleness
3. Contact with the bit = Throughness (‘Durchlaessigkeit')
4. Impulsion
5. Straightness
6. Collection
If you were to cut this ladder up in time phases you would end up with three main steps:
1. Raising and Familiarization The period of trust
2. Development of Propulsion Development of impulsion
3. Development of Self-carriage The perfection of collection
These three phases are not clear-cut and overlap at times, and during the gradual training, suppleness and throughness will improve.
The definition of ‘throughness' (Durchlaessigkeit) – willingness of the horse to accept the rider's aids obediently and freely, reacting promptly to the driving aids and swinging through with his hind legs actively in order to develop impulsion. The rein aids should ‘flow' from his mouth over his poll, neck and back into his haunches without being blocked somewhere along the line by tension. It is often said that if you can do all this, the movement will be your reward!
EXPLANATION OF THE SIX STEPS OF THE GERMAN RIDING SYSTEM
1. Rhythm (Takt)
In riding terminology we mean the absolute evenness, both in terms of ground covered and of time, of the movement of the horse in the three gaits.
In the beginning of a horse's training, when he is still getting used to the rider's weight on his back he has to learn to balance himself again and move freely, like he would when in the field.
Later in his training, the moment the horse loses this evenness he is out of balance and therefore no longer conforming to the requirements of the correctly ridden horse. No exercise can be successful when there are irregularities in rhythm, just as no step forward on the training scale has been made successfully if there are irregularities in rhythm.
2. Looseness, Suppleness (mentally and physically) (Losgelassenheit)
When we speak of looseness, it is very easy to just think of the physical aspect. While this is certainly part of it, what is really meant is that the horse is using his muscles and joints the way nature intended him. The horse needs to have his muscles flexed and relaxed just like a human athlete would in order to be ready for the task at hand. At the same time this ability to be supple and loose depends just as much on his mental state of mind. The horse that is ‘loose' in both aspects is easily recognized by the suppleness of his movements, the balanced interactions of his muscles and joints and the springiness that goes through his entire body. His tail moves like a pendulum, his ears are attentive, the eyes are quiet and he is chewing on the bit.
This looseness is not something that will come naturally. The horse has to learn to find his balance under the rider and will only do that correctly if he is trained to. The result of this combination of training and gymnastisizing is
a sort of disciplined state of relaxation that can always be gone back to during the training session.
In practice the ‘loosening up' is a phase at the beginning of the training session meant to get muscles and joints warmed up and to bring the horse mentally into a working frame. The way in which this is done varies from horse to horse and also depend on the level of training. A good place to observe this is at the warming-up arena of a horse show. You might see horses that have reached a high level of balance with their rider be taken almost straight out of the stable into a collected walk or even a piaffe to loosen up. The next rider might supple his horse by doing frequent trot-canter-trot transitions and again another rider uses cavalettis or goes for long walks.
A horse is suppled up when it moves forward energetically from behind in response to the rider's driving aids and stretches his neck from the withers long and deep onto the bit.
Looseness is a necessary building block for all following work, especially towards throughness and collection. The loosened-up horse become more and more confident in his work and in what is expected of him and this will make him accept the rider's aids better. A horse is ‘loosened-up' when it allows the rider's aids to come from his hind legs across his back to his mouth and back as well as sideways without resistance, when in fact he lets all the aids ‘come through'. The further the training of the horse is, the more consistent this throughness should become.
The exercises to develop looseness are:
The warm-up walk at the beginning of the session
Riding a rising trot on large bent lines, regularly changing hands
Riding a ‘fresh and forward' working canter along the long sides of the arena, bringing the horse back in tempo along short strides
Turn around the forehand
Leg-yielding in walk
Cavaletti work
Riding through the countryside: on uneven terrain, doing serpentines between trees, etc.
A loosened-up horse is recognized by:
His swinging back
His neck stretching deep and low with his mouth at least at a level of his point of chest or as deep as he can without losing balance and forward impulsion
Normal, quiet breathing
A closed, chewing mouth because of his relaxed jaw, a bit of foam forming around his lips
His tail moving like a pendulum in continuation of his swinging back
Quiet eyes and happy, relaxed facial expression
Periodic snorting through nostrils
Looseness can be checked at the end of the loosening-up phase, as well as at any other time during the training session. Things to check are:
The horse will chew the reins out of the rider's hand and stretch his neck while keeping contact with the rider's hand, deep and low. His nose will remain slightly in front of the vertical, opening and loosening his jaw muscles.
The length of time it takes to loosen up a horse can very considerably. If you are training a young horse, reaching this stage is the goal of the riding session during the first 3 to 6 months, while the correctly trained horse that is further along in his education will take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, after the first 10 minutes of walk. The horse that has not been privileged to have had correct training and that needs to be retrained may also first need a few weeks where reaching looseness is the only goal.
The other factors that influence the length of time it will take to loosen up a horse area:
The climate. In cold weather it is advisable to use a quarter sheet during the loosening up phase
The length of time elapsed between training sessions, for example because of illness
The condition of the horse, for example when he is stiff from hard work or under nervous pressure
3. Contact With The Bit
The loosened horse that is actively moving forward from behind while going deep and low in front is gradually, by using half-halts and halts, put on the bit. The rider's hands should breathe and the rein aids should never be given ‘backward'; a horse can only be brought on the bit with forward driving aids, and this is only possible if he is supple at his center of movement, his back. The ultimate goal of a finely tuned cooperation between the mouth of the horse and the hand of the rider should be that the pressure of the ring finger on the rein is enough to make the horse aware of the rider's wishes that are bout to adjust his balance by shifting his weight. Correct contact with the bit gives the horse the necessary security to find his natural balance under the rider in the three gaits.
The outside rein:
Fulfills the main role, it is called the ‘riding rein'
Controls the amount of bend that the inside rein asks for and as such has a governing function, preventing the horse from only bending his neck and running out over his outside shoulder
Is the collecting rein
4. Impulsion, Swing
Impulsion is the result of the energetic push-off of the hind legs into the swinging back, influencing the entire forward propulsion mechanism of the horse. It is therefore a direct result of the rider's correct training. The only part of the horse that should swing is his back!!! If you have a horse with good natural gaits the development of impulsion is greatly helped. Impulsion is only found in trot and canter, since there is no moment of suspension in the walk.
Important factors for swinging movements are:
The supple and closed seat of the rider
The first three steps of the training system(Rhythm, Looseness, Contact with the bit)
The horse has to have a degree of straightness
It is very important that the rider is able to use the driving aids.
Swing is developed by:
Riding the horse forward and straightening it (Gustav Steinbrecht)
Increasing the driving aids quietly, without hurrying the horse
Riding tempo changes in trot and canter
The rider's hands staying elastic to prevent blocking the forehand of the horse
Impulsion is the result of the energetic movements of the haunches on the entire forward movement of the horse. A horse goes with impulsion when he pushes off with energy and swings forward with his legs in the moment of suspension. He can only do this if he swings in his back and has a soft contact with the bit. Impulsion is only found in trot and canter, because there is no moment of suspension at a walk. Good impulsion means that the hocks, immediately after pushing off, swing forward and expand, not just upward. The muscles in the back of the horse take up the movement and let the rider, who then can ‘with the movement' sit comfortably. The rider should clearly feel the impulsion come from the haunches and flow forward.
Possible faults can be:
Losing rhythm by hurrying the horse
Unsteady contact with the bit
Tense and/or stiff steps
The horse steps wide with his hind legs
The horse falls on his forehand
The horse shows no lengthening of his frame
When the horse develops impulsion in trot and canter he must maintain rhythm and should not get hurried in his strides. Because of the horse's swinging back the rider is able to sit more deeply and will feel the horse taking him with him in the movement.
5. Straightness
Horses, like all other mammals, are crooked to one side. Most often this crookedness goes front right to hind right with front lift to hand left more the exception. This crookedness has to do with the way the horse was curled up in the womb and can be compared in people to right-handedness or left-handedness. Impulsion and self-carriage in a crooked horse are not directed at his center of balance and therefore ineffective. The horse is straight when his longitudinal axis (his spine) follows the track on straight and bent lines. In other words, when the inside hind legs follow the inside front leg. Since horses are naturally wider in their hips than their shoulders, and we aim to have the inside hind leg follow the inside front leg, we call this ‘relative straightness'.
Like all the other building blocks, straightening your horse is a continuing process. In your training, gymnastisizing the horse in his straightness on both sides by riding bent lines will always remain a touchstone on the way to throughness. The goal should be to always work on suppling the horse on both sides, making his inside side round around our inside leg and stretching his outside side.
Exercises to improve straightness:
Work on bent lines, i.e. circles, serpentines, figure of eight with frequent change of lead
At a more advanced stage, voltes, shoulder fore, shoulder in, travers and half pass
A horse is straight when the haunches and front legs are aligned, i.e. when a longitudinal axis of the horse, on straight lines as well as bent ones, is evenly bent. In order to get the horse straight, which is important for the even distribution of weight, the horse has to be systematically trained on both sides. Most horses are born with a straight side and a crooked side. This can be compared to left- or right-handedness in people. On top of that the forehand of the horse is narrower than his haunches. In most cases the horse steps with his right hind leg to the side of the right front leg. This results in the right hind leg having to develop greater impulsion and the left hind leg having higher demand placed upon its joints. The front left leg therefore has a higher risk getting worn out prematurely.
A horse has to be straightened to:
Optimize impulsion
Be more securely ‘on the aids'
Be able to step onto the bit evenly on both reins
Achieve collection
In a straightened horse the impulsion from the haunches works fully in the direction of his center of gravity. Also, the rider's aids can only be effective on the horse's mouth, poll, neck via the back to the haunches and evenly on both hind legs, if the horse is straight.
6. Collection
Collection is the last building block along the road towards throughness. Through the consistent influence of the rider to have the horse carry more weight on his hind legs, his center of balance will more slightly further to the back and his hind legs will move under further to carry the weight with increased bend. The push-off will have increased in elasticity. Because the angles of his haunches becomes more acute, the horse's haunches are lowered which makes the withers come up in relation. His back should swing, his neck rise freely from the withers and be nicely arched and his nose a little in front of the vertical while chewing on the bit. He will work with a high degree of concentration and energy without getting stiff or tense and he will let his rider sit comfortably. The increased bend and stretch of the haunches allows for lofty, cadenced steps, paces or jumps.
THE HORSE RE-FINDS HIS NOBILITY
Collection develops with:
Riding transitions between working and medium trot and working and medium canter
Transitions from trot to halt
Rein back
Transitions between working canter and medium walk
Transition from walk to working canter, later collected canter
Simple flying change in canter
At a more advanced stage:
Turn around the haunches from walk to collected trot
Tempo changes from medium trot to collected trot
Collected trot
Tempo changes from medium canter to collected canter
Collected canter
Counter canter
Halt from collected canter
Rein back followed by collected trot
Collection improves with the increased engagement from the hind legs. It is very important that the purity of the gait and the correct amount of impulsion are maintained.
From the horse's preservation point of view, collection is very important. Because of the place where the saddle lies on the horse combined with the rider's body weight, the forehand of the horse would increase to carry more weight than his haunches do. Over a longer period of time this could lead to premature damage to the front legs, which because of their anatomical build are weaker then the hind legs. This is because the hind legs of the horses are able to bend to absorb shocks. It is therefore essential that we always aim to have the horse carry more weight on his haunches than on his forehand.
Part 2: GUIDELINES FOR MAKING A
TRAINING SCHEDULE
A. Establishing A Basic Training Condition
Just like people are advised to see their doctor before starting an exercise regimen to make sure they are not putting themselves at risk, our horses should be given a clean bill of health. In practice every horse has to be judged individually and many different factors have to be taken into account. This is why it is so important that you communicate your goals and wishes with your instructor and have him/her help you set realistic goals for yourself and your horse.
B. Physiological Preparation
Very much tied in with the conditioning of the horse is general awareness of his physiological condition. This encompasses the aerobic fitness of his heart, blood, circulation, metabolism and his digestive system. The correlation between the work you would like to do with your horse and the type, amount and frequency of his food should be closely monitored and based on the horse's abilities.
C. Psychological Preparation
"The soul of the horse will only be open to those who look for it. There has to be soul and spirit in the person who wants to get to the bottom of the horse's psyche."
Gustav Rau
Horses are animals of flight and this is a built-in condition that is of no or little use to us. That is why it is imperative that during all contact with horses, in and out of the saddle, the rider takes any outside influences, like other riders and their horses at a competition, loud cars along the road or those very scary white plastic bags outside the barn (!) with quietness, calmness and, at the same time, dominance over the horse. When the horse accepts his rider, he instinctively becomes relaxed and in balance with his inner self. He will need less food while getting a better overall condition, he will become easier to handle and more willing to accept the rider's aids.
A horse that is on the aids has higher levels of concentration, become more self-assured and has a much higher sense of coordination. All these factors are an enormously positive influence on his intelligence (his keenness to learn new things and his memory) and his self-confidence. The result will be a horse that is more ‘through' and has more expression, more presence.
D. Establishing A condition For Competition
One of your goals might be to go to the competitions. You have to get prepared for that as well as your horse. He can only be as good as what he has learned from you, so ask
yourself which parts of your riding and of the tests need work and how this can best be achieved. We all know that when you are going ‘almost a 100%' at home, most likely you will be going about 70% of that at the show. The good news is that it is like that for everybody!!! The contributing factors are many: tenseness of horse and/or rider, different footing, less-than-smooth-trailering, to name just a few.
Riding at home is very different from riding at a competition and it is always a good goal to goal to try to leave nothing to chance. The more you feel you have done as much as you could, the easier it is to ‘go for it', which is what you should be doing. Riding a test is not just about the horse being on the bit, it is also about correctness of lines, transitions at the markers, keeping the horse in front of you and, last but not least, a bit of showmanship. All this takes practice – keep smiling at those judges!!! – but you should bring in some discipline at the preparation stage and then have a good time at the show, feeling you're well prepared.
Fore example:
You know that first impressions are very important, so practice entering and coming down the center line regularly and not just a week before the competition! You can make a halt at different places, so your hoarse doesn't get conditioned to stop at X every time and have a friend tell you whether your halts are square or crooked so you don't have to lean over and check it yourself, bringing your horse out of balance.
Make a habit to ride your horse slightly shoulder-fore in canter so his haunches don't poke out! This should also make it easier for your horse to take the correct lead. If you are practicing the counter canter, make sure your new outside leg keeps the haunches from sticking out.
Use the corners of the arena to your advantage for bringing the horse back after a collection or ‘coiling him up' for an extension.
If you don't have access to a trailer all the time, try to get that same friend to make a video of your riding every now and then. It will be useful to chart your progress and it is always amazing to see how many things you thought you did but that you really don't do (enough)!!
All these things are probably not new to you, but in practice you just ‘forgot', right? That is what we mean by discipline. It has nothing to do with stiffly repeating exercises from your test, it should be working to suppling your horse and seeing how you can best present him.
Always try to remember that the exercises are a means to an end and not the other way around: it is not the circle that has to be round but the horse that has to be supple to be able to make a round circle!!
He can only be fairly prepared for a show if you start by mentally disciplining yourself, and making it part of your routine.
E. Means To Recuperate
Every so often, and again this is something that varies from individual to individual, the horse must have the opportunity to have a break from his daily work. Body and mind should have to be given a chance to ‘switch off' and to renew. In Germany many training stables have Monday as their ‘rest day', because it is the day after the weekend when competitions take place. It is not necessarily meant to be a day where you leave him in his stall or throw him in the field, but just as a day in which he get a ‘break' from his normal routine.
However, there are no set rules. If you cannot fix a certain day, then maybe it should be done for short periods of time every day, before or after his training.
There are many ways in which you can do this while still having him stretch his legs and keep his ‘systems' going. It is important for the rider to know which activities the horse enjoys doing. There is nothing to be gained by putting a horse in a field for longer periods of time when he tends to get worried and runs around a lot, with the possible risk of an injury. In that case, a trail ride will make a tired or dull horse interested and a partner again, or maybe just stretching him deep and low at a slow canter and leaving it at that, or perhaps some freestyle jumping over small jumps or some cavaletti work on the lounge.
Much as horses thrive on regularity, in training as well as in feeding and their daily care, they also need recuperation time. For general preservation of the desire to go forward, the willingness to work and for the strength of the nerves, these breaks are especially beneficial after a stressful time, such as preparations for the competition and the competition itself. The idea behind recuperation is that the horse stays motivated to work and gets ‘rewarded' with well-deserved breaks.
The goal of the entire gymnastic training of the horse is to keep him happy, healthy, willing to work and useful for the sport. The front legs are designed by nature to carry the larger amount of weight. This is made worse by the weight of the rider who sits closely behind the shoulder. Therefore, in order to keep the horse from wearing out his front legs prematurely, it is imperative that the haunches of the horse are trained to take up more weight by correct training and building up the corresponding muscles. The front legs cannot be strengthened as much: a certain amount of collection therefore, is of advantage to any horse. In collection the hind legs take more weight by means of the horse bending in the hocks (hip and knee joints) and stepping under further in the direction of his center of balance. Because of this the front legs are freer. Rider and onlooker have the feeling that the horse foes uphill. Walk, trot and canter strides become shorter without losing their activity. In trot and canter impulsion remains, which results in a more cadenced movement.
In the working phase, stretching the horse periodically is good for his mental balance and will show the rider whether the horse is truly relaxed. If you find that the horse does not want to stretch down, you will have to try to find some reason. Is he tense mentally or physically, i.e. because you are teaching him something new he does not yet understand, or because he finds it difficult to do? Is he tense because he senses your tension, for instance at warm-up before show? Until you have found the reason for the tenseness and have been able to solve it you cannot continue with your work. That is why these checks are so important.
In the relaxation phase of the training session, the stretch is a way to make your horse lengthen his muscles, become relaxed and go home happy and confident in what he has done. It is a way for the rider to say ‘thank you' to his horse! For some horses, the best way to do this may be with a canter in ‘long and low' and for others it would be a trot. It is important that you find out what works best for each horse you ride, so that you can optimize your relationship.
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