Reinsmanship In Photos: Cadence and Extension

I've been spending a lot of time recently focused on cadence and reinsmanship.  Never did I expect it would be so hard to find a horse with superlative cadence.  This led me to many, many pictures of false extension as well.  I get really quite upset by these photos of top trainers in international competitions with world class horses exhibiting incorrect cadence and extension in the horses and poor posture and support in the whip.

"Isn't anyone else concerned with this?!?" I plead.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Or just nit picking.  Then along comes a barely 21 year old girl driving her lovely pony in the Welsh countryside.  And my hope is restored.

Meet Emily Ham and Jack [Crossfield Glory], a Section C Welsh stud. I know Ms. Ham and Jack only through the wonders of the internet, so it seems fair that I make full disclosure that I am operating on two possible theories of truth.  The first being that Ms. Ham has studied very astutely in her brief career on the box seat to be the best whip she can possibly be and that the Crossfield Stud has spent years developing a breeding program that has produced more than one superfly pony.  The other theory is that both Ms. Ham and Jack are freaks of nature, bestowed, by the Gods, with talent and ability found in less than 3% of the population, to thwart the rest of us.  Make your own assumptions...

Reinsmanship: Cadence And Extension by Emily Ham and Crossfield Glory

The only thing wrong with this photo is the lack of sunshine. [ Unless you live or have lived on the British Isles, and if so, you find nothing wrong because the more desirable 'not raining' is in effect.]  Pony: superlative frame, round, soft, cadence near enough perfect, hind end engagement beautiful.  Whip: posture impeccable, contact as soft as a breeze from heaven.  Ms. Ham is employing the altogether more effective style of one handed driving.  I'm old school and am glad this young woman is, too. One handed driving means more consistent contact for the horse, less over-steer and interference from the whip.

Ah...the sun!  Here Jack displays wonderful cadence in rhythm and length of stride, despite being a tad short of working trot.  I am going to guess that Ms. Ham is asking for a little less forward and a little more engagement.  But what is important to note is how she is doing that.  Her hands are not buried in her lap, her elbows aren't behind her tipped forward shoulder blades.  She is rocking back on her seat bones and lifting her hands.  The effect of this is to check the speed, lift the pony off the forehand and engage the hind quarters for more impulsion.  This is what I mean when I say the transition must be made from back to front.  If Ms. Ham lengthened the reins, Jack's forehand would extend and not his hind quarters.

Here is another remarkable example of back to front driving: Bend To The Left.  Jack is stepping into the bend with his near hind leg.  You can see his bend as his near hip has come closer to his near shoulder [also reflected in the wheels of the carriage: near wheels closer, off wheels farther apart.  Even the carriage is bending. So. Exciting.]  Wait, there's more!  He also has perfect support from his whip.  Ms. Ham's shoulders indicate the path of the bend: her left shoulder points to the center of the circle, her outside shoulder follows the circumference of the arc.  Sublime.  If I have ever told you to "use your shoulders", "bend the horse by turning the corner with him" This. Is. What. I. Mean.  Thank you, Ms. Ham.

This is extension.  Notice the symmetry of hind quarters: Jack's and Ms. Ham's- they are both rocked back on their bums.  This is a perfect photo to show how the horse's movement is mirrored in the whip. If Ms. Ham was tipped forward, off her seat bones, Jack's movement would be all front end and he would loose hind end engagement. [I know, I do it all the time with my horses, it is a battle I must fight to correct.]   Luckily for Jack, he has Ms. Ham and we have a standard of perfection: correct movement from behind creating breath taking movement on the front.  Balanced extension. [The red ribbons are first place in the UK.]

When I complimented Ms. Ham on her driving, she answered by saying she was lucky to have such an amazing pony.  Grace and humility.  Freak of Nature?  I think: Not. There is nothing not to love about this gifted young woman and her pony.  This is the standard we should all endeavor to achieve.

Lastly, thank you to Ann Ham for the photos, and for her continued belief and support of her daughter and Jack's career as an example to us all.

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Reinsmanship: A Photo Tutorial

As an exercise towards enhancing my curriculum for teaching reinsmanship, I decided to post a few photos on what is admirable and what is far less than correct to illustrate my philosophy.  I always try to find a clear way to communicate to each whip on the cause and effect of their own bodies on their horse's ability, so this might be another way of defining it.

These photos were shot on a numbered cones course, by my dear friend and professional photographer, Tobin Bennett.  I think they give a very unique reference for judging my reinsmanship and I thank Tobin for his skill in capturing them.  I am driving The Major General, a Morgan and Caddy That Zigs.

Approaching Start/Finish: Good collection, contact, shoulder to hands angle is open and allowing.  Major is soft and alert.

This course was mostly short and tight, on the side of a hill.  I knew I needed to let Major go long and low as much as I could.  I open the angle of my shoulder to hands, and he opens the angle of his nose.  He seeks contact, so he lengthens his top line and stride to find it.  His cadence is lovely.

I have driven the outside line on the turn through this set of cones very nicely.  We are on the side of a hill turning down fairly sharply.  Notice we are starting the bend without the wheel completely clear of the cone.  It is tight.  The gig is high.  To keep the wheel on the ground, I am leaning.  When the whip drops the shoulder, so doth the horse.  You can see this in the photo: horse mirrors whip.  One saving grace for me as whip: my hands are still fairly level.  In the gig, you must drive the horse and ride the vehicle, or you will end Up. Side. Down.

BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD.  When I first saw this photo, I screamed, "NO!" And almost deleted it from record.  But then I decided to keep it to remind me NEVER to do this again.  This is an epic fail.  I misjudged our speed and the distance for the turn.  See how far under himself Major is with his inside hind leg.  Fail.    My shoulders are telling his body to go straight.  Fail.  My inside hand is bending his head around the shaft. Fail.  My outside hand is not supporting him through the bend.  Fail.  I am bending him front front to back.  Fail.  Cadence is completely lost.  Fail.  What I should have done was check his speed two strides before the cones, raise my hands slightly to rock him back on his hindquarters, support him through the turn with the outside rein, while bringing his shoulder back to his properly supported inside hind leg.  He then would have pivoted through the turn [two strides sooner] at an angle to get straight through the cones on the left.  Only Major's supreme athletic ability got us through this.  I beg his forgiveness.

This is more like it.  We serpentine right to go left.  Notice Major's properly supported right hind leg.  He is rocked back on his hindquarters, bending from behind.  His cadence is still somewhat compromised: look at how uncertain he appears.  My shoulders are somewhat [could be better] open to the direction I want him to bend- right, but I am looking left to judge the change of rein...

..which he does beautifully.  Bless him, he has forgiven me already.  Again, his inside hind leg is near vertical to support his weight through the turn, he is light on his forehand as a result.  If you have been paying attention you will see I have again dropped my weight over the wheel to balance the gig, but my reins are level to balance Major.  Cadence is restored.

Asking him to go long and low to the Finish, but gave the contact away too quickly and lost a little cadence in the process.  He is more than ready to stretch out, though, after a grisly drive...

And we're done.  Asking Major to transition to the walk, I have dropped my center of gravity by my hands are a little too low and I'm applying too much front brake: using too much bit, ergo, throwing him slightly on his forehand [that common front to back problem].  He is trying hard to get his hindquarters under him to transition correctly and if I had lifted my hands to allow him to finish getting underneath himself, he wouldn't be slightly behind the straight pull of my hands on the bit and the transition would have been great.  Instead, what probably happened was as his stopping leg [left hind] hit the ground, he hollowed out his back for relief of the bit and popped his nose up.  If I realized my mistake, I may have lightened my contact to give him the relief he needed as he stepped on his left leg.  I am focused quite intently on his frame, but there is sadly no photo proof of what happened next.

So, there you go, the dynamics of reinsmanship on an obstacle course, where it matters most.  Ultimate communication through the reins is achieved by understanding how to use them to support and balance the horse to allow him to be brilliant, instead of solely as a means to control him.  If you have photos that you would like me to evaluate for you, let me know.  I am also available, in person, for carriage driving lessons, and carriage driving clinics on this very subject.  The best way to improve your horse's performance is by improving your own.

Again thanks to Tobin for these great reference photos and to Major for his greatness.

Please leave a comment or contact me with your questions/suggestions.  I greatly appreciate everyone who stops by to read this blog and Google Analytics tells me how many of you do and approximately where you come from, but I am old fashioned and still like know faces or names.  So, thanks for stopping to read Accidental Sagacity and please don't be anonymous!

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.