Working Long and Low

[Elvengirl]

ok, so, took an amazing Dressage clinic which was hard work but boosted my confidence! My homework is for me to encourage a long and low frame whilst hacking in order to develop my horses shoulder muscles better and even out his overall neck muscle development. So, my horse is built like a Llama (sorry Shaq!) and long and low does not come easily. the disappointing thing is I never got a clear explanation from the clinician about how to achieve long and low and she told me basically to just play around with my leg pressure and the bit until he drops his nose. So I have no idea what I am doing, how does one achieve a long and low frame with a horse whose confirmation works against you and without giving away contact with the rein, in other words, how can I get my horse to work better through his shoulders and develop some more tone and strength? I am totally confused and not sure where to start!

[galadriel]

Okay, the idea in long & low is that the horse is orking well from behind & across the back, but is not in as compressed a frame as when on the bit.

So you start with asking the horse to get under himself; use leg to ask for energy, use rein to make sure that energy doesn't just fall onto the forehand. Get the horse working well on the bit.

Then you slowly, slow let the rein out. The horse should be seeking the contact, so as you let the rein out a teeny bit at a time, the horse should follow the rein forward & down to keep the contact. You're still using leg to ask for energy, and you're still asking the horse to work under himself and through the back. You should keep the same amount of contact, the same pressure, to make sure that you don't lose all the energy out the forehand. But you're gradually extending the rein, so the horse ends up reaching forward & down.

Eventually you've got a horse who's working as if on the bit, but with a very stretched out frame. You're getting a lot of stretch in the muscles across the topline, while still making sure that the horse is carrying himself well and working across the back.

Once the horse gets accustomed to it, you don't have to be so veeeery slow about letting out the rein; he knows what you're asking for, so you can speed the process up a bit.

[Bebe]

Once the horse gets accustomed to it, you don't have to be so veeeery slow about letting out the rein; he knows what you're asking for, so you can speed the process up a bit.

Very true! After spending what seemed like an awfully long time convincing Bebe that she can stretch and work long and low (she did a very good impression of a camel before) she now loves to do it and will chew the rein out of my hand to stretch with gusto. She likes it so much she's now trying to use it as an evasion, sort of "Look mom, see how nicely I can stretch - you don't want me to do that hard exercise really do you I can do this so well already". Gotta love her!

[Elvengirl]

Thanks Galadriel thats much more clear now. Just one more question, when getting him to stretch he will sometimes back off the contact and bring his head up for example around corners. What do I do in this situation? Do I bring my contact back up and let everything out slowly again? Should I be pushing him better into the contact around turns or is he just doing this because he is not used to going in this type of frame?

[galadriel]

Hey, sorry not to reply earlier...missed your response.

Yes, it sounds like you might need to be pushing more into the contact around corners. I typically treat a corner almost as a leg yield; first flex, starting a stride or so away from the corner; bend around inside leg but using inside leg to keep the horse from actually turning off the rail. Then once you're almost to the corner, use outside leg to ask horse to turn his body into the flexion he's already got. Keep the inside leg on to make sure that he stays bent around the inside leg.

You should keep on a good contact, maintain impulsion through the corner, and really get deep into your corners that way.

[Elvengirl]

Ok thanks! I will try this tonite during my hack