Essays after Mark Rashid Clinic: #1 Softness, pressure and footfall
Everything starts from softness. Whatever we want to do with our horses, it start with
softness, and only then to hip placement, and to collection Mark Rashid says “softness
is from the inside, lightness from the outside”. .
So what do we mean by softness ?
Softness is defined in a dictionary as “the property of giving little resistance to
pressure”.
When a horse is not soft, it is therefore giving resistance to pressure – through tension
or bracing. The horse is often, but not always, mirroring the rider. To check for braces
and tension, the rider does a self-inventory: from bottom of feet up. Is there anything
tense, any tightness or bracing ? Any spots that don’t feel right, or that the rider has a
lower awareness/feel of ? (a reduced “feel” can be an indicator of an associated
brace). The rider may brace even in halt. The horse has to carry the braces so is
affected by it. To work on getting rid of the (rider) braces, the rider needs to (a)
breathe and (b) try to feel the horse’s movement (the process reduces the brace).
Before you can control the horse, you need to be in control of yourself.
But even then the horse may not be soft. Softness isn’t about head placement or the
angle of the nose, about being in an “outline”. Sometimes the horse may try to yield
with lower jaw only, opening the mouth but not releasing through head and neck; this
is not softness.
How we start off is how we’re going to go – so if we don’t start soft, we’re going to
have to work much harder to get soft later, if at all.
By use of pressure and release, we “ask” the horse to be soft. We ask the horse to
offer less resistance to the pressure, and we both ask and reward by softening
ourselves.
Mark used a scale of 0 (no pressure) to 10 (way more than you'd want to use). In most
cases the rider will be using a grade of 2 or less on this scale, and often less than one
when the horse is soft.
If the horse is not soft, there are going to be tensions and braces in there which will
impede the movement of the horse. So often the very first thing Mark worked on with
a rider and horse was softness, using halt and reinback to ask for softness in a simple
way, without having to worry too much about speed, direction and so on. He would
also put his arm over the horse’s neck and feel the contact from the horse (as if the
rider), asking the horse to soften, checking the response, and working on any big
braces. Then he would swap and feel the contact from the rider, helping them learn
how to recognise softness when offered, or to work to eliminate the brace. Of course
the softness has to come from the rider as well as the horse. Mark commented that the
horse has to work to carry whatever braces the rider has going on, so a rider who is
not soft themselves will struggle to get and keep softness from the horse.
If the horse braces when asked for softness in halt, the rider can ask for reinback (for
more softness) and carry on asking (persistently, but without escalation) until the
horse does soften, and then release. The horse quickly learns that softness is
associated with a release. (Although in fact the horse gives the release itself, and the
rider simply stops asking for reinback).
In reinback the horse may brace in jaw and/or mouth. (especially if the rider is
inadvertently “pulling”) The correct feel in reinback is as if the rider is being lifted.
The rider needs to get rid of the “pull” in the rein and soften instead. If the horse
releases his jaw, he softens at the poll, and the neck softens.
Pressure and release – to ask the horse’s nose in. Like the children’s game of finding
something through getting hotter or colder, the pressure is there if the horse is above
or below the right place, and there is a release automatically when the horse gets it
right.
Head
Neck
10
0
The rider needs to be consistent with their hands. It they try to “follow” the horse’s
mouth (e.g. if they go up or to the side, trying to keep a constant contact, then there is
always a slight delay, so they are actually getting a very inconsistent contact.
Plus the “constant contact”, with a tine-lag in it, does not help the horse know what it
expected of it, or work out where the “release” is. Instead, by keeping a consistent
hand position, the horse exerts greater pressure the further away from the correct
position it gets, and gets an automatic release when it finds the right spot. Don’t
follow/chase the horse, let the horse follow you.
Although we may ask for softness, and get it in halt, we then need to help the horse
learn to stay soft in whatever we do.
Initially the horse may not be able to maintain softness for more than a few steps. We
need them to know that there is a way out from what we are asking, and build their
confidence to stay soft. So initially in walk – the rider asks for 3 steps of softness then
releases. (If they get 1 or 2, there is no release. The release only comes from three
consecutive steps of softness). The release is for the same amount of time/space as it
took to get the 3 steps. If the time to get the 3 steps is short, then it is less of an issue
so you can use a shorter release.
Why do we start with 3 steps ?
If we ask for 1 step, the horse bobs their head
If for 2 steps, the rider tends to release at 1½ or 2 ½
But 3 steps are just enough to get a consistent release.
Once the horse can maintain 3 steps of softness consistently (in walk) then start to ask
for 5. Once getting 5 is consistent, ask for 7, and then 9. Only when you are getting 9
steps consistently in walk, do you then progress to trot and ask for 3 steps (starting the
process from the start again in trot).
As well as maintaining softness within the gait, the horse and rider also need to stay
soft between gaits. A rider has a (mental) concept of “walk”, “trot”, “canter” and so
on. We picture the gait. When we make transitions between the gaits we have to find a
way to move from one “picture” to the next.
For example, going from canter to trot. Rider tends to “see” canter and “see” trot.
That can make the transition difficult, as you need to swap from one picture to the
next. This difficulty in changing “picture” can create tension and hesitation in the
transition.
Instead of using the mental “picture” of the gait, the rider can use an image of the
footfall…. walk 1-2-3-4, trot 1-2 1-2, canter 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3. Mark talks about there
being “a little bit of every pace in every pace – a little of walk, trot, canter in the halt
etc. When we halt, we want the engine in idle – not put the handbrake on and get out
the car.” So we should be able to reach in and find the gait we want.
Say you are in walk, which is 4 beat 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4
The cue for halt is going to be based on halting one of the back feet, and you are
going to do exhale-cue where the cue is to close the hand and hold (not pull !!!). The
exhale-cue is in time with the feet. Ideally you want to be in time with the back feet so
you'll cue as one of the back feet is in the air. So walking along, feel the hip fall and
rise and the lower leg move in and out from the horse as the horse's barrel swings. As
the rider’s leg swings "in", the horse's hind leg will be coming through. It can help to
get someone to call it for you at first, so you can be sure you have the feel
So the above sequence might then become 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 1-2-exhale-cue (halt !!) In
practice the horse needs to learn the cue so will start by taking a step or so more, but
they rapidly learn the exhale phase as a "pre-cue" - like a half-halt
It is also
important not to hold the cue too long. It should be a distinct ask and release, as soon
as the horse shows the smallest try.
With a horse that is “hard to stop”, the rider should set a target of, for example, no
more than “2” in the hand and no more than 2 strides. (“you get what you settle for”,
so if you settle for a poor stop, that’s what you get). If the horse doesn’t respond by
2nd step, turn them tightly. This blends the forward energy into something we wanted
– a yield to the bit.
None of this is a punishment, it’s a reinforcement of what you are looking for…
Don’t always turn the same way, and vary the pattern e.g. 2 to left, 5 to right, 4 to
right etc.
In trot its two time 1-2 1-2 1-2 so in a way its easier to get in time with the hind feet
and it becomes 1-2 1-2 exhale-cue (halt)
If he braces in the halt, ask for softness. You may find a step or two of reinback helps
- but the reinback has to be soft so you are looking for 1 or 2 soft steps of reinback which in reality may be more steps as you wait for him to soften.
The use of footfall “images” can be extended to all transitions. In the example used
before of canter to trot, the rider tends to “see” canter and “see” trot. That can make
the transition difficult, as you need to swap from one picture to the next. Instead the
rider can use the footfall…. 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2 1-2 1-2
The “stride length” (rhythm of counting) stays the same as you move from one gait to
another, so that you are not quickening or slowing the pace. In practice the trot tempo
may be slightly faster for the first stride or so down from canter, but keeping the same
rhythm in your mind helps to slow and steady the trot.
The timing of the canter cue: when you sit (on the right diagonal) the inside hind and
outside fore are on the ground. i.e. outside hand is in the air. Hence cue when sitting
asks for inside lead.
If you are having trouble with the transition, break the cues down into stages…
Using footfall 1-2 1-2 1-2 1-2-3 1-2-3 - you may only get a small reaction
Add a little leg – you may get a bigger reaction but no canter
Add a little intent “ahead” and breathe out on cue – if not before, this will normally
give the canter.
With a horse that has struggled with canter, they may not have learnt how to maintain
canter. They may not breathe properly – often the horse will grunt as he was not
breathing properly and sucking air in. The problem is compounded if the rider is not
breathing either. BOTH need to breathe.
The footfall image can also be used for downward transitions. When the rider asks,
for example, from trot to walk, they may hold the cue beyond when the horse actually
starts the transitions. As a result the rider is still giving a cue and then is asking walk
to halt. The rider needs to recognise the point at which the horse starts to change gait
and stop asking then. But this can be further improved by using less cue, and using the
footfall image of trot (1-2 1-2 1-2) to walk (1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4) to make the
transition. When riders tried this they seemed to get a smoother transitions, with less
hesitation.
Throughout the work, the rider was asked to decide the level of pressure they wanted
to use, and then stick to it, rather than escalate to more pressure. Mark said he couldn't
see why you would use the "cue" as the "punishment" (or the reinforcement). He said
he was brought up in a catholic school and whenever he did something wrong, he was
set to praying. Nowadays he doesn't pray anymore. Instead we should redirect - not
ask with a bigger cue. For example, when asking for softness on a circle, if the horse
braces don’t use more hand cue, or more leg and so on, use more circle. When the
horse goes soft, you "release" into the original circle. The smaller circles are quite
tight, and Mark had the rider put their hand on the top of the thigh, where it creates an
anchor but also makes it easier for the rider to feel the give and lets the softness create
the slack in the rein as the reward.
[The level of pressure the rider uses as a cue is not the same as the pressure the horse
exerts itself by resisting and bracing against the rider. If you are never prepared to go
beyond the 3 - then the horse will know that they always get a "release" at 3, and will
not worry about taking you that far time and time again.]
You don’t just want to say “stop what you’re doing”, you need to replace it with
something else (positive). If not, there’s nothing the horse can do that’s correct.
Don’t’ just keep saying “don’t do that”, “don’t”, “don’t” – replace it with something
else, in this case “softness”.
Once they start to know whatever you are teaching, you don’t need to use the same
amount of cue – it can get less and less. Mark commented that often we teach the
horse something and then ride him like he doesn’t know it.
However, asking a horse to go in a different way is going to fatigue the muscles. So
the horse may have less stamina to do the same thing on day 2 and/or 3. After that
they are normally ok. So you just need to be aware of this.
Often when you start to work this way with a horse, the horse is going to bounce
around a bit and seek the release. The horse may have become used to getting the
release, for example, with her head up. The rider needs to make sure they do not give
an inadvertent release when the head is up so the horse finds the release where you
want them to be.
The rider also needs to be soft because, as was previously commented, the horse often
mirrors the rider. The horse has to “carry” any braces the rider has, and adjusting for a
stiff hip, or shoulder, will often cause an associated stiffness in the horse’s hip or
shoulder. The rider needs to move on the horse in a way that will make it as easy as
possible for the horse to carry them. We can often use the comparison of how we
move without a horse to understand how we need to move on them, even though the
horse is a quadruped and we are biped. For example, as we walk our hips rise and fall
in the same movement as they make when the horse moves us in the saddle.
Often if we are unsure of a movement we make on a horse, we can try it out on the
ground to see if it makes sense. For example a “driving” seat looks very odd,
mechanical and unnatural when you do the same movement off a horse as you walk
along.
Imagine a clock with the 12 at your navel, 3 on one hip, 9 on the other, and 6 at your
crotch. The movement of the rider is all around the 3 and the 9 – with the hip being
dropped and lifted by the horse’s movement.
If the horse was moving on the spot we would see the hip moving up and down. As
the horse is moving forward, the motion becomes a forward spiral with each hip in
anti-phase to the other.
[I realised after that you could also place the “clock” horizontally with the rider at the
centre, so the 12 is at the horse’s head, the 6 at their tail, and then the hip bones sit at
3 and 9 and simply move to absorb the horse’s motion.]
If the rider is tipping (“once your head is outside your belt, you’re working against
gravity”), the back muscles kick in to help support you (bracing, stiffness etc etc). The
neutral position doesn’t have back muscles engaged. Breathing “properly” opens the
ribs and rotates the hip into “neutral” position.
There are 3 points of balance in the foot. One at the heel and one either side of the ball
of the foot.
When foot is in the stirrup, only two are in action. And because of the way the femur
articulates in the female hip, its harder for women to get their feet level in the stirrup.
So we lose another point of contact, and have only one left. So riding from the centre
is even more important. If we try and level it the foot up without working from the
centre, we tend to create tension. We need to sit “down and around” the horse.
How far can we take the softness ?
If the rider “sees” the hind foot landing further forward just behind the rider’s leg, the
horse responds with a longer step. The quality of image is key; picture the horse
dropping their inside hind under rider’s outside heel. When one rider tried this, the
horse had to come out of frame to achieve it – rider commented that her image was
only of one foot. There was also a discussion about how the footfall idea could be
used with gaited horses, and again the clarity of the rider image is key.
Mark talked about the horse “centre” and the rider “centre”. The rider “connects” the
centres and “lift” the horse.
Next the rider can work on the same thing at the front – “think” of swinging the
shoulder further forward out (hind should simply follow) – if not, go back to hind foot
image and start over.
Finally the rider can use the mental image to work on lateral movement, for example
to “think” leg yield off the wall (with no leg cue). One rider at the clinic was riding
leg yield in canter on right lead, to the left (i.e. yielding to the inside leg).