Ah, this is not a problem! It is the brilliant journey in learning that your horse has generously offered you!
Here, all dressage is done as gymnastic exercises for the sake of the horse. The reason this is important, is not only, of course, for the horse, but in truly believing this within yourself, you begin to see if from the perspective of the horse, and it helps to keep you patient.
Because you will need patience.
The place to begin is on the ground. This is the classical approach. At liberty if you can, so you can encourage the horse through your body language rather than actual touches on the body or on the reins. This then helps the horse to begin to do the exercises for fun - because it makes them feel good. It makes them happy. It makes them relaxed.
"The frame" isn't just a good physical place to be. More importantly, it is a good mental place to be. And it can only be a good place mentally if only good things are associated with it. Softness, calmness, a thinking state of mind, a desire to play, a pride in the feeling of strength the exercises give the horse.
Then when you begin to add the rein or the line back into the equation, it is done with the same body langauge and positioning from you, and with such softness that the horse is still in the same state of mind as when he is at liberty and responding only to your body language suggestions.
When at liberty, if you are working with a whip to cue, only touch with it. Never tap unless the horse can accept the tap without changing his emotional state. If the emotional state changes, it also changes the relaxed state to one of tension. In a tense state, the dressage exercises no longer have the beneficial effect. They are lost.
The lateral work (you can find all this in the groundwork stickies) is where the haunches develop the power they need for collection. Doing it as much as possible without touching the horse, and without managing the head (instead, invite the head to be turned toward you and reward for that lateral flexion of the neck), and by adjusting your position and body language until you find the horse is happy to move in a way you would like.
Along with the lateral movements, you can teach the horse to do the ramener at a standstill. When it is solid and freely offered (in essence the horse offers it OFTEN as a means to ask for a reward), you can then begin to ask for it while moving forward. The horse may stop one behavior when the second is added, so you may have to ask for ramener, take a step or two forward, and ask for ramener again. Reward both the ramener and the walking forward even if they don't occur simultaneously. This is where trust and patience become key. Don't rush it, take your time, and trust that the two behaviors will melt together.
When it's solid at the walk and easy for the horse to do, develop it in trot. When that is achieved, develop it gently in the canter in hand. Canter in hand is not lunging, although you may be working in a circle. You will be moving with the horse.
If you cannot do the canter in hand, it may mean this is a new and separate exercise that you work to develop.
I'm going to assume that you have enough experience in all your other horse work that you already know what you would like to see as finished movement. This will help you with developing all this in the right direction.
In Makana's diary of Caspian, I just posted something that will help you too. Along with a couple of videos where clicker training is used to help develop lateral flexion. One with targeting, one with luring. They are good and fun videos!
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=796&start=450The reason this was posted for Hanna, is my ideas for helping an emotional state. Emotion and physical ability are one and the same. Without one, you cannot have the other. People can force the physical ability and shut down the emotional responses, but then it has no benefit whatsoever for the horse. So both must be nurtured.
The lateral flexion helps to loosen any tension in the neck and back.
So wander through the groundwork section...all the exercises suggested there (all the stickies first, then go beyond that), from the first single reward in learning how to take treats politely, teaches you not only how to get the horse to do something, but gradually teaches you how to recognize whether or not what you are asking is of mental/physical benefit to your horse. As you learn it, you begin to drift from a goal of dressage, to one of doggedly doing everything as a challenge in keeping your horse happy and relaxed. And in the end, you both win, you both get the dressage elements in the most fun manner (pride of movement for your horse and joy of riding it for you!), and you have the ultimate joy of having done it all together. It is never a one-sided affair. It is learning to work for fun and pleasure and achieve a beneficial goal for you both!
Hopefully you will get loads of suggestions, and you can pick and choose what you think will work for you...what makes sense to you based on what you know about your horse's personality (because only you know this - none of us do!).
Oh...and I wanted to add, that since you will still be riding, until your horse begins to understand how wonderful collection can feel, try perhaps (this is just a suggestion) to do only long/low walking, trotting and even canter if you can until you are at the point on the ground that you are adding the reins or lines back in...so do not ask for the collection from his back, unless it is being freely offered with virtually no rein contact. If it's offered, first reward like you've never rewarded anything before
, but then feel free to play with it!
And keep your mind smiling, and stay in each and every moment with your horse (try not to think ahead too much when you are with your horse).
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