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| THE FIRST REQUIREMENT: RIDING THE HORSE ON THE BIT |
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| by Lilian Signe Van Dahn |
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An absolute necessity for allowing the rider to use his horse in the correct way, whether it is used for dressage or jumping, is that the horse is worked in the right frame--on the bit. A horse that does not go on the bit is never totally obedient to the aids. He uses himself incorrectly which, in the long run, leads to abnormal wearing down of the horse and, in the worst cases, total breakdown. The most important thing in all riding therefore, must be to ride the horse in the correct frame. The horse is not made to carry a rider and, accordingly, has to be taught to do so in a correct way. All riding wears down the horse. Consequently, it is up to the rider to work the horse in such a way as to limit the hard effects of the work.
In order to make the horse use himself in the most effective way, he has to be "on the bit," which means that he willingly goes forward with a supple poll at the highest point of the neck, and accepts a light and steady contact with your hands. If he does this, he uses the forward pushing power from the hind legs and carries you with his back muscles. If he doesn't go on the bit, he doesn't push forward with his hind legs and, therefore, hollows his back and releases the back muscles, whereupon the rider ends up on the back skeleton and the horse moves with a shortened stride. As a result, it is imperative that during the basic training (which continues all through the horse's life) you properly engage the hindquarters and build up the muscles in the back, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the legs and tendons, enabling the horse to move forward with a balanced, quiet and harmonious gait.
When the horse obeys the forward-driving leg and moves quietly forward in rhythm, it is time to let him find the bit. This you have to do with a passive hand, offering the horse a soft, light and steady contact. Under no circumstances shall you attempt to quicken the results by bringing your hands backwards. By regulating your forward-driving aids, without losing the rhythm, try instead to encourage the horse to take the contact. When he does seek this contact---which takes a different amount of time with each horse--take great care to keep this contact with a light, elastic hand. When the horse accepts this soft, passive connection with the hand, you proceed with changes of tempo and of coordination between the forward-driving and restraining aids and eventually moving sideways (leg yielding) in order to engage the hind legs and achieve the supple poll--in other words, put the horse on the bit. Don't worry if in the beginning the horse takes a strong contact with the bit. It is much better to have a little too much in the hand than too little.
Don't try to "work" the bit, even though this often leads the horse to "crack his neck" and simulates a proper frame because he, also, simultaneously disconnects the connection between the fore hand and the hindquarters and sets the scene for going behind the bit. The submission has to be achieved by riding from the back to the front and the result of more engagement of the hind legs. When, in this way, you have established a connection between the back and front and the forward and restraining aids--and the horse becomes somewhat dependent on the support of the reins to balance himself--you use this to get him to lengthen his neck forward and down. This allows him to further stretch and engage his back muscles and, at the same time, develop his forward pushing power from the hind legs. You allow your reins to slide forward by stretching his neck forward-down. Some horses catch on very quickly: others may take a little longer.
One method that works on most horses is the following: ride the horse on a circle and move him sideways in leg-yielding a couple of steps by coordinating your inside leg and inside rein and riding straight in between with the help of mostly the outside aids. In the leg-yielding, let the supporting inside rein be somewhat leading toward your inside thigh. Try when you go straight forward, to give a little on the rein to encourage the horse to seek forward-down. To reach this goal there are no shortcuts. Even though with some horses this may take some time, one must not compensate for one's difficulty to show the right way by the use of draw-reins or similar devices. Sometimes you may hear objections to lowering and lengthening the horse's frame, since this can cause him to go more on the forehand. But like all work, this has to be done in the correct way. If you do it wrong, the result will be wrong.
The horse must keep the contact with the bit and be supple in the poll. He should seek forward-down and not be allowed to dive down to the ground. If you watch these requirements, there is no better way to build up your horse in the correct way and to develop, to the maximum, his way of moving. It is also the best way to correct horse that have been ridden incorrectly--for example, above the bit or behind the bit. This is naturally not the final form, but a means to reach the goal, which is to eventually lower the hindquarters and raise the forehand to achieve the correct frame of the horse. A raising of the forehand without corresponding lowering and engagement of the hindquarters is totally worthless. The best proof that you have been working your horse correctly is that, even when the horse has reached a high level of training, you can lengthen and lower his neck forward and down and he will still be on the bit.
Special thanks to Patricia Kinnaman for permission to reprint this article by Lilian Signe Van Dahn. Lilian was a co-founder (with Patricia) of TES and Van Dahn International. She passed away on January 17, 1989, after a courageous battle with cancer. She was an inspiration to all dressage riders who learned from her.
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