NHT Magazine Summer 2018

The Scales Of Training
Part 2
Contact and Impulsion
With Tom Fray
BHS Stage 4 Senior Coach in Complete Horsemanship
In the last issue of Northants Horse Trader Magazine (April – June 2018)
I wrote “The Scales of Training – An Introduction to Rhythm and
Suppleness” and that each scale should be achieved before moving on
to the next and each scale as a direct effect on the success of the
subsequent scale. We considered the effect a rider has on the horse’s
natural balance and therefore his rhythm and how the balance of the
rider and the reactivity of the horse to the aids affect the horse’s rhythm
when ridden. I then suggested an exercise to help develop the horse’s
rhythm and suppleness.
There are many exercises that will help a horse develop suppleness, providing
the rider is in balance and has taught the horse to react appropriately to the
aids. A balanced rider will always help the horse to settle into a good rhythm
from which the rider can then look for ways to develop the suppleness through
movements around the school.
Suppleness can be described as the ease of the range of movement and has
two effective directions, longitudinally i.e. over the horse’s back and laterally
i.e. along the horses back. Working the horse in a rounder outline develops
longitudinal suppleness with him ‘lifting’ under the saddle and adopting a
‘rainbow’ shape over his back. Lateral suppleness is developed through
bending the horse around your inside leg. Don’t forget, bend can be to either
the inside or outside of the direction of travel – in other words, if you are on a
circle on the right rein you can bend the horse to the left, your left leg becomes
the inside leg and your right rein becomes the outside hand. A truly supple
horse will work easily in either bend on either rein.
So, we now come to consider ‘Contact’ and ‘Impulsion’ which are scales 3 and
4. Firstly, let us think about contact, what is contact? Well, contact is the feeling
you have down the rein, it is the direct link between your hand and the horse’s
mouth. Contact is achieved by riding the horse forward from your leg to the
hand. This is probably a term you have heard used plenty of times. Describing,
and therefore understanding, contact is not an easy thing but essentially you
should be looking for an elastic feel down the rein, your arm should be firm
and yet your elbow soft, it sometimes helps to think of your elbow and shoulder
as ‘well lubricated’. Suppleness can be described as the difference between
a new hinge and a rusty hinge, they both move but the rusty hinge gets stuck,
the new hinge moves freely and easily. Your elbows provide the elastic feel
the horse needs to work into in order to give a good ‘forward seeking’ contact.
Here we just need to remind ourselves of the importance of the rhythm and
suppleness, these first two scales are not forgotten – they are always there
and are always required before achieving a good contact. It is essential that
the horse is reactive to your aids in order for you to be able to effectively ride
him forward from the leg to the hand.
Here is one exercise I find useful when working on an improved contact, this
exercise can be used in any pace but the most straightforward one to start
with is the trot:
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The Scales are:
1. Rhythm
2. Suppleness
3. Contact
4. Impulsion
5. Straightness
6. Collection
Once down to approximately 10m circle, hold that circle for a couple
of circuits ensuring you have a soft inside rein which allows the horse
to step through from behind.
Then you start to use an increased inside leg aid to ‘enlarge’ the
outside of the horse’s body and increase the size of the circle.
Make sure the horse does not over-bend to the inside, the amount of
bend should not change too much and must be through the whole
body, not just the neck.
As you enlarge the outside of his body and allow the circle to become
gradually bigger you will be developing an improved inside leg to
outside hand connection and therefore an improved contact in the
outside rein.
It is essential that the inside rein stays soft – you can test this with
small give and re-takes of the inside rein throughout the whole exercise.
Repeat this ‘spiral-in/spiral-out’ exercise several times on each rein.
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Start working the horse on a 20m circle, make sure he is swinging
forward in a nice rhythm and supple trot.
Then begin to spiral the circle smaller, take your time, reducing the
circle by just one or two meters on each revolution.
Ensure the reduction in circle is even and the circle remains round and
does not become egg-shaped.
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