Today I rode Paris in a gorgeous Portugese saddle. Folks, I'm telling you, this saddle is THE most comfortable saddle you could possibly find, plus probably the safest saddle to ride in.
It's difficult to describe exactly what it looks like, as there are different versions and decorations, but the front and back of this saddle holds you in to place and you can ride any horse in this saddle. Even if your horse is excited and throws a buck, you'll not lose your seat!!!!
I'm definitly going to get one...I'm just saying:-)
Anyway, lets talk about the cues for Piaffe and Passage.
Today I rode Paris in a shoulder-in on 3 tracks, then transitioned to canter with a lot of impulsion, making sure that his weight was solidly on his hindquarters...
From here transition to trot and pick up the Passage. The Passage is an exercise that comes from the trot.
The cues for Passage are:
1) Sit deep into the saddle, keep impulsion, rythm and make sure the pole is the highest point.
2) Start to find the rythm of the Passage which is 1 pause 2 pause 3 pause 4 etc.
The time between the lateral pair of feet hitting the ground becomes longer then in a normal trot.
3) In between each stride you perform a half halt on both reins and simultaneously touch the horse with both legs. Then release keeping the forward motion and repeat. Then back to trot.
It is important to know that the best Passage comes from the Piaffe, as a Passage is a Piaffe in forward motion. The Piaffe has a higher level of collection and is therefore more difficult, so when the horse can muster Piaffe, Passage is not that difficult to teach.
The cues for the Piaffe are similar to the Passage, although you need to bring the horse from a trot to an almost standstill without losing the impulsion. When the Piaffe is finished in a trained horse it will have no forward motion at all. The horse is basically trotting in one spot. This requires a high amount of collection and engagement of the hindquarters.
The cues for Piaffe are:
1) Sit deep and find the rythm which should be the same as the passage, although can be slightly faster.
2) In between each stride you'll perform a half halt with both hands and you'll simultaneously be touching with your legs, but only one leg at a time for every stride, not both legs at the same time.
Opening up the shoulders to prepare for Piaffe and Passage is an excellent tool to improve on these gaits. Therefore shoulder-in and canter are some great exercises to do before asking for a Passage or Piaffe, but the supreme exercise is Spanish Walk, which opens the shoulders to the maximum if carried out correctly.
To teach the Spanish Walk, it's good to be 2 people to start off with. One to lead the horse and ask for the Spanish Walk, the other to keep the horse straight with an outside lunge line and create impulsion from behind.
It's very important that the horse keeps walking. Without forward motion the horse can't perform a Spanish Walk.
The person in front touches the canon bone of the horse with a whip to begin with. Again rythm is key, so you have to touch just before the horse lifts his leg. This will stimulate the horse to lift that leg higher and stretch it out. When the horse has done this, immediately ask for forward motion. To begin with only ask for one leg at a time. Otherwise the horse will not be able to move forward and the exercise will become too difficult.
Once the horse can lift up both legs separately, you can start to combine. Ask for one leg, then immediately ask for the other. Don't over do it. Just take a couple of steps and go back to walking. Build on it graduately, so that the horse becomes strong and moves fluently through the Spanish Walk until the horse can take many steps without breaking the rythm.
After this, transition to riding the horse in the Spanish Walk.
Stay tuned for our next lesson with the cues for riding the Spanish Walk and lessons in Liberty!!!
Thanks
Celie
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