Texas-based Dressage Judge and Competitor Lisa Avila often observes the same mistake in lower level tests-incorrect bending. Avila was the Freestyle Artistic Judge at the National Reining Horse Association's Futurity in 1991 and in 1994 she judged the dressage portion of the American Donkey and Mule Society National Show. Often, she notices trends at a particular show where all of the riders are making the same basic mistakes.
"Perhaps the most pervasive problem of the Training and First Level Tests is incorrect bending - either with too much positioning in the neck, the wrong positioning in the neck, or crookedness in the haunches," Avila points out. "Very few lower level riders realize how little bend is required for a fifteen- or twenty-meter circle."
Avila suggests drawing a line on the ground describing the circle to examine how straight the line actually is. "The only place the horse needs bend on a larger circle is precisely the place where the judge rarely sees it - in the ribs," she said. "A slight contraction of the horse's muscles in his ribcage is all that is required in his body with the horse's poll positioned slightly to the inside."
According to Avila, bending problems often lead to more serious balance problems. When a horse and rider are on a circle, they are already subject to centrifugal force." Centrifugal force is often demonstrated by holding a string with an object such as a ball attached to the end of it and spinning the ball in a circle around your hand," she explained. "When you let go of the string, centrifugal force is responsible for the ball and string sailing away."
The horse and rider are the ball in the Dressage scenario of this experiment. "The "string" which holds the horse on the circle is correct riding, with the horse bent only just enough around the rider's properly-positioned legs, and the rider's aids keeping the horse in longitudinal balance," she said. "The horse's shoulder is located at his center of gravity. Since physics compels the horse to drift to the outside on a circle, a bulging outside shoulder provides the "open door" through which the horse drifts - like letting go of the ball and string."
Incorrect bend on a circle can lead to similar balance problems. Typically, the horse does not drift out on the circle, but leans and falls in. "In this case the open door through which the horse drifts is usually the inside shoulder," she said.
Physics is at work as the horse begins a circle and experiences a lateral shift in their center of gravity.
"Without help from the rider in the form of small, balancing corrections, the horse's speed begins to increase," Avila said.
By bending the horse's neck to the outside in an effort to stop the horse from falling in, the horse's center of gravity falls toward the middle of the circle. "These changes happen quickly in the context of the canter, and the result is an unbalanced, uncomfortable horse," Avila said. "The rider's negative influence has created problems that the horse ends up powerless to rectify. Usually the horse breaks gait, still unbalanced."
Sometimes this incorrect bend can lead to such crookedness that the horse's haunches are not following his forehand. "A horse will displace his haunches in an effort to stay more comfortable while traveling on a circle, and it is the rider's job to determine the root cause and correct the problem," she said.
When Avila observes an extremely crooked horse during a Dressage test, she knows the " training regimen at home needs an overhaul."
"Mere rider corrections during the test itself will not fix the problem," she said. "The horse may have an unsoundness. But more often than not, displaced haunches are a result of incorrect riding - too much hand, not enough impulsion, a one-sided rider - the list of possibilities is nearly endless."
Avila advises riders not to blame their horses for balance and bending problems, but to understand why a horse may have a tough time balancing. "Riders must work to be, at the very least, a neutral influence on their equine partners, always remembering that a good dressage test is the product of both horse and rider working positively together," she said.
