Serenity
| Training scale of the FN |
|---|
| balance |
When riding or driving, slackness describes the state in which a horse runs with swaying back, neck stretched forward and without rushing with natural, rhythmic and relaxed movements and reacts to the help of the rider or driver. Looseness is the second level on the horse training scale.
Casual versus relaxed
With the term “active slackness”, Seunig points out the difference between “informality” and slackness and defines the latter as “a product of trusting informality and the energy of the walk awakened by driving with its consequences, the full muscle vibrations”.
“ The horse walks casually without having hit the reins that have been held out for a long time, but only let go when, as a result of the driving aids, it has sought it out. "
There are therefore also hard work, drive and the "pre-stretching to the hand" that analogy , the concept of suppleness. The individual goals of the training scale do not follow one another. They cannot be achieved in isolation; instead, an improvement in slackness, for example, usually also leads to an improvement in the rhythm.
aims
Looseness is a prerequisite for any further training . The rhythmic movements are only correct if they go over the swaying back and the muscles of the horse are relaxed and relaxed. Tact and serenity complement each other. In detail, the following should be achieved:
- Warming up of muscles, tendons and ligaments (→ improved blood circulation, prevention of signs of wear and tear)
- Improvement of the back activity
- Activation of swinging through and stepping up the hind legs (→ achieve and maintain performance)
- Requirements for leaning, momentum and gathering
Characteristics of serenity
The slackness can be recognized by the carried but relaxed tail , the swinging of the back with the rhythm of the movement, the chewing of the mouth and the snorting.
- Satisfied facial expression (eyes, ears)
- Evenly swaying back
- Closed, actively chewing mouth
- Carried tail oscillating with movement
- Snorting off (inner satisfaction)
- Forward-Downward Stretching
- Approaching the bit and pushing away from it (relative straightening)
Achieving serenity
Relaxation is achieved in the daily work through the solution phase at the beginning of the riding. This begins with the work in the crotch , which both serves to warm the muscles and improves the mobility of the musculoskeletal system through the formation of synovial fluid . Already in this phase the loosening of the horse begins with side movements and curved lines with hand changes . Then the horse can be made loose and relaxed at a trot with similar exercises, differences in tempo or working over bars and cavaletti are also suitable .
Also the renewed solution phase after the work phase - which still has nothing to do with strolling, but still requires hard work - serves to achieve relaxation. Of course, after this solving work, there is nothing wrong with strolling, walking in the country or the like, because this serves the satisfaction and mental balance of horse and rider.
Other solving lessons under the tab are:
- Middle step with surrendered / on the long rein (neck control)
- Trot work (working trot) on large curved lines in a light trot (to relieve the back and to facilitate breathing, the rider also loosens)
- Gallop work (working canter) on large curved lines (possibly in a light seat)
- frequent changes of hands
- Transitions (trot - walk, trot - gallop)
- Leg yielding and "letting go"
- Extend kicks and jumps (activation of the hindquarters, development / maintenance of the forward urge)
- frequent "chewing-the-reins-out-of-the-hand" to check the slackness
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Waldemar Seunig: From the paddock to the caper. The training of the riding horse . With an afterword by Bertold Schirg. 2. Reprint of the edition Berlin 1943, Hildesheim etc. 2001 ( Documenta Hippologica ), ISBN 3-487-08348-5 , pages 58, 282, 227