Written for riders who wish to extend their horses' athletic lives
and make them better, happier performers, this guide defines the
practice of collection and explains how to train horses in it.
Collection, or self-carriage, involves a horse carrying more weight
on its hind legs than its front legs, allowing it to move more
easily and perform more beautifully--but it can be difficult to
achieve. Exercises for varying skill levels, riding styles, and
horses help riders learn what qualifies as collection and how to
attain it. Tips on how to avoid the most common bad habits and
mistakes are also included in this manual that is beneficial to
riders and horses everywhere.Collection is one of the most
misunderstood concepts in Western and English riding. Everyone
wants it, but few people know how to get it. World-class rider,
trainer, and clinician Lynn Palm now offers the one and only book
that explains away the mysteries of collection while telling you
exactly how to attain it. With 30 years experience riding and
training champion all-around performance horses, and a background
in dressage, Lynn has perfected an easy-to-use system of exercises
that gradually collect any type of horse, regardless of his build,
and that are of particular value to stock horse breeds such as
Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas.
Lynn assures us that every horse can achieve and move in a
collected frame with time and patience, and learning how to bring
him into true collection helps you improve his performance; create
a more willing equine partner; extend his physical and mental
longevity; and enjoy riding him even more than you already do. Real
collection proves elusive because--until now--the instructions for
achieving it have been complex, incomplete, or even incorrect. The
result (false collection) is often based on a forced headset and
little else. This is uncomfortable and unhealthy for the horse, and
can lead to behavioral problems and physical breakdown.
Real collection is actually a complete tail-to-nose package of
supple muscle and hind-end-generated impulsion: the hind legs step
further under the body, the horse's back rounds, he flexes at the
poll, and the rider's seat, legs, and hands connect it all. It is
with this "frame," as it has come to be called, that the horse
becomes more athletic--his forehand lightens, enabling him to
maneuver his front end more quickly, his steps become cadenced, and
his movement free-flowing.
To achieve this desirable "fluidity," Lynn begins on the ground
with in-hand exercises--free lungeing, ground-driving, and
lungeing-and-bitting--to gain the horse's trust and improve his
responses to cues and commands. She then explains how you start in
the saddle with simple transitions--such as halt-walk-halt--and
gradually progress through stages that include more difficult
transitions between gaits and markers; lengthening and shortening
of stride; yielding on diagonal, straight, and curving lines; turns
on the forehand and haunches; shoulder-in and shoulder-fore;
haunches-in and haunches-out; half-pass; and simple and flying lead
changes.
As the horse gains conditioning and increases his strength over
time, long-and-low work and stretching down encourage him to "give"
to the bit and flex at the poll. This, in coordination with Lynn's
progressive exercises and training figures such as loops, figure
eights, and serpentines, eventually leads to the beautiful,
balanced frame of the responsive, collected horse that every rider
dreams of: happy, healthy, willing, and ready to be competitive in
the show pen or just simply a great pleasure to ride.
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