Riding in Lightness
"The disability from which I suffer is a great handicap, but there is a bright side to everything and my inability to apply the aids strongly has been a great lesson to me. I can use but very little force, and the results obtained by my weak efforts have convinced me that horses are generally over ridden; that much more strength than necessary is habitually used in applying the aids. The rider must reduce his actions to the very minimum and leave the horse the greatest possible freedom in his." Beudant
Équitation de légèreté is a French expression, which translated, means riding in lightness. It has a nice sound to it (when spoken in French) and is considered by many to be the Holy Grail of French riding. Initially, I had a rather limited understanding of the phrase, thinking it referred only to the lightness of the aids used, but the more I studied, the more meaning this phrase began to bring to my work.
Stacey Westfall’s 2006 ride on AQHA Wizard’s Baby Doll gave me goosebumps. It was a bareback, bridless performance of a reining pattern, and the idea that a horse could respond to such light aids inspired me. New questions about riding and training occupied my mind . How light could one’s aids be? How little could I do, to get such responsiveness out of my own horses? Who knows how to do this, and do it well, that I could go learn from? It become more than an interest. It became my obsession.
I shared a video of a Westfall ride with some french friends, indicating this kind of riding was one of my own horsemanship goals. Some approved, enjoyed the video, but others prodded me further about this goal. They could see and agreed, the horse was indeed responding to light aids, but not all of the elements of lightness were present.
“What about the rest?” they asked me.
“What do you mean? What else is there to lightness? What more could we hope for, from our horses? In what other ways could a horse possibly be light ? ” I was intrigued.
Équitation de légèreté is a French expression, which translated, means riding in lightness. It has a nice sound to it (when spoken in French) and is considered by many to be the Holy Grail of French riding. Initially, I had a rather limited understanding of the phrase, thinking it referred only to the lightness of the aids used, but the more I studied, the more meaning this phrase began to bring to my work.
Stacey Westfall’s 2006 ride on AQHA Wizard’s Baby Doll gave me goosebumps. It was a bareback, bridless performance of a reining pattern, and the idea that a horse could respond to such light aids inspired me. New questions about riding and training occupied my mind . How light could one’s aids be? How little could I do, to get such responsiveness out of my own horses? Who knows how to do this, and do it well, that I could go learn from? It become more than an interest. It became my obsession.
I shared a video of a Westfall ride with some french friends, indicating this kind of riding was one of my own horsemanship goals. Some approved, enjoyed the video, but others prodded me further about this goal. They could see and agreed, the horse was indeed responding to light aids, but not all of the elements of lightness were present.
“What about the rest?” they asked me.
“What do you mean? What else is there to lightness? What more could we hope for, from our horses? In what other ways could a horse possibly be light ? ” I was intrigued.
Those French friends with classical training shared with me the rest of the “recipe” for lightness, which is domestically attributed to the western vaqueros. Lightness cannot be limited to the loose rein, the lightness of the indications used to request action from the horse. Collection of the forces, a squared base of support, elevation of the withers and full engagement of the hindquarters, is the other half of lightness I was overlooking. This revelation had enormous significance. With this critical piece of information, a new paradigm came into focus for me. One half of “lightness” cannot properly be separated from the other. A horse cannot be completely light to the aids, completely and quickly responsive and available for transitions, if collection is not occurring; also, a horse cannot be elevated at the withers, light in the front end, if we are using the reins and bit with too much force. If any degree of force is used, the horse will lean on the bridle, thereby making it impossible for him to transfer weight to the hindquarters and lighten his front. This two-fold understanding of riding in lightness was monumental, yet exasperating. Instead of answering my questions about horsemanship, it only served to provoke more questions.
“How is it possible to elevate a horse’s withers, without pulling on the reins? And if I don’t pull, what is his incentive to lift his withers on his own? How do I ask him to make that weight transfer, from the front to the back, without actually interfering with his ability to do so?” I realized I had so very much more to learn, if I wanted to help my horses to become the agile, fluid athletes I knew they had the potential to be.
“How is it possible to elevate a horse’s withers, without pulling on the reins? And if I don’t pull, what is his incentive to lift his withers on his own? How do I ask him to make that weight transfer, from the front to the back, without actually interfering with his ability to do so?” I realized I had so very much more to learn, if I wanted to help my horses to become the agile, fluid athletes I knew they had the potential to be.
“Riding in lightness, collection on a loose rein, working the reata - these are some of the things that make up the horsemanship called Californio. Californio Style Horsemanship is how a rider might express the skills of the caballeros that came to the New World. It comes from roots that also spawned the Spanish Riding School and other classical dressage schools of Europe. It is a descendant from the horsemanship of the fighting man and the nobleman (caballero or knight) of Portugal and Spain.”
R.J.Sagely [Photo provided courtesy Sagely website]
R.J.Sagely [Photo provided courtesy Sagely website]
2.3.12 TME
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