Engagement._How_to_get_the_horse

Horse rider seat, posture & balance and
the horse's engagement

A horse is "engaged" when it "sits like a frog". With the two back legs BENT and the horse "sitting down", tail closer to the ground, so it can spring up into action!

You might think of two examples...the Spanish "levade" where the horse lifts the front feet off the floor, tail on the ground, or the reining sliding stop where the horse's legs are fully underneath them, and the tail on the floor!

Sadly, until we become masters ourselves...most of us are still "on the forehand"...

On the forehand...

When the horse's front legs are carrying more weight, the horse is on the forehand

When the horse has more weight on the front feet the feeling is jerky, the spring is less, the extension poorer - and it's not nearly as beautiful to watch, or to ride.

Gradually, we increase the strength and flexibility of the hind quarters to take more and more weight, so they can sit (and spring!) like a frog. This takes years and cannot be rushed. This is why things like "wide behind" is marked down. This is where the horse spreads the back legs apart and shows that the horse doesn't have the muscles & fitness to carry that amount of weight on the back legs, and spreads their legs to avoid it.

The rider can make 'on the forehand' worse - adding more weight to the front feet by looking down, dropping their chest, or leaning forward.

Testing your position

Imagine you are sitting on a saddle stand, like the ones you find in a saddlery store. And, you have a bathroom scale under each 'foot'. If if you lean forward, or look down, or slump your chest...the two front "feet" will be heavier, and the bathroom scales will weigh more in the front.

Correct aids

My first instructor said to me I didn't have strong enough legs to make it in riding!. I was so upset!   In my early years, all I heard was "drive the horse forward" and "use your legs" to engage the horse more.   To halt it was drive the horse (with the leg) into a more and more restricting hand.

But, now I realise what if I had no legs? A lot of my Riding for Disabled & other Paralympians I have seen, have no legs, either amputees, or wheel-chair bound and their legs don't work.   And they're not just competing with RDA, they're competing in regular OFFICIAL able-bodied competition - a couple at Grand Prix.   And their horses are engaged!

Have a look at the rider in the photo on champion stallion, Terminator Whizz.   Now that horse is more engaged than I could ever achieve with "legs" to a "more restricting hand". And...look at the rider's legs, and look at the light rein contact, and yet STILL he has more engagement than you see in the dressage horse. With that light contact, and that leg position, he must obviously be using a combination of great training and the rider's body position to create the sliding stop. But it can only be done with incredible fitness, strength & flexibility of the horse's spine & joints, and over years of correct, balanced training.

Our reining master and disabled rider both proove that there are OTHER ways to get weight on the quarters than "driving legs" & "restricting hands".

'Lifting' the horse in front

The little trick dog in the circus doesn't 'crank his neck in' and sit up. They bend their little back legs and sit on their tail. THAT's engagement. Engagement is taking more and more weight on the two back feet, and it's BECAUSE the tail is getting lower and lower to the ground that the front end lightens.

And, the fitter & stronger the dog, the longer they can sit.

Best tip....

The more erect the rider - the more the weight goes on the back feet, the more engaged the horse.   The more we slump, look down, and are round shouldered, the more weight we add to the two front feet.

QUICK TIPS

The Head Look up. Sooner or later, the camera will catch you looking down!

The Chest If you drop your chest, more weight goes on the two front feet. See: Raise your chest

The pelvis Check your pubic bone!   The tailbone must be heavier or YOU are on the forehand!

The torso The more erect the rider, the more engaged the horse (sit lightly on young horses)

The hands The rules says "thumbs as the highest point", or the judge must mark you down, because if the thumbs roll over & the elbows come out - the more weight goes on the two front 'bathroom scales'

The arms & elbows The further the distance between the rider's wrists & their belly buttons, the more weight on the two front bathroom scales.

The heels It is now an FEI rule that your heels must be down, or the judge must mark you down.   Heels down stops you falling forward.

The legs Using the legs aren't the only way to engage the horse - just ask my Paralympians!   If you look down on a surfboard the nose drops. If you look up, the nose lifts.   Simple as that

Cross training. Broaden your technique If your judges are saying "not enough engagement", then your technique is not working. Try cross training! Go for a reining lesson.   One sit on a trained reining horse could teach you so much (and is so much fun)! And, one surfing lesson will teach you all you need to know about putting the surfboard's nose up or down!

Homework.... Read the rule books, real the Federation texts, read as much as you can. Engagement is "sitting & carrying" behind not the rider falsely "lifting" in front.   Lightening in front is a RESULT of sitting behind, and should be offered by the horse, not created by the rider.

Engagement...

Engagement is
"sitting & carrying"

"Lightening in front"
is a RESULT of
sitting behind,
and should be
offered by the horse,
not created by the rider.