I would say that TACT (appropriateness and measure of the aids) is built by observation (self-awareness of our actions and of the horse’s reactions) and memory of the feedback we get from the horse.

A good teacher can guide us into using adequate actions when we ride—which way to affect the horse with hands, legs and seat—but that is only a general theoretical approach that is true for most horses, most of the time, but is not necessarily adapted exactly to the very horse we ride today. Even if the teacher rides the horse before the student gets back on, the advanced rider will not match the student’s experience and there are limits to what will transpire from one to the other. On the other hand, the teacher can create a “new horse” that will be easier to ride for the student because he will be better balanced and more obedient as a result.

The accurate adaptation needed for good riding can only be effected, second by second, by our attention to the feedback we receive from the horse. Observers often imagine that a good rider has a plan and follows it regardless of the horse. Rather, a horseman (including myself) must rely on the feelings the horse gives, in order to act accordingly and immediately. Consequently, this near synchronicity between the horseman’s or my actions and the horse’s reactions fools the observer into believing that I know what I am doing when in fact I am learning as I go and the horse is the teacher. This is a form of riding “by the seat of one’s pants”, and not all trainers will admit to doing so.

The instructor can help the student identify the wrong actions and make suggestions to what to do instead, but the measure of these actions is really up to the rider to guess by trial and error (”the rapid intelligent failure” concept).

One can take lessons everyday but if no responsibility is taken by the rider for the learning, little progress will be made.

A lesson is like the “Spanish Inn” of old: you get to eat what you bring to the table.

My students at home make great progress because I allow them to take charge of the training they are doing on my horses, under my supervision. I give them guidance, but I also provide the room for them to think and act from their own experiences. It is working quite well and the horses are progressing very well (and so are the students whose progress is measured by what the horse can do comfortably and repeatedly).

“Feel” is just another name for “Equestrian Tact” the cornerstone of riding and training, since the art was started 500 years ago (and already described by Xenophon, 2000 years prior.
JP Giacomini

Q: JP, I’m so confused. I am told so many different things about how to aid for lateral work like a shoulder-in. Which of the horse’s legs bear more weight in lateral work? Help me understand this.

A: The outside lateral pair of legs will bear slightly more weight than the other lateral pair when they hit the ground, in their good time, according to the sequence of each gait.

On another note, La Gueriniere used lateral inside aids for the shoulder-in (making it effectively a leg yield), others use a diagonal aids (inside leg and outside rein). I prefer to use lateral outside aids for 3 reasons:
~ the contact on the outside rein is congruent to the horse being bent to the inside
~ the use of the outside leg helps the outside hind (and even the outside front) to track straight ahead instead of too much to the side.
~ on the other hand, I find that the excessive use of the inside leg tends to contracts the side of the horse (the intercostal muscles) and reduce the forward push of that leg.

Outside lateral aids fit well with having the weight lead the horse (which is after all the natural effect of inertia) because the weight takes the horse sideways and the outside aids channel this momentum forward, like a “human wall”. The outside leg works like the wall and it becomes indispensable when the shoulder-in is perfomed anywhere in the arena away from the wall.

However, this is theory, and practice can be quite different. In the process of creating and controlling the shoulder in, the rider may well use lateral inside aids, diagonal outside aids and lateral outside aids in turn, according to the problems encountered or to be prevented. In training horses, one cannot be too dogmatic and rely instead on feel and timing to adapt to the reality of each horse in the moment of training. This may sound confusing right now. As you practice and experiment, feel what is happening. Then come back and ask more questions. I’ll be happy to help.

Thanks for asking.

JP

The rider’s seat is attached to the saddle and should remain in the front of it in order to fit the “collected thorax” of the horse (lifted ribcage with engaged core muscles). The saddle is attached to the front of the thorax, so the hips of the rider are basically attached to the front of the thorax. When the horse turns, the outside of the thorax advances, so does the outside hip of the rider.

If the seat of the rider correctly accompanies the outward axial rotation of the thorax in the bend, the bend is taken care of and there is no need to keep the outside leg back to “control” the haunches of the horse.

When we want to control the landing position of the front feet, we use the actions of the hands “north” of the 9:00/3:00 line that crosses the withers lungitudinal axis at a right angle.

When we want to control the landing position of the hind feet, we use the actions of the hands “south” of the 9:00/3:00 line. This implies the positioning of the rider’s shoulders to influence the positioning of the haunches of the horse.

This system works really quite well because the horses respond to it naturally (with the need for a special education reduced to a minimum). It leaves the rider’s legs available for forwardness or engagement/ collection and reduces their need for pushing the horse laterally to a minimum. Show-jumpers, who are particularly concerned with the speed and cleanliness of turns, and not theoretical knowledge, use this sytem. It works for me.
JP

Here are two concepts which are related, but different—-some people are riders, and some are trainers, few are both.

We don’t ask horses to assimilate intellectual concepts, but physical concepts, just like a gymnast or a dancer. A dressage test or an obstacle course is a choreography made of many elements: desire to go forward, response to the aids, ability to slow down and keep the balance and energy level, the unnatural straightness of the body, the lightness to the hand and the leg, the ability to do the exercises (such as counter-changes of hand at the canter or jumping a triple or a “skinny” cross-country, or cutting a particular cow out of a herd), getting use to a routine and the surrounding of the performance without losing calm and composure.

None of that is natural and it all requires a specific progression based on the technique of the rider (the ability to ride the movement), the tactique of the lesson (the logical steps of each session) and the strategy of the training (the way we choose a progression that suits not only the equestrian goal we are attempting, but also the particular personality of our equine student).

The horses who manage to learn all those concepts become successful race horses or lesson horses or rehab horses or dressage horses or cross-country horses or rodeo pick up horses or bullfighters. They KNOW what is expected of them and they have a skills set that can get them to perform at a level that is a long way beyond the actual requests of their riders. Event horses know that the red flag is on the right and the white flag is on the left and they jumps corners even though there is no way on this green Earth you can make them do it if they didn’t want to. Same goes for bullfighters: you can’t get a horse to gallop in the face of a charging bull if A/ he doesn’t know his hob and B/ he doesn’t love his job.

Well trained horses actually LIKE their job and some even LOVE it and will do it with gusto in spite of the physical impairments of age. I remember the old long rein horse of the SRS that (I believe) Ernst Bachinger used to show in the 70′. He was pretty lame due to founder but that never showed on stage, only before and after his performance. He was a true artist and went on for years. Training is uniquely valuable which is why well trained horses are valuable and the ones who will perform really well for average riders are worth a fortune.

Now let’s consider the importance of equitation (riding). Good riders can make a trained horse perform and sometimes can fool a green horse into doing more than he knows. Mark Todd won Badminton on Southern Comfort who was still pretty green at the time, but the horse never performed at that level again with his subsequent rider because he was not actually trained.

The jumping world is full of riders who are excellent “pilots” that couldn’t train their way out of paper bag. The “preparators” of horses are well known and very appreciated because they can “make” a jumper, even if they don’t have the skill set to win in competition. In fact the qualities of the 2 types are nearly opposite. Truly competitive riders get everything out of a horse, trainers only get just enough out of a horse that he enjoys the performance and wants to do more tomorrow. I remember Peter Robeson jumping a difficult horse and his wife watching him from the in-gate and telling him when to get out (after 8 fences, or nine or whatever, the right number to get him out of the ring at his best and before he got excited) – that’s training). Peter Robeson was both a winner and a trainer, a very rare combination. John Whitaker, Hans Gunther Winkler and Nelson Pessoa are part of that very select club of riders/trainers.

It is a fallacy to think that perfect equitation will ever be enough to train a horse. Bad equitation is enough to ruin a good horse. Good equitation is necessary to become, eventually, a good trainer, but it is not nearly enough.

I am currently editing a book of correspondence between Michel Henriquet and Nuno Oliveira. It is full of training advice for Michel to help him resolve his difficulties with his own horses. It also has other vignettes describing Nuno’s training of different horses and resolving problems. It shows treasures of experience, planning and skill that go well beyond his formidable command of equitation. Equitation is a vehicle, like the skill of typing the words on a keyboard. We still have to write the book that spells the training of the horse.

You have much to discover. Good luck on your journey.

JP

When you don’t know how to play piano, the first thing is to learn to play the piano. This is what equitation is, but first somebody had to build the piano—which is what dressage is. NO horse is born doing the Grand Prix, and even less, doing it well.
Once you have learned to ride horses, then the hard work starts, which is how to train them. I am still learning that one.

JP

The fixed leg is an important part of riding but it has a special technique: in order to keep the calf in one place while the seat is also fixed toward the front of the saddle, the knee has to be free to move because of the relative motion of the sternum and the withers, particularly at the canter. When the front legs move forward, the sternum moves like a pendulum. When the front legs move back, the withers move like an inverted pendulum. So to accommodate this series of motions while the lower leg stays on one spot with the seat forward in the saddle implies a loose thigh and knee that absorbs the pendulum/counter pendulum motion. A leg that is immobile from top to bottom cannot be fixed in relation to the horse’s side. The relaxation of the thigh in a lowered position is what is needed to control the leg (fixity and placement in different location for various purposes.

We’ll discuss this interesting topic more.
JP

The legs must be very soft, close to the horse, but not in permanent contact, and when in contact, by no more than their own weight, so the slightest contraction of the calf is felt as intentional by the horse. Oliveira and Klimke—both beautiful riders, neither of them rode with the leg glued to the horse’s side

As described by Miranda (Nuno’s teacher) “the legs must be of cotton wool” until they came to action in a low voltage, electric touch, or in a soft pressure that is released as soon as the effect is obtained. Raabe recommended the leg forward to obtain relaxation and back to obtain impulsion (pressure for relaxation – effet d’ensemble on the spur and “attacks” for impulsion – little jabs, taps or single blow if needed. (These action verbs are meant in their lightest, most subtle of strengths.)

The relaxation of the legs is what makes horses function in a relaxed way, even more than our hands, because the legs address the entire trunk of the horse where all the flexibility of the back and the swing occur.

Fixity of the leg, as inferred when you read that your leg must remain still or in contact, is useful and must be achieved but not at the cost of rigidity, so be careful to remain “floppy” enough and not too “pretty”, when the fixed leg creates a braced back and a rigid neck

JP

First your leg doesn’t have to be always under you. There are a few situations where your leg needs to be at the girth. Bending is one of them.

In order to bend the horse, the most effective technique is to lower the outside stirrup by placing your outside ear above your outside foot. By doing that, you bring the middle of the horse outward and the horse ends up naturally bending around your inside leg, lifting the inside of his back. You end up SEATED (passively) on the inside as a result of you SITTING (actively) on the outside. This natural way of bending the horse makes your horse bring his nose to the inside of the bend and take contact with the outside rein as a result. This is the proper way (biomechanically correct) to bend the horse.

Let me know if that works for you or if you need more details.

Take care, JP

Dear all,

The subject of Nuno Oliveira as teacher came up on the other list and his ability was questioned. It made me think about it and answer the poster with some details about NO as a teacher. I thought some of you might be interested in this historical personage who has changed the way a number of people ride nowadays. A number of books are coming out about Nuno and his students (all by XenophonPress.com) that will increase his influence in the English speaking world. “Dressage of French Tradition” by Dom Diogo de Braganca is coming out in the next 30 days, for which I wrote an introduction of the English edition. This book is a masterpiece in the sense that it explains the nature and philosophy of the French tradition through the last 4 centuries. A technical history of dressage.

Another book I am currently reviewing previous to publication is “30 years of correspondence between NO and Michel Henriquet”. Makes for fascinating reading about some details of Nuno’s training sessions on a number of horses. Another book I am translating for probably a spring release is “Paroles of Master Nuno Oliveira” by Antoine de Coux. It is a compendium of notes taken by a pupil during 20 years of attending clinics and is full of gems that absolutely everybody can use with great benefit in their daily work. Nuno was the “premier equestrian mind of the 20th century” and has such deserved to be studied by anybody who is serious about their riding. So find my notes below on the man as teacher.

He was excellent at matching riders with the horse that would teach them the most. He had an idea of riding that was special to him, “a different Rome”, as was mentioned before and he was great at sharing that by example and by the lectures he delivered during his classes. I found that he has influenced me to this day through what I saw, what I heard and what I did under his supervision.

I am currently translating a book called “Paroles of Master Nuno Oliveira” by Antoine de Coux for Xenophon Press. It is a compendium of his teachings collected during years of lessons. It is extremely practical advice and deserves riders’ attention, regardless of their school of thought. 45 years after I heard this advice for the first time, it still resonates in my mind and I would certainly say that this was excellent teaching, otherwise I wouldn’t still remember it to this day and do my best to pass it on to my students.

JP

Dear Reader,
Nuno trained literally 100 of young people from the Portuguese aristocracy and others to ride. They started on the old vaulting horse, went on learning to jump and then practiced dressage on the horses he had trained with the help of his assistant Abel Carvalho (grandfather of Goncalo Carvalho of the Portuguese School who rode Rubi at WEG 2010). Dona Pilar de Borbon, past president of the
FEI had fond memories of the lessons she and her brother King Juan Carlos took from this “magnificent professor” (I am quoting her).

The professionals who took lessons with him compose a long list: his son Joao, Dr Guilherme Borba, founding professor of the Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and founding director of the Portuguese School studied with him for 17 years; my friend Filipe Graciosa, the current director of the Portuguese School studied with him for 6 years; Joao Trigueiros d’Aragao, whose pictures grace the
pages of the Braganca book also studied with him for many years; Dom Luis and Dom Jose D’Athayde (my teacher and riding director of the Alter Real National Stud); Dom Diogo de Braganca (author of the upcoming book by Xenophon Press) studied with him for 6 years; Dr Jaime Celestino da Costa, a student of Nuno’s master Goncalves de Miranda and was later a student of Nuno; the Veiga Brothers
(leading breeders of the famous Veiga horse); my mentor Fernando d’Andrade (breeder of the Andrade horses and noted Portuguese author, founder of the Lusitano Studbook) and all his sons all studied with him; Michel Henriquet (author and teacher of his Olympic rider wife Catherine) studied with him for 25 years on and off; Master Luis Valenca Rodrigues followed his path for years; the whole of Saumur, in particular Jean Marie Donnard took lessons with him, as did
Major Angioni (Olympic Gold medalist in Tokyo); 100s of people from France, Belgium (Laurenty, Sue Oliveira , Christiane Farnir), Spain (Juan Matute a student of Joao Oliveira) , Peru (Gustavo Rizzopatron), Costa Rica, the Philippines (Jean Claude Menut) took lessons with him along with a few Americans such as Bettina Drummond and her mother Phyllis Field. Many of those riders had a lot of students and Nuno’s influence through his “grandchildren” is enormous,
especially in his country where many people can trace their education to him, such as the students of international coach Francisco Cancella D’Abreu who teaches in Spain, Portugal and Brazil and was a long time student of Borba. Those are only the names of the few I can think of at the drop of a hat. Maybe he was bored when he taught at the Maryland place and maybe the students were disappointing to him or maybe he was tired. Yet many found it quite worthwhile
to listen to him when he was fully engaged and never minded his occasional distraction. I can hardly believe that all those people went to him long before he became a “legend”, because he was a bad teacher. Quite the contrary.

I personally learned a huge amount from him and his student Dom Jose Athayde (and to a lesser extent from Borba) and his message was well explained enough that I have been able to pass it on through 1000 of lessons on 4 continents. I will agree with Paula that Nuno was more into describing the “spirit of the work” rather than its details, except with the students who really interested him. Yet that information was really useful for who cared to absorb it. It all depends on the level of the students: some need the painstaking details, others need the guiding idea and work from there. I find
that if the idea is clear, the details will appear in good time. Nuno’s lesson horses did that detail work for him. I personally teach the details to the riders who are learning the equitation of it all and the spirit of training to the ones who have the details already. It may be the job of the teacher to decide what, when and how but no teacher can be all things to all people.

Ultimately, it is the job of the student to find the way to learn and assimilate the information presented. Some teachers can do the bullet points technique needed for a clinic and others present the big book that constitutes the building of a body of knowledge presented in a college course and needed to create our own deep understanding. If the student is only ready for the bullet point when meeting a big book teacher, they are going to be like 2 ships passing
in the night. Nuno had the biggest book of all.

JP