The six elements of the training scale interact with and depend on one another — they don’t work alone. It helps if you visualise the scale as a pyramid, with each layer representing one scale.
It’s important to achieve each stage before moving on to the next. You can’t, for example, achieve contact without having rhythm and suppleness in place first.
However, the six layers shouldn’t be treated as a list to work your way through and the lower rungs should be revisited throughout your horse’s training.
Rhythm
Rhythm should be both:
1. Regular and correct for each pace. Establishing a solid rhythm helps to develop strength, stamina, and proper equine conditioning.
2. The same tempo (speed of the rhythm) and this should have a pronounced beat to it. The horse should not speed up or slow down whether he is going around a corner or on a straight line, whether he is lengthening his strides or shortening them.
Suppleness
The aim is that the horse’s muscles have tone and are free from resistance, his joints are loose and he does not tighten against the rider’s aids.
Developing elasticity and relaxation and preventing “blocking” through the horse fosters the ability to shorten and lengthen strides between jumps smoothly and without tension. A supple horse is a comfortable one, less likely to refuse at jumps.
Connection/Contact
The ideal contact is a light, even and elastic feel in both reins which is achieved by aids from the legs and seat, not the hands. The legs are applied as a driving aid, causing the horse to step under more and work ‘through’ those muscles along his top line – over the back, neck, through the poll, and the rider feels the energy thus created in the reins. When the contact is established in this way his outline and steps will be ‘round’, not hollow and in the trot and canter, springy and not flat. The horse is then said to be ‘connected’. Better connection and communication between horse and rider; create a respectful ride where we understand what the horse is looking for and the horse is inexplicably clear on what our cues mean.
Remember, when training your horse to understand the contact, there are three types of contact you can work with:
- Perfect contact
This is when the horse is soft and light in the hand. - Educational contact
- The rider takes more weight in the rein than they would ideally want, and they use that weight (through their feel) to manoeuvre the bit in the horse’s mouth to relax the jaw. It shouldn’t be necessary to use this contact for more than two or three strides at a time, but it’s use can be repeated frequently until the horse understands the softening through the rein. It’s important to remember that the horse must be in front of the leg to justify using this aid.
- Reward contact
After the educational contact has been used, the rider must give the hand forward to reward the horse with a softer feel. If the horse has understood the educational contact, the outline and speed of the pace will remain the same, and the horse will be in self-carriage.
Impulsion
This is the contained power of the horse. It is created in the hindquarters by getting him to take more energetic steps, to place his hind legs further under his body and it is contained by the rein contact that stops him from using up this extra energy to simply go faster. Any resistance and tightening of muscles, ligaments and joints will block this energy getting through, so he must be supple and connected to be able to build up real impulsion.
Riders aim to create enough impulsion to develop the horse’s ability and to show off his athleticism, but not so much that it cannot be controlled. The skill of the rider is to create as much energy as can be contained without the horse starting to pull and speed up.
Straightness
Horses, like humans, are born one sided and will tend to move forward with their bodies slightly curved. This crookedness can get worse if a rider sits to one side and/or keeps a stronger contact in one rein than the other. When a horse is crooked, it will be more difficult for him to stay balanced and develop impulsion.
The aim is that the hind legs step into the tracks of the forelegs, both on a straight line and on a circle, and that the rider has an even feel in his reins. Achieving this straightness in the horse, and balance in the rider is not only correct from a muscular perspective, it allows for jumps to be approached with precision and control.
Collection
Collection makes the horse a better ride, more manoeuvrable, more powerful and easier to control. To achieve this, his balance has to be changed as he has to adjust to carry the weight of the rider in the most efficient way. Through training, the horse is taught how to carry more and more weight on his hindquarters. This lightens his forehand, giving him more freedom to move his shoulders and becoming an easier and more athletic ride.
The ability to ask and receive collection is the ultimate in demonstrating physical development in the horse, balance and true harmony between horse and rider.
As a rule, the Scales of Training are approached in order but there are times when one is skipped over to work on another. However, until the horse works with rhythm, it will be difficult to make him supple and until supple, contact will be difficult and until contact is true, impulsion will be impossible.
