Downward Transitions: Horse-Training Basics
Downward Transitions: Horse-Training Basics
Downward transitions are a softening of the rider, not an increase of backward pressure.
In a good downward transition, the horse’s head and neck will stay balanced and his poll soft. He sort of compresses himself from the back end, lowering his back end, keeping his front in balance. For the transition to be smooth and maintain rhythm, the hind legs must stay up under the horse, and the horse must not be forced onto the forehand.
A lot of people don’t understand that downward transitions are done with the seat and the leg and very little rein. You have to use rein correctly, but the rein is the least important part. It’s the seat and the rhythm.
Keep your body weight centered. Tell the horse to transition downward with the pelvic bone of your seat – that’s all that moves. Your seat bones sit deeper, your legs go deeper, and your legs should close on the horse to keep his hind legs coming forward.
When you’re learning transitions, go slowly. Start with working on “walk to stop,” then gradually move up to “trot to walk,” “canter to trot” and “canter to walk.” When you’re making good downward transitions, the horse will feel light to your hands, because he has to be in good self-carriage to do them.
Common Problems with Downward Transitions
The biggest thing people do wrong in any downward transition is to stand up and pull. That’s what people tend to do when they get panicky. They either get forward by pushing up off the horse, or they lean back, stand up and pull on the reins.
Any time you pull back on a horse’s face, it’s his natural response to take a shorter step behind. When you lean back, stand up and pull on the horse’s face, it hollows his back, and he can’t get his hind legs under him. He will immediately go on the forehand and resist because you’re pushing him out of balance.
In response, sometimes horses throw their heads down; sometimes they throw their heads up. Regardless, they lose the carriage of their shoulders and forehand. Then they can’t make a nice downward transition and will just push through the reins.
Even though a horse’s head is up he can still be on the forehand. His head up or down doesn’t have anything to do with him being on the forehand – it’s where his body weight is.
Correct Aids for Downward Transitions
Seat
You have to sit in the center of the horse. Think about your seat bones as if they were two sled runners. When you cue for the downward transition, you slide those sled runners down into the horse’s back, from back to front, like brakes. So the lower part of the pelvis where the seat bones are comes forward, and the top part of your pelvis tips back.
As you slide those sled runners down, you let your centered body weight come straight down on the horse. The back needs to be straight, not leaning forward or back. Don’t collapse or slump: keep your ribcage up and sit up straight.
When you slide your seat bones into the horse’s back and keep your body straight, from the side your body will look like a little “j.”
Legs
As you sit, you lengthen your leg down and close it softly. It’s “sit, close.” That way you keep forward motion all the way through the transition, with the hind legs still coming under.
It’s different from a spur stop; you don’t raise your heels and poke with a spur. You just soften your body and close your legs down and in to soften the transition.
Reins
Don’t pull back on the reins; it ruins the horse’s forward motion. Instead, take the reins forward and up just a hair. Keep very light contact with the horse’s mouth, almost only the weight of the reins. It helps balance the horse. The hands go forward and lift up a little so the horse feels the weight of the rein and knows to give at the poll.
Think of the reins not as producing the downward transition, but as keeping the head from falling forward and down. The reins help the head stay in place, balanced and soft – but it’s the body that slows down.
How to Ride a Downward Transition
Release Your Breath
As you start the downward transition, try letting your own breath out. Say out loud the gait you want, slowly letting your air out as you say it: “Joooog,” or “trrroot.”
That helps you settle down the horse. Yes, the horse hears it, but what’s important is that letting your breath out relaxes your body.
When we want to do something, especially if we’re worried about it, we often hold our breath, making us stiff. A stiff body affects how the horse performs and responds.
Speak the Rhythm
Try speaking the gait out loud. For example, if you are are cantering and want the horse to drop to a trot,say, “Canter, canter, canter” with the stride, and then “Trot, trot, trot,” in the exact same rhythm.
By learning to stay in rhythm with your horse, you will be able to ask for the downward transition in rhythm. Then when you do ask for that downward transition, the horse’s weight-bearing legs will be in the proper position.
If you’re relaxed and saying it out loud, you maintain the rhythm in your mind and will automatically use your legs and seat correctly.
Practice Without Using Reins
It’s hard to realize you can stop a horse by simply sitting down and balancing the reins.
A good way to practice is to have someone longe you while you ride, so you can make downward transitions without reins. Hold your hands in correct riding position and work off your seat and legs.
You can also tie your reins in a knot and drop them while you ride in an enclosed arena or round pen. Pick a time when your horse is warmed up and try downward transitions from a walk to a stop without the reins. Make sure you tie them so you can easily reach them if your horse drops his head.
Work on Going Down to a Walk
Work on transitioning down to a walk and maintaining rhythm. You have to really use your seat and legs to maintain that walk.
Once you have good transitions to a walk, then going down to a stop is easy because all you do is sit, hold everything together and think “right now.” It’s just a higher degree of asking.
Upward Transitions
On the flip side of downward transitions are upward transitions.