Part 1: the beginning
I wanted to train
Jackson to do a
correct piaffe. I
knew this included
having him able to
lower his haunches.
Because of this, I
never attempted the
piaffe until I saw
that Jackson had the
ability to do this
somewhat.
A lot of strength
came originally (I
think) from
Jackson’s learning
to sit on a couple
of hay bales. Which
I believe is a great
exercise. Then I saw
his ability to
“squat” when he was
doing the terre a
terre at liberty. I
tried to capture
this lowering of the
haunches, first at
liberty then on long
lines. I did this by
using clicker
training when he
would squat.
Then I began to see
if I could use
endotapping to get
some steps of the
piaffe from the
trot. My endotapping
is rather a bad
example as I do not
quite have the hang
of it. I have
learned how to do it
better through this
work, though.
If I were to start
over again, I would
do a lot more of the
beginning work from
the walk. Now that I
know how to do the
endotapping better,
I think starting
from the walk would
have been a lower
pressure way to
train.
However, with all
the training that I
had done on Jackson,
he quickly learned
to go slower on the
long lines. I would
tap his rump and ask
him, with the reins,
to slow down. My
tapping was very
fast, too fast even.
I should have slowed
down and matched the
tapping with his
stride. If I had
done that, it would
have slowed the
tempo down.
I knew enough that
the piaffe was a
forward movement to
allow Jackson to go
forward after
slowing him down,
but I should have
kept him in a better
frame when he went
forward.
Also, I should have
worked Jackson more
evenly to both sides
as well as doing
more lateral work
with him to help him
balance and bend
correctly. I also
worked Jackson too
long at a time. JP
Giacomini says to
keep piaffe training
to about 5 minutes a
day. Even today, I
still want to make
lots of progress and
make my sessions too
long.
Early on, I would
keep going too long
and Jackson would
get frustrated. I
try harder now to
not let that happen.
Another thing that I
tried to do was to
release the pressure
on the reins as much
as I could.
Certainly I failed
at this many times,
but my goal was
always to allow the
horse to piaffe not
provoke him into
doing it. A worthy
goal, but still hard
to keep sight of.
It wasn’t perfect,
it wasn’t beautiful.
All I can say is
that I have a
wonderful horse who
tries so hard to
please me. And I
have wonderful
friends who are so
helpful and want me
to succeed.
Until next time…
Ivy