Lateral Work and the Young Horse
How soon is too soon to get started?
My answer to the question of ‘can lateral work be introduced to the young horse too soon?’ is: yes! In most situations it most certainly can, but there’s one exception to the rule. Let’s look at the three most common scenarios so that you can make an informed decision about what’s right for your horse.
Scenario 1: The Traditionally Trained Horse
Almost all the horses I come across these days have been trained the Traditional way, meaning using methods riders and trainers have learned directly, from in-person experience (lessons/clinics etc) with their instructors/trainers. The ‘tradition’ of riding, and horse training ‘know-how’ being passed down through the generations directly.
As you know, this usually means sending the young horse off to an expert to be started under saddle. The trainer normally does some groundwork as part of the process, but s/he has the horse for only a short amount of time, often just a matter of weeks, so the focus is on getting the riding happening.
In this scenario, the education of the horse is entirely left to the owner/rider and there is a lot to cover before lateral work should be attempted.
Dressage is a progressive training system, meaning key building blocks need to be in place before we can move on to the more difficult movements.
Freely forward movement
The horse must be willing to travel freely forward in all gaits, he must be ‘in front of the leg’ before lateral work can begin. This means when you ‘rev the engine’ you get a response straight away.
A horse with a good work ethic is one that complies with the rider’s requests with no brace or tension. Tension shows itself in many ways, from the obvious tail swishing, ear pinning, head shaking, napping and baulking, to the much less obvious red flags such as breath-holding, braced back and tense jaw.
Free forward movement requires an absence of tension in the physical, mental and emotional. This can take a long time; many, many months and sometimes years. In fact, some horse and rider combos never achieve it.
Acceptance of contact
In order to sculpt our horse’s body into the shapes we need him to learn for lateral work, the horse must be accepting of our use of contact. Whether bited or bitless, if the contact creates physical resistance in the horse’s body our efforts will be lost before we’ve even got started. How can I influence the horse’s hind leg with my hand? If there’s brace anywhere along the fascial chains from the jaw to the limbs then I can’t.
The horse’s jaw is intrinsically linked to the rest of his body through chains of muscles. Most riders are familiar with the concept of the dorsal chain, otherwise known as the ‘topline’. These chains are like a string of sausages; each sausage may be its own individual, but they’ll all joined by a casing of facia that allows them to work as one. Any tensions or blockages anywhere along the chain will rob the horse of this ability to move in a whole-bodied way.
Only when the horse is accepting of the contact can the bit be used for the subtlest form of communication and become a training tool of great refinement.
Adjustability
It’s too soon to start lateral work if we haven’t first got the ability to show the horse straightness. Right now I might hear you saying, ‘but, Jessica, true straightness is a long term goal and impossible for the young horse.’ That’s right, but in order to show him what straightness is like we need to have the adjustability to put him back on course when he strays. Not to say that there’s any expectation of him maintain that straightness, just that we can influence it by adjusting his vertical balance.
Scenario 2: Not a Dressage Horse
Not all riders have dressage aspirations or even ride the Equestrian disciplines, but the physical benefits of lateral work can help every horse learn to carry their rider in a healthier and less tiring way, keeping them sounder for longer.
Lateral work has a big role in many working horse disciplines and is a big focal point in Western training as well as in Dressage. Having been exclusively an Equestrian rider myself, a couple of years ago I was surprised to discover there are actually quite a lot of similarities between the highest form of western riding and Classical Dressage. Different gear and different terminology, but physiologically and philosophically the same thing.
All the same pre-requisites apply to non-dressage horses (free forward movement, acceptance of contact and adjustability) they may just be known by different names.
Scenario 3: The Classically Trained Horse
There are a small number of Classical Masters to be found around the world today (if you’re in my neck of the woods you may be familiar with Manolo Mendez). However; the majority of our learning as modern Classical riders come from the legacies left behind from the Great Masters of the (Neo)Classical times; through their books, theories and philosophies. If we’re really lucky we might have access to someone who has been studying Classical Dressage for a lifetime, but many of the living Masters are held closely behind the walls of institutions like the Spanish Riding School.
If you’re a classically trained rider you will have introduced work in-hand to your young horse well before starting him under saddle. In this case, you can start riding the lateral movements much earlier as your horse already understands the aids and has learned how to carry himself, so all you need to do is translate your ground training to aids from the rider.
Confidence
The horse’s confidence in being ridden is the second to last pre-requisite because asking him to alter his balance in this way before he’s truly comfortable carrying the rider and has learned how to adjust himself to a dynamic load is unfair. No matter how well we prepare our youngsters for riding, it is a worrying thing for the young horse in the beginning and he needs plenty of reassuring and short sessions so that we stop before he becomes tired.
A relaxed rider
Finally, for our lateral work to be successful in its aims of improving the horse’s suppleness, stability and way of carrying the rider we need to be the kind of rider that’s not getting in the way. A ‘moveable’ rider is one sharing the qualities we desire in our horse of calmness, partnership, suppleness, independent balance and the absence of tension. For example, there’s no point asking our horse to move sideways if our outside leg is blocking the very same movement. It’s a life-long journey becoming the kind of rider that walks the fine line between influencing the horse and giving him room to move freely and I encourage all riders to undertake some form of ‘lateral work’ in their own training regime, such as yoga.
Conclusion How soon is too soon to get started with lateral work with your young horse? No matter which of these three scenarios is most like your situation, if you’re wanting your horse to perform to a high level you can’t beat lateral work as a building block for your training. I’ll leave it up to you to decide when the time is right for your horse, but if you’re looking for more guidance just reach out to me