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Dressage Tips - From the Experts
[back to main Dressage Tips page]
The Use of Arms and Hands in Riding Dressage
by Shannon Dueck
[Shannon Dueck is a contributing writer to the Sho Clothes Sho News monthly newsletter]
(Photo of Shannon Dueck by Sue Stickle)
Practical Advice on a Common Question:
“How Should I use my Arms and Hands?”
This article features a subject that seems to come up again and again in lessons that I teach - how to obtain the correct feel in the rein aids. It’s very common to see students struggle with finding the correct balance of suppleness and strength in their own arms and hands, let alone in their horse’s connection with the bit. So I thought maybe I could say a few words that might help out.
The first thing that should be addressed is the proper positioning of your arms and hands. Without proper positioning, it is incredibly difficult to get the right feel. I address positioning of the arms beginning with the shoulders - roll your shoulders up, back, and then let them drop as low as possible. Feel your lower shoulder blades come closer together. Your muscles need to hold your lower shoulder blades together, so your shoulders can remain relaxed, down and back. Next is your upper arms, which should drop naturally from your shoulder down. Let gravity pull your elbows heavily down to the ground. Feel a line with a 5 pound weight on the end strung around the crook in your arm, and let it pull your elbow and upper arm down. This should result in the pointy parts of your elbows hovering somewhere close to (but slightly in front of) the points of your hipbones when seated correctly. Are you with me so far? A great test of your elbow connection is to have someone on the ground put their hand behind your elbow and try to push your elbow lightly forward. Resist the forward push while not actively pushing backwards, and you have achieved the correct feel. You should be able to resist the push and at the same time be able to softly flex your wrists and fingers. Now you have your elbows connected to your core and your hands are independent.
Your forearm should angle towards where your horse’s snaffle bit rings are. The more collected your horse, the higher your hands will be; the more stretched downward your horse is, the lower your hands will be. This enables you to always keep a straight line from your elbow to the horse’s snaffle, which is really crucial if you want to establish a supple and consistent contact. One caveat though: no matter how low your horse’s head might be, never straighten your elbows out completely - joints must bend to be supple, and your supple elbow joint is a really important part of maintaining a supple connection.
Now that your contact is established through your elbow, your wrist and hand get to do the fine tuning. When neutral your wrist needs to be slightly flexed inward. From this position, it is the most flexible, in that it can both straighten and flex more. There is never a time to have your wrist flexed out - it is a rigid and inflexible position. You must hold your reins in a fist. This fist is not clenched like you are going to punch Mike Tyson, rather it should be closed like you are holding a small bird, and don’t want to crush it, nor let it struggle and fly away. Your fingers need to be moveable within this fist, with your middle, ring and pinky fingers doing most of the talking to your horse with the reins. Your thumb and forefinger stabilize the reins. Many riders try to quiet their hands by tightening the wrists and hands, but that just serves to make the contact rigid for the horse. Quiet hands come from a strong, independent seat, a well connected elbow, and a supple wrist and fingers.
When you have the correct position established (and can relax enough within that position to feel), subtle rein aids are easy to apply. With quiet, connected elbows, close your middle, ring and pinky fingers, and turn your wrist so that your knuckles curl in towards your opposite shoulder. When communicating nicely with your horse’s mouth, your whole arm should not pull back or drop forward. Yes, there are times when what I call a Whoa darn it half halt is needed, and this means a strong pull, but it’s not good communication and should only be part of a rare big correction to a horse.
With proper positioning, a strong yet supple elbow connection, and flexible wrists and hands, you will be able to feel more of what your horse tells you about the connection between the two of you, and you will be able to talk to him with a subtlety that is enviable.
International Grand Prix trainer and competitor Shannon Dueck is a Pan Am Games Individual Silver Medalist, and has competed at both WEG and the World Cup Final. She has trained with Bert Rutten of the Netherlands, Kathy Connelly, Lars Peterson, Hubertus Schmidt, Robert Dover, and most recently, Wolfram Wittig while in Germany this past summer.
Interested in helping to promote Dressage in the U.S.? Consider donating to help Shannon return to Germany!
Shannon DueckShannon Dueck is working towards financing another training and competition tour in Europe for the summer of 2011. This is a giant step towards her goal of competing at the Olympics in 2012 with her mare Ayscha. Ms. Dueck recently established grant eligibility with the American Horse Trials Foundation. You can help Shannon and Ayscha realize their potential and goals by making a tax deductible donation to the AHTF. For more information please contact Shannon or the Foundation directly:
American Horse Trials Foundation, Inc.
221 Grove Cove Road
Centreville, MD, 21617
Phone: 443-262-9555
Email AHTF: ahtf@att.net
Donations are 100% tax deductible according to the IRS Code Section 501(c)(3). The American Horse Trials Foundation was established in 1987 to assist 3-Day Event Riders and Organizers in raising tax deductible financial support for national and international competition. In 1996 the Bylaws were revised so that the Foundation could assist riders competing in the related disciplines of dressage and show jumping.
[back to main Dressage Tips page]