How to Engage Your Horse's Hind End!

you can see how this gets him to rotate his pelvis  under which is the same engagement that I want   from him when I'm doing a piaffe or a pirouette Hey everyone I'm  Amelia today I'm going to give you three maybe   four exercises that you can do to work on engaging  your horses hind end stick around to the end also   because I have a really cool trick that you can  do before you get on in the crossties to work on   this so if you haven't yet please subscribe to my  channel and hit the Bell so you get notified when   I post a new video every single Wednesday getting  your horse to engage and use their hind end is   one of kind of the most important things about  riding and training dressage the reason that it's   so important is that when your horse engages their  hind end not only can you do really cool movements   like pirouettes and piaffe and passage but it  also makes your horse a lot more maneuverable   and easy to ride so when they're hind in is under  them your horse kind of feels like a race car and   very powerful and maneuverable as opposed to if  your horse is hind end is like dragging behind   them out in Texas they don't really carry you it's  hard to turn it's hard to do transitions and all   of that so we're going to get started here  on Leo today I haven't warmed him up at all   but the first thing that I think about when I  think about engaging his hind end is his tempo   so what you'll see with him is that and this  is very very normal for him when I pick up   the trot to start out with his hind end is  not very engaged so I'm just gonna pick up   the trot here and let him do what he wants to do  so this is kind of what he wants to do he kind   of starts out in this slow trot and his hind legs  are just kind of dragging behind him they're not   really engaged at all so the first thing that you  want to assess to get your horse better engaged   is their tempo if your horse is on the lazy side  you're probably going to want to make the tempo a   little bit quicker if your horse is on the hot  side you're going to want to make the tempo a   little slower so with him I wouldn't describe  him as lazy but at the beginning he starts out   kind of slow if I just let him go like super slow  see how slow and I'm gonna exaggerate but if I'm   just like barely trotting you see how he starts  like pulling in the front and his hind end is   just not engaging at all so I'm going to think  about okay get a little contact make the tempo   a little bit quicker and thinking about a little  shoulder fore so I'm putting a little right leg   on and connecting him into the outside rein now  if you have a horse that's on the hotter side or   if you have like PREs I think are really typical  for this but if your horse starts going too fast   then that's not a good thing either so if I'm like  running if I just start letting him like run run   run run on the forehand that now he's not engaging  his hind end either and you can hear he starts   foraging like his feet start clunking together  and that's not good so my first tip for engaging   the hind end is find that tempo where you feel  like your horse is active but they're not rushing   think of a little bit of shoulder fore and and  the same thing applies to the canter like let me   show you quick if the canter is too slow like  let me see if I can get him if I get him to   canter really slow he trots but if I just really  canter so slow he can't keep cantering because   his hind end isn't engaged so what I need to  do is I need to think okay quicker half halt   quicker half halt quicker half halt quicker half  halt good boy so that I can get that hind end a   bit more under him and I think that's really  important that the first part of engagement   is just getting activity and tempo in your  horse's gait now the second way to work   on engaging the hind end or the second thing that  you need to consider is your horse's frame so the   reason that your horse's frame is super important  is because your horse's neck is connected to their   back and then that connects to their hind end so  if your horse is just above the bit and they're   hollow and their head is up their back is going  to be down and when their back is down their hind   legs are going to be out behind them so you  want to have your horse round enough so that   their back lifts up but you don't want your horse  to be too low that they're on their forehand so   again it's kind of the same thing as with the  tempo is you have to find it's like Goldilocks   not too hot not too cold it has to be just right  so I'm going to show you with him what happens   oops there's been a glitch actually I need a big  favor please over 58 of you are not subscribed to   my channel so click the button below that says  subscribe as well as hit the Bell it really   helps me out we're trying to get to 100, 000  subscribers thanks you guys! If he's above the   contact so if I trot around and he's not on the  bit at all you can see that I don't really have   any connection to the hind end and his hind legs  are just kind of you know dangling out behind him   now if you put your horse too low so if I ask him  to like go really really on the forehand too low   like that then that's not good either so you have  to find a frame like with him I feel like let me   see if I can find that frame and and the frame and  the contact the way that that feels has a lot to   do with the engagement so with this guy when he's  not engaged behind you'll see him kind of tug on   my hands and not really want to be soft and supple  in the contact so inside leg to outside rein   good boy this I would say is the frame  that I want for engaging his hind end   Okay so we've got Tempo we've got frame now the  next thing to work on engagement are transitions   he's so ready to do those transitions so the  reason that the transitions help with engaging   the hind end is because every time you ride  a transition your horse has to come through   and come under and now I'm still thinking about  the tempo and the frame so in addition to the   tempo and to the frame now you're adding in  transitions. Transition to trot tempo contact   tempo activate that inner hind leg I give  them a little tickle behind there half halt   that was exciting but there I  asked a little harder than he liked   which is okay he overreacted I'm just gonna go  with it and then I'm going to repeat it again   the reason that he overreacted because I was  really activating that that hind leg and saying   come on because what I want with these trot to  canter transitions is I want that that first   stride of canter really comes through from the  hind leg I'm gonna ride them a little forward good boy so you know I think when we think of  Engagement and using the hind end a lot of   times all we think about is piaffe and pirouette and  that kind of thing but it's important to realize   that even in the warm-up you're working on those  things so I'm trotting trotting trotting trotting   canter canter forward forward good boy focusing on the  frame and the tempo I'm going to change direction   and do the same thing to the right tempo contact Canter I didn't love that transition  because he didn't come through behind   the first stride it was kind of like there was  one half trot half canter step in there it was   not through from behind he was not engaged  behind so now in the canter I'm thinking   jumping half halt jumping half halt I'm trying  to get that engagement in the Canter try try that wait you've got to let me ask sometimes  he starts anticipating half halt canter canter   canter good boy that was good honestly you  cannot do too many transitions with your horse try getting into that Rhythm focusing  on the frame like I'm putting him in   shoulder in and he wants to dive down  he wants to slow down there good good boy half halt good boy and also managing the  frame and the contact through those transitions oh if you're not ready for a trot  canter trot transitions you can also   do Trot walk Trot transitions that's  another great way to do it good boy   but so those are the three things I would  start with Tempo frame and transitions of   course eventually you can start to make  the transitions a little bit harder   um the other thing that's really important is  your seat position during while you're working   on this because if you're tipping forward it's  going to put your weight on your horse's forehand   and I know a lot of people have this tendency so  you really want to think about your seat bones   pointing down into the saddle keeping your belly  button pulled to your spine and like you have to   engage your core and your pelvis if you want  your horse to engage their hind end so that's   really important to focus on your position  as you work on engaging your horses hind end   let me know in the comments if you thought this  was helpful and I'm going to show you a little   trick that you can do on the ground also to work  on engaging your horse's hind end and to see what   actually happens when they do engage their hind end  all right as promised I wanted to show you   guys a little visual for what horses do when they  engage their back and you can do this from the   ground also before you get on it can be a good way  to get your horse to engage their back and engage   their core um it's kind of like that feeling like  when your horse has to go poo and they lift their   back up that's kind of the feeling of when their  back engages so one thing that you can do is you   can just take your fingers start up between his  front legs and I'm just scratching and you see how   high his back can actually lift like he can really  lift up his back so that's basically what you want   when you're riding is you want them to lift up  their back and then when their back is lifted up   then their hind end can engage so I would  recommend doing it from the side you can   also do it from behind and you can get a little  bit more the hind end to engage but you want to be   really really careful that you know your horse and  that you don't get kicked with a lot of horses if   you just kind of scratch them back here at the  top of the tail they'll lift their back up with   him I needed to get a little bit of a hoof pick  and do it a little bit harder but you can see how   this gets him to rotate his pelvis under which  is the same engagement that I want from him when   I'm doing a piaffe or a pirouette so I'll show  you again from the side here is you can just go   under here and scratch a little bit and see how  he lifts his back up when I do that or you can   go from behind but again be super careful that  you don't get kicked when you do this good boy good boy so that's something you can do  before you get on just to kind   of activate the core muscles and get  your horse to engage their hind end [Music]

Channel: Amelia Newcomb Dressage

Views: 70,140

Keywords: ameila newcomb, canter, dressage, dressage levels, engagment, equestrian, frame, hind end, hind end engagement, horses, passage, piaffe, pirouette, round, tempo, training, transitions, trot

Id: vuDACIF6apA

Length: 14min 9sec (849 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2023