Finding Positive Tension

One of the trickier things about TC for me has been walking the line between positive and negative tension. Rico was the sort of horse who really didn't exhibit a lot of negative tension that wasn't directly caused by my actions. Pull on horse = tension. But I could really amp Rico up and things just got better and better. Part of that is just who he is as a horse- he's got a nice relaxed warmblood brain- and part of that is his age/experience/training. I bought Rico at 8, two full years older than TC is now, so he had a lot more time to grow up before I started working with him.

TC on the other hand is a more sensitive horse. He shows this in his lightness, in how simple he is (deceptively simple) to ride, and he shows this in his struggles with negative tension.

The hard part is that while rhythm and relaxation are way down on the dressage training scale, a completely relaxed horse is not brilliant. So this is where positive tension comes in- TC needs to be able to carry some positive tension in his body without it worrying him.

I'm not terrible at adding positive tension to a horse, I did it all the time with Rico because he'd be lazy and I'd need to amp him up. But I am kind of terrible at recognizing when that positive tension is turning into negative tension and when it needs to be dialed back. And that has led to some moments, like the one I described in this post where I had brought his canter into collection, then subsequently lost it as he ran off when I didn't change my seat quick enough to get him relaxed.

A bit toward negative tension over here

One of the ways that I've been combating this is just kind of riding him underpowered and quiet. This has been deliberate, since I have shows coming up and I don't want to stress him out. When he gets stressed, he either goes forward and/or upward, and then it takes a bit of time to get him back to me- a couple of weeks last time. He's also extra hot at shows, so if I practice amping him up every ride, then I'll get to a show and struggle with sitting softer and deeper.

But this obviously has an effect on the way that he's going. And I realized that with the extra bits of relaxation came a very unimpressive working trot. Sure he was on the vertical and tracking up, but he was for sure more on the forehand than he needs to be, and he was just... soft. There was no brilliance, just quiet work.

And don't get me wrong, I so appreciate that. I can RIDE him when he's like that. And that's huge, I'd rather have a quiet horse I can pop on bareback and wander around on vs a firecracker who is sometimes GREAT and sometimes INSANE.

I made the above chart to illustrate what I'm talking about with TC. The light blue section is where I'm most comfortable with him- I love that I can hop on him bareback now, that I took him on a trail ride, that he's becoming this totally chill relaxed guy. And sometimes I push that up to the first line where he looks better and we happily sit there looking like we sort of know what we're doing.

But I know that it's not quite enough to get the scores and put on the muscle I know he's capable of. First and foremost he is my dressage horse, and I want to be able to get halfway decent scores and be halfway competitive maybe in some of the classes I enter. I also do want to move up the levels. I'm not as hell bent on zipping up the levels to the detriment of my scores as I was previously, but I don't want to get a hundred percent at training level.

To do both of those things, I really do need to figure out how to bring more positive tension into TC's life without stressing him out (negative mental tension) or making him get mechanical in his movement (negative physical tension).

It's not that I don't know how to ride him in the middle of the bell curve, it's not a matter of ability in that sense. I think the solution involves two things:
1) the realization of where I'm at on the curve at any point
2) the influence over how much tension he has in his body

Love this level of tension, though it's not a competitive level lol

First, I need to be able to at any moment while riding know where I'm at on the curve, especially with regard to the line I need to ride up to. Am I slipping down into the valley of doom without realizing it? Or am I not even close to the level of brilliance I could have safely? Am I on the brink of an explosion?

This is for sure a problem of mine, I tend to be having a lot of fun riding him when he's up and then suddenly it's not fun anymore. Or I ride him too quiet, and then I'm having fun riding him because I think of how far we've come and then I look in the mirror and I'm like DAMNIT he's so unimpressive.

Quite relaxed

Then, I really need to ride him up and back along the line to get him used to changing how much tension is in his body. The ideal is to have his mind be alert but relaxed, and his body only tense in the structures that need to be tense to do his job. But horses aren't born with this ability.

I figure it's going to take just a lot of repetition. He needs to trust me that I will always bring him back to a moment of relaxation (reinforcement) after I ask him to carry tension in his body. He needs to feel physically capable of doing his work without me having to put any major pressure on him. He needs to be both ready to add and to reduce tension at a moment's notice.

So that's just practice. Bring him up toward the brink then bring him right back down. Medium trot to stretch circle, simple changes to free walk. Over and over again.

The goal: quiet but brilliant

Just more of the things in my busy mind as I'm riding my even busier minded horse! Maybe riding would be easier if I turned my brain off and just fucking rode my horse.

Nahh.