Third Uberstreichen Exercise
Jan 14th, 2010 by Carolyn
The purpose of the third UE exercise is to teach your horse to lower is head while he is walking. The third exercise is done in the same manner as the second exercise. You will start each day with the first exercise and then when it feels good you move on to the second exercise. When you feel the horse is really connected and listening to your “rein aids,” which are the requests you give your horse through the halter and the rope, you then move to the third exercise.
Start yourself and your horse in “companion walking” on a none influencing looped line on a 20-meter circle. Do some walk-halt requests to get the connection in rhythm and team work going between you. Halt about every 10 feet. When your horse would slow down and speed up with you in companion-walk without the influence of the rope, you can begin the next part of the third exercise. While you maintain a steady speed in walk ask your horse to lower its head while he is walking in the same way you did the second exercise. Lower you head and tuck your nose a bit and request that your horse does the same by pulling on the rope downward.
Take a hold of the rope lightly when the horse will take the pressure increase the pressure and milk the rope a bit with little gives and takes and then when the horse responds in the slightest way let go, put your body up-right and relax and keep walking. When your horse responds, say “good boy” or “girl” with a lovely tone of appreciation. Then relax, breath and mentally shake off any up tightness that may have occurred from the interaction and exercise. Do not ask again until complete relaxation and precision is gained back in companion walked.
Before you ask again check your horse’s attitude and energy. If he seems to be falling asleep wake him up with some walk-trot work in “companion walking” on the circle until you feel the energy returning. If he is high then do the first exercise to bring you horse back to the mid range energy he would need to feel connected willing and focused.
If your horse has trouble lowering his head in walk as you are introducing the third exercise just ask with a stronger pull that you know your horse would tolerate and then slowly release it and continue walking. Don’t wait for a response just ask and release, when you release try not to release in the moments of more resistance, release when there is less resistance but your horse does not need to lower his head. Your horse will drop his head eventually. If he doesn’t you are not asking in a way your horse can understand you. At this point, you will need to experiment or get help.
In the beginning ask your horse to drop his head for only a short moment while you are keeping the pace together. As your horse progresses ask for him to hold his head down for half a step. When his head is down keep the floating hold rather that a firm contact hold. Practice this for a while and then progress to a full step floating hold that he would carry his head lowered and possibly tucked slightly. Ask for the tuck if you think your horse would respond to that idea, if the horse does not offer a tuck do not stay on the subject, be happy with the horse lowering it’s head only. Continue asking for more steps in walk with a low head. Do not ask for more than five steps with a lowered head in a floating hold.
When the head is low and where you want it always have him in a floating hold which has the feel of a looped influencing line but your line looks like you are on a contact line because little slack can be seen. The reason you do not want a lot of slack in the line is to be able to signal the horse in the moment the horse would begin to raise his head. When your horse is in self- carriage with a low head travel with him in a low posture as well. When you are not asking him to lower his head carry yourself in and up right posture so that when you lower your head he will see the difference in your frame which he will see as an invitation to match your posture.
Energy connection, energy connection, breath and stay steady on course, Feel the rhythm that keeps the connection in the partnership.
Think of your horse as a sail boat and your request is the wind in your horse’s sails. Have the energy you want your horse to have in each moment will cause the horse to respond in kind. Put on music, train your horse in rhythm to the music, breath, and relax. Keep your horse to your momentum and give many breaks.
Carolyn
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Dear Carolyn, it felt really good joining in at the (first?) WHR clinic in Holland. Organised by Monique with Julia and Stina. It appeared that I had been practicing WHR 1 for years already without knowing it being one of the WHRs. It is much nicer to do things consciously. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear Stina and Julia tell about the überstreichen. Actually I have been teaching and coaching my dressage students for years how to practice the überstreichen. That it is a perfect way to check if your horse goes with sufficient self-carriage. During the period I competed (dressage up to Prix St. Georges/Intermediaire II) in the ’80s and ’90s, we very often had German dressage tests to ride. In some of these tests while showing for example a medium canter the rider had to perform überstreichen so the judge could see a horse not needing the rider’s hand/rein support in the extension.
I have started reading the mails on the different subjects of the different people and read your replies with interest. Thank you very much for the work you have been doing for so long. I wish you many more years. It is very nice to share experiences. And I feel definitely inspired. I hope to be able to take part in the follow up clinic(s)which Monique and Julia (perhaps Stina as well) are planning for next year. First I shall be visiting Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling end Sept this year. Another inspiring horseperson. Thank you again and so long for now. Geerteke Kroes
Dear Carolyn;
I read one of your blogs yesterday on the WHR where you sit with your horse and they become rude, and I can’t find that one today. I am to that point with mine. She becomes a pest and I have pushed her away but she just comes right back. I just don’t know what to do next. I am still working on the second UE. Going to her right or clockwise in the circle she wants to cut me off by crossing behind or in front of me to the inside. She also wants to get too close and moves in on me from the rear. She seems to be getting better with this but I could use some advice on how to remedy this and what to do next with the WHR rudeness. Also I would like to get in on your next online training courses will be as I would like to try to be a part of them too.
Your method of training has been so advantageous over the last three weeks.
I started watching her when she eats and her eyes are almost always on me and she raises her head every so often to look directly at me. Then she will walk over to me, nuzzle me then go back to eating her hay. This is so beautiful and so rewarding.
I want to learn your way of training so I can train other horses like you. I live in Georgia and there is no one here that trains the way you do.
Any info you could send me would be a great help and greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you for the questions listed above as well as your training course. Thank you.
Just checking in, Carolyn. We’ve had back-to-back blizzards in Central Maryland. If the snow ever melts, I will be so excited to try these exercises. I can’t wait for spring.
Thank you for all that you do.
Hi Carolyn,
Checking in – I have much catching up to do yet, but read all and practice in my mind as I help deal with the mostly recovering from strangles horses at the stable where I keep my two. Of the 29 horses, 20 contracted strangles to some degree or the other. Care to keep the disease confined has, so far as I know, been very successful. But with the bitter weather, this has been exhausting work.
Beth and Cookie,
in Virginia
At last the thaw came and weather is much better now here in Holland. Time to start doing fun things with my horses again
!
! Some time ago she wouldn’t have done this, but lately I made a daily exercise out of asking my horses to shift their bodies at the hayfeeder for me to be able to clean the ground around the feeder from loose hay. The more I do this, the better they are reacting to it.
!
!
However, because of their long vacation I decided to go back to doing the WHR first and get them in place properly, before even thinking of doing the UE (will keep on checking in here every thursday and studying them though!).
I’d like to share the WHR session I did with my (rather dominant but curious and playful) mare Kría yesterday (after having done some WHR with the whole herd of seven the day before).
I put a small pile of hay in the arena (and a bucket with small pieces of bread on the other side of the fence) so Kría could eat and get a peaceful, relaxed feeling. I sat on a food tray for a while, just sharing territory with her while she was eating. I went to say hello to her, which she liked, and left again to take a slow walk around the arena. I combined this with eye contact every time I came into Kría’s neighborhood. She reacted very nicely by looking at me while she ate and shifting her body to keep looking. I loved this
Because Kría doesn’t like to be told what to do (she sometimes gets quite excited about that, rearing and all), I added some leading from behind. She left her hay pile quite easily, but shook her head and neck furiously because she was annoyed that she had to keep on going. I kept on walking slowly and peacefully. Sometimes Kría took a shortcut back to her hay but I just kept on driving her at a slow pace. In the end I felt her becoming more at ease with it and tried to turn my shoulders a bit to ask her to make a slight turn as well, which she did. She even turned in the opposite direction of the hay pile, so she was getting more and more focused on me. In between I gave her lots of short breaks by leading her to the hay pile again or to the bucket to give her a treat. These short breaks are so powerful! Not only for her, but for me too, to keep ‘centered’ and not rush things.
In the end we did a bit of companion walking, but she tried to get behind me and tried to nip me, so we turned to leading from behind again.
I had the feeling she got more and more sensitive so I tried to do a few ‘trot’ steps myself, which she immediately copied in a very relaxed way. Even if she was in front of me, she obviously wanted to stay with me and I could send her on some big circles; she forgot all about the hay! And that means something for this ‘Leading Lady’! So I stopped and led her to the treat bucket to get the jackpot
We both had a great feeling about this session
Hi Carolyn,
Just checking in. Many thanks.
Greetings,
This week just checking in . . . out of town. Thanks so for the sharing here.
Nan Pantle
Hello!
Well, The howling wind and rain took a break this morning and I seized the moment! Alger has been moved to the barn, but I worked on the UE in the stall and walking around him while he had to stand in place. I worked on the disconnect and also noticed an improvement in his ability to float and arch his neck. I also increased the count from 7 to 10. I would count while his head was down, and also while I was away from him. If he moved, I would put him back in place and start over. After a few times, he caught on, and you could see a look in his eye like he was playing a game- very stallionish and cute! I also walked him on the circle outside of the stall and counted my steps while I walked and when I asked him to put his head down. It helped to create a much more relaxed and rythmic gate for both me and him!
Thanks!
Lori
Hi Carolyn,
Checking in for this week. I continue to follow along but from the beginning, reading and learning for when the weather straightens out enough for some consistent days in a row with Gunny. The tiny little pieces we have done continue to pay off in spades, so I am eager to see where this will go once we can do it in earnest!
Thanks again,
Holly
Dear Carolyn 57:
Thank you SO much for responding! (original question 55)
I was signed up for the insider circle program this past fall, but that fell through. I also have a 18 month old Andalusian gelding who runs like crazy in the arena also, so I will not turn him loose in there either. All the horses are fine if I go into their regular 2-3 acre paddock with them and interact with me wonderfully. I must admit I have not been spending too much timein the paddock in this one day frozen and then one day foot deep mud!!
I will ABSOLUTELY do what you recommended and will report back. I am so excited that you answered – Thank you for all you do. I am reading your blogs over and over again and I am getting more out of it as it sinks in.
One more little question regarding my 18 month old PRE – I take him on walks in the woods on a long lead and the only rule he needs to follow is not to go ahead of me. I use a whip in front of him to keep him with me and not bolting ahead. He does quite well and does not pull on the lead at all. He loves the walks but am I harming my future work with him by doing this? Thanks so much and I will report back
Rosemary
Hi Carolyn,
Checking in and fascinated with the discussion started at 55 about reading a horse’s “exuberance” at liberty. I have a similar reaction from Dodger when I put him in the outdoor arena where I board him. At first he tries to eat all around the edges where the grass and weeds are migrating into it, and I go into leading him from behind to keep him moving and paying attention to me.
Often, however, when he stops along the far side of the arena which is an area flanked by dense evergreen trees along the rail, he will look into the trees as he tries to eat a weed, then spook and launch into a series of bucks and running back and forth along the gate rail. Sometimes his tail is flying and he’s prancing and snorting, but usually he’s just bucking, kicking and doing rollbacks in the corners…always running diagonally across the length of the arena to avoid the treed area. Although he keeps his ear on me much of the time, and eventually will slow to a trot or a walk or turn into me on my body motions and verbal commands, he’s pretty distracted.
I really want him to learn to like the arena, because it’s a great place to ride, so I’m wondering if I should put his hay down all along the portion of the fence by the trees or whether there’s another way to get him used to the trees before I ride him in there? All the horses ridden in the arena tend to get antsy when ridden along the rail by the trees, but none go berserk or buck like Dodger does when at liberty. What’s so strange is that it typically takes way more to spook Dodger than all the other horses at the barn because he’s actually very desensitized to everything.
Hi Carolyn,
Just curious if you would further explain your answer to Rosemary 55, as I think I may have a different situation.
We got a new area for the horses, and are fencing and cleaning it – some 1.5-2 acres with trees and lots of brush. I started taking Capricho in there, and we do some liberty work. He also likes to run, but the way you describe Serpico in your Naked Liberty book. He will gallop like a banshee, happily prance, and not to get out! He will suddenly gallop up to us as we work, slide to a stop, say hello a minute or two, then dash off. After an hour of tiring himself out, then he wants to play. He will follow me all over, and I can send him away (totally at liberty – no tack) to jump a pole set about a foot high on two rocks. He just loves to run, skip and play, but also keeps coming back to me.
Yesterday I picked up his halter to indicate it was time to go back to the other place, and he started galloping around, but in a very playful way. After some five minutes of that, he came up to me and we walked at liberty to the gate, where I had dropped the halter. He put his nose nicely in it, and walked happily beside me down the road to the other place.
Is this bad? He is having so much fun, but also will follow me all over the place. He is very curious, and comes up to say hello to the hired workers, then runs off to play. He gets so collected, struts like a perfect picture, nostrils flared, and “feels his oats.”
I think this is a different situation than what Rosemary describes. I just want to make sure.
Thanks!
Post 57: “The take her to the area and let her eat food on a rope and then put her up”.
I’m lacking English knowledge here and my dictionary is not clear about it… What does ‘put her up’ mean in this context?
!
Thanks
Dear Rosemary 55,
Do not turn your horse loose at liberty. She does not like the arena. Put food in the arean and let her eat there every day and talk to her to sooth her when is is finish put her up. She might not be ready for the ue. Look at the viedo in my blog on the ue and read all the requirments on knowing when you can start with the ue. I do not thing she will pass the test. Your first thing you need to address is to get her to like the area and you. You need to sit with your horse more in the place she likes to me and spend alot of time there to get the glue and bond to grow.
You need to sign up for my next incider circle program to get the Waterhole Rituals on to your horse.
I never turn a horse loose and let them run. It causes a horse to dislike the place more because of the drama the horse experaicing.
When you feel lost put yourself in the horse’s shoe to see what the horse is experiancing and then be your horse’s savior and leader.
Spend time with your horse sitting with her where she is kept for at least 15 minuets and longer is best. An hour is really good.
The take her to the area and let her eat food on a rope and then put her up.
Do this of 8 days. then another eight days when you take her to the arean let her eat at liberty and hang out with her there.
Get back to me after you have done this.
Dear Carolyn,
Thank you very much. I will combine the requests.
Love your answer – so easy to understand.
Hello Carolyn:
I am checking in and reading all the comments and answers on UE. I am working with my rescued 4yo tb filly who has been with me for 3 months. She is quite quite on line and in the halter, but when the weather allows I turn her loose in my 75 x 150 fenced riding arena and attempt to just be with her, she runs and runs even when I am just standing there. If I even approach her when she stops she takes off as if I am chasing her. Yesterday, we worked on the first part of the UE and she was wonderful, We didn’t get too far, but that is ok. We just worked on her standing still on a dropped line and me trying to walk around her. She got better and better. Then I put her at liberty and she just ran and ran and kicked. Finally, she came strongly in to me and I moved forward to her as I saw in your new “old” dvd and she careened off again and acted like I was being aggressive.
Finally, just when I was about to give up and halter her to return to the barn, she came forward again, out of breath, and walked with me! SHe stayed connected for about 3 minutes and I thought that was enough. She gave NO indication prior to this that her attitude was changing but she all of a sudden did!
Question: Should I put her at liberty before the UE beginning exercises or after?
What should I be doing with her at liberty to try and calm her?
Thanks so much. I am learning so much from your books and 3 dvd’s I have and I learn more and more every time I look at them. I really like the new “old” dvd. Thanks again
Dear Tonnya 50,
You want your horse be able to take a strong pull and to respond to to it in a soft way. You build your horses tollerance with light suggetions and they increase the strength of the aid. You are wanting the horse to respond to light aids as well as strong aids. So the horse feels less concerned and more tolleraent and relaxed when you will be riding him.
you want a horse to be sencitive but not overly sesitive that you would have to approach your horse a certain way not to upset him. You are building coping skills. From better coping skills comes a greater trust.
If you need to be very ligh around your horse the horse is too sensitve and getting the horse comfortable with the ue will help the horse to be light to the aids and less concerned about working closley with you on short, slow thoughtfull request.
Dear Carolyn, Steph and Chamois checking in. We had some good practice sessions this weekend. The weather was a balmy 35 degrees here so everyone was out snow shoeing, x-country skiing and snow mobiling! My farm is right next to a recreation trail so lots of distractions as a result. Getting her to focus on the UE’s was great and the resistance was minimal even w/ the distractions. When she get’s “worked up” she is the type that needs to move her feet so the third exercise allowed her to move but w/ purpose and not in a chicken little “the sky is falling” kind of way. Thanks Carolyn! Steph
Dear Carolyn,
Checking in. I’m finding this third exercise to be easier than one and two. The first one was actually becoming a bit more difficult, with both Hawk and Pycabo presenting much longer periods of “resistance” before softening (including holding their resistance when I would return to releasing first, forward and down). Got a bit of help from my riding instructor who suggested that all I needed to do was wait longer than them in the floating hold, then, when they release, release my floating hold and do a bit of light massage from the inner corner of their eyes, over the temporal muscles, and up the ears. Ah, blissful eyes and a improved readiness to engage in the exercises. Thank you, Carolyn.
Until later,
Karla
Dear Carolyn,
Checking in. I am practicing more ‘in mind’ this week as weather and Sun’s discomfort following dentistry prevented our usual activities.
Regards,
Joanna