DefinitelyDressage.com

Let's talk about the breathing you do when you ride.

I recently came back from a clinic that focused on the breath as an aid: that holding your breath, or at least engaging your diaphragm and holding some (mostly positive) tension in your ribcage encourages the horse to engage their core and pick up their sternum, so use in collected movements (shoulder in, half pass, pirouette work). This may mean taking short shallow "sips" of breath so you don't pass out.

Pushing your breath out like a laser (vs a slow-moving puff) in extensions to keep that engagement through your core while encouraging the horse to reach forward and swing.

A big exhale, like a sigh, directed at the inside ear can help resettle the connection and encourage your horse to soften into it.

And a normal exhale timed with any transition can encourage softness as the horse steps up or down into the next gait.

I'll admit, I walked into this clinic skeptical of the efficacy of breathing. But without any other tweaks to my riding, all of the work got both softer and more engaged with neither of us bracing on the other, when I was consciously using my breath as an aid instead of an afterthought.

I was a competitive brass musician for about a decade, but it turns out that decade was about a decade+ ago, so it was harder than I thought it would be to both monitor my breathing and also sustain for full movements (especially long diagonals, jeez. Impossible).

And if you've made it this far, here's a picture of Queso in a hat:

He's absolutely dashing! LOL......Seriously he is a looker. Love that kind eye. Thank you for taking the time to detail this aspect of your clinic. I will definitely re-read this a few times. Anything I can do to decrease the tension is most welcomed.

He is so adorable, love that you post frequent pics!

exvet wrote:He's absolutely dashing! LOL......Seriously he is a looker. Love that kind eye. Thank you for taking the time to detail this aspect of your clinic. I will definitely re-read this a few times. Anything I can do to decrease the tension is most welcomed.

Aww thanks! I just love him to pieces.

To the decrease tension point: I tend to try too hard and over-manage the connection, and forcing myself to breathe out as a release instead of just pushing a hand or both hands forward was a game changer. It got Queso to relax through his topline and jaw instead of just changing his poll position.

So that's what I'd recommend. Pieces of collection and then breathe out as you change the exercise, at first, progressing to breathing out as a half halt of sorts within the exercise once he's trusting the connection.

First of all there is scientific proof that at can only single task. Our brains are wired to monotask. So within the space of one stride I have to a) check leg position, b, horse responding to leg, c check connection, d) horses responding to connection, e) ride the stride of required xtended gait movement. A f) fuck pushing my breath or like a laser I'm already back at a) for the next stride. Lmao.

I use breathing pretty well when I do workouts, but it's never been easy for me on horseback. I tend to take a breath, and then hold it til near-collapse

Greetings! I am jumping in despite a long absence because I am very into using breath as a tool/cue. FWIW, I learned some of this from Suzanne von Dietz.

I find a hissing ssss ssss ssss exhale great for building length of stride. I purse my lips for a sshhh sshh sound to give a heads up that we are G O I N G and half halting . And I've used a longer exhale for years as a half halt/down transition aid, under saddle and on the lunge line. For engagement, I would say that I use a more rapid exhale (slower than "breath of fire" in yoga, but audible). It is a core gathering breath exercise for me, hence helps/cues the horse.

To develop "cruise" gear in trot and canter, I definitely do the relaxing breath of a shorter inhale to a longer exhale.

p.s. I can only "fake" multi-task!

p.p.s. But using the breath with sound is very interesting to me, as it affects me and the horse. And it is pretty relaxing to hiss like a snake while doing extensions!

Ive always exhaled on the downward transition but honestly I'm more concerned with consistent response to.leg and hand to believe that breathing can replace the response to these

Chisamba wrote:Ive always exhaled on the downward transition but honestly I'm more concerned with consistent response to.leg and hand to believe that breathing can replace the response to these

For me personally I don't think breathing replaces either, however, I do think the awareness and use can enhance or finesse the transition. For me the greatest aspect of it is helping to keep me relaxed, on point, using my seat properly and NOT tensing up which I do if I don't pay attention to it. The result is me blocking the horse in some way. A result of me paying attention to and timing my breaths/breathing my horses tend to stay softer and my main aids don't feel as abrupt to them (or that's my assumption/interpretation based on their reactions). I was playing around with it while doing trot and canter half passes with Junior. I find he has better reach because he's softer through his back and that's because I'm not tensing my lower back and to be honest I'm doing better timing my aids so that I ask for the reach at the appropriate phase of his strides.......this in turn makes us both more relaxed.

As a funny aside, I used to really use breathing with Monty. My then coach used to make fun of me and said that during certain movements she was sure I was practicing my Lamaze...................not, just trying to use my core as I should and NOT hold my breath. Obviously I was better at multi-tasking when I was younger

In my modest experience, specific breathing does not replace the leg or hand---but it is a great complement and easy to do in both quiet and louder ways.