Best friend, worst enemy

Anticipation - it can be your best friend or worst enemy. National A Level Judge NICOLE TOUGH shares her thoughts on getting the best of both worlds. - As seen in Equest Hub Magazine

Nicole and Everdeen, Open Elementary Champions at the recent Regency Floats NSW Dressage Championships (Image Amy-Sue Alston  Photography).

Horses learn through repetition. Repeated exposure to an exercise strengthens neural connections, making responses more automatic and easier to retain long-term. Repeating a transition or movement until it’s a learned skill also helps horses develop understanding, confidence, form muscle memory, and yes, even to anticipate.

An experienced trainer learns to use anticipation to their advantage. Doing the same thing every time creates relaxation, because our horse knows their job. They know what’s coming. When we’re training a green broken horse to canter, we accelerate the trot going into the same corner, and at the correct phase of the trot, aid the canter transition. If we do the same thing every time, our horse will soon link up ‘the get ready to canter’ cue and pick up the canter lead closer to our aid.

However, this will soon lead to anticipation and in this case, the trainer makes a correction, brings them back to trot, and through their aids tells the horse that it’s wonderful to volunteer canter, but to please wait until they’re asked.

Right at the beginning of our horse's training, we should encourage anticipation, then teach them to wait. Indeed, anticipation is how we develop the gaits. Changing from little trot to big trot over and over again, and with lighter and lighter aids, is encouraging the horse to anticipate. When they start to link this in it leads to increased suspension, which is really our horse thinking ahead and offering energy. The responsiveness to light aids comes from encouraging anticipation, and this is where piaffe and passage begin.

It is useful to consider anticipation as a sign of eagerness and willingness, but it does require rider management to prevent tension and miscommunication. If our horse volunteers movements or transitions in training, we should always correct them even if we are about to make the transition. If we don’t make a correction, we’ve accidently encouraged free thought, which is disappointing when it happens in the competition arena.

In a dressage test, anticipation costs marks. If a horse consistently performs a movement at the same point in a test, like the entry and halt, they learn to expect it and may start to rush, misbehave, or volunteer the transition ahead of time. We’ve probably all experienced it: we pick up the reins from free to medium walk, and our horse starts jiggy jogging; or when we set up a flying change and they change before the aid; or in a simple change, in anticipation of the new canter lead our horse just will not walk. Anticipation can be an ingrained habit, highly frustrating, and in these scenarios, our worst enemy.

It is a common thought that practising test lines will create anticipation and tension. But guess what? Our horse is right! They will be asked to halt at X on the centre line at the start of the test, and they will be asked to trot or canter after the retake of reins in walk, so not practising movements because our horse might anticipate is not the answer.

The key to managing anticipation is to practise until you can’t get it wrong. Initially there will be degrees of anticipation and/or tension, but persevere. Continue to circle off and repeat until you are past all anticipation. The best tests come when our horse knows their job, knows what’s going to be asked, and yet waits for the aids.

Some horses come to us with ingrained anticipation that only shows up in the competition arena. Horses are very quick to learn the wrong thing and can become ‘ring smart’. These horses have learnt that their rider won’t correct them in the show ring, and this can be point costly and problematic for progression.

Sometimes we do have to school our horses in the competition arena, making corrections where we can and without frustration. A part of every mark given by the judge is for submission. This willing co-operation is demonstrated by our horse being on our aids. If our horse is anticipating, we should calmly correct them while thinking ‘what a clever horse, but let me be the pilot’!

If you get an anticipated flying change when you’re in counter canter or before the simple change, then walk as quickly as possible and recover the lead you were supposed to be on. If you get the big fall out of canter on the entry, calmly go back to canter and ask again. It will cost more marks in that one movement, but earning ring respect is important.

The flying change is another movement where anticipation is our best friend or worst enemy. The hardest part about teaching the flying change is the anticipation and volunteering it before the aid. In our training, we must have the prerogative to change our mind. Set up for many simple or flying changes, but only do it once.

Horses go the best when they absolutely know what is going to be asked of them. This is why the warmup is so important. We should use the warmup to let them know what’s coming, and not ambush them with a walk-pirouette aid for the first time in the ring, because you can bet your horse will dob on you!

When faced with anticipation in training, we need to offer alternatives using techniques like leg yielding or shoulder-in to redirect their energy. We can use varied bending lines or figure eights to keep our horse focused and on our aids. Patience, consistent communication, and clear aids are crucial for breaking the cycle of repeated anticipation. We want our horses to be obedient and ready to respond, but not to volunteer movements before we ask – and the key lies in our practise.

Part of every mark given by the judge is for submission, and willing co-operation is demonstrated by our horse being on our aids (Image EK Photography).