He was the chef d’équipe of the 2012 Swedish Olympic dressage team, is an FEI judge, an international rider and a representative of the Swedish Equestrian Federation. The 58-year-old Jenå studied with well-known trainers Major Anders Lindgren and Walter Christensen and worked alongside international dressage rider Kyra Kirkland at Flyinge. He held a long-lining clinic at the Global Dressage Forum NA in West Palm Beach, FL, in January. Following is a synopsis of the concepts he presented in the clinic there.
Why Long-Lining?
Long-lining is an excellent way to improve your connection with the horse through the reins, to observe the evenness of the activity of the hind legs and the level of engagement of the horse’s hindquarters. It can also help improve suppleness, collection and teach the horse to accept the outside rein without interference from the rider’s weight. Long-lining is also a good way to introduce variety into your horse’s training repertoire, and can be incorporated into every young dressage horse’s training.
Equipment You Will Need:
• Surcingle with many rings (on top and mid-way down on the sides)
• Long lines made of good-quality leather (so that they are like reins in your hands)
• Whip – lightweight and not so long that it is difficult for the handler to manage
• Gloves – well-fitting, with good grips
• Running shoes or boots that are suitable for you to comfortably run in
Tacking Up – The Basic Configuration
Put the surcingle on, then bridle the horse (without reins). Thread the long reins, starting with the inside rein, attaching it directly to the bit ring on the near side. Next, take the outside rein over the horse’s back, thread it through the high ring on the surcingle and attach it to the outside bit ring. When you change directions, you must reverse this set-up.
It is helpful to have a second person hold the horse during this procedure.
Getting Started
Begin long-lining in a round pen or small enclosed arena. Take things slowly, one step at a time, when introducing your horse to long-lining. Stay calm during the process to help your horse stay calm. Your horse should trust and respect you and your personal space.
The aids you will be using are your voice, hands and body position, and the whip. Your horse should already know how to lunge, respond to voice commands, and should have been under saddle for at least a year.
The best place for the handler to stand while long-lining is behind the horse, but off to the side. If you stand too far forward, the horse may be blocked by your body from going forward. If you stand too far back, the horse may run off with you or you may get kicked. By running the outside rein through the upper ring and over the horse’s back it allows you to work from the side and gives the horse the same feel as if you were using the reins when mounted. You should be able to see all four legs from where you stand.
Using the Rein Aids
Take even contact with the reins, but not too heavy – it is not a tug of war. Use half-halts to balance your horse. The outside rein is the key to balancing your horse. At the beginning you may have to take more contact than you normally would when riding, but work on using half-halts and counter-bending to keep your horse balanced. This will eventually result in lighter contact.
Start at the Walk
You can start the horse moving at the walk on some straight lines if you have space, and on some circles. Do some walk-halt and halt-walk transitions. You are not looking to “set” the head, but just to have the horse understand the rein aids and to strive for even contact on both reins.
If the horse is not taking the contact with the outside rein, then do some counter-bending to improve contact. You can also use counter-bend to stop the horse from dropping the shoulder into the circle. Ask the horse to stretch down into the contact as you would in your warm-up when you ride.
Trot and Transitions
Start with a slow trot or jog and don’t ask for too much at the outset. Work on walk-trot-walk transitions. When the horse is used to this exercise you can move on to trot-canter-trot transitions. Once the horse is comfortable with all of the basic transition exercises and is going well, you may move the inside rein, taking it through the ring on the bit and back to a low ring on the surcingle.
Cavaletti Work
Start your horse over several cavaletti that are all set at the lowest height. After the horse is comfortable going through the poles all at the same height, change the cavaletti so that every other one is raised up on one side, alternating with the next pole being higher on the other end.
This exercise is to improve the stretch over the back and to teach the horse to use his whole body. Jenå said that cavaletti work is not used enough and that the use of cavaletti promotes very athletic movement in the horse (see also “Cavaletti Work for Dressage Horses with Ingrid Klimke” in the April issue). “Every horse needs to go over cavaletti; it doesn’t matter if it is an eventing, jumping, dressage, or driving horse,” he emphasized.
Transitions Within a Gait
As your horse advances in his training and is comfortable working on the long lines at walk, trot, canter, doing basic transitions and working over cavalettis, you can move on to transitions within a gait. This involves changing the length of stride and increasing or decreasing the amount of collection. Work on lengthening the stride at the trot – this can be hard for the handler, as you will have to keep up with the horse! Move from working trot, to lengthening in the trot, and back to working trot.
Then try increasing collection going from a working trot to more collection and then back to working trot again. Just as in under-saddle work, your half-halts are important here to maintain balance in the horse.
Finally, try doing the same in canter, going from working canter to a lengthening in canter and back to working canter. Throughout these exercises, observe the activity of the hind legs to make sure that they are working evenly. As the horse becomes even more advanced you can even teach half-steps progressing to piaffe and passage and canter pirouettes on the long lines.
Leg Yielding
To ask for a leg yield to the right, the whip takes the place of your left leg. By using the whip to move the horse into your right hand and then half-halting with your right hand, you encourage the horse to leg yield to the right. Remember to keep a light contact with your left hand on the inside rein. When asking for a leg yield to the left, reverse the process.
Review
Keep it simple and quiet. After tacking up using a rein-surcingle-hand configuration appropriate for the level of your horse, start by warming up on a circle to develop the gaits and create acceptance of the outside rein. Once the horse has accepted the outside rein, work on inside flexion and progress to transitions and lateral work.
Don’t try to do all of this in one, or even a few, sessions – take the time to allow your horse to learn a few concepts at a time. Be consistent and use repetition, but do not fight with your horse or over-do a particular exercise.
“The good thing with long-lining is that you see everything that’s happening,” said Jenå. “If you take a little too much with the reins, or a little less, or if you’re using too much whip, the horse gives you the answer directly.”
