hi it's Josie and today i’d like to talk to you about dressage whips I’d like to
talk to you about how we use it when to use it and then I'm going to show you how I use
my whip to help Rebel do a better down transition and today I'm going to do a down transition
from a trot to a walk with him because he likes to fall on his forehand and I'll show
you how I fix that
I'm going to tell you How to use a whip now there's a lot of debate about the length your
whip should be for me as long as I can access this area sorry I'm going to show you with
my heel behind my leg I will that's the length I want the whip to be when do I use my whip
I use my whip when my soft aids have not been answered by my horse so then I can just give
him a backup you do not take your hand off the rein and hit the horse that's not what
it's there for and if you have to do that I just want you to highlight in your mind
that you probably got a little bit frustrated then that's not how we train horses the hardest
a bit of training a horse is learning to control yourself trust me
So how you want to use it If I want him to engage his hind leg a little more I will use
the whip behind the leg because my leg is connected to his hind leg in an aid group
and so I access that with the whip so what you do is when you're riding your don't want
to take your hand off and hit the horse you literally just flick your and that touched
his side then ok so I flick the whip hit my leg bent around touched him in the side and
came off so when you're choosing a whip you need a whip with a little bit of flex in it
OK you don't want a really stiff whip it won't work and you don't want a really bendy whip
because then you inadvertently touching the horse when you don't mean to quite often when
you're riding and it's flicking so that’s how you use your whip you don't take it off
you don’t belt your horse it's just a touch to help him to know to bring that hind leg
forward that's what it's actually for to help him with using his hind leg better
So you always use your seat and then your legs So your aids should go seat first then
leg then whip and you stop when you get to the aid that ask the horse to go initially
you might need to use all three but as your horse becomes more sensitive to you you really
should be able to get him to move just off the seat aid Rebel particularly when he's
not warmed up which is not at the moment will tend to do a transition on the forehand he'll
fall on his face basically and make the reins very heavy for me so how do I use the whip
will do is I'll give him a little half halt warn him that we're about to do something
and then as we come into the transition down from the Trot to the walk 1 to 3 strides I'll
just give him a little tap with the whip to ask him to bring the inside hind leg a little
bit more through for me if you're wondering why I've picked on that hind leg you need
to go and watch my trot diagonals video because that will explain why we want to access the
inside hind leg now I’d like to show you how i use it to help Rebel with a better down
transition You do need to know a little bit about how the horse moves because the reality
of it is you should be using your whip in the best timing to allow the horse to do the
job you're asking which is setting him up for success so what I want him to do when
I come when I do it down transition is to step a little more under himself I see if
I can just do a normal one that he wants to do you can see his fell down on his face then
you couldn't see it I can feel it so what I'm going to do with my whip I'm going to
touch him with it behind my leg as we do the down transition as his inside hind leg is
coming off the ground because I want that hind leg to step a little further underneath
him and the only time I have a chance well the only time he has a chance do that that
sorry is when that hind leg is coming off the ground and starting to step forward so
if you know anything about the footfalls that would be when I'm starting to rise out of
the saddle when I sit If I'm on the correct diagonal that is that hind leg is on the ground
as I come up here stepping forward pushing off of it so I do it down transition and I
touch him with the whip as I come up as he comes forward but I sat then but I know the
forward feeling in my pelvis so I'm going to just say now now now when I use the whip
ok now now now much better transition much better balanced and not on his forehead and
all I did was tap tap tap with the whip to ask him to bring that hind leg through Ok
so leg onn as I hit the top of my rise yes yes yes nice transition nice transition good
boy I hope that gives you a little bit of understanding how you can use your whip thanks
for watching guys