SHORTENING THE FRAME

“Ride the horse up to heaven, not down into the ground.”
Once the horse understands Soft Feel and can exist and work happily in the working frame, he is ready to begin to be schooled in the shortened frame.

The short frame is to Cowboy Dressage what collection is to classical dressage. Short frame work is very important in teaching the horse compression and balance but it cannot be schooled too early or too aggressively without having adverse effects on the “try” and mental health of the horse.
Be sure that you have brought your horse along slowly through the basic elements of working frame and free frame and have established a firm grasp on Soft Feel and release before introducing the concepts of short frame to your horse.
Short frame is the compression frame that tells the horse to shift the weight to the hindquarters and prepare for a transition.

It’s the frame of “Ready, set…” in preparation for the “go.”
The “go” may be a lope transition or a shortening of the stride before a ground pole. The “go” may be a change in lead. The “go” may be a stop and back up. The short frame is an advanced frame of readiness. At its culmination, it becomes the lope pirouette.

There are not any requirements for the short frame in the current Cowboy Dressage tests. However, successfully transitioning between gaits on the Court is improved though use of the short frame. The stride lengths required to successfully navigate the ground poles and change leads through a single jog stride within the octagon require the horse to be in the shortened frame across the diagonal .

Teaching the Short Frame

You begin education of the shortened frame in small, bite-sized pieces for the horse. It is helpful to work on the short frame in a controlled setting, such as along a fence line or rail, or in a round pen. From the working walk, shorten the reins, asking the horse to elevate at the withers, and break and soften at the poll. Then deepen the seat by rocking your pelvis back and setting the center of gravity back in the saddle toward the hindquarters. Through tightening and elevation of your core, ask the horse to step upward underneath you. The legs and seat encourage the horse to carry the forward momentum upward into the shortened frame.
When the horse accomplishes the shortened frame at the walk, it should feel like his feet suddenly get lighter, he tucks his hindquarters under, and his forehand is lighter and elevated in your hands. This brief glimpse of short frame at the walk should be rewarded by releasing the aids and allowing the horse to transition into the working frame, and then into the free frame.

If you build on those brief moments of shortened frame with good timing of the release, it should take less and less to ask the horse to step into the shortened frame. Once he is doing so willingly, you can begin to carry the frame for a few steps at a time.
From there, build toward asking for upward transitions to the jog and the lope through the shortened frame, moving up through the gaits and then back down through transitions. As the horse builds confidence in the shortened frame, you should always be looking for that moment of release and rewarding him before he fatigues or gets frustrated.

Forward/Forward, Forward/Back

Shortening the horse’s frame and shifting his weight back onto his hindquarters can also be accomplished by backing the horse, both in a straight line and on a circle. If the horse is engaged in the hindquarters through the backup, he will shift the weight backward; if, however, the horse is dragged backward through the backup, he will shift his weight to the fore-hand, pulling it backward and hollowing his back.
Properly backing the horse in engagement is a very important part of development in the shortened frame: The horse’s center of gravity shifts backward as the back lifts, the hindquarters reach forward under the horse, and the forehand elevates with the head and neck.
One of the elemental exercises in engagement of the horse and reading intention in the body of the rider is the exercise often called “Forward/ Forward, Forward/Back.” This is most commonly ridden in the working frame and is used when the horse has a good understanding of self-carriage within the working frame. At the working walk, ride the horse forward into a stop with slight compression. Holding the frame without undue pressure, shift from riding the horse forward to riding the horse backward.

This exercise asks the horse to focus on the intention and energy of the rider’s seat while the hands hold Soft Feel and the frame through the maneuver. The benefit of this exercise is engagement of the hindquarters. With good timing and feel, you can stop one of the horse’s feet in flight and change the energy in the foot from forward to backward. Ideally, you don’t dwell or settle in the stop, but instead just shift intention in you body, asking the horse to step backward a few steps, and then, without releasing the reins or the frame of the horse, ride the horse forward again at the working walk.
This exercise can be varied by changing the gait through the backup, as well. Working walk to backup to working jog or lope can be a valuable tool to help the horse compress the short frame into an upward transition.
It is important not to release the frame either in the upward or the downward transition. Note, however, that if the horse is not operating on Soft Feel, this exercise can build a brace in the horse and frustration.

Throughout, remember that when working in the short frame, the horse should be “on” the bit. When you first begin schooling in the short frame, you may find the horse wanting to go “behind” the bit. In Cowboy Dressage frames, the horse should always be working “in front of” the bit or “on” the bit, but never “behind” the bit.