Training Piaffe and Passage

Piaffe and Passage, dressage bliss or dressage hell?

I'll leave that for you to decide ;)

 What I can tell you is that although they’re linked in the dressage tests, in fact Piaffe and Passage are trained from completely different ‘origins’.

I've found over the years that it isn't well known that piaffe and passage are two different things and need to be trained from two completely different angles. We need to create a fork in the road to make it clear ....

>> that’s piaffe

<< that's passage

This fork in the road (one way piaffe, one way passage) starts all the way from when the horse is young or green. 

Pictured is Brett Parbery riding Carolyn Lieutenant's late Victory Salute at the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

Pictured is Emma Weinert riding her Grand Prix horse Zidane at home. 

Isolating a 'diagonal pair' 

When you are working towards piaffe or passage initially, you are trying to add energy to one diagonal pair (after all, both piaffe and passage are simply versions of trot).

This is where the half halt comes in. The half halt is only useful if it is made at the exact moment the feet are coming off the ground. Feet on the ground you cannot influence, but feet off the ground you can influence.

Pick a diagonal pair, usually the inside hind / outside fore is the typical choice, make a half halt and just see how the horse changes its energy. When you do this be sure that your aids for a half halt are clear and the horse knows what you are asking for, they should at this point be clear on what a half halt is, keep them in front of your leg so they are remaining active in the half halt.

Although piaffe and passage both come from trot and the approach of picking diagonal pairs, the types of trot you need are two very different things. This is where the fork in the road comes into play! You want to really make a clear difference in your initial approach to separate the half halts between pony trot to piaffe, and working trot to working passage or passage.

You need to create the fork in the road right from the start, and keep it consistent through out your horses training.

Early Training

I like to start the training of both movements in-hand, especially in the long reins. This gives them an idea of the questions you are asking, whether that moment comes from a tap of a whip or a voice aid, it doesn't really matter because at this initial stage it is just about isolating one diagonal pair.

I use 'Double Dan' ropes that connect from the bit, from both sides, through the roller and to the person on the ground. 

Passage 

First of all you need great control of posture. Anytime you allow your horse to close up on their hindlegs, horses will either pull their neck up or down depending on their conformation.

Can you close them up? Can you add a little energy with your leg? What effect does that have on the horse? 

That is the exciting bit because that's the information you take back to your training. You get to say, okay, when I controlled the tempo and brought him back he pulled his neck up, so now I can work on making his neck round and regain control before I bring him back again. The reaction you really don't want is for them to come back and pull their neck up and drop their back. 

To begin the work on passage steps, you would be in a working trot and then begin to draw a little bit up and back with your body to make the half halt (which you need to have already trained as we spoke about earlier) and ‘catch’ the rhythm with your body.

Sometimes you have to use your imagination a bit to feel like you have achieved anything, but provided your horse stays in front of you and you feel a tiny extra bit of cadence, then reward and go back to working trot.

It’s all about the half halt, and nothing about pushing and pulling. 

Piaffe  

For piaffe steps (or half steps that proceed to piaffe) you need to go about it from a completely different angle! Although both of these movements are related to trot, they are not the same and I'll say it as many time as I need to... You MUST train this differently to passage to make sure you establish the fork in the road.

Approach it from a quick and short little ‘pony trot’ starting on a circle, and keep shortening the steps. Like the working trot is to passage, the ‘pony trot’ is the place you go to rejuvenate the pace and make corrections. Go from your ‘pony trot’ to piaffe steps, reward and go back to ‘pony trot’. 

As I half halt and my lower leg comes back, I give one click, feel them come up and down, and then ride out of it.

The big thing about introducing piaffe under saddle is to not get greedy and try to do ten steps when the horse is only capable of four. You have to get out of the piaffe before you get desperate, otherwise you start to override, kicking every stride and all of a sudden they stop piaffing.

It's all about having control over yourself to say, right there's good.

I know piaffes are great fun but we need to stop before we mess it all up.

The aids I use 

I try to link anything that creates energy and impulsion to be my leg aids on the girth.

So my passage is on the girth, then if I am closing to piaffe, I am going back through my gears in passage getting more on the spot. I then take my lower leg back a little as I enter piaffe, and I like to think about my seat lifting up and back, not a huge amount so it's obvious, just enough for me to feel and for the horse to feel some relief on its back so it can sit underneath me create energy on the spot up through their back.

Working on these higher movements is so enjoyable and I hope this fork in the road idea resonates with you and helps to clarify the training.