Let's talk about collection

Collection is a word that is often casually flung around, and as a result, frequently misused. Many people incorrectly use it to refer to the general shortening of a horse's frame, or the slowing of a horse's tempo. True collection involves the horse accepting more weight behind, lowering the haunches, and raising the poll.

This past weekend I was reminded of what collection means on a cow horse of all places. While visiting some friends in Bend, a local, western performance horse trainer was kind enough to offer me a ride on his amazing cutting horse, Bugs. I was told to saddle Bugs with whatever tack in which I was most comfortable, so naturally I grabbed the nearest dressage saddle and snaffle bridle.

I took Bugs into the arena for a quick warm-up and found him to be wonderfully light off the leg and seat, and even lighter in the bridle. After experimenting with some spins and sliding stops, I was informed that it was time to "work the flag." Seeing as I have zero experience with cutting horses, I had no clue what "working the flag" would entail. Cutting horses are trained to separate (or cut) a cow from the rest of a herd and keep it away for a short period of time. In order to do this they need to be able to track cows with very little rider direction. Since not all farms that train cutting horses have cows handy, the horses often practice by learning to track a flag on a string. So that's what I was doing. Here's a video example of someone using a flag to train their cutting horse: Flag training.

We started our flag work very slowly (for my sake) with the flag lazily moving back and forth on the arena wall. Bugs jogged along side it, and made a simple change of direction whenever the flag did so. Soon the flag started moving faster, and we were cantering to keep up with it. When the flag would suddenly change direction, Bugs would bend his hocks and shift his weight backwards to free up his front end, and spin. Holy collection! It's not like I had never felt collection before, but when a horse goes from an open and downhill frame to such a high level of collection within a fraction of a second, you feel it. Watch the hocks and hind end on this horse as he works: Champion cutting horse.

While the front end of a dressage horse behaves very differently than that of a cutting horse, very similar action is required by the hind end, and classical dressage training revolves around the idea that everything must come from behind. For any dressage rider out there who wants a better understanding of collection, I highly recommend taking a ride on a cutting horse.