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Post by horseguy on Feb 12, 2016 17:38:05 GMT
The line of impulsion is a term that describes the horse's energy as it initiates in the hind and moves forward and upward through the horse.
The line of impulsion in this diagram is the line that begins in the right hind foot and goes up through the horse and, as shown, out through the nose and down toward the ground. It is not a straight line but it can be more straight in some horses than in others. In a balanced horse with good impulsion, the line continues forward and downward past the nose and continues into the earth completing an oval shape, which becomes completed when this energy line comes back in its oval path to the hind foot where it began. If a horse is light and collected, the oval shape of the line of impulsion becomes more round. This is where the term "rounding" come into use. When a horse is said to be rounding, the energy of the gait is rounding from the more relaxed and natural oval impulsion energy pattern.
Several elements effect the line of impulsion, such as the power of the hind, the reach of the hind legs, the horse's longitudinal (front to back) balance and the rider's ability not to interfere. We can affect changes in this line by means of training, strengthening our horse, increasing our horse's stamina and improving our riding.
The place I like to begin to address the line of impulsion with students is at the place the line of impulsion crosses the rider's thigh, shown in the diagram above the rider's knee. At this location the angle of the line is considered to be optimal at 19 degrees upward from the line of the ground. I like to address the line at the rider's thigh with students because if the rider is unified with his/her horse, this is where the horse and rider are (should be) centered together in balance.
Here is a short side bar story about that 19 degree angle. Dressage experts debated for decades, probably centuries, what the optimal angle of the line is at the center of balance. Without any technical or scientific means, riders arrived at a consensus that it was around 19 degrees. Not to many years ago I read a study online about how scientists put motion scan dots on a horse like they do with NFL players to analyze and improve the player's efficiency of movement.
When the motion of the horse's gaits were scanned and entered into the computer, 19 degrees came out to be the optimal energy efficiency of the movement. Feel is real.
But if you do not have such a scanner and analysis program, you will have to feel that energy line of impulsion yourself. Forget about feeling the difference between 19 and 20 degrees. Just try to feel if the line increases its upward angle as you warm up your horse. If you have a "daisy cutter", the line is going to start our level at best and rise only a few degrees. If your horse is heavy on the forehand, the line is going to feel slightly downward going below the line of the ground. If you have a naturally light mover who reaches nicely under his belly, you will feel the line of impulsion in a distinctly upward direction without doing much as a rider. This is because as the horse reaches further under its belly, the energy of the push of the reaching hind foot must go upward as the gait initiating hind leg pushes.
I hope readers will report the feel the experience of the line of impulsion with their horse.
One more thing. I said we can affect changes in the line of impulsion by means of training, strengthening our horse, increasing our horse's stamina and by improving our riding (getting out of our horse's way). Another means of diminishing the angle of the line of impulsion is with poor shoeing. I personally think very few farriers can improve the horse's line of impulsion because it largely depends on the horse's conformation, training and fitness. I also believe from experience that a poor farrier can do significant damage to the free movement of the horse's hind foot push and ruin the angle of the line of impulsion. I have spent a lifetime looking at horses reach and push, and if the hind feet do not have a near perfect footfall to the ground, the horse is handicapped in the initial push that is so essential to the energy of the gait.
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Post by jimmy on Feb 12, 2016 19:40:29 GMT
I like this line of thinking. That football player appears to be in a classic Fort Riley jumping position. You mention dressage riders and the 19 degrees. Doesn't this angle change with shorter stirrups for jumping. and relate to the hip torso angle as well?
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Post by horseguy on Feb 12, 2016 20:05:23 GMT
I like this line of thinking. That football player appears to be in a classic Fort Riley jumping position. You mention dressage riders and the 19 degrees. Doesn't this angle change with shorter stirrups for jumping. and relate to the hip torso angle as well? Jimmy, I kind of think you are fooling with me.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 18, 2016 13:30:27 GMT
Again, I see that I have come up with a topic that is too something or not enough. I don't know. It's not getting read or responses. I like to think about horses and riding and what is really going on in terms of their power and motion. It can get pretty intellectual but I am not intellectual when I am with a horse. Then and there it is physical.
What I am trying to address here on this line of impulsion topic is the feel of how a horse moves. This line of energy starting at the initial push of the hind foot deals with reach and power. It's about feel and describing what feel is. When we ride we can feel these kinds of lines of impulsion and I think it can be useful to put words to it.
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Post by rideanotherday on Feb 18, 2016 13:52:56 GMT
Again, I see that I have come up with a topic that is too something or not enough. I don't know. It's not getting read or responses. I like to think about horses and riding and what is really going on in terms of their power and motion. It can get pretty intellectual but I am not intellectual when I am with a horse. Then and there it is physical. What I am trying to address here on this line of impulsion topic is the feel of how a horse moves. This line of energy starting at the initial push of the hind foot deals with reach and power. It's about feel and describing what feel is. When we ride we can feel these kinds of lines of impulsion and I think it can be useful to put words to it. Can you highlight the 19 degree angle? Your description is interesting, but I had a hard time following it.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 18, 2016 14:18:29 GMT
Where I feel the line of impulsion, and where the traditional dressage types predicted it was 19 degrees upward from the line of the ground, is at the center of movement/balance or pretty much at the girth (see yellow line). But the whole line originates back at the hind foot that starts the stride and goes through the entire horse in the curved line as shown.
I think as you feel this line of impulsion more, you feel it begin at the push of the hind foot that initiates the stride in each gait. Canter is the easiest. When you feel it begin with the hind foot push, you can usually feel it going up and being the 19 degree yellow line (in a reaching horse) at the center in your hips. Lastly, I think riders begin to feel it going back down to and through the ground to the next push of the hind. That completed oval line is not shown. You can imagine it if you continue the arrow by the nose and take the line down and round to the ground.
When you ride a powerful collected horse the oval shape of the complete line of impulsion with its return to the hind becomes more round, and you can't miss the whole "circular" energy of the impulsion in the stride. It's difficult to feel in a flat moving horse that does not have much reach under its belly.
The trotline of impulsion typically feels to me like a repetitive series of forward and upward left/right "punches" at the center where the yellow line is. But when a big powerful horse gets into a collected trot with big reach, that can feel round too. The canter is by far easier to feel the line of impulsion, especially at the girth and in your hips. It helps to be firm in your body tone but lose in the movement of your hips. As a good horse warms up and reaches more under himself you can usually feel the line of impulsion at a canter go from level with the ground to upward at the location of the yellow line. In a really heavy on the forehand horse, you can feel it going downward, not upward at the yellow line, and usually along with that you can feel the horse's front toes kicking dirt forward as he plants his fore feet in a heavy way.
These are my observations.
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Post by rideanotherday on Feb 18, 2016 15:37:38 GMT
An angle is described as the space (usually measured in degrees) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet.
I see the line you point out. and the line of impulsion relates well to the concept I learned as "throughness". I must be dense, because I still don't see an intersection of lines that is equal to 19 degrees.
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Post by jimmy on Feb 18, 2016 15:53:07 GMT
I was also wondering about the 19 degrees, and where that measurement comes from. You put a yellow arrow through the rider's thigh, so my attention was drawn there as a a reference. But I'm also dense.
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Post by rideanotherday on Feb 18, 2016 16:00:28 GMT
I was also wondering about the 19 degrees, and where that measurement comes from. You put a yellow arrow through the rider's thigh, so my attention was drawn there as a a reference. But I'm also dense. I didn't get out a protractor. But 19 degrees is a fairly acute angle. I like the concept. I'm just getting hung up on finding where the angle is.
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Post by jacki on Feb 18, 2016 18:39:03 GMT
The angle would seem to be either the amount the hindquarters are "tucked" from horizontal (top of arrow at hind) or the angle of the "knee through foot" line from perpendicular. Either way, increasing one will increase the other and create a more rounded line from a push.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 18, 2016 19:11:55 GMT
An angle is described as the space (usually measured in degrees) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet. I see the line you point out. and the line of impulsion relates well to the concept I learned as "throughness". I must be dense, because I still don't see an intersection of lines that is equal to 19 degrees. Sorry, I should have said that the line of impulsion is off the horizontal ground line on the flat.
The word "throughness" works for me.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 18, 2016 19:14:57 GMT
I was also wondering about the 19 degrees, and where that measurement comes from. You put a yellow arrow through the rider's thigh, so my attention was drawn there as a a reference. But I'm also dense. I have taught this stuff for years and I had the advantage of using my hands and pointing along with talking or "drawing" in on the horse. I see this writing discipline is more challenging. Thanks to everyone for sticking with me on this until I communicate effectively.
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Post by rideanotherday on Feb 18, 2016 19:19:33 GMT
That makes more sense.
Unfortunately, I won't be riding anytime soon (I have another 5 weeks before I'm supposed to even try). I'll keep it in mind though.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 18, 2016 22:53:59 GMT
I think anyone who has ridden for a while and has ridden a number of different horses can feel the line of impulsion or lack of it. I believe it is a big part of "feel" because it is the driving force of the gait. It's the first thing I focus on when I am experiencing when a new horse. If a horse comes out cold and has any upward angle of impulsion at all, I feel positive about the horse. Then I look for the angle of the line of impulsion to elevate or increase as the horse loosens up, which indicates greater reach under the belly. I especially focus on feeling the angle of the line of impulsion in upward transitions. My horse Riley used to "pop a wheely" in every upward transition even when he was relaxed, which was a relative term for him.
But then there was Piero, my good old TB. He was as flat a mover as I have ever owned. He came to me off the track and there he learned to lengthen his stride by "swimming" with his shoulders. He'd trot faster, faster, faster pulling himself and then he'd fall downward and forward into a canter if you let him. A decent line of impulsion for him was horizontal, sad to say, but he made up for it in many other ways.
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Post by rideforever on Feb 19, 2016 20:46:49 GMT
I'm having a hard time with this topic. You've explained what it is, but how do you use this information? I might not be reading your post the right way, because I want a reason for needing to analyze things to this level
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