Since I have been in Mexico I have tried to ride just about anything I could get a saddle on...just for the experience. I believe that versatility among horses accelerates learning. So...I have ridden ¨The Filly¨ ¨The Colt¨ ¨No name horse¨ ¨Brujo¨ ¨Maya¨ ¨Natalia¨and Pequeno. Let me tell you a little about them!
The Filly...is 9 years old. Ha! She is uneven in her trot (Maybe some trauma to her right foreleg brought this on....she has some scars on her knee). She loves to go deep and low and heavy....good lord. I did an earthload of transitions with her. The second time I rode her I jumped (which the very thought of jumping an unsound horse terrifies me but I did it anyways). We did a line with 5 or 6 canter poles and then one small verticle about 2´6. She RUNS like crazy! So, the filly taught me a little bit about the importance of timing your half halts to keep the rhythm. AND I had the epiphany that I cannot TRAIN every horse I touch....sometimes I just have to learn to ride them the way they are.
Next I tried to ride the colt. He is the fillys brother...maybe 10 years old. His movement is even!! Yay for that! He was much lighter!! And he let me know that using his back, tracking up with his hind legs, and keeping his nose on the verticle was waaaayyy difficult for him by groaning for an entire 5 or 6 strides. Silly horses. When it came time to canter...he totally ran away with me! So, I have something to learn with this one...and I will let you know what happens on our next ride. My feeling is that I put too much pressure on him and fell behind the motion...my plan for next time is to use my half seat and ride with less pressure. After all...he was trained for jumpers.
I rode No name horse on the lunge for a week or two while my hand was healing and now I ride him free...about 6 days a week. He is 6 years old and the son of Mezcalero the dutch warmblood stallion that won the olympics (in the 80´s??? at some point) for Mexico. This horse is smart, sensitive, and a typical red head. At first he loved to poke around and go behind the verticle...now that I woke him up a little bit he is finding out that he can go forward and he loves to run. He loves to run whether he is walking, trotting, or cantering. So we are working on our rhythm...and transitions transitions transitions. You will be hearing more about him in the future. I really enjoy riding him even though he is a larger horse than I generally prefer (approaching 17hh)....he is a fantastic jumper and we have been doing some gymnastic work...learning to adjust our stride. I think I jumped him somewhere near 3´9 sometime recently...and that was the first time in 3 or 4 years that I jumped that high! But really....my position is feeling rock solid over the fences and I believe I am capable of so much more. I plan on perfecting my knowledge and ability of gymnastics and jump technique.
My last ride was a gelding named Brujo. I am not sure how old he is but he has seen his fair share of life...seen trainers come and go. He is a handsome fella...and the class clown. Brujo quickly exclaims that he doesn´t like dogs, he doesn´t like that thing rattling in the bushes, and he doesn´t really like to go forward. Ha ha.
To be continued...
A little fun in hand
Conversano Sabarita teaching me Piaffe
Monday, August 22, 2011
Feeling Forward in Mexico
So...I am back to the keyboard again. I feel like I should update you on whats happening....and what happened.
First, I have spent the last 9 months training Ronin the TB Gelding. I left Virginia a month ago and left him there. It was very difficulte for me to leave him as I enjoyed our time together very much...and am coming to grips with the fact that I will never find a horse like him: and we were perfect for each other! His program was just full of developing a rock steady foundation in basic Dressage. When I first started riding him he like to come behind the verticle, run and lose rhythm, and his trot was very flat. These things are common is a lot of horses. I spent many months riding him inside and working on getting him moving forward in a relaxed rhythm...and teaching him to go forward with balance from my leg-through my seat-and recieved by my steady and empathetic hand. Then we began to work outside...and when you go from inside to outside things change a little bit in the mind of the horse. I had to teach him all over again...to relax, go forward from my leg and into my hand. It takes less time of course because you are just reminding the horse of what he already knows...but there is much more mental challenge for horse and rider when riding outside. If I had to put a name on this phase both times repeated I would name it ¨adding confidence to the horse with your leg¨. Because it is the closeness combined with lightness of your seat and leg and the ability to follow the motion that make the horse confident to abide you. A horse can be in complete panic and close to unraveling...and STILL abide you if you understand how to get to this phase.
So, we started working outside...cantering and trotting in the fields, trail riding through the woods, walking and trotting hills, and also working with the drop into water and bunkette jump (a bunkette as it is called in spanish is called a step and a drop in english...I prefer bunkette). All of them had their challenges...challenges that we overcame. Our typical work session comprised of beginning with a short walk outside down one hill and up the next (around one of the paddocks that is about 1 or 2 acres). Then walk inside about 10 minutes doing various circles, serpentines, and leg yields. Then on to trot...working serpentines...small circles...spirals in and out...and lengthenings and shortenings. Also...some of the newer exercises I was adding before my hand was injured and I was forced to ride one handed: Shoulder in and haunches in on the circle/down the longside and lengthenings and shortenings on the circle, transitions within the gait and from gait to gait. I would always reward a few steps of collection with a few moments of lengthening in a longer frame.
There were so many epiphanies I had in these last 9 months....or things I re-discovered or discovered. The path I followed with this horse was phenomenal.
A few things I picked up on the path:
-The bit is neutral territory where neither the horse or the rider is allowed to pull. This means that your hand NEVER moves backwards against the movement in the head and neck of the horse. You maintain a soft elastic contact with your horse but at the same time if he pulls against you...you do not allow him to by maintaining steady hands and an elastic elbow attached to a proud and relaxed shoulder carriage. This allows the horse to ¨meet you at the end of the rein¨and he effectively half halts himself in a way. When he meets you at the end of the rein he realizes that you are not going to hurt his mouth nor will you carry him. He has to position himself underneath of you to learn to carry the riders weight. Now, I don´t recomme hadnd this technique for your riding if you don´t have an independent seat as it is unfair to the horse and can cause more problems.
-The careful language of going forward. I have began to understand exactly how to carry out lengthenings and shortenings to develop the different degrees of collection in the horse´s gait. Using your thigh gently and with different pressures to gain more collection or perform a half halt...using your thigh before touching the rein at all in a downward transition or half halt. And then, in an upward transition or lengthening gradually increasing my rein length as I am asking for the transition to allow the horses head and neck to stretch forward just an eensy weensy bit.
-I learned about rollkur finally and learned why it has no place in Classical training of the horse. (I will post the article later). This discovery...and the discovery that I had been riding this way on many of my ¨unsafe¨previous training horses has turned my riding in a new direction and higher quality. I would have to say that in general...unless your life is in danger and the horse is out of control...riding overflexed, overpositioned, behind the verticle, or in Rollkur are all bad examples of true horsemanship. I know lots of folks who use this method...and each to their own...but I would rather ride my horse above the verticle than behind it.
-I finally learned how to ride the hind legs...and influence my horse with just my imagination. It is an amazing feeling. I gained a priceless feel and ambidexterity in my body...one that I hope to develop even more.
I will have to continue this later....a trip to the local tack store is in demand!!
Until next time...
Be Careful,
Elise Marie Weber
First, I have spent the last 9 months training Ronin the TB Gelding. I left Virginia a month ago and left him there. It was very difficulte for me to leave him as I enjoyed our time together very much...and am coming to grips with the fact that I will never find a horse like him: and we were perfect for each other! His program was just full of developing a rock steady foundation in basic Dressage. When I first started riding him he like to come behind the verticle, run and lose rhythm, and his trot was very flat. These things are common is a lot of horses. I spent many months riding him inside and working on getting him moving forward in a relaxed rhythm...and teaching him to go forward with balance from my leg-through my seat-and recieved by my steady and empathetic hand. Then we began to work outside...and when you go from inside to outside things change a little bit in the mind of the horse. I had to teach him all over again...to relax, go forward from my leg and into my hand. It takes less time of course because you are just reminding the horse of what he already knows...but there is much more mental challenge for horse and rider when riding outside. If I had to put a name on this phase both times repeated I would name it ¨adding confidence to the horse with your leg¨. Because it is the closeness combined with lightness of your seat and leg and the ability to follow the motion that make the horse confident to abide you. A horse can be in complete panic and close to unraveling...and STILL abide you if you understand how to get to this phase.
So, we started working outside...cantering and trotting in the fields, trail riding through the woods, walking and trotting hills, and also working with the drop into water and bunkette jump (a bunkette as it is called in spanish is called a step and a drop in english...I prefer bunkette). All of them had their challenges...challenges that we overcame. Our typical work session comprised of beginning with a short walk outside down one hill and up the next (around one of the paddocks that is about 1 or 2 acres). Then walk inside about 10 minutes doing various circles, serpentines, and leg yields. Then on to trot...working serpentines...small circles...spirals in and out...and lengthenings and shortenings. Also...some of the newer exercises I was adding before my hand was injured and I was forced to ride one handed: Shoulder in and haunches in on the circle/down the longside and lengthenings and shortenings on the circle, transitions within the gait and from gait to gait. I would always reward a few steps of collection with a few moments of lengthening in a longer frame.
There were so many epiphanies I had in these last 9 months....or things I re-discovered or discovered. The path I followed with this horse was phenomenal.
A few things I picked up on the path:
-The bit is neutral territory where neither the horse or the rider is allowed to pull. This means that your hand NEVER moves backwards against the movement in the head and neck of the horse. You maintain a soft elastic contact with your horse but at the same time if he pulls against you...you do not allow him to by maintaining steady hands and an elastic elbow attached to a proud and relaxed shoulder carriage. This allows the horse to ¨meet you at the end of the rein¨and he effectively half halts himself in a way. When he meets you at the end of the rein he realizes that you are not going to hurt his mouth nor will you carry him. He has to position himself underneath of you to learn to carry the riders weight. Now, I don´t recomme hadnd this technique for your riding if you don´t have an independent seat as it is unfair to the horse and can cause more problems.
-The careful language of going forward. I have began to understand exactly how to carry out lengthenings and shortenings to develop the different degrees of collection in the horse´s gait. Using your thigh gently and with different pressures to gain more collection or perform a half halt...using your thigh before touching the rein at all in a downward transition or half halt. And then, in an upward transition or lengthening gradually increasing my rein length as I am asking for the transition to allow the horses head and neck to stretch forward just an eensy weensy bit.
-I learned about rollkur finally and learned why it has no place in Classical training of the horse. (I will post the article later). This discovery...and the discovery that I had been riding this way on many of my ¨unsafe¨previous training horses has turned my riding in a new direction and higher quality. I would have to say that in general...unless your life is in danger and the horse is out of control...riding overflexed, overpositioned, behind the verticle, or in Rollkur are all bad examples of true horsemanship. I know lots of folks who use this method...and each to their own...but I would rather ride my horse above the verticle than behind it.
-I finally learned how to ride the hind legs...and influence my horse with just my imagination. It is an amazing feeling. I gained a priceless feel and ambidexterity in my body...one that I hope to develop even more.
I will have to continue this later....a trip to the local tack store is in demand!!
Until next time...
Be Careful,
Elise Marie Weber
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