~Guest Bloggers~

A seemingly minor issue where you can gain or lose points in a test (or just make the judge crazy) is how you make your transitions in and out of the halt.

Let's begin with Intro and Training Level rides where the directive permits transitions between trot and halt "through the walk." In these cases it is not mandatory to make walk steps, but doing so allows the transition to be more fluid and less abrupt, hopefully with the horse staying in front of your leg. Having said that, it does not mean endless strolling or meandering into an eventual stop. A good number of walk steps might be two or three, but they should be attentive and marching and not a listless trickle as the horse runs out of gas and finally stands still. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Sometimes what I see makes me crazy(er); so here are my own thoughts on the topic that I wish you would take into consideration when you lunge.It is said that whenever you work with your horse you are "training" him— sometimes for worse, sometimes for better but he will always draw some conclusion about what you have done. That said, from the moment you bring him out of his stall you should be "riding" him— directing him in a positive way to accede to your wishes. If you let him walk all over you in hand or pull his head down to grab at the grass when he feels like it, it will not bode well for work under saddle. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

I observed a very exotic horse on a show grounds the day before he was to compete. He was an Iberian horse of some sort who obviously had a lot of training. But unfortunately he was totally wired. A thumbnail: held together, tense throughout, unable to stand still in a halt or make a clear four beat walk. All his trot work was very cadenced and suspended but not going forward. Even his medium trot did not track up. The canter was equally problematic. He would switch behind at times, and in both the pirouettes and the tempis he seemed blocked. I kept thinking "circus." (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

An old friend of mine, Colonel Aage Sommer (DEN) used to say "One counter canter is worth ten true canters."

It was implied, but allow me to state it outright: one good counter canter! (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

(“Where did the support I am used to go?”)

I’ve been starting to ride a horse for a woman. She is an adult amateur jumper rider with a big warm blood – easily over 17 hands. She describes him as very strong, almost like a freight train, particularly on his way to fences.

She had been trying a series of very strong bits, ones that dressage people usually roll their eyes and shake their heads about. None of them seemed to help much. I decided I just wanted to feel him in a regular snaffle to find out what I was dealing with. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

The national weather service has issued an advisory complete with a mapped out cone of uncertainty for the “potential development of a tropical disturbance” which would be named Fred. Be clear: at the moment it does not exist, but there are indications that it might in the future.

This is a good model of how you should think about riding your horse. As you are preparing to perform a movement, don’t wait until the storm clouds are gathering on the horizon to think of packing a hurricane survival kit. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Ten or fifteen years ago the USDF proclaimed it the Year of Transitions. To emphasize that idea separate transition scores were introduced which bracketed lengthenings and mediums both in trot and canter.

Good enough. It’s better than just fading out or dribbling into false collection at the end of a diagonal. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

By and large judges don’t like to give low scores. Most of us are equally unhappy at giving undeservedly and misleading high scores. We want to give the right score without running the dagger through our poor riders’ hearts. This situation arises more frequently and understandably at schooling shows where experimenting or dabbling in a new level can require a rider’s act of bravery with no certainty of success. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

So much of the time, I talk to people about creating expression or energy. Routinely at clinics filled with lower level or amateur riders, the majority of them under-ride their horses. Dominant themes are getting the horses quicker to the leg, more attentive, and more active.

But there are exceptions. Sometimes these qualities are already there, even overflowing into tension or stress. More of the aforementioned qualities of themselves do not necessarily make a better picture. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

("The wall has a magnetic quality which pulls your horse towards it.")

Open spaces are a great advantage at times when you are schooling. No corners or turns coming up in a few strides to break the rhythm or cause anticipation. But at times solid boundaries can help. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

When people speak of weight aids, they are referring to something that your seat does, but don’t think of your "seat" as just those two little protuberances on the bottom of your pelvis. I prefer to think of my seat as beginning somewhere in the back of my neck (my withers) and going nearly to my knees. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Unequivocal, irrevocable trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Once lost, it’s even harder to gain back. Having said that, we need to stop and define exactly what we’re looking for from our horses. I am the first to admit that, while I believe I relate well to the horses I work with, none of them are about to jump off the Steel Pier at Atlantic City with me nor am I about to go galloping (or even walking down the road) with them with no bridle or halter and lead rope for control. A few people can do that with their horses and more power to them, but that’s not particularly my interest, and I’m happily frying other fish.

First of all, recognize that horses are individuals with a great range of temperaments. What one horse will trustingly permit, another may think is the craziest, most threatening thing he’s ever seen. Before you can realistically expect your horse to believe in you, you have to make an accurate assessment of how he’s reacting or relating to the task or the situation you’ve put him in. Figure out how to think as he does. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

A guy came down my center line some years ago all decked out in his top hat on a Friesian exuding cadence and displaying a high, arched Second Level frame. He then proceeded to ride a very elegant Intro test which garnered something like 80%.

My obvious question after his final salute was, "So what are you doing in this class anyway?"

He replied, "Well his canter isn’t quite perfect yet."

(Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

If you live in the Pacific Northwest or maybe London, you might as well stop reading right here. My suggestion will not translate to your world. If you live in a land where the sun shines at least occasionally, however, take advantage of it in the following manner... (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

I figure this year I will probably judge 1000 tests. Taking into account all the levels, that means I will probably give at least 20,000 separate marks. Some judges will do far, far many more rides. With all those opportunities there are bound to be some mistakes. Despite his best intentions, a judge’s brain momentarily wanders, and he misses a movement. It happens. Or a judge glances down at the test sheet at an inopportune moment and misses the horse switching leads and switching back after one stride in the corner. The judge giveth and the judge taketh away. Presumably it all balances out. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

(“. . . how unfair that is!”)

Not unlike the cicadas hatching out, every four years we are treated to a new set of dressage tests to complain about, habituate ourselves to, and then act like they’ve been this way forever. With some cycles there are big changes, but if the older ones were generally satisfactory, the rewrites are small. This year’s versions generally fall into the latter category. Some tests are virtually unchanged. Others are modified in such minor ways that they are likely just to keep the judges’ whistles busy calling people off course.

Let’s start at the beginning. Rest easy—the patterns of the new Introductory tests are identical to the old ones. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

There’s one truism in dressage – if you wait around long enough, you’re always going to find someone with the opposite opinion of what you’ve been led to believe. When you are young and/or starting out, the only thing to do is hitch your belief system to someone who is known to be credible and stick with them. There is nothing worse than ping-ponging back-and-forth from one person’s advice to another’s (and another’s and another’s). (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Stat!

It’s what the surgeon in the OR shouts immediately preceding something like, “Get the mop!” So you might think that this is one of those blogs that harps on making your horse sharp, quick, and attentive to the aids. But in this case, NO! This “stat” is short for rheostat, that device on your dining room wall that dims the chandelier for an optimistically intimate dinner or cranks it all the way to a piercing brightness suitable for removing splinters or conducting a Jack Bauer-style interrogation. Most significantly, it allows you to choose any level of illumination in between. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Recently on one of those community Facebook pages someone posed the question “What’s the most important quality to establish in your horse?”  If you discount the glib, knee-jerk clichéd replies, it’s a question that defies a single answer given the huge variation from one horse to the next and how differently one trainer approaches his work from another. Rather than settle on an agreed conclusion, the query was more raised to provoke discussion.

In DRESSAGE Unscrambled I suggested that the training scale or training pyramid is often misconstrued by well intentioned neophytes. I prefer to think of it as... (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Our horses have to put up with more than unclear aids, unbalanced riders, mosquitoes, and our whimsical travel plans for them. At times what they are able to endure shocks even us... (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)

My regular students usually have come to understand the flow of our training process. That's not always the case when someone presents themselves at a clinic. Most times they are thinking "This is costing me a bundle. I better get a lot out of it!" From the clinician’s viewpoint, some problems are easy to unravel– more understandable aids or a better exercise to employ. Sometimes it's as simple as the rider misperceiving what their work actually looks like... (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)

Does this sound like you? A woman came to my clinic with a fancy but difficult horse whom she had recently acquired. The horse was a schoolmaster and knew lots of tricks, but he had been ridden the last few years only in a double bridle. His poll was very high, his topline very short with the underneck muscles bulging. He wanted to run against the hand and be very heavy in the reins... (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)

Recently beyond the "how" I discussed why you should ride accurate arena figures. If you’re having a problem of execution, preplanning and visualization can help. Try to compose a... (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)

"I’m so glad when my horse acts up because then I have something to do with her." A clinic rider said these very words to me. When I had stopped shuddering and my heart rate had returned to normal, we had lots to talk about. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)