I’ve seen many riders over the years who agonize over their sport, putting pressure on themselves, their horses and their trainers. For most of us, if our horse finishes 1st or last at a show is irrelevant in the big picture. Most of us aren’t going to the Olympics. Even if we have the talent, we may not have the money or the connections. So…if you’re not going to the Olympics any time soon, lets put your riding into perspective.
The main objective of your riding should be fun for both you and your horse. With these new goals in mind, reflect upon your riding. Does a bad ride ruin your day or can you look at as an opportunity to learn? Do you have a timeline in your head for certain dressage accomplishments? Now think for a moment, is this timeline really necessary? How does your heart rate change if you leave your timeline open ended? Do you feel more relaxed? By setting goals without the pressure of time, you will more than likely reach your goals faster and have more fun in the process.
The other thing I wanted to share in this post is that riding doesn’t have to be a miliary operation. Experiment with different disciplines, go to fun shows, audit clinics about natural horsemanship, arrange despooking clinics, read books! Make sure at least a couple rides per month add variety and sheer joy, whether it is a group trail-ride or teaching your horse how to bow. Take the shackles off – play with your horse, laugh and share your passion for the sport with your friends. These are the memories that you will treasure, not your 300th attempt at a proper shoulder-in.
Book review: ‘A good horse is never a bad color’, by Mark Rashid
This book is a very entertaining autobiographical story written by horse trainer, Mark Rashid about his life and how he developed his craft and passion. Rashid was mentored during his adolescence by an old cowboy, which Rashid foldly refers to as “the old man” during most of his book. ‘The old man” taught Rashid to listen to the horse and put himself in their position rather than just imposing training procedures on the horse, which was common practice.
Rashid takes us back and forwards in time talking about his life and training experiences and the life of his mentor. The stories are enlightening, emotional and throught provoking. This book is a great read and leaves you with a sense of comfort and peace, not to mention several great lessons.
I read this book through ibooks as an ebook, but it also sells through Amazon.
Here are some of my favourite quotes in the book:
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Getting your horse’s attention
It is amazing to me how many riders, bop along in the arena fighting with their horses to get them to do lateral work and transitions, when they don’t even have their horse’s 100% attention. Getting your horse’s mind’s eye is critical when training dressage. You need to have their attention at all times or no learning can take place. Many riders start out with their new horse by training, walk, trot, canter, halt etc. I start my horses by getting their attention first, teaching them to think before they react.
This can be accomplished in a number of ways. Ground work is very important and so is exposing them to different environments. Give them puzzles to work on both during ground work training and under saddle. Work with poles, flags, tires, flower boxes etc. Another good exercise is to hide a crunchy in a bag or at the bottom of a deep bucket and challenge them to find it.
When working with horses who have problems focusing, I always want to have the horse’s inside ear turned toward me, whether I’m on the ground or under saddle (ear turning to the inside). A deeper connection is achieved when you have the eye also focused on the ground person. I have a sound I make that the horse learns is the call to attention. I also use the inside bend when under saddle to “get their ear”, I do the same on the ground by putting a small amount of pressure on their mid-neck and bending them until they look me in the eye.
Try to make “connection” the goal of your next ride rather than setting a traditional training goal. Once you have the horse’s focus and they are willing to accept your leadership, the rest truly falls into place.
Book Review: ‘It’s Not About the Horse’ by Wyatt Webb
This book is really compelling, I read it from start to finish in one day. Wyatt described his journey that led him to opening ‘The Equine Experience’, an equine therapy program in Tucson Arizona. Wyatt’s life had so many twists and turns that it would make an intriguing screenplay. From professional athlete and College graduate, to being a Father, an alcoholic and drug addict, to becoming an entertainer.
Eventually, Wyatt woke from what he calls his “sleep”, he came clean and turned his life around. He began helping others and started on a gratifying path that eventually led him to Tucson and his horse stable and therapy clinic.
The book, however is more than just a biography, Webb shares his learnings from his life, his experiences with horses and his clients’ emotional stories. As you read the book it becomes clear how any lessons learned by working with horses also apply to human relationships.
This above quote is so important as a universal lesson. Connecting with another human or with an animal is essential for emotional intimacy and trust.
The quote below was Webb’s response to a client who came to the equine experience and was over zealous with affection for his assigned steed. Webb urges the young man to look deeper into his behavior with the horses to learn more about himself.
In the passage below, Webb talks about his personal experience in recovery and therapy. He notes later in the book how many people, even those who appear successful in life, are merely surviving. When you are in a crisis or feeling deeply insecure, what age do you revert to?
Webb’s point below about how human’s use verbal communication to basically mask their true feeling rings so true. I guess this is where the saying comes from that an animal can always tell if you’re afraid.
Webb’s book is filled with so many interesting stories and lessons to live by. Here are a few more examples that I’d like to share with you.
No quick fixes in dressage
Just picked up a great book, which I will be reviewing soon, called ‘The Elements of Dressage – a guide for training the young horse’ by Von Zeigner. Quite an amazing trainer, I am already learning a lot – a very interesting read. One quote early in the book that struck me as in alignment with a recent blog post I wrote called ‘How to succeed at a show’. The quote is, as follows:
When a horse gets lost, look for the cause. It often lies in an insufficiency of well-being or expecting too much to soon. Whenever one sees a horse perform unwillingly, with tension and resistance, one can be quite sure it is because of a lack of proper basic training. Such horses cannot move freely, lightly, or balanced like they could before they entered training because of stiffness, crookedness and pain. They have been forced to work on levels for which they actually weren’t ready. Unfortunately, we see quite a few riders presenting themselves this way at shows, especially at the higher levels, perhaps hoping for a kind judge. Their horses have been drilled in higher-level movements but in doing so have also lost their natural freedom, lightness and brilliance. Such presentations are ridiculous and most certainly have nothing in common with classical dressage! – Kurd Albrecht Von Ziegner
How true this is, hope is not a good strategy. As Von Ziegner says later in the book, the long route is actually the short route – enough said.
Product Recommendation: UGG winter riding boots
Okay, okay, these are not real riding boots, but they are sheep skin lined, tall, leather, flexible but also firm enough for riding and the materials is durable and thick enough without being bulky. You can also roll the top part up to lengthen the height of the boots which is what I do, the laces allow you to fit multiple layers of pants underneath the boots if you want or you can tighten them so they fit perfectly over just breeches. They are awesome boots for riding if you are in the north like me and facing a winter of riding in temperatures below zero. There is nothing worse than jumping off your horse with cold feet and feeling like your feet will shatter upon landing on the ground.
I personally don’t like the fit nor the quality of mountain horse winter boots and other official horse winter boots I’ve had never lasted more than one season.
You can buy these UGGs all over the web and in Canada from places like the Bay and Gravity Pope. They range in price from $200-$400 depending on where you get them, but there are a lot of online retailers who are trying to sell you low quality knock offs so beware!
How to succeed at a show
People spend literally thousands of dollars to prepare themselves to enter their first horse show and that is only the beginning. What continues to astonish me however is how unprepared people are in ways that don’t cost them anything. It is fine if you want to make sure you have a show tack box and new britches, shiny boots and a hair net with no holes….great, I endorse all of those things. What most people don’t realize though is that all of that stuff doesn’t matter if you don’t perform in the ring.
Performing well can be influenced by several important factors:
- Be realistic about your skill level vs. the level you enter the competition (this is hard for some riders and some trainers to grasp)
- If you are nervous, enter in a lower level, a good measure for this is to ask yourself for example: “if I only going training level how will I feel”, if you immediately feel a sense of relief – GO TRAINING LEVEL – showing is about fun and you should aim to build confidence – you have nothing to prove
- Don’t pile on 10 lessons the week of your show – be cool – continue your program and trust in the process
- Don’t ride hard the week before the show instead give your horse the day off before you leave for the show, he is going to need his energy – if you don’t think you as a team will be ready without that ride, please see point number 1
- Make sure that you have the weekend free and haven’t packed your evenings with other obligations, you should be focused on the show only
- If possible bring a helper with you, even a non-horse person – so often something is forgotten like a number, or who the next rider in the ring is – a helper is invaluable, especially when you are inexperienced at showing
- Know the rules at the show
- Know which ring you are in and when, write it down and pin it in the tack room
- Know your tests and map them out on graph paper before the show
- Make sure you know 100% that the show provides a reader, if not make sure you have an experienced reader lined up, let them know how loud they need to speak
- Get someone to video your test so you can watch it immediately afterward – you are your own harshest critic so take advantage of this – it will definitely improve your score in the next test
- Know where all of your things are that you need for your test so you are not scrambling around to get ready for your warm-up
- For your first class, aim to be on your horse 1 hour in advance. If your horse isn’t the type to need that much warm-up you should still get on and wander down to watch other riders go. The more time you have, the more relaxed you will become – this extra time also allows for the unexpected.
Riding Tip: Feel and timing are the key
The hardest thing to learn in dressage is not piaffe, it is more fundamental. How do you know what you are doing is right, what does it feel like – no one can explain that to you, it is something you have to experience for yourself. Additionally, you have to recognize that what you are feeling is right. In order to do so you must have the proper timing in order to duplicate the move that provided you with the “golden feeling”. Learning timing and feel are the two most difficult and most fundamental elements in dressage.
Your trainer can help you but the best and quickest way to attain good timing and experience feel – is to practice, practice, practice. It is also a good idea to keep a journal of what worked and what didn’t; what inspirations you gained after a ride whether in a lesson or schooling on your own. If you get a chance to ride a really experienced horse they will almost correct your bad timing, it can be quite humbling (I once had this experience on a GP stallion I was riding for a client…oops). Another good suggestion is to read about how your position affects the horse such as in the book ‘Balance in Movement’ by Suzanne von Dietze. When you are in the right position, the feel comes more easily and you are in the right place at the right time which means your timing will also improve.
Riding Tip: How much supporting leg to use
It can be very confusing when learning dressage, how much of a supporting leg you need on at all times when riding. Some riders grip constantly and their horse either freaks out or learns to ignore them. Other riders have very little contact and there are probably millions of riders in between. I liken the contact you have with the outside rein to the contact you have with your legs. It should be present and active, not holding or gripping and it shouldn’t drop the horse.
I call your leg contact an “active leg”. Imagine how your legs would feel if you were a boxer, dancing around the ring waiting for your opponent to make a move. Your legs wouldn’t be filled with tension, nor would they be slack. They would be energised and light ready to take action in an instant. This is the same feeling you should have while riding dressage, you should have contact with your horse through your legs and your legs should have an energy about them, or a quiet excitement, ready to provide an aid to the horse at any moment. This does not imply you nag your horse with a constantly moving leg, rather your leg is quiet but activated. Not only does this type of leg contact encourage the horse by transfering energy, but it also more accurately allows you to judge if your horse has enough activity behind. When your horse is on the move, you expect him to flex his hocks and lift his back, you expect him to be able to turn in an instant while still staying in a frame, this means his whole body needs to be poised and ready, in other words “active”. You should expect no less of yourself.
Give this some thought next time you ride and you might find that your horse has more GO than you thought! If you don’t feel like you get any response be sure to always be ready with a follow up aid like a whip or spur to reinforce the leg if your horse is still learning to take you seriously. Once you are consistent with your approach and keep an “active leg” you shouldn’t have to ride with artificial aids on a regular basis.
Riding Tip: Tenacity is key
I’ve been really into personality typing of horses in the last year. I think it can really teach you a lot about your horse and yourself. It can give you great insight into the best way to train and relate to your horse as well as what kind of horse is best for you. I wrote a blog post about this topic earlier this year with a book review called ‘Ride the Right Horse‘ by Yvonne Barteau.
My horse started out as a yearling to be very easy going and confident, as his naughty twos set in he began to show signs of being a challenging horse, constantly trying to take on the leadership role. This change in personality was quite disturbing to me as I consider myself fairly experienced and wasn’t inviting this kind of spoiled behaviour. The only time I had experienced this swing to the dark-side in youngsters was when it was ‘gelding time’…the problem was my horse was already gelded, so I had no more cards up my sleeve.
There were moments I really started to doubt myself. I just didn’t seem to be getting through to my horse no matter how strict and consistent I was. I even said to a few friends, “man…my horse is a real pain, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to handle him if this continues”.
The reason I am writing this post is to share with everyone that over time, my patience and consistency paid off. After months of putting the boundaries up and praising in the few moments when he wasn’t being a dufus, he abruptly transformed back into the sweet horse he was last fall as if I imagined the devil inside the whole time.
I actually had a similar experience with my young Parson Russell Terrier so I don’t think this problem is species specific. I’m sure I will have my ups and downs with my 2 year old as he matures and that this roller coaster is not over yet, but it was comforting to know that if I stick to my game with rules and kindness I will prevail.
