julie's blog

Co-dependency –Though this term is most often used to describe relationships between people, it also can describe relationships between a rider and her/his mount. Codependency is being overly “helpful,” or another way of putting it is “doing someone’s work for them.” I think this is what we often do, as riders. Here’s how: instead of expecting the horse to ante up and step under his body in order to gain the balance to do a movement, we use all our muscles, our core strength, our arms, our legs, to “help” him balance. This results in a horse that can’t do it on its own. I am reminded of the Native American saying . .  . something like, “If you do something for someone that they can do themselves, you make them weak.” Ponder that!

Many books have been written on riding and teaching, but no written word can role-model the enthusiasm and commitment necessary to make a good riding teacher.  Even with a good teacher role model, teachers have to draw on their personal commitment, their personal belief that riding is important!

In today’s world of global warming marked by treacherous national disasters, hectic lifestyles, and  a faltering stock market and dollar, the question must be asked: Why is riding important? I continually struggle with that question, and now believe I have something of an answer. It is: if one really cares in one arena of life, one can develop habits of caring that transfer to other arenas. This has the potential to help bring about some of the changes that are so badly needed on this planet.

Sometimes we forget because we are goal-oriented and hard-working. But, riding is fun! Remember that your horse, as well as you, needs a walk in the woods – or a cross country gallop, if you are capable of surviving – to make the “fun” come out! Your horse is just like you. He needs a break from the grind and the same old muscles being asked to work. Try to find a hilly pasture or trail with some diverse scenery for your spring show preparation. Start with a walk, but if your horse is fresh, a trot is actually easier to handle, because you won’t be on a loose rein and your leg will be on. That will make you less vulnerable to surprise flights by pheasants, quail and deer. When your horse sees that you like to go forward, even when there are scary things in the world, he gets more confident. So, you’re really training him for the dressage ring, even on the trail. It’s called, “submission.”

From the point-of-view of a 40 year veteran of dressage, I am amazed at how much I learn every single day! It’s fascinating how the qualities of a person’s character, physical strength, ability to isolate muscles, timing and intuition, all contribute to their ability to ride. So many times I say to myself, “wow, I can’t believe I didn’t know this before!” as some heretofore un-discovered tidbit of training unveils itself. So, what is the most important aspect of a rider’s success? Patience? Commitment to learning? Hard to say, but it’s definitely a lifelong pursuit.

It is very tricky being a trainer (or an owner, for that matter). Sometimes the horses do have to bear the brunt of our stupidity as we learn. Unfortunately, the "how-to-train-a-horse" gene was not implanted in us at birth! And, it's important for young trainers to take some initiative or they'll never learn anything.

Sometimes a trainer has an ugly session with a horse. Like they get after the horse too much, or they get impatient. Most of them feel sick, and they think, talk to other trainers, read and study and next time try something else. But, trainers HAVE to be able to make seat-of-the-pants decisions sometimes. We think at the time that we are doing the right thing, and then we get more information and learn more, and years later we say, "gee that was dumb."

You may have heard about the ear, shoulder, hip, heel alignment that a rider is supposed to have. It’s interesting that we expect to do this on a horse, because most of us can’t do it on the ground!  Does that mean we are hopeless and should never even try? Heck no! It means we have to adapt our positions to fit the specific limitations of our body. A wonderful place to begin is just observing ourselves and/or our students in a standing position, from the side, the back, and the front, and also while walking. What does it take for us to be straight off a horse. Now, how do we get our bodies to cooperate while ON a horse!

OK, heels down -- well how far? I think the "heels down" that so many riding instructors like to shout at their students is overrated! Yes, for jumping, absolutely. Yes, for a naughty dressage horse, but what about the rest of the time? When a rider puts the heels hard down it alters their hamstrings, their thighs, and their back. I'm planning to write a lot more about this in a new article soon. But for now, contemplate, what yould happen if I didn't push my heels down? Experiment!

One of the first lessons you need to master as a rider, is the seatbones and thighs lesson. We've been working on this lesson lately. It starts with suppling the neck, then activating the hind legs with the turns on the forehand, and then it focuses on throughness with the reinback. It's amazing to experience how you can really make the neck longer and the horse more through because of this combination of exercises -- if they are properly done. And then, you can incorporate that throughness into all  your riding from that point on, until you end up with a fabulous halfpass where the horse really reaches into the outside rein.

This week I've been having an advanced camp. The girls are riding fairly advanced horses (2nd to 4th level) and have given me many insights. The camp was necessary to get my horses ridden during my time of surgery recovery that has grounded me (no riding). So, throughout the week we've been focusing on transitions. Yesterday, after watching one gal struggle with one of the horses I broke the rules and got on to see what was going wrong -- it just wasn't visible. So, that all prompted this blog entry. Here's my tip for the day: Balance is always key. That means, in any transition or even within any gait, the rider's top priority has to be her balance and the horse's balance. Let's say you ask the horse to trot and he rushes off. That's a sign of tipping on the forehand! You must address the real underlying problem, not the symptom. A few things you might do to fix the problem are: stop, back up, tuck your fanny under, use your gut muscles.

Stirrups are not brakes! In fact the more one steps in the stirrups, the worse the brakes! For good half halts and downward transitions, practice doing them with bend, never retract the rein! Never press in the stirrups! To bend you can open the rein if needed, but never pull it back. When you pull the rein back, you stop the hind legs. We want to stop the front legs and make sure the hind legs keep going for as long as good balance requires, in order to support the horse in the downward transition and help him step under with the hhind legs. When you press in the stirrups you hollow your back and the horse copies you. so, the downward transions are butt-high and lack engagement. Focus on your lower leg by practicing riding downward transitions in shoulder in and leg yield. You must keep your hands still, preferably on the neck for this to work. Use your core muscles, think about what you want, and ride forward until it happens.

Sloggity: I talked about this word last time, but since then have been studying some videos: including Edward Gal on Morelands Totilas, and a bunch of Anky van Grunsven’s. I’ve also been reading a new book called “Selecting the Dressage Horse” by Dirk Willem Rosie with comments by Anky. On page 69 the author states “only hind legs that can ‘accelerate’ and step far under the body enable a horse to move with an elevated forehand.” So how does one explain Totilas? I don’t know. That horse is absolutely amazing! As one commentator said, “he has to be careful he doesn’t hit himself in the teeth with his knees!”

While teaching yesterday it occurred to me, that I have a whole vocabulary of terms that I use as shorthand explanations to the student. I spend plenty of time initially defining them, but thought a review might be fun. The first, and one of my favorite terms, is "sloggity." It means the horse has slow hind legs and a soggy (i.e upside-down) back. You see this often when a rider has deep heels, pinching knees and/or an arching back herself. Next time you see a picture in a magazine that illustrates a lack of hind leg activity, you can almost count on the horse being sloggity. Often we value this because it looks slow, often elegant, and apparently pretty. So what's wrong with that? Well, you can't piaffe with a sloggity horse, you can't pirouette or do any good collection, let alone extension. So, when a rider looks like she's dying trying to cross the diagonal at extended trot, you can figure the horse is sloggity.

While teaching the other day, I asked one of my students, (Mary) who is also a riding teacher, what she finds valuable about riding with a teacher present, as compared to reviewing a video that has comments on it, at at later time. She said, “If I didn’t have immediate feedback, I wouldn’t be able to remember the feel I got when it was good.” As I thought about that, another benefit came to mind: I help my students get their “feel” by persistently and repetitiously telling them, during their ride, when they don’t have it right. Then, when they get it, or improve it, I tell them so immediately so they get that feedback and add to their “feel.” It takes years to develop the skill to ride expertly, but all along the way are little “feel” improvements that add a critical piece to the riding  puzzle. Riding is an incredibly fascinating mystery.

The latest craze is to be able to spread yourself so thin you don't even need to be there!
What I mean in this case is, teaching from a video, etc.

I really can't see how a teacher can do a good job when they are
teaching from a chair, let alone teaching from 200 miles away (I'm
confined right now-- following ankle-repair surgery --to a chair, and
feel frustrated with my limitations). Teaching should and must be a
hands-on job. Most of us think we can see a lot more than we really can,
and putting the hands on the rider's body or the horse's rein is
extremely educational.

For example, often I'll walk alongside a student
and hold the reins to help her get the horse round. The horse often
won't get round until the rider gets the position just so. Then the
rider figures out what was needed. Now how do you do that from afar?

Additionally, the best tool I have for my visual learners is to hop on

Dressage saddles have evolved greatly over the past two or three hundred years. Here is my brief summary on their history:You can look at some of the oldest paintings and see riders with VERY straight legs, and often leaning back, sitting on their fannys, with heels way down and horses heads behind the vertical (very baroque).   Latter, during the 1930s to the 1970s you saw what looked like a modified jumping saddle with more forward flaps. These riders usually jumped as well, since this was the era of the masters coming from the military, i.e., the calvary. The saddles accommodated a rider who wanted to jump and do dressage in one saddle. These riders often had horses that weren't quite round by today's standards, and they rode with a fairly short stirrup and usually a deep heel, but their upper body was sometimes more forward.  

Been out of the saddle now for a few days with my ankle surgery. Lots of time to contemplate. My latest thought is, "No wonder horses with bad shoeing jobs have sore backs!" Walking around on crutches with one leg longer than the other due to the big cast on it, is killing my back! Looking forward to the end of this week when it comes off and I even get to swim during my non-weight-bearing phase of recovery. All my muscles seem to have gone into immediate atrophy (a real problem with stall rest!)

Lucky us, we chose one of the most comprehensively complicated tasks to pursue in life. But hey, it's fun trying! So, what makes it so hard? I think it's because you have to become the consumate multitasker, while doing the zen thing -- nothing! Ponder that! 

Try standing up regularly during your ride. Don't stand up high, just a little. Like a jumper's two point, sort of, but with your butt toward the front of the saddle. Then just barely sit down. You should be able to do everything in the standing postion that you can do in the sitting position. That position is used to help keep you still. You must be still or you ruin the horse's balance.

There are many ways to encourage your horse to engage his hind legs. One of my favourites it to leg yield with the horse along the wall, pushing his hind end toward the inside and leaving the front end on the rail. You must do this in walk and then in a fast posting trot. Do not sit down as you post! You’ll go straight into what Mary Wanless calls “the man trap” and I call “the pocket.” It’s the hole the horse makes for you in his back when it is down. The back goes down when the hind legs don’t work properly under the horse.