This message is from: "Reena Giola" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Lori,
I just wanted to say you wrote a very well thoughtout 'article'....reply,
whatever you want to call it. I enjoyed reading it and didn't feel that it
was 'ranting' at all. I agree very much with what you said.
I am just starting my 'pre-lim' search for another horse but am so wary of
getting sucked in and ending up with a horse that is more then I can handle or
isn't what I thought he/she would be! I think this thread has been very
enlightening to me and has given me some new perspective on things...more
things to consider :-) There are just so very many levels of greenbroke to
trained...handling issues, temperament, rider abilities, the list goes on and
on.
I checked out your website! Beautiful!! and I love the one guy you have for
sale at the moment!! he is gorgeous!!!
Reena
----- Original Message -----
From: Lori Albrough
To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 1:28 PM
Subject: The canter and being greenbroke (was Re: Prejudice against
Fjords??)
This message is from: Lori Albrough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Genie Dethloff wrote:
>
> I have a friend, whose opinion I trust, that thinks that it is wrong to
> wait, especially since canter is not their preferred gait.
January 2005 Dressage Today magazine had an article called "Closing the Gap"
with the tagline: When will "North-American bred" have the same cachet as
"imported from Europe". The article is geared towards sporthorse (warmblood)
breeding and training, however I think this quote by Scott Hassler has
relevance to the current discussion on the Fjord list.
He says "Our good horses are not given the chance to compete against
Europe's good horses because of the training. It's that simple. We need to
get our young horses ridden better." In particular, Hassler says "Our young
horses are not ridden in a way that is safe, competent, or marketable. We
see them in a very hunter-style frame (strung out). They don't canter for
the first time for six or eight months."
This statement pretty much sums up the prevailing state of Fjord horse
training too -- where we see horses who have no concept of contact, or
giving to the bit, or moving off the leg, and who have been under saddle for
months and months and even years without cantering. These horses amazingly
are being marketed as riding horses. We see mature fjord horses being sold
as riding horses with "just learning his leads" in the fine print - yet the
word greenbroke never appears. We see horses marketed as ride/drive who
don't canter and never have - just trot faster, Faster, FASTER! A riding
horse must canter, he must canter on the aid, he must canter on the correct
lead (99% of the time, mistakes can happen) and he must canter in a
reasonably balanced, reasonably round frame. Or he ain't a riding horse.
I've heard people say "we haven't cantered him yet because he's not mature
skeletally" - my question is, if he's not sufficiently mature skeletally,
then what are you doing on his back?? So many horses are backed young to get
them sold but the education seems to not proceed in an orderly fashion. They
end up ridden for years before the canter is introduced and at that point it
can come as quite a shock. I bought one of these horses who was ridden
walk/trot only for a long time, and it took three very determined people and
two lunge whips to convince her that she could and she would canter under
tack. From there she did beautifully but I think it is kinder and makes more
sense to let the horse grow up to say 3.5 or 4 years old, start him under
tack and then teach him what he needs to know: walk trot AND canter. Take
your time, of course, but don't waste time.
In Reiner Klimke's book "Basic Training of the Young Horse" in the section
"At what age is a horse ready to be ridden?" he states that a warmblood
horse (and I think Fjords mature similarly to warmbloods) should not be
ridden before 3.5 yrs and talks about some of his Olympic mounts and what
age they were backed: Winzerin (4 yrs), Aracadius (4 yrs), Fabiola (3.5
yrs), Ahlerich (4 yrs). He says "I am convinced that had I started these
horses earlier I would not have been so successful." In other words, he was
not successful IN SPITE of the late start, but successful BECAUSE of it.
This is not a viewpoint you will hear often (in fact Scott Hassler quoted
above is in favor of starting them before they are three years old).
My own coach comes from a European background and over the years her methods
have become my methods. All my horses, which are started under saddle at
either 3.5 or 4 years, canter under saddle from the very beginning of the
training. Depending on the individual horse, it will be somewhere between
the 3rd to the 10th time they have a rider on their back. Each session from
then on, they will work in walk trot and canter for short daily rides of 15
to 20 minutes, walk trot and canter both ways. There is nothing mysterious
about cantering, but if we don't TRAIN IT, how are our Fjordhorses supposed
to have first the knowledge and second the strength required to DO IT in a
correct balanced fashion?
Dismounting my soapbox and cantering off.....
Lori
Lori Albrough
Bluebird Lane Fjords
Moorefield Ontario
http://www.bluebirdlane.com
