This message is from: Starfire Farm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Lori Albrough wrote:
Anne is so generous. Three years ago I had the opportunity to go out
west and also visited Anne, and a had a similar wonderful experience.
She let me ride Wez and Misha, and to experience my first passage and
piaffe, on a Fjord horse no less! Wez also offered me a levade which
luckily Anne had warned me might happen out of the piaffe if I made my
hips still. Since she had told me about it I could just relax and
enjoy, otherwise it could have been rather surprising. Anne's horses
are extremely well-trained and a testament to her long term dedication
and correct principles.
Anne shared Misha and Wez with me, similarly, several years ago, though
I did not get to experience the Levade, as Wez had not yet learned it!
Amazing to ride a correct piaffe and passage on a fjord! I have been
playing with Obie learning to piaffe on and off for the past year and he
is just starting to really understand what we want. It's too much fun!
As far as events here go, I wanted to share the exciting news that
both of my coaches, Ute Busse and her daughter Tina Irwin, were named
to the B Short List for the Canadian Dressage team for 2006!........
That's great news. Congrats to them.
The European dressage training method is very logical and systematic
and the horses are started from day one with a focus on going forward
into the contact. This differs so much from the young horse training
commonly seen in North America where young horses are ridden with more
of a pleasure horse outline with a lot of whoa-walk on-whoa and no
emphasis on riding the hind legs.
I will "beg to differ" a bit with you here and qualify that with "most"
young horse training in North America. Many trainers I know using the
"natural horsemanship", or whatever you want to call it, understand that
the horse, most importantly, should learn to go forward. They may not
emphasize that the horse learn to go into the contact, but they do have
to be allowed to go forward in order to be confident. I am always
telling my students, whether they are riding Western, English, or for
pleasure, to "Ride the Hind Legs!" Unfortunately, a LOT of "dressage"
training that you see in North America (and even in Europe) does not
truly focus on riding the horse from back to front, even though they say
it does......
Pleasure horse type training is fine if a pleasure horse is what you
are wanting to produce, but if the horse is intended for dressage it
does become confusing for him when all of a sudden the rules change
and he is asked to go forward over his back into the contact.
A skilled rider/trainer can help the horse understand what is wanted. I
have found that the horses are usually relieved to have more clear
communication and guidance. One caveat here is the definition of
"contact". To me the "contact" necessary, to achieve the goal that you
are trying to achieve in any particular stage of training, is determined
by the horse.....what the horse needs to help balance itself at any
given moment....
Ute has often said over the years that you should only put your best
riders on your young horses.
This is very true. I often get students who have been riding their green
horses and complain that the horse "goes like a drunk" (meaning that it
doesn't go in a straight line). The problem, invariably, is that the
rider, in wanting to be generous with their green horse (as they should
be) is following where the horse wants to go, instead of directing where
they want the horse's feet to go. Horses are natural followers, but will
take over if there is no "leadership" offered. Fjords especially, being
particularly smart, will tend to take over much sooner.
This made me wonder if I was adequate to the task, but I reasoned, I
am all that I have to work with. I've seen a noticeable improvement,
as my skills develop, my young horses are getting easier and better.
Good for you. It's a great experience to develop young horses. And it's
good that you have expert assistance to help you through the sticky moments.
One of the mares we started last year under saddle has proven to be an
interesting study. This mare from day one was so wiggly that she was
the poster-child of riding a piece of cooked spaghetti. YUCK! The
horse was using the suppleness within her body to effectively evade
letting the energy flow from her hind legs over her back and into the
hand.
Horses will also learn to "follow" the crookedness of their riders, so
if the previous rider was crooked, in combination with the "lack of
leadership" that I mentioned above, you get the "spagetti" horse....
What an awful feeling this gives the rider, as the horse wiggles and
worms and avoids taking an honest contact with the bit. She was also
quite crooked and needed a lot of work on straightness (which Tina is
always making me focus on).
This mare is young but I feel that she has the potential to be a great
little dressage horse, and has progressed into being a super feeling
ride. I can't quite articulate how exciting this is for me to have
come to the point where I can be effective in this way. I owe so much
to Ute and Tina for guiding me on this on-going dressage journey, and
to the schooled horses I have ridden for showing me the feel I was after.
Very exciting and, again, good for you.
Prisco and I have been working away all through the cold long winter
and are planning our debut at Third Level in the Dressage Canada
National Show near Peterborough in early May........Wish us luck and
to any listers in Ontario who want to come out and cheer us on at the
show, send me an email and I'll give you the details and my ride times
when I get them.
Too much fun, Good Luck! And, as long as all goes well, we will be able
to enjoy watching you and Prisco perform at Winona in October!
Best wishes to all Fjord people. Enjoy your horses!
Ditto.
Beth
Starfire Farm
Beth Beymer and Sandy North
http://www.starfirefarm.com
