| re: .1
>> What kind of feedback did she present in the clinic??? Did she comment
>> on your tack, your seat and position, etc? I'd be interested in the
>> things she pointed out.
re: .2
>> I'd like to hear more about this clinic as well. Ida was a judge at
>> some of the NEDA shows that I competed and her comments are extremely
>> positive and helpful.
*********
Introduction
*********
Before we start,
1. I'm 6'3", 220 lbs. (comments may not apply directly if your 5' & 100 lbs)
2. I have a 17 yr old 17hh Trakhener who has been shown to 3rd level.
I bought him as a 'baby' school master.
3. Iv'e been riding with Debbie Baldelli (from Maplewood in Berlin MA)
for 4 or 5 years.
4. I did 3 show's this year, and considering how bad we were, we did okay.
I think you'd all define bucking in a canter transition (at NEDA fall
no less), as bad!
5. I try to ride quietly, without using strength but find tension sneeks
up on me. I get alittle tense, my horse gets tense, he leans on a rein
I end up holding, he pulls me, I pull more. Wev'e all been there.
This is still alittle cryptic, but Iv'e spent enought time on it
already. My comments within clinic notes are within {** **}.
*********
Day 1.
*********
Well, she noticed many of the same faults my instructor has also been
working with me on.
The first question she asked was "how was his walk?". We spent most all
the riding time, walk and trot on getting him round no matter what it takes.
---------------------
From the notes given back to me (purposely not converted to sentences):
. Free walk ears to withers, nose to knees
. Manipulate the reins to get him to go down and stay down in the walk.
. Aids for the walk, alternate leg aids to keep him moving. On some
horses you would use both legs at once, if the horse is
cronically late on one leg, use both legs when that leg is back.
. leg should slip on horse in the walk
. I need to keep my left shoulder back. {** been told that before **}
. Don't pull the bit. Massage the reins and move the bit around,
don't need to use alot of pressure. This is a training technique
to gain relaxation of the horses neck.
. You want them to give and drop the neck. Bend them and continue
to ride forward. Push with your legs.
. Touch with the leg, don't whip with the leg. If he doesn't
respond use the whip or spur. Use plain requests of the horse,
don't confuse him. Keep legs quiet so horse doesn't tense up
and get stiff.
{** I have been working the trot using alot of the above **}
{** info/techniques but never so much at the walk **}
. Be more aggressive with rein to get him round and ease up when he
comes round.
{** She means, which I recently realized, that I must be **}
{** much more active (.v passive) **}
. Posting, be more agressive, push with leg when your up. Posting
faster effects timing. Be alittle quicker. Increase horses
tempo by posting faster, will get horse more forward.
So she asks the question, "When your posting, when do you apply
your leg"? I guess I'm not doing it right so say "Your supposed
to when you sit but I'm not sure what I'm doing". She laughs and
says that all the books say that but if you really watch people
ride they don't. Try alittle leg when your up.
I did and it seemed to work incredibly well during the clinic
but I don't seem to have the timing down quite right since.
. Horse needs top line and to get round. Lunge horse 10 minutes 3
times a week to condition and build mussle on top line w/o any
weight on him. This is pure muscle building for the horse.
In 6 months youl'l be 2nd level going towards 3rd.
{** now there is an incentive **}
. Use traingulated side reins (two pairs, one to girth & one to
saddle). Keeps horses head in proper position, keep horse
down, round and back. Start with reins long and work them shorter.
lunge really low and deep.
{** My horse will go down but puts his nose out. She **}
{** wants him lunged behind the verticle so he get's the **}
{** right idea. Remember this is training, not the **}
{** desired end result **}
. Post actively and keep him round, maintain continous impulsion.
. Work on aid intensity and sense of feel. Leg should lay on horse
and move with horse. Weight of leg makes the difference. Keep
leg close, move legs togeather until you get the desired response.
Don't go beyond what you need to get the response.
. Be physically tactfull with the horse.
Home work. Read articles and bring questions.
She gave me copies of 3 articles she wrote for Dressage & CT
(She's a contributing editor).
SCHOOLING THE FREE WALK, by Ida Anderson, Dressage & CT July 1993
USE OF THE WHIP by Ida Anderson, Dressage & CT October 1994
WHAT'S IN THE REINS? by Ida Anderson, Dressage & CT August 1994
From WHAT'S IN THE REINS? she describes 4 ways to move the reins.
. close the hand Make a fist to cause tension and then relax.
. massage the bit Move the reins any/all ways like crazy.
. shake the rein Vibrate the rein without pulling.
. move the arm (open or closed position)
If small movements are not enough,
move at the elbows.
At the end of day 1 I thought the lesson was effective.
We have been working all summer on being more relaxed and rounder.
Prior to this clinic Debbie had suggested I ride once a week in draw
reins.
*********
Day 2.
*********
I started out asking Ida to explain draw reins v. the triangulated
side reins. We spent the first 20 minutes of the lesson talking
about this.
Ida thinks using the draw reins once a week is to conservative. Her
opinion is to fix the problem, do it now, do whatever it takes and get
it done. If I want to use draw reins, use them for 6 months steady
and then it will take 2 months to wean off them. Make sure Debbie
spends the time to teach me to use them correctly (we already have)
so that in 6 months I know everything there is to know about training
with draw reins.
. Triangulated side reins are for the horses development. Used as
an aid in training. She said that at the Spanish Riding School
most all training is on the lunge, they then ride piaffe & passage
for 15 or 20 minutes and are done.
. I should be sitting with my outside shoulder ahead and inside shoulder
back. {**another 'know it' .NES. 'doing it' **}
. Don't hold horses head up, shake reins to get him to drop his neck.
Get him to chew the bit around.
. Massage reins, keep leg on, slack reins, let him drop neck, then pick
up reins to keep him from streching neck, show limits then release.
teach him to hold himself. SELF CARRIAGE.
. Watch arm position, don't lock elbows, watch for triangle shape in arms.
{** I should of asked for a definition of triangle but didn't **}
. Massage reins, don't close and open fingers, it doesn't work. Move the
hands not the fingers. {** another...been told that before **}
She said this technique is for double bridles, not snaffles.
. Get horse round, get used to the feel as horse gets round then relax
& keep after him.
Up to now we were don't okay to the left but had alot more difficultly
getting him round to the right. We spent a long time walking to the right
getting him round and continued doing so at the trot. I thought I worked
pretty hard as it is and we went at it really hard massaging the reins
but we finally broke thru and he went round and soft to the right.
The work at the clinic has carried thru all week and he is still much
better to the right.
Nice to have a "name" trainer confirm alot of the ideas/aids/techniques
I have been taught and have been using are correct.
What IDA did differently:
1. Alot of the work I have been doing at the trot was done at the walk
first. Massage the reins, get him round and keep him there.
2. Greatly increase the intensity (or an aid, massaging with the reins
in my case) until it works.
After day 1 she wanted to do renvers on day 2 but we didn't get to it.
We ended day 2 with the best trot and canter to the right we have ever
had.
Bill
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Bill,
The things Ida noted were very similar to the items that were noted
by Sue in the clinic I did with her.
I ride a horse which is not very balanced and when he gets unbalanced
and not round or bending, it seems he feels that and gets nervous and
then we start dealing with a speed issue.
Sue stress that transitions, walk to trot, trot to walk,
trot/walk/halts, however boring they might be, are a neccessary part of
the training and that she does a zillion of these things when she
rides and trains.
Zak and I do alot of these at first to get him round and supple, doing
walks where his head is round and that he cannot undo this unless I say
it is time to relax. Taking the time to halt him and literally
bend his nose to my knees, first to one and then to another so that he
gets the idea of what the bend should be and where he is too look.
I did this method with a school horse last week, but Debbie had me put
sugar in my hand to show how suttle the bend in the neck should be. It
was a great idea and she says she uses that to train her horse.
Same idea of manipulating the reins softly so that his head comes down.
Not an open and closing, but more wrist movement, and no stiffening of
the elbows, but when your doing circles, have it more like riding a
bike, that form of movement.
We did a circle, and I swear I felt like I was going to die :>), but
Sue had me just keep circling him, bumping him out with my inside leg,
half-halting him to get him slow and round, and tapping him slighlty
with the whip to the rhythm of the trot so that he would keep his hind
quarters out on the circle. And literally pulling my inside elbow back
and down and not releasing that rein until he gives, which is what we
do with Debbie alot.
Quiet my posting down and sit way back so that his speed does not pick
up and then push him out to the reins with my legs. I am still working
on keeping my legs quiet and back behind the girth a bit more. And
still working on lengthening, because when I put my legs on to do that,
his body does not seem to connect how it should, the back drops back,
the back down and the front jolts out.
We worked on canter transitions, and riding in first position but
having the horse do a BIG canter, as Sue put it, but this was not fast
at all, it was quiet nice actually, but always feeling as if I was
going in an uphill manner.
Closing the inside of the hand, to the right or left, helps in aiding
the horse to look in the direction they are suppose to be going. This
we do with Debbie, and I do not release until Zak gives in or until my
hand cramps up! :>)
Like you pointed out, alot of the work is done at the walk, then we
head into our trot. I find it works better with Zak to him him walk and
listen to what I want him to do.
There was nothing different that Sue told and showed me that I have not
done with Debbie, and we've made excellent progress with her over the
past year or two. The one thing I noticed about Sue though is she is
always on you. I had a private with her and it was an incredible workout,
she was always with me, every stride we took.
So, now I just ask Debbie to get on my butt when it looks like I am
being too passive! :>)
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