The Back Lady

Dorothy's Blog

Last Updated on Thursday, 25 February 2010 11:52

Thursday 25th February

Well, February is flying past , so next week we are into March! The weather is still being very variable, on Monday we had the coldest windy sleet, so wet and penetrating, worse than snow and frost. I even put a rug on Solo on Monday night,it was sooo nice to have a clean horse to take to meet with Lynda at Margaret's on Tuesday. Today we have soft, calm and 10 degrees - it can't make up its mind!

I have been concentrating on some of Dr Deb's work on 'OK-ness' with Solo. She quotes one of her teachers saying words to the effect of 'the most frightening thing for a horse is to feel that the handler / rider is not taking their fears and feelings into consideration' I have had a big realisation about how much I have been frightening him by not acknowledging when he is worried about things and pushing him through and past his fears, trying to force him to trust me. No wonder he is so spooky, he can't trust me, and I am having to work doubly now to earn this properly. We are getting there though, and the last two times I have hacked out, I have had some wonderful communication with him leading to real calmness. I don't want to try to describe what I have been doing, as it is still rather new and different to me and I don't think I would explain it well, but I would encourage you to study Dr Deb's stuff, it really is phenomenal, her website is www.equinestudies.org and if you would like to read more about what I am doing with Solo, read the 'Rider's eyesight and the Birdie' thread on the forum.........    Welcome to a new world!

Last weekend I went to Derbyshire to help Lavinina Mitchell with a saddle fitting course, which was really good fun, we had such an interesting mix of people on the course with an amazing variety of horse skills. The only problem of the weekend was waking up to 4 inches of snow, trapping us at the B&B at the bottom of their 50 yd long uphill drive! Snow chains and tow ropes eventually managed to get us all out, and the day was much less disrupted than it might have been.

Next week I am doing a 2 day course on 'Hands on' work with one of my very favorite people, Anna Gordon-Redmond, who is an exceptional RWYM coach, Alexander Teacher and Craniosacral therapist (amongst other things) and has magic hands. Anna lives in Ireland, so it is a huge treat to see her when she visits England. I am excited about what I will learn, so 'watch this space'!

Monday 8th February

I have been having the most interesting time over the past few weeks, hence the lack of posts! I have rediscovered the website of Dr Deb Bennett, who is a most interesting and knowledgeable lady on ALL things equine. What Dr Deb does not know about horse evolution, breeds, conformation, anatomy, biomechanics and much more is not worth knowing! She has a forum on her site that she runs as her 'classroom', so you know the information you get is really authoritative, and not just anybody's  opinion. I have been gradually working my way through the threads, and discovering so much interesting stuff - I really recommend everyone to read what she has to say. She is also a skilled and sensitive horsewoman, and really does walk her talk. One of the most important things she puts across is to establish and read the horse's internal (mental / spiritual) 'OK-ness'. Until you have a horse that is Ok, you cannot ask anything meaningful of the horse, as its attention will not be with you, and there will be tension and 'braceyness' in the horse's body and muscles.

Since my last post, I have had some wonderful rides with Solo. Concentrating on the ground work and core exercises when I couldn't ride him has made a really significant difference to his strength and carriage under saddle. He is so much more able to lift his withers and reach into the rein with slow, deliberate steps. His lateral work is markedly different, and, again, his canter is more and more balanced and responsive. I have a huge smile on my face when I ride him, especially in canter, when he gives me a feel that I have never had on any other horse, and did not believe I would ever get from him.

Tango made me laugh recently when I put the bareback pad on him - he has had it on a couple of time before, and is so laid back about it, happily mooching around eating hay. I wanted to see what would happen if I asked him to move more with it on, and sent him round me in trot, he got half way round the circle, dropped to his knees without even stopping, and the next thing I saw was him wriggling around on his back with his legs in the air! When he got up again he had an expression on his face as if to say 'oh, its still there, bum!'. He tried to roll on the next circle, but I managed to stop him and he was fine after that. I'm just glad he did it with the bareback pad on and not a saddle - LOL.

Tomorrow is a big day in the Rollkur debate - the FEI are having a round table meeting to discuss it with 20 invited guests representing different disciplines and organisations. Gerd Heuschmann has been invited, but, I think is the only one who will speak against RK. Please keep him in your thoughts and send him strength.

Its just started to snow again, so I do hope we don't have the same disruption as in January!

Thursday 14th January

Yay! I actually rode my horse yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks. We had a fresh fall of snow overnight, and the lane looked soooo tempting, so I put his bareback pad on (somehow riding in the snow has to be done bareback - or with a pad) and off we went. He felt fab, and gave me the loveliest feel in canter. It really made me smile and laugh to be cantering along the lane through the woods, silently in the snow. It had to be done! The shame of it is that this is only possible immediately after a fresh snow-fall, as the lanes get too slipery as more people drive on them and ruin the snow!

Even with the snow and ice, and not being able to ride, I have kept doing the core exercises with Solo, combined with his in-hand lateral exercise, and I am really seeing a difference in his consistency. He is beginning to lift his withers and stretch downward, forward whilst stepping sideways - this has been a really big deal for him, as his immediate reaction in the past has been to contract his head and neck and push back as soon as I asked for lateral steps that were not hurried and evasive.

Solo is starting to respond differently to a contact - with me really working on the release, he is offering to stretch forwards into it, and not scrunch backwards - an amazing feel, and I even got this response in trot and canter yesterday, wow.

I am so interested to note how the horses' feet look with this consistent cold, snowy, frozen weather. They have been out almost all the time (chomping their way through enormous amounts of hay, and getting fat!!), and their feet are so clean, and keeping their balance really well. They are all developing brilliant skid brakes, with lovely concavity. I love seeing the snow 'hoof patties' that come out of their hooves as they move about in the snow. You get a lovely impressionn of the soles of their feet!

I have been unable to drive all the way to the yard for over a week, apart from one day, due to the glacier that forms from springs which flow out over the road, and turn into thick ice. The 4WDs do ok, but my front wheel drive van just can't handle it. Having said that, it is doing really well considering the conditions, and there have only been 2 days when I've had to park right at the top of the hill and walk the mile, rather than just 1/4 mile from the bottom. I'm really looking forward to things getting back to 'normal', though I'm not looking forward to the mud!!  eurgh.

Sunday 3rd January 2010!!

I hope that 2010 brings peace and prosperity to you all, and your hopes and dreams are realised.

There has only been one day this week when the roads were sufficiently thawed to be safe to ride on, so a friend and I took Solo and Tango and went 'up one hill and down the other'. Ali rode Solo and I led Tango, so I got my cardiovascular exercise as this road round goes up a long hill of nearly a mile, about 1/4 mile along the top and down a parallel lane. I certainly felt my shin muscles the next morning! Unfortunately they were shooting in the fields between the two hills, so we went at a rather faster walk than I would have chosen! There is alot of shooting around us so the horses are generally very good, but this was rather closer than it often is, so we had one or two 'star jumps' from the horses. LOL

Though the sunshine and bright frosty weather is very beautiful - and I hope the sun is an indication of things to come this year - I am getting frustrated at not being able to ride. I can't even take Solo anywhere in his van as the lane past the yard has hills in both directions with nasty wet patches that ice over and get thicker and thicker as the days go by - hence I can't ride either. So we will just have to be patient and continue with core exercises and in hand work in the field or lunge circle when we can. I am going to go to the bottom of the field today where there is a flat area to see if it is ride-on-able in the afternoon.

I am really enjoying reading Egon von Neindorff's new book - The Art of Classical Horsemanship - it is a really substantial and thorough tome. I love his approach and attitude, he spends 3 chapters on the importance of how the rider sits and uses his / her back, and continues to emphasize this throughout the book - its great that he keeps making this point - in too many horse training books, the importance of the rider's seat is rather glossed over and assumed.

He espouses the really traditional German school of dressage, with a true respect for the horse and a sensitivity for the mouth with so much made of a light contact and gentle hands. I just wonder what has happened to this in the past few decades, as this is not what we are seeing in modern dressage - competitive or otherwise. Those competitive riders who dismiss 'classical' cannot do the same to von Neindorff, and should learn so much from him.

Now that the Christmas and New Year period is over, I need to get on with things - it has been all too easy to use the holiday period as an excuse to procrastinate, apart from anything I need to do some marketing and generating business as, unfortunately, I do need to earn some money........

Monday 28th December

England with ice and snow.......    need I say more! The past week has been almost entirely iced up, the horses have lived entirely in their field with lots of hay as their yard would have made a respectable skating rink, and the lane similarly. The worst thing about this sort of weather in England is that it won't stay below freezing, which would be manageable, but freezes, thaws, rains / sleets, freezes again, snows on top of the ice, thaws to smooth it all out beautifully before freezing again, this has got to be the worst sort of winter weather. Having said that, it is very beautiful with everying dusted with snow and hanging with frost in the sun!

My small white van has done remarkably well given the conditions, I only had to be dragged off a bank once by a kind farmer and his tractor, but we have slid around quite alot, failed to make it up Hassage Hill (about 1 mile of variable steepnesses) and slid about a third of way back down again before managing to turn round. I have discovered how to use the bank and hedges to provide friction and help slow my descent. Poor van.

The only things I have been able to do with Solo, until yesterday, were Hilary's core exercises, and some in hand work, but I don't think he minded, as these involve plently of treats! Tango has done one session on our small lunge circle, a first for him to come into the yard entirely on his own and focus on me for 10 minutes, he was remarkably good, especially considering Nif stood at the field gate and neighed to him. Echo, Solo and now Tango have all been much more sensible being on their own as youngsters than Old Man Nif, who really ought to know better!

I have some really good news, which I received just before Christmas, and was a wonderful Christmas present. Philippe Karl gave individual feedback, and my application is up to his standard - yay - which means that I am on his short list. Depending on how many more applications he gets by the end of August next year, he will come over and run a special clinic for all applicants to meet us and see how we ride before making his final decision - this is as good as I could have hoped for. The silver lining to all this is that Tango will be nearly a year older when the course does start, and more able to be included from the start.

Sunday 20th December

Oh er, is it really nearly 2 weeks since I have written something?? Never mind, tomorrow is the shortest day, so its uphill from then. Some friends and I are having a 'winter solstice' celebration tomorrow - a good excuse for another party! LOL

We now have lovely dry, sunny weather, but the ground is frozen solid and the lanes around the yard have treacherous stretches of ice - so we are limited to in hand work and .......   core exercises! The horses look lovely and bright-eyed and bushy tailed in the sun, and it is amazing how hot their puffed up coats feel; under their manes is the best hand warmer ever.

Last week I went to watch Denise O'Reilly teaching at Overdale. Denise is one of Mary's senior coaches, and has trained her husband's (ex)-hunter to advanced level dressage from scratch. She is a really insightful teacher to watch, and I had some significant 'ah-ha' moments making connections about the meanings of the words. It reinforced my recent realisations that the different schools of training are saying the same things.

Mary talks about the importance of the connections between a person's experience of a concept or activity - the brainscape, and the words used to describe the particular concept or activity - the wordscape. Brainscape and wordscape are like two 'layers' in the functioning of the brain, which can operate independently of each other, but are most meaningful if there is a connection between them. Looking at this another way, the wordscape represents a fairly superficial layer on which we may store words or phrases that we have come across, such as 'sit deep', 'roll the medicine ball back', 'stretch up tall' and a host of others. The brainscape stores 'feelages' or images that may be deeply buried in the subconscious, and for which we may not have language. When the two can be connected, it is like 'the penny has dropped' and suddenly there is a new meaning to the words, you suddenly experience the feeling of rolling the medicine ball back, as well as knowing the words. A common response when this happens would be 'ah, now I know what 'stretch up tall' really means'. These are 'lightbulb' or 'ah-ha' moments, and are so exciting!! In the opposite direction, finding words to meaningfully describe a skill that has operated in unconscious competence will give you the tools to recognise this aspect of the submerged iceberg and potentially explain it to someone else in a way that they can understand and assimilate.

My 'ah-ha'moment last week was to do with the 'classical' and 'Baucherist' schools' rejection of the German principle of working in a forward going trot, and the German school's rejection of working slowly in walk and laterals.

The Classical and, even more, the Baucherists use the slow, but nevertheless, responsive gaits, and the laterals to really establish collection, to consistently get the medicine ball rolled back, the see-saw level, the horse's core underneath yours - whatever words you wish to use. From this end you can gradually increase the tempo and stride length whilst maintaining the collection, and to test the collection. The Germanic, competitive school starts at this point, and, assumes you already have the collection, and starts to test it from the start, hence working in a more forward manner. However, this will only be effective if you really do already have the medicine ball back and the see-saw level. Hmmmm, another sudden lightbulb moment - no wonder I have found this so ineffective for me and my horses up until now. I have the type and breed of horse that does not naturally carry itself with the medicine ball back, unlike many warmblood types, so no wonder discovering the classical approach has made such a difference to me, now I can get to the starting point of the German school. I think that Heather Blitz is one of very few competitive school riders who recognises in both brainscape AND wordscape the importance of ball back before you can push forwards.

The converse is that many warmbloods can be rather lazy off the leg, so the emphasis is on forwardness. This may or may not be helpful, depending on how it is done, as the horse needs to learn sensitivity to the leg and not become dependent on more and more leg. Denise said that it is a mistake to do the slow collecting work if the horse is not 'off the leg', and the German, FEI way of training, as Philippe Karl and Racinet explain at length, is not conducive to teaching a horse to be sufficiently responsive.

Oh that was rather an essay! Writing it down has actually clarified things further in my mind, so it is interesting for me, but I hope not too heavy for you!

Have a very Happy Christmas

Monday 7th December

Yuk, this wet weather is getting tedious - mind you I have been lucky and managed to get out in some drier intervals a number of times. Nif now has his new rug, but of course, the first night I put it on him it was still, dry and mild! We are forecast for some colder, dry weather towards the end of the week, so I hope it doesn't decide to freeze solid on top of all this wet.

Solo paid me back today for doing the core activation exercises with him. He seemed to think it would be funny to exercise my core a bit more by being extra spooky and doing 'teach your horse to passage trot' along the flooded lane! If I can sit on that, I can jolly well sit on anything - lol.

My less than happy news is that Philippe Karl has sent a message to Derek, who is liaising with him, to say that he does not feel that there are enough candidates up to an acceptable standard to run the course yet, and will be continuing to accept applications til August next year. This means that any course that does run won't start for at least a year. He also has left us hanging rather as he did not give feedback on who did or did not meet the standard. I imagine he will do this in due course, as I certainly want to know what I might need to do to get up to speed over the next 8 months and re-apply. This is rather disappointing, but apparently he is being rather more selective for all courses and not just here in England.

Whatever, I have plenty of ideas that I want to play with from my recent reading, so I am not short of inspiration, and I am fascinated to see and feel the differences in both Solo and me.

Wednesday 2nd December

I can't believe it's December already! the upside of this is that it's only 3 weeks til the shortest day of the year - some friends and I are planning a Winter Solstice Celebration (not quite an alternative to Christmas, but a good excuse for another party!). We really seem to be paying for the lovely dry September and October, but luckily we have not suffered like those in Cumbria. The horses are suddenly alot hungrier for their hay, and poor old Nif was really shivery on Monday morning after a relentlessly wet night. I think that I will get him a rug for when the weather is cold and wet as I don't want him to loose any more condition, he is looking old now, and isn't coping as well as the others.

I am still thrilled with the saddle, and today Solo actually 'sauntered' down one of the worst hills for spookiness and rushing which is awesome as he hasn't sauntered anywhere for as long as I can remember. It is so nice not to be struggling with a worried, rushing horse, he even managed to keep his legs under control all the way through the scary farmyard and past the pheasant poult houses, and then settled immediately we were past. I am sooooo pleased!

I have imported a box full of books and DVDs by Dr Hilary Clayton, who is a vet and equine biomechanics researcher. Hilary has put together a whole series of exercises that are like a Pilates work out for your horse. They are done from the ground, and include the 'carrot stretches', but done in different positions, as well as exercises that stimulate the muscles that coil the loins and lift the ribcage between the shoulder blades - the exact muscles that you want the horse to use for collection. These are brilliant for the winter months when riding may be limited, as they can be done in a stable or barn, and will develop and condition the muscles you want when you ride again! If anybody wants a copy, please contact me, as far as I know at the moment, they are not otherwise available in the UK.

I have had confirmation that Philippe Karl has received my application, exciting!!. As he requested that applications were not sent recorded delivery, I was a bit concerned in case it got lost in the post and I would never know.......      However, Derek Clark, who will be hosting the course, has been in touch with him and got a list of applicants. We should find out in the New Year who has been selected - I have all my fingers and toes crossed, and I'm thinking positively by referring to it as 'my' place already. Please send out 'Dorothy's place' vibes so he has no choice - lol . 

Tuesday 24th November

Well, here I go again......   yesterday I had spent nearly half an hour writing this installment of my blog, and was just about to save it when my internet connection went down. Aaaaarrrrghh! All was lost.

I was talking about connections, and I have just realised that there is another one in addition to those I’ve already mentioned. I have recently finished reading Mark Rashid’s book ‘Horsemanship Through Life’ in which he talks alot about discovering Aikido, and how studying this martial art has influenced his riding and his life. There is a principle in Aikido of centering, something I have come across before, indeed, I believe it is a principle within all martial arts, and, as I think riding should be a martial art, it is very relevant to me.

Yesterday was a particularly wet and windy day, and I snatched a dry, but still extremely blustery interval to take Solo round the block. I resolved to focus on finding my centre and keeping my attention on it. But I took this a step further, as did Mark, in getting a sense of where Solo’s centre was, and seeing if I could make a connection between the two. WOW. We both completely forgot about the wind, and had the calmest, steadiest, happiest ride for a LONG time!

So, how does this fit with Philippe Karl, J-C Racinet and Heather Blitz? Let me first explain some imagery that Heather uses to get a sense of how much a horse is in self-carriage / collection. Imagine that your horse is an empty shell that contains a medicine ball. The Americans out there will know what I mean. For the Brits, a medicine ball is a heavy, non bouncy ball, a bit larger than a football, that is used for fitness training. As you are sitting on your horse, see if you can get a feeling of where the medicine ball is within the shell of the horse. Frequently it will be somewhere down and forward in the chest – a horse on the forehand. It may also be off to one side – a horse that bulges one shoulder and is ‘banana’ shape. Your aim as the rider is to cause the medicine ball to roll back and centrally until it is underneath you (provided you are sitting in the right place!).

A further extension of this imagery is to think of horse being like a see-saw (teeter-totter) from front to back. Again in the horse on forehand, the see-saw will slope down at the front. Your job as rider is to cause the see-saw to balance levelly. Now put the medicine ball on the see-saw, and keep them balanced, with the ball under you . Describes the balancing act that riding can be quite well really! One thing Heather is very clear about is that she wants a horse to find a way to balance the see-saw and ball virtually from day 1, and from the first step it takes.

In this I find 2 connections. Firstly, if the medicine ball is not another euphamism for the horse’s centre, which needs to be balanced and connected to your centre, I don’t know what is. Secondly, Heather is aiming for the same things as both PK – have the horse’s weight shifted back over the hind legs and off the shoulders, and J-CR – coil the loins and lift the rib cage. And all aim to get this before even walking away,  and all only go as fast as the horse is able to maintain it. All will frequently test the horse’s ability to maintain it with more impulsion and in differing movements, and all will come back to the place where the horse can maintain it if it is lost.

I find it so exciting to realise that these people have independently arrived in the same place, but use different language to describe it – a fabulous toolkit, as one of these descriptions will probably trigger the necessary organisation in a rider to achieve the objective.

And it works!!!

Sunday 22nd November

I can't believe we're more than half way through November, and its only a month til Christmas! The good weather in September and October really has made this side of the Winter Solstice feel shorter. Having said that, I have just spent this weekend with cancelled lessons, and dodging the rain. I suppose we can't have it all ways.

I am really excited by some of the stuff that I have read in the Racinet book. It clarifies and consolidates some ideas that I have been playing with from both Philippe Karl and Heather Blitz. Racinet is very clear on his definition of what happens biomechanically in a horse's body for collection. To be collected, the horse needs to coil his loin - flex his lumbosacral junction and tuck his pelvis under to a greater or lesser extent depending on the breed and conformation, and he then has to raise his rib cage and withers up between his shoulder blades. He explains that the muscles that lift the rib cage are the same muscles that swing the shoulder blade backwards and forwards in movement. He postulates that, until these muscles are stong enough, it is very hard for them to perform both actions at the same time, so this aspect of collection is best obtained in halt, and then learned and strengthened in very slow gaits, especially walk and canter. This is one of the big differences between the Baucherist approach, which does this, and many other approaches which attempt to get collection and this lifting through pushing forward and using school movements, usually in a hurried working trot - one of the most difficult paces for these muscles to perform both functions. No wonder so many of us are doomed to fail unless we have an unusually talented horse, or are exceptionally skilled. The message here is - SLOW DOWN!

So, how does this tie in with PK and Heather? PK effectively gains this collection the moment he gets on, slowly lifts his hands and asks the horse to rock its body back slightly over its legs - loin coiling, and the resultant raising of the head and neck will have the effect of engaging the serratus muscles that lift the rib cage. He then asks the horse to move. I have been really impressed by how slow and measured he keeps the speed of the horse's legs. A similar upward action of the hand (with increasing degrees of refinement) when in motion - the demi arret - asks the horse to do the same thing, but whilst moving, and prepares the horse for the next request. Sounds similar?

In my next post I will talk more about how this corresponds to Heather's approach..........

Monday 16th November

I had a good weekend at the Your Horse Live exhibition, though the materialistic shopping opportunities were rather overwhelming, how much money you could spend there! I saw some interesting demos, Sylvia Loch gave a good display of Classical riding, and was very vociferous about the current rollkur debate. Unfortunately I had to walk out of one display as I couldn't bear to watch. It was a demonstration of gridwork, which was very interesting, with some great ideas, but one of the horses, a gorgeously spotted youngster, that somehow reminded me of Solo, almost made me want to cry. She was ridden by a young rider who really did not have a good jumping style, over every jump she launched herself forwards, drawing her hands back towards herself. This was compounded by her legs, which flew backwards at the same time, so her horse got a smack in the mouth, and a jab in the ribs with her spurs (!!!!!!) over every jump. The horse became more and more worried with rolling eyes and a flapping bottom lip, she went more and more head up and hollow backed as the session progressed. In the end, she kept knocking the larger (?3") jump down. The instructor, who will remain nameless, kept telling the girl what a good job she was doing, and how much the horse was enjoying herself! This was not the picture I was seeing. I feel quite upset just writing about it.

On a different note, I bought a couple of really interesting looking books. Over the years, I have been vaguely aware of newly published books, but it is notable that in the past 2 or 3 years some really important books have come out. Books that I think will become the modern classics. Philippe Karl's 'Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage', Anja Beran's 'In Deference', Gerd Heuschmann's 'Tug of War' that I have read, and the two I bought - Egon von Neindorff's 'The Art of Classical Horsemanship' and Jean-Claude Racinet's 'Falling for Fallacies'. I am really looking forward to reading both. These seem to reflect an awareness of the problems identified in the competitive dressage field, and, hopefully, will go a long way to educate and counteract the travesties we are seeing. A new balance is needed.

Thursday 12th November

I have had a lovely day again meeting Lynda at a mutual friend's house with our horses. It is so good to get some 'eyes on the ground' feedback on what is happening, and discuss new feelages and ideas. Lynda and Tinks are making some amazing changes and their progress together is great. Solo felt rather one sided, and we worked on how to access both our right sides! In the end I had some really good canter work, it is becoming so much more rideable. Canter, in the past with Solo, was rather a 'hold your breath, don't move a muscle, and pray that we can hold it together' situation- not a good recipe for success! However, I can't remember the last time he went disunited (hope I'm not speaking too soon), which used to be a boringly regular occurrence. Now I am so excited about the feel he gives me, as I can really imagine how it could develop into pirouettes.

My suberpad arrived at the end of last week - at least a week sooner than I expected - thank you to David Ahn who makes them for getting it to me so quickly. I have ridden with it a number of times, and have worked out how to distribute the cork to the best effect. I am really pleased with how it feels, and I think Solo is too. The last two hacks we have been on, on Monday and Wednesday of this week, we walked down our hills with him going steadily, head low, with his reins on the buckle. I don't think we have ever done this before, certainly not in years!!! It just makes me wonder how much of his stressy behaviour was saddle related, again, I really hope I'm not speaking too soon!

I am going with friends to the Your Horse Live Exhibition at Stoneleigh for the weekend, which should be fun. I have 2 shopping lists, one the dream one, the other the realistic one - this one includes socks and boots. Boots are definitely needed, as I found out in the rain today, and ended up with decidedly soggy socks.

I have been following some really interesting threads on two facebook groups - Roll Call of Riders against Rollkur, and Blue Tongue World Cup Warm Up Video, and have made contact with some fascinating people. When I first got my FB account I was warned how much time I could waste on it - well now I understand why!! It is so encouraging to know that there are many like minded people out there.

Wednesday 4th November

How interesting. I haven't ridden much over the past 10 days or so, and my muscles seem to decondition to riding very quickly, so when I do ride again after not riding I always feel some muscles somewhere. Yesterday I rode a client's horse, who can be quite down on the forehand, but I had some of the best work with him, more consistent and responsive and in self-carriage than ever. Today, I feel the muscles in the small of my back.

I have been very conscious of activating my back muscles more when riding recently, with very good effect on Solo. Though I had moments of consciously activating those muscles yesterday, I think they may be being incorporated into the unconscious competence, and, apparently, worked quite hard!

Mary talks alot about a known sequence within sports psychology, which goes like this: you start on unconscious incompetence - you don't know what you don't know. You meet an RWYM coach and you enter the wonderful world of conscious incompetence - OMG, I didn't realise there was so much to riding! Or, I can't continue to ride like I used to, but I feel like a complete beginner again. Gradually as you assimilate the ABCs you move into conscious competence - you can do it, but you have to think about it and remind yourself, use a checklist, return to your coach etc. Finally, your skills become incorporated into unconscious competence - this is where the talented riders are, and why they may struggle to teach their skills to the rest of us.

Throughout your rider's journey, you will go through this cycle with ever increasing sophistication (you hope!) and subtelty, but you will never get entirely to unconscious competence, as you will almost certainly meet new challenges. Sport psychologists say that it takes 10,000 repititions of a new movement or action for it to become the default - unconscious competence, though, I think Mary believes that many talented sports people can assimilate new stuff rather faster, hence their talent. Never mind, I'll keep doing my 10,000s!

Monday 2nd November

ooooh, my new saddle is lush!! I have ridden Solo twice in it, and I'm really pleased with the feel he gives me and the way he goes. I haven't yet got the panel and pads right underneath it and I still feel that I am sitting on a downhill slope, but even so, it feels lovely. I have ordered a Suberpad to go under it. This is a cork filled pad that molds to the horse's shape and is very stable and forgiving on the back. Today, I took Tango out with Solo, which is getting alot more do-able as Solo is calmer and we have better control of the speed of his legs!

 I had a great weekend with lots of cousins and friends visiting for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party on Saturday. I even turned some heads by getting my legs out and wearing a skirt - a very infrequent occurrence!

Thursday 29th October

I've had a really interesting few days, catching up with friends that I haven't seen for some time, too much wine, and alot of laughing and late nights. On the more serious side, the Symposium was great, with Hilary Clayton presenting some new work on saddle fit and the impact of the rider, as well as some excellent exercises on 'Activating your Horse's Core' - Pilates for horses, which I'm keen to try with Solo and Tango. In the afternoon, Mary and Heather did a great double act to good effect!

 Watching Heather coaching for 2 days was inspiring. Its so good to see the progression that regular riders on her clinics are making. I was so pleased to notice the similarities between much of what Heather does with Philippe Karl. Though Heather would not use the lifting of the hands or exaggerated flexions, alot of other messages are the same. The consistency, the expectations of the horse, the subtlety of the aids, and the separation of the action of hand and leg, the preference for a degree of push back in the neck over over-bending, with the eventual aim being neck extension or reaching with the nose in front of vertical. Fascinating.

On the subject of over-bending and rollkur, there is alot of buzz in the internet about a video taken at a recent international competition in Denmark. It shows a horse being ridden for a prolonged time in extreme hyperflexion. At times the horse's tongue is hanging out of its mouth, and has gone blue. Please go to the website www.dressagedisgrace.com to see it, and to find out what you can do to get the message across that this is not acceptable.

On a more exciting note, my new saddle arrived today! I don't think I will have time to ride over the next 2 days as my parents are having a party for their 50th wedding anniversary, and we have lots of cousins and friends coming to visit. Hopefully I will get time to ride on Sunday afternoon when everyone has gone home again, I can't wait.......

Friday 23rd October

Well, my recipe was fairly accurate, and I had some lovely work with Solo this morning. I still can't believe the feel of THE canter. I wasn't as consistent as in my lesson with Lynda last week, I find it much harder to focus on my own.

Tomorrow I am going to stay with a friend with whom I was on the Animal Chiropractic course. It will be really nice to catch up. On Sunday I am helping out at Mary's symposium with Heather Blitz and Hilary Clayton, and then on Monday and Tuesday I am going to watch Heather teaching at Mary's yard. Wonderful friend / horse immersion! I always learn so much watching Heather teach and ride.

Thursday 22nd October

I haven't been feeling particularly inspired to write this week. Lots of work (good) and not much riding (not good). I've hardly dared to get on Solo since last Thursday in case it was only a dream! I have ridden him twice, once taking Tango with us - not a good recipe for sophisticated riding, and today on a road round. I concentrated mostly on finding the same feelages in my back and diaphragm, and had a good effect on Solo, phew.

It is too easy to want the same results too badly, and not focus on building the right conditions for the results to happen in. Mary tells people, when they have had a particularly good ride or feelage, to say to themselves something along the lines of 'wow, that will be an act to follow' rather than 'I've got it' - in which case you almost certainly will not recreate the same next time. She likens it to baking a cake, and needing to add the right ingredients in the right proportions (and probably the right order) to get the same outcome. If you focus on only one feel, generally one of the last ingredients to be added, the chances are you won't get the same cake, and will be disappointed and frustrated.

Tomorrow I will take Solo to the school and see how good my baking is.

Thursday 15th October

Quite a few months ago, I had been working with Solo on his canter, it may even have been shortly after a clinic with Heather Blitz when my mother rode him on our small schooling area. Solo gets really pleased when he has something new to show off, and he wouldn't trot but offered Ma an amazing collected canter, which she still dreams of riding, and asks me regularly if we have done THAT canter.

Today I took Solo and met with my friend Lynda Davey and her horse, Tinks. We like to meet regularly and give each other lessons, and work with new ideas.  Lynda is also very interested in Philippe Karl, as well as being a very skilled RWYM coach and rider. I had taken him to the school on Monday and Wednesday this week as well, and he came out feeling much straighter than usual, with phemomenal power steering. When I was riding, we explored further the ideas that I have been working with, accessing my diaphragm and back in a powerful way. We added in another layer of abdominal strength, and Solo offered me the most incredible feel in canter - eat your heart out THAT canter! This was THE canter. Talk about pleased-with-himself horse - it was a canter from which I can really feel pirouettes happening. This stuff works!

I find it so fascinating to work out and balance what is necessary NOW to make the differences. I have been playing with PK's ideas alot over the past few months, and rather coasting with my RWYM tool kit, and getting big changes in Solo. However, last week at Teacher Training, and this week, I have been progressing more with RWYM ideas on top of the PK work, and getting even more awesome results. At the moment, I only have brain-space for PK or new RWYM ideas, but it seems that layering one on top of the other, work a bit on one, then the other, then back again as each piece is assimilated is incredibly effective. For me, at the moment.

In the meantime, I will dream about THE canter!

Sunday 11th October

My feet don't seem to have touched the ground since I got back from Teacher Training. Today I was going to go to a Trec training day, but unfortunately my tax return must take priority - I should have done it sooner; why do I get a sense of deja vu? I am quite glad to have a day of not going anywhere.

Teacher Training was good. I rode a variety of very different horses, and worked with interesting colleagues, some of whom I know well, and others not at all. It is good to meet new people as well as enjoy spending time with old friends. I picked up some important teaching awareness to do with pitching the lesson more specifically to the experience of the rider. I also had a couple of very good lessons which really hit the spot on how I use my back and diaphragm. I snatched a short session on Solo on Thursday to see how he responded to my new feelages, he felt alot straighter, easier to steer and more precise in laterals.

I have spent some time on various discussion boards looking at threads relating to Philippe Karl. It seems that the precision of his work gets lost in interpretation (what's new) and the variety and progression of his system gets overlooked. Much of the discussion gets stuck and sidetracked. It is such a shame, I wonder if people try to make things too simplistic, and miss so much subtlety and sophistication. I wonder if part of the problem is that riders do not accurately assess 'what is happening now' and so use inappropriate techniques without really being clear of what they are trying to achieve.

As with any approach to riding, what you do is so dependent on the starting point of where the horse (or rider) is now, this totally informs what method is appropriate. Mary uses the concept in coaching of having a fixed goal but using variable means to get there. This means that the coach or rider has to have a variety of ways to achieve a specific goal, so that she can find the right way to explain the same thing to different riders or horses. It is so important to have this flexibility. I can't remember who said this: Have a plan, but do not fall in love with it!

Coming back to TT, I think it is easy for those of us who have been in Mary's network for some time to forget just how good she is at teaching coaching skills and learning skills. Thankyou Mary!

Sunday 4th October

Tango seems to be growing by the minute at the moment, and getting more feisty! He hangs over the yard gate whenever I do anything with Solo, I swear he is taking it all in, you can really see the brain whirring. He has learnt the essentials of lunging / circling so quickly, aided by using barrels that he weaves in and out of. He loves it if I am hosing Solo off, and spray him all over, face included - LOL!

I led him off Solo a few days ago on a short road round, unfortunately they wind each other up, and it is not usually a relaxing experience, however he was good on that day, and Solo was fine until we went past the farm that intensively rears pheasant poults. What is it about housed birds? Solo really does not like them, is it the movement? or the smell? I wonder if any other horses dislike them as much.

In the past if Solo got unsettled on a ride like that, I would not be able to calm him completely for the rest of the ride, his legs would speed off with us, and his breathing would go shallow. Since I have been using Philippe Karl's methods, teaching him the response I want to specific use of the reins, I have found that, in this type of situation, I have so much more chance of getting him to lower his head, slow his legs and breathe deeply again. Helping him to reach his head downward and forward is such a powerful calmer! better than any food supplement. He ended the ride walking relaxed on the end of the rein. This is further affirmation that PK's stuff really delivers!

I am off to Mary's teacher training course this afternoon, this year without Solo as I want to ride other horses. It will be really nice being up there on a course without a horse to think about as well. TT can be a rather mixed emotional experience - I love seeing all my friends, but I usually come away with some home truths about my riding, which can be a bit unsettling in the short term, but definitely developmental in the longer term.

Wednesday 30th September

I can't believe its October tomorrow! This wonderful weather is such a bonus.

I took Solo up to the school this morning (we do not have our own school, but can use a brilliant 30 x 50 one which is a perfect 20 - 25 mins warm up ride away), and played with a 'clover leaf' pattern. This will be familiar to Parelli afficionados, but is also something that an instructor in the dim and distant past got me doing. You start on the centre line, and decide whether you want to work on the right or left rein. You can work in walk (very slow in a 30 x 50 school!), trot or canter. If you decide on right rein, go up the centre line to C, track right, turn right at B, track right at E, turn right at C, down the centre line, track right at A, turn right at E, track right at B, turn right at A, and arrive back on the centre line where you started. Repeat on the left rein. (sorry about the directions for non-horsey readers, basically you end up riding in a 4- leaf clover leaf pattern).

It makes you focus on good straight lines, riding into the corners, and accurate turns. I also added in riding the pattern with either flexion or counter - flexion (a la Philippe Karl) - this really concentrates the mind and improves straightness.

Solo was great, I think it is because having to ride the pattern forced me to focus on where I was going and not just wandering aimlessly as I can do very easily. Having done the pattern in trot and canter on both reins, he offered me the most amazing medium trot up the centre line, it really felt like a speed boat on the plane, prop in the water, lifting in front - fab!

Saturday 26th September

Yay, we came 2nd in the Trec last weekend. Lynne did get a very respectable score in her obstacles, and Solo's wasn't bad. We managed to get 11 points for our walk, I have no idea how as it really didn't feel that fast.

I seem to recall a phrase that goes something like - 'the teacher appears when the pupil is ready'. How true this is with respect to me becoming acquainted with Philippe Karl's work. I have no idea what it would have meant to me in the past during my search for how to learn more about dressage, but now it feels so right. Whilst watching the training DVDS, I felt an immediate affinity and understanding of his explanations and methods. It felt like coming home without having realised where home was. It made me feel 'this is how I want to ride, this is how I want my horses to go, and this is what I want to teach'.

What he talked about made such sense to me, and it was clear that he was doing what he said he was doing - he walked his talk. All too frequently riders, instructors and trainers talk the theory, but are clearly are not doing what they say they are doing - they are incongruent. To me PK is different, and I want to learn. The way he explains and demonstrates makes me feel that I can do it too, that it is achievable, and he gives me the 'how' of horse training as well as the 'what'. This is what makes Mary Wanless different as well, she has also identified the 'how' of good riding.

So I have started to experiment with the techniques from the DVDs and his book 'The Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage'.

Tuesday 22nd September

A momentous and expensive day. My application for the Philippe Karl course has gone in the post, and I have ordered a Fhoenix Vogue GPS saddle! 

 Monday 21st September

Well we had a good day out yesterday at the Trec, and what a glorious day, the perfect early Autumn day, if anything a bit too warm for horses starting to grow winter coats! Unfortunately we had to do the Control of Paces and Obstacles before the Orienteering, so Solo was rather over-excited to do a sensible slow canter, especially as the CoP track went between narrow gaps between 3 pairs of cross country fences, no chance! He was good in the Obstacles, except we clonked all the poles in the canter corridor and rein back, and knocked two poles off in the S bend, but it got better from there, and we even managed to jump the hedge (2nd attempt) and stood for the full 10sec in the immobility! Our partners, Lynne and Berry will have got much more respectable scores!

The Orienteering was a lovely route over rolling downland and through wonderful woodland over the Great Ridge. The speeds were quite fast, especially for a level 1 competition, and we did feel we had to push on rather alot, but I think our timings were pretty good. The worst thing with Trec is that it takes a few days to collate all the results, so I left an envelope to get my scores. It always seems a bit unfinished to go home not knowing how we did. Still it makes the arrival of the postman rather more interesting than the usual bills.

So far, so good with the saddle. I felt very comfortable on it yesterday, and secure enough to jump a couple of small jumps. Solo offered me 'turbo-trot' and his canter was soft and responsive, really lovely. He has no indication of rubs on his back, so I'll ride him in a couple of days time and see how he feels then....

My application for Philippe Karl's course is all printed off and in its envelope, just waiting for a final minor glitch with the DVD to be solved, then it will be on its way, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and the bubbly on ice.

Saturday 19th September

I'm still really excited about the saddle. On thursday I rode Solo round a stubble field immediately behind our barn. Usually he gets rather speedy in places in this field, and not in a good way, but this time he was calmer, more relaxed and yet moved so freely and easily in trot and canter and then walked steadily and calmly back down to the barn - a first. Yesterday and today I have done short sessions of schooling and had better straightness and flexibility with the smallest request. Tomorrow we are doing a Trec competition - our first and only of the year - at Downlands, with our regular partners, Lynne and Berry. The weather forecast is good, and the area is lovely so it should be a good day.

Having watched the Philippe Karl discussion DVD I got straight onto the phone to Becky to talk about it. I asked her more about the training she was applying for, and she casually suggested that I apply also. Hmmmmmm.

Philippe's website has all the information about the course on it - a 3 year teachers' course involving 3 four day courses a year, followed by an exam. It all sounded very exciting. What a clever way of training people - usually if you want to train with someone you have to go and spend time with them, some months or even years, not a realistic proposition for a self-employed person with a business. His format makes it available to people in my position. I had to find out more about him and his work.

I pursuaded my mother that we needed to give the horses his set of 4 training DVDs for their birthdays (sad, I know, but a good excuse), and promptly sat down together to watch them. Both of us sat there in silence at the end of the first wondering what on earth this was all about. My mother is a skilled German rider, and her father before her was well known as a horseman and trainer. She had never seen anything presented in this way, but I suppose, being German, she had never been exposed to the French school. His explanations and logic were indisputable, and the results were amazing, so off I went to subject poor Solo to my experimentation..............           keep logging in to find out more!!

Wednesday 16th September

I've just received a Heather Moffat Fhoenix Vogue GP saddle on trial for a week, and have ridden Solo up to the school. OMG. The difference in the way he carried himself, and the ultra-subtle connection that I had with his back was awesome!

Having had my fingers badly burned with a treeless saddle a few years ago that caused really bad bruising under the stirrup bars, I have been very wary of trying another one. My hand was forced a few weeks ago when Solo got fed up of trying to tell me gently that his saddle was restricting and pinching him, and refused to go - I so wish I had listened sooner, but really didn't want to hear the message. Anyway, I tried a variety of different saddles on him including a Heather saddle belonging to Erica with whom I keep my horses. I immediately felt a profound difference and knew that I had to look into them. My confidence was boosted knowing that Erica has ridden her hyper-sensitive Hispano-Arab in one for months with no problems at all.

I arranged for an Agent, Maria Owens, to come with some to try a couple of weekends ago, and again loved the feel of Solo's reaction but not the seat / flap shape of the ones she brought. I found the Vogue dressage too straight cut for me, and the GP she had was a Standard model, which I didn't like sitting on. So, I now have a Vogue GP and I really don't want to give it back - at the moment. I'll keep you posted about what happens over the next week, however, I feel very positive about it.

Monday 14th September

I have just had great fun playing with both Solo and Tango with a physioball. They have very different characters, in Parelli terms, Solo is right brained and can be either introvert or extrovert, and Tango is definitely left brained extrovert. It has been really helpful to learn about these distinctions, which make alot of sense to me. Tango is bold and interested, especially if I use clicker training as well, and was quickly nudging the ball with his nose, trying to pick it up, pawing at it, which ended up with it underneath him, and generally following it around. With Solo, I had to ignore the ball completely to start with and do something safe and familiar until he was brave enough to look at it! Clicker training helps him alot as well, and he gained enough confidence to nose it and wait for his treat, and even let it roll against his front legs without loosing the plot. We ended up chasing it around the circle together with me rolling it ahead and then him to touching it when it stopped.

I was indirectly introduced to the work of Philippe Karl by a friend and colleague, Becky Chapman, whilst we were at the Gerd Heuschmann conference in April. I was lucky to get a place as a demo rider on the conference, and it was an eye-opener to ride with Gerd. What he drove home to me was how even the slightest backward traction or pull on the reins would cause tension or contraction in a horse. I did not realise that even the small amount of hold that I had on my reins was restricting Solo's downward, forward reach, and I resolved to do something about this. Becky mentioned that she was thinking of appyling to train with Philippe Karl, and, not having heard of him, I thought no more about it.

In May, I went to Badminton and bought an interesting looking DVD featuring Philippe Karl and Christoph Hess, the head of training of the German Federation. I put the DVD on later that evening thinking I would watch a little of it, not realising that it was 2 hours long, and once I had started I had to watch it all - OMG! it was rather a late night, and I went to bed with my head buzzing. I also realised that Philippe Karl was one and the same as the trainer Becky mentioned in April. And so started an awakening that marks a significant change in my approach to riding and horse training.

Saturday 12th September 2009

Well, where to start?

I am starting this blog / diary because I think that I am at the start of an amazing journey. I will try to 'set the scene'

I have always been horse mad, but have had limited opportunity and experience due to my early life as a child and teenager living in London, and horses then being very much a hobby (until recently). I have always enjoyed a variety of activities at a basic level, and have not got beyond this as I am not a naturally talented or brave rider, and I had limited 'horse-power'. HOWEVER, I have always had a fascination for dressage, and, as a child, adored pictures of the Spanish Riding School. I dreamed of riding like that, but never thought it could become anything other than a dream.

 I have had forays into the dressage world, as a student I had a horse with whom I competed in affiliated competition up to Elementary level. I still have the test sheets and cringe on reading them, we really did not do very well, but managed to gain quite a few points in spite of it - the standard in the early 80s was nothing like it is now, before warmbloods became the horses to have! I still dreamed of flowing lateral movements and flying changes, but they still remained dreams regardless of my efforts.

Over the following decades I went to a variety of well known schools to ride so-called school masters in order to learn more about dressage riding. Mostly, I came away desparately disappointed. Maybe I wasn't ready, I certainly wasn't taken seriously at some places. All I wanted was to get a feel for what it is like to ride a horse that is in self carriage and that could give me an impression of laterals or even a flying change. In one lesson, I remember being encouraged to kick and pull harder and harder in order to collect the poor unfortunate horse. I could not believe that that is what dressage was about. The most helpful series of lessons I had were with Shena Kozuba-Kozubska at Equi-Sense near Bruton in Somerset. Shena had a wonderful grey horse called Zuma who really did give me the feelings I imagined. I even rode my first flying changes on him. Thank you Shena!

My biggest influence over the last 20 years is Mary Wanless, from whom I have learnt so much. Mary, however, is a teacher of riders and is brilliant at it. In this process she teaches how to ride the various school movements in a good way, however, she does not primarily teach horse training, and I have been on the look out for a method or system of training horses to do these movements. Mary describes how the rider rides as her 'first tool kit', the riders body and how she uses it is vital to achieve the right responses from the horse. The school movements themselves she describes as a 'second tool kit' (these descriptions originally came from someone else who's name I can't remember).

Having worked on my first tool kit for many years (and continuing to do so) I would love to learn more about the systematic training of the horse. I have had an amazing introduction to this from Heather Blitz, but still feel that the glimpses that I have had have been disconnected snapshots, what else can I expect from a handful of 2 day clinics? And that I am rather floundering around in the dark.

Early this year, I was pointed in the direction of the man who I believe will teach me a superb 'second tool kit', a logical, systematic, effective and moreover, achievable method for training horse in dressage. And not just 'dressage' horses, but ALL horses, in his words, even the most ordinary horses. To see a Haflinger pony piaffing, and a Quarter horse doing Spanish Walk and passage alongside the warmbloods made me smile!

This man is Philippe Karl, and I am in the process of appyling to ride on his teacher training course that will hopefully run from June next year in Northamptonshire.

I'll talk more about why he is so special in the next installment...........