The Back Lady

Dorothy's Blog

Last Updated on Saturday, 28 January 2012 11:41

Saturday 28th January

I am sitting here in my wonderful down filled Christmas present coat, it is definitely cold enough to really appreciate it today - even indoors, LOL

This week we should have been on our course with Philippe :-(  When I heard that it had been postponed I arranged to go and spend a couple of days with Verity who is one of the other riders on the course. Verity is also an RWYM coach, and runs a riding school and rescue centre in Southampton. We had a good time together, and worked with both her horses, neither of which are straightforward or easy. She must have the patience of a saint as one of her horses, Dida, is an Andalucian mare who has such a fear of the bit that when Verity brought her on the first PK course, even he could not get any sense from her under saddle. Verity has spent the last year quietly 'dripping water on the rocks' and when I saw her this week she had changed soooo much, she looked positively normal!! I rode her twice as well, and had a good feel of how she is now responsive to the seat and the 'first tool kit' that we actually managed to have slow legs and a thinking brain. I don't think Verity could quite believe what she was seeing, and when she got on afterwards the smile on her face was fabulous!

Solo's setback with his ulcers has not recovered as much or as well as I would like, so I took the decision to resort to the 'sledgehammer' of ulcer treatment and put him on omeprazole together with various probiotics and herbs. He has been on this regime for a week now, and the ulcer indicators that Kerry Ridgway uses have improved markedly so fingers crossed this will finally allow him to heal fully. My plan is to have him on the full dose for 3 -4 weeks, then, as long as the indicators are good, to drop the dose to half for 2 weeks before stopping and watching with bated breath.......

I took some video of me having a bit of fun with Solo riding him in his bareback pad and a stiff neck ring. What is very clear from this, is that whenever I ask him to canter (and this is also true on the lunge, loose schooling and under saddle with a bridle) he is clearly uncomfortable, drops the root of his neck, ears back, swishes his tail and contracts his neck. I posted this video on an FB group that I follow and this was noticed by one reader who has also had ulcer issues with her horse, who also found canter transitions the most difficult when ulcery... Hmmm that is what set me thinking about further treatment for him. Here is a link to that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd1oPrqAB-A

Tango has been doing more, around last weekend I took him and Solo to the school 3 days running, and he made big improvements. On the third day we had a lovely steady rhythm in his walk, and pretty consistent flexions and neck extension on both reins in walk and trot. He also did an approximation of shoulder-in on the long sides in walk on both reins, and we had some good canter transitions, though the canter was rather hairy to start with, at the end I had a nice steady canter in good neck extension. He just learn so fast!! It is also interesting comparing how differently he feels in his body to Solo. Anna, my wonderful friend in Ireland talk about a person or animal that has a body that is comfortable to be in (or not). It is so clear to me that Solo's body is not a particularly comfortable one to inhabit, whereas Tango's is just fine! Long may that last!! LOL

Monday 2nd January 2012

Happy New Year to you all!

I have been very remiss about writing here in the past few months. Quite alot has happened, but nothing dramatic, and life is going on reasonably smoothly and generally happily!

September's course with Philippe saw continuing work on consolidating neck extension and contact, as well as progressing with lateral work and more in canter. I got very frustrated because Philippe wanted me to do alot more in sitting trot, in lateral work, and add in more power, and I really struggled. He kept on at me about keeping my lower legs further forwards and 'sit more', but had no suggestions on how. I will have to work on the sitting trot at home, it is something that I've never done much of, so it is not surprising that I am not very good at it! Additionally, when I ask more of Solo, and he gets even the slightest bit tense, he becomes so much harder to sit on, and I can't recover his back while sitting. Philippe did acknowledge that he does not have an easy trot to sit!

Tango came along as well, and I rode him in the lunch time of the first 3 days, and then took him in the in-hand group session on the 4th day. He was a superstar, and so well behaved. Philippe took one look at him and said 'ah, an action-reaction horse'! Happily, this was affirming as that is exactly what I had been doing with him in the previous days.

The following month saw me at Mary's Teacher Training, where I was invited to the 'Advanced-Advanced' group, which I enjoyed greatly. It is a much smaller group working in a more flexible format. I got some good stuff on sitting trot here, which I have been able to work with and continue as the weeks have gone by. I have managed, fairly consistent, to get to ride Solo in the school twice a week during the Autumn months, and I am thankful for every day that is not snowy and icy at the moment, so I can continue our work.

Tango has had horrible mud fever this Autumn, which started in the very hot week at the end of September. I tried all sorts of lotions and potions, as well as being in weekly contact with Edward, the homoeopathic vet. We finally got on top of it with the right remedy, and leaving the scabs completely alone. It seems that the more I interfered, the more angry they got regardless of what I plastered on. he was quite lame with it for some time. However, my mother has been riding him out hacking a number of times, which is wonderful, they really like each other, and she is so amazing trotting off ahead having fun!

Incredibly, we are still not feeding the horses hay in the field, what contrast from last year! They still have quite alot of grass in the top field which we will open up from now on. Solo had a bit of a set back with his ulcers, I think to do with me taking advantage of a certain brand of feed balancer which I got on a 50% offer, and thought it would do them all good over the winter, so I bought 10 bags. Within 2 weeks he was clearly uncomfortable, stopping again out hacking and getting very anxious again. I stopped the feed straight away, and he is now recovering his balance. It is interesting how easily he is thrown off kilter, so I had a chat with Edward about it, and he has had another remedy.

I have also bought a Thorowgood Cob Dressage saddle which is one of the most comfortable dressage saddles for me to ride on. I can pad it for both Solo and Tango, and they seem happy in it. I find that it sits me really securely, and I can sit to Solo's trot much more easily than in the Vogue. It also means I can ride rather more powerfully, and Solo is, at times, less than impressed! What is even more interesting is that having ridden in it a few times, I can now sit much better in the Vogue, which I would still rather use on Solo.

For Christmas, my mother gave me a wonderful down filled padded, below the knee length coat, but I have not yet had an opportunity to wear it as it has not been cold enough! I was thinking it would be perfect for the January PK course, but I have just heard that this is being postponed as Philippe and Bea have been given til the end of February to move themselves and their horses out of their current accommodation, which has been sold. What a ghastly thing to happen, and to hear between Christmas and the New Year adds insult to injury! So, I won't be going to Derek and Jo's at Holisitic Equitation until February where I have got a place to ride with one of Philippe's licensed instructors, Birgit Beck-Broichsitter. Birgit came in September to do a clinic for some of the auditors and is doing a series of 6 3 day clinics this year. I am lucky to get a place, and it will be good to have some interim feedback and it is a long time from September to May to bark up the wrong tree! Hopefully I'll get to wear my lovely new coat then...

Monday 22nd August

I have had a busy couple of weeks with both Solo and Tango, and both have been just wonderful! We have stubble fields all around the barn, and it is so nice to ride straight out of the yard onto a field. Solo is so different from last year, when I couldn't even walk him into the neighbouring field without him getting anxious and stressed and desparate to hurry home. For the first time in years we can ride around the fields and walk back steadily on a long rein. Tango has been for his first ride out into the field on his own, and was very good, though he bounced a bit on the way home!

Tango had his first big grown-up adventure going on the Mary course on the weekend before last.

And what a grown-up superstar he was! He travelled really quietly and didn't sweat up at all, and ended up on the Sunday swaggering about the place as if he owned it! When we arrived on Friday afternoon I think he was rather shell-shocked about it all, but I am so pleased I have taken the time to establish basic obedience and voice commands, as well as standing still and coming alongside a mounting block. He did all without question, I couldn't have asked for more. He was a bit unsettled being ridden, and did a couple of quite big spooks (though very sittable and not big by Solo standards, LOL) and 3 or 4 times plunged his head down. He was told quite firmly that this was not on, and he settled to some almost relaxed walk and nice trot with reach. Saturday was his most unsettled day, having spent the night in a field divided into paddocks with electric fence, with neighbours on both sides, and then standing in his stable with his immediate neighbour coming and going a number of times. He gave me the impression of one of those children's 'snow dome' toys that you get at Christmas, where you shake them and 'snow' falls over a wintery scene. On Saturday his snow was all shaken up, by Sunday the snow had settled, and he was calm and knew what was happening. Riding on Saturday, he was good and we only had one head down attempt and no spooks, ending with some lovely reaching walk and trot and good relaxation. On Sunday he was just lovely, and gave me the nicest feel of responsiveness and eagerness and seemed really pleased to have worked out what I wanted. The picture was taken in our lesson on Sunday. I think that he had alot to tell the others when he got home on Sunday evening!

During the week Solo and I went to Devon to Heather Moffett's to present our 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' talk to Heather's teacher training course; what a great bunch! The following morning we were 'guinea-pigs' for the trainees and had a very good session. The new van is so nice to drive on the motorway. I don't go a lot faster than the old van, but it cruises so easily at 60 or 65, and I have the capacity to accelerate and overtake if necessary. It also storms up the hills - Devon is no problem!!

Yesterday I took Solo to our local Timsbury Horse Show. I had entered a dressage class and a couple of showing classes, all in the morning. Solo was very shaky whenever we stood still, and was rather stressed and sweaty, however he felt absolutely lovely in the dressage warm up on lovely turf. The going underfoot was perfect. What a contrast in how responsive and light he felt compared with the last dressage test we did some 2 years ago. However he is definitely convinced that there are dragons in dressage arenas, and as soon as we set foot over the nominal 'line' into the other half of the dressage field he tensed up, over reacted and was looking for the spooks. This made him very difficult to steer accurately and we lost alot of marks with wonky circles and loops. He also was not in a frame of mind to extend his neck well when needed, though he remained 'upside up' and mostly neck telescoping almost all the time. I was really pleased with a mark of 63 ish % and a 3rd placing.

We then went straight into a 'Mature Rider' class (under the umbrella of the Veteran Horse and Pony Society), for which I had to be over 35 (cough)! Solo was just lovely to ride in this, soft, reaching, neck telescoping without any tension, responsive, light, sparking and the most pleasureable horse I could imagine riding (why can't he be like this in a dressage arena!). We won the class, but the comment from the judge was the best compliment I could have had, and made the day for me, she said 'it was very close between you and the second placed lady, but you won because your hands are so good'!

It was very interesting looking at the official photographer's pics as, in the past, I have always been very disappointed with photos of Solo, there has always been a mismatch between how he felt to me (good) and what the photo showed (contracted and upside down). Yesterday, all the pics, even the less good ones, showed an essentially neck telescoping upside up horse. RESULT!!!

This week is a bit quieter for the horses, and then next week we are off to the next PK course......   yay!! I do feel really ready for the next installment

Monday 8th August

I completely forgot to say in last week's post that I now have my new van!! It is white, so I am doubly a 'white van woman' - road users beware!!!

Solo and Tango went in it last week together to the school, and this weekend Tango went for a drive in it all on his own, well not all on his own, as I was driving and Ali came with us as well. Tango has made a reasonable number of journeys with Solo, and always seemed very cool about it, so I was surprised quite how worried and upset he got about going in on his own. We had to spend quite a long time to reassure him. In spite of this, once we got going he travelled really quietly and was a very good boy. I took him out for a drive again today. He was less worried and travelled very calmly again, especially as it suddenly got very windy.

Last week Solo started coughing, though he does not seem ill in any way, has no temperature and no snot, so I wonder if it has to do with the farmer hauling rape straw through our yard last week. He also had a major remedy 2 or 3 weeks ago, and we all had an upset on the weekend before last when Larry colicked and had to be put down. 2 horses in 3 months. We are all wracking our brains to work out if there is a common reason, but we don't think so. Moose was elderly and metabolically compromised, and Larry was teenage and neurologically compromised. Also, something very peculiar is going on at the moment; in the same weekend the vet had to put down 4 other horses to colic, and I have just heard of another horse 2 days ago. I have heard that it is also a bad time for laminitis. I just wonder if the weather and atmospheric conditions are right for the proliferation of something toxic, rather like a bloom of blue-green algae in water........  speculation, but it would be interesting to find out.

Anyway I don't think Solo will be coming with me next weekend on the Mary course that I am booked onto. The upside of this is that Lynda is happy for me to have my lessons on Tinks, which will be amazing, she's such an awesome horse! I haven't yet decided whether to take Tango or not. I was going to take him as well as Solo, and though he isn't coughing, I would hate to take anything more than the horse with me! If he does come, I don't think he would be ready to do the whole course, but I would like to ride him in the second sessions of the day. Solo is also supposed to be coming with me to Devon next week to do our lecture /demo for Heather Moffett's teacher training course, so I have my fingers crossed he will be ok by then. He is already improving, but I don't want to push him at all, as the most important thing is for him to be on form for Philippe Karl in the first week of September.

Wednesday 3rd August

WooHoo!! today I had my first canter on Tango!! albeit only a few steps as we were on the schoolette and its a bit small.....  I had ridden Tango and led Solo and gone up one hill and down the other. Tango suddenly feels as though he has strengthened to be a riding horse, more confident, more responsive, more understanding. When we got back I just rode him round for a few minutes thinking about having him take the rein forward and out in trot and, hey presto, we were in canter!! It felt amazing considering the schoolette is only 15 x 19m, so balanced and easy. I 'X'ed' him after 5 or 6 strides and he got a big treat and lots of praise. Then we did it again to make sure it wasn't a complete fluke!! 

I have had a very interesting few weeks with Solo. The changes in him and his posture and strength are happening so fast I think it is quite unsettling for him. In my talk on 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' I talk about how collection in nature would be associated with excitement or fear, such as preparing to flee, fighting, playing, mating and so on, but when we ask for collection under saddle we want the same postures but without the excitement or fear, and with calmness. Psychologically, our posture can directly inflluence our mood and feelings and vice versa, so to disconnect a posture that is normallly associated with excitement and fear from these feelings is a really big ask for a horse. Solo is now capable of amazing loin coiling and neck telescoping, but he is finding it difficult to maintain calmness with this and is finding lots to spook at in the schools I have ridden in recently. Having said this, I am managing to channel his 'spook' energy into incredible 'stuffing' and the right posture instead of his usual upside down wriggling, but I do want Solo to become comfortable with this new feeling, so he is not stressed by it. His whole resting posture and muscular conformation are changing, and he is carrying himself so differently, I am astonished.

A year and a bit ago I took some pictures of Solo standing in a typical resting posture. A couple of weeks ago I was interested in seeing the changes, so I took more photos with him standing in the same place and, as far as I was able, with him in the same position. The comparison really shocked me. In the intervening year, I have worked very consistently on core exercises and in hand work on the ground, plus the ridden Philippe Karl work, as well as treating him for ulcers since the beginning of this year. I am sure the training would have changed him, but I think the ulcer treatment is what has allowed this work to have its effect to the extent it has. What I am particularly shocked about is the state that I had allowed him to get in when the first photos were taken in March 2010. I knew 'things' were wrong, but I didn't know what. I find it frightening how he could deteriorate so much without me really noticing - what I saw on a day to day basis became 'normal' and I became complacent. Scary.

The more recent 'after' pic is above, the 'before' underneath (I find this particular website programme sooooo difficult to get pics the size I want and in the position I want!!)

Anyway, on a more cheerful note I have entered Solo and me for our local horseshow. We are in the 'Veteran Rider Class' for which the rider needs to be over 35!! I think I qualify there, eeeek! We have also entered the 'Horse and Rider combination' class, judged 50% on the horse and 50% on the rider..... interesting one, I've never come across a class like this before! More seriously, we have entered the dressage and will be doing Novice 24, watch this space and hope we don't totally disgrace ourselves.   If the day doesn't get too long, I will also enter the 'Pure, partbred and anglo arab' class, though this is the last class in that particular ring, and I don't want to hang about for ever if we're getting tired or if its very hot.

Monday 11th July

Ah, I feel somewhat revitalised after having a lovely quiet week last week with 2 complete days off, and one with only one local appointment! I also got to the school twice with Solo, and had a particularly good session with him the second time. I was thinking of my contact having 'entrainment'. Entrainment happens when two people move together in a way that it is impossible to determine who is leading the movement, as though they are one. I have experienced this in some Chiropractic workshops in the past, and it is a phenomenon that many Craniosacral Therapists will be familiar with. It is a wonderful state to be in as both are completely involved and yet neither is the leader, as if the movement is coming from a deeper place in the combined bodies. I am not sure if it really is an appropriate state to be in as a rider, because, as the rider, I do actually want to initiate and guide the movements the horse makes. However it was an interesting experience, and it certainly led to Solo being very calm and 'internalised', and I had the nicest feel of the contact with his mouth and his back. Hmmmm, stuff to play with!!

I think one of the things that has become clear to me in the past months is that I have 'permission' to experiment! It is too easy as a rider to get into a mindset of 'but that's not in a dressage test', or 'I need to be able to do it like this', so no other way is valid, or 'but I'm supposed to do it like this...'. This is so wrong! Yes, of course there are things that cross ethical boundaries, but as long as I stay the right side of these, why be restricted by what a dressage judge wants to see?? (.....and is that right anyway? oh er.....). So, I will keep experimenting, keep noticing, keep increasing my awareness of cause and effect.

On a more mundane level, I have been hand walking Tango 2 or 3 times a week up and down hills to get him fitter and stronger, as he did feel really immature under saddle, and struggled to walk downhill with a rider. Yesterday, Ali rode Solo and I rode Tango on a short hack and he felt very different. He has worked out how to carry me downhills, and feels so much more able! So far I have kept his hacks to the quiet lanes, but yesterday we went on a nice grassy bridletrack and then down a very stony path through the woods. He was really impressive! he marched in front almost all of the way in spite of never having been that way before, and walked really calmly with his toes on the grass. I now need to start to teach him about doing gates, as he had no clue what I wanted at the first one, so Solo had to do them all. Solo is the gate expert, so I do hope Tango was watching!

I still haven't got my new van, but I'm hoping this will be the week......!

Thursday 30th June

Well June has well and truly bypassed me, where did it go??? Having said this, I have been away quite alot, and playing catch up the rest of the time so it feels as though I have done very little with the horses, when in fact I have been quietly working with them both. I had a weekend in Yorkshire for my Aunt's 75th birthday, then the following weekend was part of a 5 day holiday to Germany, to spend time with my brother and cousins, then a weekend at home (working), and last weekend teaching my lovely Highland Pony riding clients in Surrey. July has nothing away at all......   aaah bliss.

I haven't really got to the school enough with Solo, I try to get him to a school twice a week if I can, but I have only managed once a week if that. However, we have had some very productive sessions at home on our own schoolette, though this can only be in walk and slow trot or canter as it is too small for anything else. I am definitely getting a different feel of his straightness, and also what I need to do to enable him to come into a 'school walk' with him remaining soft and conversational with the bit, rather than arguing that it is too hard! I am having some interesting feelages and ideas about how to have my insides forwards inside my skin, rather than letting them slip back and go soggy - this makes such a difference to Solo lifting his back, slowing his legs and reaching into the rein, it sort of engages me with the root of his neck in a way that lifts and straightens it, combine this with L5 awareness and I really have control of each leg and the back.

While I was away, Solo did not get his usual feed with his various stomach supplements, and he is definitely a bit more angst-y again, less calm out hacking, and less able to carry himself in a really good neck extension. I shall have to build them up again. It was a bit of an experiment to see what would happen if he didn't have them, and he is less settled. Oh well, I've just bought 25kg of brewer's yeast and 2 huge buckets of charcoal, so he can have these for the long term if that's what he needs!

Tango, meanwhile has done some short 'schooling' sessions both in hand and under saddle, and he is becoming very responsive and consistent to my seatbones and how forward I am in my skin, and steering his withers is getting very good. I am working in walk with bending, counter bending and stretching. He does some lovely slow rhythm walk, and then really reaches forward and out and lengthens his strides into a very straight walk. He has also been out hacking both in company and on his own, and went for his first proper solo hack last week on a circular route rather than just out a short way and turn round to come home. He was lovely and responsive, and clearly understands leg aids and forwardness in a really good way. We had one big spook, which was somewhat unseating, but much less so than some of Solo's! I have felt that he struggles more with walking downhill under a rider than uphill, but on this round he walked really nicely, in a slow rhythm with a good reach of the neck almost alll the way down the 3/4 mile of Hassage Hill. I did get off for the very steepest bit at the bottom as he had done so well. I am absolutely thrilled with how he is doing, I couldn't ask for more from a 4yo, and I shall have to be careful not to be tempted to do too much.

In July I should get my new horse van, though I have not sold the purple one yet, eeek! I would like to settle to some more consistent work in the school with Solo so we can work more in trot and canter, but for this I do need transport. Once I have the new van I can also take Tango to the school and start some work in trot with him. In the school today, for the first time, I had trot in neck extension with Solo taking the contact much more on the outside rein whilst maintaining the bend himself, when he does this is really feels as though he can then 'drive' round the circle with power, and not keep falling on the inside shoulder. I need to build on this, and work more again with high position, bend, neck extension, straight, high position, change, and so on and so on, with more frequent changes, more smoothly and with more power. I am also having some good feelages in rein back and then forwards with power to develop 'the stong desire to go forwards' that PK talks about when developing piaffe. The learning curve is remaining very steep!

Friday 27th May

Quite alot has happened since I got back from the course almost 2 weeks ago. We are all sad this week as one of the herd, my friend's elderly mare, Moose, had to be put to sleep with colic on Saturday. Erica had had Moose for many years and been through a lot with her, so for her it is the passing of an era, a truly significant phase of her life and learning. If we are open to it, and if we are aware, horses have so much to offer and so much to teach us, rest in peace Moose, you did your job fantastically well.  Moose was the matriarch of the herd, providing guidance and stability, and it is interesting to watch as the others don't now know who to follow. My old man, Nif, is a 'driver' he brings up the rear, but the others are now working out who has to go first, who has to lead the way up and down the field between the water and the grass, who crosses the lane first as we herd them in and out from the field to the yard and back. Izzy, the only other mare in the herd is at a bit of a loss as to what to do. We did let them in to see Moose's body and they all spent time sniffing, looking and just being with her before moving on.

On a happier note, before that weekend, I had 2 amazing days with Anna, who was teaching a clinic fairly locally to me. Following on from the dismounted work we did on her course in January, I wanted to play with my awareness of my L5 vertebra - the centre of my core - and how it could influence Solo. All I can say is WOW!! I suppose having my knowledge as a Chiropractor, the positioning and image of my vertebrae comes easily, however, I tend to be a visual person, so taking my awareness of this to the level of feeling is harder. With some focussing, I very quickly became aware of where Solo wanted my core to be, and that if I could get it level and symmetrical, I had an incredibly powerful way of influencing his most stuck place - the root of his neck. In walk, Solo was unimpressed and found it very difficult to have the root of the neck up and straight in a high position, and started to argue with the bit again. Another confirmation for me that this arguing is a body organisational thing and not a bit thing per se. Anna had a sit on him on the second day, and had some really good steps of piaffe when he found walk difficult. I am beginning to get a clear idea of where piaffe can come from, and how I can ask for it, very exciting!! Staying 'in' my L5 in trot and canter gave some fabulous upness in his work, and he found this easier than in walk. I am now working out with him how we can have a connection from L5 to the root of his neck in walk, and for him to be able to come into a higher position and stay straight with it. With some well timed clicker work, he is really understanding, and we are getting there. Having the connection from L5 - my centre - to the horse's centre feels like plugging in to the ultimate degree, and I can feel how close this is to 'Centaur-like' riding. Awesome stuff.

Yesterday Solo went to the vet to have the lump on the bar of his mouth X-rayed. Digital X-ray machines are fabulous - all my experience of taking X-rays has been with film that needs developing. I could see the lump on one of the radiographs, and it is very superficial, and definitely not a remnant of a wolf tooth. Kin, my vet, feels that the lump is not sensitive, and not currrently a problem, and to leave it well alone unless it becomes problematic. So Solo does not need any surgery, yay!!

I have been working with Tango on the flexions and some in hand work. He is very consistent now in halt, but in hand work has been interesting as he is convinced that there are wind-dragons just waiting for him to get that bit too close the hedge and eat him up. Today has been the first day he has fully relaxed, so I climbed on him on the bareback pad as I have been itching to see what he does to my L5 as well. I found it very difficult to get my centre down into L5, as if he was pushing me away to some extent. Once I could get into it fully I felt I had his back in a very different way, and a lovely slow rhythm in his legs. I then had more reach into the bit, and better steering, bending and stopping. I think this is what riding is all about.......... LOL

Wednesday 18th May

The four days with M. Karl have flown past, and my brain is still whirring and processing, so I don't really know where to start with my report and impressions. Still I suppose its good that the old cogs are turning, LOL. I shall just jmup in and start, so apologies if things are not as coherent as they could be.

Solo was so much calmer and more relaxed this time, he didn't shake at all, and ate all his food - a good start! He had a nice paddock with plenty of grass to eat overnight, and spent most of his days in his stable. Not worrying about him made things much nicer.

I went into my first lesson with some trepidation about whether I had done my 'homework' sufficiently effectively. There is a lot of scope in nearly 4 months to practice the wrong thing, eeek! However Solo was magnificent, and Monsieur seemed happy with what we were doing, phew. I really don't know why, but I had none of his arguing with the bit that I have had at home. Maybe I was asking just a little bit less. Compared to the first lesson of the first course, Solo was so much more stuffed and impulsive, and felt as though he was bursting out of his skin in the best possible way. Our work was affirmed when Monsieur announced 'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is true neck extension' while we showing our trot work.

I have come to realise just how important it is for a horse to fully reach forward and out, with the mane roughly on the horizontal, as well as raise the head and neck into the 'high position' with an open poll, as well as bend equally to left and right, and keep this neck bend whether in a high or extended position, as well as giving his mouth in all these postures. It is only when I have full control over this, and Solo is ready to change his head and neck position very easily, that I can start to ask him to flex his poll. I believe that these exercises, high, bend, reach, bend, change the rein and the bend, high.... and so on is what really strengthens the horse's core muscles in a way that allows the limbs to move freely and expressively. Only when the core is thus stabilised, can the horse really dance, really collect, really change the balance towards the hind quarters, and really 'float' the shoulders and front legs. This is surely 'Pilates' for horses!

We didn't really do anything new in my lessons, they were variations on the theme. Improving the symmetry of the bending, improving the reach forwards with the nose, asking Solo to flex his poll in the high postion, making the changes of direction and bend more quickly and smoothly, and taking these basics into shoulder in in walk and trot, as well as into canter on a circle. Whilst things are fairly established now in trot, canter is completely different matter. I haven't been doing much in canter in the past few months, and Solo struggled with bending while maintaining the canter and not breaking into trot - this will be a big feature in this course's homework. I did do a double take when Monsieur suddenly said 'and now sit' while we were doing our SI in trot. Solo was giving me a bouncy, forward trot that I have always struggle to sit on, but sit on it I did (more or less), at least he didn't say 'no, no, no, go rising again' LOL. I always thought women were better at multitasking than men, however the speed that the instructions were flying at me while doing this were scary, and this is another major element of my homework!

On the final day we did a jumping session. The trotting poles were fine. And then he put up a very small jump. Solo usually is a bit looky, but does not normally overjump. I don't know what came into him, but he flew, and I got badly left behind inspite of my neckstap. I've never felt such power in his jump. This, of course, made him jump more as he was worried about being pullled on the head (I rode him in his bridle with a bit and a sidepull, so I had reins on the noseband as well), and I got more left behind. Philippe's answer to this was to take my neckstrap, and tie it alot shorter and tighter and further up Solo's neck. I then had to ride him with really long reins in neck extension until I was 15 or 20 meters away from the jump, whereupon I had to give the reins forwards completely, and hold the neck strap with both hands so that the strap pulled me forwards over the jump. EEEEK!!!

Surprisingly - or maybe not so - when Solo had his head he jumped much more smoothly, I could anchor my lower legs forward properly, push my bum back properly, and make a sensible attempt at a fold over the jump. I then had to bring him back to trot with upward action on the still long reins, aim at the jump, take hold of the neck strap again and smile! I am really pleased that I have played with riding Solo entirely on a neck strap recently, and I know I more or less have steering and stopping even without reins. It took a huge leap of faith and trust for Tina, who also had to do the same thing with her horse, but was completely new to her, she looked seriously scared, and I am not surprised. I don't think she could really believe it when her horse was far steadier and leapt far less with his head loose, good for you Tina!!

Once again I am awestruck about the range of skills and experience that M. Karl has, and brings to his teaching. I keep having to pinch myself to be sure it is real!

Wednesday 11th May

It was Tango's 4th birthday yesterday, and I'm off to my second Philippe Karl course with Solo today, yippee!!! 

Thursday 5th May

OMG, I have just taken Solo for a hack for the first time in a while. I am astonished by the change in him, and by how he is discovering how to move and carry himself in neck extension in all gaits, and really seems to like it, and find it comfortable. He is turning from an upside down horse to a truly upside up horse!! Even trotting and cantering in the fields, he is reaching his neck out and taking the contact forwards in such a nice way.

He is finding that being upside up in neck extension is do-able, but finds being upside up in the 'high position' much, much harder. I now want to play with how much I can have him up without turning him upside down. Next week we go on our second course with Philippe Karl (yippee, yippee), and I feel we are ready for the next input. I want his thoughts on Solo's 'gobbiness' when I ask for high position and slow legs, having said this, I think I have just answered the question with my realisation about him being upside up rather than upside down, and how much harder this is when I ask him to come up. Interestingly, out hacking today, and when I ride Solo in neck extension, even with bending, he is lovely in his mouth, and has started to produce a little 'toothpaste' with gentle tonguing of the bit.

I have also booked Solo in with the vet for an X-ray of his jaw. 18 months ago when I asked the Equine Dental Tech to check him for wolf teeth before I started using a bit, he found no wolf teeth, but did find what he called a 'bone cyst' on the outer side of the bar of his left upper jaw, and thought this could be problematic. I am still not convinced that this is the cause of his arguing with the bit, however the lump has got bigger and it now extends to the under side of the bar as well, so it is clearly being irritated, and is changing. I do wonder if it is an unerupted wolf tooth. Depending on what the vet finds, he may need an op to remove it.........   I shall ask M. Karl to have a feel and see what he thinks as well.

Monday 2nd May

I have just had a fantastic weekend in Devon presenting the 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' talk with Solo being the superstar demonstrator that he is! I was invited to go by Heather Moffett who is Chairman of the Devon County BHS group, and she hosted the talk at her yard. Devon decided to throw rain at us for much of the afternoon, so her indoor school was very welcome and comfortable. We were only a small group, but this meant that the talk could include lots of questions and discussions, so I think those who came got alot out of it.

I had fun as well as I got a chance to have a go on Heather's riding simulators. One 'walks' and 'trots' and gives riders a good feel of how a horse's back moves, and how to stabilise on the movement while allowing the movement to be absorbed correctly in their bodies. The other is 'rider driven' in that it is not electrically driven, but can give the feeling of trot or canter by the rider generating the correct movement in her own body, so the simulator responds. In a way, this gives a realistic feel of how a rider can 'take' the horse, and set the speed, direction, gait etc, which is necessary for riding a horse as opposed to 'being taken for a ride'. Interestingly, Heather talks about the rider having to 'suck' the simulator up before the movement can be started - it doesn't start by pushing!

I rode Solo with Heather on the Sunday morning, and we worked on increasing his loin coiling and raising the root of the neck, and, boy did he give me an amazing feel in trot, though he really struggled in walk to have the slowness and stuffing This led to him becoming rather argumentative again with the bit, however it convinces me that the argument is more with what I am asking him to do with his body - which he finds really difficult - than with the bit itself. Heather then got on him, and I have never seen this funny little oddly shaped horse lift his neck up out of his shoulders like that before. He was a whisker away from piaffe, and so close to passage when Heather asked for trot, it was awesome   !! Mind you I had to laugh when Heather was taken by surprise by the power and movement in Solo's trot - it really is unexpected! Solo is really discovering how to organise his body such a different way, and his core strength is improving so much. He looks and feels as though his feet don't touch the ground. I'm sure he will soon be able to fly!

Monday 25th April

Easter Monday, and what spectacular weather we've been having for the past 3 - 4 weeks, hot, hot, hot!! Dare I say it though..........    we need rain, eeek. Mind you, I remember last April being very dry and very cold, and the fields looking like August drought fields, at least this year there is grass. We have not fed any significant hay now for about a month, thank goodness considering the cost! The horses are all looking wonderful with the last of their winter coats coming out. Solo is looking better this year than he has for years at this time, and is almost getting fat. I like him a bit more rounded. Tango is a bit too chubby, and I need to get him walking up and down our hills, after all we have enough of them to have no excuse for letting the horses get overweight.

I had a lovely time with Anna, and enjoyed spending time with her rapidly growiing (in age, not quantity) family. Poeta seemed like a really nice horse, kind, gentle and confident. Anna did not have a saddle that fitted him, so we climbed on him in a bareback pad, and didn't turn a hair, bless him. I even had a few steps of Spanish Walk, yippee!

I think that I am making headway with Solo and his acceptance and acknowledgement of the bit. I felt until fairly recently that he was only sort of accepting the bit, but doing his best to deny its presence by remaining completely mute in his mouth. We are now at a place where he has got over the denial, and is now rather argumentative about it. However, when he gets over the arguing, he is then licking and mouthing in a really good way, so I think that I am just going to hang on in there with the arguing, gently but consistently, and rewarding the right thing. Interestingly, today I rode Tango on my schoolette and was playing with varying the speed and length of the walk, together with having him straight and bending slightly in both directions, and encouraging him to extend his neck. I was riding him in the bitless bridle, and he did exactly the same thing that Solo is doing with the bit - pushing forward and down, whilst chewing in a very clenched way and drawing his tongue back. I wonder if this reaction is more to do with yielding to the requests of the rider to be straight and allowing the rider to be in control than to do with the bit itself. The other interesting thing that I noticed is that when both horses do this pushing, they are extending the neck and opening the poll in the direction we want, but with tension in the mouth and jaw, hmmmmmm. I shall be very interested to hear what PK has to say about this, and I feel that I am really ready for some feedback and input.

The next course is 2 1/2 weeks away, and I am really looking forward to it, and to seeing how everybody is getting on. 4 months does seem to be a good interval to have enough time to do quite alot, probably bark up a few wrong trees, and to have to work things out. I met with two local people who are auditors on the course last week and that was very helpful to be able to exchange some ideas as well as get some feedback. I find it really hard to be able to tell from on top when the horse is extending the neck and pushing the nose out in front of vertical, rather than just being held behind vertical - its quite a balancing act. I guess it is just time and experience knowing what right feels like!

 Saturday 26th March

Today I fly to Ireland to visit a very favourite friend, Anna, and her new horse, Poeta. It was touch and go whether I would actually get there this weekend as Anna and I had worked out that I could fly to Ireland on a Driving Licence on Aerlingus (as my passport had run out), only for me to book my flights on Ryanair without noticing that they do not accept Driving Licences until last weekend, eeek! I seriously hope this was a blonde moment and not a senior moment - I'm not old enough yet for these!! I also sent off for my passport, but not on the fast route as I thought the DL would suffice, so I was biting my fingernails waiting for whether the PP would arrive in time..........   anyway it has, so I'm off on holiday

Meanwhile this month has been busy, yay! The Roadshow on the 5th March went really well, and Solo and Tinks were superstars, though I was a bit disappointed that more Millfield pupils didn't come, as part of the purpose of holding it there was so they could come, never mind, those who did come had a good, if cold, afternoon. I did decide to ride Solo in his bitless bridle for the demo as I do not feel that what we are doing with the bit is sufficiently established for me to include it in the multi-tasking of riding, talking about what I am doing, and demonstrating good and bad posture with Solo at the same time. However, when I did start using the bit again, Solo definitely wondered why we need it, and was not overly impressed by having to carry it.

I have always felt that there should be no reason why it is not possible to do everything bitless that can be done with a bit, however the way PK explains how he wants the horse to take the contact does depend on having a bit in the mouth and not just a noseband. He describes this as the contact having both 'tightness' and 'lightness'. The 'tightness' comes from the horse taking up a little bit of tension in the reins by just pushing the nose forwards a small amount, opening the poll slightly and taking up the contact. This can be done with a bit or without. The part that cannot happen with a bitless bridle is the 'lightness' element. To have 'lightness' the horse needs to gently mouth the bit by moving the jaw and tongue thus establishing a conversation with the rider's hands, and a light responsiveness. The only way the 'lightness' can happen in a bitless bridle is either for the rider to give the hand forward slightly (whereupon you really want the horse to follow the contact and reach more) or for the horse to back off the contact by flexing the poll or contracting the neck - not ideal. Solo is getting the idea of having the confidence to take the bit forwards and create the 'tightness', but he currently does not understand the 'lightness' part. I wonder if this is because I have ridden him bitless for so long, that he is so used to having a very still, albeit relaxed jaw and mouth, that the idea of chewing is alien to him. I am scratching my head about how to encourage him to talk to me through the bit.

In other respects, Solo is changing a huge amount. We have alot more 'stuffing' and go, and he is definitely decontracting his neck in a big way. I have recently taken him out hacking for the first time since the course in January, and I was awestruck by how long he made his neck while we were walking. He really took the bit forward, down and out with a really nice elastic feel in my 'cat hands', so I only had about 6" from either side of the buckle to my hands. He was much less spooky, and felt much straighter and less wriggly.......   big progress!  He is also much more prepared to stretch his right hand side, in trot particularly, and feels fab on a left circle now.

Earlier this week Solo and I went to Overdale to Mary Wanless' yard to present a day's course on 'Understanding Equine Posture and Collection' for a group of Mary's coaches. I had alot of fun, and we had some really good discussion. Solo was a super demonstrator, as ever, and really does seem to enjoy the audience, and showing his good and bad postures!

I took the advantage of seeing Mary to have a lesson as well, which was very helpful in tackling something that I have been toying with for a while. Solo can be quite possessive about his horsenal space, and he has very successfully patterned me to stay out of his space under the back of the saddle area. He makes it very difficult to sit down on his back, however, this needs addressing, as I need to be able to go there if we are to progress in a meaningful way. PK saw this and kept telling me to 'sit more', words which in themselves are not especially helpful as they could be interpreted or misinterpreted in many different ways, however, I do know exactly what he means and what to do about it. It is easy to say, not so easy to do, as connecting with this part of Solo is like pushing the North ends of two magnets together - rejection! So, Solo and I have been having some heated negotiation about his acceptance about me being there. At the moment I can be there, but then he cannot move. If I encourage him to move, he does his best to dislodge me, or tries to dash off with speedy legs. Having Mary there to help me organise myself in the right way and tell me to hang on in there, quietly and insistently, was tremendously helpful, and Solo started to find he could walk with me in that place. Trot was less of a problem, and, Wow, what a trot! The following day I had some of the best feel ever in right canter, so I do feel this is important and necessarily challenging work. Out hacking a couple of days ago since this work, he felt awesome trotting and cantering in the field in a different place in himself. I also get the feeling that this is what will stimulate him to talking to me through the bit fully, rather than denying its presence.

Tango, meanwhile, has been out hacking, and was just brilliant with me climbing on and off a number of times so I did not ride him up and down the steepest bits of hill. He took the lead for quite a good part of the ride, and trotted along happily in front of Solo. He has also done some flexions with the bit from the ground, and I have ridden him for what I consider was his first 'schooling' session, rather than just sitting on him rather defensively to prevent any spooks or spins (which he has not done!). I am asking him to be more accurate in his turns and circles, and he is starting to really get steering the withers. He has also confidently trotted a couple of times round our little school in both directions, I feel I am now able to ride him, not just be there! Yay! I think that Tango is going to bring out the pony mad teenager in me, he is a real pony-horse, and I get the feeling he will be up for anything!! Exciting times.......     How easy to forget that I am not far off my half century, hmmmm, how about 'you're as young as the horse you feel' LOL 

Sunday 27th February

I have been very busy in the past couple of weeks, both work-wise, and also in preparation for both the 'Roadshow' Talk at Verity's on 20th February and for the Lecture Demo at Millfield on 5th March. The talk was really good fun, and we had a full house in Verity's workshop room, I don't think we could have squished another person in! Thank you, Verity, for organising this. Lynda and I have met twice to practice for the 5th, and are meeting again this week on Wednesday. Solo and Tinks need to practice riding next to each other without making rude faces - they are competing for who's best and both snarl at each other whenever we approach or ride side by side - this does not make for a harmonious pas de deux, so we are going to spend the session on Wednesday riding side by side with lots of transitions and circles, separating and meeting and so on.... They do make me laugh.

I have also been working away on the PK stuff, and I am really noticing a difference in how Solo flows from one rein to the other, one bend to the other. He aslo feels much more powerful and stuffed, and I have had some awesome lengthened strides that are really uphill and extending. As yet I am undecided whether to ride him bitless or in his bit for the Roadshow.

Solo has now had his 5th acupuncture session, and Jan is very pleased with his energy and groundedness. I feel that he is much more connected between his sides, and that they are able to operate in co-ordination with each other, rather than feeling as though I am riding two horses. All the horses' feet look amazing with the thrush treatment that they have been having, particularly considering how wet and muddy it is. This is the worst time of year - all the grass is gone, and the horses just seem to be waiting for spring to arrive, they get a glimpse of warmer weather and sunshine, and a teasing taste of spring grass. Somehow they are bored with winter feeding, hay doesn't taste as good, but the few green morsels are not satisfying yet. Roll on Spring!!

Thursday 10th February

Today Solo did the funniest thing. I do regular sessions with him doing core exercises, which include carrot stretches between the front legs. He now does this to the maximum, and finding he cannot take his head any further back, he will lift his head, arch his neck and sink further down with his front legs stretched right out in front with his elbows nearly touching the ground. For this, he gets 'X'ed and big rewards. Today, I tacked him up and got on at the mounting block as usual, walked to the schoolette, and stopped just to gather my thoughts before starting. As I picked up my reins, he suddenly sank in front, arched his neck, stretched his front legs out so his elbows were nearly on the ground, and then very slowy and with poise he lifted up again and stood looking pleased with himself. I couldn't believe what I was feeling!! I did manage to get myself together enough to 'X' him enthusiastically as I laughed, he got a lots of treats for that! I think he must be feeling better in himself to do this, as, in the past, when I have asked him to do his carrot stretch with the saddle on, he has been rather reluctant to stretch to any degree. This is a huge difference!!

Tomorrow Solo and I are going to meet with Lynda and Tinks to practice for the 5th March Roadshow. We haven't ridden together for nearly 4 months, though it doesn't feel that long. I can, at least remember the plan for the Pas De Deux, and I have been thinking alot about what I want to show in my bits in the second half......   come along and see!

Saturday 5th February

I have had somewhat mixed emotions this week, some anxiety, some happiness, some realisation, some insecurity. I am very pleased, though, as I contacted a lady in a nearby village, who has a lovely 20x60 school which she never uses as she does not have horses. A few local people do use it, and in the past I have been there, but not in the past 2 or 3 years. This generous lady is happy for me to come and use the school, which is only 10 minutes drive away in the van, or 40 minutes ride. I took Solo over on Monday, and had a good session, but just at the end he was suddenly distracted by some bullocks in the next field but one running about behind a rather see-through hedge. I could kick myself for not just stopping at this point, as all I wanted to do was finish by walking on a long rein, well, the bullocks put paid to that and I was stupidly determined to get his attention back again which took 20 minutes with quite alot of trot work. The next day he was sore. Bum.

On Wednesday I took both Solo and Tango to the school, and lunged both of them. Tango has never been there before, but was so good and well behaved, he didn't even leap about when I asked for canter. There were spooky bits of the school, but he basically really did listen to me and do as I asked. I then let him loose in the school while I lunged Solo. Tango was very impressive, as he thought the same bullocks were very exciting and showed the most magnificent trot and canter - WOW! Solo, meanwhile had stared at the cows while I was doing things with Tango, so they had lost their interest and he moved really nicely on the lunge. I am working on having him go more, with more neck extension. He is very good in trot, but finds this really hard in canter, especially on the left. I think that lunging regularly in a big enough space will help him alot.

Solo is having his second acupunture session this afternoon for his ulcers, and, in the main, he does seem to be better in himself, though yesterday morning he looked uncomfortable again - I'm scratching my head to understand why. I think that it is when there is not enough grass or hay overnight, and he is not eating enough before he comes in for his breakfast. I find this a difficult time of year with him as he won't eat enough hay even if it is there, he thrives on grass, and struggles if there isn't much.

I am thrilled with the stuff that I have been using on the horses' frogs for thrush. For the first time ever both Solo and Nif have central sulcuses that are open and clean and firm, rather than sensitive and squashed together. I'm sure this must make such a difference for them. Thank you to Jo Clark for recommending the Red Horse Products, which I, in turn, certainly recommend.

I am having to put alot of thought to how I can integrate the new work that PK has started me on with my awareness of my body organisation. I find it so difficult to start doing something new, that takes alot of brain space, while not letting the 'old' slip away. Mary talks about 2 aspects of riding - the first tool kit, which is the body organisation of the rider, ie how you sit and use your body to influence the horse. I have spent many years working on my first tool kit, and gradually aspects become so ingrained that they are within my 'unconscious competence' ie they happen automatically. However, there are some things that I struggle with, or are newer, that are still in my 'conscious competence'. This means that I can do them, but only when they are in my awareness, and I keep reminding myself about them. PK's instruction to 'sit more' (for which I know exactly what to do), and keeping my lower legs a bit more forward fall into this category. The second tool kit is how to use the school movements and exercises to train the horse - and this is what PK is teaching us all. However, as second tool kit can only work really well when the first tool kit is pretty well in place, and is also improved and worked on as the second tool kit stuff becomes more sophisticated. They need to be advanced in paralled, so they keep up with each other.

What I find difficult is maintaining the subtlety and sophistication of the first tool kit that I know I have while introducing new second tool kit work. It frustrates me that when I focus alot on second tool kit, I let the first go too much. My challenge now is to balance the two, because I know that the relationship with Solo's mouth, and the effects of the flexions will be so much more effective when backed up by a body that is essentially giving the same signals, so that there is a congruency between what my hand and what my body are saying to Solo. Its a no-brainer really, but if the rider has an asymmetry, or twist, or imbalance, there can never be as much refinement or sophistication in the responses of the horse.

The realisation that I have had - again another no-brainer - is that things take time! I can't expect Solo to 'get it' in one or two sessions. I know this, so why does it surprise me again and again........

Solo is getting much more consistent with the flexions, both from the ground and from the saddle. It is interesting that when asking him to extend his neck with right bending, he will extend with his nose forward, and take the contact on the left. On the left rein, he does not push his nose forwards in the same way, and does not take the contact as consistently. However, I did notice yesterday that, under saddle, this has something to do with my left shoulder - when I raise my left hand, I also tend to lift my left shoulder blade, if I keep the shoulder blade down, the request for bending, and the transfer of his weight to his right front leg and shoulder are so much more effective. Hmmmmm. Work in progress!!!

Saturday 29th January

Having spent the last 2 months feeling like hibernating, and suffering from severe 'procrastination syndrome', I feel as though I have emerged this week, and feel motivated to get on with stuff!

This is has been triggered by inspiration from M. Karl as well as sudden panic that Lynda and I have a 'Roadshow' lecture demo on the 5th March at Millfield school, and we need to get together to practice. We haven't ridden together since November. I also have some serious revamping of the introductory talk following extremely helpful feedback from people who came to the last one in October. I am going to Southampton on Sunday 20th February, to present my 'Understanding equine posture and collection' talk and demonstration. This presentation also needs work..... ooh er. Please do look at the 'Roadshow' page for details of these and other events.

I boxed Solo over to a school that I have the use of (thank you, Sally!) on Friday, but it was with some trepidation that I got on him as I felt I did not end my final lesson with PK on a good note. My second and third lessons left me on a high, though I was very surprised in the second lesson how much he wanted me to ride forward in both trot and canter, I'm sure I wasn't, but it felt as though I was galloping round the school. It was at the end of this lesson that Solo and I earned the nickname 'Steamy Wonder', as we stood there in our own personal sauna at the end, ROFL.

In the third lesson PK had me continuing with the process of open the poll, ride on a straight line, bend, ride a volte, ask for neck extension keeping the bend on the volte in both walk and trot. He then tested us out to see if I could control Solo's shoulders by riding a half volte in counter-flexion in both directions in both walk and trot, and similarly with quarters by asking for shoulder in on a circle. We then started shoulder in on the straight line. Solo was amazing, and was able to do everything I asked, but showed just exactly how precise and accurate PK wants us to be, with little adjustments or corrections on a second to second basis.

In the final lesson, we worked in groups of 3, and PK showed us the beginning of in-hand work before we rode, again Solo was amazing, and we had some really lovely moments. In the ridden work we continued with the same exercises that we had each been working on individually. In my previous lessons, PK had given instructions for everything I did, including taking breaks. Whilst working in the group, he obviously could only teach one person at a time, so we all had much more time to think for ourselves. It was quite difficult at times to know if he was talking to me or to one of the others, and I forgot to give Solo regular breaks, particularly in the trot work. We ended up doing shoulder in on the long sides and I kept going too long without a break. At the end Solo was very tired and my brain was fried, so in the last few minutes I completely lost the precision and accuracy and things became relatively rough, with Solo going into his default bracyness into his left side. I could have kicked myself for not stopping sooner.

I have to keep reminding myself that on the course was the first time I have really ridden Solo in just his bit, and not with a second pair of reins on his cavesson. So I must not forget that it is as if he is a completely green horse with respect to his mouth. I definitely feel that he is somewhat confused as to why we suddenly have this difference, and he is certainly not yet comfortable with it. On Friday I worked through the flexions from the ground, and then got on. Again I stuck to doing the exercises that we did on the course, and towards the end started to feel that Solo was becoming more comfortable. I think that it will take quite a long time to really establish quiet and happy communication with Solo's mouth and tongue, and for the bit to become completely familiar.

Meanwhile Tango has been for a walk in hand to the ford in the village and practised his water jambettes whilst getting completely soaked, LOL. I am teaching him to splash with alternate front legs, the only trouble is that the ford is rather deep, and the water is half way between his knees and elbows, so there is alot of water to splash about and I also get rather wet. He has also done some lunging and managed to canter on both leads without any explosions - a big improvement! I am not too enthusiastic about sitting on him when he displays his capacity for airs above the ground. Having said this I can't wait to start doing more with him, but have to remember he will only be 4 in May, so still needs alot of growing time. Bless.

Monday 24th January

The first Philippe Karl course. Well, where to start? I can't find the right words to describe how much more PK is and does than what I expected. He says 'I don't want to teach anything that I cannot explain in proper scientific terms, in terms of anatomy, biomechanics, ethology.....' And this is exactly what he does. I think that this is one of the fundamental reasons why I am so drawn to M. Karl. He really does walk his talk, there is total congruency between what he says and what he does.

So, what does he do? The over-riding message for me from this course was the development of the relationship of the rider's hands to the horse's mouth. The most dextrous part of the human to the most sensitive part of the horse, what better a combination to create exquisite communication? How frightening it is that most riding uses the hands in a totally 'ham-fisted' way, using the hands with strength rather than refinement. My experience of this relationship in the lessons I have had so far in my life has either been to use the hands to coerce, or to reduce the emphasis of the hands to such a degree that their incredible potential is wasted. I am so envious of the younger riders on the course, I wish it had not taken me til I am nearly 50 (OMG) to find this.

These wonderful ideas and words are all very well, but we need to know how to do it, not just what needs doing. And he gives us a 'how' as well as a 'what'. This is another thing that is sadly missing from so many 'systems' - all the emphasis is on 'the horse should do this...' or 'the rider should do that....' but these give us none of the 'yes, and how?'

M. Karl has a completely logical and progressive systematic approach to teaching - yes, really teaching - a horse to understand and be comfortable with how we would like it to respond to the bit. His approach leads to a horse that truly 'seeks' the bit, and will follow the rider's hand into any position, higher, lower, left a bit, right a bit, really extending the neck, with the nose forward, in a real forward, down and out reach. Yet he combines this with fully exploring and developing the potential in a horse's paces, having the horse really moving forward, albeit in a really rhythmical, long striding way, that combines slowness and full range of motion with energy and impulsion.

On the first day of the clinic he watched us all ride in our normal way, he then rode each horse to assess it and start getting a feel for what each individual needed. There was time in this first lesson for some of us to get back on and start to learn. The main things he identified with Solo were that he needs to open his poll more, and to take the rein forward by opening the poll, and for me to ride him alot more forward to find 'his best trot'. He says 'how can you find the horse's best trot or canter if you do not ride forwards'. I had to start with asking Solo to lift his head and open the poll by gently lifting my hands so the bit was acting in the corners of his mouth (never on the tongue and bars) and vibrating on the reins. In this position, I could then lower my hands (descente de main) to the level where there is a straight line from the elbow to the hand to the mouth. As the horse's head is quite high, this means the hands are still quite high in this 'zero' position. As soon as the hands drop below this line, the bit acts down on the tongue and bars and causes pain and resistance. If Solo tried to flex the poll, I had to lift and vibrate, then lower again. In this place ideally the horse will mouth the bit and move the tongue - this is what gives the lightness. He wanted me to walk with steps as slow and as long as possible keeping this posture. From here I could bend Solo to one side, take him on a circle, and then offer him to take the rein forward, out and down into neck extension, keeping the bend on the circle. This process is repeated until the horse starts to confidently take the rein with more tension in the outside rein than the inside. The most important thing is that the horse always keeps the poll open, so the nose is forward. It is this that creates the feeling that the horse is 'seeking the bit', and 'taking the contact'.

There are 9 horses and riders on the course - all the horses are very different, some young, some old, some very green, some much more educated, one in particular seriously traumatised by the bit and a rider in a past life. M. Karl started working with all of them from the same point of opening the poll and 'getting' the mouth, though he used variations on the theme of the method to do this. All horses are different, so cannot be made to respond to the same methods, though the goal is the same. It was impressive to watch him clearly keep his objectives in sight, but not insist on the horse doing it perfectly, being satisfied with a change, however small, then doing something different, and coming back to the first exercise. This 'mouth education' is done progressively, firstly from the ground in halt, then under saddle in halt, then walk, trot, canter, go back to halt or walk if needed and so on. On the last day we also started to do in hand work, which is progressing the 'flexions' from halt to walk from the ground. It was remarkable how all the horses benefitted immediately from this when the riders mounted again.

On watching all the horses and riders over the 4 days, a very clear progressive system started to emerge. It was progressed further with some than others, but the order and objectives were the same for all. I will talk more about this and my other lessons in the next posting, I need 'processing' time to take in what has happened over these past 4 days, my brain was completely fried by the end of yesterday's lesson, and I think both Solo and I need time to integrate this new work.

Solo, meanwhile is now completely plastered in mud again, and very pleased to be back in his field with his friends.

Saturday 15th January

Well I really do believe that the course is going to happen, the weather forecast for next week is perfect, cold, dry, but not frosty. Thank you, thank you to all of you who contributed to my experiment in the power of positive thought.........

We have a timetable for the course, and have been sent details of the catering arrangements, courtesy of Lorraine Stanton. Derek Clark has set up a forum discussion group for participants, and riders and auditors are gradually introducing themselves. I understand that there are something like 60 (60!) auditors - wow! Excellent that there is so much interest in PK and his work.

This is it. This is what I have been on a rollercoaster of excitement and uncertainty for for the past 20 months. I had a few days of erupting butterflies and disturbed sleep last week, but now I find myself inexplicably calm..... long may that last!

I took Solo to ride in Sally's school yesterday, the first time I have ridden in a school since early November. He was awesome, better than ever. He is changing so much at the moment, I think that the ulcer treatment is making him feel better than he has for a long time, his posture is changing, and today he seemed to more awake while we did his core exercises and in hand work. On the downside, he is plastered in mud and I have no idea how I will get him presentable for next week, LOL. Bless him. We got heavily rained on yesterday while riding, and I think all the mud came off his head and neck and engrained itself into his bridle instead, double yuk. Still it means I will have to clean it thoroughly before we go away. I'm afraid that doesn't happen very often.

Watch this space for the next exciting installment and report from the first course..............

Thursday 6th January - 2011!!!

OMG, in 2 weeks time I will have had my first lesson with Philippe Karl! I can't quite believe that it is really happening, and I won't really believe that the weather won't thwart us until I am actually there, so please keep praying to the weather gods for continuing mild (ish) weather

Once I heard that I had been selected, I kept thinking 'I must practice this, and I want to be able to show him that......'  until I suddenly realised that this is the last time for the next 3 years when I won't have anything to practice - when I get there, it doesn't matter what I can or cannot show him, as I am sure he will just see our starting points and take us from there. After the course will be a different matter, as there will then be practicing to do and he is going to want to see improvement and change, gulp!

The snow and ice that we had at the end of November and beginning of December was indeed only a taste of things to come. We had at least 2 significant falls of snow between then and Christmas, and the snow lay until nearly the New Year, so any normal riding activities were severely curtailed. We decided to open up the 6 or so acres of field that had been fenced off in August in the week before Christmas, which pleased the horses immensely, and reduced the amount of hay they wanted to about a quarter, or even less. It also meant that I had a lovely large area of pristine 6" deep snow which just called to be ridden on! I rode Solo in the bareback pad, as, for some reason, riding in the snow has to be done bareback - or nearly so, and we had a lovely time. I also made use of the electric fence stakes which we had not yet taken down, to provide me with a long line of poles to weave in and out of, and practice our lateral work. Riding in the bareback pad made me focus more on what I felt going on in Solo's back, and I had some very different feels of how to have him straight and in his right hand side.

Since all work seemed to have stopped with Christmas, credit crunch and the weather, and I had lots of time, I also spent some time doing things with Tango in the field. To start with I just wanted to work on 'OK-ness' and Birdie stuff, having him be with me, and happy to come with me away from the others to the gates at both top corners of the field. Having got to the gates, though, I just wondered if I could teach him about coming alongside into a position that I could get on from.......     Well, he learned that so fast with the help of a few 'X' and treat moments, so the next day I put the bareback pad and bridle on him and climbed on. He was so enthusiastic to swing sideways to the gate, I had to be quick in getting my legs out of the way so they did not get squashed by his not inconsiderable belly, LOL. He had not forgotten a thing that we did in the summer and over the next 3 days I rode him for a few minutes each day in big circles and figures of 8 around the other horses in the field. I was really pleased with him, and he seemed very happy to be doing something grown up!

Tango is getting much more consistent on the lunge, particularly in walk and trot, and is showing some seriously impressive movement that makes me wonder how I will ever ride him without detracting from it. I will have to learn to keep out of his way - there is nothing there that needs improving on, just moulding and encouraging. He still likes to display his capacity for airs above the ground when asked to canter, but is getting better about sensible transitions. I definitely do not want to be sitting on him when he shows his athleticism in all its glory!

I have just had 2 days with Anna doing a course on Bodywork for Lateral Work, which was very thought provoking. I thought that I had got the control over the laterals to a pretty refined level, but Anna took our awareness to much deeper layers, ooh-er. Part of me wants to get on and try, and part of me daren't! Today I had a very good excuse not to ride as it was very rainy, and Solo was very wet...... well that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Friday 10th December

Today is the first day in goodness knows how long where the temperature has gone significantly above zero - sadly I think this is only a brief respite in this now rather prolonged 'cold snap'! However, the yard is still an unusable ice rink, and the field is getting delightfully slippery as the surface layer thaws but its still frozen solid underneath. I haven't done anything of significance with the horses this week, but I don't think they mind. We have had to use all our pursuasion, though, to get them to go down the field where there actually is quite alot of grass to eat, instead of standing waiting to have hay put in front of them - lazy monsters. They are all putting on weight, even Solo is looking like a dumpling, something he hasn't resembled since he was 4!! We have cut their hay by half, but they are clearly getting enough to eat, judging by the 5 barrows of poo I picked up this morning - it is usually 3!

One of the infomal presentations we had on the weekend with Lavinia was a DVD of the work of an American Vet, Dr Kerry Ridgway. Kerry has been influential in the world of endurance - apparently there is a Ridgway test that is used to assess the recovery rates of endurance horses, which is named after him. However, what is more interesting is his story. Some years ago, he had to give up his veterinary practice when he caught Lyme's Disease. He became very ill with this, but in his search for a cure, he learned about and studied both Acupuncture and Chiropractic. He has now incorporated both these modalities into his veterinary practice. Amongst other things he has done alot of work on studying horses with ulcers. The statistics on the incidence of ulcers are frightening, and their effects can be devastating for their sufferers.

Ulcers are usually diagnosed either by successful treatment, or by gastroscopy - ie endoscopic examination of the stomach. However, this is invasive and generally necessitates a trip to the veterinary hospital. The other problem with this is that a negative examination does not rule out microscopic ulceration or ulceration in the hind gut rather than the stomach. Over time Kerry noticed a consistent pattern of active acupuncture points and musculoskeletal indicators that were always present in horses that were proven to have ulcers. However, he also noticed these indicators on horses where endoscopy was negative, but the horses did respond to ulcer treatment. He has now put forward a series of these indicators that can be reliably used to make a presumptive diagnosis of ulcers if they are all present bilaterally on a horse. He tests the diagnosis by performing an acupuncture protocol, after which all the active points will resolve entirely, and the musculoskeletal indicators will be reduced.

Ooh er......    I have been suspicious about Solo having ulcers or suffering from the effects of stomach acidity for some time, and have given him activated charcoal for periods over the past 9 or 10 months. This has helped him, but I still feel that he is not right. I am getting more convinced that a significant part of his anxiety and 'not-OKness' are related to chronic discomfort or pain. I denied this to myself for quite sometime, thinking 'how can he have ulcers when his living conditions and feeding are as good as they are'? However, I realise that there is alot more to it. He had some extremely stressful events and periods in his youth, especially between the ages of 1 and 3, and has been seriously stressed by travelling ever since, though this has improved, it is still a cause of anxiety. His anxiety is so close to the surface all the time. I have always been concerned about his permanent sensitivty in his back muscles, and his clear dislike of being touched and groomed - he tolerates it, but really doesn't like it. I always thought this was to do with hypermobility in his lumbosacral and sacroiliac joints. I have discussed that he always seems to live with some discomfort somewhere with Edward the homoeopathic vet, and we have given him various remedies over the years that have helped him, but just haven't got to the bottom of the problem - probably because I don't keep in touch with Edward regularly enough and don't follow up on the remedies enough, thinking 'this is just how Solo is'.

Solo is sensitive to all the acupunture points and musculoskeletal indicators that Kerry Ridgway has identified. Seriously so, very crossly, ears flat backly, kicky outly so. OH SH!T

So, where do I go from here? The 'gold standard' in ulcer treatment is GastroGard - a prescription only medicine that reduces the acid production by 90%. However, whilst it may give the ulceration a chance to heal, it does not address the original cause of the ulceration. Also it costs in the region of £25 a day, and is needed for about a month - eeek!!!

I do think that the perpetuation of the ulcers is something of a vicious cycle, so pain of ulcers increases stress which increases acid production, which increases ulcers etc, so breaking this cycle may well go a long way to a cure, but only if the original degree of stress is removed, or at least significantly reduced.

I have pondered my treatment options now for some days, and discussed the possibilities with both Edward and another vet friend of mine, Jan, who is also a communicator, healer and acupuncturist. Jan is very interested in Kerry's work, and I think will be extremely helpful in managing the treatment. I have emailed Kerry to find out the acupunture and chiropractic protocols he uses in the treatment, and Jan and I are excited about having a go with these. Edward has given Solo a remedy, and I am also going to give him a medicinal treatment in the form of a product, Equitop Pronutrin, which contains pectin and lecithin, these create a thick barrier over the gastric lining to prevent the acid from further irritating any ulceration. I am going to combine this with the Happy Tummy - activated charcoal  - to gently decrease the excess acid in his stomach. I must also be mindful of his OKness, but I think that if his discomfort / pain is relieved, he will be ok with doing what I am asking of him, and he will even cope with the travelling that we do.

Alot to think about........      I will keep you posted on our progress!

Sunday 5th December

I'm afraid I am feeling very uninspired about what to write today. Horsey things are rather 'on hold' as the weather is frustratingly prohibitive to more than the minimum activity with snow and ice. The horses are very fluffy, but rather bored. They have ad lib hay in the field so are rather unmotivated to go foraging, and spend their days hanging around the top of the field like whiney children saying 'what can we do, we're bored'!! I am gettng very good at the art of layering my clothing to keep warm whilst doing outdoor things (and whilst in my own house, which is minimally heated). I take my outdoor coat and hat off when I get in, and put my indoor coat and hat on.........

Having said this, I have done some in hand work or core exercises with both Solo and Tango on most days, and Tango offered the most breath-taking trot on the lunge a couple of days ago - for which he got X'd and lots of treats! Solo does not like the frozen, knobbly ground under foot and is very careful about how he moves, Tango flies over the lot looking magnificent - OMG.

There is alot of comment in the news about how, once again, the UK is brought to a standstill by the snow, but we really are not the only country. Northern France and Germany have also had alot of snow and have just as much disruption to airports, roads and rail, with people stranded or snowed in. We cannot be compared to Scandinavia, or Alpine France and Germany - they have much more predictable weather and the expectation of snow all winter, not just for a week or two at a time. Yesterday we had the worst - a few degrees above freezing with rain falling on ice and frozen ground - a recipe for incredible slipperiness!

I had an amazing weekend in Herefordshire with Lavinia and the group of people who fit her saddles. What an interesting bunch of people! All of us have our own area of expertise in the horse world, but have a common ethos and approach, and then have the added common interest in saddle fitting. I do hope that we can meet again, maybe at a different time of year with our horses.

Charlie-the-cat has refused point blank to go out for the past week and a half, but did manage to catch a mouse the night before last! At least she's doing her job. She woke me up at 3 in the morning thundering about the house having a whale of a time with her catch, she then proceeded to crunch it up in the corner of my bedroom. I suppose at least she didn't deposit it like a present on my pillow, LOL.

Thursday 18th November

Autumn is passing fast, with the days getting more wintery - either frosty and cold, or wet and windy, though with a few lovely days in between. Sadly, yesterday was wet and windy all day, and was the day this week where I had the most teaching and riding to do.....    2 sets of waterproof clothing later and I am getting into the swing of weather protection. It always seems hard work at the beginning of the winter.

Solo has had quite a quiet month, but we have had some lovely hacks, and met Lynda and Tinks for a great ride over the Deverills - the only downside was we picked another day where the rain was unrelenting. Still, I will put up with the wet and wind as long as January stays unfrozen, so we can get to Northamptonshire for The Course!

Last weekend I helped Mary on her stand at the Your Horse Live Exhibition, along with Karin and Lynda. I really enjoyed myself, found lots of interesting people to talk to, and managed not to spend tooooo much money. Mary did some really good demonstrations, and had very positive comments from the audiences. Our stand was in a very busy thoroughfare, on a corner, and opposite the YHL stand where they were stopping passers by to offer them scratch cards. This gave us the ideal opportunity to nab them in the bottle neck. This coming weekend I am going to meet with Lavinia and the others who fit her saddles. The weekend is part social and part getting to know more about what each of us do. I am giving my presentation on 'Understanding Collection', and there are some other interesting presentations lined up.

I have recently resubscribed to The Horse's Hoof Magazine - its really worthwhile - and have read a very interesting series of 3 articles on frogs - the kind on the underneath of hooves rather than the kind that hop. They talked about disease in the frog, and how deep rooted it can be, as well as how to go about treating it. I knew that my horses, and especially Nif, had some thrush, but these articles made me look more closely, and I was shocked to find out quite how bad I had allowed it to become in all of them. Even outwardly quite healthy looking frogs can harbour crevices and pockets of disease, and the disease can be really deep underneath the outer insensitive frog horn. So, I have started to trim away as much of the manky stuff as I can, and I'm treating them with some stuff that was recommended in the third article. Unfortunately, alot of the topical treatments that they recommend are not available in the UK. Tango has had his third trim since I started, and Solo and Nif have been trimmed twice. I am starting to recognise much better what healthy frog tissue looks like, and what tissue with disease underneath it looks like. Happily, I am seeing improvement, though I think it will take some months to clear it effectively, and then the horses will need weekly preventative measures as our constantly wet conditions are not helpful. I have just been recommended some stuff from a company in the UK who produce a selection of liquids and pastes to treat the thrush with, it looks very interesting having been developed by someone who has barefoot horses. The products are based in the main on raw honey together with some essential oils and one or two other things that kill thrush, but not frogs and feet! There are lots of things on the market for disinfecting feet that I would not put within a million miles of one as they are so destructive.

The horses are now very fluffy, and tucking enthusiastically into our supply of hay. We have opened the first of the bales of this year's, and it is wonderful, but that does mean that they are guzzling it down, which is fine for Nif and Solo, but not so good for the fatties! And try telling them that its got to last til March!!! I have bought some hay net netting that is not made into hay nets, and we are going to clip it down over the hay in our crates to slow them down a bit. Watch this space for how effective this is...........

Monday 18th October

I think that I have just about recovered from the excitement of PK, the Roadshow and then going to Teacher Training - which is always hard work. Both Solo and I have had a good week off any ridden work since we got back. We did have a good time though, and I escaped without any unexpected realisations! Solo was a 'morning horse' this year. In the morning on the TT courses there is a workshop first followed by a ridden session in the school where 4 horses are each ridden by 3 different people, and everyone who isn't riding watches to assess what is happening with both riders and horses. It is very interesting to see how an individual horse can 'shape' their riders, and how different riders can have varying effects on one horse. Everyone gets to ride on one of the three days, and we all get a chance to observe a lot, and get our eyes in regarding rider organisation and abililty to influence the horses. Solo had 8 different people ride him in the three days, and now has a halo! He was a very good reflection of the rider on him as he does not 'fill in' at all, and responds very genuinely to how the rider sits on him. In the afternoon sessions, we are divided into groups of 3, each with a horse, taking it in turns to ride, teach and observe. Afterwards there is a workshop for feedback on these sessions. I rode some really nice horses, each of which challenged me in a different way. I particularly wanted to work on my tendency for my lower legs to go too far back, and on my right foot which want to turn out. I got some good input to work with, and feel much closer to knowing what I need to do - now I just need to do it!!

I find the amount of driving that I have to do rather tedious, however, driving is a good time for thoughts to process and evolve. This morning I was mulling over an email conversation that I have been having with Mark Stanton, who came to the Roadshow representing the Natural Horsemanship Magazine. I was interested in his feedback, which was very helpful, however the subject of my mullings was our discussion about how a rider creates the 'relaxed stillness' that characterises talented riders. Mary's approach is to teach 'bear down' - words which really do not describe effectively the use of the core and centredness that talented riders have. Unfortunately when Mary realised that core stability was an essential part of good riding, it was still decades before Pilates had been accepted into the mainstream, and years before the words 'core stability' had become fashionable buzz words. She also realised that the concepts of centering and using the energy of the centre to direct an opponent (or your horse) that are fundamental to good martial arts, are also common in good riding. Indeed, riding really ought to be a non-combative martial art. So, she coined the rather misleading phrase 'bearing down', and the words have stuck.

Mark, who has ridden alot with Craig Stevens, and teaches his 'seat training', was explaining to me how he aims to get the relaxed stillness by using on horse exercises. The rider is directed to move arms and legs around as the horse is lunged, thus the rider finds their balance. I do not have any further detail, and I am interested in finding out more. I am going to watch Craig Stevens teach on the weekend after next........

It suddenly seemed to me that Mary's and Craig's teaching achieve the necessary tone in postural muscles but approach this from diametrically opposite directions. Mary's approach is virtually the same as Pilates, ie find neutral spine, find out how to activate the deep core postural muscles, and then add limb movements (horse movements) whilst maintaining the core activation. Gradually the core muscles become stronger and easier to access and activate. One of the fundamental principles of Pilates is that when the deep postural - core - muscles are functioning as they should, the limbs can move with an ease and grace, and independence that allows ballet dancers to have such poise, and is essential for success in virtually every sport.

It occured to me that Craig's approach must be successful when the deep postural - core - muscles are forced to become active indirectly as the limbs are moved around whilst a rider sits on a moving horse. In this situation the large locomotor - movement - muscles that attach the limbs to the trunk cannot then substitute for the core as they do in many people. If the rider does not find these muscles, albeit subconsciously, they would not be able to maintain balance and stability on a horse in walk, let alone trot or canter. Thereby the core is activated, and the limbs can then become independent in their movement.

While I was driving along this morning mulling over these ideas I was suddenly struck by a parallel in the world of horse training. I think that in a previous post I have alluded to a difference between the French / Baucherist (~Classical) vs the German (~competitive) approaches to developing collection. In the French approach the posture and muscle tone of collection is encouraged at halt or in a very slow walk before the horse is then asked to move with gradually increasing impulsion and complexity, whilst maintaining the collected posture. In the German approach the horse is ridden forwards onto a contact, and in the school movements in the hope that this will somehow develop collection.

So, Mary /Pilates would directly equate to the French, Craig to the German! Hmmm, I'm not sure that either Mary or Craig would appreciate their approaches to rider 'collection' being equated to the development of horse 'collection' in these terms!! TeeHee.........

Sunday 3rd October

Well, what a week! I'm just coming down a bit off the high of hearing about PK, and then on Friday, the Roadshow. Lynda and I had such fun doing the evening, and both horses were exemplary! Solo really seemed to enjoy himself and showed off to perfection, I think that he has found his calling in life  

Yesterday when I went see him and give him a huge kiss, he had an air of satisfaction about him, somehow pleased and, actually a bit smug! It sounds strange, but there was a difference in him, I'm sure I'm not imagining it. Once he realised, in the demo, that we were doing familiar things, he rose to the occasion and did not put a foot wrong, and I'm sure he liked the appreciative audience, LOL.

I think that people enjoyed the demo, and we had some very interesting questions to answer from the audience, which is great. I got the impression that we did open some eyes to how subtle communication between horse and rider can be, and that it can be learned by anyone.

Now we need to plan for future demos, we have some possible organisers to talk to in the South of England, and I have been approached by a lady from Scotland who is interested in hosting us. For this to be viable, we would need to do a series of demos and hopefully some clinics and workshops as well. I do hope that this works as it would be a big adventure!

Today we go up to Overdale for teacher training for the next 3 days. TT somehow always seems to bring some home truth to the light for me, and can be a bit uncomfortable. Usually the realisation is a total surprise as the 'hole' in me is so deep in unconscious incompetence that it is a shock to become aware of it. However, on each occasion so far, I think that I have taken the lesson on board and grown from it, even if it took quite a big deep breath and some anger management before I got on with dealing with it. I wonder what this week will bring? At least if it does happen it won't be such a surprise, I hope!

Thursday 30th September

Wohooo, yipeeee, wayhay!!!! I've got my place on the course 

I got the email yesterday evening, and immediately cracked open the small bottle of bubbly that I had in the fridge for the occasion. I'm slightly regretting the bubbly now as I never sleep well after drinking......

The course starts next year, with a four day block in each of January, May and September over the next 3 years, plus a further exam course, its soooo exciting!!!

Tomorrow is the Roadshow, Lynda and I met on Tuesday to practice, and tie up any loose ends, and I feel really ready for this, this week is getting more and more exciting. Next week is teacher training, so Solo and I go to Overdale on Sunday. After this Solo can have some downtime, he has done alot in the past few weeks with all our preparation, and he also went to Overdale last week for Liz, the working pupil there to ride him on a 4 day course. I think he gave Liz alot to think about and challenged her organisation in a good way.

Tango went out for a really proper hack last weekend with his friends. He was really good, and started to realise that he can reach his head and neck forwards and down while walking and trotting, rather than go head in air. He was lovely in trot, and we had a couple of good stretches so he could get into a rhythm while following Izzy. I did lead him most of the way home, as it included a long steep hill which I thought would be too much for him on this occasion. I do think that going downhill is so much harder for a young horse to balance than uphill, which is just hard work! I will now not ride him again til next spring, but continue with ground work over the winter.

I think that Tango should be a comedian, when I got back with Solo on Tuesday, and put him out with the others, they did not want to go down the field so I could shut the gate on them, and they all hoolied about. The field next to ours has maize corn in it, and there is some wildlife that steals the corn cobs and brings them through the fence, depositing part eaten cobs in our field. Tango loves them!  He charged over to the corner where the cobs are strewn, picked one up, and ran off with it hanging out of his mouth. I have never seen a horse carry something while galloping about, but off he went at top speed down the field with the others to where they needed to go for the night. I couldn't believe he took the cob with him! Funny boy...

Sunday 19th September

So, what has happened over the past 3 weeks? Foremost in my mind is preparation for the Roadshow. Lynda and I have been meeting weekly to ride together and practice. Things are really coming together, the only thing that I don't think will happen this time is music for the Pas de Deux. It seems that, not only do Lynda and I need licences, but the venue does as well, and I am having difficulty finding the person to ask if they have one.......   We have our lovely numnahs from Lavinia, and they are with the embroiderer, they should look fab!! I have organised for Mark Stanton from Natural Horsemanship Magazine, and Sarah Weston from the Intelligent Horsemanship Association to come and take photos and report for us. I have also invited representatives from ECCL Magazine and Ridgeway Rider, but have not had any replies.

Yesterday I did a RWYM clinic for Saxon Dressage Group, which was a great success. I had 3 riders, all of whom got alot out of their lessons, and 2 further auditors. I think they all appreciated the afternoon workshop as well, and were particularly interested in doing some of the ground work exercises to activate the core muscles, as well as wanting repeat lessons.

Ali and I have taken Solo and Tango for a proper ride, taking advantage of the lovely stubble field immediately beside our yard. We walked along the bottom of the field and then walked and trotted up the hill to the gate onto the road. Tango felt great in trot, and was very calm, taking it all in his stride. He had a slight wobble when we turned onto the road and started to go downhill, needing to work out how to balance us both, but soon got the hang of it and was so good all the way home on the road. Sadly the stubble field has now been ploughed, the farmers around here seem to turn the fields round so quickly. I remember weeks of wonderful stubble field riding around Kilmersdon where we used to live.

I am expecting any day to hear about Philippe Karl's course and MY place, so please keep the positive thoughts in your minds!! I have a slight jolt in my stomach every time I check my emails, eeek!

Solo is going to Mary's tomorrow, for Liz, the working pupil at Overdale, to ride on a 4 day course. Liz comes from New Zealand and has ridden and competed in the past at Grand Prix level, so is a very experienced rider, but is aware that there are holes in her riding, so has come to find out more about RWYM. She rode Solo in August when we were there and enjoyed his super-sensitivity, so I hope and expect that she will have a good week. After this it is only another week to the Roadshow, and then Teacher Training the following week. I think after this, Solo can have some serious down time - he'll deserve it.

Sunday 29th August

Check out the new 'Roadshow' page! I have done it all myself without the help of my website man, so I have managed to add in a menu at the side that I did not want, and I don't know how to get rid of it again, but I did manage to create the page, turn it into a menu item, and add the photos! Pretty good for a totally non-computer savvy person! LOL

The page is still being developed, ie I have to add more text and streamline things a bit, but all the important information is there about Lynda's and my first date on October 1st at the RDA at Wilton. Please do come along, it should be a fun evening.

On Friday we had the first practice of our Pas de Deux with Solo and Tinks, and I think this could work! I have also been listening to lots of music to find some that would be good to play alongside. I want it to be dressage with music rather than to music, so I'm not trying to get exactly the right rhythm and beat, just something that will be good background, but still catchy. We will need to get our music membership of BD to make us legal as well, LOL.

I have done virtuallly nothing with Tango in the past couple of weeks as I spent a long weekend at Overdale last weekend teaching for Karin again. I had alot of interesting people to teach and some fun lessons. I only took Solo with me this time, so he had some good schooling sessions. I am starting to introduce him to a bit again in preparation for Philippe Karl. It is a very interesting experience teaching an educated and mature horse about a bit! I don't think he is convinced about it at all yet, he doesn't see the need. I am really hoping that PK will teach me the subtler, finer points of bit use, otherwise I don't see the need either........

Later......       Hmmm, well, I've managed to remove the unwanted menu from the side of the page, but still not worked out how to cancel the module entirely. How much time can you waste doing computer things!!!!

Tuesday 25th August

Yay! I have just heard the best news - Philippe Karl is definitely going to run a course in England from next year

He will be making his selection of riders in the next month, so please can everyone hold the positive thought of 'Dorothy's place' on the course!! Lets prove the power of positive thinking........... 

Monday 16th August

I have now ridden Tango 4 times, and he has learned the rudiments of stop, go, back and turn. The second time, Erica helped me again, and we started with her leading him around our small circle, she then unclipped him and gradually moved away as I carried on walking around. To start with Tango really did not understand 'go', and it was clear that legs were meaningless to him. It is very easy to teach stop and turn from the ground, but how to simulate the action of legs? He does understand the words 'walk on', so using the words together with legs and Erica encouraging him, he did start to get the idea.

The third ride I felt was the first time I did actually ride him rather than just sit on him. We were on our own, and I did some preparation with in hand work, holding the whip vertically where my leg would go, and touching him with the flat of it as I said 'walk on'. I did this a few times on both sides, so when I got on there was very little hesitation when I gently touched his sides with my legs - wow, quick, click and treat!!

On Saturday I practised getting on and off from both sides - off side mounting feels so unco-ordinated - I am glad he is small! He stood like a rock, but walked on happily when I asked every time. We then went out for our first 'hack', following Erica and Aunty Moose along the lane for a short distance. We were going to go to the brook, but met a van and had to turn round and go quite a long way back to a gateway, and he was so good turning and manoeuvering in and out of the gateway that we went home again from there.

 I feel so pleased with his progress, I will probably ride him a couple more times soon, and then leave the ridden work again for a few months. There is lots of in hand work we can continue with while he is growing.

The end of August is getting closer! I think that I shall live with butterflies until I hear from Philippe Karl!

Saturday 7th August

Today I have had a wonderful early birthday present, with Erica's help I sat on Tango for the first time!

He stood like a rock, and didn't turn a hair. He was a bit reluctant to walk, but with some gentle encouragement he learnt that he can walk with a big heavy load on top!

He felt surprisingly substantial underneath me, but he does have well sprung ribs, so with another 3 years of filling out and maturing to do, he will be perfect!

Wednesday 4th August

When Philippe Karl postponed the closing date for applications for his course until the end of August, it seemed such a long way off, and yet, here we are, in August!! I am starting to get excited all over again, and holding the thought of 'my' place on the course that WILL run! Please keep your fingers crossed, LOL.

Where July went, I have no idea. It started with a marathon drive with Solo to Ashen EC in Suffolk for the course with Anna. The journeys both ways went very smoothly with no hold ups, but still took over 5 hours. I have to admit that the M25 is not my favourite experience, especially as my van struggles to go over 55mph, so we were constantly overtaken by intimidating juggernauts, I was very glad to be in a van and not a trailer. The course was absolutely worth the drive, Anna is the best coach ever, and Becky made us all very welcome at her yard, which is carefully planned for comfort and ease of use for both horses and riders. Anna rode Solo on the second day, and tapped into a new layer of lift in Solo's back which I managed to maintain and reinforce with alot of clicker training. The change has been sustained since, and I feel that he is in a really different place. We did alot of work on my awareness of laterals, and what 3, 4 or 5 tracks feel like, very helpful, as I tend to ask for far too much angle.

A week after getting back from Ashen, Solo went to stay with Anna's mother near Yeovil for 'donkey training'. Mary has 2 delightful donkeys, though as far as Solo was concerned they were the devil incarnate, ready to attack him with fire and talons and eat him up! He was in a paddock where he was separated from the donkeys, but could not get out of sight of them, though he could be at quite a distance. He spent the first night trumpeting and snorting at them every few minutes, and I lay in bed listening to him wondering if I was scarring him for life by subjecting him to this. It took him 2 or 3 days to be able to be calm in their view at the far end of his paddock, and his demeanour changed from 'OMG, THEY'RE STILL THERE !@!@, I'M GOING TO DIE'  to ' oh look, they're still there, and I'm still alive'.

This gradually improved over the next week or so and got to the stage that I could ride him, trim his feet and be around him with him completely calm as long as I did not try to take him closer than about 30m. At this point I took him home as I was getting exhausted with the driving to and fro and with anxiety! I felt that it would take alot longer for him to accept them closer, but at least he realised that he could be in the sight of donkeys and be ok. Ironically, I have not been able to test out if this learning has stuck as the donkeys that had moved into the field down the road from us have gone again.

So, for the second half of the month, I have spent time doing things with both Tango and Solo, and have taken them both to Sally's school. Tango moves so beautifully on the lunge on a good school surface rather than our rather inadequate circle. I have bellied over Tango a couple of times, and he is really chilled about it, so the next step is to get on properly. I'll try to get a photo of this occasion!

Lynda and I have a date for our first 'Roadshow', Friday 1st October at the Wilton RDA, organised by the Wiltshire BHS. It is entitled 'Understanding Collection for every horse and rider'. So this is very exciting, but rather daunting. In the roadshow, I will give a short presentation on what needs to happen in a horse's body, in anatomical terms, ie bones, joints, muscles and ligaments, for collection, and then demonstrate this with Solo from the ground. I will show some ground and in hand exercises that every horse owner can do to activate the appropriate muscles. Lynda will then talk about and show the importance of the rider's body, and how that influences the horse, ie the first tool kit. At the end we will both do a short display with Solo and Tinks. It should be a fun evening! In the meantime, Lynda and I have scheduled 3 or 4 days to meet at Margaret's to plan and practice.

Some weeks ago while I was doing things with Tango on our sand circle, I heard a loud screeching noise that went on and on. My immediate thoughts were 'what is that cat killing?' and I went to investigate around the barn. I soon realised that the noise was nothing to do with Clyde, the barn cat, but all to do with a pair of barn owls that have a nest box in the roof of the barn! They had clearly hatched a chick which was now demanding its regular meals with incredible volume! Over the next few weeks we would frequently see the female in daytime with her catch flying in to feed the chick. To see a barn owl at all is amazing, but to see one regularly in broad daylight was amazing. Last week, however, it got alot more exciting as the fledgeling started to venture out of the box, and perch on the platform in front of the hole, or on top of the box, or on a rafter. It is so amazingly beautiful, and what a priviledge to see this bird as close up!! Erica has taken some photos which I will post when she emails them to me....   watch this space! 

Saturday 26th June

Solo has done the first really useful thing in his life! I needed to take his horse van to the garage about 3 miles away for some work to be done, and rather than trying to find someone to give me a lift home, I took him with me and rode him home. About one mile is on an A road, but a pretty quiet one and the other two are on country lanes. It was really satisfying to have somewhere purposeful to ride to! I also rode him back again a couple of days later to collect it again. The garage man was most surprised!

Yesterday I did the first step in backing Tango, Erica held him while I bellied over. I was thinking of getting on fully, but he sagged rather, and felt a bit worried, so we stuck with bellying over 3 times, and asking him to walk with me lying across him. By the third time he was bracing himself, and walking rather more confidently.  It just didn't feel right to get right on - I think it is Monty Roberts who says 'it is wise to have a plan, but foolish to fall in love with it' - so we will take more time.

Sunday 20th June

Once again, I sound like a broken record - 'is it really a month since my last posting?'!! So, what has happened in this last month?

I have had a long weekend, totally horse-free, visiting Northern Germany with my brother and cousins where we used to spend summer holidays as small children. Our Grandparents lived in a fairy tale thatched cottage in the middle of a forest - The WaldHaus - with no electricity, telephone or running water. It was a short distance from the beach, and idyllic for holidays. Sadly, I was a bit too young to really appreciate it, my strongest memories being of HUGE black slugs outside the back door, the water pump in the front yard, liquorice bootlaces from the kiosk at the beach and masses of stranded jelly fish! How strange what we remember. I also remember being taken to visit the horses that my grandfather rode, and loving the particular smell of them, which was strongly evoked in the horse barn at the place we stayed at this May. German horses and barns seem to have a certain smell which I have never come across in England apart from faintly when I bury my nose in my warm horses' manes in the summertime. We also visited the small town where my grandparents moved when they got older, and their grave which is now shared by my uncle who died last summer. Everything looks smaller than I remember, but I guess, when you're 5 or 6 things look alot bigger!

For the last 2 weekends I have taken Solo and Tango up to Overdale where I have been teaching for Karin. Karin has been on holiday to Sweden with her mother, to visit a pen friend, and stay in a remote holiday house that they went to as children - it must be our age, going on nostalgia trips, LOL. So Tango has had the experience of the travelling, staying somewhere different and coming home again for two weekends running, and he was really good. He travelled very well, and took everything in his stride with interest. Solo, who normally tries to deny Tango's existance, appointed himself his protector, and did not help by calling to him if I took Tango in the school. Tango was rather distracted the first time and ably demonstrated his potential for airs above the ground, I think his speciality would be the capriole. The trouble was he was doing it rather too close to me for comfort! He did settle down, though, with some clicker training incentive, and showed some brilliant trot whilst still paying attention to me. He was a favourite with some of the children who come and ride there, and loved the attention, happily remaining very gentle with them over the stable door. He's always liked being kissed on the nose.

I have been very busy catching up with work, having had 3 out of the last 4 weekend away, with lots of interesting things to do. Last week though, I went to watch Lynda and Tinks who had won a competition in Horse and Rider magazine, for a lesson with Laura Bechtolsheimer. What a beautiful place she has near Cirencester! She really liked Tinks and was very complementary to Lynda about her ability to make changes in her body - I guess the years of RWYM have made some difference - LOL. Lynda had a great lesson, and also won some lovely clothing, no less than she deserves!

I have come back from Overdale to find 4 donkeys have moved into a field just down the road from us. This should not really be worthy of comment apart from the fact that Solo - the big wuss - is terrified of them, and is now seeing fire breathing dragons chasing up the lane from their direction if I so much as ask him to walk out of his yard and turn left, he can't get even a few yards before starting to shake. I really am at my wits' end with him. What I find especially frustrating is that even when the donkeys are out of sight, he cannot get the fear out of his mind, and sees dragons everywhere, so does not settle at all. The day after he first saw them, he was even shaky in his own barn and yard, and looking in their direction for the monsters. Such a shame as they look like rather sweet little donkeys, and I think 2 of them may be youngsters. Ho hum, back to working on OK-ness in his yard again!

I am going to have to arrange for him to go and stay with a friend who has a donkey, so he has to live in a paddock immediately next to one until he realises that they are harmless.

In a fortnight's time Solo and I are making a marathon journey to Suffolk for a course with Anna Gordon-Redmond. Anna is the best teacher ever, and one of my favourite people, so I am really looking forward to seeing her, and Becky Chapman, who is hosting the course. The M4, M25 and M11 are less appealing!

Meanwhile, I have no further news on Philippe Karl, but I'm working away quietly on my own combining the first toolkit of Mary's work with his second toolkit training, and Solo does feel amazing in the school, and is making steady progress when I get my act together. I'm still just as excited about it, and the power of combining both, its awesome.........! 

Thursday 20th May

Eeeek! I got the results of Sunday's Trec competition in the post this morning, and we WON!!!!! Clever old Solo, and Lynne and Berry, the best partners!

The forecast for Sunday was wall to wall rain, which didn't materialise, apart from a couple of heavy showers, so we were really lucky. We rode throught the most beautiful bluebell woods, the colours were just stunning with the purple and green dappled with sunshine, glorious. Solo got his best score in the control of paces, managing not to break pace in the canter or the walk, and also his best score in the PTV, with the obstacles favouring him - they were all things he could do easily, and our practice the weekend before definitely helped. I don't know why, but he just loves jumping up and down steps. He locks and and launches, I wish he'd do the same with jumps!

I thought we had made a bad mistake in the orienteering, as we definitely came into a check point on the wrong track, but I know at least 3 other pairs did the same, and none of us have been penalised, we should have lost 30 points. Well they say the judges decision is final!

Solo is having a well earned break now, and the horses have been let loose on fresh grass, so they are very contented with full bellies, and spend the whole time in the barn snoozing heavily. I am going for a long weekend to Germany to meet my cousins, and have a childhood holiday nostalgia trip visiting the place where our grandparents lived, and we all met for summer holidays when we were little.

Tango has had the saddle on again while we practised in hand exercises and standing at the mounting block - its soooo tempting just to get on! However, I must be patient, and it would be pretty silly to do it on my own. Watch this space!!!

Friday 14th May

Yay! Tango had his third birthday on Monday! Here are a couple of pics him having fun in the ford and at home .....

He just loves splashing about in the water, he's practising his jambette in preparation for spanish walk! I don't know how he does it but he manages to get wet ALL OVER!

He is good at lunging, and knows walk, trot and canter on both reins, and has jumped a small cross pole. He has worn a saddle twice now, and is completely cool about it! He also enjoys doing Parelli Pattern type games, and is starting to learn exercises in hand. Wow, there is so much to do in preparation for riding!!

Thursday 6th May

Well spring has really arrived and the horses are not having hay at night any more. They come in in the mornings with their bellies satisfyingly full of grass and spend most of the day snoozing in the barn and yard. Solo is beginning to put on condition, and starting to look lovely with his dappley, silky summer coat. The downside is that Old Man Nif has started to itch and will need some soother and insect repellent putting on every day now until November. Tango had a remedy from Edward the Homoeopath a couple of weeks ago, and his small plum sized wart that hung off the lip of his sheath dropped off last night, after many months of alternating between forming a crust and the crust being rubbed off when he lay down, and dripping blood down his legs. He is feeling sorry for himself today having had his wolf teeth out under sedation, so I left him looking rather sore and very sleepy

I had a great time on my Mary course, even though it was very cold camping in my van, at least it stayed dry! Solo felt amazing, and stronger than ever before. I continued the work that Michele started, translating her work into 'Mary' speak, and having some really good feelages. I was able to sit on Solo's trot much more effectively, and could increase the energy and match it - really exciting stuff.

Recently, I have been pointed in the direction of an eBook that is really worth reading. It is by an American by the name of Mike Schaffer, and can be downloaded directly from his website. He is the only person apart from Mary who I have heard or read talking about the importance of teaching the 'how' as opposed to the 'what'. This is a major feature in Mary's teaching of riders - that virtually all teaching gives a rider 'declarative' knowledge, ie what should happen. For example, the rider should sit up tall, sit deep, and use her back, but this does not tell the rider how to do this - or indeed, what it actually means. What she needs is 'procedural' knowledge, so helping her to understand how to interpret and carry out these instructions correctly. Mike applies the same principles to horse training. So, the majority of instruction tells you what the horse should do, and usually describes the perfect final result. What is needed is instruction in how to teach this to the horse is small steps starting from a vague approximation of the movement, and gradually working towards accuracy and correctness. It is a very refreshing read.

Mike also made a big impression on me with his explanation of aids. He divides aids into three types: mechanical - eg physically pulling the horse's head to the left in order to turn; cognitive - eg teaching the horse that a subtle movement of the left hand means 'please turn left', so the horse actually understands what the request means and complies; and connected - when the cognitive aids become so ingrained that the horse starts to offer collection and self carriage. I have spent some sessions following some of Mike's suggested exercises taking particular care to use cognitive aids, and the difference in Solo's reactions and self carriage are remarkable. I am really excited about playing more with these simple concepts and exercises.

I went to Badminton to go shopping last week, and spent far too much money, but bought a book on In Hand Exercises which I am reading and trying out with glee! I also bought a DVD of Classical Schooling with a Hungarian, Kalman de Jurenak. Though it follows the Germanic school of training, it does show this in the best possible way, with some absolutely beautiful riding and training. In the past, I would have been disappointed, as he starts with a 3 yo warmblood that has lovely conformation, 3 very good paces and naturally carries itself in the right posture - this is so far from the starting point of any horse I have ever owned I would have felt that it did not apply to me. Just getting ny ordinary horses to this starting point has been my challenge, and one that Philippe Karl has given me the confidence is possible. I can then understand how the training shown on the DVD could actually happen!

This weekend I am doing Trec training which should be fun, and Lynne and I have entered for a level 2 Trec at Downlands on the 16th May. I have been doing more uphill trotting with Solo as he is quite fit for lessons and schooling, but has done very little longer hacking over the past few months and is not as Trec fit as he could be.

Sunday 11th April

Ooh er....   is it really a month since I last posted anything??  April has arrived with some lovely warm, sunny weather that will really get the grass (and weeds) growing and the horses' coats coming out in drifts. It now really feels that spring has come properly. The horses are getting desparate for some grass, and have been muching their way through unreal amounts of hay, especially in the extraordinary cold snap a couple of weeks ago, when we had driving sleet and snow! This is the hardest time of year for the horses to keep condition on (if they are thinnies like Solo), as they have lost half their coats and then have to contend with winter temperatures, with cold, wet and wind. I even put a rug on Solo for a few days, but now he is enjoying the sun on his back again.

I had an interesting few days just before Easter when I had an American lady, Michele Morseth, staying with me. Michele is a Feldenkrais Teacher, and uses this work in both mounted and unmounted lessons. I had two mounted lessons with her that gave me some really important and helpful insights into my riding, and teaching in general. She also gave a lesson - interspersed with hail stoms - to a client of mine, and, again, worked on some very interesting things to do with hip joints. I was hoping to be able to introduce her to Mary Wanless, and my opportunity came as I had to take her to a yard only 10 minutes away from Mary to meet with her next host. We only had about half an hour for coffee, but I am very glad they met. I feel really excited about how her Feldenkrais work could meld with Mary's work. It was just a shame that Karin, who runs the yard at Mary's, and is also a Feldenkrais Teacher could not be there as well.

Since Michele's visit, I have got myself into a more aware and central place, and have had some amazing feelages from Solo, though I'm not sure how impressed he is with me in the place that he doesn't really want me! Yesterday I snatched a few minutes' worth of schooling in the corner of a field, and had a trot that was easier to sit to than rise to, and the most even feel on both reins in canter, with him really offering self carriage. Solo's left canter can feel a bit square wheeled, but not yesterday. I got off him and led him the mile or so home, grazing on the way, as I have also been doing alot of work on his 'OK-ness', and he enjoyed some greenery from the verges.

Pleased though I am with my Vogue saddle, I have still not found the ideal padding arrangement to put underneath it on Solo. The Suber Pad is good, but I am aware of the width of it under my thighs, and the saddle still sits slightly down in front. I had got used to the feel of it, but Michele felt that it was not helping me, so I have gone back to the drawing board. I have put a Balance base pad, plus a home made pad that lifts the front and middle, on top of the Shimmy numnah, and this gives me the best, most level feel. I am slightly concerned, though, that it may not protect Solo's back sufficiently from the stirrup bars (always my worry with a treeless saddle). It is also scuffing the hair slightly on either side of his withers and just back of them, which is not great. I will just have to keep a close eye on things. I have an idea of slightly different shape padding that may make all the difference......    I certainly hope so. Heather has now produced her own version of a Suber Pad, the Smart Panel, which is high wither shaped and may be really good, but it costs £120, and I can't afford it at the moment, though I would like to try one.

I put the saddle on Tango last week, which he igored compeletly, and lunged him for a few minutes with it on. He walked, trotted and cantered on both reins, only kicking out twice at the feel of it. He was soooooo good! I have hardly asked him to canter on the lunge before now, and he just took it all in his stride. He will be 3 in May, but I still think he looks too small to get on, though I am used to fully grown, nearly 16 hand Solo. Tango is very nicely proportioned, but he needs to fill out, still he's got 3 years of growing and maturing to do yet. He did look bigger with the saddle on, so maybe I'll climb on him in the summer.

Next week I am taking Solo on a 4 day Mary course, which I have been looking forward to for months now. It will be good to have 4 days of consistent schooling. I also want to take the opportunity to experiment with saddles, and will see what differences I feel between the treeless and the treed saddles again. It will also be a good social week, as I know quite a few of the other people on the course. Please keep good weather vibes going for Oxfordshire as I am camping in my van for the week, and would really appreciate warm, dry weather!! 

Sunday 14th March

Well, March is marching on.....    I had an interesting 2 days with Anna, not helped by catching a tummy bug that her 18m old daughter, Lily brought over from Ireland, so I felt pretty rough for the first day. We did some work on our 'bubbles' around us, some would call this the aura, others your 'personal space' and how to make it bigger or smaller, and more or less impervious or inclusive. This has implications for managing such things as being a 'presence' in a riding arena, whether as a coach, a presenter, or rider in a busy warm up arena. Good stuff to play with! We also did some good work on hip joint movement, and how to help a rider 'let the hips down' or enable them to be mobile in a good way. This ended up with us all (8 people) standing in a circle feeling each others' adductor tendons to compare what they feel like. For those not in the know, the adductor muscles are the ones on the insides of your thighs, and their tendons attach to the pelvis on the bony 'rocker' that runs between the pubic bone and the seat bones - so, much hilarity was had by all, and I really hope no-one was peeping in the windows as we prodded and poked around each others' groins!

This hip work and awareness of how these adductor tendons need to contact the saddle has made some profound differences to steering and lateral work control, it really is as if I can hold the horse's withers between these tendons and use them to guide and steer the body, as well as pick up the horse's back. Very interesting. Hmmmmmm. I would recommend everyone, in the privacy of your bedroom or bathroom, to have a feel in that area of your own bone structure between the pubis and the seat bones, and how the muscles attach to it.

We also did some work on refining the bear down, and how to use it to shape the horse's reach into the rein. I am really looking forward to my ridden course with Anna in July.

I have been continuing to play with Dr Deb's stuff with good effect. In a previous post, I talked about connections, and how different people are saying the same things in different words. Dr Deb has done a translation and interpretation of the work of Francois Baucher - who is quite a difficult writer to interpret in a meaningful way. She equates Baucher's 'jaw flexions' as head twirling, and the effect he was after with the flexions as the same as she wants with the head twirl. It makes alot of sense. It is the same thing that Philippe Karl is doing, and what Gerd Heuschmann was after when I rode with him last year. I would like, at some point, to give PK Dr Deb's interpretation to read, as head twirling is not dependent on a bit, whereas both PK and GH believe that there must be a bit to get the same effect. This will have to wait til next year though, I think, as any course PK does run won't happen until then.

Later this month I have got an American lady coming to stay for a couple of days. Michele is a Feldenkrais Teacher and skilled rider, with whom I have been corresponding with on FaceBook. She is teaching on a two clinics in Herefordshire, but imbetween is coming to visit, and give some lessons here. From reading her website and our exchanges, I think we will have some very interesting work together. After that, in April, I am doing a 4 day course with Mary. I am looking forward to some first toolkit input, I can so easily get carried away with second toolkit without paying enough attention to myself. I do think that first and second toolkit work need to develop side by side, or step by step - both are essential, and both must be given due attention.

Tango is 3 in May, yikes! I have started to introduce head twirling and flexions with him as well as sideways steps. He is pretty good at stop / go / back, but these still need reinforcing. I have also started to teach him about standing still at a mounting block. I really like his interest and attitude in things, but in a way that he is happy to keep his feet still and grounded when needed. I would like to back him this spring, but he still seems small even though he is growing well! I'll just do it when the time seems right and the preparation is going well........      exciting!!

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...........