Lessons Learned From Life in the Slow Lane...

Joe and Noah graze the Injured One while
Noah studies for finals.

If you see me on the highway, you'll know pretty quickly that I am not a slow lane kind of girl.  I travel in the fast lane, mostly because I like to get where I'm going in as little time as possible, and because usually there's an option for me to pull off to safety if things go sideways, as they are wont to do on the busy highways of New Jersey.  See, it's always about strategic thinking, my friends!

So when Sug's recent suspensory injury relegated us to tack walking only, I decided to apply some strategic thinking to this part of our journey together.  I won't lie, my first thought was that I'd be bored to tears, perambulating gently around and around the ring.  Well, let me share this little tidbit with you -- there's a lot to be learned at the walk.

First of all, I was instructed to make her march around the ring on contact.  No perambulation allowed.  OK, easy enough, right?  Nope.  Most of the times when we walk our horses we just let them flop around on the buckle and relax after a period of intense exertion.  So they're not used to really marching, much less doing so on the bit.  Then, typically, when we're ready to get back to work we gather up the reins and often there's some jigging, or a haunch coming to the inside in anticipation of the trot or canter. 

So first off we worked on getting Sug off my leg and making her march around the arena.  First lesson learned: The mare ain't exactly electric off my leg, and she certainly isn't great at holding herself in the same pace.  Ian Millar has often said that he tells the horse what pace to go at, and then the horse is responsible for maintaining that.  We should not have to "nag" them along.  I employ a trick I learned from Bernie Traurig's EquestrianCoach.com called the "hook-up."  She slows down, or doesn't respond immediately to my leg, and I swiftly bring my heels up and inter her sides, giving her a gentle but insistent reminder with the spur.

HEY!  Um, excuse me!  Leg?  What leg?  You don't have a leg!  As far as the pace thing, here's the deal -- if you stop working, why should I keep working?

"Nope, that's not how it works, Sug."  (She's right.  Since the back injury I've lost what little leg stregth I had.  It's lowering, really. Hopefully physical therapy will help with that.) We continue around the ring, making large circles and changing diagonals, with me concentrating on keeping her at a consistent marching pace, and giving her a slight hook-up when she falls behind my leg.  1...2...3...4...1..2...3...4.  We keep a steady marching rhythm, on the contact, past the gate, around the circle, across the diagonal. Trust me, it's easier said than done. The Sainted Mare grunted her displeasure with every step.

If...we...have...to...go...this...fast...wouldn't ...it...be...easier...to...trot? 

Sophie and Cookie are clearly NOT
working hard at this moment.

Another issue we are working on is straightness.  You may think you're traveling about your arena on a straight line, UNTIL you slow down enough to really pay attention.  Then you realize you are actually weaving about like a drunk at a sobriety checkpoint.  So, I start concentrating on straightness, keeping her equally between my leg and hand.  Turns out we are still a couple of stumbling drunks.  OK, time to check everything else.  Am I using one leg or hand more than the other?  Am I weighting one seat bone more than the other?  Good grief, this walking thing is not only more of a physical workout than I expected, it's quite taxing mentally as well.  Reminds me of something Robert Dover once said in a Practical horseman article.  He talked about one of his most difficult lessons ever being about riding a correct circle.

That gave me a thought.  Next time we rode the arena had just been dragged, so I started doing large circles.  Turns out I haven't improved at all in geometry since high school.  My circles, rather than looking like the Olympic rings, looked more like gum squashed on pavement.  Thus began the assessment: Am I using too much inside rein?  Too little outside leg? All this thinking and assessing was very hard work, and Sug helpfully decided it was a good time to slow down and help Mom get her thoughts together. 

"Nope!  Off you go!  Mom can think and ride at the same time."

No, you can't. We always get into trouble when you start to think.

No, that's when I over-think. Big difference. Anyway, no one likes a smart-aleck, Sug.

So we worked on straightness.  We tried not to weave as we walked down the long side or up the diagonal.  We tried to remain straight in our transitions, both up and down.  Honestly, until I spent so much time in the walk paying attention to every little detail (or a good portion of them) I had NO IDEA how badly her haunches drift inside on the downward transitions, especially on the left rein.  We tried to fix this with a bit of shoulder fore, keeping it very mild as not to stress her injury.  Lo and behold, the shoulder for worked, and we had a straight halt.

Trust me, all this power-walking and straightness and working on transitions has been WORK!  Who knew?

Bernie Traurig Clinic Report Part Two: "You Have To Have Control."

Bernie Traurig

Sorry about the delay on Part Two of the Bernie Traurig clinic at Mary Babick's beautiful Knightsbridge Farm.  Life intervened.  You know how that can be.  If you need a quick refresher to remind you of what happened in Part One, you may click here.

After the initial "getting to know you" tack and position check at the beginning of the sessions and a brief warm up, Bernie asked the riders to canter on the right rein through a series of poles on the ground set at two strides, one stride, and three strides apart. As the riders complied, he noticed a couple teams drifting to the left and asked the group what they considered the primary aid to correct that drift might be.  Most riders agreed that they'd use the outside leg or the outside neck rein, and Bernie pointed out that while those were perfectly acceptable secondary aids, the primary aid he'd use would be an inside opening rein.  He then had them come through the poles again, asking them to pay careful attention to any drift and to correct it with the use of the opening rein.

At one point Bernie stood in front of the last pole and asked the riders to canter down and halt in front of him.  One horse ran through the exercise shaking it's head, which Bernie attributed to the rider's clashing aids -- adding too much leg while closing her hands. He said it was like a car: "You don't use the gas and the brake at the same time."

One rider on a very forward pony found it hard to get the exercises done without rushing,  She was asked to school the pony by slowing her approach and adding a stride in the two stride.  Bernie stood at the end of the exercise in order to encourage the pony to stop.  When the rider managed to stop the pony Bernie had her back him, then pat him and ride forward a few times.  He told her that she, too, was using too much leg and hand while asking her pony to stop, which was confusing him and making the already forward pony anxious and causing him to rush.  Bernie had her canter through the exercise again and she was able to get it done effectively.  Bernie also changed the pony's bit, saying he felt the pony was unhappy in the corkscrew he was currently in and would go better in a rubber D.

Bernie had set up a small course which started with two verticals set five strides apart on the diagonal.  The riders then came around the short side and up the other diagonal on a long approach to an oxer and then around the short side to a line of verticals set on a short seven strides down the long side.  At first the riders were asked to trot in and canter down the line in 6 strides.  The pony came down the line in 5 strides, so Bernie asked the rider to came back through and halt in the middle. He  told the group how the bit change allowed her to school the pony effectively. " You don't put a big old sharp bit in there. You put a bit in that he accepts, which allows you to school him and apply a level of pressure that he can accept."

Bernie had the girl bring the pony back through the exercise, then had her school him again by halting in the middle, backing, and then patting.  He recommended schooling lots of control exercises for the pony to retrain him to listen, and urged her to be firm in her requests, but then to immediately reward the pony when he complied.

On EquestrianCoach.com and in his DVD, The American Hunter/Jumper Forward Riding System, there is a segment called Building Blocks to a Great Position: To Sit or Not to Sit. It describes the types of seats one can utilize while on course and when to apply them.  At a couple points in the course work there were good opportunities to discuss this.  One rider on a big bay sat in a full seat through the 7 stride line and her horse was too forward.  Bernie thought her full seat was acting as a driving aid, and had her try the line again in a half seat.  She  did, and the result was a much smoother ride.

Another rider on a lovely chestnut 4 year old came through.  The chestnut sucked back, and the rider changed from her half seat to a full driving seat, which Bernie said was an appropriate reaction to encourage an apprehensive horse.

A couple of the horses were sluggish and unresponsive to the leg aid to go forward.  Bernie had the riders correct this by going out to the rail and practicing canter to gallop transitions.  He asked the riders to sit the canter for about 5-6 strides, then get up into the half seat and gallop for 5-6 strides, then sit and canter, and so on.  He had them do this in both directions until the transitions were prompt.  When one horse still puttered about phlegmatically, Bernie hopped about, nudged him up with his spurs a couple of times, and soon had him galloping around like Secretariat.He noted how the rider's overly upright position caused a backward horse and an overly deep distance, while his forward galloping position encouraged a more forward, active horse jumping easily out of stride.  He gave the horse back to the rider joking, "I know one thing, you have a new engine in this horse!"

Bernie stressed how the flat preparation is the most important part of jumping disciplines. "You hit the gas and if the horse doesn't react, correct it. Same thing coming back."

The session finished with another control exercise.  Bernie set a pole on the ground out of a corner with 5 forward strides to a small oxer.  After everyone went through he rolled to pole back two feet.  After everyone managed to go though that successfully, he rolled it back another foot. "This is a great exercise for playing with long distances and short distances," Bernie told the group.  "You have to have control."

Gotcha, Bernie! Going to the barn to work on that now.

Happy trails, everyone!

Bernie Traurig Clinic Report Part One: "Don't Be Afraid to Get Effective in the Tack!"

Like many equestrians, I'm am a learning junkie.  I possess books and DVDs galore, numerous magazine subscriptions, and a plethora of live and video-on-demand subscriptions.  One of my go-to subscriptions is EquestrianCoach.com, an online compilation of equestrian educational videos for the jumping disciplines.  The videos are presented by Bernie Traurig, the site's founder, and other leading lights from the industry, such as Will Simpson, Gina Miles, Missy Clark, Debbie McDonald, and Denny Emerson (to name only a few).  Bernie has reached the top of the sport in Hunters, Show Jumping, and Dressage, and as junior he took top honors in both the AHSA (now USEF) and the ASPCA Maclay finals.

Bernie's detailed descriptions make the information on the videos easily understandable for novice riders and detailed enough for more advanced riders as well. The use of tools such as slow motion, still photos, voice-overs and graphics make these videos as understandable as a football game covered by John Madden and his telestrator.  Think of X's and O's diagrammed out equestrian style -- an absolute epiphany when describing how to ride a bending line!

Yep, I'm a fan, so when I had the opportunity to audit his clinic at USHJA Board of Directors member Mary Babick's beautiful Knightsbridge Farm in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, you can bet I was jumping on that opportunity!  Note -- Mary and Knightsbridge recently hosted Joe Fargis as well (my reports can be accessed here and here).  I'm thinking Mary needs to start marketing these clinics as "The Legends at Knightsbridge Clinic Series." Just saying, Mary. ;)

Bernie started each session by bringing each rider forward so he could look at their tack, examine their bits, and assess their position in the three point and two point seats.  He made adjustments where necessary, tweaking positions, adjusting cavessons (no buckles on the jawbone, please!) and evangelizing about the necessity of a deep heel and long calf for effective leg position and communication. Bernie punctuated this point by telling one rider she had daylight between her horse's side and her calf;  he then placed his fingers between the rider's leg and the horse and asked her to "mold her lower legs" to his fingers. He suggested starting each ride in the two point at a walk for as many minutes as you can without losing position (grab mane so you don't use the horse's mouth for balance) and at one point hopped up on a riser (using Mary as his assistant!) to demonstrate calf and ankle stretches he does on a daily basis.

I learned so much just from this intro portion of the two sessions I watched.  Bernie shared so many of his thoughts on details such as form, correctly fitting tack, and proper bitting ("Your horse will tell you if he loves it.  If he's not happy, change!")  One horse in the first session, described as strong by his rider, went through three bit changes in during the ride: He started out in a corkscrew snaffle, made a change to a twisted D ring, then downgraded again to a rubber D ring.  The horse went from going in a rushed, tense and inverted manner to moving out in a much happier, relaxed and controllable fashion.

One point Bernie mentioned was the correlation between lack of heel depth and stronger bits.  He spoke of how, in the downward transitions, one should always sink into the heel and set the leg before sinking one's seat into the saddle, and once that's done, THEN you should take the mouth.  Without the strength and leverage that comes from deep heel and braced position, people tend to rely on harsher bits to control the horse.

One horse was bitted with a curved D ring, which Bernie said he felt was actually harsher on the horse's mouth than its producer's claim.  The horse wearing it did tend to go in a balled up fashion, with his head down low, so Bernie recommended switching to a rubber D the next day. (Sadly, I was only able to attend the 2 sessions on Day One, so didn't see how that worked out.) 

One horse got a complete wardrobe change: Bernie downgraded his bit to a rubber D and changed his figure 8 cavesson to a regular one.  He even went a step further and had the rider use a driving rein ( Achenbach style - holding the reins between the thumb and forefinger).  These changes resulted in the horse changing from being behind the bit and leg and inverted into a much more relaxed, forward horse.  The driving rein allowed the rider's elbows/arms to follow the horse more, and that combined with the softer bit and cavesson did the trick. 

Other informative things I took away from the intro section of the session:

1) Bernie is not a fan of fuzzy girths. He feels the bulky fleece places the lower leg too far back and impedes proper communication.  For horses that need fleece, he suggested using the slip on kind and cutting it so it doesn't interfere with the rider's leg, or trimming the extraneous outer fleece on the nylon web-type girths.

2) Bernie is a stickler about the proper way to adjust your stirrups or girth while on the horse.  He asked the riders in each session I watched to show him how they did it, and if memory serves, only one or two were able to do it correctly.  He then showed us all the proper way. (Hint -- your feet stay in the stirrups! Note to self -- must practice this!)

I watched two sessions and took ten pages of notes, so this review will be coming to you in several parts.  Please bear with me!  In the meantime, if you can, check out EquestrianCoach.com or consider ordering the DVD, The American Hunter/Jumper Forward Riding System. 

Great Start to the Weekend!

Don't have time to share it all now, but YAY!!! Great start to the weekend!

This Mental Coaching stuff really seems to be working! Had my first jump school with my trainer since she got back from WEF and I managed to keep my neuroses in check and focus on my task. Were we perfect? No. We were effective, and I reacted correctly to the situations I found myself in, instead of going fetal. Major progress there.

Today I had the priviledge of auditing a clinic given by Bernie Traurig at Mary Bbaick's Knightsbridge Farms in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Bernie, aside from being a world class rider in Show Jumping, Eventing, and Dressage, is the founder and President of EquestrianCoach.com.

My kids and I have been enjoying the learning from EquestrianCoach.com for some months now. I have numerous DVDs of competitions, but the problem is that I can only guess at what I think is going on when I watch them. When watching EquestrianCoach.com, it's like having John madden of the NFL do his X's and O's and diagram what's going happening on horseback. This lead to a LOT of Ah-hah moments for yours truly.

So, no time to write it all out now, as I took 8 pages of notes today. Will try to distill it into something coherent shortly. In the meantime, if you've never seen EquestrianCoach.com, do yourself a favor and check it out.