fran, Author at Lessons from Nelipot Cottage

Just do the homework

It’s been a long hard winter. I’m sure some of you have been really organised and managed to do lots of riding and training?!

I decided this winter that we would be kind to ourselves: I gave the horses January off to concentrate on eating and keeping warm out in their field. Rocky, our 5 year old Hanoverian, did some extra growing, which wasn’t quite in the plan. Then the rain came.

What I did do this winter was lots of studying. Just do the homework.

Riding is a physical activity. Training your horse correctly for longevity requires theoretical knowledge as well as physical skills.

I read and re-read a few of the Classical Dressage texts: Charles de Kunffy is a perennial favourite: his concise prose is so clear and the illustrations chosen are always completely inspirational.

https://g.co/kgs/qUETn4

His little but perfect book “The Ethics and Passion of Dressage” should be in every equestrian’s library, in my humble opinion. I feel very fortunate to have audited several of Charles’ clinics, at Dovecote Stables and at the now defunct TTT, as well as riding with him for a couple of lessons.

I did quite a lot of Facebook discussing- on sites such as Classical Horsemanship. Contrary to the modern defensive dressage divas, I find these sites incredibly informative. Once one starts to learn who to listen to, who really knows their theory, and how to spot others who just spout catchphrases without really understanding the nuts and bolts of correct training. And those who do know their stuff will always answer questions, really helpful and unfailingly polite, while those just spouting politically correct jargon but not actually doing the do cannot explain themselves and get defensive or offensive when questioned.

Just do the homework.

Facebook and online discussion are a fascinating exercise in communication too- do I understand my problem or the horse’s dilemma well enough to phrase a question that will lead to a useful answer?

Thomas Ritter has done a fabulous series of “Facebook lives” over the winter- these are still available online as a really generous free resource, and some of the mini challenges have been great, even if I didn’t manage to do the physical manege work yet to make the most of the exercises shared. I will be doing more of that homework now we have some light nights to enjoy.

I’ve found a yoga teacher I like, and that teaches just around the corner, which is great. I will have functional, unlocked hip flexors one day before I die…

But the main thing I did was to just do the homework, to make sure every ride counted. We don’t have an arena, so a lot of the winter riding we did was hacking in the forest, between snow and rain and hail.

I didn’t slop around on a loose rein, enjoying life. I didn’t ride my horse around in an artificial outline, stifling his urge to go forward. I made sure every step was taken with the longest possible forward and out neck that he could balance, with a relaxed jaw and poll, and I thought about my equitation absolutely every step that I could. Are my buttocks soft, have I got one on each side of the horse, are my knees level, are my legs rotated so I have thigh bones not fat in contact with the saddle, are my elbows pointy, are my upper arms a vertical part of my back, is my back flat not hollow, are my thumbs holding the reins, not fingers, are my fingers folded not grabbing….and most of all, can I stretch my lower leg back so it feels like my heels are collecting the hocks of the horse, I get a slight kneeling in church feeling and the angle behind my knee opens up?? None of these are positions to be held- the magic happens in the movement of change, the transition, so it is replace, replace replace, on a loop like a computer programme, round and round my body.

I made sure Cal was straight from tail to poll, no funky kinky stuff, and I tried to think about him stepping with even weight through both forelegs, and I did a little bit of shoulder in, haunches in, half pass as we walked and trotted around, but mostly I just worked on me.

And a big change occurred, suddenly over a long winter.

A soft, inflated lifted top-line developed. His neck and lumbar back look amazing. The contact became incredibly consistent, although he still head shakes on windy days. His stride has got longer, he has cadence and suspension developing.

And he is absolutely just a pleasure to ride. Keen, alert, fun, sensitive, self motivated, jumping all sorts of awkward crazy logs off a one stride turn, just for fun.

Just do your homework folks- it’s worth it.

But do the right homework- practise only makes perfect if the practise is correct.

You are either improving your horse or breaking him down.

and there is no try, only do or don’t.

Your horse will tell you when you are doing enough.

Enough is always much more than you think- if it ain’t changing, you ain’t doing it.

And don’t bullshit yourself, you are doing yourself and your horse a massive disservice if you do anything less than your best.

Just do the homework, with a big massive smile 🙂

If wishes were horses

“If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride”.

As a child, all my wishes were for horses. All my dreams and all my games involved horses, and all my wishes were horses and all my prayers were for a horse of my own (just in case there was a kind deity out there who could dish out real life miracle horses).

If wishes were horses, then I would have ridden every single day of my childhood.

I did OK. I had some riding lessons aged 7, which stopped pretty quickly once my mum realised that this inconvenient obsession would not be cured by increased exposure. The bus to secondary school passed an equestrian centre, as well as Mill Hill Boys School. While all my friends were getting off the bus to flirt with real boys, I was racing down to the stables, mucking out in return for the privilege of a fleeting bareback ride, bringing the horses in from the field.

If wishes were horses…I wrote poems about horses, practised drawing horses, covered every exercise book with doodles of horses’ heads.

If wishes were horses, I would have had a full stable!

I wonder how the books we chose shaped our equestrian dreams?

I read/devoured/memorised the Colt from Snowy River series, the Black Stallion series, the Thunderhead trilogy, the Shantih series. My horsey idols all lived out, in fields on the moors, or on the range, were often ridden bareback, had their natural instincts and characters kept intact, and seemed to have a mystical connection with their human hero/ine.

I dreamed of jumping, and galloping, mane and hair flowing in the wind, communicating by mind meld, not of fighting, or struggling, or arguing with my horse to achieve results.

I didn’t dream of rosettes, or winning. Just of being out with my horses, day after day, enjoying freedom and fun.

My mum took me to see the Spanish Riding School in London in the 80s. In those days, they were still the bastion of correct classical training. The advanced work looked effortless, the horses appeared magical, the synergy between horse and rider invisible. Years later, when I started competing, and having ‘proper’ lessons, the difference between what I had seen that evening and what I was being told to do seemed completely incongruous.

I didn’t dream of pulling my horse’s head in, of making him rounder, of making him submissive. I had dreamed of a willing partner, of being able to ride with my seat, without force, without pain.

I didn’t dream of whipping my horse to make him do something. The theory that your horse needs to be more scared of you than of the fence is just nonsense. I want my horses to trust me, so when they see a scary fence they check in, ask is it OK, and then go for it because I say we can. And after good training, I want my horses to be so confident that when they see a scary fence, it isn’t scary because they have seen similar stuff before, been allowed to work it out, and learned that they can. In the long run, I want my horse to be saying “it’s OK mum, I’ve got this, let’s go”. We don’t get to that point by force, but by education.

Anna Blake wrote a fabulous blog about that process

https://annablakeblog.com/2018/03/09/the-middle-path-peaceful-persistence/

Anna writes with a lot of wisdom: her blogs contain life lessons as well as horse lessons. Most of us need life lessons first 😉

And most horse lessons are life lessons, in the end.

I do ride with a schooling whip, as did the masters, for communication to say “this hip”, “this shoulder”, “lift your belly”, or to see “hey, I’m talking to you”. A whip is never to be used for punishment, never against the horse. It’s a communication device, for very specific aiding moments.

‘Aider’- verb, French- to help, assist, support, to help to do

That’s what the aids should be…

I also do lots of exercises where the whips are used as flags in my hands to show floppy wrists, or held down behind a straight back. My horses tolerate all sorts of waving whips around, because they know the whip won’t hurt them, and also because they know intent. They know when the whip is something to do with them: pointing at a particular body part during in hand work for example, or when the whip is absolutely nothing to do with them.

I do also wear spurs, but again they are for refinement. I have done years of work on my legs, with many more years to go, so that I can give an aid for energy with the inside of my foot, not my heel or calf. That means I can use my spurs for specific aids- currently “Cal, lift your belly!” I am nowhere perfect- our work as a rider is never done, but I can choose, leg or spur?

I do jump in spurs, but was surprised to find that cross country times became much more achievable once I loosened my legs and learned to balance on my legs not grip with my calves. Cal’s hindleg could then come forward into the space allowed, his stride got longer and smoother, and hey presto, the magnificent half draught learned to gallop.

When I recall my early reading choices, It’s no surprise our horses live out, unrugged, in a herd, with their key needs catered for #friendsforagefreedom.

And a dog. Every horse should have a pet dog😂.

Our horses have 6 acres, so cannot be described as free range, but they have as much freedom and movement and equine free time as we can allow them. As well as ample forage, a field with an increasing number of plants, grasses and herbs to choose from, and plenty of life to watch.

Our summer Paddock Paradise style track along the bottom edge of the field

l’m not trying to tell anyone how to do things- we all find our own path and our own compromises. And we should all continue learning and examining our “truths” every day.

But what I would ask is that you look back to your childhood dreams of horses and just reflect on how close you are to those ideals? Did your wishes turn into the horses you dreamed of? Did the horses turn into happy, healthy, willing partners?

And did you turn into the owner your horse would dream of?

Would your horse pick you?

Cal and Lilly, our neighbour. Every horse deserves to be loved by a little girl- looks like Lilly is going to be Cal’s little girl…when she’s a bit bigger

Lilly is about to start riding lessons, at a local riding school where children aren’t given whips. I look forward to hearing about the ethical riding lessons as she learns the basics, properly.

Another ethical establishment – East Devon Riding Academy- blog regularly about their approach to teaching children the joys of horsemanhip.

http://www.ridingacademy.co.uk

Because who remembers falling in love with horses and then somehow, along the way, we are taught that it is OK to hit them, OK to tie their mouths tight shut, OK to force their heads down, rather than allow them to express their opinion about our riding?

When I dreamed of horses, my childhood dreams were full of sound, happy horses.

Now that I have learned to listen to the horses I have, to allow them a voice, an opinion and a good equine life of their own, now all my dreams are coming true.

And I hope Lilly’s will too.

The best things in life are free

The best things in life are free…or are they?

Epona TV was launched in 2007. It was the one of the first subscription based video streaming service in the world.

www.epona.tv

And the platform Louise and Julie created is unique in that www.epona.tv doesn’t just stream competition footage or carefully managed PR opportunities for equestrian wannabe celebrities.

From it’s inception, www.epona.tv has looked critically and scientifically at every aspect of modern horse management, media and sport. And have reported factually, dispassionately, for the good of the horse.

The best things in life are free…except TV.

Breaking news….

The blue tongue photos? www.epona.tv/blog/holding-one-s-tongue

Farewell Falsterbro? www.epona.tv/blog/the-path-of-most-resistance

The warm up at Aachen? Epona

www.epona.tv have also contributed huge amounts of positive information to our understanding of equines. They have reported on Ethology studies of feral horses, have shared Dr Carol’s fascinating work on the feeding habits of feral horses, who seem much healthier than their laminitis, stressed domesticated cousins, have shared Dr Bowker’s videos on hoof anatomy.

Since I discovered www.epona.tv a few years ago, it has been my go to TV channel for interesting, accurate and fun video based horse content. The subscription was always well worth it.

www.epona.tv/blog/the-bare-necessities

I have questioned, agonised, cried, rejoiced, and even rejected- stimulating discussion is what good media seeks to achieve. It has amazed me what people find acceptable in managing their horses. And has led me to understand that to some people, and to some horses, the balance I have found between riding and husbandry may also be a step too far. I learned to check in with my horses more often, to read their bodies and their faces, and ask/ look for feedback from them- and that simple change in mindset has changed everything.

Thank you www.epona.tv

And now, as of March 2018 it’s FREE!!

The best things in life are free…. now

Epona.tv have generously opened up their content to the world! This is HUGE.

www.epona.tv

I’m sure this reflects our increasing need to educate ourselves and seek deeper understanding of these fabulous animals.

From the www.epona.tv website

“As the years went by and the scandals piled up, we became increasingly aware that the problems faced by equestrian sport were not about a few rotten apples spoiling the barrel. The sport itself and its governing bodies were not at all interested in protecting horses.”

In Gallo-Romanian religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys and mules.

Julie and Luise have worked very hard on behalf of their namesake. Their content is interesting, sometimes difficult to watch, may challenge our long held beliefs, but it is never stale or boring.

Horses need their humans to stand up for them, to protect them and in order to do that, we need to understand them.

Epona.tv try to bridge that gap.

Have a look- you won’t regret it!

www.epona.tv

Because the best things in life are free…

Except horses…

but healthy, happy, sound horses are much cheaper.

Working on a perfect seat

January and February have been challenging from a riding point of view here in the UK; I have been making the best of the worst conditions by working on my leg position and tone, part of the lifelong task of working on a perfect seat.

There is often a theme to our learning. This winter, I have been doing a lot of background reading, and whilst perusing the photos, I have found myself fascinated by the photos of jumping and dressage heroes of old, all with a perfect seat balanced to the ground, and a really good strong leg position.

Eddie Boylan on Durlas Elile from Einar’s personal collection- world champion 3 Day Eventer and also successful at GP dressage

Leg positions with good angles between ankle, knee and hips.

For me the key feelages have been that the it is the outside muscles of the legs that are engaged, not the inside. A rotated thigh allows the thigh bone to lie flat against the saddle; there should be no muscle in the way. For me this is legs off saddle, an inch up, an inch out and away, and then thigh rotation and heels out and back as if they are connected to the hocks of the horse. Piriformis, a pesky little muscle in our hip-joint, screams at me when I have done enough.

There are other key feels for me: I have to stretch my weight down and over the top but along the outside of my thigh- like kneeling in church.

And I have to push my legs back and my toes up- I found a great way to access this feeling on the ground the other day- I stand in riding stance, and then, without changing anything else above, I move my feet back several inches so they are well underneath me. Imagine kneeling in church to get the feeling of down the thighs. Or the feeling that your knees are pressed up against a bar or a wall. That last feel finally got my kneecaps rolled down a fraction not opening forwards . When I do this ‘enough’ in the saddle, Cal stretches his topline and reaches forward to carry me beautifully on a softly lifted back. And that fabulous lifted stretching topline has nothing to do with the reins!

This work has involved a lot of stretching my hip flexors, through yoga, Pilates and with regular attention from a really good physio who does Myofascial Release.

For those of you who haven’t yet discovered the magic that is MFR, this video gives a good overview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRqLrCF_Ys

Draped legs, gently framing the horse’s sides.

Shana Ritter – from “The Biomechanical Basis of Classical Riding “

The degree of tone in the lower legs, required to support a horse in collection.

Thomas Ritter – from “The Biomechanical Basis of Classical Riding”

Jumping position with the back flat, the shoulders up, the bum pushed back, the legs still grounded, and above all the hands giving towards the horse’s mouth, not balanced on the crest for support.

Above are some of the photos from my winter reading that have inspired me to work harder.

Sources-

“Creative Horsemanship” Charles de Kunffy

“The Biomechanical Basis of Classical Riding” Dr Thomas Ritter

“Kottas on Dressage” Athur Kottas- Heldenberg

for more reading suggestions https://www.nelipotcottage.com/books-i-am-glad-i-found/

Hoping my seat is up to inspection 😉

Homework for my long-suffering readers:

Someone asked a really simple question the other day

“what motivates you?”

and the flip side is “what limits you?”

Be really honest with yourselves: if you don’t know what limits you, you can’t move past the limit.

For me Cal made it really obvious I had to learn to ride him better to get the best out of him.

I wanted a novice eventer, and inadvertently bought a seat horse. Who would insist on me working really hard, every ride, towards a perfect seat.

#5photos1day

I’ve joined a blogging support group and the February challenge is #5photos1day.

Filthy pony

Clean pony

#Oakmereway

#delamereforest

#Horseselfie #homesafe

That’s all folks 😀

Happy Friday 🥂

Remember you can bring your neddie to come and stay and enjoy our amazing hacking too

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/6492403?s=51

The Unbeatable Lightness of Being- Seeking Lightness in Riding

The unbeatable lightness of being that we can achieve with our horses, for me, is the absolute goal of classical riding and training. One you have felt the unbeatable lightness of being, it becomes addictive, and nothing less will do.

I hold cherished memories of a lesson a couple of months ago. The gait was canter, the exercise was 3 strides shoulder fore, straighten to the diagonal for 3 strides, then plié back to the track for 3 strides and repeat. The difficulty, high, the execution imperfect but the effects were the unbeatable lightness of being.

I can still remember the feeling –

Cal under but mostly in front of me, shoulder apparatus maximum width, withers lifting me up, huge neck up and out in front of me, the bit felt light yet firm in my hands, he felt completely balanced between hand and seat. In that moment, I could have put him anywhere in the arena, speared my enemy, jumped an enormous hedge, asked for a flying change, or halted him into a levade, if I had those skills. He was completely engaged, completely available, completely “on it” and completely with me. That is my current definition of lightness in riding, the unbeatable lightness of being.

It was a surprise, because it wasn’t soft.

Having had a previous horse that had been extensively ridden behind the vertical, I had come to associate that evasion with softness, an empty hand felt soft, but actually was an empty hand, a horse curling behind the vertical to avoid bit pressure. This time it was a more tangible contact, like holding hands on a summer’s day, not restrictive but there was a definite sensation of holding something precious, something that must not be dropped. And it was about much more than the hand; my seat was filled with my horse’s back, wide and firm but comfortable and malleable. My back was straight, my legs stable. I guess it was an adhesive seat on an inflated back; it felt like sitting on firm memory foam, totally comformable, comfortable, but active as well.

It only lasted a few strides of course; in training at our level these moments are fleeting. But it was enough to know that I would seek that feeling, every day in every ride, until that is our normal way of going. Had we been in a double bridle, we would have been on a loose curb, because in that moment, he filled the rein, it wasn’t me seeking him.

I have felt it a few times since. Last time it occurred we got our first clean canter to walk transition. I’m still amazed at how much horse it requires to achieve lightness. Cal the grey is quite soporific to ride; his mind is hugely powerful and he’s quite happy working on low revs. I call him the hypnotist; I get on determined to access the whole amazing war-horse body and get off having had a lovely ‘nice’ ride!! For him to be fully light, he needs to be fully engaged, brain, body and soul. He doesn’t yield (or step up?) to that easily. Therein lies our biggest homework. When he does turn up he is huge, in body and in personality. He and I aren’t quite comfortable with that… just yet.

Lightness in riding is the ultimate goal. The pinnacle of classical training at the old school SRS was the solo display, birch upright in one hand, the snaffle rein loose and the curb reins held lightly in the other hand. The display would typically include all the Grand Prix movements and finally Piaffe to Levade, without a single aid being visible, horse and rider as one, effortless centaurs, mind meld and body meld, in the unbeatable lightness of being.

How do we get there?

First we need an independent balanced seat – we need to look to our own riding. A good seat, the sort developed on the lunge in days of old, an adhesive seat with a supple back and allowing joints, with each leg and each arm able to act independently, in several parts, to aid each footfall if required. The upper arms are part of the back, the hands and the bit belong to the horse; we receive what he offers, never taking or restricting. The neck is allowed the length the horse requires for balance: when the balance is good, the hindlegs will flex, the croup will lower and the topline will reflect that. Two to four years on the lunge, as an apprentice in a good riding academy in days gone by. My sister, growing up in Germany, spent four years on the lunge, as a learner amateur rider. Klimke was lunged once a week all the way through his career. A good seat takes work. Why do we think we can do away with these basics these days?

gymnasticise your horse

Next gymnasticise your horse. The two sides have to be equalised; the overbent side decontracted to the same length as the long stiff side, the weight in the footfalls equalised, front to front first then front to back, then eventually the back will take more weight than front (not there often yet). The back has to be both strong and supple, the front and back of the horse connected, the neck coming UP out of the withers strong and long before it can help lift the back into collection. That alone could be years of work, for the part-time amateur rider with no arena and limited riding time.

The school exercises are designed to strengthen and supple your horse, to teach him better balance, to empower him to control his body better and become magnificent. We have forgotten their purpose, these strange exercises that appear in our dressage tests. Learning their purpose and their criteria takes study, i.e. reading, practise, analysis, and educated application. It’s not about how they look, it’s about how they make the horse feel, how they develop his body, which muscles and joints they target. Putting the head and neck over a specific hind leg is like power lifting for a horse, developing the strength in his haunches. Half pass is like the ultimate cross trainer, the Carlsberg of exercises, it reaches parts other exercises cannot, the reach of the outside hind leg, diagonal power, open shoulders, squats on the inside hind leg, WHEN DONE CORRECTLY.

the horse needs to trust your body

And most importantly you need your horse’s mind. He needs to trust your seat to be stable, to trust the hand, to reach forward willingly into an allowing contact that offers him a point of reference without restricting his balance. The aids are aids that offer the horse space to move into, a point of balance to move across to, not a shoving or a pulling or a pushing that contorts him into a certain shape. It becomes a dance, between partners.

A really useful note on the hand position from the greatly missed Sandy Dunlop – this is regarding the line from elbow to bit:

“The key of that line, a line which most people do incorrectly, is that the line is along the underside of the lower arm, NOT the upper side. Most people have their third finger pressing down on the rein when they think they are straight line from elbow to bit. A correctly bent elbow with the correct line can look to many modern riders as if it is a high hand when in fact the line from horse hip to rider hip through elbow to bit is unbroken.

During the learning process all riders find and lose that connection angle. In general there need to be phases of temporary exaggeration of the articulated elbow in order to prevent the erroneous muscle memory which keeps ‘relaxing’ the hand down onto the old line which causes pressure on the bars and tongue of the horse. This becomes an elastic thing where the temporarily high hand is no longer needed. Sadly, people often mistake the temporary for the permanent.

This single, simple error of line is the common cause of the mild to medium btv posture we see in most horses i.e. that btv posture which prevents throughness and correct biomechanics of postural usage.”

I love internet discussions on training. I have learned loads from international virtual friends who are incredibly generous with their experience and expertise and are well practised in the black art of explaining training principles in writing. The Masters are all but gone, but those who trained with them are still with us and working really hard to keep the Art of Dressage alive, despite modern competition aberrations.

The truth is often uncomfortable, but it’s still the truth.

And the two bodies together become more powerful and more beautiful, and the human should become invisible because the horse should dazzle and shine.

Just a small ambition for life then!!

I hope you too all find moments of the unbeatable lightness of being.

I have a new favourite video- feast your eyes and then go and emulate this and you won’t go too far wrong searching for the unbeatable lightness of being.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpyO3B5dHmQ

An exemplary line from elbow to bit — Huge horse, light on his feet, light in the hand Pollay at the 1936 Olympics – youngest rider competing and Gold medalist

Change is inevitable

Change is inevitable in life- we are never static. With horses, we are either building them up or breaking them down (Charles de Kunffy).

Photos are an important tool to chart our progress, in either direction.

I found this old photo of Cal in my memories today- what struck me immediately was how weedy his chest looked then compared to nowadays.

Change is inevitable.

This photo was taken on the Whitegate Way when he would have been 7. I bought him at 6, he fractured his carpal bone that winter. This photo was taken the winter after, when he was just back into work but we hadn’t yet met Patrice and started our Classical training journey.

I think this was the snow that disrupted the first Patrice clinic I was due to attend. I’m pretty sure this was the day we were meant to be at Stafford Horse Trials- funnily enough it was cancelled that year!!

Change is inevitable, and its lovely when it’s good. The photo below was taken late summer this year. Look at the chest on it now! He is every inch the magnificent draught in this photo.

So for those who don’t believe that horses grow both taller and broader with correct training- here is some evidence 🙂

Change is inevitable, but you can choose which change to pursue.

I’m hoping the TB half will be more obvious when he is eventing fit…but then again… I quite like the magnificent charger.

We get the horse we need for the next stage of our learning, not necessarily the horse we think we want.

Bring on 2018 🙂

First do no harm…

First do no harm… You may not know, but I am a surgeon in my other life, so “first do no harm…” is the mantra that I live by, day to day, and try to apply in every interaction in life, human to human and human to horse. Above is another doctor, who I am sure shared the same mantra.

Now I know we all love our horses and we work really hard for them and with them, and nobody that got into horses ever did so with the intention of causing harm. But here is an awkward truth:

“The intention to harm need not be present for a horse in fact to be harmed”

So how might we harm our horses?

The first most obvious example is blood. Now we all may have different standards but one of my basic principles is that nothing I do to my horse should make him bleed.

I’m not saying I have never caused a horse to bleed- when Paddy was in work, I rubbed his side raw in a jumping lesson, not with a spur but with a spur rest. Yes, he does have incredibly thin skin. But that wasn’t an excuse. I rubbed his side raw because my leg position wasn’t good enough in those days and I was gripping with my calves, in that “knees out, heels in” stable, secure and incorrect position that jumping trainers encourage because it decreases the number of ground slaps that might occur in any one lesson.

It wouldn’t happen now. Four years and hundreds of pounds of seat focussed lessons later my leg position has changed entirely, my seat is now secure and I aid with the inside of my foot not the back of my calf.

When Cal was young I rubbed his mouth raw with the bit. The well meaning livery yard owner gave me some crystals to mix with water to harden up his mouth. I was an idiot and uneducated and I used the solution and carried on schooling. No one suggested I should learn to use the bit better or learn to keep my hands still (independent seat again); it was the young horse’s soft mouth that was the problem and there was a caustic solution for that.

First do no harm…

Rocky has not had a sore mouth. Now we have learned that the bit should only act up or out, never down on the bars, that the length of rein is dictated by the horse, that the frame dictates the length of rein and the horse’s level of balance and schooling dictates the frame. And I have a more secure seat that allows me to think forwards with my hands without losing balance.

So obviously I’m still not perfect, but I’m learning and trying to be better all the time. And if I caused one of my horses to bleed in a competition I would eliminate myself and kick myself and run for home to train and improve myself so it could never happen again.

First do no harm…

There are other more insidious ways of causing harm to a horse. The modern fashion of riding Low Deep and Round, also known as deep stretching, well behind the vertical, has been shown by more than 50 scientific studies to be physically and mentally damaging for the horse. Modern science is proving what the Old Dead Guys knew by keen observation- closed postures and curling the front of the horse rather than riding from the haunches leads to problems with kissing spines, suspensory ligament pathology, SI joint damage, hock arthritis, and also to stress and gastric ulcers first from having their vision limited and then from learned helplessness.

First do no harm…

This horse is behind the vertical- red vertical line included for reference.

Please don’t take my word for it: read the research for yourselves

http://equitationscience.com/equitation/position-statement-on-alterations-of-the-horses-head-and-neck-posture-in-equitation

And then make your own minds up. But please remember

“To know and not to do is not to know”

So we are naturally too quick to criticise others, and all of us are just doing our best. How will we know if the work we are doing is correct?

Luckily horses are very clear once we have learned to look and listen.

I’ve altered the quote below (from Maya Angelou)

“I have learned that horses will forget what you said, horses will forget what you do, but horses will never forget how you made them feel”

So how do we know that our work is good? In a world where so much teaching is against the horse rather than for the good of the horse, how do we tell the difference? How do we know whether the work made his body feel better? Which after all is the whole point of Dressage- from the French verb ‘dresser’ which actually means to train, to sculpt our horse into a thing of beauty that is empowered rather than diminished by our interventions.

Did it make the horse feel good?

What signs do we look for to know it made them feel good?

My favourite sign is helicopter ears- they go soft and floppy and assume all sorts of funny angles. Rocky has huge ears, as do all his family, so this one is pretty obvious, as well as being visible from on top!

Another sign is soft liquid eyes, with relaxed ‘eyebrows” and slow blinking. When the work is good, the horse is calm, because horses are kinaesthetic and they find it frightening to be out of balance. When their balance is aided to improve, they relax and chill out. They almost look stoned after good work. Stoned, not exhausted.

Breathing slows and calms: soft hurrumphs or gentle chuntering are signs of a relaxed mouth , tongue and larynx as well as relaxed brain. Harsh sharp breathing, breath holding, or sharp snorting, teeth grinding or calling out are all sure signs of a horse either stressed or on full alert.

Barefoot Breakthrough

Our long awaited barefoot breakthrough came gradually overnight. Those of you who follow us regularly will know that Cal, the gorgeous grey, has not been the easiest of barefoot performance horses. In fact had he been my first attempt at keeping a horse barefoot, he would have been back in shoes long ago and I wouldn’t be writing this post.

So why bother, if barefoot can be so difficult? That’s a long story, and the story of our recent life; but the short version is that Paddy convinced me many years ago of the benefits of barefoot, becoming sounder, happier and more confident on all terrain once his shoes were removed. He really was a barefoot breakthrough.

And Cal broke his carpal bone as a 6 year old, so I am determined that my horse of a lifetime will have every possible protection against early onset arthritis. Whatever else you believe, there is no doubt that shoes increase concussion on the horse’s joints. You only need to listen to the sound of shod hoves on tarmac to understand that. Steel shoes transmit vibration at the same frequency which gives manual road workers “vibration white hand”, and also interfere with the proprioception in the horse’s limbs, allowing them to load their limbs faster, harder and more often than the limb is ready for. If the horse’s bare foot can’t tolerate challenging ground, I take that as a sign that the tendons, ligaments and bones aren’t conditioned for that work either.

The barefoot experts reading this will know that good strong feet are the result of Diet, Exercise, Environment and Trim. Heathy bare feet, and by this I mean high performing bare feet, that gallop and hack and jump as well as work on a school surface and wander around a field, can only occur when the rest of the horse is healthy.

We feed a species specific diet: clean bagged feed with no GMO products or added preservatives, low sugar low starch , organic wrapped hay. The horses are out 24/7 on a field with various surfaces, and are grass restricted in summer, because Cheshire rye grass is great for growing milk cows but not so great for growing healthy equines.

Our horses don’t do 20 miles a day like horses in the wild, but they are on a track system that encourages movement, and have to move around for shelter, water and hay. The field has sand tracks, a pea gravel feed area, and, in winter, lots of soft sandy mud! They hack out on a variety of surfaces, although I have been booting Cal for challenging surfaces like the stony tracks in Delamere Forest.

Trim is considered crucial by some, and by others to be largely irrelevant. I’ve always been on the side of those who consider it largely irrelevant, but Cal has had runaway toes for about 2 years and I had been touching these up every two weeks myself to limit the slipper effect. Any trim will only last as long as the foot grows- to correct the trim you need both correct growth and correct wear.

Although immensely better than 3 years ago

the top hoof is still pathological. There is still a curve in the hairline, and the toes are still too long. His soles were also very flat at that time, although his heels were a hundred times better. Although he has never had full blown laminitis, his hooves bear the classic hallmarks of long term mild inflammation, despite him being incredibly functional on his less than perfect feet.

Suddenly, these last few weeks, we have a barefoot breakthrough. I have not needed to touch up the toes at all. He is wearing his feet evenly, and he is a whole lot more comfortable on stones.

Barefoot breakthrough- stonking hooves

So what led to the barefoot breakthrough?

A healthy hindgut. And therefore, finally, a healthy body.

And how did we achieve that?

We started feeding Cal Phytolean. This supplement was developed by the amazing scientist Carol Hughes. Her whole focus is using natural plant-based products to achieve optimal whole horse health. We’ve also started feeding Phyto-GI and her incredibly bio-available Co-Zin.

Gone are the days of batch testing hay or haylage and balancing a bespoke mineral mix to each batch. We had previously been doing that religiously for 5 years.

Carol’s approach focusses on a healthy biome i.e ensuring the horse’s gut population of bacteria is healthy, so horses can cope with variation or imperfections in their environment. After a couple of years of minimal progress, we finally have healthy functional feet all round.

And barefoot horses are great in the snow 🙂

Hacking around Linmere Lake in Delamere Forest

Hope you all had fun in the snow today.

Use your words carefully

Use your words carefully; a post inspired by Lucinda Green.

Use your words carefully, because they reflect what you think, and actually can reinforce what you subconsciously believe. Use your words carefully, because they will reflect and reinforce how you behave. Use your words carefully, your internal dialogue as well as the external conversation.

A light bulb book for me this year was Shad Helmstetter’s “What to Say When you Talk to Yourself”.

By listening to our internal dialogue (the little voices in our head) we can hear when we are self-critical, or self-sabotaging. Once you have listened to your internal dialogue you can pick aspects of it to re-programme, and improve. For example “I am always late”, “I’m a late person”, “I find it really hard to be on time”. If I say that to myself all the time, what is the outcome? You’ve guessed it- rarely on time. If I change that to “I am often late because I try to fit too much in and am unrealistic about how much time things take” then that phrase allows me to change: I can decrease my commitments, say no occasionally, make sure I include journey time and cup of tea time and hey presto, “I am now often early”. Use your words carefully, and choose good ones.

What’s this got to do with horses I hear you cry? Well everything, as everything to do with horse also has to do with life.

Use your words carefully when you talk about your horse.

Phrases I have heard recently “Rude down the rein” “Just taking advantage” “Just being a brat”

“Just being a brat” was me. Our youngster Rocky was pretty easy as a 4 year old.

This year he has found his body and has been throwing some amazing shapes. It’s been scary, amusing, testing, in varying degrees. When the international standard movement and that athletic warmblood body turn up at full power, it feels spectacular. As we are getting too old to bounce, he went to boot camp, twice. He came back both times better but still making shapes. At the last clinic with Patrice, I ‘finally’ realised the shapes were a reaction to the rider being out of balance. That’s why I always felt I was sat in the middle of the buck, or leap, he was putting me back where he wanted me to sit! As he is young and slightly crooked, the left side of his body feels like an empty space. When I sit level, he levels himself, the left side of his body comes under me, both hind legs can go forward and hey presto, so can the whole horse. So the shift in mindset is that he’s allowed to tell us when the rider is out of balance, but quietly and politely. An ear flicker would be adequate, rather than a full blown capriole. So we listen to him, quietly, and he turns the volume down. The last few rides have been delightfully uneventful!

“Just taking advantage” was a comment made by a friend when we were chatting about the recent Lucinda Green demo masterclass at Aintree. A lovely ex-racehorse had misunderstood the complex grid and had run out past the tiny skinny, twice. The rider had allowed the horse to run past the obstacle and so the horse had learned- “Oh, it’s OK if I run past this little silly thing because he lets me”.

Horses always know where their feet are.

So Lucinda’s instructions were to stop the horse, immediately, so he couldn’t run away past the fence. The rider was then to ask for rein back, reversing away from the fence enough to allow a repeat approach. She then uttered the phrase which absolutely made my evening “Regroup. Let him breathe and then ask him to take you over the fence.”

And he popped it beautifully. Such a simple change of phrase changed everything.

Use your words carefully.

Just look again at the difference between those 2 phrases.

“Taking advantage”. He wasn’t. He was doing what he had been taught, very quickly, by being allowed to run out on two previous attempts. Horses learn in an instant.

Once it was explained to him that the run out wasn’t the correct answer, and he was given time to regroup, he found another answer just as quickly. The correct answer, for which he got rewarded. How many riders or trainers do you know that might have chased him in, given him a smack, got stronger and louder, when all the horse needed was the time to think and a better explanation?

Use your words carefully.

“Ask him to take you to the fence.” A lifetime of sympathetic horsemanship and horse-centred training summed up in that one phrase.

You can almost hear the horse saying “Oh, OK. Just that? Just pop over that stupid thing? OK, I can do that.”

“Rude down the rein” or “he just barges into me” are phrases we hear often. To me, that description sums up a horse that is completely on the forehand, running forward out of balance. This is really clear if you look at postures in standing position- are the front legs slanted backwards, does the horse’s chest protrude over its forelegs, do the horse’s chest muscles look like GG boobs?

img_0103-2

This photo is of Rocky, our youngster, demonstrating slight downhill balance.

It’s less obvious but equally distressing to the horse when you see them ridden “in an outline”, nose tucked in, face behind the vertical. Look at the slope of the torso from croup to shoulders; is the horse level or running downhill? Look at the front leg movement in walk, do the forelegs get placed in front of the shoulders or do they only pick up when the horse’s chest has already gone over the top of them? This horse is also falling over forwards. That’s why he barges into you; he can’t help himself. That’s why he’s bearing down on the rein; he’s catching himself, every stride. And just because it looks pretty, looks like the pictures in the magazines, that doesn’t make it correct. Every forward movement is done with momentum rather than control… imagine how stressful that must be for a prey animal that always knows where its feet are.

The answer, of course, is to teach our horses better balance. And we do this by basic dressage, the classical way, for the good of the horse, to build a better, more gymnastic body, not just to go out and compete at Novice dressage for the rest of our lives.

Lucinda was very strict on this. She made sure we all understood how horses see- their long distance vision is from the top of their eyes, so they need their heads up to see the fence. Their short distance vision requires them to look down, hence why they might put their heads down to check out ditches or water. As riders we have to allow and indeed encourage the correct head position, and not be pulled out of the saddle if the horse changes. If the rider tips forward the horse has to lift both himself and the rider off his shoulders to jump the fence.

An analogy Lucinda used for a better seat connection was to ride plugged into the saddle, like a 3 point plug, with longer reins, with most of the horse in front of you not behind you. This is the same seat Charles teaches, although he emphasise elbows more. It’s the Classical seat that has served for hundreds of years for dressage, jumping, and even warfare. Of course one should go with the horse over then fence, but never ahead of the horse. The feeling was likened to row 25 of the airplane, when they put the most passengers at the back so the thing takes off.

The canter has to have enough quality, not speed, that the horse has options and choices. Lucinda said she never looks for strides, and indeed she didn’t measure any distances for any exercise during the whole evening; if the canter is good enough the horse can choose. And the fences weren’t big: the point of the exercise was to teach quick feet and quick brains, not to prove scope.

Lucinda said she likes to ride as if a 5 bar gate could pop up at any point in front of her and the horse could jump it at that moment. Patrice, our regular trainer, says a dressage horse should be able to jump a four foot fence out of every stride- that is the definition of ‘in balance’ and ‘on the aids’. Interesting that both these ladies have evented at 4 star level. They are not afraid of the whole horse turning up at full power- they are most afraid of the whole horse not turning up!

Be honest now- do you have that feel in most of your rides? I know I don’t…but what a great image to work towards.

So just spend a few moments this week, as well as listening to your horse, please also listen to yourself. Listen to the words you use when you talk about your horse, and choose them carefully.

And be very careful of the words you use when around your horse. Horses are incredibly sensitive to intent, and respond much better when listened to and acknowledged rather than being told “Get on with it you beggar!” A horse that is loved and respected will try his heart out for you.

And make his body better and stronger by working him in balance so he can try his heart out for you, for years and years and years.

Author: fran

Just do the homework

Like this:

If wishes were horses

Like this:

The best things in life are free

Like this:

Working on a perfect seat

Like this:

#5photos1day

Like this: