Instructional videos

Update: I missed including the video of the gorgeous bay Arabian who is being taught to stretch down, what the rider (the trainer's wife) is doing with her hands. Thanks NM for bringing it to my attention!
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I found a YouTube channel called ArtToRide, a series of training videos by former Nuno Oliviera student Will Faerber. I don't quite agree with everything he says in his videos or in the comments when people ask him questions, but, wow, I'm enjoying this stuff. It's like candy. Haribo. He also seems to be affiliated with Jochen Schleese, which is a good thing.

Like my wonderful Seattle dressage trainer, he believes in the importance of the walk (a coefficient movement), that you shouldn't try trotting until the walk is excellent. Likewise he believes that you shouldn't even ride until the horse is lunging in an educated way - stretching down, seeking contact. He wants horses reaching down to the ground, constantly stretching in the beginning.

In one of his videos he simply talks about Nuno Oliviera, and how so many people have strayed from what he wanted to teach.

I like the way he praises a rider whose leg is doing almost nothing - "It's just the wind between his leg and the horse." I'm inspired to try to still my legs.

And to an overweight rider, he encourages her, the only one brave enough to submit a video despite not being skinny, and praises her for her hard work getting her horse to move properly. He also says, like Deb Bennett, that larger horses have weaker backs, period. Deb Bennett said that draft breeds are not as efficient at carrying weight, their own weight putting them at almost their limit. It made me feel better about being a heavy weight rider on a tiny horse.

One thing I disagree with: he is against stopping and backing a horse and then proceeding, saying it gives only the illusion of a horse who's working from behind. This is a pretty important rebalancing exercise, I think, and also gets a horse very attentive to your leg. He also seems to think a horse turned out at pasture allowed to gallop might kill itself - he's seen it too many times in his 55 years training horses. My answer to that is, well, my cat's life is shortened by her living outdoors, but the quality of her life makes it worth it to me. She would consider it torment to live indoors.

He talks about the importance of teaching relaxation - that it's often neglected. Hm, have I ever gone into an arena and thought "Today I'll teach relaxation, only!"? Even though that's a base piece of the training pyramid?

He says to never quit if the horse isn't relaxed, even if it takes hours to get a horse to relax. He says if your horse cannot relax and stretch down at the walk within a few minutes, then go back to the lunge, because the horse doesn't have the strength in his back to carry someone correctly.

In so many ways he reminds me of my trainer from home. Oh! I just went to her Facebook page and saw she references him. OK then.

"The most important thing is, if a horse is spooking, you must keep them working, NEVER let them stop and let them stand and look at it, that's the worst thing you can possibly do. Act like it isn't there.  If a horse is spooking, the best thing you can do is a shoulder-in by it, so they cannot look at it directly, get them onto the outside rein and get them by it. But the main thing is we must train for relaxation as a SKILL." (This echoes what my good trainer Mell says - just bend her away from whatever is scaring her, exposing her belly but tipping her head away, and keep going.")

Teach relaxation:




Teach contact to a green horse  - this seems to me to be similar to the Legerete, even though this guy is teaching the German method: watch this horse respond appropriately in the video below.


This seems similar to Linda Parelli's new series on the game of contact - doesn't it? (I want that Arab! Wonderful movement, perfect color, but mane on the wrong side.)

The importance of the walk. I agree with his idea that the walk is the basis of learning and relaxation:




There are so many more videos in his channel I enjoyed. Maybe you'll find some fun in them too. The video below is someone who's beginning.

There's no use in cantering incorrectly, come back to slower work (this one is painful to watch, probably you should skip it):
 


To end this on a happier note, here is a video submission that Will gets very excited about, even saying he wants to set it to music, it's just perfect. Everyone in the comments wants to know if this rider is American or European: ) Enjoy!