Today was the day I asked Susanne "Why does Ani ride like that?" Oh boy....
Mag was a different horse this morning as I tacked him. He was figeting and anxious to going out. My heart was racing as I saddled him. He was tied up but his energy was at a new level. He even kicked out (#1) at "nothing". I've never seen Mag act like this. Thankfully he was also respectful.
Mag hates lunging as you know but today he and I found an agreement - I would keep the pressure low, no cantering, just find the real trot vs the jog. He kicked out (#2) when I touched him with the whip, so I spent the rest of the time desensitizing him to the whip as he trotted. He's finally getting the difference between jog and trot.
When Susanne arrived she agreed to help me with in-hand work.
She showed me a nice lateral movement and Mag did it perfectly the first time. She told me I should not work on it more than once or twice, because he already knows it and it would be counterproductive to continue. I agree.
I didn't appreciate Mag kicking out (#3) at her touch on his hip with the whip.
I decided to do ground work where I walked, stopped, backed five paces, continued, until we got a pattern, and then I would run, with Mag trotting next to me, and then stop, and then back 5 steps again. Susanne was impressed and pitched in with my exercise. She said, "Did you see the way he dropped his quarters and backed up under himself?" I said, "No, cuz I'm up here in front of him." She said, "Give me him!"
She snatched Mag and trotted with him and then stopped and backed him 5 steps. I saw his butt sink as he got under himself. His butt muscles changed formation!
She told me to not repeat the exercise too often. But it was eye-opening to see how his body changed. She said he's more capable of it than Rudi, who is "falsely bred" to be rump high for speed events. She said Mag has the perfect conformation to perform. Keenly aware of his flaws, I kept my mouth shut.
I made the mistake of asking her about the Dressage Training Pyramid - step 3 - Contact/Connection. I apply leg and ask for contact until he gives to the rein and maintains the forward pace.
She stopped our dual lesson and gave us a lecture about what Anlehnung (Connection) means, from her perspective. She said it's all about a horse's obedience to the aids, and has nothing to do with the reins, hand, bit, head. Nothing at all. I was confused because I was pretty sure the Contact step was the only one involving the reins, in the pyramid. *lol*
Both Ani and I were forced to listen to her lecture. There was no mention of "seeking contact" or "on the bit." Just riding forward with impulsion.
To be sure, as soon as I arrived home, I Wiki'd it and I was right - the Connection phase is about the horse seeking our hand contact through proper movement and acceptance of the aids. Funnily, there is no English Wiki page devoted to this phase, but the German Wiki page has this, and goes into detail about all the ways we fail at Anlehnung - the list was long - behind the bit, above the bit, leaning on the bit....every single example involved the word "bit" and I wondered where Susanne got the idea that Connection doesn't have anything to do with the bridle.
Trivia: The word Anlehnung means support or dependence upon. Interesting! (And I found it interesting that the English Wiki page (Dressage) uses the German words too.)
Evensong commented on the video of Ani riding Rudi, mentioning that the mare is strung out/not on the bit. Teresa and Connie also noticed something missing. (It's not just me!) I took the chance to ask Susanne why Ani doesn't ride with contact and Susanne told me she is. I questioned how the mare would move if Ani gave up the "contact" and Susanne asked Ani to ride with no leg and even looser reins. I don't have the best eye but I saw no difference. I suppose I sound like someone who prioritizes head-set, and that is not true. I am a fan of Philippe Karl who doesn't let his students use both their legs and hands at the same time (which is the long road to collection!) Conversely this week I watched a Warwick Schiller video where he rides a young horse and says, "He's gonna go with his head straight up in the air but that's OK." The horse was fine, just not knee-level low like his wife's horse.
Then I got on Mag and Susanne was glad to see me on the back of my horse.
Today she seemed to get my fear issues in riding in arenas, and actually said, "Don't worry about staying on the rail. Ride where you feel comfortable, on the second track." Wow. She remembered.
She told me to relax (telling someone doesn't usually help...) and I tried, but was very tense. She assured me Mag was relaxed, which boggles my mind.
Inside leg to outside rein, and she got annoyed when I started to improvise with lateral movements.
Finally I told her I want to do some leg yields cuz last time in the woods Mag was grouchy about it, flipping his head and saying no, it's too hard.
But today he did them perfectly.
Except Susanne said I was doing a Traversale. WTH is a Traversale? Google told me later it's a half pass.
That's impossible, cuz we were only walking. But I accepted her observation that I perhaps had Mag's head bent in the direction of movement, for one moment and started again. Then she told me, "No, enough with this leg yielding crap, just do the Traversale!" He was really good at it today, swinging his entire body evenly sideways at my request, both directions. She asked me if I taught him that, and I was proud to say yes.
At one point Susanne was holding Mag's reins preaching to us and he was dozing and suddenly kicked out (#4). She scolded him, "You can wait here, you impatient thing!" But that wasn't it. Mag was enjoying standing there, but there is an electric fence nearby, clicking. He kicks out at "nothing" anyway but this was not nothing. I'm curious why she assumed it was boredom. What horse kicks with a HIND leg out of boredom?
Afterwards Ani said, "You actually smiled today during the lesson, you seemed to enjoy yourself."
I don't know, I just had that feeling of survival. When I jumped off, I said, "I'm done" and Ani said to Susanne, "That's lytha, she's always done."
But it was a good day.
Every day as I clean up, I get this. Today Bellis politely brushed me with her forehead. They have only one thing on their minds - APPLES. I rake them from under the trees and spread them out to be found like Easter Eggs, but they still both come to me in the pasture to be sure I don't have any in my pockets. Best time of year to be a donkey or a horse, right?
4 comments:
Sounds like it was a good lesson, in spite of your tenseness and Mag’s little quirky moments. Good for you!
Ugh these “trainers” who think they have the revelation on dressage. The whole journey to self carriage starts with contact and accepting it, even if it takes a lot of half halts in the process. Yes, you can soften first in the instance before you apply your legs. My daughter’s horse was a quarter horse and built down hill, but I taught her to soften and go up into contact. She actually seemed to enjoy herself because she was rather prissy. I’m sorry your feeling anxious about his behavior. I certainly get it. I would get mad to over come my anxiety. Not a mean I’m gonna let you have it mad, but we are going to do this and you are going to do this right mad. That would strengthen my seat and muscles because when you get scared your muscles go lax. But you did both survive the lesson. I’m proud of you for that. Having a teacher who could inspire confidence would help.
Evensong, thank you.
KB, are you the only person reading my blog who thinks that stage 3 involves the bridle? I did not expect this to be so controversial that I get no feedback to my question.
Well, that’s contact that comes after acceptance of the rider and the leg and the bit, but of course it’s not a matter of holding tight until they soften. That’s why doing it gently from the ground is so much easier at first. Then taking it to the saddle at a halt. Walter Zettl would have riders start out on light contact doing a lot of transition work, and then as the horse got warmed up, gently take up the reins. It did work. I read an interview once with some famous dressage rider who was asked how many half halts he did during a ride. “Hundreds,” he answered. This may have been an exaggeration but it means that gentle softening of the jaw is a constant theme in a dressage ride. It takes time and lots of wet saddle blankets. That’s the luxury that the professionals have. None of my Arabians had perfect confirmation but all were capable of going onto the bit. That’s why I wish you had a trainer who really understood. Dressage after all means training. That’s all. So of course stage 3 comes after the horse has an understanding and acceptance of the the rider, of the bit, and of the leg. The next step is only natural. After that the horse can learn to carry itself properly carrying the bit. It’s up to the rider to understand how to teach the horse then to carry itself with impulsive of the hindquarters, which of course involves the bridle. Without stage 3, you don’t have the final goal of true collection and self carriage.There are some people who use bitless bridles, but that’s another story. 🙂 But you don’t have to have that almost unattainable goal of self carriage nirvana in a horse to have a well schooled horse. 😉
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