Mighty Blessed Stables

From Donna Longacre's post

USDF/FEI Trainers Conference: Ashley Holzer, Lars Peterson, Gary Rockwell, Anne Gribbons, Lilo Fore

☀️DAY ONE NOTES☀️

▪️Horse must be supple and stretching before doing movements in the ride
▪️Address the stiff and hollow side in the warm-up
▪️No matter how much or how little stretch, always ask for balance
▪️In the warm-up, come up and down center line, do more transitions and focus on keeping the horse through
▪️Address the top line in the warm up, let the neck fall from the withers
▪️Do not over-prepare transitions. Ride the best gait, then ask. The horse should just go, and if not, bring back to the previous gait (say no), then ask again.
▪️Changes are rarely better than the quality of the canter
♥️Horses should be ridden 80% seat, 15% leg, 5% hand
▪️For the horse that goes a little backwards in the canter-trot transitions, think a little haunches out to keep the forward
▪️Show the horse how to adjust balance through circles, spiraling in, maybe end with haunches in, then spiral out.
▪️Horses fall away from bending unless you ride them from the outside in. The outside leg is the straightening leg.
♥️Ride the horse into simple movements without them knowing, once the horse has done a few good steps, GET OUT OF IT! The horse must have a purpose for the movements, so reward quickly.
▪️The eyes must go where you want the horse to go, you must see the bend the whole way through the half-pass.
▪️Do not run a “sucked back” horse into contact. Worry more about the balance, not the speed, think cautious tempo.
♥️Find a balance in the horse that enables confidence in your seat and leg.
♥️Give transitions more thought process, take time feel the balance and feel the horse through each step..
▪️Ride the topline like an accordion and always make small adjustments
▪️Ride CIRCLES, not ovals. Ovals change the bend 4 times, TRAIN YOUR EYES UP and take responsibility for your circle lines.
▪️For leg yields, ask yourself: Is the horse balanced? Is it falling sideways? How is the balance?
▪️Don’t give “those nasty judges” (not my phrase, just FYI🤪) something to look at in your test. Ride quietly with your aids.
▪️If you raise your hands with a horse that’s at the vertical, all that does is make the horse fall behind the vertical.
♥️When you make corrections with your horse, DO NOT LOSE THE BALANCE! In tests for instance, if your horse breaks from canter, don’t chase it back into canter, rather focus on keeping a good balance, then asking for a transition. “I see entire good tests go down the sewer from a bad correction.”
▪️Stop over-preparing walk-canter transitions. Just ride the best walk
▪️With a horse that is so willing to go into a higher gear, you must have more progression in the warm up.
▪️Walk-trot transitions are the gateway to piaffe: you must have control of that gait on the cusp of the next gait. Horse shouldn’t use the neck for transition, rather use the area of the back behind the saddle.
▪️Corners: bend into them, then straighten out of them
▪️Even in warm-up, the horse must canter in an uphill balance. “Canter like a young horse”
♥️Shoulder-in is the other of all exercises: feel when the horse is about to slip off of your inside leg, angle shouldn’t change. Be fast with the correction.
▪️For changes: don’t twist the waist, sit still and keep your shoulders level
▪️Hollow side L: doesn’t cost more to give on the R. Ride the horse up to the outside rein.
♥️The horse will never be straight if the rider isn’t sitting quietly.
▪️Count canter strides between the letters to test regularity and balance control, then try adjusting.
♥️When things go wrong, you must keep your position.
♥️Use the strength of your seat to control how much energy of the hind leg you allow to the hand.
♥️RIDERS MUST HAVE STRONG CORE TO DO THIS SPORT!
♥️Leg yields are LEG yields, not hand yields. ▪️Long leg yielding in the beginning of the ride allows the horse to find its balance— if done correctly!
▪️Spend time in the walk break to improve suppleness
▪️If you’re having trouble with a movement, go to the lowest denominator of that exercise to make it super easy for the horse.
▪️If you go forward and back within the gait, the topline should stay the same.

📸 Photo: Michelle Gibson and Lars Peterson schooling passage, both Olympians.

❤️

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