A very belated Stephen Clarke/Miguel Raolo clinic report

[chaps89]

I haven't done a proper report before, so i hope this is ok to post and useful!
A couple of weekends ago I went to a clinic with the TTT.
What a fascinating day- we saw 8 quite different horse and rider combinations over the course of it and I was able to take something different away from each one.
I think it might have been milliepops who went to a Stephen Clarke clinic previously (apologies if not!) And took a notepad with her, so I pinched that idea- and by the end of the day had over 30 sides of a5 papers worth of notes!
I thought it might be useful to share some of the key things I took away from the day.
As a general rule, Stephen would give an initial assessment of the horse as it was worked in all 3 paces, then Miguel would give a lesson or ride the horse, then they would both give further insight after.
Trying to keep this brief as I can but hopefully there will be bits people find useful. If anything needs clarification feel free to ask!

- Let the horse make mistakes. It's OK for them to get it wrong sometimes. If you create conditions for the horse to make a mistake, you can correct it.

- Done well, shoulder in is one of the best suppling tools we have. Done badly it's one of the best stiffening exercises we have!

- Reaction reaction reaction. The horse MUST be off the aids and react to what we ask.

- An elastic steady contact is vital, the horse must accept the riders aids.

- Acceptance of the aids, then reaction, the horse must be in front of the leg into an elastic contact. The rider can then check there are no limits to throughness and acceptance of the aids.

- We can train every horse to its limits, but only if there is a correct foundation to build on.

- With horses it's important to have a long term plan to develop over time.

- Use sequences of lateral work to get the hindleg more active without becoming faster

- The rider must be able to have choice in the tempo and length of stride and always with the horse in front of the leg.

- Transitions, transitions, transitions. Direct and within the pace, but they have to be clear.

- The rider should be independent with core strength and their seat, not reliant on help from their hands and legs. (Used good example of para riders here)

- If the rider is supporting the horse, leave the horse alone and train the horse to do things for them self. Show the horse what you want, then ask them to do it.

- Create reactions you can reward the horse for, this is how they learn. Don't forget to let the horse know it's good enough!

- It can help if the horse has a natural guilty conscience. You need the horse to be sharp and alert but not anxious.

- There must be no limit to looseness and thoroughness. You'll hit a block with collection later on if so.

Tbc

 

[chaps89]

- There's no point wrestling with a horse to let go of the rein on its stiff side, the problem is its bodyweight is in the wrong place, so no wonder it's leaning on the rein

- A small mistake is a good thing- the horse is trying to offer something and is better than the horse ignoring the rider.

- Train for a future rather than compromise on or accept this that will prevent a future.

- We need people on the ground to tell us what we're doing- ultimately horses are better at training riders than riders are at training horses!

- The art is to recognise what needs to be altered/developed/improved without destroying the horses confidence. If the horse is always being told 'that's wrong' it will produce poor results. There is a fine line between making corrections and letting the horse know rs ok.

- Don't destroy or fight what's there in nature, develop it.

- As professional trainers, it's important to be able to work with different types and temperaments of horses and learn from them. (This was said when the little connie who had come in against the warmbloods and pres/Lusos who were the general order of the day!)

- Riders need to find their stability area and work from there. So '3' is comfortable, push for 4, 5 then 6. Then '6' will become the normal point to start at. If a horse starts to mess around go back and find their number 3 again.

- Don't change your plan mid way through, decide what you're doing and commit.

- Never forget, horses are not machines.

- Difference between piaffe and passage- piaffe is on the spot, passage is travelling forwards. Passage has suspension, piaffe doesn't- so piaffe springs from one diagonal to another.

- If the horse is struggling to pick up the correct canter lead, have the whip in the outside hand and tap as the horse pushes off with the outside hind- timing is key.

- If the horse is running through the hand, use shoulder in down the long side, into a canter circle.

- When putting the leg on, keep it long, don't bunch it up.

- It's not always about being pretty. Sometimes you need to think outside the box, do something different or 'big' to create a reaction, over time you can scale it back but you mustn't be afraid to try different things.

- Counter canter is a good strengthening exercise

- Horses need to bend from the ribcage, NOT the neck.

- Work away from the track to help wih straightness/independence.

- Straightness. You have to put the head in front of the neck, the neck in front of the shoulders, shoulders in front of the hindleg. Everything else is about working from behind but straightness comes from in front.

- When doing half pass, must ride evenly, not turn the body or head else the quality of the step is poor. Riders will often sit correctly in shoulder in but bodyweight falls to the outside in half pass. In reality, there is no difference in shoulder in and half pass apart from the direction of travel.

- The give and retake of the reins is to prove the horse is in its own balance and self carriage, not being held in place. The rein contact must absolutely be released in 1 continuous movement. The hands should go in the direction of the mouth, not the ears (hands up and forwards is cheating!)

- With the sharper horse, use more leg to give them stability and confidence in the rider. It's tempting to think leg off and relax the horse, but actually the leg needs to be on and the horse kept 'up' until he's through.

- The body of the horse needs to be supple. When the horse is tight through his back, use more bending exercises. You can add the power back in after, if you do it before it has nowhere to go.

- If the horse is getting a bit 'hot' use shoulder in at walk as it will break up lateral leg movement and keep the horse thinking.

- We have to be quick. It's often easy to predict when a horse is about to do something (said in regards to a horse coming off the short side in canter and starting to do changes) If you know the horse is going to do something, be quick and ride to prevent it/undesirable behaviour.

Tbc (nearly there I promise)

 

[chaps89]

OK, apparently I'm not good at keeping this brief! Apologies.

- At what point in the canter sequence should the rider give the aid for a flying change? The moment of suspension, it's he only moment when the horse can change the sequence of its legs. Therefore best to ask just before the moment of suspension which is when the leading leg is landing. However it is a bit individual and top riders won't all give the aids at the same time.
You need to have a good tempo in the canter so you have the suspension to do the change. Make sure the new leading rein is prepared and use a half halt, if not the horse throws itself in front- it won't be late behind, it's early in front. If the horse starts to anticipate, spend time preparing and using the half halts.

- Rein back. To give high marks for this movement, various elements need to be considered. Starts with the collection of the trot into a square halt. The rein back needs to be clear diagonal steps and uphill. Horse then ridden forwards into the trot. Ride the rein back with your legs. Wouldn't include rein back into a horses work unless the horse is in front of the leg and into the bridle.

- For a tense hot horse he suggested riding shoulder n in sitting trot in an up and collected frame down the long side of the school, into a rising trot in a long, deep round and loose frame. And repeat.

- When the horse gets behind the bit it is for 2 possible reasons- it has either passed the balance forwards or is behind the leg.

- With physically demanding horses, you cannot stay out there looking for perfection. If you ride consistently for what you want, you get to where you want to be without stress and sooner than you think.

- If the horse has soundness issues, take it easy and work with what you have and if this includes stopping a session then do that. Canter and lateral work will help with suppling but make sure the horse is warmed up well first.

- If you're pushing a horse to go deeper, don't just throw the reins at him, you still need a connection so the horse always steps into a contact point.

So all in all, as you can see, lots of really interesting points made, exercises suggested and a good old dose of common sense thrown in too.

 

[scats]

Very useful tips, thank you.

My friend had a lesson with Stephen Clarke a number of years ago and I sat behind Stephen to record the session (and share his chocolate digestives- lovely man!). Had a little chat with him at the end and got some really useful tips.

 

[milliepops]

Great report. Dunno if it *was* me but I certainly take zillions of notes whenever I'm in the same room as Stephen Clarke!

Funny isn't it, sometimes it's easy to get in a tangle over training particularly when you hit a problem, but some people have a way of expressing things in such a simple clear way, it seems so obvious!

I especially liked the following points

- Let the horse make mistakes. It's OK for them to get it wrong sometimes. If you create conditions for the horse to make a mistake, you can correct it.

I think the ability to let a horse make a mistake is how you make training fun... if you can experiment and invite the horse to play with you to see what it can do, then you make progress when you don't necessarily expect it... only works if the horse isn't afraid to make a mistake it's a really horse-centric way of training and a far cry from some of the old fashioned pushing & pulling I think

- There's no point wrestling with a horse to let go of the rein on its stiff side, the problem is its bodyweight is in the wrong place, so no wonder it's leaning on the rein

- As professional trainers, it's important to be able to work with different types and temperaments of horses and learn from them. (This was said when the little connie who had come in against the warmbloods and pres/Lusos who were the general order of the day!)

Really interesting point on the stiff side, its something I've been helping a few people with in the last few months and I do find that as riders we tend to fixate on the difficult or heavy side, when in fact it's the empty side that's probably more of an issue.

and i loved Stephen's session at the BD convention last year, he was so good at working with a wide variety of breeds/types and always started from the position of where you could give positive remarks, really refreshing.

Thanks for posting sounds like a great day.

 

[Farma]

What a quote, 'horses are better at training riders than riders are at training horses', i'll remember that one!

Fabulous write up