Interesting lessons

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Bossanova

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Had a Portugese trainer come to our yard today- he sjed for Portugal at the Olympics some years ago, has evented and specialises in dressage now (though he was desperate to see Moon jump but sadly we are too cr*p on the flat to get that far!)
Anyway, I had first lesson on Moon and she was very difficult but he gave me some invaluable advice and made a lot of sense. I learnt a very new method of canter transition- in canter apparently you follow the hips and the shoulders to the outside- there's me been shoving myself to the inside in canter all these years an as soon as I shift, we clinch the transitions! Right is weaker than left but we're finally getting there with her walk-canter.

Then my sister rode the luso stallion who went extremely well-

Talking to the master
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Just trotting-
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Uphill transition!
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Piaffe
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Spanish walk to warm up for passage (didnt quite photograph the right moment!)
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Passage- this was the best he has ever passaged
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And a pic I took the other day showing a clearer piaffe
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Then Cruiser was up and he too went brilliantly!

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The guy was fantastic, such a horseman- hopefully he'll now visit us every 3 weeks
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So, how long does it take to teach horses things like spanish walk and piaffe etc? I would love to be able to do them, although I know I will get an answer like 'it depends on the horse and rider' blah blah, but I would just like a vague idea.

Now my horse is currently pretty rubbish at schooling, but I think if I can magickly (sp, or is that even a word?!) learn how to ride properly, then he could do something very nice - he is half spanish, so maybe that might help me?!
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Are there any instructors around that would teach the basics for movements like this, and what level do you need to be before you start asking the horse for this?

Sorry for the really stupid questions - but please don't be too horrid to me - i just would really like to be able to do it - and i think he is fully capable. He does collect fairly easily, and no doubt would be far better with a superior jockey
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So, how long does it take to teach horses things like spanish walk and piaffe etc? I would love to be able to do them, although I know I will get an answer like 'it depends on the horse and rider' blah blah, but I would just like a vague idea.


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The iberians o find it naturally easier and it's possible to teach them spanish walk very early and piaffe quite early but these are generally just 'tricks' not an evolution of correct schooling. It depends what you're in it for- Reguila is a toy not a competition horse but our aim is to train him correctly and learn a lot along the way and as a result it has taken 3 years thus far to acheive a decent standard of work from him- but boy is it worth it!!
 
I had 6 months or so of lessons from a Portugese chap when I lived in Lincs and learned loads!. It was a totally different way of riding though and you virtually never rode 'straight' - you always either had to be in shoulder-in or travers. I had a shot at piaffe on his horse (with him directing step for step from the ground) and it was amazing! Much like your pics.
 
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I had 6 months or so of lessons from a Portugese chap when I lived in Lincs and learned loads!. It was a totally different way of riding though and you virtually never rode 'straight' - you always either had to be in shoulder-in or travers. I had a shot at piaffe on his horse (with him directing step for step from the ground) and it was amazing! Much like your pics.

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Yes- the iberians rarely go straight!
Another revelation was him saying that the legs stay in the same place for shoulder-in, quarters-in and small circle, as soon as I thought about not moving the position of my legs, just using them in a slightly different way, we acheived fab bend in the lateral steps.
 
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I think the smile on your sister's face in the passage says it all! She looks very glamourous, shades and SUNSHINE
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, it could almost be portugal!

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Proper passage is the nicest feeling Ive ever experienced on a horse!!
It was glorious here this afternoon, ground's hard again though. Hmphhh.
 
Thankyou! I know that the spanish walk is a bit of a trick, but he is forever putting his legs on things, or lifting them up, and I figure it should be a (kind of) natural progression for him to do it - doing it under 'instruction' as opposed to just messing around himself.
 
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Really interesting..
Could you explain a little more about the canter, and where you should be sitting etc??

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He said that your shoulders and hips should always follow those of the horse- so on a straight line you're straight and on a curved line you are curving with the horse in walk and trot (logical) But the way that a horse canters, the sequence of the legs and the direction of the back movement, means that you need to sweep the inside seat bone round in a circular motion on a clockwise circle to allow the inside hind to step under and if you try to pull you shoulders and hips back to follow a circle with this seat motion, you fail (as I have been for years!) so to allow the seat to follow the back properly, you literally turn your hips and shoulders to the outside as you strike off and maintain that slight positioning in the canter. It's only slight, hardly noticeable but it really worked and made a lot of sense
 
That follows what I was taught years ago when having problems with a canter trans.

I was told to turn and look towards the outside during the trans, I always wondered why it worked but now it makes sense.
 
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That follows what I was taught years ago when having problems with a canter trans.

I was told to turn and look towards the outside during the trans, I always wondered why it worked but now it makes sense.

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It's so funny how the smallest thing makes such a difference! I love lessons like that
 
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