My lesson

[Molineux]

Well with me having a 2 year old I can not really do much riding at the moment, so I spoke with my Dressage Trainer and she said I could still have lessons but on her horse Rio

Now Rio is amazing and has done up to Prix St George so I am very lucky to be riding a horse like him and I have to say I love every min of it!! Plus he is about 17.3 and you can feel the power with him

I had a lesson at the weekend on him and this is the second time of riding him! now my whole lesson was sitting trott

Which I am finding it hard to walk today!

I thought I would share my lesson with you all !! and you can some of the canter work we were doing, and collected canter work...

CC welcome - dont be to harsh!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOXaStPhWZY&feature=autofb

 

[Baydale]

What a great opportunity and he looks like a lovely horse. Why the draw reins though? I must admit I was wincing a bit when he was dropping behind your leg and getting even more behind the vertical as your reins got too long.

It all looked a bit laboured and not what I'd imagined I was going to see from a PSG-level horse, sorry.

 

[jules89]

I'm glad you said that, B...

Still, you are very lucky to sit on him!

 

[vallin]

Lovely looking horse

How come he only had 3 bandages on though?

 

[H_J]

I think he has bandages on the fronts and one back leg has a white sock

Lovely looking horse

 

[Baydale]

I thought I'd ask, nicely, knowing that others might not be so subtle in their approach; I do genuinely want to know why the horse is in draw reins so I'm not doing this to wind people up.

I'd hate this to turn into an Ellen Whitaker style bunfight.

Also I was thinking that it seems wrong to teach someone "feel" if it's not the right feel. Ok, I'll dig my hole a bit deeper shall I?

 

[vallin]

Ah ok, special me!

 

[Thistle]

Is it a 'dressage schoolmaster' thing? Every time I see a pic of someone having a lesson on a dressage schoolmaster they seem to be in draw reins!

No crit on you Molineux, it's not your horse.

 

[Halfstep]

can't speak for Molineux and this horse, but in general yes if you have a lesson on a schoolmaster as a "lower level" rider the horse will wear drawreins or some such. Why? Because contrary to popular opinion these horses are not easy for anyone to ride on the bit being highly and specifically trained.

The student isn't necessarily going to want to spend the entire lesson learning how to balance the horse correctly (if they want to work on their own seat for example), so both get a helping hand with the drawreins/running reins/whatever. equally the trainer isn't going to want their lovely horse to be hollow and inverted or to have their mouth pulled on. The draws help the horse to be a bit softer in the back for "free" so the pupil can work on their own seat and aids without getting in the horses way. Think about it folks.

 

[Alibear]

AS per halfstep , a fair bit of damage can be done in an hours lesson to a schoolmaster if the pupil allows the horse to lope around out of balance.

 

[FrodoBeutlin]

Whenever I had schoolmaster lessons (on a GP horse so very advanced) he never had drawreins. The only 'gadget' I have ever seen him with was side reins when we were working on my seat on the lunge, but that's because I wasn't allowed to touch the reins with my hands

Apart from that Rio looks lovely

 

[MandyMoo]

rio looks lovely

agree completley with HalfStep...i have no problem with the draw reins

what a great opportunity to sit on him though! xx

 

[Mickyjoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Whenever I had schoolmaster lessons (on a GP horse so very advanced) he never had drawreins.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto - I've been lucky enough to have had lessons on dressage schoolmasters in Holland and Belgium and always rode in the horse's usual double, never draw reins. I can understand what Halfstep is saying too though...

Rio looks like a lovely horse - looks like he needs a lot of leg though!

 

[Baydale]

QR. To further clarify my comments and before I'm labelled as a troll in sheep's clothing:

In this instance, I don't think that the draw reins were always productive in teaching Molineux to achieve the right feel, especially towards the end of this clip. Therefore perhaps my critique is slanted towards the method of training and its effect on the recipient rather than it being a personal affront to Molineux and her riding.

Disclaimer: I am not anti-draw reins, have no purist inclinations and I event, so my opinion - and this is a public forum after all - is probably worth naff all.

Feel free to rant at me though, if it makes you feel better.

 

[nic85]

I agree with halfstep too.

I had a schoolmaster lesson on Humble Pie last June, He was brought out in draw reins and I admit I was slightly disappointed at this.
However, I think they were more for me than him

I was told that If I felt I needed to use them, for example, if I felt he was running on his forehand/not listening to me etc I could just give a half halt or a gentle 'pull' and he'd listen to me.

I did post the links to the vids on you tube and posted some pics too, i think I was also asked why he was in draw reins...

That may not make any sense, soory 2 year old son trying to type along with me!!

 

[Molineux]

The reason for the drawreins are like Halfstep said - the lesson is for me really and to get my riding better and my poisition better not worrying about what his head is doing.
He is a school master and has been out of high level dressage for some time now!! but for me to learn from he is amazing

 

[Molineux]

[ QUOTE ]
What a great opportunity and he looks like a lovely horse. Why the draw reins though? I must admit I was wincing a bit when he was dropping behind your leg and getting even more behind the vertical as your reins got too long.

It all looked a bit laboured and not what I'd imagined I was going to see from a PSG-level horse, sorry.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am NO Dressage rider!! Never have been and never will be!! but with the owner on him its a different horse!! he just puts up with me haha!!

 

[TheMule]

I agree it's not nice to watch a horse work in such tight draw reins.

See I believe a schoolmaster lesson should be you learning to ride a more advanced horse right from the basics up- if you cant ride it from leg to hand into the bit then you arent ready to ask it anything more. I have lessons on a grand prix horse who is by no means an easy ride but my riding has come on a huge amount by learning how to ride with the sensitivity and feel required for such a highly trained horse.

 

[diggerbez]

i guess it depends upon what the lesson aim is- if its to teach 'feel' in the hand then no draw reins aint gonna help but if its to work on position, posture etc then i think they will help to keep horse more rounded and balanced? in the same way as when you have a lunge lesson they might put the horse in side reins...OP you are very lucky, i could really do with some lessons where i could focus more on my position and not just staying on