milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
So as we seem to be short on reports in C&T at the moment, I thought I'd jot down some of the things I took away from the BD convention this weekend. Anyone else who was there, please add what you remember because I only took notes from some sessions!
First up on Saturday Ferdi and Michael Eilberg showed us how they start their young horses. Michael's horse was a 4yo and he gave a super demo of sensitive riding to allow the horse to take in the atmosphere but not allowing it to get overwhelmed.
Top tip from Ferdi - make it clear to the horse the order of importance of what it's learning. Which request and response is the most important (e.g. go forward) and which are then the added extras (e.g. go forward STRAIGHT). I thought that was great because it's all too easy to get bogged down in the detail, and lose the key elements
Second tip - if there is no challenge, there can be no improvement. Part of training the young horse is to challenge him and see what he can do, it's OK to make a mistake, just don't make a fuss about it.
Next was Stephen Clarke with 2 more advanced horses working about Elem, and he showed us some of the lateral work. I found Zoe Sleigh's horse quite distracting to watch so didn't write much! Anyone able to fill in the gaps?!
Followed by a fab session with Gareth Hughes looking at changes. Really good timing for me as that's what I'm working on at the moment with Kira. He started by saying " the most important thing is not to panic" Good to hear!
He started with the canter-walk-canter transitions, a strength building exercise. A timely reminder -the horse must be light on the hand in the canter, otherwise he will be on his head in the walk. The horse must commit to the walk - not dribble into it, and then a clear walk rhythm, then commit to the canter again.
He mentioned that you should choose your lines with care. The horse he rode showed tension in the walk, so riding canter-walk on the wall is a bad idea - the horse is trapped on the fence and you have nowhere to go to help it. If you ride the trans on a curving line across the school, then you can keep your inside leg on in the walk and ask the horse to step sideways around it until the tension is released and the horse relaxes to the walk.
Related- with the changes, choose the line that helps you create the canter you need. With a horse that is lazy, you need to ride the changes close together to create a bit of anticipation. He demo-ed a figure of 8 with approx 12m circles, with the crossover at the middle heading towards the wall, allowing the correct positioning, creating anticipation but not allowing the horse to run.
With a horse that gets ahead of you, riding counter canter, across the diagonal and changing into the new counter canter can help because it's not an expected line, and the horse stays more on your aids.
Loved the session on developing tempis, could ramble on for ages on this. But 2 things really stuck in my mind - first that a pro rider actually said that a smooth change wasn't always easy to feel if it was true or late behind (Hallelujah) and secondly that you will have good and bad days "it'll make you cry one day, and you'll feel like you're riding at the Olympics the next".
Yup.
Next was the pony riders with Darryl Thickitt - have to say I was impressed by the attention to detail but found it very hard to relate to - definitely a smidge of the green eyed monster coming out because I'd have sold my soul at that age for the opportunities and schoolmasters they have at their disposal!!
Similarly Paul and Bobby Hayler - cracking horse to demo with, but I kind of got the message that if you hadn't been through ponies, young riders etc and based yourself with a pro then you may as well not bother, which was a shame as the rest of the weekend was very inclusive. Please correct me guys!
Loved Ferdi and Michael's session to wrap up Saturday. The theme was moving up to small tour, and I loved the approach of playing with the exercises, encouraging the horse to play with his body and see what he was capable with but without a hint of pressure or stress. Still making corrections when needed, but all positive and keeping the horse motivated and interested.
Michael's horse naturally has what Ferdi describes as a long 'swooping' movement so his work needs to prioritise being responsive, manoeuvrable and developing lateral suppleness. He doesn't need to practice stretching but does a little as a reward.
To quicken the hindlegs in preparation for the pirouettes - your leg impulse must go slightly quicker than the horse's natural offering of rhythm.
There was a sensible discussion between Ferdi and Stephen about whether the poll must always be the highest point, or whether it was acceptable to see it dip slightly lower. The consensus was that we must look beyond the musculature to what the skeleton is doing. It's more about the quality of the contact and self carriage, and whether the hindquarters are lowering in relation to the forehand. A cresty neck can be deceptive. Stephen suggested x ray specs for the judges :lol:
The afternoon descended into fits of giggles afterwards following a question from the audience about saddles suitable for the male anatomy, fair to say the Eilbergs are good for a laugh
Sunday to follow in a new post, I think!
First up on Saturday Ferdi and Michael Eilberg showed us how they start their young horses. Michael's horse was a 4yo and he gave a super demo of sensitive riding to allow the horse to take in the atmosphere but not allowing it to get overwhelmed.
Top tip from Ferdi - make it clear to the horse the order of importance of what it's learning. Which request and response is the most important (e.g. go forward) and which are then the added extras (e.g. go forward STRAIGHT). I thought that was great because it's all too easy to get bogged down in the detail, and lose the key elements
Second tip - if there is no challenge, there can be no improvement. Part of training the young horse is to challenge him and see what he can do, it's OK to make a mistake, just don't make a fuss about it.
Next was Stephen Clarke with 2 more advanced horses working about Elem, and he showed us some of the lateral work. I found Zoe Sleigh's horse quite distracting to watch so didn't write much! Anyone able to fill in the gaps?!
Followed by a fab session with Gareth Hughes looking at changes. Really good timing for me as that's what I'm working on at the moment with Kira. He started by saying " the most important thing is not to panic"
Good to hear!He started with the canter-walk-canter transitions, a strength building exercise. A timely reminder -the horse must be light on the hand in the canter, otherwise he will be on his head in the walk. The horse must commit to the walk - not dribble into it, and then a clear walk rhythm, then commit to the canter again.
He mentioned that you should choose your lines with care. The horse he rode showed tension in the walk, so riding canter-walk on the wall is a bad idea - the horse is trapped on the fence and you have nowhere to go to help it. If you ride the trans on a curving line across the school, then you can keep your inside leg on in the walk and ask the horse to step sideways around it until the tension is released and the horse relaxes to the walk.
Related- with the changes, choose the line that helps you create the canter you need. With a horse that is lazy, you need to ride the changes close together to create a bit of anticipation. He demo-ed a figure of 8 with approx 12m circles, with the crossover at the middle heading towards the wall, allowing the correct positioning, creating anticipation but not allowing the horse to run.
With a horse that gets ahead of you, riding counter canter, across the diagonal and changing into the new counter canter can help because it's not an expected line, and the horse stays more on your aids.
Loved the session on developing tempis, could ramble on for ages on this. But 2 things really stuck in my mind - first that a pro rider actually said that a smooth change wasn't always easy to feel if it was true or late behind (Hallelujah) and secondly that you will have good and bad days "it'll make you cry one day, and you'll feel like you're riding at the Olympics the next".
Yup.
Next was the pony riders with Darryl Thickitt - have to say I was impressed by the attention to detail but found it very hard to relate to - definitely a smidge of the green eyed monster coming out because I'd have sold my soul at that age for the opportunities and schoolmasters they have at their disposal!!
Similarly Paul and Bobby Hayler - cracking horse to demo with, but I kind of got the message that if you hadn't been through ponies, young riders etc and based yourself with a pro then you may as well not bother, which was a shame as the rest of the weekend was very inclusive. Please correct me guys!
Loved Ferdi and Michael's session to wrap up Saturday. The theme was moving up to small tour, and I loved the approach of playing with the exercises, encouraging the horse to play with his body and see what he was capable with but without a hint of pressure or stress. Still making corrections when needed, but all positive and keeping the horse motivated and interested.
Michael's horse naturally has what Ferdi describes as a long 'swooping' movement so his work needs to prioritise being responsive, manoeuvrable and developing lateral suppleness. He doesn't need to practice stretching but does a little as a reward.
To quicken the hindlegs in preparation for the pirouettes - your leg impulse must go slightly quicker than the horse's natural offering of rhythm.
There was a sensible discussion between Ferdi and Stephen about whether the poll must always be the highest point, or whether it was acceptable to see it dip slightly lower. The consensus was that we must look beyond the musculature to what the skeleton is doing. It's more about the quality of the contact and self carriage, and whether the hindquarters are lowering in relation to the forehand. A cresty neck can be deceptive. Stephen suggested x ray specs for the judges :lol:
The afternoon descended into fits of giggles afterwards following a question from the audience about saddles suitable for the male anatomy, fair to say the Eilbergs are good for a laugh
Sunday to follow in a new post, I think!
