Report on Philippe Karl style lesson

[Booboos]

My instructor has moved to the north (sniff, sniff) and I am trying out a new lady. For anyone who does not know him Freddy is a tough nut to crack as he is both behind the leg and stiff in the neck. If you manage to get him forwar going he becomes really stiff, if you get him more supple he shuffles along with no impulsion.

New instructor watched us warm up and then said she had been attending some Ecole de Legeritee seminars and she though this approach might help him. I have read Karl's book but can't say I understood much about his methods, but being shown something like this is always easier than reading about it.

The fist idea we tried out in halt. As soon as the horse becomes hollow you close your fingers and raise your hands high up pulling back. This pulls the bit to the back of the mouth rather than the sides and is supposed to be kinder. You hold until you feel the horse take the bit forward and you release the pressure. Then we moved the shoulders a lot with little pirouettes and an exercise where you do 20m and 10m circles with the shoulders to the outside. Freddy found this quite difficult to do on the left rein in particular. In canter he gave up and broke into walk, but as I repeated the exercise during the week he got more used to it.

When I worked on all this on my own I did find it made him a lot more supple, but he really lost impulsion so I had to stop and take him for a forward canter with no contact just to get him going.

In the second lesson we repeated these exercises but with transitions between paces and within the pace which helped with the impulsion problems. We also did the world's most complicated exercise:
On the left rein at A turn the head to the inside
Long side shoulder in, head kept to the inside
10m half circle, head to the left, and half pass to the track
Short side renvers, head still to the left
Long side something I had never heard of before, shoulder is as normal but head still to the left (sounds awful but surprisingly easy to do)
Then 10m half circle and leg yield right back to the track

This worked really well, it really freed the shoulder and allowed him to engage and remain soft.

All in all very interesting ideas and I have never come across anything like this before. I have a slight reservation about the impulsion issue but for now it seems to be benefiting him.

Just a note of caution, these exercises wouldn't all work for any horse. I also ride a PRE who is super sensitive and hot and we both thought the arms in the air idea would blow his brains. The shoulders to the outside on a circle though help him re-establish his rhythm when he tends to rush onwards.

 

[Wheels]

Glad you enjoyed it, I'm following some of his methods with my horse.

One thing I think I should correct, not sure if your instructor has misunderstood something or has not explained it to you but in legerete we never pull back, in the exercise you describe you should lift your hands so that the bit works on the corner of the lips only and not on the tongue or the bars. This is an absolute fundamental within this system

 

[Orangehorse]

Glad you enjoyed it, I'm following some of his methods with my horse.

One thing I think I should correct, not sure if your instructor has misunderstood something or has not explained it to you but in legerete we never pull back, in the exercise you describe you should lift your hands so that the bit works on the corner of the lips only and not on the tongue or the bars. This is an absolute fundamental within this system

Exactly - do NOT pull back. I had a weekend, "taster session" I suppose, and my horse has never, ever gone better and he is a teenager. I have read the books and agree that it is very hard to get your head round a new idea just by reading. And some of it is "fry your brain" type things. However, all roads lead to Rome, and this is just a different method.

Good luck with the lessons. Has your instructor been through the 3 year training programme? (That is, riding instructors attend a series of weekend courses throughout 3 years). These are taught by Phillippe Karl and only those who have gone through this training and been passed by him can call themselves Instructors in this method. Not sure what they call themselves.

I would certainly train a new horse with these methods, but having my teenager and no local instructor I decided that I might end up getting confused.

 

[philamena]

Agree - it's purely a lift, bringing the bit up in to the corners off the mouth, off the tongue and bars, never a pull back. And when it's not working cus your technique's slipped, make sure you are lifting the bit (I call it crazy hands!) with your elbows in to your sides and long reins.
I have to say that using some of these techniques completely changed my warmblood who has a lot of push and was getting stuck pushing into her own shoulders and had been trained overbent, so didn't know about proper neck extension and reaching into the rein . Having neck extension on tap is great for her, plus the suppling work is really effective, and the lightening of the shoulder makes an enormous difference. On the impulsion front, I would say it's really worth getting your PK style work video'd. I remember early on saying it felt like my horse had turned into a donkey but seeing it, it was completely different, and getting the shoulders out the way has meant there's much more natural impulsion rather than the push I'd come to associate with impulsion - but I had to practise it to get it, and then SEE IT to realise it.

I now combine it with someone who teaches using centred riding techniques and classical methods a la Charles de Kunffy, and between the two approaches, using bits of each depending on what we need at the time, have made massive inroads and can look 'normal' for comps while not needing to revert to the push we had and were increasing before... I'd keep playing with it - it doesn't have to be all or nothing - even just the action-reaction and neck yielding can be really helpful.

 

[FFAQ]

Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed your lesson. My horse and I are also having PK style lessons with a lady from Launceston. We're still on the ground work stage as Barny hasn't been bitted before (he's only 5 and I started him bitless). I did attend a clinic with qualified instructor, Veronica Buhn in November and enjoyed it so much that I've booked Barny and I in to ride in April (so I hope I learn some more between then and now)!

Will you be having another lesson?

 

[Booboos]

I don't know what training she has done exactly, she said she had attended seminars and PK is very close to us. Will ask her.

In the hands up exercise we only do it in halt at the moment and I do need to tense my arms quite a bit otherwise nothing happens. Merely lifting the arms has no effect, but maybe different horses have different reactions? She specifically said not to do this exercise with the PRE as he would freak out as he is very sensitive to any kind of pressure.

Regarding the impulsion it is truly a problem. When fed up he goes from canter to walk and refuses to get out of walk, even during competitions, so sadly it does not look better than it feels!

I have discovered in the last year that he has EPMS so I suspect many of his problems may be down to that. I am still tweaking his diet for more energy but so far I have seen a big improvement on a sugar free diet.

I am having weekly lessons so will let you know how we progress.

 

[Wheels]

Well obviously having a healthy horse is a good starting point

Did you instructor have you teach this exercise from the ground first? PK would often say this exercise is easier done from the saddle in trot as the forward motion and impulsion can help the horse to 'get' the exercise. I have seen several hot and sensitive horses benefit greatly when this is done correctly. It does sound a little like this instructor has missed a few steps or not quite grasped the principles in full. If you are interested in this method of training then it might be worth finding someone who is one of his licensed instructors. There is a list of all licensed trainers and all trainees on his website.

 

[Booboos]

I'm not particularly interested in this method of training other than trying things that might work. What she has suggested so far seems to work so I am happy to go with it. I'm giving the horse two weeks holiday at the moment but when he is back at work I can post some photos of what this exercise looks like.

She's not on his list of instructors, I assume you are though?

 

[Wheels]

No I'm not an instructor at all just a very avid listener and spectator

 

[Kelpie]

Fantastic you enjoyed the lesson - though yes, hands up, never back.......

..... I'm lucky enough to be now half way through PK's UK teacher training program, having watched the first UK group for the 3 years before that. When I first started it all, some things seemed quite odd but honestly, the man's a genius!

 

[philamena]

Regarding the impulsion it is truly a problem. When fed up he goes from canter to walk and refuses to get out of walk, even during competitions, so sadly it does not look better than it feels!
.

Oh haha, yes, that probably looks pretty much how it feels ;-)

And action-reaction can need to be quite firm as they learn it, but gets much subtler as they get it!

 

[spookypony]

Very interested to hear how you progress. Are Freddy and the SP members of some sort of secret refusal-to-move society?

 

[Booboos]

In retrospect I think Freddy has been greatly affected by his EPMS and I feel really guilty not to have diagnosed it sooner. I looked for ulcers and lameness and back problems and teeth and tack...but I only stumbled upon metabolic problems by coincidence. Do you think the Spooky One may have a similar problem? Freddy's reluctance to move is very atypical e.g. getting stuck after a hack within two metres of his stable.