The Gifted Fund

Karen Bates

USDF Region 1

Learning How To Handle The Monkey On Your Back...

I recently had the opportunity to train with Anne Gribbons in Florida; this would not have been possible without the support of The Dressage Foundation, Caroll Lavell and the Gifted Fund Committee. Also I would very much like to thank my husband who has supported me in every way in the pursuit of my passion for horse riding. On January 7th I traveled with my horse O'Neill to Knoll Dressage in Chuluota, FL where I felt immediately at home, as this was my second visit to Anne's training facility in Florida. Over the next 4 weeks I would have a lesson 5 days a week and also watch other people in training or Anne ride her own horses.

My horse O'Neill is a Belgian Warmblood gelding and schoolmaster, who has been my teacher for almost 2 years. The focus of the training was going to be for O'Neill to move up from I-1 to I-2 through improvement of his balance, collection and self-carriage, so he could be introduced to the Grand Prix movements such as Piaffe, Passage and one-tempi's. Another goal was for me to reinforce and improve the correctness of my position and balance as a rider, so we can work in better harmony.

Anne initially stressed a series of principles and I would like to share some of the training principles Anne follows, rather than give you a day to day recount of the training:

• Position and balance of the rider & the horse
• The correct seat
• The 1-2-3 rule
• Timing

The first and one of the most important elements of riding is the position and balance of the rider and the horse. The center of gravity of both horse and rider have to be the same, as it is otherwise much more difficult to execute a movement. Anne used this wonderful metaphor: "Imagine a ballerina doing pirouettes with a monkey climbing all over her back, instead of sitting still in her center of gravity. The first thing you know is that she would be losing her balance." That image has stayed with me while riding and many times even made me smile during tests. She stressed "The importance of a correct seat" and put me on the lunge line in order to improve mine. I had to sit on both seat bones to the front of the saddle, close to the pommel, seat bones pointing straight down while keeping your heels down and toes in. Your legs should be wrapped around the horse 'like a wet Turkish towel', hanging down in a relaxed way; and be like cellophane against your horse's sides. No gripping, clamping or nagging with the heels and spurs; but a like a little 'heart beat' supporting the horse in his rhythm. For about 2 weeks I would be lunged for about 15-20 minutes before my lesson; without stirrups or reins I had to make the horse halt, walk, trot and canter using just my seat and leg.

This brings us to another one of Anne's principles: "The One – Two – Three rule." This means very simply that in order to make any transition, you ask with your Seat (lower back and abdomen) first, your Leg secondly and thirdly you can use the Whip if there is still no response. Your horse has to be 'in front of your leg' (and seat) and always has to think "Forward". This especially applies to young horses. It is also important to make the transitions "as if you are an airplane." You land on the rear wheels first and you take off from the rear wheels of a plane, lifting the nose. Therefore it is crucial to have the weight of the horse mainly on his hind legs and work with the powerhouse you can create from there.

Another important element of riding is straightness. The rider should keep his/her hips aligned with the horse's hips and her/his shoulders aligned with the shoulders of the horse. If the rider sits crooked on the horse, the horse will inevitably follow suit and become crooked. If the horse tends to be crooked to one side, it is the rider's job to help the horse to become straight. Without straightness there can be no collection, as defined in the training scale.

To improve the horse's balance and self-carriage, we need to work with many half halts. An absolute no-no is to pull on the horse's mouth. Many times Anne would shout "Don't pull, Push!" You have to half halt with your seat, push him forward into the connection and make the horse release himself and get lighter in your hand. That indicates he has shifted some of his weight to the hind legs and is in a better self-carriage. Once he is there, you have to keep repeating it often enough to remind your horse to stay in balance and self-carriage. It will also allow for the horse to bring his withers up and free his shoulders.

Last year, I mainly worked on my position and the lightness of my horse, as like many horses he tried to use my hands as a fifth leg. I have learned to shift his weight back through half halts and a consistent 'outside rein-inside leg' connection. Exercises such as shoulder in – haunches in have helped to unlock his neck and shoulders and to be more supple laterally. After my training last year I very successfully competed O'Neill at PSG and attempted some I-1.

This year, I wanted to focus on a better quality for the I-1 and the further training of O'Neill into the I-2 and Grand Prix. To achieve the amount of collection to be able to do these movements, you need to start with an excellent connection.

Anne explained to me a horse can disconnect in 4 places:

• the mouth
• the throat
• the neck/withers
• the back, which is usually a result of the 3 first ones

One excellent way to know if your horse is well connected back to front is in the rein-back. If the horse reins back willingly and then steps forward into the bridle, the connection is established back to front and over the back. If not, then it means the horse has disconnected somewhere and is most probably bracing or locked in one of those places.

Since Anne is an active international judge and competitor, it was very interesting to hear both the judge's and rider's point of view. During my stay I had the opportunity to join Anne to a CDI and sit in the judge's box with her, while watching the competitors. I also was able to ride through tests, while Anne would 'judge' me and give me scores.

Once the connection was well established, we focused on the impulsion. We needed the motor to be running behind and we needed it to keep running to supply the necessary power and energy to the front. To achieve this, we would work with half steps and piaffe steps, so the hind legs became more active. Of course the hardest part is to keep the activity from behind and then to channel this energy forward and upward through suspension and cadence, rather than speed.

At first O'Neill was resistant to the increased amount and difficulty of work. He would try to disconnect or channel his energy to "escaping". We kept working on the piaffe and passage, because it would make him stronger and more 'from behind' for the pirouettes and the extensions. During our last week, we had a real breakthrough and O'Neill really started to accept the amount of "sitting" to be done. We also worked on the one-tempi's, which I found to be very much a matter of timing and balance.

I learned about how to sit in the changes, how to look up and to look where you want to go, sit straight and not to lean forward; move the legs only a little and mainly ask the change from your hips. It makes you more aware of how things feel rather than how they look. Then for the 1-tempi's the added difficulty is about when you ask for the change. With my limited experience, it proved to be so much faster, while you have to stay in control of the motion. You have to ask as soon as the first change is happening, because the horse needs the time to process the aid into the brain and send the information back to his body to make the switch.

"Everything is about timing" is one of Anne's favorite expressions, which very much applies to riding the tempi changes, but also to riding in general!

Again, this year has been a wonderful experience for both me and my horse and we have enjoyed to be able to immerse ourselves with nothing but horses, training and excellent examples. I also want to thank Anne for her dedication and for letting me ride her Grand Prix horse Aureate, so I could experience how a "10" piaffe and passage feel like! It was an absolute highlight during my stay. Hopefully the results in the show ring this year will be the testimony of our hard work!