Katy Barglow

2011 Recipient of a $1,250 Continuing Education for Dressage Instructors Grant

Katy and Relic, Photo by Tamara Torti

In the winter of 2011, I attended the three USDF Certification workshops: Riding, teaching, and lunging. All 3 were held in Walnut Creek, CA, with USDF Instructor Certification Faculty member Rachel Saavedra.

Riding Workshop

The first weekend was the riding workshop. We rode our own horses the first day, then each other horse's the second. I brought my wonderful Grand Prix horse (whom I have owned and trained since he was three). With him we worked mainly in the canter, using exercises (transitions walk-canter-walk and canter-school canter-medium canter) to improve the quality and the straightness. The 2nd day I switched onto a lovely 9 year old mare. We worked primarily on her throughness, getting her hotter to the aids, which really improved the quality of her gaits. The emphasis both days was on our effectiveness and our thinking-- how we evaluated horses, made plans to improve them, carried out those plans, and discussed all aspects of the ride. Here are some of the most useful notes I took during this weekend:

- Stiff/hollow side: Horses are usually hollow left, stiff right. We feel the stiff/hollow in the reins, but it comes from the hind legs. On the hollow side, the horse wants to avoid working correctly by stepping to the inside with the hind leg. They feel bendable this direction, but want to be crooked. The hollow-side reins tends to bend the horse. On the stiff side, the horse avoids by pushing the hind foot out behind, putting more pressure into the rein on that side.

Ideally, the inside rein is flexing rein and outside rein gives longitudinal connection to hind feet. On hollow side you get this. On stiff side, outside rein tends to flex the horse, while inside rein connects to hind. Work with this (more bilateral half-halts for collection), but work to strengthen horse so he becomes more even.  You want to work towards having an inside and outside rein in both directions. You want more connection on hollow rein and a softer connection on stiff rein: encourage the horse to fill the rein on the hollow side. Some riders/horses have gotten good at masking the stiff side (overbending in that direction)—the hind, not the head, determines stiff/hollow.  To achieve this symmetry, you have to work the horse asymmetrically.  -1st position—slight shoulder fore. Use on hollow side when hind avoids engagement by collapsing, stepping laterally. 2nd position- sl haunches in (HI). Use on stiff ride when hind avoids engagement by pushing out behind. Counter canter (esp on hollow lead) and shoulder in (SI) (on hollow side) to renvers are also good for this—move horse longitudinally to the softer rein, connect leg to hand on hollow side, for straightening and strengthening. Use Uberstreichen on the stiff side, not the hollow.

- Ride transitions of: Length of stride, tempo, posture. If it’s not working, make him: deeper, higher, faster, slower, straighter, more bent, etc!

- Don’t be afraid to ride physically—bring out your inner athlete. Mold the putty. Light is not always better—lightness must come from connection, not the lack thereof.  Be greedy! Ask a lot, accept a little, praise often. Go up and down the pyramid to solve training problems.  In general, ride young horses with a tighter noseband and slightly higher bit—so they learn to yield in their bodies, not by evading in the mouth.

- If an aid does not go through, first relinquish the opposing aid. Especially true for bend issues—allow convexity, then connect to outside rein.

- Collection should add something, not take anything away. More leg for collection, more power!  The rein aid teaches collection, then you need it less and less. The release is key. Self carriage comes from the release of the aid—horse is responsible for own balance.

- Think of the withers as a dorsal fin—keep them upright. Inside thigh corrects a leaning horse.

- Straightness: straight horse on straight line, bent horse on bent line. Lateral work = bent horse on straight line. Lateral work is often a trade-off: you increase suppleness/engagement but often lose impulsion. Use blending: use medium and canter trans to improve impulsions. Dovetail trot and canter work. Marry engagement and impulsion.

-Tempo: Be the mud. Think elbow heavier than hand. Extreme irregularity of tempo often leads to rhythm problems.

- Hot/tense horses: versus getting out of his way for relaxation, actively ride—no pressure/force, but influence. Not all change is improvement, but there can be no improvement without change. Instead of sitting light with a low/wide hand and no leg, hug with leg and connect with elbow. Reshape the corridor the horse goes through. Your elbow belongs to their neck, but your body belong to you!

- Rhythm issues: lateral walks, lameness in trot, lateral canter. Also pedastaling the canter—outside front lands behind the vertical—common in school canter/pirouette canter.

- Suppleness is physical. Relaxation is mental and physical. Some level of arousal is needed for peak performance. There is a bell shaped curve for performance vs arousal—know when to push and when to back off.

- Action =bending of joints in the air. Impulsion = bending of joints on the ground. Impulsion = snap or thrust from engaged position. Quick behind = quick off the ground.

Teaching Workshop

The second weekend was the teaching workshop. Our organizer had lined up some super horse/rider pairs for us. My first level was a Junior on her 1st/2nd level mare, who tended to drop her poll and get crooked. We had a very productive lesson (though I was a bit overambitious in the information I wanted to impart!), focusing in particular on her mechanic in the canter and her position in walk-trot-walk transitions to improve the horses uphill balance. The second day I had the pleasure of teaching one of our local Grand Prix riders on her lovely 6 year old. This horse had tremendous quality in his gaits but needed to develop more carrying power. I utilized counter-canter and shoulder-in/straighten on the new line/shoulder-in exercises and he showed a super increase in rideability and collection in the canter. Here are some more useful exercises/notes I took during the weekend that I have since used in my teaching:

- Learning can be visual, auditory, kinesthetic. Teaching is mostly auditory, but use imagery, show with your body, draw things in the dirt, trot around the ring. Place their body, hold their reins and be the horse. Set up exercises so they feel what you want them to feel. Mimic what they do, but don’t be negative about it. Be efficient—use 1 word directives when possible. Be clear—“move your foot 4 inches back”.

- With experienced riders, they usually do things for a reason—it serves them. If they won’t/can’t change think why—what tool is missing? Give them a new tool to replace the one you take away. (example-inside leg back in SI). Let the mistake happen, then analyze. Pick a spot in the ring to analyze position each time they ride by.

- Set up increments for success. Be a cheerleader for horse and rider. Confirm skills as well as teaching new ones. Identify the gap between what they know and don’t know, and break it down into steps. Confirm each step. Dressage is very present tense, immediate goals—look between the ears, not around the corner. Communicate the most pertinent ideas in the most efficient way, on a need-to-know basis--- what is pertinent for that horse in that moment?

- Don’t get stuck on a lower-level problem in an upper-level horse. Explore with exercises. Sometimes a more advanced exercise (half steps, SI) can help a simpler problem (connection).

- Make a plan. Keep it focused—1 focus, several exercises.  Each exercise should answer a question or bring out a problem. Stiff/hollow, pushing/carring power, purity of gait—does “X” improve it?

For example: rhythm issues in trot and canter. Contact issues- rider lacks influence thru contact. Tempo issues—horse hurries, leading to balance issues. Then make a plan—Rider needs tools to regulate tempo without relying entirely on hand. Teach the mechanic of the walk (and canter)—halfhalt on backswing. Use thigh to regulate tempo. Use lateral work to unlock back. LY/TOF concept introduces the diagonal halfhalt for regulation.

- Treat mistake/issues as as eye-opening—“how fascinating!”

- Exercises (movements, transitions) give information (horse was not through in the poll) and also increase qualities (after that SI he carried better weight behind). Old tests are a good source of exercises. Also try doing tests in reverse (opposite direction)—can be surprisingly hard!

Lunging Workshop

The final weekend, lunging, dawned in a massive west coast rainstorm, with pouring rain and howling winds. All of the horses were high as kites, which made things challenging. Still, it was a good lesson for all of us on how to bring a horse to focus, to put them to your aids on the end of the lunge line. We ended up postponing the second day, lunging the rider, until the following month when we could hear a little better in the ring. We acted as guinea pigs for each other, so each of us got to both teach a lunging lesson and receive one. I got some great new exercises for lunging the rider that I have since incorporated into my training program. Some key notes (for both lunging of horse and rider) are below.

Lunging the Horse:

- Assess the horse: temperament, reaction to whip—do turns on the forehand in both directions. Look at conformation and topline tendencies—is the horse the inverting type? The push-thru-you type? Push or carry type?

- Don’t be afraid to push the envelope—until you do, you don’t know what will happen. Especially horses who speed up and cut in, you must push them out to the end of the line so you have a half-halt—then use strong half halts to control speed. Push the energy—even if tail goes up!—to bring them to the contact and your influence, then ride short sharp halfhalts. If you lose control, come back to walk.

- In general, shorten sidereins in 3-4 hole increments everytime you change direction. In general, shorter side reins mean you can push horse more. Fasten outside side rein, then inside—have whip ready to go to push horse forward as soon as fastened. People tend to err on the side of too long side reins.  When you change rein, don’t do so into a wall—bring horse to middle so they do not feel trapped. With telewhip put out behind you, ok for lash to trail (like a tail).

- Think about the training pyramid—rhythm, tempo, relaxation, contact (side reins), impulsion (lunging quietly vs gymnastically), straightness (stiff/hollow side). Remember that bend issues are much more obvious from the outside of the circle. Use transitions. Use walk if the walk quality and the contact are both solid. Sometimes walk work helps the connection, othertimes it gets worse without impulsion.

- Give voice and body aids together. Use verbal half-halts “And” with a different intonation. Know voice commands in german—Schritt, Trabm Galopp—and the german Trill to slow down. Ask voice aids of the owner. Some horses are super sensitive to body language; test and use that. Where you are pointed—rear or front—can change things a lot. For horses who ignore downward trans aids (most often to halt)—step sideways towards their front end.

- Keep whip up at halt, and when bringing horse to slower gait—you do not take your leg off a horse who is getting quick. Think 2-4 “castings” of the whip per circle so it stays moving (like a leg aid reminder).

- Send and flex, send and half-halt in quick succession.

- Achieve one thing—circle size, impulsion, etc—before you start to work on another.

- Snake lines—vertical to move further out on circle, horizontal to slow down.

Lunging the Rider:

- Horse is vehicle for training rider—horse goes on autopilot so trainer can focus on rider. Longer side reins (Vienna reins ok) versus for gymnastic lunging. Remove side rein for mounting/dismounting, and for long periods at halt (demos, discussions)—anytime you are not paying strict attention to the horse.

- Run through a battery of standard exercises until it gets difficult for the rider to maintain their position. For experienced riders lose the stirrups asap (cross them over). Then arm circles, arms out/up/sideways, rotate left and right (head only, shoulders only), pronate/supernate through hips, etc, till issues are revealed.

For more of Katy's report, including sample exercises, visit http://www.barglowdressage.com/DF_report.pdf

Go to the Continuing Education for Dressage Instructors grant page.