Margo Scofield

2009 Region 8 Gifted Scholarship Recipient, for training in 2010

Before I start my report, I’d like to thank Carol Lavell and The Dressage Foundation for this opportunity. As a low-level amateur, it can be hard to get away and focus, actually immerse oneself in the dressage discipline. Yet when we do, it is so rewarding. I chose to use my scholarship to ride with Paula Kierkegaard of Redmond, WA, Oct 20-24, 2010. Paula makes regular tours of the east coast, teaching lessons from FL to Canada. I have ridden with Paula several times and was confident our lessons would be productive. Paula didn’t disappoint.

Margo and Bea - photo courtesy of Cove Creek Photography

My mare, Rappenhof Beatrix (“Bea”) and I have been together for seven years. She is a 20-year-old Trakehner mare with a great business-like attitude. She has a wonderful work ethic and is just waiting for “mom” to get with the program.

So, to get to the fun stuff… our lessons started off with some ground work, asking Bea to chew the bit and stretch into my hand. Paula is adamant that putting pressure on the bars and tongue of the horse is painful and unnecessary. She has taught me to lift the bit, putting pressure at the corner of the mouth, inviting the horse to chew and stretch forward, down and out. Bea is not allowed to curl or dive behind the vertical. Keeping her up and open is critical to developing and keeping pure gaits, which is possibly the biggest part of what we’re after. I mounted and Bea and I did a couple laps of the arena at the walk, me just asking her to flex and chew, first to the inside, then gently switching flexion to the outside. I really think this is Bea’s favorite part of our rides. She stretches forward and down and her back starts loosening and swinging. “OK, start picking her up. Keep her stretching,” Paula instructs. Bea finds it much easier to stay flexed to the right, so when we’re tracking left, I have to ask much more frequently to chew and flex.

Each lesson varies in how Paula starts us off. She evaluates where we’re at that day and starts exercises to get some of our basics ironed out. The first day, we start walking a square. At one corner, I ask for a 90 degree turn on the forehand to the right, then the next corner, a 90 degree turn on the haunches to the right. “Keep her forward, walk right out of that turn. PULSE your aids! Now…now… now. Good, good for you.” This is a recurring them in all our lessons. I tend to put my leg on and keep it there. Paula has been working tirelessly to help me remember to not only pulse my aids, but on my timing of my aids as well. We switch directions and work on our turns to the left. Bea is being a bit resistant moving her hindquarters (well, I shouldn’t say resistant. I haven’t been consistent asking her for cooperation). “If she ignores you, tap with the whip. If she ignores that, vibrate. If you still don’t get a response, thwack!” We work on getting quicker off my leg. The exercise is peppered with “PULSE your aids!” and “That wasn’t a tap, that was too much. I shouldn’t hear the whip touch her.”

Bea is now listening to every movement of my seat and legs (for better or worse, lol). She has gotten so tuned in and our walk has become just awesome! SO cool! “OK, off to trot. Keep her positioned…!” One of the most helpful tips I’ve taken home from Paula is that each corner is three attempts to ask your horse to chew. It’s amazing how that keeps Bea soft in my hands. “More ground covering!” and I ask Bea for a bigger trot. “Good! Good for you! Look up! Don’t stare at her neck, she didn’t come with directions! Now, give the inside. You can’t hold her there. Good… now give on the outside. Trust her…Look up! Now, turn early down the three quarter line and leg yield to the wall…” Our work on the square has made Bea so responsive; we get a leg yield like I’ve never had before! She doesn’t change her tempo, she stays straight and on the bit! I’m grinning ear to ear! Paula adds shoulder-in and travers, renvers… Bea is all business and is trying her heart out. And so we continue, Bea’s trot gets nicer and Bea starts really carrying herself.

And on we go to canter. I don’t think her canter is too bad, but by the time Paula has worked us through some more exercises, I’m sitting on a canter like I’ve never ridden before! We did have a bit of an issue to work out with Bea not maintaining the canter. I‘ve had this problem at home forever – Bea just sort of falls out into a trot seemingly whenever she feels she’s done enough canter. Paula had us do circles and leg yields and for awhile, had me tap, tap, tapping with each stride - “That was too much! Just a tap!... Good! Giiiive on the outside. Now, give on the inside. Look UP!” We did some canter/halt/canter transitions and Bea started paying more and more attention to my seat. I was even able to lengthen and then bring her back without breaking into a trot - a feat I’ve never been able to accomplish on my own. “Good… long rein. To the buckle, let her walk” and I welcome the chance to catch my breath as well! The rides that follow are similar. Paula takes note of the basic that needs the most work that day and starts us on a series of exercises. Sometimes, I don’t understand how the exercise is going to get us there, but it never fails. After our ride, Paula and I talk about how the exercises played together to get the results.

It was a wonderful week and I was sorry to see it end and already looking forward to Paula’s next trip to the east coast. Some of the most important teachings that I took away were: Pulse the aids! Keep her positioned. Look up! Keep her chewing and stretching – every corner is three chances to ask her to chew. If she goes too deep or behind the vertical, change it up right away – usually, by going into a leg yield or shoulder in, etc. As Paula warned, raising my hands doesn’t help and this didn’t fail to bring her back up. Look UP! Keep my flexion – at the poll, don’t just bend her neck! Lateral flexion leads to longitudinal flexion. And finally, it’s all about what the horse needs at that moment. The horse will tell you. Giiiiive!!