The Gifted Fund

Marilyn Kulifay

USDF Region 9

Addressing Long-Standing Agreements

First of all, many thanks to the Dressage Foundation, Carol Lavell and Gifted for such an outstanding opportunity to improve my riding through the Dressage Foundation's Gifted Fund Scholarship. My horse, Bacchus, thanks you too!

My goal is to compete at Prix St. Georges this year, and fortunately I was awarded this wonderful grant to help me progress toward my goal.

As an introduction, I am an adult amateur who resides in

Marily Kulifay and her horse Bacchus

Texas, along with my horse, Bacchus, a lovely bay thoroughbred who is sometimes a bit opinionated. And sometimes it takes some doing to change his mind. For example, a few years back, I was riding him in an arena that had barriers then open spaces between, so that you could ride your horse from inside the arena out onto the grass along the long side. When Bacchus began anticipating certain movements, my trainer suggested that I ride him between the barriers onto the grass. As I attempted to do this, he stopped dead and put his ears back, disapproving, since he knew that you never, ever step outside of the arena!

Bacchus and I have had many long-standing agreements. One such agreement is that he leans on the right rein and takes very light contact on the left. Being right handed, I am totally in tune with this tendency and have a habit of pulling back my right shoulder and hip to help pull/brace on the right side. Now, before anyone jumps to the conclusion that Bacchus has done something wrong, please consider that I have been right-handed all my life and perhaps, just perhaps, I braced on the right rein first, and his response was to brace in return! Another agreement we have is that he comes onto the bit better when jogging (think Western Pleasure, after all, we are in Texas) around the arena, but when asked for more energy, he has a tendency to brace and hold in his neck, poll and withers.

Enter Paul Kathen, a wonderful trainer of German background (born and raised in Doerpen) who fortunately for us has made his home here in Texas. Paul has his Bronze and Silver Medals in teaching and training from the German Federal Equestre Nationale (FN) as well as numerous other German and USDF honors.

We began our week of training in February. This was a bit of a gamble since February in Texas can be in the 70's or in the 30's and rainy, but fortunately, the weather was pleasant and dry.

Paul and I began by addressing two issues - connection and straightness. Of course, we addressed them in typical Germanic fashion: on a twenty-meter circle. As to connection, I was to "give" without actually letting out the rein. Paul described this as relaxing my ring fingers and forearms. The point was not to have longer and longer reins, since overly-long reins made my seat unstable. Again and again, Paul corrected my position and rein length to achieve a better connection. As an aside, it was interesting to note that as Bacchus became tired of carrying himself, he had a tendency to take more hurried steps or to lengthen his stride.

On Day Two, we covered the subject of riding from back to front. The key concept was that one must have enough energy coming from behind to be able to shape it in front. Paul is a stickler for more leg and less rein action. Again and again he encouraged me to use my inside leg while massaging the inside rein and keeping the outside rein steady but elastic. The outside rein was to regulate the tempo. A related concept was that the horse, with energy from behind, must stretch over the topline, not just drop his neck. Bacchus is a sweet horse, but if he stretched into the bridle, he refrained from stepping under, and when he stepped under, he was not keen on stretching into the bridle. The third concept Paul covered was to have even rein contact. (This was a challenge, considering the long-standing agreement under which Bacchus and I had been operating.) As I worked to become more even in the reins, I could feel my left latissimus dorsi (underneath the left angel bone) and my right hip get tired - a good sign in my mind that I was using more right leg, and had better contact on the left rein.

The lesson on Day Three was to ride stretched over the topline, so that my horse would be stepping under while stretching into the bridle. To help with this goal, Paul pointed out that there would need to be consistency in the contact. As I worked for more consistency with a lighter feel in the right rein and a stronger connection in the left, I felt a little discouraged in that this was not coming to me or Bacchus very quickly at all. Giving myself the old pep talk, "sometimes it is darkest before dawn," I trudged on...

Day Four was sunny and cold, but a breakthrough was in the air. As I was getting into the habit of using more inside leg, Bacchus and I focused on trot-canter transitions and trot-walk transitions. The transitions kept getting smoother and smoother. I worked to keep a steady, elastic connection on the outside rein. I kept rhythmically massaging with the inside leg and massaging the inside rein. I kept my weight on my right seat bone and refrained from pulling my right shoulder back. I worked to ride primarily with my seat. At the end, I was exhausted -- what a work-out!

Day Five came with a lot of helpful observations: one key is the canter to trot transition, as Bacchus loves to stretch over his topline in the downward transition. Then my job is to keep the stretch going as long as possible. As I became more aware of my body and shoulder positioning, I became straighter in the saddle and Bacchus became straighter in the bridle. As we ended on a good note, Paul summed up the whole experience: "We really made progress this week - I am tickled pink." And so am I.

Gifted Fund Application

Applications for the 2012 Carol Lavell Gifted Fund, for training in 2013 are due in The Dressage Foundation office on or before September 15, 2012.
Application

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