Marsha Williams

My Horse Tiger and I

For my week of training I chose to return to Brawley Farms in Jefferson, Oregon to work with my first dressage instructor, Rosanna Caswell, a USDF Certified Instructor. The Brawleys’ provide an idyllic setting for horse and rider. Tiger and I were both able to relax and be really focused. I was also able to watch a lot of wonderful horses being trained and lessons being taught and spend tons of time talking horses with old and new friends. I had the opportunity to ride several of the school horses who can perform some of the Third Level work I have not been able to experience for a few years due to starting a young horse. My main goal was to improve our Second Level work so we can prepare to move to Third Level.

My horse, Tiger, is a Connemara Thoroughbred cross gelding. He can be hot, he is sensitive, anxious and he has a bit of a passive resistant streak. For the past two years we have struggled with the concept of connection. As a training and first level horse he went around quite contentedly on a light contact with light, swingy gaits. As an amateur trainer I made the error of not introducing connection early enough. The horse is obedient and forward but our scores have been lower due to the lack of connection. I feel the horse and I have the ability to move up the levels if we can achieve this level on the training scale.

After doing quite well in Training and First Level we came to some big disappointments in Second Level. I was beginning to get very discouraged. Time and time again we would ride in clinics and seminars and I would come home feeling good about the progress we were making, ride by myself for weeks with little or no feedback, go to a show and get disappointing scores (55-60%) with the same comments: Obedient horse, capable pair, not round, not through, not connected. I would wonder what is it that happens at the shows? Am I too tense? Is the horse too nervous? Does Tiger hate Dressage? What is the reason we can’t seem to do better?

What I learned in my week with Rosanna is simply what we hear and read about all the time “we have holes in our training”. We are not consistently proven at some of the lower blocks of the training scale. The horse can and will do the work (yes with a little complaining) if I consistently demand it of him. When I am faced with an instructor demanding that I do my part of the work we do just great. When we get home I ride the horse faithfully feeling great about the progress we had made in the month or two since the last clinic. He goes around happily with comfy gaits and no argument because I have allowed him to choose the level of effort he wishes to commit to. It feels bigger and better than it is and I am lulled into satisfaction.  This goes on for weeks until the next clinic when we invariably are reminded the horse isn’t really moving off the leg, he isn’t really connected (that is a fake headset he is very good at) and we really need to get to work! This usually results in a short temper tantrum which I am much more confident at handling with a trusted instructor talking me through and guess what? We get through the rest of the lesson with a round horse who is truly connected and through.

The first lesson the first day set the tone for the week. I did a total of six lessons on Tiger, two lessons on school horses and one time I rode a school horse by myself. The school horses were very well trained, but, being school horses they had to be asked correctly and convincingly and it was good to practice my aides and realize where I might be giving a confusing message to the horse. As the days progressed Tiger sort of puffed up and became much rounder in the work. Towards the end of the week we rode Second Level Tests 3 and 4 and I was pleased as I felt much more confident that Tiger was going to respond to my preparatory half halts and stay committed to the connection.

In looking through my journal notes of the week I found the same topics coming up repeatedly. First of all you have to get the horse to be loose by not allowing him to become tense. Use your warm up time effectively. Encourage longer steps by going slower. Circle, and change the bend often and use the leg yield to prepare for the crossing required in the lateral work. Use transitions within the gaits and progress to transitions between the gaits. But always keep the same level of looseness without allowing anything to change when you adjust the horse. It might be necessary to use some type of half halt almost every step of the way to keep the horse steady and committed. You can lose the horse’s attention in a heartbeat and every time you do that you have to start over. Don’t waste your time in the saddle starting over time and again. Force yourself to work harder not longer or you will never get the good work. Really, really prepare for every change. A continuous conversation is going on between your aides and the horse. The beauty of the week long session is I heard all of this enough times and repeated the physical coordination of the aides enough times that I finally have formed some new habits that are becoming innate. I feel the question and give the answer without having to think about it.

I know now that improvement is possible and progress is possible but only if I commit myself to the level of performance, the mental concentration, and physical relaxation required and demand the same of the horse. Some people can make this look easy. Trust me it is not easy. Dressage is a sport of intrinsic reward. Once in a lesson we were working on roundness “rounder! Rounder! rounder! That horse can never be round enough…what I meant was I’ll tell you when that horse is too round!” I’m working for that day now.