Dressage Horse Training: Half-Steps Part I

Hello Everyone,

I took the feedback from Sarah Martin in her newsletter and have worked on her suggestions.  Keeping my hands low, moving my lower leg further back.  I have also been working with Donzer to try to let him know I am asking for half-steps and not a foreword trot.  This video shares my real-time thoughts.

 

Please use my troubleshooting methods to think about your own training processes.

Good Riding,

Tara Nolan

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

Dressage Horse Training: Additive value of a trainer

Hello Everyone,

If you didn’t know, Donzer is in California with my trainer and I wanted to share some of the awesome benefit of working with a mentor and trainer.  Your trainer can see a lot but there is more they can tell by actually riding your horse.  Here is what Donzer has been telling Sarah:

“Obvious in Donzer’s body- Tara has NO left leg, and twists in her pelvis. D gets very confused on walk/canter and wants to blast thru transition, which indicates lack of confidence. Does not position into shoulder fore without many tries- like 5! When in shoulder fore wants to blast forward rather than carry through shoulder girdle. This makes trot strides very short and quick, and canter very choppy.”

Now that Sarah understands exactly what I am doing, our lessons are going to be even more effective.  I’ve told Sarah about these things but now after riding Donzer, Sarah really understands in her body the challenges I have in my body.  I am going to see Donzer at the end of February and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Good Riding,

Tara

Dressage Horse Training: Turn on the Haunches

Hello Everyone,

I am building on my collected walk work to the turn on the haunches.  Donzer has a tendancy to stick his inside hind leg on his turns and step pretty wide with his outside hind leg.  My challenge is feeling it and then correcting it.  I have employed my ground person  to verify if the hind leg is moving or not and working on feeling the difference.  I am playing with overdoing my hips and sits bones and then doing less.  I am finding that overdoing the aid makes it more clear in my head and body what I am doing. Once I have the aid clear for myself, I am able to do less and Donzer usually gets it.

Good Riding,

Tara

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

Dressage Horse Training: Developing Your Seat as a Rider

Hello Everyone,

I have to say that it’s all about me.  Everytime I fix my body, Donzer says “thank you, I’m glad you figured it out finally.”  I really began feeling that my left hip was not as mobile and agile as my right hip.  I’ve always had a problem reliably getting my left lead canter.  When I found the western reining trainer’s flying change exercise a few weeks ago, I played with the exercise.  I’ve now added a few more focus items and made it my dressage hip training exercise.

I am going to recommend you play with overdoing and I know you’ve heard a hundred times in your lessons “Less is more.”  I agree with this statement once you understand what you are asking and your body actually agrees to do it.  Playing with your balance and feel at the walk is not going to destroy your horse and it will help you find the “less is more” spot to be.

I was trying to reconcille the different positions for the different movements.

Half-pass:

For half-pass you need to use your oblique ab muscles to move your body in the direction of the half-pass.  This is awkward because your body wants to fall back to the outside when you’re first learning.

Haunches in:

For haunches in you almost want to pull the horse’s hind end over with your lower ab muscles.  I began this by pushing with my outside seat bones but this would inevitably put my weight to my outside instead of over my inside seat bone.

Flying Changes:

In the moment of the change you shift your weight to your outside seatbone to help “kick the hindleg through” but, you then reshift your weight back to the inside front sits bone.

Leg Yield:

Your weight is even and the motion of your core muscles should move the horse over.

This video shows you have I’ve been playing with the above shifts in my weight.  I can tell you that my right lower back has been talking to me and I am also getting better canter departs.

 

Good riding,

Tara

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

Military Uniform in Equestrian Dressage Competition

Hello everyone,

I came across a forum where the discussion topic was wearing a uniform in equestrian competition.  The guidance is two-fold.  You can visit the United States Equestrian Federation website and look up the rules regarding clothing for competition.  Second, you can google the current uniform regulations for your service.I’ve been getting some questions and hope this helps.  For the Air Force the regulation is:

AIR FORCE INSTRUCTION 36-2903
18 JULY 2011
Personnel
DRESS AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF
AIR FORCE PERSONNEL

Air Force people wear white breeches, black boot, black gloves, service dress coat and shirt underneath.  We can wear our service cap or a riding helmet.

Hope this helps,

Tara

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

Dressage Horse Training: Collected Walk

Hello Everyone,

I have been playing with my half-steps when I realized that one of my problems was my collected walk.  Donzer has a huge walk and when I rode for Hilda Gurney last year she kept telling me to get the walk under control.  Since Donzer’s huge walk feels normal and right to me, I am having my husband come be my ground guy and help me find the new more collected walk.  When Kris tells me it is pretty good then I am taking time to feel this new walk and register it in my body.

The challenge with the collected walk from a training stand point is teaching Donzer to take more elevated and active steps.  Donzer’s first response is to slow down.  So it feels like a tennis match where I’m always moving around and trying to activate a hind leg and then half-halt so we don’t run off but still keep a connection to the bit and stop the over bending…

I guess if dressage was easy everyone would do it.

Good riding,

Tara

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

Dressage Horse Training: Managing your body as a rider

Hello everyone,

So today is my third day practicing the flying change at the walk exercise.  I am way overexaggering the movement in my body of leaning back and lifting my inside hip.  I remind everyone, and myself, that I am over exaggering to ingrain the movement in my muscle memory because it is always easy to do less.  And, don’t worry, your instructor in your next lesson will quickly point it out if you’re over doing it.

The cool thing I’m finding is that my canter departs are getting better.  I was having a problem getting the left lead consistently.  Since I’ve been doing this exercise, I’m becoming more physically aware of what my hips are doing and I’m getting my left hip forward for the canter aid.  I know this because Ava and Donzer are telling me.

I’d be interested to hear if anyone else is playing with this and has had any new feels.

Good riding,

Tara

Dressage Horse Training: Working on Piaffe

Hi Everyone,
I found this video of a trainer and rider working on Piaffe together.  I am going to have my husband try helping me out and see how it goes.  Does anyone know of anything we should look out for or be careful of?

 

Good Riding,

Tara

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

War Horse Lessons

Hello Everyone,
I just watched the movie War Horse and found it impacted me on several levels. When I saw how Albert took the time to train his Thoroughbred to pull in a harness, even though this was not what the horse was bred to do, it reminded me of my life’s experiences with my ponies. My horse, Ally, was one of my big horses to learn with. I got her when she was six months old and trained her myself taking many lessons along the way from cowboys and dressage instructors alike. When Ally reached her physical limit with dressage, I was able to find her a great spot with therapeutic riding. Because of her ground manners and work ethic, Ally has continued to win over the humans around her–Just like Joey did in the movie. I am reluctant to train horses to sell because I don’t know where they’ll end up but I do know the best thing I can do to prepare my horses for an uncertain world is to teach them to get along with humans as much as possible.

The movie also struck me about how we send our young off to war and having that experience myself. The fear and uncertainty and adventure all rolled up together. I think this is where the statement that courage is not the absence of fear but moving forward in spite of fear is exemplified. I hope there is some mix like this for horses, too, when the unexpected life changes happen.

Good riding,
Tara Nolan
Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding

Dressage Horse Training: Creating Your Plan to Learn

Hello Everyone,

I have been working this past month on trying to figure out where my training/riding holes are so I can move forward with my goal to show Prix St George this year.  Based on what I’ve figured out, I am going to be sharing a series of videos/discussions showing you where I am and where I need to go.  I hope this will help you troubleshoot issues in your own riding.  Here is what is coming:

1.  Collected walk

2.  Turn on the Forehand

3.  Developing Half-steps part 1

4.  Developing Half-steps part 2

Unless you are lucky enough to have a school master, you probably find yourself trying to learn along with your horse.  That is what Donzer and I are doing.  I always find that if I can fix something in myself–either my position or clarify an aid, then it helps Donzer catch on to what I want.  Donzer is involved enough that he does keep trying to figure out what I want and when I tell him “Good boy” he knows he’s done something right.

Good Riding,

Tara

Author, Out of the Saddle: 9 Steps to Improve Your Horseback Riding