NEW Arrival - Arista

Arista, four year old Lusitano, recently imported from Filipa Vanencia's yard in Portugal.

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Thoughts on Training

An interesting session during a Herbermann clinic dealt with handling horses from the ground. Erik helped me with a particularly difficult (previously mucked up) horse and it was touch and go as to who was going to be first to back down - the horse or Erik. It provoked an interesting discussion as to how much one should confront a horse that is going to be handed back to someone with less experience and confidence. Personally, I would not have liked to have got into as much confrontation with a horse because I am not sure that I would have been able to handle the situation effectively. I have my own ways of achieving my aims and while they may not be perfect, I have confidence in them. To challenge a horse and "lose" merely shows the horse how weak we are and a strong minded or "lead horse" is likely to take advantage of that situation. However, in the hands of an experienced person like Erik, a great deal of ground was covered in a short period and the horse has greatly improved as a result.

So here is the question: As a rider/owner, should we ask (allow?) a trainer to go beyond what we are prepared to do ourselves? If we have doubts about our own ability to work on the same lines, should we voice those doubts or just have faith in the trainer. Furthermore, as trainers should we take the horse to a higher level than the rider/owner is prepared to work towards themselves? Should we sacrifice the horse's progress for the rider's lack of ability or should we push ahead with what we know the horse needs and hope that the rider will catch on to the idea? Like any relationship, a horse and rider can exist in total harmony without any confrontations provided that both horse and rider agree to the same things. (We don't jump if it's more than 2 foot; we have only 2 speeds, dead slow and stop; we always gallop in this field; we never bend to the right). Of course, when another rider tries to change the status quo, all hell can break loose and an apparently amenable horse can turn very belligerent in deed! This is a strong case for letting "sleeping dogs lie".

However, if the owner/rider wants to progress, he or she must be prepared to work with the trainer to improve his or her skills to the same level as the horse. If they have strong doubts about being willing or able to continue along the same lines as the trainer, it is very unlikely that any permanent progress will be made by either horse or rider. No matter how hard the trainer works with the horse or how successful he or she is, the work will always be undermined by the negative attitude of the owner/rider. Where this is most common is when an inexperienced rider takes on a young horse. At this stage of development, the horse needs positive leadership and if the rider has not the skills or confidence to provide it, both horse and rider will suffer. The trainer is also frustrated because he or she knows what the horse needs and would have no difficulty in providing the necessary leadership to enable the horse to progress with confidence. Without that leadership is likely that neither horse nor rider will progress as quickly as they would if they had different more experienced partners. It does not imply that either the horse or the rider is "bad", just that they are not helping each other to progress.

This doesn't just happen to novice riders. Any rider or trainer can meet a horse that is beyond their capabilities and it takes as much guts to admit one's own deficiencies as it does to rise above them. Sometimes it is just a simple matter of not being able to "click" with a particular horse. Other times it is outside influences such as the horse needs working every day and a stressful full time job may make that impossible. Either way it is important to be honest with yourself/your trainer/your pupil, to give you and your horse the best possible chance of success

So next time you, as a rider, hit a problem, ask yourself:
"What am I prepared to do to overcome these problems?".
Next time you, as a trainer, hit a problem, ask yourself:
"Has this rider got the will to overcome these problems herself?"

If you hesitate to answer these questions, perhaps now is not the time to push ahead "Let sleeping dogs lie" for a bit longer until the rider is "hungry" for that next step up the ladder of horsemanship!

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Escape to the Country

Arrow Equestrian was asked to "lend" its facilities to Talk Back TV to help with the making of one of the episodes of this programme. The programme helps a couple to move from an urban life to a new home and lifestyle in the country and the couple who came to us wanted to own a horse for the first time. A BHS "expert", Hannah Fenick, came with them to give advise about how to buy a horse, and Pooh, Icaro, Slipper and a livery called Patrick were put on show. Naturally Slipper won the hearts of everyone although he wasn't too keen on the riding style...! He also got a bit bored with the action and kept heading off to the nearest bit of grass ("CUT!"). However a pleasant afternoon was spent with "the cast", all for a few moments on TV.

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How much Responsibility do we take for our own Learning?

Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own learning, good bad or indifferent, and we are lucky if we find a teacher who provides all the answers. In fact, I would say that it is impossible to find anyone who can give you all the answers and even if they could, what is absolutely 100% correct for them may not be the same "correctness" for you. Just because someone is a successful rider does not mean that they can teach. Some talented riders have no idea what they do so are quite incapable of imparting any meaningful knowledge to someone else. Worse still, they may be telling their pupils to emulate some idiosyncrasy of their own which has little to do with their success as a rider and is actually detrimental for other riders. My heart always sinks when a new pupil tells me that such-and-such a rider/trainer can make her horse do all sorts of wonderful "tricks" when it is perfectly obvious to me that neither horse nor rider have sufficient understanding of the basics. Confidence takes years to build and only seconds to ruin and it is very important that both horse and rider work within their capabilities; led up to the edge without being pushed over it.

I agree with the Tai Chi Master, that everything is possible with patience and perseverance and that it is vital to cross reference and search beyond the information given by your teacher. All good teachers should encourage their pupils to search for "more" and while flitting from one teacher to another depending on who happens to be the flavour of the month has little use, intelligent cross referencing is extremely useful..

Outside of your riding lesson time, there are plenty of ways in which to enhance your learning either by reading books or by exploring complimentary techniques eg: NLP and visulisation, physical exercise other than riding, massage, Alexander Technique, Pilates etc… etc.

During the riding lessons, use your teacher like a living mirror which provides verbal feedback. Sometimes a "Yes" at the appropriate moment is all that is needed. Sometimes the feedback is needed in much more detail. ("What I am seeing is that the horse bends left and pushes the saddle off to the right causing you to sit crookedly on the horse, leaning left with your upper body to compensate for sliding right with your seat"). In this way, you can usefully experiment to gain a correct "feel" while being guided by your "mirror". "Sit straight!" is of no use to a rider who has no understanding of her crookedness and how to correct it. In fact it is more use for the rider to experiment with the position and exaggerate the crookedness or make a mirror image of it so that he/she starts to develop his/her own feel for what is right.

Useful Experimentation
First there are a few "MUST HAVES"

A good attitude to the horse * a correct seat * a lack of tension * a positive attitude.

Without these there is no true horsemanship and no real progression - a rider cannot experiment effectively if they have not yet learnt sufficient control over their own bodies and emotions. However, a novice rider can very usefully explore the possibilities within their own limitations. For example, even a real beginner can walk and halt without losing the "4 must haves". Some useful experimentation might be:

• Can you feel how your horse is standing
• Can you feel which is the last leg to step into halt
• Can you feel which is the first leg to move into walk
• Can you feel each leg as it steps
• Can you measure the pace of your horse so that he steps over a pole with his right fore first
• Can you halt with the front legs one side of a pole and the back legs the other side of a pole

These are all quite challenging exercises even to an experienced rider yet are very easy to practice and will greatly improve your feel and communication with your horse.

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Words of Wisdom - Thoughts on Learning

I am including this again in this newsletter because it is so good and some of you may not have read it before!

"I have been having weekly lessons for about 4 years and although I have the opportunity to practice in between sessions, I am not always as diligent as I could be, although I think I am keen to improve. My teacher, himself a pupil of a master, gave me these words, written by his Master, to think about"

"Skills cannot be developed without effort and a practical understanding of what you are doing. Western society in general is impatient - we want things to work now - often believing that if we pay enough money, the skill will be obtained with minimum effort on our part. Many give up before they gain any real benefits, failing to realize why progress is slow or seemingly non-existent. By its very nature, it involves a great deal of patience due to the level of personal development required. Skill in any art cannot be obtained by osmosis. Constant searching is required and I don't mean for the teacher that can offer the supposed short cuts! Search within yourself to gain a clear understanding of your goals, then search for information beyond that of your teacher alone to gain clear clarification and cross-reference. There are no secrets; everything is obtainable by all of us with patience and perseverance."

I found these words to be very thought provoking and inspirational. They are from Professor Cheng Man Ching, a Tai Chi Master
SEA

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