Category: Classical Riding

“Being Seen, Being Heard, Feeling Felt and Getting Gotten”

I have been pondering and playing with the concepts of connection and communication in riding, rather than control or coercion. And the idea of consent.

In some ways I always ask consent of my horses. I wait for them to take a step towards me in the field before I put the headcollar on. I allow them to sniff the brushes before I get stuck into grooming. I acknowledge that Cal has a very tickly stomach and I am careful which brush I use to get the mud off. More work for me, but it’s more pleasant for him. I pick the mud out of his ears by hand scratching. I make sure they all offer me the hoof that I want to clean out. When I am tacking up, they should come to the front of the stable volunteering to be ridden. Both Cal and Rocky like to have a good empty before I put the saddle on- I allow them the time to do this.

If we seek a true partnership with our horses then it follows that they should be allowed, able and comfortable to offer an opinion. I changed the ramp on my lorry a few years ago. It used to be carpet and I changed it to rubber matting. Big mistake as it turns out- a few years on the rubber matting is now slippery when wet. Cal was reluctant to load yesterday after slithering a little on the ramp once or twice over the past few weeks. I talked to him and told him I understood and I have promised him I will sort it and have ordered some sticky backed grip tape- I do hope that works. Horses may not understand words but they understand intent. Knowing that I register his comments and acknowledge them was enough to persuade him to load.

Others may have escalated the pressure in that situation and compounded the negative association with loading. That is counter- productive. I know exactly why he hesitates to step on the ramp- why would I punish him for being careful?

A few years ago the clutch in my truck went the day before a 3 day clinic. My local friend very kindly lent me her 7.5 tonne truck. Her horses have all been terrible travellers as long as I have known her but they are all related, out of the same mare, and I just thought they were highly strung. Cal always loads and travels beautifully- when things are right. By day 3 of the 3 day weekend Cal was refusing to get in my friend’s 7.5 tonne lorry. It looks like a great truck, well maintained, airy, spacious, but there must be something very peculiar about the suspension and the ride.

Funnily enough, the friend went on to get a new truck and her current crop of horses all load and travel beautifully!

If horses are not in a mental and physical balance that enables them to complete the task requested then they will express that, as a bit of stiffness or resistance, or perhaps even as a big explosion. Our job as riders is to set them up for success. Balance before movement. Mental balance and physical balance are intimately related in horses. The flight response is all about stiff muscles, braced spine, ready to flee. Horses will say- I can’t do that with this body. Or the flip side of the dilemma- I can’t do that in this moment with this brain.

If we can change that response we can enable better choices.

If the horse needs a moment to check something strange and scary when they are out hacking, until they are happy before walking past, then surely that is fine? Horses have no concept of time- stay a second or stay 10 minutes- they have no idea. Rocky plays reverse and go forwards a bit with stuff he isn’t sure about- if I wait and breathe and let the process happen at his speed- obviously praising the forwards but not over-stressing or fighting the backwards- it sometimes takes 3 or 4 reverses, the last one being the furthest back before he then always psychs himself up to walk or even trot past the scary object in a calm curious manner. If I get agitated and push him beyond his comfort zone then things can quickly deteriorate. Since I have been more patient to let him think and process he is much more willing to let me encourage him past the less scary stuff. It is all about an ongoing conversation.

It can all change with a heartbeat.

The science tells us that a horse’s heart emits 40 times more electromagnetic force than a tiny little human heart. Horses in a herd use this force field effect to synchronise their heartbeats. When a horse on the edge of the herd sees or senses something suspicious, their heartbeat will speed up. The rest of the herd feel this increase in heart-rate and are suddenly equally on alert.

Photo by Martin Jernberg from unsplash

You can find the webinar explaining the original research into heart rate synchronicity between horses and humans here https://www.heartmath.org/resources/downloads/heart-heart-communication-horses/

We can use this synchronicity effect to our advantage when riding or training. The vagus nerve is the nerve of para-sympathetic innervation. The parasympathetic nervous system inhibits the body from overworking and restores the body to a calm and composed state. It can be described as the “rest and digest” system. This is the opposite to the “flight or fight” response, activated by the sympathetic nervous system. When we breathe out slowly so our out breath is longer than our in breath, this activates the vagus nerve, and therefore para-sympathetic innervation. Calm returns.

You can test this slowing effect of the vagus nerve by feeling your own pulse, or your dogs heart-beat when he is lying next to you. When you breathe out long and slow, your heart beats a touch slower than when you breathe in. My dog has quite a marked variability when he is relaxed.

Breathing out while in the saddle also activates your diaphragm-seat connection. A good slow out breath pulls you deeper into the saddle, onto the back of your seat- bones. The horse will feel your calm, low heart beat, from as far as 4 feet away apparently, and theirs will synchronise to match. That is how they are programmed. Calm returns.

Conversely, if you tighten and tense up and breathe short sharp shallow breaths under tension, then the sympathetic “fight or flight” system takes over. We tend to hunch, subconsciously, putting us into a grip and clutch mode, on the front of our pelvis, and our heartbeat speeds up.

I would like to think that you wouldn’t find Rocky and I at this level of conflict again

And the horse will feel this, and synchronise to the faster human heartbeat, which makes them anxious too. A horse at rest has a pulse of 24-48 beats a minute- this is much slower than the human average of 60-100. To be sharing calm with our horses, we need to very consciously make sure we are at the bottom end of this human range.

When two hearts literally beat as one, that is the true meaning of connection

The meaning of dressage comes from the word root of “dress” or “to straighten”. The creation of a straight or “well dressed” horse is the purpose of dressage. And a straight or well dressed horse is able to perform any task required in that moment, assuming that the task requested has been prepared for with appropriate training and conditioning work, and the horse is in a mental state that allows cooperation.

With Rocky I have realised that I must apply equal emphasis to the mental as well as physical balance. With a big, athletic and genetically gifted horse, the sympathetic nervous system “no” can be too loud and too explosive to allow constructive dialogue. It is hard to have an ongoing conversation when we have parted company.

You could replace the word obedience to with ability to correctly respond and then you avoid the negative impression of mental submission.

For me submission is the horse offering its beauty and power in perfect mental and physical balance to the rider; like a pair of dancers or figure skaters jamming and saying “what shall we mess with next?’

So I breathe. And sit relaxed and loose. And deliberately slow my heart. And then we can talk. And hopefully one day we will dance, two hearts beating as one.

Rocky early days under saddle. Must take more pictures this year LOL

buy the book- “Bare Hooves and Open Hearts”

If you have enjoyed this blog then please consider buying an author signed paperback copy of my recent book. It contains more of my philosophy on husbandry and training, based on my experience, research and learning. Price includes 2nd class postage to anywhere in Europe. Other regions may cost more- email me and we can always arrange.

£13.99

Thanks for reading.

Bleeding hearts

Another high level dressage competition, another high scoring elimination “under blood rules’. What sort of euphemism is that? The horse was bleeding.

What really got my goat this time was how the rider and the reporter were both so disappointed because at the time the horse was doing a beautiful test?! How can a horse be a happy, unconstrained athlete, appearing to perform of his own volition, and yet be bleeding?

ARTICLE 401 OBJECT AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF DRESSAGE- The Horse thus gives the impression of doing, of its own accord, what is required.

Without ‘strict’ adherence to these words, all other descriptions contained in the Article and descriptions contained in the subsequent Articles ‘cannot’ be met.

Top contender eliminated from London Horse Show freestyle under blood rules

FEI Blood Rules

Visible blood from the horse should surely mean a bell rings, instant cessation of participation and disqualification from the competition. How could anyone who loves horses disagree with that?

From the dressage rules on blood-

“at all competitions: If the judge at C suspects fresh blood anywhere on the horse during the test, he/she will stop the horse to check for blood. If the horse shows fresh blood, it will be eliminated

Taken from a powerpoint on the FEI website

Horses do not just bite their tongues or cheeks as if by accident. Mouth lesions, found in 20% of dressage horse at high level competition, are a direct result of horses being ridden in incredibly tight nosebands, with heavy hands creating gaping mouths and lolling tongues, as well as internal mouth injuries that stain the foaming saliva pink.

Despite the rules on horse welfare and the presence of stewards and vets who are there to supposedly enforce the rules, still images like these are still a regular occurrence at any high level dressage competition. Even the uneducated eye, or maybe only the uneducated eye can clearly see that many of these so called highly trained horses look uncomfortable or even in downright pain. Even when there is blood showing, equine insiders still find it acceptable to carry on, or OK to describe it a shame that the horse was eliminated.

Where is the shame that should be felt by any horse loving rider for causing your horse bleed by your own hands?

Rough hands and forceful riding have no place in dressage.

Screen shot from live TV feed Tokyo 2020

Rollkur is still ubiquitous, despite the ban

Gal‘s 2020 horse clearly shows the world how he is trained at home. Screen shot from live TV feed Tokyo 2020

The clear effects of Rollkur training were still obvious both in the GP dressage. These are specialist professional riders at the top of their game, the best in the world- they should be shining samples of good horsemanship and training we can all aspire to. The bleeding horse is based at at a training facility long mired in controversy over bleeding, forceful riding, blue tongues and horses retired prematurely due to mysterious lameness.

Indeed I find myself wondering if these riders are the best in the world at an entirely different sport to the one which I practise at home.

The Social Contract

Horse sport, and thus to some extent, leisure horse riding, owes its existence to a social contract. The social contract assumes that the owner and the rider love the horse, that the humans ensure the best possible care for the animal, that they provide the animal with the best possible life in return for the honour of using, not abusing, that animal for human gratification and glory. 

“Addressing the Fédération Equestre Internationale  (FEI) General Assembly, Roly Owers of the World Horse Welfare recommends that the equestrian community be cognizant of how the public views the use of horses in equestrian sport. Owers recommended that equestrian sport pursue a social license, which is an unwritten, non-binding contract that means society gives horse sport the right to operate.

Owers said that this would build societal trust that horse sport can operate in a transparent and ethical manner.

Owers points out that there is a small contingent of animal rights groups that believes that using the horse for any profit or entertainment is unacceptable. Animal rights groups are transposing animal welfare issues with animal rights issues; animal welfare is about improving the treatment of animals, not banning their interactions with humans.”

Now regular readers will know already that, in my eyes, and proven by science, many of our modern husbandry practises are actually bad for horses and go against their nature.

Those who are uneducated (or un indoctrinated) to equestrian sports seem to see that pain and unnatural movement more clearly than the so called experts and fans.

And even the casual observer can spot blood on their TV screen. 

The animal lovers around the world will not tolerate watching horses bleeding on camera for human glory.

As riders and horse lovers and participants in horse sports, we must not tolerate this either. 

The FEI needs to enforce their own rules...

Welfare starts with the equipment. Whips are checked- we can’t use whips with stingers only those with more humane soft ended padded flappers (!) but noseband rules are not enforced and sometimes can be seen fastened so tight that the horse can’t breathe or move its tongue.

Screen shot taken from a picture on the competitors own social media feed- photo since removed

Competition Dressage should be first and foremost a beautiful demonstration of the results of good training and its ability to enhance the biomechanical performance of the horse through allowing the horse to be balanced and in self-carriage and appear to make the movements of his own accord seeming effortless.

Educational share from FB feed

How can a horse give such an impression if the horse is physically constrained by a tight noseband or the rider pulling on the bridle so much that the horse cannot chew or swallow its own saliva, or that such movement of the jaws cause it to bite its own cheeks?

In order for the horse to give such an impression, the horse should be on the bit, collected, in self-carriage & balanced, with poll highest point and ‘head’ in front of the vertical.

WORD ORIGIN FOR DRESSAGE

French: from Old French dresser – to prepare or set straight”

How it should be- Melissa Simms riding at Egon von Neindorf‘s

Surely it doesn’t take a genius to realise that to the general public, any blood from any animal is distressing? Money pressure and prizes seems to have triumphed over conscience there? If the welfare of the horse is paramount why are we allowing them to bleed for human glory?

And the scourge of Rollkur, Low Deep and Round, Deep Stretching, Yoga for Horses, needs eliminating once and for all. Because for every horse that gets to the Olympics there are hundreds that didn’t stand up to the rigours of unhealthy short cut training. And the physically and psychologically broken horses didn’t all find classically minded amateurs skilled in rehab with deep pockets and love in their hearts to take them on and fix them. 

So what can we do?

We the general horse loving amateur can first and foremost lead by example. We can do better at home. We can choose to be kind to our horses. We must be advocates for our horses. We must talk back to coaches who tighten the noseband or instruct us to “make him rounder” or whip our horses into submission.

But everything that we amateurs do better at home will come to naught if high level horse sport continues to be the worst visible example of our passion and obsession.

To preserve our beloved sport and our lifestyle we also need to become activists

If we animal lovers who also ride and compete our horses do not actively campaign to make horse welfare the absolute top priority, at home and away at every single competition, the social contract will be continue to be broken at the very top level and we run the risk that all horse sports will be condemned or banned.

We must write to the FEI and the IOC and our national organisations demanding change. We must ensure that the public image and the reality of equestrian sport at all levels is beyond reproach. Otherwise the more radical animal rights organisations like PETA will make it unacceptable to use horses for sport at all.

Otherwise the bleeding hearts who do put animal welfare above success in sport will agitate to stop us even riding our beloved horses. And then, we will all lose.

#twohearts has been the hashtag chosen for the equestrian sports at the Olympics

Bare Hooves and Open Hearts- Tales from Nelipot Cottage

Signed copy of the book by Nelipot Cottage blog author Fran McNicol, posted to anywhere in the world by second class mail. Deals with various blog themes and topics such as how to keep your horse healthy, happy, sound and barefoot, ethical riding, and holistic horse care.

£13.99

How do we know our work is good?

Luckily horses are very clear once we have learned to look and listen. I’ve altered the quote below (from Maya Angelou)

“I have learned that horses will forget what you said, horses will forget what you do, but horses will never forget how you made them feel”

So how do we know that our work is good? In a world where so much teaching is against the horse rather than for the good of the horse, how do we tell the difference?

How do we know whether the work made his body feel better?

Which after all is the whole point of Dressage- from the French verb ‘dresser’ which actually means to prepare or to straighten, to sculpt our horse into a thing of beauty that is empowered rather than diminished by our interventions. Did it make the horse feel good? What signs do we look for to know it made them feel good?

My favourite sign is helicopter ears- they go soft and floppy and assume all sorts of funny angles. Rocky has huge ears, as do all his family, so this one is pretty obvious, as well as being visible from on top!

Another sign is soft liquid eyes, with relaxed ‘eyebrows” and slow blinking. When the work is good, the horse is calm, because horses are kinaesthetic and they find it frightening to be out of balance. When their balance is aided to improve, they relax and chill out. They almost look stoned after good work. Stoned, not exhausted.

Breathing slows and calms: soft hurrumphs or gentle chuntering are signs of a relaxed mouth , tongue and larynx as well as relaxed brain. Harsh sharp breathing, breath holding, or sharp snorting, teeth grinding or calling out are all sure signs of a horse either stressed or on full alert.

More on the mouth from James Dunlop: “In the French Tradition, it is the state of the mouth that governs everything. There are three mouths possible. A dry mouth, a soaking wet one with gobs of foam on the chest and legs, and a moist one in which the lips are just moist and the lower jaw relaxed. The third mouth is described as being ‘fraiche’ and offers a gentle murmur (L’Hotte) as if to be ‘smiling’ ( Beudant) . It is to this third mouth that we should aspire.”

I always get off the horse after a work session and look critically at the muscles. Is the neck soft and inflated, are the under neck muscles soft, does the neck come nicely out of the shoulder girdle. Does it look wider at the base than the middle of the top? A good neck should be an even triangle from withers to poll, and from shoulder girdle to poll.

The horses ridden in hyper flexion, also called Low Deep and Round by those trying to make it sound better, have this weird tube of muscle that runs up from the middle of their necks, with no splenius or trapezius; in layman’s terms they have a hollow missing triangle just in front of the withers and also under the pommel. This photo below is an example of a horse showing aberrant muscle development from excessive flexion.

A lovely reminder of the missing neck muscles, also showing why forward down and out is the healthiest position for the neck

Is the lumbar back full? Does the hors’s skin shine and glisten and move smoothly over his frame or does it look dry and tight and stuck to the bones? Is the tail carried, not clamped,  does it swing softly as he moves? If the tail swings, the back can’t be braced.

And finally, does he look proud after work? Does he go strutting back to the field to tell his mates how cool he was? Does he look better and stronger and bigger each time? Does he offer the improved posture next ride without having to do the prep work? If he offers the new posture or the new body usage next time, you know it felt good and he’s choosing to seek that posture. If you have to do all the work all over again, every time, it didn’t feel better. And that means it probably wasn’t right. So don’t repeat it…because if you aren’t improving your horse you are breaking him down (Charles de Kunffy).

Living in the Here and Now

STOP PRESS UNTIL MAY 2022 ALL DONATIONS raised by this blog will go to the Veloo Foundation, feeding and education the children in Mongolia who would otherwise scratch for survival on the refuse tip in UB Mongolia. The link to donate is to be found here

http://www.veloofoundation.com/fran-mcnicol.html

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live.”

I have been reading Eckart Tolle’s The Power of Now.  I have to say it is the slowest read of a book I haven’t yet given up on. This is because the concepts are completely foreign to the control freak, overthinking part of me. Due to a fear of loss of security in my life, I have always tried to micro manage every moment. I have lived nearly every minute either ahead of or behind myself, wallowing in the paralysis of  “what if?” or agonising about “How do I prevent that? What can I do that will stop that happening?”

Living in the here and now is a strange and alien concept.

https://www.wanderlustworker.com/how-to-be-present-the-5-steps-for-living-in-the-here-and-now/

That micro managed place where we are avoiding excess discomfort can become a place of limitation and challenge avoidance. It doesn’t necessarily prevent high performance. That’s a relative concept. But it does limit potential peak performance.

I love high adrenaline activities. But drip feed adrenaline…not the dare devil activities where you completely surrender control but those where you saunter along the knife edge proving how controlled you can be, choosing the move, every next minute…..until you really aren’t in control at all, and you finally have to deal with living in the here and and now.

As Mark Twain said, “I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

We cannot change the past, and we cannot prevent the future. All we can do is make the most of the present moment, informed by the past, and a series of best present moments will then build up to become a brighter future…if we are careful enough to wish it so.

Our wishes will come true…whether we like it or not.

Change is inevitable- be careful what you wish for

top ten tips to start living in the here and now

The big horse has challenged me in ways I would never have thought possible. I love riding, I love horses, I ride because I breathe. Ever since I was a tiny child I have dreamed of having my own horses and riding them every day, of schooling them from scratch, of transforming them from clumsy awkward novices to beautiful, elastic, supple unicorns. I have never been without horses to ride, never been in a situation where I wasn’t rushing home from work to get an extra session in, rain or hail or shine.

Imagine then having to psych yourself up to get on the big horse. Imagine having to talk yourself into doing the very thing that has always brought you joy. Imagine driving home  from work on a windy evening, making excuses in your head, thinking “Oh, I might leave it today, it’s a bit windy, he might be a bit naughty, maybe I’d better not tempt fate…” we say it for a gale first of all, then a blustery day, then a light breeze…until

Suddenly happens over a long time

suddenly, we never seem to get on our horse.

On those days of doubt and fears maybe we need to square up to our gremlins and ask ourselves

What is the worst thing that can happen?

and then we need to JFDI (medic speak for Just F*cking Do It)

Fear setting was a new concept to me until last year.

We are taught goal setting from an early age. Positive thinking is important. But if we ignore the darkness, if we ignore the abyss of fear and dread, it will bite us at the most inopportune moments.

Fear setting was a key part of the process that enabled me to leave my previous “dream life”. I asked myself “what’s the worst thing that could happen?” It turned out that staying unhappy was a much greater than stepping out into the unknown.

Positive thinking increases the likelihood of positive outcomes. But when the outcome is not so positive, how we cope with that eventuality is the space where we learn resilience.

Resilience is the ability to be happy, successful, etc. again after something difficult or bad has happened

Put simply, when facing a new challenge, what is the worst thing that can happen to you?

For a few months, I found myself avoiding new situations with the big horse. He is incredibly athletic, and has possibly put me on the floor more times than all the others combined! But I know this; I never yet get on him without a body protector, and a hard hat, and I know now that he needs regular, strenuous, work…like a stroppy teenager, he is better behaved when well exercised. I was avoiding challenging, stretch zone situations, keeping us within our narrow comfort zone, which meant that our comfort zone never expanded and we never got into our learning zone.

43cfce36-1e87-4d8d-8bfe-018a92d8ffbb.jpg

I asked myself “what is the worst thing that could happen”? Answer in my head turned out to be that he could ditch me in front of a load of strangers… well guess what? He’s done that loads!! We got the shiniest poshest rosette of my equestrian life for the most spectacular dismount, at riding club camp last year. That worst case scenario has already happened, so nothing left to be afraid of there….

img_3770-2

So what else am I afraid of? What else might happen?

You never know- it could go really well…Like our jumping lesson tonight. Yes there were shenanigans. Yes we made mistakes. Yes he tested me. But the outcome??? I stayed in the plate (hurrah) and he came on in leaps and bounds, literally. I learned that I have to turn on a forwards feeling,  without pulling the inside rein, (finally that lesson went in).

We just have to turn up, daily, and do the thing. We just have to believe that learning occurs in the stretch zone, for human and horse, and that although it may not always be pretty, it’s only by doing too much that we learn what is enough. We have to believe in ourselves, to be willing to expand our skill set but also to forgive ourselves and learn from our mistakes. We have to be non judgemental about our mistakes, observe them with wry amusement and do differently next time.

Differently, not better. Better is a judgement. And above all, we have to keep showing up, living in the here and now.

“Over the course of our lives, situations will arise that can sometimes seem insurmountable. When I’m faced with obstacles and life seems really difficult, my unconditional love for myself gives me the strength to continue. I greet the ups and downs of life’s journey with unconditional love for myself and the people in my life by understanding that I am only truly alive in the present moment; the future is a projection that does not yet exist. As long as there is life, everything is possible. Practice with awareness, remember to love yourself and others unconditionally when the road gets tough. Only through love can you overcome obstacles with peace.”

– Miguel Ruiz Jr.

img_1729

“Perhaps our dreams are there to be broken, and our plans are there to crumble, and our tomorrows are there to dissolve into todays, and perhaps all of this is all a giant invitation to wake up from the dream of separation, to awaken from the mirage of control, and embrace whole-heartedly what is present. Perhaps it is all a call to compassion, to a deep embrace of this universe in all its bliss and pain and bitter-sweet glory. Perhaps we were never really in control of our lives, and perhaps we are constantly invited to remember this, since we constantly forget it. Perhaps suffering is not the enemy at all, and at its core, there is a first-hand, real-time lesson we must all learn, if we are to be truly human, and truly divine. Perhaps breakdown always contains breakthrough. Perhaps suffering is simply a right of passage, not a test or a punishment, nor a signpost to something in the future or past, but a direct pointer to the mystery of existence itself, here and now. Perhaps life cannot go ‘wrong’ at all.”

Jeff Foster

Thank you as always for reading. I truly appreciate each and every one of you. To those influencers who comment, share the site with friends or help to promote in any other way, I remain eternally grateful. To those supporters generous and able to offer funds, whether small or large, karma is finding its way back to you with a rainbow of horses and abundance beyond dreams. Thank you all for joining in the adventure. 

nelipot-cottage

Nelipot Cottage is a Pay as you Feel Endeavour- if you have enjoyed reading this article and/or found it useful then please consider making a small donation towards ad-free hosting costs. Thank you

£2.50

Learning Our Horses’ Alphabet

Learning our alphabet is the first step of learning any language. And dressage is no different. Except that learning our alphabet isn’t quite the right phrase, really we need to be learning our horses’ alphabet.

Elizabeth Ball

As horses are movement itself, and the best way to access a horse’s brain is through his body, learning our horses’ alphabet actually means learning the alphabet of our horses’ movement.

First, the gaits. The step pattern, the footfalls, the sequence of pure gaits. How will we know if we have a pure walk or a good quality canter if we don’t know what the pure gaits consist of?

Humans are born with the ability to make every common sound heard in every language, from the Welsh ttthhh to the Xhosi nk. Babies learn, by imitation, to repeat the sounds they hear the most around them; they perfect those, the voicebox adapts and they may lose the ability to create other language sounds.

I learned to speak French in the Ecrins mountains when I was 10. I have a regional accent that most native French can pinpoint to that area, and I always get a very warm welcome when I go back to that region.

Glacier des Violettes- the best mountain HVS in the world runs up to the left of the glacier- Ailefroide

But there is one telling detail that a true linguist would spot, one omission- my rrrrrr is weak. I can just about roll my rrrr, but not quite like a native.

Coming down from the Violettes

In the same way, horses are born with every variation of every gait at their disposal. Some will come easier than others, some are bred selectively, such as the tolt or the pacing gait, but all foals can do all gaits at the beginning. They learn first by copying their mothers, and their peer group, which gaits are the easiest for day to day life. And then in training, we reward them for the four pure dressage gaits, and every variation thereof. But we can only do that if we know how the four pure gaits are meant to look , feel and sound.

A young Milton with Caroline Powell- brought on slowly and correctly to become the world’s most successful show jumper

The reason these specifically defined pure gaits have been selected as the most desirable over the centuries is because time has shown that these gaits are the most efficient for the horse to carry a rider in a healthy biomechanical posture.

And we have to understand that aberrations of these gaits are not healthy, and should not be ignored, let alone rewarded. How many lateral walks do we see in FEI dressage tests, not only ignored but scored highly, against the directives?

Then we need to remember that horses are born crooked. Just as humans are born right handed or left handed, the symmetrical, perfectly balanced horse has not yet been born.

Training is therefore first rehabilitation, followed by therapy, and finally it can become gymnastic.

To complete the training of the dressage horse we need to be able to speak to his body in sentences, in combinations of aids that combine targeted exercises and accurate patterns to enable the horse to develop strength and suppleness.

CDK talks about the daily vocabulary of training; like a virtuoso musician practising their scales every day, a trainer must help the horse to run through his full physical repertoire every session- all bends, all gaits, every length of neck, every length of stride, all directions of travel.

Paul Belasik

Run through, not drill.

Simple repetition does not bring about improvement- targeted focus does. When doing scales we did them fast, slow, staccato, slurred, syncopated da deee and deee da, forwards and backwards. Every variation, to avoid strain and boredom.

The quality of each movement will vary according to the horse’s level of training, but a fragment of each exercise will be possible in every horse from the very beginning.

This can be achieved from the ground, in hand, or from the saddle.

The brilliance in the virtuoso comes from a solid foundation, from the long hours spent perfecting the details of the basics.

Perfect practise makes perfect.

So know your horse’s alphabet, and help him to write three dimensional poetry in motion.

Make the Mental Transition to “I can”

We must make sure that we do not inadvertently teach ourselves to fail regularly in our training. It is important that we learn to make the mental transition to” I can”.

I heard a story this weekend about a very high achieving golfer. Every time he takes a lesson to improve one aspect of his game he goes out, applies the lesson and plays much better. Instead of being pleased that he has played better, he then looks for the gaps in his recent good game, focusses on those, practises those aspects which he has not improved and then goes out and so has a horrible time again. Essentially he has trained himself to fail, repetitively.

Golf and dressage have much in common.

Golf swing fundamentals

We must train ourselves to bank the good stuff first, especially in riding where there are two sentient beings involved in the encounter. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t learn from our mistakes; reflection, adjustment and testing is a key part of experiential learning of a practical skill.  But we must learn just as much if not more from our successes.

 

I have started videoing myself riding more regularly. A friend once made the comment that high definition video is the most brutal feedback anyone needs. I don’t have hi-def capability but a mobile phone propped up on the arena fence is effective enough.

The first time I watch the video I am always appalled. I look like cooked spaghetti, what are my legs doing there, what on earth makes me think I can ride….

Then I look at it again and watch the horse…and generally there are some nice moments. And I have to remind myself that if the horse is improving then I can’t be that bad…

If the horse wasn’t improving, I would possibly have appalled myself so much that I would have given up.  I am my own worst critic.

Do as I say, not as I do!!

But luckily for me the grey horse loves the nitty gritty of training, and loves the way good work makes his body feel. Which means he loves me.

If we want to improve a movement  or an exercise then we have to pick one aspect to work on. We can’t just “try it again” and hope something will improve globally by accident. Practise doesn’t make perfect, perfect practise makes perfect. So you have to be consciously competent enough to choose one aspect that you can change to improve the overall performance of the task. A bit like teaching surgery….

Which means we have to choose other aspects to leave alone, or even better, aspects to keep because they are already good.

So for example; I’m doing trot halt, rein back, trot, transitions in step sequences of four. Four because even numbers make it predictable for the horse so the transitions should occur with less resistance. (That bit is magic, don’t question it, it just is, even number of steps for predictability, odd number of steps when you want change).

I ask myself what I can do….generally I can count to four, the transitions occur when asked, the rein back is diagonal, the line of travel is straight, the trot out has lovely oomph.

What do I want to improve? Lets just say one thing- the softness of the topline, for now.

Do I throw all the good qualities away just to focus on the topline? Do I say topline first and foremost, at whatever cost, no matter how many steps, no matter if it’s straight, …

Or do I try and add another quality to the good stuff I have already?

I have written before about how essential  positive feedback is to the horse if you want to keep him on side. The horse is never allowed to think he made a mistake.

Every Opportunity to Praise

Imagine how dispiriting it would be for a horse if, every time he does a movement or an exercise, to the best of his ability, exactly as you have aided it (because again that is the truth) and you say “No, no, that was terrible, it was all wrong, we have to do it again, we are just so rubbish!”

He wouldn’t keep trying for very long would he?

Imagine if, instead of saying “we just can’t do that”,

you made the transition to thinking I can,

if we thought “We can do that even better! We can do that more like an advanced horse. What’s the most we can do?’….in the example, “What is the best most elevated and elongated topline we can do that rein back in? How would Granat feel doing that reinback?”

img_2634

What is the maximum we can ask for?

Not demand…that’s different. If we ask for the absolute maximum possible that we can imagine, the horse will give is the maximum he is capable of, in that moment, and he might just surprise himself and you!

Our limited expectations can limit our horse’s potential. I know I am often guilty of trying to make every step the best step, when sometime it just needs to be the next step. Sometime we just need to make progress, in the work and across the arena.

Dinner needs to get cooked!

Never mind if the balance goes awry, what is the biggest length of stride the horse can offer?

What is the longest neck he can keep that balance on without going splat?  He has to go splat at least once for you to find out the answer to that question. If he doesn’t go splat how do you know you have asked enough? Obviously you ask for a touch less next time.

And then the next time you pick another aspect.

So in my example; yesterday I worked on quality of topline. And the response to the aids also improved. Today I worked on responsiveness to the aids (and topline came for free with a few repetitions). Tomorrow I will need to find a different sequence or a different usage of that lesson (pretend piaffe/passage transitions with rein back legs maybe, or what does reinback leg do to the canter walk transition) otherwise I am drilling my horse, and sucking all of the joy out of his psyche.

So to get the best out of out horses, we need to learn to make the transition to “I can”.

To I can do the most magnificent trot, halt, rein back, trot that I can imagine, with this fabulous horse I am lucky enough to be riding in this moment. The horse doesn’t know this is a difficult exercise, he just hears your thoughts, well before your aids.

So make those thoughts worth listening to. Make him feel magnificent.

The magic is in the transition- when every possibility is available, everything is possible.

And teach yourself and your horse to succeed,  a little more every day.

 

Don’t feed the Trolls

Don’t feed the trolls. Or to paraphrase; don’t waste your energy worrying about what the bad guys are doing, because, as we all know, energy follows thought. I have been on a fairly steep learning curve this year in various ways, and one of my newly acquired and necessary skills is not to feed the dark side in any way, with energy or attention.

Dont feed the trolls. Every time we post a completely negative image of a horse ridden incorrectly, whether it is to stir up outrage or simply to dissect the ‘finer’ points of training, we are creating three inadvertent effects.

One is that we are exposing this image of incorrect training to a whole plethora of people who may not have seen it otherwise. If there are 500 people on my friends list, that is 500 people that have been exposed to a incorrect photo unnecessarily. Wouldn’t I rather ensure that those 500 people are exposed to the best most beautiful example I can find?

No photo is perfect, of course not. And not every photo of every old style SRS rider or every ODG is perfect.

But how much better to discuss nuance that would lead towards perfection rather than just complaining again and again about the head cranked in and the flinging legs.

img_1607

Don’t feed the trolls. All we  see in Horse and Hound and the other trade rags are horses held behind the vertical with cranked nosebands and flinging forefeet. If the general horse people don’t read other material and don’t go back to the old books where we can find the good photos, and the correct pictures, they may well never have seen a single image of a horse moving correctly.

And what is more, they don’t even understand that lack in their education.

When gold medals are won, it is a natural assumption to think that any image of that gold medal wining horse must portray the most correctly moving horse in the world moving correctly. How do we explain to those who don’t understand the fundamentals and have never seen correct that actually it is the most successful horse in the world, not the most correct; that they are simply the most successful horse/rider combination from a selection of horses and riders chasing a false paradigm.

Operating within a false paradigm

How do we explain to those who don’t know any different that this riding that is so highly rewarded in this current era actually causes horses to break down long before their time?

It is up to those who do know better to share the best possible images, and to keep explaining in a clear, concise and kind way why these better images are correct and beautiful and harmonious. It is up to those who do know better to keep teaching, with positive emphasis. People learn much better when they feel, relaxed, encouraged and safe. So rather than making them feel stupid, we have to teach, not preach. If people ask me why I ride the way I do, then I do my best to share what I have learned; as I do for the barefoot husbandry.

It is my duty and pleasure to help others on their journey.

The second problem with showing incorrect images is that our subconscious just absorbs those images. Our primitive brain doesn’t discriminate between good and bad images,  it just retains whatever visual information it is exposed to.

  • We retain 80% of what we see, 20% of what we read, and 10% of what we hear
  • Visuals are processed 60,000X faster than text

This means the picture of the incorrect horse has gone in and been filed before we even get a chance to analyse it. As we stare at it, picking it apart, the details of that image are going in even farther. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use pictures as a visual aid to learning,  but that we need to be scrupulous about how we use them. We need to ensure that we are exposed to many more good images than bad; so that it is the good images which are normalised and internalised.

img_1639-1

We need to get over ourselves and accept that our analytical brain is simply not as quick as the lizard brain. We need to train our eyes so that the good images still have the ability to make us feel happy and incorrect images of uncomfortable stressed horses make us feel uncomfortable.

Think of  Tarantino’s film “Kill Bill”. At the beginning the gore and violence is shocking. By the battle scene at the end, a bleak homage to the darkest of Samurai cinema, the violence is choreographed like a cartoon and we are strangely immune to the horror.

Tarantino is a master of manipulation of the human psyche.

So ideally we need to see at least 3 good images to every single poor image. The good images don’t need to be perfect, but they need to be near enough to good balance that we can see the next step might be better.

The third part of the problem is more subtle and a bit woo woo energy.

Energy follows thought.

We all know this. It’s why your mother always say “Oh I was just thinking about you” when you phone her, it’s how the dog knows you are coming home, long before he can possibly hear the car, it’s how the horse always makes sure he is at the far end of the field if you are in a foul mood from work, before you have even parked the car.

By sharing, discussing, dissecting a picture, be it with love or outrage, we are directing energy towards the subject of the photo. In the energetic universe, we are feeding them, powering them up. How much better it would be for all of us if we could direct our energy to power up the good teachers, the shining examples, the worthy mentors. And starve the others of attention and therefore energy.

That simple change would create the most amazing positive feedback loop.

img_1729

I am doing other, to the best of my ability, and shining as bright as I can in my little corner. And I just hope the light from my horses’ eyes is warm enough that people feel the difference and are drawn towards it. Then we can show them how to do better.

Seeking lightness in riding

And that shift in my mindset had provided a much better head space for me and the horses to work in. Riding is the ultimate martial art. And all martial arts are about discipline of the mind first.

If I tell you not to think about pink elephants, what have you just done? It is impossible to not do something without thinking about doing it. Rather than not doing what the bad guys do, do more of the good stuff.

Just do better.

6dafc01d-7eb5-4c6e-91de-f4869c87e413

 

Trust is a two way street

Trust is a two way street. For trust to exist in a relationship it has to be felt both ways. ‘How does this relate to horses’ I hear you cry?

Simple really. We expect our horses to trust us, but do we trust them?

Those of you who have had the delightful pleasure of sharing a lesson with me and the Rockstar will know I have racked up quite a few air miles this summer. Highlights were winning the “most spectacular dismount” rosette at camp (there were 3 episodes that could have qualified), and a splat at the end of one of Neil’s bouncy grids- Rocky was getting more and more extravagant in an upward direction, and just minutes after me saying those immortal words ‘at least I’m still on’ his back end flicked up even higher as we turned and I wasn’t.

He had just dumped me again before this photo was. taken-

I’ve been resetting the counter on the 1st day of the month. It’s the only way to stay sane. And I’ve said out loud on several occasions that I’m not sure if I’ll ever ride him without a back protector.

Then something very peculiar happened. Over the last few weeks I’ve been hopping on Cal bareback to take the two of them down to the field. And after a few days I started getting this really strong urge to hop on Rocky instead of Cal.

Which I initially dismissed as madness and stupidity.

After all, I can barely steer this young horse in a bridle. I can’t remember May’s total of involuntary dismounts but there was a score, June was a 4 point month and July a 2 pointer.

But the urge kept occurring.

If we believe in the whoo whoo stuff, maybe it was Rocky himself putting the idea in my head.

August has not been a month of perfect behaviour. I’m still on 0 points but that’s more about luck than skill- I’ve had a couple of hilariously spicey in hand sessions.

So I have no idea why I got on the big baby warmblood, him in a head collar, me in Crocs with no hat (don’t judge me) and no body armour, to take him and Cal down to the field.

It took me about 3 goes to line them up to the mounting block and actually get on. Then there was some milling about in all 4 dimensions while I got them both pointing the same way in the yard. I’ve ridden Cal quite a bit in a head collar and done some neck reining stuff like Garrocha work- (note to self- too much even- that inadvertent indirect rein aid needs sorting) Rocky however had no idea as yet what a neck rein aid might be.

Once we were lined up it was a relatively straightforward exercise. They know the way, obviously.

There is something very special about riding your horse bareback. You are connected to the horse, muscle to muscle, back to back, in a way that you just can’t feel in a saddle. I giggled, and I praised him, and I found my inner child to jolly him along.

We got there, I slid off carefully because of the Irish safety boots and I thanked him properly, scratching his chin and looking him straight in the eye. And I felt something shift between us.

Me trusting him enough to get on in that playful kid like way has changed our relationship. And if it was him asking me to trust him and just get on, then that is the first loud and clear request that I have had from him, and I listened. And every creature loves a good listening to!!

I really hope that was his thought I heard because if so, it was delightfully clear- we always say ‘if only they could talk…’

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m sure the points tally will continue to rise. And I’m sure he will test me in ways Cal hasn’t even dreamed of. But he has taught me a very important lesson: that trust is a two way street. And if I want him to trust me; then in a partnership of equals, I have to offer him the same courtesy.

Cal has long known my every thought- however inconvenient a truth that may be.

You might not think of riding and training as a partnership of equals. That’s fine. In my humble opinion horses are the best mirror out there- what you receive is what you asked for. And what you offer will come back amplified a hundred times.

I’ve shared this picture before but it is my mantra for this year

Charlie Mackesey

and the wonderful Charlie Mackesey has got his book sorted – it is now available for pre Order on Amazon.

I’ll tack the link below when I am on my laptop rather than phone.

What can we do when we are stuck in a training rut?

When I google “stuck in a training rut”, pages and pages of stuff comes up, mostly about running or weight training, or weight loss. This pre-occupation with fitness and appearance tells us more about the over-arching consumerism of the internet rather than the obsessions of the rest of non horsey humanity…. hopefully…

Getting stuck in a training rut is a phenomenon that happens in any past-time that requires discipline to develop skill. The easy gains are all found at the beginning of the journey, mastery comes from sustained application. And somewhere in that process of sustained application there will bad days, and weeks, and months. Bad because they are frustrating, bad because they are boring, bad because nothing seems to be getting any easier, bad because it seems unfair to do all the work and still not be quite where we want to be.

I’d like to reassure you ; everyone who ever got good at anything had a period where they felt like they were stuck in a training rut.

I’ve just moved my piano from one friend’s house to another (long story; pianos need a 5′ wall with no extremes of temperature). Once the removal men had gone, I sat down and had a little test. I can’t remember any of my party pieces now but I can remember all the scales and arpeggios (arpeggi to be absolutely correct) that made playing those pieces possible. I spent hours, on the piano and on the baroque recorder, practising scales and arpeggi, making sure the precise fingering was nailed, working on tone, fast, slow, even, syncopated, syncopated the other way….so that when the solo comes up in the concerto, the basics were there.

In sport it is the same. Athletes work daily on form, on flow, on strength and suppleness, on power and endurance, they don’t just practise their main event every day.

Self Discipline is the key when stuck in a training rut

Getting stuck in a training rut with horses is different, because there are two of you. First of all, let’s note that it is unlikely that the horse himself has any idea we are stuck in a rut, because they have no idea where they are meant to be going, or in fact, where they used to be.

The horse won’t say to you that their half pass felt more brilliant yesterday compared to today. They are however peerless at delivering instant feedback.

What you are receiving is exactly what you are aiding, to the best of the ability of that body, on that day.

A couple of ground rules here.

I do not believe that any horses are deliberately naughty.

They are reactive, in the moment.

They also have the capacity to associate, if not truly remember.

They can process experiences and learning. I believe we should appeal more to their intellect, rather than labelling them stupid.

They are communicating all the time, but mostly in a whisper.

And good therapeutic schooling work should effect a body change that feels good to them and which they then choose to repeat, having learned from the feel.

So your horse doesn’t know he’s stuck in a rut. Unless you start drilling a particular exercise, ignoring the feedback from his body and it stops feeling good for him. Unless you get cross and tense and start playing crazy pretzel demon on top of him to get results; then he feels anxious and his body stops feeling good.

When stuck in a training rut, do your best not to let your frustration transmit to your horse

Remember, the first aid is your mind.

When I got stuck on a scale or a sequence, I would mix it up. Play it backwards, play it really slowly, play it in opposite rhythms Dee da Dee da Dee da then da Dee da Dee da Dee.

We can do the same with our horses. Go back to walk. If it’s a trot exercise, how slow can you make the trot? The power comes from the slow stuff anyway. Is there another way in; counter bend on the other rein for example? Are you mixing up circles and squares and straight lines? Are you paying enough attention to the crucial details? Are you doing enough transitions? (no never none of us)

Are you remembering to praise? https://www.nelipotcottage.com/every-opportunity-to-praise-the-power-of-positive-feedback

And most importantly, are you using your everyday vocabulary of training; your scales and arpeggios; every day, every gait, every bend, every length of rein, every length of stride. The emphasis might change but the basic ingredients need to be there every day. And I include jumping and galloping as gaits to be included regularly, and hacking out on uneven and challenging surfaces as part of that foundation for every length of stride.

So yes, go out on the farm ride, freshen yourselves up. Yes, go hacking and break up the arena routine. Definitely jump or do poles, if you can, incorporate them into the regular work. But when you school, remember that the precision of the ingredients is what leads to brilliance.

Brilliance comes from brilliant basics.

https://www.nelipotcottage.com/suddenly-happens-over-a-very-long-time/

Bodies take time to build. No one learned to dance Swan Lake overnight, nor to play Rachmaninov on the piano, or even to run 100m in under 10 seconds. These things take targeted and dedicated practise. We need to be accurate to be efficient- practise alone doesn’t make perfect, Perfect practise makes perfect

But it is allowed to be fun too. And the most frustrating stage is usually just before the next big breakthrough.

When your normally quite careful horse finds his inner dragon- breakthroughs often come after plateaus or training ruts

So don’t be despondent when you get stuck in a training rut.

First, remember to giggle with your horse. They are always doing their best to do what you ask, so we must make sure we ask well.

Second, enlist the help of a friend. Go play out, jump some fences, book a trip to the gallops, borrow a garrocha pole. Try crossing the reins, or Fillis hold, or no reins at all…

I don’t know the lady pictured here but what a lovely piaffe- Goals!

Third, check your basics. Saddle, teeth, bodywork; are they all up to date? Have you done the human self care stuff too? Has your ownback man been recently? Do you need a trip out? Too often the horses get stellar care while we work all hours to provide it.

Four- revisit the basics. Work on your equitation. Work on your equitation some more.

Can you and your horse do a 20m circle in all gaits with even contact through both reins, even balance between the four feet, even bend from tail to poll, and a smooth transition at the exit point?

If your answer to that last question is yes then congratulations!! You have got stuck in a training rut at the most advanced level and you are invited to be my next guest blogger!

So there you have it. Training ruts are part of training process. The big lasting progress will come from daily attention to the discipline of detail. But your horse is mostly just a body…so have fun while you practise, dance, play, mess around. The arena is your dance floor, or your playground. The horses will always tell you what’s working for them.

Charlie kindly gave me permission to share his beautiful drawings from time to time; When I am stuck in a training rut, beauty is a source of inspiration

Like what you have read?

Nelipot Cottage is a Pay as you Feel Endeavour- if you have enjoyed reading this article and/or found it useful then please consider making a small donation towards ad-free hosting costs. Thank you

£2.00

 

Sitting Pretty…when the saddle fits

 

And in order for us to achieve immaculate equitation, sitting pretty is much easier when the saddle fits, both the horse and the rider.

I used to really hate saddle shopping. I reckon every ridden horse in the UK must have at least 3 saddles to their name, gathering dust in tack rooms or circulating endlessly through the second hand tack forums. Paddy was a nightmare to fit, with his razor-like withers and a wither pocket that never filled out, even once I understood the difference between constructive saddle fitting and more conventional saddle fitting.

You need to find a saddler who not only checks on the difference between fitting the standing horse and the horse in motion, but also understands the importance of allowing room for the horse that you are building up with correct work, not the horse you currently have.

Essentially, constructive saddle fitting is fitting a saddle to the dynamic shape of a horse’s back in a way that allows the muscles to inflate and therefore develop i.e. get bigger as the good gymnastic work progresses. Horse should develop fabulous top-line all the way from tail to poll, and young horses will get both taller and quite a lot wider with good work. The constructively fitted saddle will allow this incremental change, and ideally be adjustable as the tiny increments build into multiple inches.

Conventional saddle fitting is based on a template of the horse’s back in a static position; a saddle fitted snugly to this static shape will not necessarily allow lift through the shoulder sling or expansion of the trapezius and splenius muscles.

Then the saddle has to fit the rider. I have a very long thigh bone. I also have very stiff hip flexors. This combination puts me at a disadvantage in most dressage saddles; the blocks force my legs back beyond the flexibility my hip sockets will allow and I compensate by arching my back. Once my back is arched, the horse mirrors this and hollows himself too. I could lengthen my stirrups, to get my knees behind the blocks, but then I lose the elasticity in my knee and ankle joints which are part of the spring mechanism required to absorb the horse’s movement, and even more importantly, the proprioception that helps me find my balance to the ground.

Then I bought a baby warmblood, with huge movement and enormous mobile shoulders, who seemed to change shape every week.

Rocky in a relatively good phase of growth

So we needed a saddle that fitted me i.e. allowed me to sit in a classically correct equitation position, whilst allowing the enormous shoulders to float freely…and ideally was fully adjustable for a growing horse.

I initially backed rode Rocky in a WOW saddle, which I loved but he didn’t seem to love the way it sat.

Then we tried an Ava Pro-Jump for Rocky’s first ‘own’ saddle. The stirrup bar placement is correct enough that even though it is a “jumping” saddle I am able to get my legs underneath me with postural integrity. It allows free movement of his enormous shoulders, and sits stable enough on his back to cope with baby horse shenanigans. It has velcro knee blocks for added adjustability. But the rails were quite narrow.

The Ava saddles are fully adjustable, with foam and air panels, and the option to adjust the tree if required. The gullets are wide, and the panels have a large load bearing surface area, for maximum horse comfort. Their fitting approach is more constructive than conventional, and she will always fit and balance the saddle to the moving horse.

We’ve had great fun fitting Rocky. We have had to laugh and shrug a lot. He was very slowly started as a big gangly youngster, and his behaviour could be a bit feral. Horses never stick to a human timetable. At the time of  the first fitting, just 4 years old, he wasn’t yet cantering willingly on the lunge or under saddle.

Rocky at his first saddle fitting. Claire’s photos are not good for sales adverts LOL

By the time the saddle I had ordered was made and ready he was trotting under saddle and cantering on the lunge, so we did get a bit of a better idea. But then by the time his 2 month check was due he had become a little cold backed and was occasionally bucking when asked to go forward. It was a worrying time, but a huge bonus to be able to exclude the saddle from the list  of possible causes- because we knew that it had been checked and adjusted and that it fitted beautifully.

A few months later Rocky was diagnosed with mild kissing spine disease

blog post about Rocky’s diagnosis

I treated him, on veterinary and physio advice, with injection, muscle relaxants, a few months rest and then in hand rehab. When the time came for Rocky to go off to be re-started (by Stuart Ross who specialises in pre race training of young thoroughbreds) Claire kindly stopped by and we checked the fit and balance, ready for him to go off to boarding school.

Rising trot can be a bit oomph-y

STOP PRESS- Rocky has now worked solo in the big spooky arena, and walked, trotted and cantered over a cross pole without misdemeanour. Those friends who know Rocky and have been following our journey will understand how truly momentous this news is. And how it suggests that his back is feeling fabulous, and that work is much more fun when the saddle fits.

Rocky concentrating very hard

Another saddler who fits beautifully is another Claire of Plateau Holistic Equine. She is the Northern UK fitter for Peter Horobin’s fabulous Stride Free saddles. When I first rode Cal in the SF his shoulders opened up and floated down the long side – he was definitely buying.

The SF tree is uniquely flexible to allow the horse shoulder freedom, the rails expand and the gullet is super wide and super soft .

The saddles are fully adjustable on site – as befits their Australian origin. Everything can de done in one visit Ruth no need to take the saddle away. Cleverly, the headplate jacks in or out and the flocking points are open to allow easy re- flocking or re balancing.

The SF Classique is a beautifully open headed dressage saddle with a flat seat and minimal blocks to allow horse and rider to move naturally. It’s beautiful to sit in and gorgeous to look at.

We liked it so much we bought a jump version too