USDF developed a certification program to provide a training standard for dressage. Dorie Vlatten Schmitz organized and hosted the first of three workshops January 27-28. USDF Certified Instructor Faculty Sarah Martin was the workshop instructor for the weekend.

The Basic Riding workshop was an educational and growth-oriented experience for participants and auditors. Each day began with a short lecture and discussion. Then the group moved to the covered arena where each of the eight participants had to demonstrate their abilities to conduct a tack safety check, verbally access a horse, show their basic competency to improve the horse through riding, and finally verbalize the results of the riding using correct dressage terminology.

Top 5 takeaways from the weekend:

1. Work toward Conscious Competence.

There are four stages of competency:

Unconscious Incompetence (you don’t know that you don’t know)

Conscious Incompetence (you realize that you don’t know)

Conscious Competence (you know and are aware)

Unconscious Competence (you know but no longer think about it)

2. Always ask yourself the WWH.

What’s going on, and why?

What am I going to do about it?

How will I address it?

3. Keep things simple and basic. Don’t overcomplicate. Rely on your common sense.

This theme threaded the weekend. When asked to explain dressage terminology or provide an analysis, the participants were encouraged not to get lost in the language or speak with excessive detail. Participants were encouraged to be direct and succinct. Despite generalizations, participants were asked not to think of everything said or discussed as a rule. Every ride, every horse, and every situation requires common sense.

During the weekend, participants garnered some great information and reminders. For example, riders are already starting the training before walking off (after mounting) through the body language of horse and rider. During the warm-up, be sure to spend enough time at the walk and circles. Participants were encouraged to do some gentle turn on the forehand before picking up the trot. The reins can be longer for first trot and first canter. Move the dressage test patterns around. Use the quarterline or nose-to-wall leg yields.

Keep student communication simple and real. Don’t get so caught up in analogies that you as the trainer don’t teach the correct dressage terminology or what it means. Just because you know what you mean, it doesn’t mean the student knows.

If the horse can do the work, do it! Remember that a horse needs energy in order to have something to connect to. If there is a connection issue, ask if it’s a lack of hind legs or if the rider is overriding the front end.

Discussing the training pyramid at training level, think of collection in terms of level balance—being off the forehand and having a tendency towards self-carriage. Understand counter-flexion and how it can be a fake fix. Never overdo an exercise that is not working. Watch for muscle fatigue. It’s not reasonable to ask a horse to perform correctly when we drilled that muscle group the day before.

There is a difference between being a good rider and a good trainer.

4. Know the zones! Comfort zone * Stretch zone * Panic zone

Most riders and trainers spend too much time in the horse’s comfort zone. It’s important to ask the horse to stretch beyond that area but not take the horse to the panic zone. One way to get to the stretch zone is by evaluating the hind legs: can I move sideways, can I move longer, can I make them smaller? Another way is to work on the horse’s energy. In building the energy, can the horse go more? Utilize transitions within the gaits and build the elastic band.

An example that came up with a participant’s ride was that the horse showed a lack of balance on the left lead canter serpentine. The horse wanted to fall on the right shoulder or, when prevented from that, would perform a flying change. The workshop instructor advised the participant to not complete the serpentine (comfort zone), but ride straight on the quarterline and address the right shoulder (stretch zone) without allowing the horse to perform a flying change.

5. The trainer’s mantra: observe, analyze, plan, implement

Observe: Tack safety check, physical and mental health of the horse

Analyze: Use the information gathered in the warm-up phase to present a two- to three-sentence assessment. Don’t get into the detail yet. During the work phase you ask the deeper questions such as more bending or more crossing. Understand that there is no quick response with cold muscles and a cold mind.

Plan: Ask yourself, what movements and what figures can I use to help the horse? How long, how strong, how often?

Implement: Think about the muscle circle—haunches and hind leg; withers and barrel (including the shoulder blade); shoulders and neck; and poll and front legs.

This workshop was about demonstrating basic competency to improve a horse through riding and articulating the assessments and results using correct dressage vocabulary. Each of the eight participants and the auditors learned so much from the educational weekend. Sarah is an expert communicator and instructor, and her weekend sidekick, Dolly Hannon, a USEF “S” dressage judge and USDF “L” faculty member offered additional expert insights. The workshop absolutely would not have been possible without the eight horse owners lending their horses for the participants to ride. Appreciation cannot be expressed strongly enough, and the workshop had a wonderful variety of horses!

ADA’s Education Chair, Sarah Lindsten, organized this clinic featuring Janet Foy. As an FEI 5* Judge, USEF “S” Dressage Judge, USEF Sport Horse “R” Breeding Judge and USDF L-Faculty member, Janet’s resume is long and comprehensive and could certainly be an article on its own! She’s also the author of two books: Dressage For The Not-So-Perfect Horse and Dressage Q&A, which she offered for purchase and autographed during and after each clinic day.

Throughout the clinic, Janet shared her knowledge about the future of dressage, her training and judging philosophies and her knowledge of horse conformation. She answered audience questions at every available opportunity and made the experience a wonderful horse-rider-audience-clinician interaction. For each of the eight horse and rider teams, she observed a dressage test or the warmup for a test and then worked with the riders to improve test scores and overall training.

Breaking down two days of insights and training into a top 5 list is very difficult. But here are my top 5 takeaways:

1. Every movement has 5 pieces:

Preparation

Half-halt (inside hind comes up to the outside rein)

Aid

Movement

Finish

Janet says she’d rather see preparation than kick and pull. She explained that a half-halt is the perfect combination of driving, bending and connecting to the outside rein. There is a different half-halt for every movement. The final part of the half-halt is the outside rein.

An example of riding a movement, such as the shoulder-in is as follows: test the bend, half-halt (inside leg to outside rein). Use the inside rein to bring the shoulders right. Use the inside leg to keep the horse on the track. Then finish the movement by straightening before the bend in the corner.

2. Janet’s judging Q, B, E, M methodology to arrive at a score and comment for each box:

Q = Quality (quality of the gaits)

B = Basics (training scale)

E = Essence/Criteria (what is the horse supposed to be doing)

M = Modifier (accuracy)

3.  Ride the pendulum.

If you don’t develop the transitions, the horse will be flat and downhill. So get it done! The horse may need to transition slowly to stay engaged. Fast transitions make the horse sharp. Janet says, “Don’t make the transitions instantaneous until Grand Prix.”

There is no gray area for the walk. Ride either a free walk or on-the-bit walk; otherwise, you’ll ruin the walk. To pick up the reins from a free walk, bend to the inside and leg-yield into the outside rein, then pick up the reins into the medium walk.

Forward, supple, half-halt, give – no matter what movement.

The collected trot must be powerful and expressive. It has a faster tempo. A sample mantra is: collect, forward – MORE forward, shoulder-in, collect. Ride the “expensive” trot, not the “affordable” trot.

Another mantra for a younger horse is to ride the following trots in succession: “boring trot,” “big trot,” “slower than boring trot,” “working trot,” and another “big trot.” Then repeat. Use shoulder-fore to collect the trot.

In a lengthen trot if the horse breaks from the trot into a canter, ask for a GALLOP and then come back to the trot again in the corner. If the horse really shows effort, bring him back right away and pat him.

Think about all the canters you need. It’s okay for the canter to be slower when the horse is not yet strong enough. Try to put more weight on the inside hind. Get the horse under and sit, then gradually go forward so that she stays uphill.

In the lengthened canter, really GO. Pretend that coyotes are chasing you!

Ride medium canter for 3-5 strides, then come back to a collected canter and release.  If the horse is tense you must be able to create the reason to release. If you can’t release, then do a transition.

4. If there’s a problem, ask yourself where it is. You have these options: two legs, two seat bones, two hands. The problem isn’t in the movement itself. One of your aids is either unclear or being ignored.

When a problem arose in a tempi change, Janet said, “The problem wasn’t the change. It’s no use schooling more changes. The horse was not listening to the rider’s right leg. As trainers, we need to address that, not the change itself. This is the difference between being a rider and being a trainer.”

The solution to a problem lies in one or more of the following aids:

The inside leg – the active leg, gas pedal and rhythm stick.

The inside rein – the bending and directional rein.

The outside leg – controls the caboose when used behind the girth. We want to stretch the ribcage but not lose or let the haunches escape.

The outside rein – controls the speed. It tells the horse where we want the neck. The outside rein is the final part of the half-halt.

5. Janet’s favorite training schedule:

Sunday – off

Monday – check the aids, stretch, supple, ride transitions

Tuesday – pendulum exercises in the trot and canter, 3-4 minutes of intensive work, then a stretchy circle or walk

Wednesday – comfort zone gaits, shoulder-in, haunches-in, half-pass, comfort zone canter, more bending, more sideways

Thursday – pendulum exercises

Friday – put it all together, corners, small steps, long side forward, then the “new trot” into a movement

Saturday – trail ride or hack

In closing, the horses and riders could not have provided a more well-rounded and fun learning experience for us all.  A huge THANK YOU to each team. Janet shared a wealth of information and showed us clear building blocks. She demonstrated a consistent approach to training, used exercises to build expression in the horse, worked through problems or “training opportunities” and gave good advice on improving test scores. She reminded us that it takes 5,000 repetitions to form a habit, so let’s make it a good one!

West Coast Dressage Convention with Carl Hester (PART 1 – Young Horses)

April 8-9, 2017

Carl Hester, who needs no introduction as an internationally acclaimed trainer and competitor (British Olympian and trainer to Charlotte Dujardin) flew to Del Mar, California from the 2017 World Cup competition to provide a two-day training clinic.

Each morning began with the 4-, 5- and 6-year-old horses and then afternoons were advanced levels. Carl’s education and training ideas centered on the horse’s rhythm, relaxation and connection as well as the stretching, bending and collecting exercises. He believes in variety for the horse’s training, such as hacking, riding on hills, and working in the field instead of the arena.

When each horse first entered the arena, before evaluating the horse’s paces, Carl checked the rider’s position. The rider should be sitting on the horse just like a standing position on the ground. For example, visualize the rider in the saddle, then take the horse away. Would the rider be standing, falling forward or falling backwards? He wants each rider’s hands to be in front, not near or behind the saddle. Everyone in our sport knows Charlotte Dujardin’s famous quote from articles and clinics, “short reins win medals”. Carl says it means keep your hands in front of the saddle which will help you ride to the bit.

The key discussion points are:

• Be Safe
• Establish connection
• Keep the horse in balance and test self-carriage
• Ride a lot of transitions

The first goal when riding a young horse is to be SAFE first then start work on gymnastic training. At 4-years-old, horses don’t understand leg and rein together so start with the leg and stop with the reins. Work the newly under saddle horses only 20 minutes.  If a horse is growing, give him some time off because there is no sense riding a horse that is uncomfortable.

Ride a rising trot until the horse is about 6-years-old. In the early stages of training work on exercises such as circles, serpentines, change rein and stretching. Some horses can’t stretch early in the ride so stretch them at the end. Always perform hundreds of transitions. Riders need to be very particular on how the horse steps forward in the downward transition. Usually this means letting the reins out a little in the transition. Carl never allows a sloppy transition without repeating it until it was good – even the transition into a walk break! In Carl’s training barn, the piaffe is slowly introduced at 6-years-old and is developed over time once a week.

Establishing and maintaining connection is important from the very beginning. When one of the young horses was looking at the crowd, Carl told the rider, “let him look and keep the contact”. The rider should never break the contact.

The balance on a young horse needs to be level. As the horse develops and strengthens he can accept weight onto the hindquarters for an uphill balance. A horse that isn’t in balance, or is out of balance because of the rider, will probably experience loss of rhythm and may contribute to the horse losing confidence. On the 5- and 6-year-olds check the horse’s balance with an exercise where the rider posts three steps sits three steps posts three steps, etc. to see if the horse’s back changes. One young horse didn’t have the balance to perform a medium trot so the rider schooled the transition to medium, not the medium itself. It was lovely to watch the horse learn and develop from place of confidence.

Related to balance is the horse’s ability for self-carriage. Because riders tend to hold and help a horse’s balance, at the earliest stages of training the riders were asked to give and take the rein. To improve alignment, the rider leg yields a few strides, ride straight a few strides, leg yields a few strides and ride straight a few strides repeatedly down the long side. In developing the shoulder-in start with two reins on three tracks not four tracks. Four tracks is too difficult for a young horse.

One rider was complemented for riding the corners like a half circle. Young horses should not be ridden too deep in the corners or they learn to lean through the corner or anticipate and take over. Most dressage test movements start with a corner. Some exercises to improve them are riding to the corner, halt, turn on the forehand, and ride to the next corner and repeat. Another version of this is for the rider to trot the horse, walk when approaching the corner into a bit of a leg yield to activate the inside hind leg and trot when finishing the corner, and repeating the exercise at each corner.

It takes a lot of skill and patience to ride a young horse. As Carl explained, they can be so quiet and then turn into raging monsters. In his cheeky British accent he said “Ok ready to have a go now? Open your mouth take a deep breath and go.”

Dorie Vlatten-Schmitz, USEF “S” Dressage Judge, presented a Continuing Education workshop for a great group of participants on Saturday, August 20. The atmosphere was encouraging, inviting, and educational. Everyone was able to speak and gain confidence in the judging process.

Most USDF L Participants & Graduates use too many words, making the job of the scribe difficult. Throughout the day the participants were encouraged to condense words and phrases to be clear for the rider and scribe-friendly.

Dorie told the group to “just own it”. She didn’t want participants to second guess comments and scores. She wanted an immediate assessment. The participants were expected to trust their training and first impressions. While judges strive to be accurate, it is only human that one may make mistakes from time to time. All judges continue to learn throughout their judging careers. The point of the first exercise was to go with one’s first impression and move on. It is important to keep up with the pace of the test. Judges do have to justify their scores. To participate in any USDF L or USEF Dressage Judge training program, the participant will have to be able to articulate his or her reasons.

There were many discussions, such as how important the horse’s whole body was to every part of the training pyramid. When defining or explaining words, such as “connection”, sometimes the focus tends to be on the rider’s hands and the horse’s mouth. It’s so much more than that. The participants also learned some new judging terminology from FEI Dressage Judge Stephen Clarke, such as “could spring more off the ground,” “small disturbance” and “show more uniform bend”.

Understanding and formulating collective marks are always a great topic in workshops and clinics. Dorie provided an explanation of the difference between impulsion and submission, although she’s not a fan of the word submission. One way is by asking the question: “Is the horse physically and mentally prepared and capable to do the movement vs does the horse want to do the movement?” She also shared how she prepares for collective scores and comments while the test in in progress. She didn’t want to see the participants judge a test and then get to the collective marks and think “now what?”

Participants reviewed judging terminology and discussed what the rider may think as a results of the words. It was clear even in our group that words had different interpretations. The risk with some of the judging terminology is that it can be misinterpretations by the rider. For example a comment “needs more energy/impulsion” could result in the rider chasing the horse. The group brainstormed to come up with other ways to say the same thing, such as saying sluggish and sleepy instead of the lengthy alternative. A judge tries to avoid saying anything that may results in the rider blaming or punishing the horse. What a judge says should not contribute to a horse’s training going in the wrong direction. Another phrase which created discussion, was “above the bit.” Some participants had different variations of what that meant and what the criteria was for using it. In addition, the participants discussed “irregular steps”. The group defined what rhythm meant, discussed what lateral or a lateral tendency was, and noted what could instead be a balance issue.

The participants gained a lot of confidence and education in the workshop. I like the phrase “just own it” and can apply that to my life and riding as well!  Thanks to Dorie Vlatten-Schmitz for providing an educational day. We all wish the current group of L Participants good luck in their upcoming testing.

I was working with my yearling this morning.  What seemed like a basic request to free lunge in the round pen became a big problem ending with his massive temper tantrum.

My yearling knows how to both free lunge and lunge on-the-line, but today he said no.  At first I thought pushing him, growling at him and just asking again and again would work. But it didn’t.  I stood there confused. Lunging is a simple request and something he knows.

Finally I thought about the pieces he needed to be able to lunge.

• Move
• Pay attention to me

Both of these pieces were lacking. It was easier to access his hind end so I was able to get his hind legs moving. Then I went to the front end to move his shoulder – and there was the problem. He would not yield from his right shoulder.  After re-schooling stepping left from the right shoulder for a while, I was able to get back to lunging. I’m sure we will need several days of reinforcement.

Today’s experience was an interesting lesson for me. To think something so basic (in my mind) as lunging would need to be broken into smaller pieces (for the Yearling’s mind) wasn’t something I was expecting. By breaking down the pieces, I was able to stop his tantrums from escalating and we ended with a successful training session.

…Now, mind you I have a hole in my shirt from his tantrum attention-getting reactions.