tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90953325520888369192024-03-18T21:37:30.328-06:00Dressage ElevatedStacy Williams, Santa Fe, New MexicoStacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-86350113140206499962023-08-09T17:27:00.001-06:002023-08-09T17:42:02.705-06:00Making the Most of Your Training Dollar<p> Let's face it, owning horses is not an inexpensive proposition. Buying the horse is the least expensive thing you'll do as a horse owner. And once you have that dream horse, then what? Horses don't come with owner's manuals, but they DO come with a mind of their own. Can you think of any other Olympic sport that requires coordinating the minds and bodies of a human with a creature who speaks a totally different language and outweighs that human at least ten to one? The Olympians rarely ride without at least a set of eyes on the ground. The team has their own dedicated team coach, in addition to each rider's private coach, with whom they train weekly, if not daily. Which brings me to the elephant in the room...training for the every day, average Dressage rider. </p><p>I know, I know...it's expensive. You just wrote a check to the farrier, the vet, the boarding facility, the feed store, the hay supplier, your truck and trailer insurance provider...maybe you even just paid your entry fees for the upcoming show you've had your eye on. Don't even get me started about membership fees and tack. And if you're like most average Dressage riders, you're probably also paying a mortgage, a grocery bill for a family of four, and all the other household expenses that go along with raising a family. Who knows, maybe you're even paying for college tuition or the elder care of a family member, or both. Or the co-pay on a recent knee surgery. Life is expensive. Riding your horse is supposed to be an OUTLET, not a source of stress, right?! And now some trainer wants to get paid for barking orders at you?!</p><p>It's called The Sport of Kings for a reason. Only in the last century or so has horse ownership become more of a middle class endeavor. But the goose is cooked: you own the horse and have the show entries paid. What now? Get some lessons! Better yet, pay a trainer to keep your horse in regular work when things get tight meeting all your obligations and you just can't get to the barn. It really is money well spent to invest in your and your horse's education. I speak as both a trainer who provides this peace of mind on a daily basis to a full book of clients, as well as a horse owner who strives to bring my own horses up the levels to best of our abilities as a team. I've lived in a place where access to training was nonexistent without extensive travel. Heck I've lived in places where it took me an hour just to even get to the barn to ride my horse, and that's if the mountain pass wasn't closed due to whiteout conditions in winter. I'd be a lot farther along in my own riding if I'd been willing to invest in paying a trainer to ride my horse when I couldn't get there, or if I'd always lived in places where there was on site access to good training. But, we don't know what we don't know, and, when we do know better, it's important to do better. As soon as it became clear to me that if I wanted to improve myself and my horse, I needed to avail myself of training, I figured out a way to make it happen. I couldn't afford to pay for full training, but, I did have time to give, so, I became a working student. Then, once I became a full time trainer myself, I made a point of travelling to clinics and shows to further my education. I signed up as a participant for the USDF "L" program the very second I was eligible. Ditto the USDF Instructor Certification Program. Travel costs for both programs were extensive. I didn't necessarily recoup those costs in terms of immediate pay increase, but, the skill sets I gained as a result made me a better rider and trainer, and put me in a better position to make the most of future opportunities which have far outweighed the financial and time sacrifices I made then.</p><p>Enough about me, what about you? You have no desire to become a trainer. You have a horse, and you want to improve, maybe even show. You have to make every training dollar count. What follows are my tips for maximizing your training dollar, my hard won lessons from both sides of the transaction. </p><p><b><u>1. Be on time.</u></b></p><p>Better yet, be early. It seems to go without saying, right? You've signed up and paid in advance for the very expensive clinician touted as having the magic touch. Of course you're not going to be late to your $250 lesson, right?! Well, you'd be surprised how often I see it...people getting distracted by things that don't matter. I can groom and tack up my horse in 20 minutes flat and that includes a curry, polo wraps, hoof polish and fully brushed out tail. If I am running late, I always keep clean boots in my tack room, and my horse doesn't need to pass a white glove test. My lesson time is far more important, and it's even more important that my horse have ample time to walk and loosen up before being asked to work hard for me. His hooves don't need to be shiny if time is short. </p><p>If you are fortunate enough to have weekly(or even DAILY) access to lessons, that is all the more reason to be on your horse-who is working in a familiar environment-ten minutes early, walking him out to loosen him so that you can go right to work when your coach is ready for you. Think about what that lesson costs you per minute. A $90 lesson is $2/minute. Unless the trainer specifically says "I want to work on your warm up routine", you and your horse should be ready to work when your coach turns on the headset. If you take weekly 45 minute lessons, and you're 10-15 minutes late to each lesson, you've basically paid for an entire lesson with wasted time by the end of each month. Your regular trainer is invested in you. Show off your horsemanship skills by having your horse already loosened up when your lesson time starts. That will make your coach far happier than a spotlessly clean horse arriving 15 minutes late.</p><p><b><u>2. Watch Other Lessons</u></b></p><p>Watch other lessons your regular coach gives. Watch other lessons the famous clinician gives. Of course, be courteous of others' paid ride time: ask permission/pay the audit fee, take notes, write down questions to ask during a break, and DO NOT TALK. Don't talk to the coach, don't talk to other riders while sitting next to the coach, just...don't talk. It's rude and distracting, and interferes with the paying client's lesson.</p><p>If you're the first rider up with a famous clinician, search out publicly posted videos or written clinic reports of that clinician teaching other riders so you go into it with some idea of what to expect. You'd be surprised at how much is available for free with a basic internet search, especially if it's a popular clinician. Better yet, pay to audit the first time he/she comes and get your name on the wait list for future visits, if it's a regular clinician. </p><p><b><u>3. Take Virtual Lessons</u></b></p><p>This is something that was not so easily available when I was living in a place that required I travel for training. But the cost and quality of equipment has improved dramatically in recent years. I personally prefer to work with the PIVO platform. It has its shortcomings because it follows the motion and not a tracking device, but if you have the arena to yourself for 45 minutes, it's a nifty tool. SoloShot has a GPS tracker, so, you need to be outside, weather permitting. And, it doesn't necessarily have a real time platform so lessons will not be real time. It's a better option for for recording yourself at shows or clinics. Pixio uses preset triangulating lasers, so this can be used indoors. They all are glitchy at times, but, they do work. You can even do a FaceTime lesson, if you have someone to hold the tablet for you, and unlimited data with good connectivity, or an indoor with Wi-Fi. Nothing beats in person lessons, especially if you have a young horse or are having trouble understanding a concept. The coach can't just jump on for you. But, it beats riding alone every single day with no eyes on the ground.</p><p><b><u>4. Watch Videos of Other Riders</u></b></p><p>Whether it's your favorite rider, or, someone else just like you posting some show or lesson video, watching videos of others riding can be very helpful. The caveat is of course how well-developed your eye is. I can honestly say that I get far more out of watching others ride now than I did fifteen or twenty years ago, because my eye has been developed. But, if it's a top rider who is consistently getting good scores, or, the average rider who generously shares what their score was, just watch and absorb as much as you can. Humans are not unique in the animal world in terms of learning by observation, but, humans do have the capacity to develop the skill to a very high degree. Spend some time developing your eye.</p><p><b><u>5. SCRIBE AT SHOWS!!!!</u></b></p><p>If your horse came up lame, or, your budget did, offer to scribe at the next show. You usually get a free meal out of the deal, and sometimes even a hotel room paid for. Shows always need volunteers. Scribing is hands down the very best way to learn what the judges are looking for. It is not easy to actually see what is going on, because your job is to record the scores and the comments, but judges are always very generous with their knowledge. There are often breaks in the action, and the warm up ring is usually visible, so, ask the judge some questions about what you are seeing. And as your skill as a scribe progresses, you will find that you can look up from time to time.</p><p><b><u>6. Groom For Your Friends at Shows</u></b></p><p>If your friend is going to a show and will be receiving coaching, GO HELP HER. Listen, watch, ask questions, help the coach, help your friend...everybody wins.</p><p><b><u>7. Join a Virtual Training Program</u></b></p><p>There are some really great training subscriptions available these days. They require subscriptions to get full access, of course, but it's a great way to gain access to good information. Some of my favorites: Thomas Ritter; Amelia Newcomb; Begijnhoeve; DressageTrainingOnline(this one is unique because they feature NUMEROUS trainers, riding and teaching); and YourRidingSuccess.</p><p><b><u>8. Read Books</u></b></p><p>Not everyone learns well this way, but if you do, there are so many great tomes out there to help you. My favorites are Dressage for the 21st Century by Paul Belasik(this is my GO TO BOOK) and Dressage in Harmony by Walter Zettl. There are so many good, well-written books with great illustrations. You should of course read the USDF Rule Book, the German training manual, and go to USDF's website for their library of educational material. The manuals for Certified Instructor training are extremely helpful. USDF University is a super way to maximize your membership dollar. Take every online course they offer.</p><p><b><u>9. Keep a Notebook</u></b></p><p>Jot down lesson highlights, Ah ha moments, anything that helps you remember what did and didn't work. Be sure to thumb through your notebook from time to time. It can remind you of figures or exercises that helped you, or didn't help you. And, it can help you notice patterns, about yourself and about your horse, to enhance future effectiveness.</p><p>This is by no means a complete list and I'm certain that as soon as I hit the "Publish" button I'll think of something else. But it's a great head start, and these are all techniques I have personally used to my educational benefit.</p><p>Happy Riding!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTb-SE3A4VDUP9Y0h-ab9ROnSF0dYPAeKU_9v1ahcMfXm4hmunrOtV5k27glEOzQGFRE0UKHKudnOnMDVltp4MgWdZDRHxoKyr4bTL-3VTRmZIaomnwv5b05gBxJR9tAozX0nNKqc5qNGq1FqZ7AbqZ5G2v9gGYBX2OiwtMmlPSGkUokKbO7gWIJZwK8/s3293/region%205%202022%20saturday%202484.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3293" data-original-width="2398" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTb-SE3A4VDUP9Y0h-ab9ROnSF0dYPAeKU_9v1ahcMfXm4hmunrOtV5k27glEOzQGFRE0UKHKudnOnMDVltp4MgWdZDRHxoKyr4bTL-3VTRmZIaomnwv5b05gBxJR9tAozX0nNKqc5qNGq1FqZ7AbqZ5G2v9gGYBX2OiwtMmlPSGkUokKbO7gWIJZwK8/w291-h400/region%205%202022%20saturday%202484.JPG" width="291" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-54139901219037810342021-07-19T17:24:00.003-06:002021-07-19T17:26:04.140-06:00The Santa Fe Dressage Association Show is in the books!<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUdVzsautF9GNNXq7PK8Mcng6dT0Q1-AneHOl4iumaqhyDK1k4dn5QbMPodbZjfwPYODnFnp7zLCziDDP5BKPK2vsTEvd3tQuHFF7wahsWvnjyOzg8URPuDAOgBjmCN8ram1WAnkHK7w/s3998/NMD+MAY+627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2670" data-original-width="3998" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUdVzsautF9GNNXq7PK8Mcng6dT0Q1-AneHOl4iumaqhyDK1k4dn5QbMPodbZjfwPYODnFnp7zLCziDDP5BKPK2vsTEvd3tQuHFF7wahsWvnjyOzg8URPuDAOgBjmCN8ram1WAnkHK7w/w400-h268/NMD+MAY+627.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RENO</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>That's a wrap! Liz Puerner and I competed all three days at the SFDA show at HIPICO this past weekend. We also competed in the NM-RMDS show in May. Liz has now earned her USDF Bronze medal(in a sudden monsoonal downpour, no less!), and has qualified to compete at Regional Championships at Third Level with her sweet potato, Joyero XXV. JoJo is a 15 year old bay Andalusian. Reno is becoming very steady and consistent in his first show season as a 5 year old, and is qualified at Open Training Level for Regional Championships. Lucky for us, we don't have to go far this year, since Region 5 Championships will be at HIPICO in September! It's a beautiful facility with great footing, good stabling and onsite RV hookups. The setting is spectacular. Frisco has competed in the Intermediare I this year, and we are getting much needed miles in the FEI ring together. He's become reliable, honest and a pleasure to be around. Being a big brother has brought out the best in him. Karen Shaw brought her boy Kilkenny, a Canadian Warmblood, for show schooling, and "Ernie" went around that warmup arena with horses zooming past him at all angles like he'd been doing that all his life-first time away from home under saddle. Ernie will probably trot up centerline for the first time in October. </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Linda Thompson still takes virtual lessons with me since I moved away and left her all alone in the black hole of dressage that is southern Utah. She and Cazador RHR earned a 63% on Fourth level test 2 at the Millbrook Farms Summer Dressage Festival. This is Linda's first score for her Silver medal. She has worked hard for this! I also stay in touch virtually with Ashley Adams, who now has the ride on Diane Johnson's Lusitano, Pi'Tou. Ashley has moved back to St. George and will be riding Pi'Tou until he sells or until Diane returns from her mission.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>It isn't ALL about the showing, however. I have been working hard to develop programs for my new clientele here in Santa Fe. Figuring out the best approach with each horse, finding out how to make them happy and comfortable, and keeping my riders safe, is always my priority. Horsemanship comes first. Carol Williams' 16 year old Hanoverian, Cluseau, a GP horse trained by Simone Williams</b><b>(funny enough, no relation to Carol or to me!)</b><b> of Ontario, Canada has really blossomed. He and I get along great, and Carol and I have worked hard to rebuild his conditioning and his confidence after a difficult series of setbacks last year. He is back to schooling most of the FEI work and Carol hopes to show him at Third level next year. Liz has two other sweet boys: Xirope, and Contoneo de Ramos. Xirope is an 18 year old black Lusitano who schools all of the Grand Prix. Liz and I are working to build her and his strength and stamina to hopefully enter the ring at I-1 next year. Xirope is a true schoolmaster in every sense of the word. Her new boy, Contoneo de Ramos, is a grey 7 year old PRE, who schools Third level. He's a beauty, and we will probably take him to the October show to school and see the world. He hasn't been shown since he was in the young stallion classes in Spain. Janet Duncan's darling 13 yr old bay Section B Welsh Cob mare "Ginger"(Banquo Lady Valerie) is schooling all of Third level with me, and becoming a good professor horse for Janet. Janet didn't start riding until five or six years ago, when she bought Ginger. But what she lacks in hours in the saddle, she more than makes up for in determination. Ginger is also trail horse extraordinaire, and who doesn't love a dressage horse who can go out for a trail ride?! Janet has an exciting young prospect on the way next week, a 6 year old grey Lusitano named Macarrao. "Noodle" schools Third level. Liz Garfield's sweet 7 year old AQHA gelding Casual Attire "Ty" has found an advocate in her. After facing some training issues, and coming to me for help, we implemented a training program, and worked together to figure out just exactly what was bothering him. Liz and Ty are the trail pros at LCEC, and Liz had hoped to be able to ride him over fences herself at some point. I had been riding him twice weekly, but, progress was inconsistent and he was clearly uncomfortable. With the help of our diligent vet, Mark Medleton, it has come to light that Ty has EPM, and bone spurs in his coffin joints. This is what I mean when I say that there is a lot more to this than showing. Horsemanship, and being an advocate for your horse, are number one. Liz and I communicate regularly to assess Ty's progress during treatment, and it is hoped that he will respond well enough to trot and canter under saddle again. In the meantime, they spend precious time together, with friends out on the trails. We are very lucky here to have onsite access to many miles of well maintained trails, which is great for all of the horses.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>My boys are very happy at Las Campanas Equestrian Center. The staff is amazing and the facility is first rate. It has been so easy to become a part of the Santa Fe community, and we have been welcomed with open arms.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MVH1B2NbSyyJmzPBXh_vMHQcpooABAZ5jGMA56cX1i6W7wS67qDPii4dyiRqG6zuFKsimIJDnq6xzv5ESv0ZOqV-mrifPFyBO_vuC-wnFFruz8NAjonGJncSJkVj8I8vH0utPE7oFEc/s6000/NMD+MAY+2585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MVH1B2NbSyyJmzPBXh_vMHQcpooABAZ5jGMA56cX1i6W7wS67qDPii4dyiRqG6zuFKsimIJDnq6xzv5ESv0ZOqV-mrifPFyBO_vuC-wnFFruz8NAjonGJncSJkVj8I8vH0utPE7oFEc/w400-h266/NMD+MAY+2585.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-10702343172208864642020-11-07T15:58:00.000-07:002020-11-07T15:58:48.113-07:00To Every Thing, There Is a Season<p> SCWDressage is now DRESSAGE ELEVATED!</p><p>I am pleased to announce that effective December 1, 2020, I will be relocating my services to the beautiful Las Campanas Equestrian Club located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. </p><p>I have long dreamed of residing in this historic, artsy, outdoorsy, beautiful city...long dreamed of smelling that distinctive smell of mesquite wood burning in resident fireplaces each and every winter day. Santa Fe is positioned at a crisp 7000' elevation, with the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Mountains as a backdrop. The city is both the oldest and the highest elevation, state capital city in the United States, and is home of the oldest church in the country. It is the terminus of the Turquoise Trail, and is located at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains. It is an ancient trade route cross road, dating back centuries.</p><p>The stars aligned, and the timing is kismet. </p><p>Utah provided me the opportunity to develop my skill set, along with wonderful mentors and experiences I will cherish. I will miss the red cliffs and blue sky backdrop. I will miss my friends here. I have never lived anywhere longer in my entire life-nearly fourteen years. I decided to rename my program Dressage Elevated as a direct nod to both the Utah logo, Life Elevated, and the high elevation of Santa Fe. </p><p>There is a season for all things, and it is time to strike off on a new adventure, while I still have the nerve!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATvoanmY2eJGQWXwkH_XQG0qCwNlCLdQp7-IwveP-nUoRh9oc98yFp_HntljTRmsUfXq2ziMxsN5ctxeOu1t90aDFt7yMR6DOewmqd6pU2VHKaDwwwFsAuW8Uq3DZDpk4tf7fPSrVZxU/s1148/123625809_3341178799292481_3775474199572136562_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1148" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATvoanmY2eJGQWXwkH_XQG0qCwNlCLdQp7-IwveP-nUoRh9oc98yFp_HntljTRmsUfXq2ziMxsN5ctxeOu1t90aDFt7yMR6DOewmqd6pU2VHKaDwwwFsAuW8Uq3DZDpk4tf7fPSrVZxU/w400-h259/123625809_3341178799292481_3775474199572136562_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-52480949360417620332018-09-05T20:00:00.000-06:002018-09-05T20:00:22.575-06:00“YOU MUST FEEL EXTENSION IN THE COLLECTION, AND, COLLECTION IN THE EXTENSION”~Robert Dover<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This article is the sixth and
final article in a series that has served to discuss in depth the various tiers
of the USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very familiar with
this Pyramid. The tiers are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and Tempo;
Relaxation, with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the Bit
through Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust;
Straightness with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased
Engagement, Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it
in depth may be found here: </span><a href="https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Since everything we do every day
with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these articles specific
connections between the various tiers, and how they can be used to facilitate
the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority of riders and
horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand is that this
is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education in the
beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The USDF Training Pyramid defines
Collection as follows: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">COLLECTION
(Increased ENGAGEMENT, LIGHTNESS of the Forehand, SELF-CARRIAGE) The horse
shows collection when he lowers and engages his hindquarters– shortening and
narrowing his base of support, resulting in lightness and mobility of the
forehand. Because the center of mass is shifted backward, the forehand is
lightened and elevated; the horse feels more ‘uphill’. The horse’s neck is
raised and arched and the whole top line is stretched. He shows shorter, but
powerful, cadenced, steps and strides. Elevation must be the result of, and
relative to, the lowering of the hindquarters. This is called ‘Relative
Elevation’. It indicates a training problem if the horse raises his neck
without displacement of his center of mass to the rear. This is called
‘Absolute Elevation’ and can, if pervasive, adversely affect the horse’s health
and his way of going. Collection with Relative Elevation will enhance the
horse’s self-carriage, so that he can be ridden almost entirely off the seat,
and the aids of the legs and especially those of the hands can become very
light.” </i><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Here we enter into dicey
territory. Ask a million riders what collection is, and, you may get a million
different answers, particularly if they do not hail from a Classical Dressage
background. The USDF definition is clear, however. In order for collection to
exist, there must be balance. It must be RELATIVE TO the degree of lowering and
engagement of the hindquarters. It is hard to see. Judges and trainers(trainer
meaning anyone who sits on the back of a horse and attempts to proceed through
the levels-not necessarily a professional) must work very hard to develop their
eye. It is hard to develop. It takes longer. It probably means lower scores as
it is developing. It is much easier to see elaborate articulation of the
joints. It is much easier to see a high poll. It takes time, education, and
discipline to discern the difference when a horse instead bears more weight on
his hindquarters in the stance phase, narrowing his base of support and
shifting his center of gravity more onto the hindlegs. This causes the muscles
of the belly area and the thoracic sling to contract, thereby lifting the
topline. The poll then becomes the highest point as a matter of training,
strength, fitness and ultimately engagement. If this is being done correctly,
day in and day out, a horse’s entire musculature will reflect that. He will
have rounded, peach-shaped buttocks. The long back muscles, which lie under and
behind the saddle, and the trapezius muscles which lie right behind the wither,
will grow and create a lifted look to the back. The muscles along the top of
the horse’s neck will also grow, vs. the muscles on the underside of the neck.
The throatlatch area may even become more defined, and the jugular groove area
may become more defined. While a horse’s innate conformation will play a role
in how much difference can be made to the musculature, it nevertheless should
reflect good training. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">If it takes so much longer to
develop relative elevation as opposed to absolute elevation, why then is it
important that collection be developed in relation to the engagement of the
hindquarters? Why take the time? The main reason is to improve the horse’s
physical longevity and comfort. I recommend everyone do an internet search of a
horse’s spinal processes. If you study the way a horse’s spine works, it serves
to illustrate why it is so important that a horse learn to open his topline and
REACH for the bit. Teaching a horse to continue to reach for the bit even as he
closes his frame takes much longer than simply shortening the reins and driving
strongly. When the horse stretches open through his topline, the spinal
processes separate, allowing them to work in freedom with far less chance of
them rubbing, which would create inflammation and joint damage. It also allows
a horse to engage all the lifting muscles in his body, which allows him to use
his muscles vs. only the joints, ligaments and tendons in his legs to propel
himself over the ground. The whole body works. When the whole body is working
in harmony, the horse becomes much easier to influence from very small aids on
the part of the rider, emanating primarily from the seat. Because his balance
and center of gravity have shifted towards the hindquarters, he becomes more
elevated from the shoulder and will feel much taller. Ridden this way
consistently, he may actually appear to GROW taller due to the development of
the topline muscles as described in the previous paragraph.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">How do we determine if a horse is
being ridden in relative elevation/correct collection, vs. absolute
elevation/false collection? There are visual cues. It takes training the eye to
see it in real time by studying photographs and video in slow motion and/or
with repeated pausing of the video to check each moment in the stride. Once you
can see it this way, you begin to develop the ability to see it in real time.
It is not easy to learn to do, because even judges who have been trained and
have years of experience will miss it, often rewarding the high poll and
extravagant movement over the horse whose movement is perhaps less extravagant,
but, much more balanced and harmonious. It is a task worthy of a lifetime of
study, because if you are serious about dressage, even if only to achieve
harmony and balance with your horse and not necessarily to compete at Grand
Prix, then you will want to teach your horse to balance himself onto the
hindquarters and learn not to “prop” with the front legs. The horse already
naturally carries his balance more to the forehand at liberty, but when you add
the weight of a rider to that horse, and we sit right behind the shoulder, you
can see why it becomes very important to help the horse learn to better
distribute his-and your-weight more evenly over all four legs. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Here is a super article that
discusses the issue of Relative vs. Absolute collection in depth. Realize it is
as much an opinion article as it is an educational article, nevertheless the
illustrations offered are very informative. </span><a href="http://www.sustainabledressage.net/collection/false_collection.php"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">http://www.sustainabledressage.net/collection/false_collection.php</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Below are two photos of the same
horse, in the same photo session, taken probably less than a minute apart. This
is passage. At first glance, the first photo appears much more spectacular. It
is a fairly good moment and it does appear that the front end is very lifted.
However if you then look at the next photo, you can see that the tension is now
gone, as evidenced by the naturally hanging tail and the nose now clearly in
front of the vertical. The horse suddenly appears shorter behind the saddle,
and while both photos demonstrate the horse’s willingness to engage behind with
powerfully coiled hind legs, the second photo clearly shows more correct
loading of the stance hind leg. Do not be fooled by extravagant movement. Often
the more expressive the movement, the more tension involved. With time and
strength, the outline of the same horse in the second photo will serve to more
correctly develop her topline and ultimately the expressiveness of a much more
correct passage. Photo credit goes to Robert Schmidt of utahlens.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3tEr4O0hnzMZQcZHkrdS6F8wsolqdUirESOMtSh_5ArSofXEi-51IxUPfKQSIkZ5_HzPwsYxaPAgrQbzEjH3HqJXxKWcyMc8-Luxg7IuPeaZrXZyy4wT1m9TccirHZX7bVAppu5W7g8/s1600/_F7J3465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3tEr4O0hnzMZQcZHkrdS6F8wsolqdUirESOMtSh_5ArSofXEi-51IxUPfKQSIkZ5_HzPwsYxaPAgrQbzEjH3HqJXxKWcyMc8-Luxg7IuPeaZrXZyy4wT1m9TccirHZX7bVAppu5W7g8/s200/_F7J3465.jpg" width="200" /></span></b></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8ad0B3DEMl8ZxCNiPb0DsKibCJD83TezV5PiNqiPwhnN8_AaLyooZf2LUviL-pe1M1nmWA9HCLSEht_tote6Lz9ryZt3W0EfEIUNFLeDO8NDfJnw40OkHHZQzVqtcsduG4deb-UoX1g/s1600/_F7J3421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8ad0B3DEMl8ZxCNiPb0DsKibCJD83TezV5PiNqiPwhnN8_AaLyooZf2LUviL-pe1M1nmWA9HCLSEht_tote6Lz9ryZt3W0EfEIUNFLeDO8NDfJnw40OkHHZQzVqtcsduG4deb-UoX1g/s200/_F7J3421.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">If you think that this article
does not apply to you because you are riding at Training level and only just
schooling First level, think again. What you need to realize is that the best
way to identify real collection is when the horse is “let out” into medium or
extended trot. The possibility for this is already being developed at First
level, where the Purpose of the level is defined as: <u>“To confirm that the
horse demonstrates correct basics, and in addition to the requirements of
Training Level, has developed the thrust to achieve improved balance and
throughness and maintains a more consistent contact with the bit.”</u><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Thrust is what causes the horse
to cover more ground, from the hind leg toward the front leg, as opposed to a
horse that pulls itself along with reaching front legs and trailing hind legs.
Upon moving to Second level, we read the following Purpose: “<u>To confirm that
the horse demonstrates correct basics, and having achieved the thrust required
in First Level, now accepts more weight on the hindquarters (collection); moves
with an uphill tendency, especially in the medium gaits; and is reliably on the
bit. A greater degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness,
balance and self-carriage is required than at First Level.”</u> Notice that the
acceptance of weight on the hindquarters(collection) is EVIDENCED BY the uphill
tendency in the <i><u>medium</u></i> gaits. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Below is a photo of a First level
horse in a trot lengthening. The diagonal pair of legs are exactly parallel.
His nose points exactly where his front foot is pointing. His throat latch his
open. His shoulder even appears higher than his hip. While uphill balance is
not a requirement at First level, since this IS First level test 3, it is nice
to see that uphill tendency even in this lengthening. For top scores at this
test, a judge will want to see that the horse looks as though he is prepared to
move on to Second level. Photo credit goes to Terri Miller. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Gcb9sck_tc5VNekrHRRDlmqrAcBrQg4JCiq88l4qw_dEV4OWGXdC5cqqCcVBkNfqNkq3ae0hZy7bexx2Edj_jkOQzzrUm04_ICdyI7uZ0ddPALRMJNyo9U4PRbG39Gun1ZTBYbaaBtE/s1600/MedimRes_20140925-14CS0399_Williams-%2528ZF-9113-11428-2-002%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="881" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Gcb9sck_tc5VNekrHRRDlmqrAcBrQg4JCiq88l4qw_dEV4OWGXdC5cqqCcVBkNfqNkq3ae0hZy7bexx2Edj_jkOQzzrUm04_ICdyI7uZ0ddPALRMJNyo9U4PRbG39Gun1ZTBYbaaBtE/s320/MedimRes_20140925-14CS0399_Williams-%2528ZF-9113-11428-2-002%2529.jpg" width="248" /></span></b></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, here is a photo of a horse in
working trot without that same degree of engagement. There are some things to
like about this moment, however, this horse is not being asked to work in a way
that will teach her to carry more weight on her hindquarters. It is okay at
Training level, but she will need to learn to reach more underneath my seat
with her hind leg in the swing phase, so that the hind leg in the stance phase
is required to bend its joints more, thus allowing an overall better balance on
the way to the development of collection. You can see by this illustration that
how you ride your horse at Training level will set him up for correct
collection in the future. If I were to ask this horse to lengthen stride with
this much lack of engagement in the working trot, the strides would likely
quicken rather than lengthen due to the balance already being on the forehand.
It is thus in the extension that we find the proof of collection.</span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHTeYH-AcnCqfvvLUR5vqgO0lHu_al0L_eNequkCjEI-zrlxldPXIOnNqQ6YqpG_usnZjqyo4_LSzQtjMLoM4yNTtYF7A0QMj7q-Pnv9l0HqEmuPONIkcT0aq4NFE1GCGHXHZf3rDYRI/s1600/Untitled_811.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="469" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHTeYH-AcnCqfvvLUR5vqgO0lHu_al0L_eNequkCjEI-zrlxldPXIOnNqQ6YqpG_usnZjqyo4_LSzQtjMLoM4yNTtYF7A0QMj7q-Pnv9l0HqEmuPONIkcT0aq4NFE1GCGHXHZf3rDYRI/s320/Untitled_811.bmp" width="288" /></span></b></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I hope this series of articles
has been helpful. Recognize your place in the journey. Self examination is
important for growth. We all make mistakes, but it is important to learn from
them. Luckily for us, horses are very forgiving and so long as there is a
steady supply of hay and carrots, they will usually suffer our ineptitudes with
dignity and grace.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I dedicate this article to
Charisma, the one noble soul who set me on this journey and allowed me to
become a better person and rider while keeping me safe in spite of myself. To
her I owe a debt I can never repay.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<br />Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-11958840109529790452018-02-22T17:46:00.000-07:002018-02-22T17:46:08.115-07:00Ride Your Horse Calm, Forward, and Make Him Straight<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This article is the fifth in a
series of articles that will serve to discuss in depth the various tiers of the
USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very familiar with this
Pyramid. The tiers are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and Tempo; Relaxation,
with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the Bit through
Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust; Straightness
with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased Engagement,
Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it in depth may
be found here: </span><a href="https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since everything we do every day
with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these articles
specific connections between the various tiers, and how they can be used to
facilitate the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority of
riders and horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand is
that this is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education in
the beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The USDF Training Pyramid defines
Straightness(Improved Alignment and Balance) as follows: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“A horse is said to be straight when the footfalls of the forehand and
the hindquarters are appropriately aligned on straight and curved lines and
when his longitudinal axis is in line with the straight or curved track on
which he is ridden. By nature every horse is crooked, hollow on one side and
stiff on his other side, thereby using one side of his body somewhat
differently from the other. This also causes uneven contact in the reins.
Appropriate gymnastic exercises develop the horse’s symmetry. This allows him
to engage both hind legs evenly and prepares him for collection. This process
improves the lateral as well as the longitudinal balance of the horse.” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notice the term “longitudinal axis”-this means
from poll to tail along the horse’s spine. Also notice the term “alignment”-it
is exactly like the alignment in your vehicle. If the left front tire turns out
and the left rear tire turns in, your tires are going to wear unevenly and your
ride will be less than smooth. It is exactly the same for the horse’s
alignment. All four legs must travel along the same axis, not deviating
sideways. Now read the Purpose as stated at the top of all Second level tests:
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To confirm that the horse demonstrates
correct basics, and having achieved the thrust required in First Level, now
accepts more weight on the hindquarters (collection); moves with an uphill
tendency, especially in the medium gaits; and is reliably on the bit. A greater
degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness, balance and
self-carriage is required than at First Level.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is important for the reader to
realize that just because straightness is not mentioned in the Purpose of the
tests at Training level and First level, does not mean that we should not already
be looking for a degree of straightness right from the beginning. Read through
the Directive Ideas for the movements in Training level test 1. Over the course
of thirteen movements, “straightness” is mentioned seven times. Straightness is
furthermore mentioned under the Submission section of the Collective marks at
the end of each test. At its most basic level, straightness simply means that
when travelling on a straight line, your horse must actually travel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>on a straight line</u></i>. This is
easier said than done! To further complicate matters, not only must your horse
walk, trot, or canter on a straight line, but, his shoulders and hind legs must
track straight. There should not be a bulge in the shoulder or a drift of the
haunches. Now add to the equation the demand for turns onto and off of the
centerline, twenty meter circles, transitions…all the while the horse has to
stay exactly on the prescribed line of travel, and keep all his body parts on
that track. This is very hard to do, mostly because horses are born crooked.
But, here is where the rider comes into play as well. Humans are born crooked
too. If the rider is unaware of her own crookedness, it is very likely she will
be equally unaware of her horse’s crookedness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As a horse proceeds up the levels,
his capacity for straightness must improve. But straightness begins at the
beginning, from the first time he is lunged and the first time he is ridden. If
the horse is unable to describe reasonably symmetrical circles around his
lunger without a rider on his back, it is a sure bet that once mounted, the
added weight and crookedness of the rider will only compound that lack of
symmetry and alignment. As the horse progresses in his training, the rider has
to assess from the first ride, and from the first minutes of every ride
thereafter, whether the horse takes a symmetrical amount of contact on each
side of the bit. This high degree of attentiveness to the early training rarely
happens, and so we are frequently faced with having to address it once the horse
has been under saddle for a period of time. This is the boat most of us are in.
There aren’t that many Charlotte DuJardin’s out there, so even accomplished
riders make mistakes or take shortcuts in the early training. Even at Training
level, we have to start assessing whether or not we can ride our horses calmly
forward with a level-appropriate degree of straightness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I promised to link the layers of
the Pyramid. While Straightness is near the top of the Pyramid, just before Collection,
it can easily be assessed at the previous layers. If a horse is not travelling
in a reasonable state of alignment right from the beginning, it will reveal
itself in a variety of ways. The rhythm may be slightly marred, often
noticeable at the canter when the stiff, crooked horse lands too soon with the
leading front leg, causing the canter to appear lateral. The tempo will often
vary, particularly from one track to the other. Some horses “run away” on their
stiffer side, while others get “sticky” on their stiff side. The connection
will be too strong on one rein and not secure enough on the other rein.
Impulsion will suffer if one hind leg is habitually stepping to the outside of
the center of mass, as will uphill balance-a hallmark of Collection. These
issues can easily be categorized under the Relaxation with Elasticity and
Suppleness portion of the Pyramid due to the fact that they are addressed by
means of various suppling exercises, but think of Suppleness and Straightness
as being two sides of the same coin. No part of the Pyramid can really be
separated from the others or worked in exclusion of the others. It is just a
matter of degrees. I personally feel that ALL layers of the Pyramid should be
present in every horse at every level and that the only thing that changes is
the degree of expectations for the quality that will be exhibited. This mindset
plays homage to the often-heard debate of whether Straightness should in fact
be placed ahead of Relaxation/Suppleness on the Pyramid. It isn’t, in my mind,
a matter of one before the other, but rather, a matter of both developing
together. Anyone with experience in Natural Horsemanship will tell you that if
the horse’s body is comfortably aligned and able to move in a balanced way,
that will go a long way toward improving his mental relaxation. I cannot tell
you how many horses I have taken in as reschool projects who were so completely
crooked within their bodies and in their way of going that they had become very
nervous and difficult under saddle. Simply addressing the extreme lack of symmetry,
balance and alignment did wonders for the Relaxation of these horses. Horses do
not like to feel out of balance as it impedes their ability to protect
themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">With all the above in mind, how
do we set about developing straightness in our horses? I will remind the reader
of the definition of Straightness, and reference the second half of it directly
here: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Appropriate gymnastic exercises
develop the horse’s symmetry. This allows him to engage both hind legs evenly
and prepares him for collection. This process improves the lateral as well as
the longitudinal balance of the horse.” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Key to this is the word “appropriate”,
meaning, appropriate to the horse’s level of training and the rider’s level of
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It all starts with the lowly
twenty meter circle. Can you ride a perfectly round circle? The old masters
would hand rake the ménage before riding in order to determine if their circles
were accurate. I recommend doing this sometime. Riding a correctly shaped
circle, versus an oval, an egg, or even a potato chip as one former student
described her attempts at a circle, is not easy. There will be many potato
chips on the road to the perfect circle. I teach students how to do it by first
teaching them the geometry of the arena, and then, setting up guide cones.
Cones are a rider’s best friend. I use them when training young horses too, not
just for the new riders. They are not expensive, and are incredibly useful all
the way up the levels. I have used them for developing turns on the haunches,
turns on the forehand, and even the pirouette canter. Besides the twenty meter
circle, the other critical figures for developing a horse’s straightness at
Training level are changing rein across the diagonal, riding the centerline,
and staying the same distance from the rail the entire length of the rail. If a
horse is not reasonably straight, staying the same distance from the rail for a
full sixty meters is nearly impossible. As riders become more skilled and
horses more educated to the aids, the leg yield becomes a very valuable tool.
While a leg yield technically falls under the heading of a suppling exercise, I
would like to point out a critical piece of the straightness equation here. How
many leg yields have you witnessed that drift sideways with the horse’s
shoulders dragging the rest of the train lazily behind? When riders get back
their score sheets and they read “haunches trail” with the commensurate low
score, they generally then proceed to use more leg in a vain attempt to get the
hind legs to cross, and then wonder why their horses just run faster instead of
crossing more. Been there, done that. But think about the leg yield this way.
Your horse’s body might be two or three feet wide in total. If you start
your<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leg yield with the shoulders
already bulging a foot in distance to the outside, now suddenly the diagonal
hind leg has to go a third to twice the distance as the front leg in order for
your horse’s body to remain parallel to the long side. If the rider instead
pays attention to where the shoulders are before starting the leg yield, the
hind leg will not have to travel nearly as far in order to connect to the
outside rein, which is the whole purpose of a leg yield: to develop inside leg
to outside rein connection. This one small attention to the detail of
Straightness appropriate to the level on the part of the rider will make the
horse’s job infinitely easier and leg yields will require little to no leg. A
simple shift in the rider’s weight will make it happen. To continue with the
concept of level-appropriate gymnastic exercises, shoulder in becomes the
mother of gymnastic exercises. It’s younger cousin, shoulder fore, should be a
state of daily ridden existence for horses as soon as they are able to
understand the concept of inside leg to outside rein. Ultimately the haunches
have to be controlled as well, and this is where the more difficult gymnastic
exercises of travers, renvers, turns on the haunches and half pass come into
play. The more correctly the rider can bend her horse and connect her horse,
the easier it becomes to straighten her horse in the truest sense of the
concept. Once the shoulders can be correctly placed in front of the inside hind
leg, a horse is well on its way to being sufficiently strengthened, engaged,
and balanced for more advanced collected work.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQmC7CL2y0duLOjzzmqWcoUumZeJFGWxZs9zKJKCteDHmFILWbwJ7powp54zDBTaIo4XkXfzCCtvCgYXkRfubWcVvPEbVKuOzALThoSFcDkFNo9G8eH9ExqLUQL9D4uiZznzznDdx6eQ/s1600/DSC_18.03.CFD+0020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQmC7CL2y0duLOjzzmqWcoUumZeJFGWxZs9zKJKCteDHmFILWbwJ7powp54zDBTaIo4XkXfzCCtvCgYXkRfubWcVvPEbVKuOzALThoSFcDkFNo9G8eH9ExqLUQL9D4uiZznzznDdx6eQ/s640/DSC_18.03.CFD+0020.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Straight Rider, Straight Horse, Photo Credit Blesk Photography</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-87490312562033832462018-02-22T17:42:00.001-07:002018-02-22T17:42:36.553-07:00What Does Impulsion Look Like?<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">This article is the fourth in a
series of articles that will serve to discuss in depth the various tiers of the
USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very familiar with this
Pyramid. The tiers are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and Tempo; Relaxation,
with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the Bit through
Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust; Straightness
with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased Engagement,
Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it in depth may
be found here: </span><a href="https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since everything we do every day
with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these articles
specific connections between the various tiers, and how they can be used to
facilitate the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority of
riders and horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand is
that this is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education in
the beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The USDF Training Pyramid defines
Impulsion(Increased Energy and Thrust) as follows: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Impulsion is the term used to describe the transmission of an eager
and energetic, yet controlled, propulsive thrust generated from the
hindquarters into the athletic movement of the horse. Impulsion is associated
with a phase of suspension such as exists in trot and canter, but not in walk.
It is measured by the horse’s desire to carry himself forward, the elasticity
of his steps, suppleness of his back, and engagement of his hindquarters.
Impulsion is necessary to develop medium paces, and later on, with the added
ingredient of collection, extended paces.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If
you think you should stop reading now because that description included a
discussion of the medium, collected and extended paces, and you are “only”
working at Training level, then you will be missing out on the big picture and
ultimately slowing your progress. Here’s why: Like Rhythm, Impulsion is
included as one of the Collective Marks in the General Impressions section of
all Dressage tests. Rhythm is addressed directly in the Gaits score with the
term “Regularity”, and Impulsion itself is a coefficient. All the other tiers
of the Training Pyramid are addressed in a more holistic manner throughout the
tests in the Directive Ideas. With the above description of Impulsion in mind,
here is what the USEF Tests say with regard to Impulsion in the Collective
Marks: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“IMPULSION (Desire to move
forward, elasticity of the steps, suppleness of the back, engagement of the
hindquarters)”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Even
at Training level, we must think of the future. Besides, if you are showing
Training level, you should ideally be schooling First level at home, and even
dipping your toes into the shallow end of Second level with such helpful
lateral work as shoulder in. With that in mind, now read the Purpose as stated
at the top of the First Level tests: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To
confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and in addition to the
requirements of Training Level, has developed the thrust to achieve improved
balance and throughness and maintains a more consistent contact with the bit.” </i>The
word “thrust” is the key here. First level is the first time the horse is
expected to demonstrate the thrust necessary to produce lengthenings of stride,
a consistently level balance, and, more consistent contact. Since thrust is a
key component of<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Impulsion, it is
therefore a desirable quality at every level. However, in my experience, terms
such as Impulsion and Engagement are widely misunderstood by most riders until
they have achieved a number of years of experience developing horses up the
levels. I will attempt to clarify it in a written format, with the caveat that
I feel the only way to really understand is to first be able to identify it
visually in the ridden horse, and, then, to feel it under saddle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Let
us first say what Impulsion is NOT. Impulsion is not speed. Impulsion is not
explosiveness. Impulsion is not slow, either. It is a well-known Dressage
cliché: Speed is the enemy of impulsion. Impulsion is that happy place of a
horse that is very easy to ride forward or sideways with minimal driving aids.
The horse remains focused on his rider, staying active with the hind legs which
work towards the center of the horse’s mass, so as to maintain enough balance
to demonstrate the requirements of the level at which horse and rider are
working. In other words, the horse is using his propulsive power in such a way
as to produce a harmonious performance. It is often said that the more
impulsion one has, the more submission one needs. I love this statement, and,
do agree with it. However, we as riders have to respect who our horses are.
Every horse comes with his own degree of innate power. On a certain level, too
much submission will inhibit the impulsion, and riders who are over-horsed will
have no choice but to become guilty of inhibiting that impulsion just because
they want to feel safe. There is NO shame in this whatsoever, but it is a
reality that must be respected by all involved in the team and we as riders
have to be fair in our expectations of our horses. We can’t kick and hold, it
just isn’t fair. The kind horse will shut down and tune out, and the
challenging horse will become naughty and unpredictable. We can only ask for
what we can tolerate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">When
I think of impulsion, I think of it in all caps: IMPULSION. The degree of
impulsion needed as one proceeds up the levels increases dramatically, and it
is very hard to add it back once it has been taken away. It is therefore very
important, if the rider and/or the horse have plans to work at higher levels
later on, that the horse be ridden by someone early in its career who will not
be afraid to feel “THE POWER”. A Grand Prix horse really needs to have a great
deal of desire to go forward that is not generated by the rider. This kind of self-going
power can be intimidating to ride, so it is understandable that a greener, less
“broke” horse might be ridden well under power in the interest of safety. That
said, the DESIRE to go forward should never be blocked by the rider, if the
advanced levels are a goal for the horse. There will eventually come a time
when the rider must trust(allow), and, the horse must….GO.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">When
watching horses work, one can look for physical signs of a high degree of
impulsion by looking for the following characteristics. First, a horse with
good to excellent impulsion will appear to work mostly on his own, with the
rider playing the role of guide. Second, the horse’s hind legs will take the
same length of stride forward underneath the center of mass, which will allow
the horse to reach evenly into both reins with no twist in the neck or tilt in
the poll. Third, in the stance phase, the hind leg will work more from the
point of the hip forward, rather than coming too far behind the vertical before
pushing off. It will also flex well in the hock and stifle during this stance
phase, vs. stiffening(this is what we mean by “engagement”). It is this
engagement that gives the horse the ability to work in a better balance, less
and less on the forehand as the training progresses. Fourth, there will be a
more marked moment of suspension, producing what we call “cadence”. Lastly, the
back will appear to lift the entire front end(“relative elevation”), and the
muscles will appear filled and swinging. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">When
riding your horse, you can look for the feeling created by improved impulsion.
If your horse feels as though he is taking you around the arena and is more or
less maintaining the tempo and pace without much direction from you, you are
well on your way. This is not as easy a feeling to produce as one may think.
Horses will fail to maintain the tempo and pace for a number of reasons: lack
of balance on the part of the rider who will therefore block the horse with her
hands and/or gripping legs; lack of symmetry in the ability to bend left vs.
right(if your horse speeds up on one track and slows down on the other, that is
a sure sign he is not yet symmetrical in his bending); lack of evenness in the
rein contact(this is a chicken and egg situation-is the uneven contact due to a
mouth/hand/rein issue, or, is it due to an uneven hind leg? The rider, with
help from a more experienced trainer, must determine this early and often.);
laziness on the part of the horse; and last but not least, timidity on the part
of the rider. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This
is a theory article and not a training article but I will diverge for a moment
to address a common issue. Rider fear is one of the biggest inhibitions horses
face when developing the impulsion necessary to advance through the levels. It
can be very intimidating to ride a big warmblood at his full power. It is
important to assess realistically your tolerance for impulsion as a rider, and
then learn to be consistent and fair in your expectations of your horse, based
on your tolerance. You can most definitely improve your tolerance for that
impulsion with careful “guts-building” work. This is done in a safe and
familiar atmosphere, by establishing your baseline impulsion for the ride.
Then, if only for a few strides at a time, push your hands a little bit
forward, sit a little more up, tick your horse a couple times with the lower
leg and just “let” him go on his own. It is a little bit like learning to ride
a bicycle without holding onto the handle bars. Just try for a few strides at a
time. You will find that this will not only improve your tolerance for
impulsion, but it will also improve your horse’s forward desire, your balance
as a rider, and the overall connection. There are other ways to improve your
tolerance for the power needed to improve your horse’s impulsion. Make sure you
are as safe as possible, and, work with your trainer to come up with a plan to
develop your boldness as a rider in a systematic way. I like to ride out on the
trail and school there, but, not everyone has access to trails or a trail-safe
horse. Other ways to achieve similar results might be to do more canter work
early on in the ride so as to free up your horse’s back; to do more canter work
in general; to use cavaletti work(Jan Lawrence wrote a fantastic series of
articles for the Newsletter last year); and to view bad weather days or barn
distractions as opportunities to learn to ride your horse in more exciting
situations that naturally help to improve their energy level. Again, safety is
paramount, so it is important for you to work with your team to create a
systematic plan to develop your confidence that works for you and your horse.
Honor your place in the journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Even
though impulsion is scored individually in the Collective Marks at the end of
your test, it is nevertheless an integral part of the Directive Ideas for each
individual movement within the tests. A high degree of impulsion will just make
everything that much better. It is that little something extra which gives all
the movements sparkle. A technically correct, three track shoulder in with
insufficient impulsion will result in a 6 or 6.5 at best. But if the horse
“powers down” with the hind leg causing him to lift the back and shoulders,
takes springy steps that reach well forward, and reaches boldly toward the
bridle with the neck, that same technically correct shoulder in now becomes an
8.5 or more. Even though elasticity is often thought of as more of an innate
trait in a horse, it can absolutely be developed and improved. It is developed
when the horse learns to carry himself boldly forward day in and day out, every
stride, every ride. Even if your horse was born a small mover, you can
absolutely develop the impulsion and elasticity with good riding and training.
One of the best ways I know to improve a horse’s impulsion in a positive way is
to take your training to the trail. I frequently school higher collection while
on the trail, because then my horses want to go, and I can just sit in and half
halt to produce more elasticity in the steps while the horse keeps the pedal to
the metal-so to speak-all on his own. Below is a photo by Robert Schmidt of
utahlens.com, demonstrating this. This horse came to me with a very well
developed piaffe, but the passage lacked cadence, lift and scope. By working it
on the trail, I was able to take her added freedom into the work, developing
the passage into something to really write home about and make it match her beautiful
piaffe. It is the classic example of that cliché that we need to feel
collection in the extension, and, extension in the collection. She wanted to
extend here(you can see it in the coiled haunches!), and all I had to do then
was sit in more and hold her on my seat. </span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBrRW0tOVKq5TmAd4ES428dsMWcEIce8a1yt1b0Ufbz7dertRtvMdGbOD-e7Lz2xouVbLT4cxZv6vDAhpxMIVrPBc1j8VmMsSSt6bWQVPaWg5uc_hLPzRXs8cIxv5lLLNGrHl61WYZKgM/s1600/Passage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="744" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBrRW0tOVKq5TmAd4ES428dsMWcEIce8a1yt1b0Ufbz7dertRtvMdGbOD-e7Lz2xouVbLT4cxZv6vDAhpxMIVrPBc1j8VmMsSSt6bWQVPaWg5uc_hLPzRXs8cIxv5lLLNGrHl61WYZKgM/s640/Passage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-10439427303506050282017-12-17T14:23:00.000-07:002017-12-17T14:23:10.633-07:00<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">How are Connection, Rein Length, and Weight in the Reins Related?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This article is
the third in a series of articles that will serve to discuss in depth the
various tiers of the USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very
familiar with this Pyramid. The tiers are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and
Tempo; Relaxation, with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the
Bit through Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust;
Straightness with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased
Engagement, Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it
in depth may be found here: </span><a href="https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Since everything
we do every day with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these
articles specific connections between the various tiers, and how they can be
used to facilitate the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority
of riders and horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand
is that this is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education
in the beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Connection(Acceptance of the bit through acceptance of the
aids) is the third tier in the USDF Training Pyramid. The explanation further
illuminates: “<i>The energy generated
in the hindquarters by the driving aids must flow through the whole body of the
horse and is received in the rider’s hands. The contact to the bit must be
elastic and adjustable, creating fluent interaction between horse and rider
with appropriate changes in the horse’s outline. Acceptance of the bit is
identified by the horse quietly chewing the bit. This activates the salivary
glands so that the mouth becomes moist and production of saliva is evident. The
softly moving tongue should remain under the bit. The quality of the connection
and balance can be evaluated by ‘üeberstreichen’, releasing the reins (to
demonstrate self carriage) or by allowing the horse to chew the reins out of
the hands (to demonstrate relaxation).”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This article will
be on the longer side, simply because the concept of connection is by nature
very specific to each individual horse and rider, and is furthermore a dynamic
state, changing within the ride, from day to day and from year to year. This makes it a very nebulous concept that is
difficult to explain. It has to be felt. This is why robots will never be able
to judge dressage, and is also why dressage judges trained within the same
system will have differences in opinion. It is the point from which all of the
advanced work develops, thus a clear understanding on the part of the horse and
the rider is critical.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Perhaps one of the most concerning topics for newer dressage
riders is rein length, and, the amount of pressure or weight in the contact. It
is a subject often discussed. The most difficult concept for riders to learn at
the basic levels is how contact(the amount and the evenness of the pressure in
the rein) relates to connection(the ability to influence the back and hind end
and stay "on the aids" aka "throughness"). Many riders want
me to tell them which notch on their handstop reins is the correct notch.
Unfortunately, my answer always has to be "it depends". If there was
a set formula for these kinds of things, dressage would not be so difficult. It
would boil down strictly to science, vs. the art that it actually is. Art is a
reflection of emotion, feel, or intuition. However, good art is always based in
science and therefore the two are not wholly independent. An artist who does
not have the technical skill to use her tools correctly cannot convey her
vision, no matter how creative.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
So how long should a dressage rider's reins be?
Furthermore, how much pressure should the rider feel in her hands? It depends. The
first thing riders must understand is that the contact belongs to the horse,
and connection is a gift the rider earns. It is the job of the rider to ensure
that the horse is first traveling with a good forward thought, with correct
rhythm in all three paces. The horse should be supple enough to bend somewhat
symmetrically left and right, all with a relaxed state of mind and minimal
negative emotional or physical tension. Once this is established, the length of
the rein and the weight of the contact depend on a number of factors: 1. The
ability of the horse to engage the hind leg, whether affected by level of
training or conformation. A long backed, downhill horse will obviously be less
able to engage the hind leg and shift its balance to load the hind end during
the stance phase as compared to a horse that is shorter and more uphill. 2. The
degree of lateral and longitudinal suppleness of the horse. 3. The lateral and
longitudinal flexibility of the horse’s jaw and poll and the amount of space in
the throatlatch area. 4. The sensitivity and/or stoicism of the horse. Iberian
horses often prefer a lighter feel, whereas a more old-fashioned style
Warmblood may prefer a much more solid feel. 5. The horse’s conformation in
terms of neck shape, set and length. 6. The correctness of the rider’s seat and
hands as well as the rider’s physical strength. This correctness goes directly
to “tolerability” of the contact that the rider offers the horse. It goes
without saying that the more correct the rider’s seat and hands are, the more
tolerable the contact will be for the horse. 7. The stage of training of the
horse. A green horse, be it a green Training level horse or a green Grand Prix
level horse, may at times need more help balancing. The more confirmed the
horse is at its level, the better able it is to hold the connection through the
rider’s seat vs. relying on the support the bit creates. There are many more
factors that could be mentioned here, but these are the most common.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Biomechanical studies have shown that most horses prefer a
weight of roughly 2 lbs in each rein. This more or less answers the question of
how much weight should be in the reins. But the nuance of the feel in that
weight can vary greatly. Two pounds of dead weight with no adjustability will
cause even the strongest rider’s fingers to fall asleep and shoulders to get
sore. One can only imagine how the horse must feel in this scenario as well. On
the other hand, a highly trained horse who is strengthened to full capacity and
in complete balance and harmony may work with only the weight of the reins and
still remain completely connected to his rider. Furthermore, a very powerful
and big moving horse can offer a very elastic and malleable connection of five
or more pounds, particularly in the extended paces or in the passage. Ultimately,
it is the responsibility of the rider to develop her seat and position to such
a degree that the “feel” is not lost in the contact. A rider who falls behind
the motion or stands in the stirrups will necessarily rely on the horse’s mouth
for her balance, thus limiting the horse’s ability to use the contact to create
an honest connection from the hind leg, through his back and into the rider’s
hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
As for rein length, again it depends. The horse who is
properly connected from the hind leg, through its back and into the rider’s
hand will fill up the length of the rein as it is lengthened gradually by the
rider, stretching down and out. This is why the stretch down circle is such a
fundamental part of the tests in Training and First level. There also used to
be a canter stretch down at Second level, and conscientious riders will still
check the horse’s willingness to stretch every single ride, at every pace. The
difference between a beginning rider and a more educated rider is that a
beginner will view that pesky trot stretch down circle in the Training and
First level tests as a “movement” and not as a tool to gauge the honesty in the
connection as the educated rider does. The horse lowers and stretches as the
rider tactfully feeds out length, yet remains completely adjustable. Any horse
can be taught to drop its head to the floor on cue, often seen when riders
widen their hands or see saw the bit. That is not connection and will not
develop the scope in the topline needed for advanced work. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Riders must realize that a long rein is not any more kind
than a short rein, and quite often it can actually be less kind. If the reins
are too long, and the horse is not properly connected, completely on the aids,
and in full self-carriage, then by necessity the rider will only be able to
make contact by pulling back. Using the hand in a backward fashion is a
cardinal sin in development of a horse’s willingness to accept the bit. Recall
my earlier statement that the contact belongs to the horse. The other major
realization for riders concerning rein length is that in order for the contact
to remain elastic, the length of the rein must be elastic, not static. This elasticity
comes from the stability of the rider’s seat and position, and the ability to
absorb the bounce in the elbows. The wrists must remain stable, but, the elbows
must flow and follow, to eliminate any “snapping” of the reins. The rider must
be able to adjust the rein length quickly and tactfully at any point throughout
the ride, without disturbing the acceptance of the bit. Anyone with some climbing
experience might relate to the following comparison. A rock climber always
climbs on a rope that is dynamic. The rope has some stretch. The lead climber
always has a very light but elastic connection to this rope, and it is the life-saving
job of the belayer to maintain just enough connection with his leader to
prevent a fall to the deck. If the lead climber were to fall, the elasticity in
the rope would give slightly and thus absorb energy from the fall, preventing
the climber or his belayer from being snapped in half upon making full contact
with the rope. This system only works if there is not too much slack in the
rope, nor too much tension which would prevent the leader from advancing upward.
This is a life and death scenario, but nevertheless clearly emphasize the need
for a proper understanding of connection. As it pertains to the feeling the
horse encounters, if a rider does not have enough control over her position to
maintain a light, elastic, reasonably steady connection with the horse’s mouth,
the horse will feel that same “snapping” at every rise and fall of the stride.
Place a bit over your shin and have a non-riding friend move the reins in
various ways if you would like to understand how the unpredictability of an
inelastic and unsteady elbow/hand/bit connection can cause you great distress.
Such is the lot of the horse and it is important for every rider to work very
hard to improve her position enough to offer a “tolerable” contact to her
horse. <o:p></o:p></div>
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How does a rider determine whether or not the connection is
good? Much of this depends on feel. The horse will feel easier to sit,
even(especially) a big moving horse, because the connection from the hind leg
to the hand creates a steady wave on which the rider can balance and follow.
The sounds of the footfalls will diminish as the horse’s body and back absorb
the concussion. The space behind the saddle will fill in as all of the muscles
of the horse’s back fill and stretch in reaction to the lifted abdominal
muscles. The horse may feel taller as the hind leg engages and bears more of
the load. The legs will work in sync and there will be no roughness in the way
each hoof impacts the ground. The rider will be able to open and close the
horse’s frame-commensurate to his level of training-at will. The horse will go
easily forward, and respond smoothly to the half halt. A rider who understands
fully the concept of a quality connection also understands that you don’t teach
a horse extended trot as though it is a movement. Extended trot develops
naturally over time, with correct attention to the basic details of rhythm and
all it encompasses; relaxation and all it encompasses; and the development of
an even and committed acceptance of the bit by a horse that is genuinely on the
aids and in front of the leg.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Connection is where the rubber meets the road in this
discipline, and the quality of it can make or break a horse’s ability to
progress through and beyond Second level, which is the foundation for all the
advanced work. It also will make or break a rider’s ability to ride at an
advanced level, because a horse that is well connected is easier to ride. Ask
any Grand Prix rider, and they will tell you they spend the bulk of their rides
developing the basics of Rhythm, Relaxation and Connection. They use the
touchstone of Second level work to prepare their horse day in and day out. It
behooves every rider and every horse to work every day toward an elastic,
dynamic, mutual connection irrespective of competitive goals. Who doesn’t
appreciate that feeling of oneness only achieved when horse and rider are
genuinely connected? <o:p></o:p></div>
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The photos that follow will illustrate some points outlined
in the article. I like to use photos of myself and my own horse for a more real
world comparison, and also for copyright reasons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Photo one illustrates a three year old horse showing at
Training Level at his first show, in proper connection. Notice the parallelism
of the diagonal pairs of legs, the slightly open throatlatch, and the reach
through the entire topline towards the bit. The rider’s elbows are allowing
forward, and the line from the elbow, through the forearm, the hand and to the
bit is straight. The poll could be slightly higher, but this is a good moment
in connection for a young horse. Photo credit Dow Williams<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUK5Z7U7v_ZCVoVaRbuNNYPMVMf6cm9wF8Q_SEtUIzWeG-Sgu7yNtoEIT0JAfR2U0A31CHnJqrvC-GzEngXDYSZ8CiaNADjDvRll1QPD7DmN9601z4d7qoLrPdR4Ajfa4bFhp9MPlc-sI/s1600/Frisco%2527s+first+show+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1481" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUK5Z7U7v_ZCVoVaRbuNNYPMVMf6cm9wF8Q_SEtUIzWeG-Sgu7yNtoEIT0JAfR2U0A31CHnJqrvC-GzEngXDYSZ8CiaNADjDvRll1QPD7DmN9601z4d7qoLrPdR4Ajfa4bFhp9MPlc-sI/s640/Frisco%2527s+first+show+015.JPG" width="592" /></a></div>
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Photo two illustrates a Third level horse who has lost the
commitment to the connection. At first glance, it’s quite a nice-looking
moment, but on further examination you will see that he is not reaching out to
the hand and has instead retracted his neck slightly. The rider’s hands are slightly
above the line of connection. If the photo were taken from the other side, we
would notice that the joints of the hind leg have not taken enough weight to
sufficiently lift his entire mass into a more uphill, “out to the bridle”
manner. This is a great example of an honestly working horse who is not quite
yet strong enough to support his mass in more advanced work. It isn’t a
terrible moment, but, little leaks sink big ships. Photo credit Andalusian
World Cup<o:p></o:p></div>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-77034006866723462282017-12-17T14:19:00.000-07:002017-12-17T14:19:36.812-07:00 Bend: Is it the Origin of Self-Carriage?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This article is the
second in a series of articles that will serve to discuss in depth the various
tiers of the USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very
familiar with this Pyramid. They are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and Tempo;
Relaxation, with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the Bit
through Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust;
Straightness with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased
Engagement, Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it
in depth may be found here: </span><a href="https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since everything we do
every day with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these
articles specific connections between the various tiers, and how they can be
used to facilitate the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority
of riders and horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand
is that this is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education
in the beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bend:
Is it the Origin of Self-Carriage?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The USDF Training Pyramid lists
Relaxation(with Elasticity and Suppleness) as the second tier of training,
following Rhythm(with Energy and Tempo). The complete description of Relaxation
goes on to state: “</span><i><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Relaxation refers
to the horse’s mental state (calmness without anxiety or nervousness), as well
as his physical state (the absence of negative muscular tension). Usually, the
mental and physical states go hand in hand. The horse learns to accept the
influence of the rider without becoming tense. He acquires positive muscle tone
so that he moves with elasticity and a supple, swinging back, allowing the
rider to bend him laterally as well as lengthen and shorten his frame.”</span></u></i><i><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">With the assumption that all readers agree
about the importance of the mental state in the horse’s training, I will
elaborate in this article on the last sentence, which refers directly to
lateral and longitudinal suppleness. The lateral suppleness, and the horse’s
acceptance of the rider’s bending aids, directly affect his longitudinal
suppleness(the stretch through the topline). It is this suppleness that teaches
the horse how to carry his body correctly on the line of travel so that he is
ultimately able to carry himself in balance. The balance created in turn
develops the horse’s self-carriage. How does bend influence balance? Can you
have a well-balanced horse traveling with adequate engagement and self-carriage
for the level, without correct bend? Take a look at the score sheet for nearly
any Dressage test. Count how many times bend and balance, often together, are
mentioned in the directive idea box for the movements. As an example, in the
2015 Third Level Test 3, bend or balance are mentioned seventeen times.
Furthermore, the words “engagement” and/or “self-carriage” are mentioned
seventeen times, again, often together. In a test which contains 24 scored
movements, those four words are mentioned 34 times in the Directive Ideas.
Engagement and self-carriage are inextricably linked to balance, and balance
develops from sufficient and correctly executed bend, which becomes the
framework for each of these other states of being. As they are all very closely
linked concepts, none of them can exist in any degree of quality without the
presence of the others. Balance, engagement and self-carriage develop naturally
from correctly executed bend, step by step, ride by ride, year by year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">What do we mean when we use the term bend as
it relates to riding? Bend, in simple terms, means that the horse’s body is
shaped to match the line of travel. The degree of bend required is different
for a green horse as opposed to a Grand Prix horse. The bend must not only be
sufficient to match the line of travel, it must also be precisely executed in
order to be of any use in creating the other states of being. There are many
ways a horse can attempt to offer bend, but only one way is correct. Each body
part, and each leg, must stay fully on the line of travel. This is not such an
easy criteria to fulfill. Every horse, and every rider, is asymmetrical to some
degree. We all have a stiff side, and, a dexterous side. We all have a hand or
foot that is more agile, and, one that is stronger. Think about which hip you
put your child on. Think about which foot you use to operate the pedals in your
vehicle. The hip you put your child on is the strong hip. The foot you use to
operate the pedals is the dexterous foot. I am betting that for most people
reading this, those are not the same sides of the body, unless you have had
some sort of injury that has forced you to change to the other side for
carrying out these tasks. Your horse is no different. Watch him lower his head
to eat hay off the ground in his stall. Which foot is forward, and which is
back? Which front hoof has a tendency to get too much heel, and which one tends
to get too much toe? The forward foot generally gets too much toe, and, the
foot that is placed under the sternum usually gets too much heel. This
asymmetry affects the way he moves. It is normal. It is the job of the rider to
address her own asymmetry, as well as her horse’s asymmetry. It is a
never-ending job and very few horses or riders are ever one hundred percent
symmetrical. This is where correct bending under saddle becomes indispensable
as a tool to develop balance, engagement and self-carriage. In order to bend
correctly, BOTH of the horse’s shoulders must travel in such a way that both
front legs reach freely forward towards the line of travel. The hind legs must do
the same. Any minute deviation from the line of travel in any limb or section
of the horse creates an automatic loss of correct bend, and therefore instantly
reduces balance, preventing the horse from being able to fully engage and thus
carry itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Riders must recognize that MORE bend is not
necessarily the answer, nor is “more” necessarily what judges mean when they
mention it on your score sheets. “More” cannot exist, if “correct” does not
come first. Next time you hang out with your horse, observe him balancing
himself in his natural state. For example, consider the simple act of biting a
fly on his flank. Your horse balances himself by compressing the inside of his
body and stretching the outside, pushing his shoulders and belly out as the
head and hips come in. We as riders can use the horse’s innate sense of balance
to our advantage, just by making this one observation. We can use this
biomechanical reality of how a horse’s body functions to control him if he
becomes unruly, by exaggerating the placement of the head and hips to the
inside, in order to prevent him from bolting away from a scary object. But we
can also use our knowledge of this tendency to fine tune that bend to such a
degree that we create a very heightened state of balance that places those
shoulders directly in front of the horse’s hind legs, its engine. Every time we
place our horse in perfect bend, we require the horse to place slightly more
weight on the hind leg that is to the inside of that bend. That creates
strength in the glutes and hamstrings of that hind leg with repetition, no
different than the human athlete who does squats to create more strength in the
same muscles. This is why it is so important to change direction frequently. It
is a known quantity that muscles get stronger from repeated cycles of stress
and rest. The other thing that happens to that inside hind leg is that its
joints must also take more weight, and flex more deeply. It is in this
heightened state of flexion(“engagement”) that the power for extension is
created. So long as the rider allows the horse to direct the energy created in
movement away from the line of travel(i.e. a habitually bulging shoulder or
hind leg that is always placed just to the inside-which not accidentally tend
to go hand in hand), that energy is wasted because it is unable to be used for
the purpose improving balance, engagement and self-carriage. Bend, properly
employed, aligns the horse's body so that the energy created goes the right
direction for our purposes. It takes a lot longer to fill forty 100 gallon
water troughs if there are ten leaks in the hose than it does if the hose is
solid and distributing the energy of the water flow directly to the intended
line of travel-said water troughs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Riders must recognize that it is their duty
to notice every footfall, and further notice any time any part of the horse’s
body leaves the line of travel. All the cogs in the wheel must stay in total
alignment for maximum efficiency. The more a rider notices, the more times she
can make adjustments to her horse’s alignment on that line of travel. It is
vitally important at that point, once she has noticed, and made the correction,
to then LET GO(“self-carriage”) to a certain degree(please don’t drop your
horse on his head by abandoning your own self-carriage), to see how well the
horse has understood. This letting go, this uberstreichen, is what allows the
horse to learn how to carry himself in balance in the unnatural state of
carrying a rider whose way of being (vertical) is completely opposite to the
horse’s way of being(horizontal). Imagine carrying a backpack that lies
perpendicular to your back and consider just how much that would affect your
balance. Now imagine that backpack wiggling around with no control over its own
balance, but then punishing you every time you lost yours while struggling
underneath its ineptitude. We have to notice the horse’s failure to stay on the
line of travel with each body part, and, show it the way. But, we also have to
understand our own duty in affecting that very delicate balance, by being as
impeccable with our own positional alignment as we expect our horses to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It might seem contradictory to consider bend
in creating balance when one considers that we also have to ride on a straight
line. It is easy enough to ride on a circle and get the horse to reach through
his topline and remain in adequate balance. But the minute the horse is asked
to leave the circle and carry on down the rail, riders have a very bad habit of
forgetting to ride and letting the rail take over the job of directing her
horse on the line of travel. Experienced riders always ride in shoulder-fore.
It is a cliché in dressage, that a straight horse is ridden in shoulder-fore.
But this “straightness” is achieved with-wait for it-BEND. Not much, mind you.
But just enough. Just enough to require the horse to narrow his shoulders, and shift
them inward so that they line up in front of the inside hind leg. In order for
the horse to take this shape, he must, by sheer force of his biomechanics, displace
his ribs ever so slightly away from his riders inside leg. This is the
beginning of bend. It is this ability to keep the thought of bend even on a
straight line that allows the more experienced rider to keep her horse better
connected, aligned and balanced no matter where she is in the arena. This is
why “Relaxation with Elasticity and Suppleness” comes before Straightness on
the training scale. Consider the following excerpt from an article in the May
2005 issue of Dressage Today, written by Sandra Adair about a 2005 symposium
conducted by the Houston Dressage Society, which featured Robert Dover. The
author writes that Mr. Dover explained the basics as follows: “The driving
aids-the seat(back, trunk, weight) and both legs-generate forward motion; <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">the bending aids-both legs and
the inside rein-work together to produce straightness</span>; one regulating
aid-the outside rein-helps the rider control the effects of the first two sets
of aids, and, adjusts the rhythm, flexibility and ultimately the balance of the
horse.” (I will point out that I do think the author meant tempo vs. rhythm.) Notice
the part I highlight. The BENDING aids produce straightness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Dressage test writing committee is very
careful to write the tests in such a way as to help the riders better train
their horses. In every test, riders are given the opportunity to establish the
bend and balance in the first two movements. Read every test, from Intro A
through Second level. The second movement box in every one of those tests reads
“C track right/left”. In the Directive Ideas box, in each of those tests, the
very first thing mentioned is “bend and balance in turn”. It is the rider who
asks her horse to turn directly off the line from her outside aids with no
deviation outward, asking with her inside leg to stay upright as he wraps
himself around that supporting leg to take the exact shape of the line of
travel as he makes that turn, who is setting her horse up for the balance
needed to progress from just started to Grand Prix in the least amount of time,
with the most correct muscling. So many riders spend hours upon hours trying to
get a better trot lengthening, but how many realize that it was in the turn
through the corner that their horse was either prepared or unprepared to be
engaged enough and balanced enough to comply with the request? The devil is in
the details. The photo at the end of this article shows a centerline, turn,
medium trot sequence that earned an 8 and a 7 in a Second level test. Photo
credit goes to Pam Olsen, prophoto.bz. Notice the placement of the inside leg
of the rider(myself), supporting the bend through the turn. For top scores, my
horse could have been even more engaged behind, and his shoulders would have
then been even more uphill, preventing his inside front leg from coming even
slightly behind the vertical in the stance phase. I could have accomplished
that by asking him to be even more correctly on the line of travel with his
haunches with my outside lower leg, and, I could have kept my hips, shoulders
and hands more level, preventing him from dropping his inside shoulder in spite
of the good placement of my inside leg. The ever so slightly lower inside ear
and my inside hand acting in a backward fashion are dead giveaways that his
shoulders weren’t totally level in the turn. My trunk and seat could have done
a better job backing up my correct inside leg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">My goal in writing this article is that I
impress upon the reader the profound role correctly executed bend plays in the
development of balance, engagement and self-carriage of the horse. The moral of
the story is this: The next time you get back your Training level test, and the
judge has commented on bend(listed nine times over the course of thirteen
movements in 2015 Training Level test 3), I hope you will take the judge’s
advice to heart. I hope you will really, truly, and deeply assess your
understanding of just exactly how your horse is executing bend. Are you
teaching your horse to bend in such a way that its balance improves? If so,
then, engagement and self-carriage will most likely become happy by-products of
this very basic directive. Dressage, correctly and thoughtfully practiced, is a
wonderfully systematic way of developing a horse that allows him to learn
everything in a gradual way, and therefore develop his strength in an equally
gradual way. Riders will do themselves and their horses a huge favor to really
understand the directive ideas as they relate to the Training Pyramid. This
method of training we call dressage is what makes the plain horse beautiful,
and, the talented horse reach its full potential.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-43716120391179384102017-10-07T13:04:00.000-06:002017-10-07T14:53:33.082-06:00Tempo Control: Is it the Origin of Connection and Collection?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This article is the first
in a series of articles that will serve to discuss in depth the various tiers
of the USDF Training Pyramid. Every dressage rider should be very familiar with
this Pyramid. They are as follows: Rhythm, with Energy and Tempo; Relaxation,
with Elasticity and Suppleness; Connection-Acceptance of the Bit through
Acceptance of the Aids; Impulsion-Increased Energy and Thrust; Straightness
with Improved Alignment and Balance; and Collection-Increased Engagement,
Lightness of the Forehand, Self-Carriage. A pamphlet discussing it in depth may
be found here: </span><a href="https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">https://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/Pyramid_of_Training.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since everything we do
every day with our horses is interrelated, I will demonstrate with these
articles specific connections between the various tiers, and how they can be
used to facilitate the training of the horse at every level. The vast majority
of riders and horses are at Training Level, but what the reader must understand
is that this is the MOST IMPORTANT level, for horse and rider. A good education in
the beginning secures the future of every dressage horse and every aspiring
dressage rider. ~Stacy C. Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tempo Control: Is it the Origin of Connection and
Collection?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The first tier of the
USDF Training Pyramid is Rhythm(with Energy and Tempo). The description goes on
to elaborate: “<i><u>Rhythm is the term used
for the characteristic sequence of footfalls and timing of a pure walk, pure
trot, and pure canter. The rhythm should be expressed with energy and in a
suitable and consistent tempo, with the horse remaining in the balance and
self-carriage appropriate to its level of training.” </u></i>At this point I
will point out that there is a major difference between the terms “rhythm” and
“tempo”. Rhythm is defined above. Tempo is the RATE OF REPETITION of said
rhythm. The words are not interchangeable and should not be used as such.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Purpose stated on the
Training Level Tests reads: “<i><u>To
confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, is supple and moves freely
forward in a clear rhythm with a steady tempo, accepting contact with the bit.”</u></i>
At its most fundamental level, Dressage training seeks to establish correct
basics: the horse should have three clear gaits; he should accept his rider’s
aids with calmness and confidence born of understanding; he should demonstrate
freedom in his way of going; he should be balanced under his rider; and he should
travel at a tempo that is sufficiently active and that remains steady. In
examining Training Level Test 1, notice that “regularity and quality of (insert
walk, trot or canter here)” is in EVERY SINGLE Directive Idea box. It is
mentioned thirteen times in thirteen movements. While the “Gaits” score in the
Collective Marks section is only a coefficient of 1, it is nonetheless factored
into the score of each and every movement. This requirement holds true through
Grand Prix. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Most horses seen in the
Dressage ring today have reasonably clear and correct rhythm in all three
gaits. By including “regularity” in the Directive Idea of each movement,
today’s test writers have seen to that. Riders can’t really train correct
rhythm into a horse, but, they can definitely train it OUT of the horse. That
goes to Relaxation, and is a subject for a different article. What a rider CAN
control with regard to her horse’s rhythm as it pertains to the Training Scale,
is whether or not that distinctive footfall characteristic to each gait has
sufficient energy, and, whether or not the tempo remains steady. It is this
continuous, unimpeded flow of energy from the horse’s hind legs to the rider’s
hand that creates the connection between the rider’s aids and the horses mind
and body. Dressage is about movement. It is an athletic endeavor, an Olympic
sport, and a discipline centuries old. It is at Training level that the young
horse is educated to accept the rider’s driving, bending and balancing aids. It
is truly the most important level, the platform from which springs all the
beautiful movements we identify as “Dressage”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A horse who moves freely
forward, in a clear rhythm that has sufficient energy and balance is a thing of
beauty. Horses like to move. It is up to the rider to teach him how to move in
such a way that his gaits are enhanced, his balance improved, and his responses
are instant. Stand ringside at the warmup arena at any dressage show, and
observe how the horses move. Some are bold, active, and committed to the aids.
Some are silly and inattentive. Some are hesitant, unsteady, and lacking in
balance. Some are each of these at any given time. It is that steadiness of the
tempo, the even push of each hind leg as the horse moves resolutely forward
towards the bridle, or lack thereof, that will separate two otherwise equally
talented horses. Any time a coach or rider concerns herself with where the
horse’s head is before insisting that the horse’s tempo and energy become
consistent is putting the cart in front of the horse. No amount of jiggling of
the bit to create a false frame will teach a horse that his job is to keep the
hind leg committed to stepping up to the hand at all times. But once the horse
understands the level of energy required and willingly goes to the bridle,
accepting it, the connection over the topline is simply the next step on the
continuum. <i><u>Connection is a gift the
correctly ridden horse gives the rider, not something the rider demands</u></i>.
The “put your head down or you are going to the packers” mentality has no place
in good training. It is this commitment to step into the rider’s hand, this
establishment of a trusting connection, that is at the heart of collection.
Horses will always come with different talents. Some find the extended paces
easy. Some find the lateral work easy. Still others find the high collection
easy. And then there are the rare horses that excel in all three areas and that
is the stuff Olympic dreams are made of. However, it is the diligent rider who
will take the time to solidify the basics on each horse, no matter his area of
talent, that will have the most success with the widest range of horses. A
horse who can piaffe, but cannot stay balanced enough in the canter to make
even a single flying change, is not a Grand Prix horse. Some horses find
learning the changes easy and will do them correctly no matter how poorly set
up. Others will never make clean flying changes, no matter how many years they
have been performing them, unless perfectly set up by the rider. But the
problem’s root cause is a failure on the part of the horse to remain committed
to stepping into the bridle, and/or a failure on the part of the rider to
expect it. It is at the essence of everything we do from the beginning ride to developing
the one tempi’s. The conversation goes something like this: Rider says, “horse,
here are my driving aids.”; Horse replies, “here is my commitment to step forward
towards the bridle.” ; Rider reciprocates, “here is your release, now please
carry yourself.” Horse replies, “I can carry myself for this long today.”;
Rider acknowledges, “Thank you for your effort today.” This conversation takes
place continuously throughout every ride, every day, for the horse’s entire
career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The rider has to take the
description of Rhythm in the USDF Training Pyramid to heart when developing the
young horse or reschooling older horses. If the tempo is too fast, the horse
will constantly ask the rider to balance him by leaning on the hand, or will
hide behind the hand with a closed throatlatch and a chest that points down in
spite of the high poll. If the tempo is too slow, the horse can avoid
developing a real commitment to contact. If the tempo varies, it is a red flag
that the horse is too crooked and unbalanced to sustain a steady tempo, and
lateral suppleness needs to be addressed. Noticing variations in the tempo can
help the rider identify a lack of symmetry, and, addressing the changes in
tempo with steadying aids on the quick side and driving aids on the slow side
will go a long way towards improving overall symmetry. If the rider further
studies the Purpose of the Training level tests, she will see that it is not
only the correct rhythm, with sufficient and steady tempo and energy that is
crucial, but also that the horse is demonstrating acceptance of the bridle. The
two go hand in hand: when the horse willingly and resolutely responds to the
driving aids and accepts the bridle, the rider can then create a recirculation
of energy that establishes the circle of the aids, and then she is in control
of the tempo. It is this circle of aids, this recycling of the energy, that puts
the horse “in front of the leg” and allows the rider to gradually influence the
entire body of the horse and set him up in a balance and alignment that makes
it possible to access both the thrusting power and the carrying power of the
horse’s hind leg. It is the ability to access both trajectories of energy that
creates, over time, the collection needed to perform at the highest of levels.
If your horse is not willing-or you as the rider are too impatient-to meet the
requirements as set forth in Training level, he will only learn tricks. His
talent may take him a long way, but the tempo control established at Training
level is what allows the rider access to all of the gears required to execute
the most harmonious Grand Prix test. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To illustrate the
relationship between tempo control, connection and collection, compare the
following two canter photos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks to Pam Olsen of
ProPhoto for the photo on the left, Andalusian World Cup for the photo on
the right. The photos are of the same horse/rider, in the same show season, at
Third level. The first photo was taken during extended canter, the second
during collected canter. While this is by no means a perfect representation, it
serves to illustrate the idea that a continuous flow of energy from the hind
leg to the bridle has created a connection through the topline that has allowed
me, the rider here, to open and close my horse’s frame to meet the requirements
of each pace with almost no change in the reach through the topline or the degree
of engagement. All that changed was the trajectory of the energy. There is nearly
the same amount of separation of the hind leg, the trailing hind leg continues
to work from the hip forward even in the extended canter, the saddle does not
sink down as the he stretches out his frame, and his nose points to where his
foreleg will land. Because my horse’s tempo is steady, and his energy flows
towards my hand, I have the ability to adjust his outline forward and back
again with no loss of balance, energy, or engagement. My hands are able to
quietly receive and recycle the energy created by the hind leg. These are nice
moments taken from reasonably successful rides. No ride is perfect every step
of the way, but, studying your horse on film, either through video or still
photo, is a very reliable way to assess how secure the elements of the Training
Pyramid are in the daily work.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I hope this article helps
the reader to recognize how important it is to notice her horse’s tempo, once
the establishment of a correct rhythm has been assured. Assessing the tempo,
expecting a steady flow of energy, and adjusting the tempo early and often will
pave the way for a more honest connection, which creates the possibility of
collection. My next article will discuss Suppleness from the Relaxation tier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-88532419213851790592016-07-30T15:22:00.002-06:002016-07-30T15:35:08.337-06:00Summer 2016 Update<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>2016 has been a busy year thus far! I have continued to develop the young Moresian gelding, Saezzar. I started him the middle of August last year, and he has made steady progress. His mind is so incredible, and he has the talent for dressage. He seems to really love his job. In June, he went on his first outing, to Millbrook Farms in Fairfield. He learned how to go away from home and still do his job, an important step in the education of a show horse. In July, he competed at his first show, again at Millbrook Farms. I just love this facility for baby horses and new riders. The stabling is very secure and safe, the footing is excellent, the warmup arena is huge so you can keep a nervous Nelly in a corner away from other horses, and of course the organization and management are extremely welcoming. Saezzar did great at his first show. On Saturday, he got a little too excited and inattentive, picking up the wrong lead for the right canter-something he had actually NEVER once done under saddle-and our score was only a 63.409%. Not bad at all, but, he has the quality to do a lot better than that. Sunday was much better. In spite of being tired, and suddenly noticing the arena sign that had been there all along, resulting in a spook just as we trotted up centerline to start, he stayed much more focused and we earned a 71.136% on Training level Test 3. I was thrilled with him and his conduct at his very first show. Saezzar will also go to the August Millbrook Farms show, and, the Utah Dressage Society shows the following weekend.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Saezzar's owner, Persis, needed to get in the saddle herself so she could learn along with her youngster. In December, we traveled to Albuquerque, NM, to look at an older schoolmaster, a Friesian gelding. As soon as they pulled the blanket off of him and he turned to look at me, I felt that same arrow through my heart that I felt that July day in 1998 as I walked into a barn in Klammath Falls, Oregon, and Charisma put her head out of the stall and looked at me. I had to work hard to remain professional, but I had already researched the horse's credentials pretty carefully, and only needed to sit on him for a few minutes to confirm what I felt I already knew. Even at coming 18, he passed his vetting with flying colors, in spite of being extremely underweight, under muscled, and in very poor condition. The vet gave Persis a very specific nutritional program, and Chase arrived in St. George in the dark in late December, calmly walked off the trailer and into his stall, and stole all of our hearts immediately. Luckily Persis has a fleet of daughters to spoil him in his future retirement but for now "Chase" has carried Persis to her very first dressage show with very nice scores and even a first place. They showed at the July Millbrook Farms show, and will be showing in August as well, along with Saezzar.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>It was really special to have six of Persis' seven children, as well as her husband and nephew, there to watch both her and I. What a support crew-I don't know about Persis but their love and support made me feel invincible!!</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Diane and Legolas have been working hard with me since last fall, with the goal ultimately being First level. Legolas previously had a career on the AQHA circuit, and has had to learn a new discipline along with Diane. They are a very elegant pair and make progress each day. They also entered their first dressage show at the Millbrook Farms July show. Linda taught Diane how to make dressage braids, and it made gave me such a fulfilling feeling to see the two of them, heads together, getting those braids perfect. I have to say, Diane's turnout was spectacular! It was such a joy to see Diane's father come and watch her, and I had to hide my emotions when I heard him say to her "It's just like when you were a little girl." . Diane's husband and one of her sons(she has eight beautiful children!) were so proud to watch her, and Legolas behaved very well on show day. I am really proud of this pair and their progress.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Linda and Cazador continue to make progress. Caz was very green when Linda bought him just over a year ago but they have really gelled as a team. They showed at the July Millbrook show as well, at First level, and they earned a qualifying score for Regional Championships!! This thrilled me to no end. Linda is very excited to begin work on their First level Freestyle, a long time goal of hers. I have high hopes for this pair's future in the sport. I can easily see Linda earning her Bronze medal and Freestyle bar in the very near future. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>April saw the departure of Ashley Adams and her darling family. Her husband Chris received an Army assignment that took them to Monterey(rough life!). I miss all of them terribly. Ashley purchased the grade gelding Silver Lining in February from Kerri Coufal, head groom to Alison Brock. "Charlie" schools Third level and is a super find for Ashley and her daughters. Charlie and Ashley participated in several shows at Gilroy Gaits this summer, earning the First level scores Ashley needed towards her Bronze medal, as well as to allow her to begin designing her First level Freestyle. I have been coaching them via email and phone, which while not ideal, is still helpful. Were it not for Jan Lawrence's virtual coaching while I rode Kleine, I would not have progressed from never having shown FEI to a very respectable 65% at Intermediate II and 59.7% at Grand Prix within seven short months. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Ashley's KWPN mare, Dulce' stayed at Lava Bluffs with me, in full training, with the aim to sell her to an ambitious rider who can capitalize on the mare's great paces, energy, and work ethic. I took her to a clinic at Cooper Ranch in Las Vegas and rode with David Wightman. He praised her elasticity and gaits. Details, photo and video about Dulce' may be found on my For Sale page. Dulce' will be shown at First level in the August Millbrook and Utah Dressage Society Shows.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Karen and Tanner continue to amaze me at their diligence. Tanner is so honest, and gives it his all every single ride. They participated in a schooling show at Cooper Ranch in Las Vegas, in January, and did a great job, earning a very nice score. They were unable to participate in the April show due to a scheduling conflict, and, the remaining schooling shows there were cancelled for 2016. Karen and I are preparing her to show recognized next year. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Alison and Biscuit continue to improve and have become a super partnership. Pat and Blue are taking the summer off from lessons due to the heat. Pat has to be careful about getting overheated and rides very early every morning. We will get back to lessons in the fall.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Frisco steals my heart on a daily basis. I love that horse so much. Together this year, thus far, we have earned our Bronze Freestyle Bar, qualified for Regional Championships at Third level, at Third level Freestyle, and qualified at CDS-HOY Third level Freestyle. </i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>2016 has been a very full year for SCWDressage, and I am excited to see what the remainder of the year holds for my horses and riders. I am blessed and filled with gratitude.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Here is a link to a complete album of photos from the show:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155102520074460.1073741844.713909459&type=1&l=fcca5cf3da">https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155102520074460.1073741844.713909459&type=1&l=fcca5cf3da</a></i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-91344976958748270052016-02-24T12:03:00.000-07:002016-02-24T12:03:25.171-07:00Las Vegas Chapter-California Dressage Society Annual Awards Banquet<b><i>SCWDressage would like to congratulate Ashley Adams and Beau Dazzler on their 2015 year end award with the LVC-CDS. The LVC-CDS Awards Banquet is this Saturday in Las Vegas. Ashley and Daz were the Schooling Show, Adult Amateur First Level Reserve Champions in the Opportunity Division. Also receiving an award at the banquet is Stacy Williams and Frisco Bay, who were the Rated Show Musical Freestyle Champions across all levels with their Second Level Freestyle. Full results for LVC-CDS Year End Awards may be found here:</i></b><br />
<b><i>http://lasvegasdressage.org/awards/</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaeli, Ashley and Daz, Chris, and Sage. It's a family affair!<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frisco's Second Level Freestyle earned three Championships in 2015.</td></tr>
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<b><i><br /></i></b>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-74743690729236242442016-01-07T11:15:00.005-07:002016-01-07T11:15:58.088-07:002015 USDF Awards Banquet<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silver Medal with George Williams</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LVC-CDS 2015 Silver Medalists: Pearlier Rorhbacher, Marthe Winner, Stacy Williams, Kristy Keller</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Receiving Frisco's All Breeds Westfalen Horse Association Second Level Freestyle Championship</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Westfalen Horse Association Award Recipients</td></tr>
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<br />Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-41924268142793093612015-11-27T17:31:00.002-07:002015-11-27T17:31:19.311-07:00In Loving Memory of Barb<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Obituary of Barbara Clara Repta-1940-2015</span> </b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
<i><b>Barbara Clara Repta, formerly of Lawrence, Kansas, passed away on 23 November
2015 of natural causes after a long bout with Alzheimer's Disease. She was born
Barbara Clara Vogel on 12 December, 1940 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Earl Otto
and Lois Vogel, who along with her brother Garrity Vogel, preceded her in
passing. "Barb" is survived by her husband Arnold and son Garrity, both of Park
City, Utah and daughter Tracey of New Orleans, Louisiana. Barb and "Arnie" were
married in Cudahy, Wisconsin on 10 November 1962. Barb was an ardent lover of
animals and an accomplished equestrian. Along with her dressage riding, she
enjoyed the outdoors including gardening, swimming, skiing and skating. She was
a loving and devoted mother and wife who was very outgoing and filled with
energy and the joy of life. Her warmth, smile and infectious sense of humor
endeared her to all she met. She will be remembered and deeply missed by her
family and all her friends. She enjoyed many friendships in the numerous places
she lived including Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Lawrence, Kansas;
Wilmington, Delaware and St. George and Park City, Utah. Per Barb's wishes no
funeral or service is being held. Those wishing to honor her life are encouraged to
make contributions in her memory to “Best Friends of Animals Society”
(http://bestfriends.org/) and or the “Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research
Foundation” (https://www.alzinfo.org/donate/donation_form/). Condolences
may be addressed to Reptaaj@aol.com</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
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<i><b><br /></b></i>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-8223938827220204442015-10-21T20:14:00.002-06:002015-10-21T20:21:50.755-06:00GAIG USDF Region 5 Second Level Freestyle Champion!<b><i>Frisco and I have developed into a Freestyle team that gets noticed. It is a fun way to show off your horse's highlights. I have enjoyed learning the process of choosing and editing music, and, creating choreography. I have zero musical talent or knowledge, beyond a love for many kinds of music. Listening to music always makes me happy. I have had lots of help from clinics with Terri Gallo hosted at Cooper Ranch Las Vegas and sponsored by Las Vegas Chapter of the California Dressage Society, along with lots of telephone and email advice from Jan Lawrence of Millbrook Farms, who creates many freestyles of all levels. At the most recent Freestyle clinic, I mentioned to Terri that while I loved my canter music and it had special meaning to me(Soul Sister by Train), I didn't feel as though it had enough dynamics that would help give impact to each movement being performed. I was also at the time considering changing the trot music, which is The Piano Guys performance of a mashup of Beethoven's Fifth, and, Secrets by One Republic. The Piano Guys are a St. George, Utah group that I just love. They are so creative with the pieces of music they put together. Terri and Jan both agreed: do not change the trot music, it is perfect for Frisco. Most judges agreed, except when we were really off our music. Terri suggested that I try to find another piece by The Piano Guys that would suit for the canter. That was much earlier in the year, and, I couldn't find anything I loved, so I continued through summer with the first music I'd put together using the two pieces featuring OneRepublic, and, the piece featuring Soul Sister. Somehow, I overlooked The Piano Guys' version of Over the Rainbow. About a month ago, I decided to try again, because I wanted to go to Regional Championships with music I knew would highlight everything about Frisco. I was playing various pieces while watching video of Frisco canter, and when I played their version of Over the Rainbow, I burst into tears...it was PERFECT. That music says everything about Frisco that there is to be said. I downloaded it to my iPod, and rode to it the next day. There were so many shifts in the music that I could really just have creative license, to ride whatever figure worked at that time. That makes it so much easier, when riding your Freestyle, to catch up, or fix an error, or even if you just miss your mark to fudge it and find another mark to ride to. That was the beauty of the trot music that I'd experienced all along, but never had found in the canter music. Jan had a great suggestion, since editing is not something I have a lot of skill with yet, and that was to use the same music for walk and canter, because the dynamics of this piece easily allowed for that. It made for a really nice adjustment to my choreography, because I just never loved my walk and canter choreography, and frankly never rode it the same way from ride to ride. </i></b><br />
<b><i>To make it all even more perfect, Frisco was bred, born, raised and trained right here in St. George, Utah, and, The Piano Guys are also from St. George, Utah. In fact one of our very dearest friends worked at The Piano Gallery for Paul Anderson for quite a few years. It is really fun to bring the title of GAIG USDF Region 5 Second Level Freestyle Champion home to St. George, on a horse from St. George, using music by a group from St. George. Judge Bill Warren said "Creative ride and interpretation was spot on." Obviously, I chose the right music. Here is a link to video of the ride: <a href="https://youtu.be/fS3yzCk5DKE">https://youtu.be/fS3yzCk5DKE</a></i></b><br />
<b><i>I'm excited now to move on to Third level, try to earn the score needed to allow us to ride the Freestyle, and begin putting together Third level choreography to this music. </i></b><br />
<b><i>In addition to being Region 5 Champion, Frisco is also the 2015 Westfalen Horse Association's USDF All Breeds Second Level Freestyle Champion, as well as the 2015 Las Vegas Chapter-California Dressage Society Second Level Freestyle Champion.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda and Cazador RHR on the left. They had a GREAT show together, earning a fourth and a fifth place her Training level classes. They've only been a team since April and Caz had only very little dressage training. They are a great team and Caz is a super influence on Frisky Boy. They are both the same age, but Caz is wise beyond his years.</td></tr>
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<b><i><br /></i></b>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-16684066545416932172015-10-03T16:08:00.002-06:002015-10-04T07:04:13.784-06:00Latest News and Happenings<b><i>I have not updated in quite some time, not because there has been no news to report, but mostly because I have just been very involved with my clientele and horses on the ground instead. Lots has been going on. I introduced Ashley Adams and her daughter Jaeli some time ago. They leased Beau Dazzler until he sold in March to a wonderful "active retirement" home with Jeanine Rush, DVM, of Overton, NV. Prior to his sale, Ashley and Jaeli showed Daz one final time at a schooling show in Las Vegas. Ashley and Daz currently stand ranked Reserve Champion with the LVC-CDS in the First Level AA Opportunity division. Jaeli and Daz were adorable in their Intro B test. You have never seen a more nervous trainer than myself, reading her test from the sidelines, completely unable to step in and help if needed. Daz was a superstar and Jaeli was extremely focused and poised. I am SO PROUD of them. Anyone who has followed my blog knows of Daz, the beautiful grey Arabian gelding brought to me by Sarah Glidden in 2009. Sarah learned how to ride on him, and the two were very successful in the Intro/Vintage category locally. I trained Daz through Third level, and he schooled the entire Prix St. Georges before age began to catch up with him. Oh to have had that horse to train BEFORE he was 14 years old! SCWDressage is very happy for Jeanine on her new ownership of Daz. Every horse deserves this and I admire Sarah for allowing Daz this opportunity to live out his life as the King that he is.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daz' new home with Jeanine Rush, DVM</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaeli, Ashley, Daz, Chris, and Sage at their final show with Daz</td></tr>
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<b><i>Ashley began her search in earnest for her own horse, and found a diamond in the rough in Olathe, KS. Dulce is a stunning grey, 16.1 hand 2008 KWPN mare by VDL Prestige out of a Riverman Hilltop daughter. Dulce is very talented, but also very quirky and quite green. The two are working hard to form a strong and trusting partnership. Mares usually take longer to develop this, but the two of them get along marvelously. I work with them regularly, and ride Dulce on a regular basis to help the training progression. Ashley took Dulce to a show at Millbrook Farms in August and showed in the Opportunity classes. It was great exposure for Dulce, and a good chance for Ashley to get to know how Dulce acts away from home. Dealing with horses outside their home environment is perhaps the most difficult part of training them and it was a positive experience for both.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwsitk1zjP9vk6jcSXZXhrcNb0Rc7c4R2SUx3CHYgS46CB4Uxi-30HoCKWqflSfEXhhkTNa2XeYFJyYOv4iXxWsJiayeBdw7XfDjB3lMKxgTF5xnDRiI17Ge_CTiCQeIeNrKunmXVT4U/s1600/22303-0375_TL_FACEBOOK+IMAGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwsitk1zjP9vk6jcSXZXhrcNb0Rc7c4R2SUx3CHYgS46CB4Uxi-30HoCKWqflSfEXhhkTNa2XeYFJyYOv4iXxWsJiayeBdw7XfDjB3lMKxgTF5xnDRiI17Ge_CTiCQeIeNrKunmXVT4U/s320/22303-0375_TL_FACEBOOK+IMAGE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley and Dulce, photo by Pam Olsen</td></tr>
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<b><i>SCWDressage was ecstatic to see the return of Linda Thompson to the program. Linda rode with me years ago with her Trakehner gelding, Master. However Linda took a fabulous opportunity to go work as a full time groom in the training program of Carolyn Heaton in Las Vegas, and since Carolyn had been Linda's trainer from the beginning, it was a great opportunity for them to work together again. Linda learned a lot while working in a training barn, with lots of exposure to good training methods. Linda decided Master needed to be retired a little over a year ago due to ongoing soundness issues that she had managed for years. She searched for her new partner for over a year. Master's shoes are impossible to fill, so it was a slow and hard process for her. It has been a very emotional journey for Linda. She finally found her new soulmate in Arizona. Cazador RHR is a 2008, 16 hand bay Andalusian gelding. His name means "bull fighter" and he certainly has the heart to match the name. Caz' only problem is trying TOO hard! He is gentle, intelligent, friendly, athletic, and a joy to be around. He had very little Dressage training prior to Linda purchasing him, but had been exposed to many other things, making him a super all around horse with the aplomb to handle any situation with poise. I am very excited to report that after only owning Caz since the end of March, and in only two shows, Linda and Caz qualified in the Training Level Adult Amateur division for the USDF/GAIG Regional Championships. This can be a daunting goal at times. It's a feat she sadly never accomplished with Master, as I never did with Charisma, in spite of the fact that both horses were the catalysts for both our deep commitment to this very difficult sport. I am so very happy for Linda, and happy that she was able to provide a loving and active retirement for Master on her sister's horse farm.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpar_sBBcDYZjRXx05U6S_flN89S-qAbDyFwjpSLASNsk4vFkxxks7h-jymYslInddnyW72AwKiNIBOdiWYa0suUiXTcacrutEudDERjFk1l0-OYYSBeU8eFRTwGZb1J8F5YVWYoB21I/s1600/22302-0552_TL_FACEBOOK+IMAGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpar_sBBcDYZjRXx05U6S_flN89S-qAbDyFwjpSLASNsk4vFkxxks7h-jymYslInddnyW72AwKiNIBOdiWYa0suUiXTcacrutEudDERjFk1l0-OYYSBeU8eFRTwGZb1J8F5YVWYoB21I/s320/22302-0552_TL_FACEBOOK+IMAGE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda and Cazador, photo by Pam Olsen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRxjS2UYFJs5k59k4C2mKEeUNK9dt6cXFwoJOJduR1JAcOTwUuogVFlfsG-6oArfsvfjRdvCFP4QjvC-RkJZ-QMfFhO3UKEloAIVi2zdcf5At1ZzTy0VZBMONgq524PFzfqv-Y-L5zCi0/s1600/Cazador.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRxjS2UYFJs5k59k4C2mKEeUNK9dt6cXFwoJOJduR1JAcOTwUuogVFlfsG-6oArfsvfjRdvCFP4QjvC-RkJZ-QMfFhO3UKEloAIVi2zdcf5At1ZzTy0VZBMONgq524PFzfqv-Y-L5zCi0/s320/Cazador.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda, Steve and Cazador, Photo by Dow Williams</td></tr>
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<b><i>Karen Martz and Tanner have made more progress in the past six months than they have in the prior six years. Karen was finally able to retire in December, and after recovering from some planned shoulder replacement surgery, she was back in the saddle full time by April. I am so happy to see how quickly the two of them are progressing now that Karen can come to the barn every day.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>SCWDressage was the program chosen by Barbara Derksen of Heber City, UT, to assist in the selling of her beautiful 2002 Morgan/Friesian mare, Kleine. I was honored by the decision, and did my best to represent the horse, the owner, and the entire transaction well. Kleine was trained to Grand Prix by Dallas Sweat, and her earlier training was by Annie Sweet, of Sage Creek Equestrian. I began riding Kleine the first of November, showing her at Prix St. Georges after only two weeks of getting to know her. She and I had a very successful show season together, qualifying for the USDF/GAIG Regional Championships at Prix St. Georges. Kleine helped me clinch the remaining scores I needed to earn my USDF Silver Medal. And I was fortunate to have her in my training program long enough for the two of us to gel on the Grand Prix movements. I showed her in May at Intermediare II and Grand Prix, earning 65% and 59.7% respectively. It was a fabulous opportunity for me to catch a ride on a trained horse, a real luxury for me when I am used to always having to develop every horse from scratch. I am happy to report that Kleine found a most wonderful home with Kara Pack of Henderson, NV, who rides with the Cooper Ranch team in Las Vegas. </i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy and Kleine, photo by Robert Schmidt</td></tr>
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<b><i>SCWDressage was also the program chosen by Sussanne Felleson of Draper, UT, to assist with the rehab and eventual sale of her older Lusitano/TB cross, El Nino. Due to a longterm lease situation that did not go well, Nino had quite a bit of mental and physical tension when he came to me, resulting in a horse so unhappy that he was nearly unrideable. Nino was placed on a very specific program of therapeutic lunging which later progressed to classical lunging with the help of my student Ashley; a great deal of body work from Anita DeLelles and Alissa Grover; removal of shoes and placement on a frequent and therapeutic trimming program; an overhaul of his nutritional program; and eventually, when his body and brain would allow it, daily riding by me. By the time he left, Nino was working Third level very competently, confidently, and most importantly, soundly. "Nervous Nino" became Schoolmaster Nino: a most gentlemanly lunging lesson horse for quite a few students of varying capabilities. And now, Nino has become the Junior division partner for Jade Thomas. I am very moved on a deep spiritual and emotional level by the dedication and commitment of Sussi to this gentle and kind horse. Nino deserved EVERY chance, and Sussi gave it to him, no matter the cost. I have never been so humbled to be allowed to be a part of such an important project. I have the deepest respect and admiration for what Sussi did for this horse and wish Nino and Jade all the best in their journey together. Jade rides with Margo Gogan in Heber City, UT.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy and El Nino, photo by Ashley Adams</td></tr>
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<b><i>SCWDressage has been chosen by Persis Hammon and Sam Zitting of Hurricane, UT, to develop their stunning young Friesian/Morgan gelding, Seazzar. He will be three in January, but has the presence and poise of a much more mature horse. He is small but mighty-a gigantic energy in a nice compact 15.1 hand package. I predict he will finish taller, but not more than 15.3. He is very dark bay and one of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen in my life. He came to me the middle of August to be started. We have gone from the first day of wearing tack to trotting under saddle solo in the dressage court in six weeks. I cannot claim great skill in this rapid progress, this is a testament to the brain of this fine young gelding. Every single day sees progress-he never regresses. All I provide each day is consistency, kindness, and the ability to stay out of his way. His gaits are very expressive, he is naturally very balanced and carries himself with a lovely, round, uphill balance. I am thankful to be chosen by his owners for his development and am very excited to watch his bright future unfold. Seazzar is the same cross as Kleine, and if these two are a normal representative of the cross, I am now a huge fan of the Moresian.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seazzar Day One</td></tr>
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<b><i>SCWDressage has seen an influx of new students this year. Suzie Floyd moved her beautiful 17 yr old Lippizaner/Hanoverian cross mare to Lava Bluffs this past spring. Suzie moved to St. George from northern California a couple of years ago, and it is so fun to work with someone who has ridden with more experienced and advanced trainers, and knows how "it" is supposed to look. Suzie is enthusiastic and has an undeniable spirit. She is quite possibly the friendliest person in the barn and we are happy to have her being the one who is always first to speak and smile at every person who shows up, every day, no matter how bad HER day has gone. </i></b><br />
<b><i>Diane Johnson recently moved to St. George from Texas with her family. She is the mother of EIGHT!! What a woman!! Diane brought with her two horses, Legolas and Ebony. Legolas is a 13 yr old 16.1 hand bay AQHA gelding by the legendary Rugged Lark. Diane is transitioning from the AQHA circuit to Dressage with Legolas, taking twice weekly lessons. She stated her goal as First level, and I see nothing to stop this pair from achieving that, and more. Ebony is a sale barn purchase, which as I know from my own past can net quite the wonderful find. She is a petite, pretty, black Arabian mare of somewhat unknown age. She is gentle and kind, blind in one eye, and the perfect kid's horse. Jaeli can tack her up, groom her and bath her all by herself. It is very kind of Diane to share Ebony with Jaeli now that her kids are too big to ride her. She's also serving as Diane's Grandkid horse. </i></b><br />
<b><i>Pat Matthews is a local trail rider who was referred to me by my farrier, JB Rex. Pat is a brave and independent woman with two AQHA geldings, Montana and Blue. She has quite a bit of horsemanship experience, but wanted to learn about Dressage, to see what it could bring to the table to round out her knowledge. I am having a ball working with her and her two horses. </i></b><br />
<b><i>Alison Salone is a former trail outfitter who moved to St. George this past fall. She has been there and done that, leading all manner of rides with clients, managing a full string of trail horses. She is intelligent and knowledgeable, and is working with me also to round out her riding knowledge. After a freak accident with her young mare just prior to moving here that caused her a pretty significant injury, I am helping Alison regain her bravado by giving her some arena training that she can take to the trails later. </i></b><br />
<b><i>SCWDressage also thoroughly enjoyed working with Rick Crockett and his Hanoverian mare L'Gitanna M this past year. Rick and GT were the Intro High Point at the January schooling show in Las Vegas. Rick will be working with Blondie Brimhall going forward, but we remain friends and I am thankful for the chance to work with Rick, whom I refer to as The Renaissance Man.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>SCWDressage has been chosen to be the agent for the gorgeous 2002, 15.1hand jet black AQHA gelding Black Jack Smooth, AKA Eboni, owned by Carylon Stone-Ruethlinger. Carylon is a very accomplished horse woman, earning many accolades in her long career of developing horses, most notably in the Appaloosa world. Unfortunately Carylon has a nerve problem in her right leg that now prevents her from riding any longer. Eboni has so much knowledge, and so much more to offer, that Carylon has decided that while it breaks her heart, the best thing for Eboni is for him to find a new home with someone who will see him through the second chapter of his life. I have been working with Eboni since the end of June and he is a joy. More details can be found about him on my Sales page.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Ashley Adams</td></tr>
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<b><i>Last by not least, Frisco Bay and I continue to chip away at progress. My heart beats for this horse. He's had a very successful show season this year at Second level, particularly in the Freestyle. We are currently listed as the Champion USDF All Breeds Westfalen Horse Association Second level Freestyle, with a median score of 71.167, two points higher than our median last year at First level, and again using music and choreography I designed myself. Assuming no corrections are submitted by other riders, this standing will be made final on October 15th. Frisco and I are also currently ranked as Champion with Las Vegas Chapter of the California Dressage Society, Second Level Freestyle. This standing is final. Frisco earned his Second level Horse Performance Certificate this year. He did so with all of his scores from the hardest test of the level. He is also currently ranked third and only two points off from first in the USDF All Breeds Westfalen Horse Association Second Level division, again achieving this very solid median score of 66.281 from scores earned exclusively from the hardest test of the level. Frisco qualified for the USDF/GAIG Regional Championships in the Open Second level, and Second level Freestyle divisions. Region 5 Championships will be held in Scottsdale, AZ in two weeks. We are very excited to go with Linda and Caz!! It has been a while since I have had a show buddy and it has been so nice to have Linda and Ashley joining me at some of the shows this year. I look forward to many more, with both of them.</i></b><br />
<b><i>Frisco and I have been working with Jan and Gary Lawrence of Millbrook Farms in Fairfield, UT these past couple of years. Everyone needs a mentor, someone they can trust wholly, in this journey. I have found this in the entire Lawrence family and clientele. I have been welcomed as warmly by all of them as any of the regular boarders who are there every day. I cannot thank Jan enough for all of the long phone and email conversations, discussing all aspects of the life and roles of a trainer. Jan and Gary have been down this road a few times, and their students have a great deal of success, on horses the students have developed themselves from Training level to Grand Prix. It is this depth of knowledge that I admire and respect. I am beyond grateful to be able to work with them whenever I can find time, resources, and energy to make the nearly ten hour round trip with Frisco.</i></b><br />
<b><i>While two full months remain of this year, it has been a very full and positive year already. The rest will be icing on an already very full cake. I will be leaving for the Region 5 Championships on Tuesday, October 14th. Upon return, I will have just a few days to rest up and catch up on training home horses and riders before heading north to serve as a scribe during the Teaching Workshop of the Utah Dressage Society's Instructor Certification Workshop Series. I look forward to learning from the experienced and knowledgeable Sarah Martin, and gaining insight into how my colleagues in Utah would handle various training situations with their riders. I also plan to attend the USDF Convention in Las Vegas the first weekend in December, and, the USDF FEI Trainers Conference in Florida in January.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>I can't do any of this without the love and support of my husband, for whom I am so grateful, or without the continuous levity and cuddles provided by my horse show kitty.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Pam Olsen</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dow and Femke, contemplating the meaning of birds.</td></tr>
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<b><i><br /></i></b>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-48518605107313630342015-01-23T16:41:00.000-07:002015-01-27T16:03:27.589-07:00Classical Dressage in the Modern Age Symposium<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em><u>Classical Dressage in
the Modern Age<o:p></o:p></u></em></strong></span></div>
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<strong><em><u>
</u></em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em><u>Millbrook Farms
Presents A Symposium with Gary Rockwell and Guenter Seidel<o:p></o:p></u></em></strong></span></div>
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<strong><em>
</em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>This is a famous Zen story, and I excerpt it here from the
book “Zen Mind, Zen Horse,” by Allan J. Hamilton, MD. <o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>“In a famous Zen story, a pupil approaches a great teacher
and asks what activities he should undertake in order to reach ‘satori’, or
enlightenment. The old Zen master answers: ‘Chop wood and carry water.’<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>After ten years of faithfully carrying out these duties, the
frustrated pupil returns and tells his master, ‘I’ve done as you asked. I have
chopped wood and carried water for ten years, but still I have not attained
enlightenment! What should I do now, O Sage One?’<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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</em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>The master answers, ‘Continue to chop wood and carry water,
my son.’ The pupil faithfully returns to his duties. Another ten years pass.
During that decade, the student matures and reaches satori. He returns to see
his master, wearing a simple smile on his face.<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>‘Master,’ he says, ‘I have reached satori, and now I am an
enlightened being. What should I do now?’<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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</em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>The master answers, ‘Continue to chop wood and carry water
then, O Enlightened One.’ The pupil bows deeply and retires to his wood and
water.”<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>You see, dressage is not a destination, it is a journey. It
is day in and day out of chopping wood and carrying water. Our masters on this
beautiful fall weekend at the sanguine Millbrook Farms in Fairfield, Utah,
owned by Peter and Sylvia Lawrence, were three time Olympian Guenter Seidel,
and FEI ‘O’ Judge Gary Rockwell, who has represented the US at WEG, as well as
judged in two Olympics. These two kind, warm, enlightened men, who have reached
the pinnacle in our sport, spent the weekend illustrating to every rider and
auditor just exactly why they have been able to reach satori. They made it
clear that the tricks simply do not matter. What matters is the quality. The
daily classical work necessary to build a correctly muscled and properly
conditioned athlete can never be accomplished with shortcuts, and attention to
detail, taking care of the little things, is what sets the rider apart.<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<strong><em>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Riders from across the intermountain west applied months ago
to ride in this clinic. Two were chosen to represent at the combined Training
and First Levels, two for Second level, and one each for levels Third through
Grand Prix. Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado were represented by horse/rider
combinations, and auditors came from as far away as South Dakota. Since Mr.
Rockwell and Mr. Seidel have never worked together in a symposium before, organizer
Jan Lawrence left the door wide open for their interpretation, and they did not
disappoint. This symposium turned out to be a rider’s dream come true, with
nearly every common horse or rider issue appearing, and handled in the most
classical way. If it is possible, this rider’s opinion is that Guenter Seidel
is an even more talented coach than he is a rider. And, there was not a word
that spilled from Gary Rockwell’s mouth that was not of monumental value. I
wrote down more verbatim quotes than I have ever written at any clinic or
symposium. Both men were funny, smart, supportive…yet very demanding of each
rider. As Gary said at one point, in describing his judging and teaching
philosophy: “I am very hard on the riders, because I am hard on myself as a
rider.” Every rider had to check her ego at the door. While every combination
was well qualified and had achieved good scores in the show ring, there were
still many more logs to chop and buckets of water to carry. However, Guenter’s
electric smile and Gary’s gentle insistence, combined with their collective wit
which brought levity to many an intense moment, allowed each rider to feel safe
to receive the constructive criticism, and each auditor to remain empathetic to
the rider. The two worked together as though they had been all their lives,
often finishing each other’s thoughts, or addressing an issue almost
simultaneously. <o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Both Gary and Guenter were sticklers for detail in every
facet of the work. A recurring theme in every ride was rider position. The most
common mistakes were: hands too high; upper body behind the vertical; lower
legs too far forward; improper canter mechanics; and looking down. Gary said: “Guenter
and I are going to have a race but I’m going to close my eyes. Who do you think
will win?”. Laughter ensued, but it was a serious point. They both elaborated
on this by explaining that if you do not look where you are going a cascade of
issues develop. Gary pointed out that if you do not keep the front legs in
front of the hind legs, the horse does not have to pick the front legs up,
seriously hampering the rider’s ability to develop the horse’s balance. Guenter
added to this by explaining that looking where you are going influences the
horse’s forward thought. Later in the first day after yet another “eyes up”
correction, Gary joked “Tomorrow every rider who looks down has to pay more.”
In regard to hand position, both men agreed, hands need to be kept low,
especially the outside hand. Raising the hands causes the poll to overflex.
Gary shared the observation that when a golf instructor shows a new golfer
where to place her hands, and then walks away, the new golfer keeps her hands
there! Not so with riders. It is not so easy due to the dynamic nature of
riding a horse, and therefore the rider must be committed to developing the
necessary fitness and strength in motion to keep her hands where they best help
the horse. Failing to keep the elbows bent and at your sides causes the rider
to round her shoulders. If the upper body collapses backwards and the lower leg
comes forward, this forces the rider’s seat into the horse’s back in a
continuously driving way, completely blocking his ability to lift his back and
bring the hind legs underneath. When asked later to expand upon his instruction
to one rider to use the upper leg, Guenter explained that using the upper leg
can allow the seat to give more space for the horse’s back to come up. Gary
pointed out that it is a very common mistake, when riding the canter, to allow
the shoulders to fall backwards at the very moment when the horse most needs
the rider to remain vertical. It is often done in an attempt to follow the
canter, but the problem is, it is following in the wrong direction, and that
along with tension results in the nodding so often seen in the canter, as well
as forces the horse onto the forehand. Gary said to Fourth level rider Lindy
Kinsman on her spectacular 13 yr old Lusitano stallion Visquiero V.O.: “He can
do the canter, you just sit there.” To which Guenter dead-panned: “It’s that
easy.” Many riders were asked to cross their stirrups in order to stabilize and
quieten their positions. Understand that this was not your usual gentle seat
lesson on a lunge line…these riders worked on simple changes, forward and back
within the gaits, and lateral work, all without stirrups. I had to ride both
days without them, and Hannah Johannson, the Third level rider on her handsome
8 year old Friesian/QH gelding Zander, had to do her entire solo 45 minute ride
on the second day without stirrups! Madison Bigler, one of the Trainning/First
level riders on her elastic 8 year old Hanoverian mare Dega’l had to do posting
trot! Guenter rode three horses over the course of the Symposium. With each
one, he deferred to Gary to ask how things were looking. Upon putting the rider
back on her horse, he would ask Gary how the horse looked now in comparison to
how it looked with him. This was clearly his normal way of studying his art of
riding…seeking input from other sets of eyes. It served as a very compelling example
to us all that a three time Olympian is careful enough to make certain that
what he is feeling is correct by checking in with another rider. Other common
corrections were toes up/heels down, toes forward, sitting in the direction of
the bend(many riders tended to sit more left and needed to sit more right), and
heels underneath the seat.<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>There were a number of recurring issues with the horses as
well. Several horses had the tendency to curl behind the vertical; many were
behind the leg but showed it in a variety of ways; correct bend was often
lacking; as was throughness during the transitions or even throughout the work.
Guenter advised Beatrice Marineau, on her expressive 15 yr old bay Grand Prix
gelding Stefano 8, to “fight for the frame”. He told her to allow him come up
in the transitions, and, to require him to work with a longer, more open neck
in piaffe and canter pirouette. He told her that if she can’t give rein and
ride forward, it is wrong. Gary quoted Robert Dover in telling “Trixie” that she
will need to feel extension in the collection, and collection in the extension.
Several riders had difficulty keeping their horses in front of the leg. My own
6 yr old gelding, Frisco Bay, likes to rely on his good looks rather than give
forth a solid effort, and I in turn get very “busy” in an effort to energize
him. Gary told me, after one correction which resulted in a kick out at my leg,
that “a correction must be correct.” He said that if the correction does not
yield a correct result, or cannot be done in front of a judge, it is not a
suitable or effective correction. Guenter asked me to cross my stirrups which
would stabilize my position, so that I could use quieter aids. By day two of
this, my horse was able to stay very engaged and active, because I was now out
of his way to work. My corrections had become more correct. Training/First
level rider Susan Hallenberg, on her very elegant 6 yr old chestnut mare
Ravinnia, was encouraged to really let “Vi” fly, with Guenter promising “I
won’t get you bucked off!” Guenter advised Susan that Vi will be much easier to
get on the bit if she is sent forward, rather than contained. Gary followed up
by saying that if the tempo is too slow at this level, there will not be enough
activity for collection later. By the end of the ride on Sunday, Vi was showing
off her spectacular Rotspon/Donnerhall gaits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Similar advice was given to Second level rider Laura Lusienski on her
studious and handsome 10 yr old chestnut Lusitano stallion Zaire. By
encouraging more freedom and forward thought with this pair, Guenter was able
to work vicariously through Laura to mold “Z” into a magnificently correct,
elastic and expressive horse. Watching from atop my horse, I was awed by his
perfect upward arc from tail to poll…he looked like a painting in motion. While
working with Andrea Lewis on her 10 yr old Intermediate 1 gelding Beaumont,
Gary pointed out that the I-1 test is a surprisingly big step up from Prix St.
Georges, and tends to separate the horses more. Guenter worked with Andrea on
improving Beau’s bend in all of the work. Gary advised that she should feel a
softening to the bending aids before riding into the pirouette, so that she
would not have to pull him into it with the inside rein but instead could give
into the pirouette. With the Prix St. Georges and the Intermediate A/B horses, Guenter
and Gary stressed throughness in the transitions. The inimitable Trisha Kerwin,
on the PSG Old/Arab mare Casini, was advised to address the stiffness in the
bridle with just the wrist combined with a tap to the hind leg. Tasha Coleman,
on her 12 yr old ISR mare Bellini, was asked to work her with a deeper, rounder
neck for much of the ride. This worked helped “Peach” become much more elastic
and through in her topline. Gary, the King of Quotes, said, “You have to get
girls working without them knowing they are working.” He went on to say that
lazy horses and mares have a strong sense of what is reasonable. On the second
day, Guenter rode Peach, and in making a correction for lack of response, he
tapped her with the whip but then let her go. Gary pointed out that because Guenter
sat so well, when he made the correction, he left a door open for her to
respond. When Tasha got back on, her superb ability to execute instruction and Guenter’s
even more superb ability to coach combined to create a stunning evolution in
this mare’s way of going. Guenter joked…”You’re making me look bad, she looks
better with you than she did with me!” <o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>The Reserve Riders Lara Oles and Liz Hirschland had the
toughest job of all…keeping their horses braided, loose, and ready to step in
at any moment, for multiple levels, should a horse or rider come up injured. <o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>There were presentations during the lunch hour both days. On
Saturday, Graham and Sue Newell of LimeLite Saddlery presented on the topic of
“The Evolution of the Modern Dressage Saddle”. They had many very excellent
pieces of advice with regard to saddle fitting and how to keep your horse
comfortable in his work, so much so that the topic should be an article all in
itself. On Sunday, Jeff Monroe, DVM, presented on the topic of Acupuncture in
the Dressage Horse. Again, this presentation was so helpful and thorough that
it could only be addressed fully in its own article. Also during the lunch
hour, and throughout the Symposium, amazing gifts were raffled off. Various
items such as Back on Track saddle pads; polo wraps; whips; an 8x10
commissioned portrait; The Horse Angels, a book by Mark Neihart; and other
great gifts were handed out to the auditors. Riders were spoiled with
embroidered saddle pads donated by LimeLite Saddlery; embroidered bridle bags
and stall organizer bags donated by Dover Saddlery; polo wraps; and various
grooming essentials. Gold Medal sponsors were Eva Maria Adolphi, Jim and
Donnette Hicks of Sage Creek Equestrian, Sage Creek Catalog, and Premier
Equestrian. Many other individuals and retailers donated to make this whole
event classy and fun.<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>Watching Guenter “paint” with words to create beautiful
works of art out of each horse and rider pair, as Gold Sponsor Donnette Hicks
described to me later, was an experience I think anyone involved will not soon
forget. “Professor” Gary tied everything back to the Training Scale with so
many sound pieces of advice that I got a hand cramp trying to get it all down
on paper. As another Master, Abraham Lincoln, said over a hundred years ago:
“If I have six hours to chop down a tree, I will spend the first four
sharpening my axe.” It became evident to us all that these men practice what
they preach in their work with horses and riders, and better examples I cannot
imagine. Guenter instantly settled my shaky, star struck nerves with his
welcoming smile. He exudes a simple, deep joy that is infectious and
undeniable. When talking with Gary Saturday evening, I felt like I should be
sitting in an overstuffed leather chair by a crackling fire, with a glass of
port in hand while we discussed the theories of riding into the wee hours.<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>The entire Lawrence Family and the students and friends of
Millbrook Farms came together to produce a learning experience beyond compare.
Gary and Guenter were able to unwind at the end of the Symposium on Sunday
evening with a glass of wine and some fly fishing lessons from Millbrook head
trainer Gary Lawrence and his nephew Evan Hills, capping off a very successful
weekend with well-deserved fun. </em></strong></span></div>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-1213028758728669852014-10-29T20:17:00.002-06:002014-10-29T20:17:30.579-06:00Frisco Earns Four Titles in 2014<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><em>Wow. It's like taking the time, day after day, year after year, to set up a very intricate line of dominoes, and then when you are sure they are perfect, tapping the first one to see if the foundation design was correct. They will only keep falling if they are set up perfectly. So far, so good. Frisco has been a creation of my heart...I dreamed him to life, I knew I loved him before I met him. I am honored to share my journey with such a magnificant creature. He earned three Freestyle titles, and a Second Level title, in 2014. With the California Dressage Society, he was the 2014 Horse of the Year, First Level Freestyle Champion. With the United States Dressage Federation's All Breed Awards, he was the Westfalen Horse Association First Level Freestyle Champion. With the Utah Dressage Society, he was the Open First/Second Level Freestyle Champion, as well as the Open Second level Champion. I am one proud horse mom.</em></strong><br />
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-56675350216916070622014-10-29T19:54:00.001-06:002014-10-29T19:54:15.123-06:00First United States Dressage Federation Certified Instructor in Utah!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<em><strong>I am so excited to announce that I have passed my testing and am now the first USDF Certified Instructor in the state! The past year has been very intense. I have grown so much, learned so much, met so many great people...and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders with this honor. It has been a goal of mine to achieve USDF Certification since the first time I gave a riding lesson, just over seven years ago. I have learned a lot in these past seven and a half years, and promise to represent this Certification to the very best of my ability. I will continue to work to develop my skills as a rider and instructor, with the framework of the Classical System as my guide. I can't thank those who have championed me along the way enough. It takes a village, and I have not earned this accreditation without the help and sacrifice of others along the way who cared about me. Many thanks, to all the horses I've ridden, the riders I've taught, the friends who wrote recommendations, the friends who went out of their way to be of assistance to me, and most especially to my husband, who believed in me. I know I still have so much more to learn, and am so happy to have this outstanding program as a guide to my further development. Onward and upward!</strong></em></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frisco at 8 hours old</td></tr>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-12711553696989669512014-10-02T15:29:00.000-06:002014-10-02T15:29:02.556-06:00California Dressage Society Horse of the Year First Level Freestyle Champions!News Flash!! Frisco and I won the CDS-HOY First Level Freestyle in Burbank this past weekend! I will write a more detailed post soon about my experience at a record setting show. It was a marvelous experience.<br />
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-62522080690496722132014-09-15T19:30:00.001-06:002014-09-15T20:50:45.361-06:00Welcome Ashley and Jaeli!!<strong>I would like to welcome Ashley Adams and her daugher, Jaeli, to the SCWDressage gang! Ashley has ridden horses most of her life, and has competed with great success in the Hunters and Medals ring. She is new to the St. George area, and has been on the hunt for both a horse, a home barn, and a trainer. I am so honored and pleased that she has chosen Beau Dazzler, Lava Bluffs Equestrian Center, and me to fill those roles for her right now!! Ashley is a very studious person, with a natural gift and excellent horsemanship skills. Her daughter Jaeli is an absolute joy to be around, keeping me constantly entertained with her insightful comments and stories. Ashley and Jaeli are leasing Daz long term. He fits their needs perfectly, with enough training and energy to teach Ashley a little more about Dressage, and perfect lunge line manners for helping develop a budding seven year old's seat and position. After only six weeks of weekly lessons, Jaeli can already canter, maintain a two point position, post on the correct diagonal, and is even learning to ride at walk and trot off the lunge line. Daz seems to understand completely his role, and stays right under Jaeli at all times, making one hundred percent sure Jaeli really does want him to trot! It takes a special horse to be able to fill both roles...as a true baby sitter horse for a child, and yet is also able to help Ashley learn how to really "work" flying changes and develop collection. The four of us are fully enjoying each other's company right now!</strong><br />
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-41160083355822281742014-09-15T08:13:00.001-06:002014-09-15T08:17:06.574-06:00Classical Dressage in the Modern Age-A Symposium with Gunter Seidel and Gary Rockwell<strong>I am very honored and excited to announce that Frisco Bay and I have been selected as the Second Level demonstration pair at this very exciting Symposium to be held at Millbrook Farm October 18th and 19th. This is such a wonderful opportunity, for riders and for auditors. Gunter Seidel has ridden for the US Olympic Dressage Team three times, and Gary Rockwell has judged the Olympic Dressage event twice. But you don't need Olympic aspirations to attend this Symposium. Both of these men are widely known and appreciated for their adherence to the classical training system, and this is an opportunity for rider and auditor alike to watch how they handle each horse and rider pair, as they work to improve their classical basis for an improved performance in the show ring. I've always believed that there does not have to be a separation between the ART of training a horse, and the SPORT of training a horse. Read my previous post on this topic here: <a href="http://scwdressage.blogspot.com/2013/04/dressage-art-and-sport-of-it.html">http://scwdressage.blogspot.com/2013/04/dressage-art-and-sport-of-it.html</a></strong><br />
<strong>These men would agree with that statement, and have proven it in the highest realms of the sport. I strongly recommend attending this Symposium, it will be an experience you will not forget! Find out how at Millbrook's website: </strong><a href="http://www.millbrookfarms.com/"><strong>http://www.millbrookfarms.com/</strong></a><br />
<strong>I am indebted to the selection committee for choosing us, as well as to everyone who has been an integral part of our career.</strong><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frisco just started under saddle, at Ironhill Farm, Priddis, AB. Thank you Irene Hill for having believed in me. I still miss you every day.</td></tr>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-60293598198362661682014-08-03T13:57:00.002-06:002014-08-03T14:04:39.809-06:00Crab Mentality and Paradigms<strong>I am reading a great book called The Four Doors, by Richard Paul Evans. I am excerpting a very interesting passage from that book here to share:</strong><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>From "The Four Doors" by Richard Paul Evans:</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>In scientific discovery, when paradigm becomes an obstacle to progress, it is referred to as paradigm paralysis: <em>the inability or refusal to see beyond the current models of thinking.</em></strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The cage of paradigm refers to those expectations and limits that we, and those around us, use to define ourselves, our abilities, and our potential. These shackles of paradigm are stronger than you probably realize.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>EXTERNAL PARADIGM</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>A popular term among Filipinos is "<em>crab mentality". </em>The phrase refers to the dynamic of a pot of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily climb out of the pot, except that the other crabs will pull down any crab that tries to escape.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The analogy to the human condition is obvious. It is a common social phenomenon that members of a group will attempt to "pull down" any individual member who achieves success beyond the others. The mindset is "If I can't have it, neither can you." It is arguable that America is becoming a giant crab pot.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Instead of being inspired by others' success, small-minded people(and this represents a significant percentage of the population) resent others' achievements because they fear that they are being left behind.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>I recently came across the story of a formerly obese woman who had, remarkably, lost more than three hundred pounds. She reported that the most difficult challenge to her lifestyle change was that her husband, who was also morbidly obese, worked to sabotage her effort to lose weight. Nearly every day he brought her chocolate and donuts, then acted hurt when she resisted his "gifts". When she accused him of attempting to wreck her diet, he staunchly denied it.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Only after she had lost the weight did her husband admit that he was afraid that once she was thin she would leave him.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>"The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you." ~Bette Midler</u></strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>My wife and I experienced the effects of crab mentality firsthand. With the success of my first book, <em>The Christmas Box</em>, our world changed in some negative ways that we did not expect. Friends stopped talking to us, family stopped visiting, false rumors were spread through our neighborhood about us. It was a difficult time, one that required a lot of forgiving.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>When I told my father about what was happening to us, he wisely replied, "You have to understand that your success will always remind others of their failures."</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>No one is perfect or above reproach. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." I certainly am not without sin, but, I want to strive to be a vessel for positive change and personal growth. I urge everyone to honor and applaud the successes of others, whether their version of success is multiple best-seller list books, or, raising their children to the best of their abilities. Do not be intimidated when someone is out there accomplishing something you yourself want to accomplish. Be inspired instead. Talk to them. Be pure and sincere, and ignore, or better yet avoid, the naysayers who are envious. Ask them if they have any advice for you. It's lonely at the top, even if the "top" is "only" someone who thinks outside the box in the process of raising their children, or the fastest runner in your age division at the local 5K races, or a young person who is clearly brighter than most adults you know. Maybe they would be very relieved to have a sympathetic ear, a genuine confidant, and in return their successes may well rub off on you. You might be surprised at how much more you have to learn. I always loved the saying "A high tide raises all boats." It is the truth. Will you allow yourself to rise with the tide around you? Or will you be the crab crowding around with the other crabs in the bottom of the pot pulling down those among you who try to escape? The choice is yours.</strong></span></div>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-44055879489404152462014-07-17T18:50:00.002-06:002014-07-17T19:00:15.847-06:00Appreciation, Admiration, and Inspiration<strong><em>Frisco and I attended the July 5th & 6th Millbrook Farms Summer Dressage Festival this past weekend. I love to show in Utah, even though it means travelling much farther. I get face time with my long-distance friends and just love it. One thing this show brought home to me(they are all learning experiences) is that going to shows is not just about me. Showing is hard work, stressful, nerve-wracking...it costs a lot of money and it is nice to do well, especially as a professional. I did reach some interesting milestones with Frisco this show, ending on a high note by winning and earning my personal best score of 68.452% in recognized competition on Second Level Test 3 on Sunday, Frisco's first weekend competing at that level. What was great about that score is that we even have some areas that will be easy for us to clean up with experience. It was good for a Regionals qualifying score as well. We also further developed an effective warmup routine which I will need come September and Region 7 Championships. However, the biggest impressions I came away with were from watching other riders.</em></strong><br />
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<strong><em>My husband travels a lot during the summer to get out of the heat, so he met me at the show and I spent a lot of time with him. But I did break away Sunday morning to watch some riders I'd been wanting to watch.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>I watched <u>Gary Lawrence</u> show his wife Jan's horse, "Jake", AKA R Loverboy. They put in a lovely performance and I always enjoy watching him ride any horse, but especially a young or inexperienced horse. What amazed me is how well Gary rode in spite of all the work that he and his entire family had put into making this such a great show weekend experience for everyone. It takes a tremendous amount of physical and mental work to organize a recognized competition, beginning months in advance. The family works so well together, even building a brand new water truck in the days leading up to the show, not to mention a brand new show barn! I am pretty sure no one, including Gary, got more than 4 or 5 hours sleep each night, and that is probably a generous estimate. And yet, he gave his horses soft, effective rides. I hope the Lawrences know how much I and the rest of Utah dressage riders appreciate their efforts to put together quality shows at a fabulous facility, with the best footing I have had the pleasure to ride in. The entire Millbrook crew fosters unity and sets a high standard of committment and good will within our dressage community. I am grateful for their example, and I am sure I am not the only one who can say that.</em></strong><br />
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<strong><em>The next rider I watched was <u>Trisha Kerwin</u>. Anyone who has ever attended a show with her will come away with a deep sense of admiration for her. She works harder than anyone I have ever seen. She has very dedicated family, staff and students, but she leads them by example. Ride after ride, even in near record heat, she goes out there and ellicits the most from each and every horse. She is an effective rider with many years and greath depth of experience, and her students also do extremely well, so she is clearly also an equally effective coach. All professionals could stand to emulate her. She is probably the most well-liked trainer I've ever run across, and it is not because she is busy playing the game of politics. In fact no one could be less political than Trisha. It instead is because every one of us admires her continuous hard work and recognizes her for that. Whenever I feel tired, I only have to look out there in the warmup to see her at the end of the show on most likely her fourth or fifth horse of the day, to be reminded: suck it up princess! </em></strong><br />
<strong><br /><em>Last but not least, I watched</em> <em><u>Lara Oles</u></em> <em>ride her new horse Bella in her Para Grade III class. Lara had a freak skiing accident years ago which resulted in stroke-like symptoms. She no longer has use of her right arm, among other challenges, and so must ride one handed. Bella is a horse I had the pleasure of riding when I was very early in my career as a trainer. She is a Canadian Warmblood mare with enormous gaits and a super ability for collection. I was so excited when I heard word that Lara would be her new owner, thinking she would make a very competitive horse for the Para team. I watched the two of them warmup and then perform, under the guidance of Lara's trainer, Annie Sweet. I know very well how hard that trot of Bella's is to sit, two-handed! I often feel exhausted when showing Frisco because of his equally enormous trot. I have to say, I came away from watching Laura's ride very inspired by her obvious basics, fitness, determination and poise under pressure. I will never again complain about being winded from trying to get through a full test of sitting trot on my horse! Laura is an inspiration to all riders and all athletes, fully able or not. She can ride circles around the vast majority of two handed riders any day. I am so excited for her, and hope to see her and Bella's name in lights(with supporting actor roles played flawlessly by her trainer Annie and her husband Dan)!</em></strong><strong><em>And of course every day of my life I find reasons to appreciate, admire, or be inspired by my husband and his gorgeous daughters. I love them beyond words. </em></strong><br />
<strong><em>Another show, another learning experience...in the books!</em></strong><br />
<strong><em>Below is a link to photos taken by ProPhoto/Pam Olsen:</em></strong><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153348430614460.1073741834.713909459&type=1&l=6e061f5be4"><strong>https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153348430614460.1073741834.713909459&type=1&l=6e061f5be4</strong></a>Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-33643159418240419922014-05-24T19:52:00.000-06:002019-01-25T12:14:26.952-07:00Las Vegas Spring Fling III-Show High Point!<strong><em>Frisco and I had a great time again at Cooper Ranch. He is maturing in a lot of ways, really growing up. I learn so much at every show about how best to prepare, and how to handle different situations. It is one thing to school at home, quite another to go elsewhere and try to figure out how to warm up just enough, how make it just effective enough, without overfacing my horse or wearing him(or me) out. We wound up earning the highest score in the show with our First Level Test 2 ride, a 72.162. It was a nice, steady, smooth ride. He was really on the aids and willing, a ride I'll hold in my memory for a long time as one that came as close as I've ever felt to total harmony. We also earned really nice scores on First Level Test 3 and the First Level Freestyle. Test 3 had moments of brilliance and moments of sillinesss-Frisco was pretty playful, and also he wanted to try and offer a flying change a couple of times. Fortunately I was able to convince him now was not the time to try his new trick out, one he's really proud of and eager to try. We earned a 69.355 on that test. My in-laws came for a visit and were able to watch our Freestyle on Sunday. Trudy, who is a dancer and has been all her life, was so entertained to see how well Frisco stayed on the beat. I told her any time he wavered from staying on the beat was my fault, because the music matches him almost perfectly. She really enjoyed being able to watch it, and Tommy loved how fluid Frisco's gaits are. As a studier of genetics and a life long breeder of Angus cattle, Standardbred racers, and miniature horses, he and I can talk horse genetics for hours. We earned a 69.667 on the Freestyle, and the judge suggested taking more risk in the choreography. Since I don't have any experience in desiging Freestyles, and wanted my choreography to help my technical tests, I kept it pretty simple and tried to focus on learning how to ride to music and stay on it. I'm getting better at that, so maybe next year I will try adding some more creative choreography! As usual, my amazing husband was immensely helpful and helped me stay focused and calm. I can't do any of this without him.</em></strong><br />
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9095332552088836919.post-90732068885971561172014-05-13T16:18:00.002-06:002014-05-13T16:18:44.009-06:00FWA Beau Dazzler For Sale<br />
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong><em>Daz is a 15.1 hand 19 years young
purebred Arabian gelding, sadly offered for sale. Sarah’s loss is someone’s
gain. Daz is a solid Second/Third level horse in full training with a
professional, and proven in the recognized show ring through First. He taught
his 68 year old owner to ride. He is sound, easy to handle, goes barefoot, fun
to take to shows, great on trails, and has lots more to offer. He would make a
fun Juniors horse, or would be ideal for an Amateur tired of trying to sit her
huge warmblood’s trot. Let him give you many more years of enjoyment while you
learn the ropes and maybe even earn your Bronze medal. A solid citizen-he will
give you confidence to go and show-but has plenty of power and energy. He is the
perfect “get out of Training Level” horse. Contact Stacy Williams at
scwdressage@aol.com for details. </em></strong></span></div>
<strong><em>
</em></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong><em>Forever home
required.</em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong><em>Show Scores in Recognized competition:</em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><a href="http://www.centerlinescores.com/Horse/Details/1091276#filterBy=scores"><strong><em>http://www.centerlinescores.com/Horse/Details/1091276#filterBy=scores</em></strong></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><strong><em>Copies of all show tests will be made available to any interested party. </em></strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><strong><em>Video links:</em></strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><a href="http://youtu.be/ONKFsC1lgIM" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong><em>http://youtu.be/ONKFsC1lgIM</em></strong></span></a></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><strong>More video to come.</strong></o:p></span></div>
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Stacy Williams, Portrait Artisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11091529369557402090noreply@blogger.com