which means it’s time for another happy dance!
"Wonders of the East" performers at The Hoppings fair in England, c. 1940s. Image courtesy of the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Celebrating 15,000 hits
01 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Notes & quotes from a clinic junkie: Colonel Christian Carde
01 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Notes & Quotes
Many times, rest and reward. Make the horse dream of the work during the night. The next day, he is eager.
Around the world again
30 Monday Apr 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Do you know how many countries there are around the world? If the answer is “No,” don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. No one knows how many countries there are around the world.
Some say as few as 189. Some say as many as 196. The US State Department recognizes 194. The world is constantly evolving, and groups of people living in one country declare independence, yet fail to be recognized in the rest of the world as an independent, separate country.
Still, no matter what country they call home, I’m happy that so many people from around the world have visited my blog. There are horse lovers everywhere.
The last time I gave you my report, in mid-March, shortly after my blogging host WordPress started keeping track and telling me about it, people from 45 different countries had visited reflectionsonriding.com. Now I have visitors from 72 countries! No matter how you count it, that’s more than one out of every three countries extant.
I’m thrilled. I don’t expect you to be as thrilled as I am, but perhaps you’re curious as to where your fellow readers are living. If so, read on.
Table top
29 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted in Sunday Photos
Sara Mittleider and El Primero at Rolex Kentucky 2006, photo by Ronald C. Yochum, Jr.
Showdown! Hair vs. helmets at Rolex
28 Saturday Apr 2012
Riders are showing their hands and choosing safety (helmets) over tradition (top hats) in ever-increasing numbers. In fact, the era of the chimney sweep at Rolex may have come to an end. And I won’t be the sadder for it.
The chimney sweep look rules no longer
Philip Dutton, always the worst offender, wore a helmet during his dressage test this year. Phillip’s timing is impeccable — whether it’s the touch of a crop just before take-off or running into a barn that’s ablaze to save a horse — but his taste in chapeaux hasn’t kept pace. Until now.
When it comes to taste, it’s hard to go wrong with a riding helmet these days (well, there are always those Jenny Oz monstrosities).
Bring me my smelling salts!
My grandmother used to say that someone looked “smart” with gloves and a hat. She meant “smart” as in “classically elegant,” but I think riders now look “smart” in helmets because they look as if they’ve made an intelligent choice.
riders4helmets reports that a total of 12 riders chose to wear helmets for their dressage tests at Rolex, and to that I say “Bravo!” Soon, the top hat in dressage may be as much a relic as my grandmother’s dove grey gloves.
How to decrease your horse’s energy without pulling
27 Friday Apr 2012
Posted in Equitation, Training
My prior post on how to increase your horse’s energy without nagging led to this post, which is the flip side — how to decrease your horse’s energy without pulling.
If the problem is that you’re riding a hot horse, I’d like to direct you to another prior post, which has lots of great advice for riding hot horses. If that’s not your problem and your horse is simply too strong or not listening, I invite you to read on.
Here’s my advice, for those times when you want to pull but you really don’t want to pull:
1. Stay centered in the saddle with a vertical torso and a straight line from shoulder to hip to heel. Are you tipping forward because you don’t want to get left behind…or you’re trying to avoid having a driving seat by making yourself light in the saddle…or you just got dislodged? If so, you’re telling your horse to go forward. Most horses instinctively try to align themselves underneath their riders. If you’ve shifted your center of gravity forward, that’s exactly where your horse will go.
Staying centered is the best way to help your horse stay centered. It also gives you the maximum stability to be able to use your rein and leg and weight aids independently. The exception to the rule? If you can do so without a driving seat or increasing leg pressure, simply shifting the balance of your torso slightly behind the vertical can make your horse slow down (if you’ve trained the Buck Brannaman way, it’s sure to happen).
How to spend your money – Kaz SoftHeat Deep Muscle Therapy/Moist Heating Pad
26 Thursday Apr 2012
Posted in How to Spend Your Money
The Kaz “SoftHeat Deep Muscle Therapy” here is the same as the Kaz “Moist Heating Pad” here. The only difference, aside from the fact that it goes by different names, is the price. It’s a bit higher when you buy direct from the company (the first link) but you get a discount of $2 when you join their “Savings Circle.” Then it costs exactly what it costs when you order through Amazon (where you can get free shipping if you spend just $8.01 more — why not order one of the horse books you’ve been wanting?).
Call it what you want, it works
Although I’m not a big fan of microwaves and don’t have one in the kitchen, I do have one in the bathroom — especially for my Kaz SoftHeat (that’s what I call it, even though Kaz has a whole line of SoftHeat products). I just press 1-6-0-Start and soon I know that my back is going to feel better.
I began searching for the perfect heating pad after my physical therapist said I could start applying heat instead of ice to my back. I wanted something that felt as similar to the large pack that came wrapped in a towel, still steaming, to the prone me on the workout table at Spalding Rehabilitation Center outside Boston. The SoftHeat is a little smaller and not as heavy, but I have to say that it feels just as good and works just as well. I no longer go to PT, but I still use my Kaz SoftHeat from time to time (like this week, which made me think of recommending it to you).
Good luck at Rolex everyone! (And how to see it, if you’re everyone else.)
25 Wednesday Apr 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Good luck to all the riders — among the largest number ever entered in the history of America’s only four-star event.
Good luck to all the horses — including the 19 ex-racehorses among the current field of 69 (according to the Rolex site).
Spectators — You don’t need any luck, you have it, if you’re in Kentucky. I’m envious. I’m sure if I were there, I’d see everything. As it is, I’m here working, and I know I’ll catch only some of the coverage available on TV or the computer.
The good news is that the coverage gets more extensive every year. This year, Universal Sports Network will have highlights on April 28 from 10am to 12pm and so will NBC from 1:30pm to 3:30pm.
If you’ve got time to settle in for the duration, live webcasts will be available on the USEF Network and on FEI TV. Did I mention that I’m envious?
The vernal pond…and wombat
25 Wednesday Apr 2012
Posted in Farm Life
Here at the farm, we have a vernal pond that fills each spring and which we nurture, as it nurtures its own inhabitants.
It’s a small pond — no more than 60 or 70 square feet. It’s filled not just by melting snow but also from one of the natural springs that are scattered over the low-lying lands of the property. The pond sits in front of the old pony barn, which was built by our Norwegian neighbor during the first winter he lived here, over 40 years ago. Come spring, he discovered that the barn he had built during that hard New England winter was sited in soft, wet earth. As he says, “I built it in the wrong place.” And he laughs because he knows what’s important in life.
Although the pony barn has a perfect set of stalls for six Fjords or Welshes or Morgans or Arabians, it doesn’t house any ponies or horses. As far as I know, it never has. It doesn’t sit empty though (thanks to pallets, planks and plywood). It houses things that old house restorers like us collect, along with an assortment of treasures that could easily lead crisp suburbanites to accuse of us of being hoarders.
How to increase your horse’s energy without nagging
24 Tuesday Apr 2012
Posted in Equitation, Training
A comment on yesterday’s post from one of my regular readers inspired me to inquire whether she had read this post on tempo, which led her to pose a question, which I promised to answer in today’s post.
Her question was: “Any quick suggestions on motivation to “up the tempo” that doesn’t degenerate into nagging?”
Great question, don’t you think? It’s so easy to fall into the nagging trap…sometimes without knowing it. Luckily, the cure isn’t complicated. It isn’t easy, but then, riding is one of those things that we never master, we just keep practicing and practicing, ever trying to improve ourselves while we uphold our own standards of excellence.
In all the suggestions that follow, please note that we’re not talking about collected work, we’re talking about moving freely forward with energy in the horse’s proper tempo for the working trot, the working canter and the free walk.
1. Insist that your horse respects your leg. How’s your turn on the forehand? Your leg yield? If the answer is “not too good,” chances are that either your horse doesn’t respect your leg aid or your leg aid is less than clear.
First, make sure your aids are clear and consistent. If that checks out but your horse isn’t listening, I suggest you follow Jane Savoie’s solution (as I do) which you can find in her book Cross-Train Your Horse. She outlines it briefly here but without mentioning that the whip should be applied in conjunction with the leg aid, to reinforce the leg, which is what she suggests in the book. (Just make sure you don’t catch your horse in the mouth when he responds to the whip! If he canters on or even gallops, let him! Forward is the right answer, even if it might be delivered in a way that’s a bit too enthusiastic for your taste. Don’t worry, the overreaction won’t last.)
2. Ask yourself if your own instability may be blocking the forward movement when you ask for more. You need a stable torso and excellent balance in order to follow the horse, especially when the tempo changes. This is also true when you transition from one gait to another (or when you lengthen or extend or gather or collect).
Reflections on Riding 