"Dressage is more than trot...and the saddle you ride in."
-Jennifer KlitzkeSome traditional dressage riders believe that dressage is ONLY for horses that trot. While many gaited horse owners believe that dressage will MAKE their gaited horse trot. Others believe that teaching their gaited horse to trot on cue will ruin their horse's natural gait.I challenge these notions and here's why...Dressage improves the quality of natural movement in a horse whether it trots or has a smooth four-beat gait.Dressage is a French term for training the horse and rider. Whether a horse is ridden in an english or western saddle; whether the horse trots or gaits, it doesn't matter. Dressage brings about the best natural movement whether the horse walks, trots, flat walks, fox trots, or canters.Why? When a rider grows in knowledge, awareness, and application of a balanced riding position with the horse's center of gravity and applies effective use and timing of leg, rein, seat, and weight aids to communicate with the horse, dressage improves relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, harmony, engagement, straightness, and collection. These elements improve the quality of movement and the full range of motion. For the naturally gaited horse, this means, smoother gaits, deeper strides, and a sounder horse for longer.Enjoy the journey!
Breaking through the Proctor fog was the sunny smile and personalized teaching of F.O.S.H. Clinician Bucky Sparks. He brought along some new tools to share from his training toolbox. This marked Bucky’s sixth consecutive 2,000-mile trip to Minnesota. He imparted wisdom to riders and auditors who had traveled from all corners of Minnesota and Wisconsin for the clinic held June 4-7, 2010 in Proctor, MN.
Bucky’s toolbox is filled with effective training techniques geared to B.L.E.S.S. the horse. B.L.E.S.S. stands for balance, looseness, engagement, softness, and soundness. In fact, everything Bucky teaches, he applies to the horses he trains and shows. You’ll see him successfully showing barefoot (the horse that is) and in a snaffle bridle.
This year, we saw dramatic transformations in many returning horses. Ones that had paced are now solid in their flat walks. Horses that had started the canter last year worked on softness and balance through simple changes and counter canter. Other horses that have mastered the basics worked on improving collection and engagement through lateral exercises like shoulder-in, haunches-in, and leg yielding.
One of Bucky’s new tools introduced this year was “breaking it down” which helps a young horse stay focused and not “take two steps of stupid,” as Bucky says.
Breaking it down redirects the attention of the horse away from doing something dangerous to listening to the rider. It is also effective for horses that have developed a habit of bracing in the neck and poll. Breaking it down applies a tug and release of one rein with some leg pressure as the horse moves forward. It redirects the horse to relaxation when they realize there is nothing to brace against.
For more about Bucky Sparks, visit www.blessyourhorse.com.
Larry’s horse meets him at the gate, looking at him with soft brown eyes. His horse has learned to trust him and enjoy his role as a dance partner.
It hasn’t always been this way though. Larry had been hard to beat in the show ring. He was a consecutive national champion, but the cost to win came at the expense of the horse: harsh bits that created pain avoidance and other unnatural gadgets and shoeing that sacrificed the horse’s comfort. His horse wasn’t a teammate or a dance partner; his horse was an object to build his success.
The nagging thoughts of losing in the show ring after being introduced to classical dressage training brought Larry to a cross roads in what had become a successful riding career. Would he continue to win at the expense of the horse’s comfort and happiness or would Larry find a new way to make a living and enjoy the trust and collaboration a dance partner brings?
Larry took another look into those soft brown eyes and his heart melted. There was no going back to harsh training methods just to produce his success. Thanks to Larry’s choice, he is imparting his classical dressage training methods to people around the country, teaching horses to be relaxed, in balance, comfortable and safer on the trail and at home. Larry’s techniques and training methodology put the horse’s well being before human agenda. And they put the joy into riding for both the horse and the rider.
Larry Whitesell explaining shoulder-in. Jennifer Klitzke riding Gift of Freedom.
I took my six-year-old Walking horse Gift of Freedom to a gaited dressage clinic with Larry Whitesell. He is an amazing horseman of classical dressage and has decades of experience training gaited horses.
Larry has a marvelous training theory: pressure and release to teach relaxation, balance and forwardness to the bit. His methods model that of classical French dressage and he continually takes lessons with FEI level dressage instructors.
In all my years of taking dressage lessons and attending clinics, I have never heard dressage taught with practicality from the horse’s perspective. Larry becomes the best rider he can be to meet the horse’s needs vs. training the horse to do what he wants and meet his agenda. He uses every moment with the horse to build trust and relaxation through balance. The better this is communicated the more the horse relies on the rider as the trusted leader to keep him safe vs. the horse taking matters into its own hands through fight, flight and evasions. Each ride becomes a beautiful dance.
Since I am also working with a three-year-old Arabian Fareed, Larry gave me pointers on breaking a horse to ride. He starts a young horse in a snaffle bit and works them in hand to eliminate braces in the poll, neck, and shoulder through teaching a horse how to relax through pressure and release. Larry spends three days with desensitization training. Then he introduces one-rein stops, disengagement of the hindquarters, and shoulder-in to teach the horse how to move forward onto the bit in a relaxed and balanced frame. Larry also works a young horse on a lunge line using side reins for two weeks. After this work is complete, he begins work in the saddle. What Larry teaches from the ground directly translates to his aids when he begins work in the saddle.
No indoor arena? Plan B: Riding through the snowy landscape during the long winter months has been another great way to keep my naturally gaited Walking horse in shape for the show season. It is also the most breathtaking way enjoy the winter wonderland. (Even my lovely husband thinks so!)
Video: Walkin’ in Wonderland on a Naturally Gaited Horse
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
Clinician Bucky Sparks began each day with a group lesson followed by private lessons.
By Jennifer Klitzke
Bucky Sparks returned for the fifth year to the Dirt Floor Arena in Proctor, MN for more B.L.E.S.S.ing. While the humane training methods that produce balance, looseness, engagement, softness, and soundness, blessed the horses, the education and encouragement blessed the riders.
Remembering the erratic weather of years gone by, I packed my pickup prepared for anything. Yet I felt foolish loading up my truck with winter coats, hats, and mittens when it was nearly 90 degrees on departure day.
While the 2009 B.L.E.S.S. Your Horse Clinic in MN came in like a lamb, it went out with a roar. On the last day of the clinic it was only 39-degrees, with pouring rain and gale-force winds. Was I ever glad to have been foolish!
The first two days of the clinic focused on the basic exercises of stretching the bit, lateral flexion, and rein-back. The last two days focused on curling and canter exercises. During all four days, the clinic began with a group session followed by individual lessons.
I loved how Makana, my five-year-old Tennessee walking horse felt at the clinic: impulsive, light, and forward with a dramatic head nod, flopping ears, and clicking teeth. These are three things that sound really strange to a classical dressage rider of hard trotting horses, yet to a walking horse enthusiast, these are three highly desired attributes.
Now as both a dressage rider and walking horse enthusiast, I have noticed that when Makana is correct in her dressage frame, she reflects the true walking horse attributes in a flat walk. She produces an even four-beat, smooth gait with an overstride, along with a nodding head, flopping ears, and clicking teeth.
In our first lesson, Bucky remembered us from last year, the complete rookie at this gaited thing with a four-year-old green horse. This year, we had several months of applying B.L.E.S.S. techniques through stretching the bit, lateral stretching, forwardness, rein-back, and leg-yielding exercises that paid off. This year Bucky challenged us to go to the next level of training: bending on a 20-meter circle, canter departs, and running walk.
You see, many gaited horse riders believe that the canter ruins the flat walk, but this is such a myth. Not only did the canter improve Makana’s flat walk, but bending on a 20-meter circle improved the canter departs and the pureness of gait as well.
As a five-year old, we were just beginning to work on Makana’s canter work. My approach to getting the correct canter lead had been to counter bend Makana along the fence and ask for the canter with my outside leg in the corner of the arena. While this is a somewhat common method at producing the correct lead, it was at the cost of Makana’s frame. She lacked roundness, softness, and the correct bend.
Bucky challenged me to bend Makana in a 20-meter circle using the inside leg at the girth and the outside hind leg slightly behind the girth. Then he asked me to slightly raise my inside rein. Once Makana was in soft, round, supple and bending correctly, that when I asked for the canter depart with the “inside” leg. Amazingly, Makana took the correct lead, and this application had produced a round, soft, and correctly bent canter. That felt connected and controlled.
After cantering a few circles, we transitioned to a flat walk which had notably improved. The canter work had clearly produced a pure flat walk with more overtrack than ever!
Next we worked on running walk. Bucky asked me to establish bend at a flat walk and then ask for more speed. He said that when increasing the tempo, it is common to experience more resistance. Instead of dropping down to a flat walk to fix Makana’s frame, Bucky encouraged us to correct the frame in the higher speed.
As always, the four-day clinic provided enriching and effective training methods to help us bring the best out of our walking horses. And gave me plenty of homework for the coming year.
For more about Bucky Sparks, visit www.blessyourhorse.com.
Gale force winds, heavy rain, lightning, thunder, dense fog, cold temperatures and tornado watches threatened our first day of the 2008 B.L.E.S.S. Your Horse Clinic with Bucky Sparks, owner of Walk The Dog Ranch in Cortez, Colorado.
Thankfully the clinic was held indoors. When the rain pounded on the aluminum roof and the wind rattled the aluminum siding, Bucky said, “It’s a good thing we don’t have any spooky horses here!”
Fortunately the weather improved dramatically by the second day. Just in time for the thunder of revving motors from the race track across the street. Wow, if you can ride through this, you can ride through anything!
I had audited the 2007 B.L.E.S.S. Your Horse Clinic and learned that B.L.E.S.S. stands for balance, looseness, engagement, softness, and soundness. I drank in as much knowledge as I could hold. You see, I’m pretty new at this gaited thing. While I’ve owned and ridden trotting horses for many years, I wonder why it took me so long to discover the super-smooth gait of a Tennessee walking horse.
Rider, Sonya Spease and I were like many MWHA members who registered for the clinic and put on a waiting list. It’s easy to understand, because this clinic is like no other, and Bucky is one of the most enthusiastic and encouraging clinicians I’ve ever experienced. Lucky for us, openings became available. I was one of several first-time clinic participants and new riders to the gaited thing. In all, there were 15 riders over four days. Each morning began with a group session followed by individual lessons.
Bucky gave humane and effective methods for a wide-range of training levels, from young and green horses to seasoned show horses with consistent rhythm and head nods. He worked with impulsive horses and lazy horses, experienced riders and newcomers to the gaited world. Bucky had excellent methods to develop trust with horses that had been rescued from soring, heavy pads, and harsh bits. He shared life-saving safety techniques for riders, and he demonstrated practical tips on how to work with a horse that doesn’t want to stand while being mounting.
Bucky’s contagious smile and encouraging words blessed every rider and horse. Each horse and rider combination left the clinic affirmed, renewed, and challenged for the riding season. Those who audited the clinic had gleaned just as much as those who had participated.
We witnessed many transformations in the four days; horses that paced became gaiting fools, bracing and stiff horses melted into round and relaxed things of beauty, and anxious riders became equipped with life-saving tools!
Much of Bucky’s training comes from years of successful showing, training, and breeding Tennessee walking horses, and mixing in the German-form of dressage and cowboy methods from the likes of Clinton Anderson. Bucky blends the best of these humane training methods to achieve balance, looseness, engagement, softness and soundness, and when orchestrated together, they produce a pure walking gait that is simply a joy to watch and ride.
Exercises included rein back, leg yield, stretching the bit, one-rein stop, flexing, curling and half halts.
Some of my favorite themes Bucky taught were:
“Head up: bad. Head down: good.” When a horse’s head is up, the horse isn’t listening to the rider, and it is using the reacting side of its brain. In addition to not looking very attactive, a reactive horse can unexpectedly spook, bolt, or rear and place its rider in potential danger.
Softness and suppleness will help a horse lower its head and neck and help it relax and use the thinking side of its brain. In addition to looking more attactive, a relaxed, thinking, and listening horse is much safer for the rider to be on.
Leg yields, curling exercises (raising the inside rein and applying the inside leg), one-rein stops are all effective tools to soften and lower the horse’s head and neck. Not only is this practical, but it’s beautiful to watch a horse in a round and soft frame and a pleasure to ride.
“One-rein stops will save your life.” Horses are safer when they are flexed to the side because it significantly reduces their ability to bolt, spook or rear. One-rein stops work best when practiced often.
Here’s how: At a halt, simply take contact with one rein to your side and bring the horse’s nose to your foot. When the horse relaxes, release. Do this several times on each side with every ride before walking off. Then practice one-rein stops at a walk and release when the horse comes to a complete stop.
One-rein stop helps the horse relax and get into the thinking side of their brain. It also helps make them soft and supple. If a horse begins to act unsafe, apply a one-rein stop.
“Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard.” My horse had developed a bad habit of walking off before I was in the saddle. Bucky said, “You can’t make a horse stand. Instead, help the horse realize that standing still while mounting is easier than moving.”
Here’s how: While on the ground, we simply bent Makana’s nose to the saddle until she stood still. Then we rewarded her by removing the pressure and slightly relaxed the rein contact. That’s when I attempted to get on. Makana began to walk off before I was in the saddle, so we bent her nose to the saddle while she walked and we didn’t release the contact until she stopped moving. When she stopped, then we relaxed the rein slightly. After a few minutes my horse realized it was easier to stand than to move while I got on.
I haven’t had a mounting issue with my horse since the clinic.
Rider Sonya Spease said, “I have attended three of the B.L.E.S.S. clinics. These are the best clinics I have ever attended, and prove wrong those who say a horse will never gait if worked in a snaffle or if not worked consistently. Bucky reinforces that I am working on the correct training methods and encourages me to work my horses when I can even if I don’t have much time.”
Rider Meredith Hinnekamp said, “Bucky has such a personal and positive way of communicating with each rider. His humble and honest stories make interesting teaching tools.” She added that Bucky showed her active and productive methods to use with her sensitive horse, Libby. Meredith said, “Instead of a power struggle, we can move forward in her training. His tools help focus her energy and help her feel security when she questions learning new things. Bucky gave me tools to be safe, comfortable, and happy.”
For more about Bucky Sparks, visit www.blessyourhorse.com.
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