Tag Archives: gaited dressage instructor

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Shows, Gaited Dressage Videos

Gaited Dressage: Showing Solo

Tennessee walking horse canter showing dressage

By Jennifer Klitzke

I’ve never had so much fun getting lost as I did yesterday at Sand Dunes State Forest (North) with my husband riding on a beautiful fall day. However, yesterday’s limited daylight ate up his golf time, so he opted out of the Walker’s Triple R show to play a couple rounds before cold and darkness envelop us.

gaited dressageSo I squeezed into my “big girl pants,” as my friend so often says, and loaded and trailered Makana to the show by myself, rode two tests without a reader, as the solo gaited dressage rider, and even managed to record video! (I set the camera on a post that recorded our second ride winning ride.) This year’s horse adventures have prepped me well for showing solo.

Judy and Mike Walker organized another well run schooling dressage show. They must have divine connections, because this year’s record rain held off during all three shows. We had perfect weather, no bugs, and the same friendly crowd. In fact, a couple people from the Western Dressage Association of Minnesota even volunteered to record my first winning ride on video. (Thank you Laura and AnnMarie. I will never forget your kindness!)

The two lessons I had last month really paid off. Makana stepped deeper under her body without rushing, we maintained a leg yield at a flat walk without breaking, my position and hands were quieter, my fingers followed her head nod, and we placed first in both classes as the only gaited dressage team riding among warmbloods, Friesians, and Arabians.

Now if I can figure out a way to increase Makana’s energy at a canter, we’ll be set for next week’s dressage show at Rocking R. Only next week, I may be the only gaited dressage rider, but I won’t be showing solo!

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, The Versatile Gaited Horse

Gaited Dressage Gymnastics

Walkers over fences

Gaited dressage quality improves through gymnastic training

I have been eagerly waiting for my arena to dry out enough this summer to begin cavellettis and gymnastic jumping. Not only would I love to train for a three-day-event with my Tennessee walking horse mare, but I am hoping that gymnastics over cavellettis and fences will improve her “jump” in the canter and strengthen her hindquarters for a more forward and deeper flat walk.

For the first two days I free-lunged Makana over ground poles, raised cavellettis, and a bounce. The third day I climbed on and rode her through the same configurations. She seems to enjoy the variety that gymnastic jumping provides.

Photos: Gaited dressage gymnastics>

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Shows, Gaited Dressage Videos

Gaited Dressage at Rocking R

Gaited dressage at Rocking R

By Jennifer Klitzke

Rocking R Farm, Foley, MN hosted their second of three well-attended 2011 schooling dressage shows on Saturday, August 6, 2011 open to gaited dressage. I rode Gift of Freedom (Makana), my seven-year-old Tennessee walking horse mare in First Level, Test One and First Level, Test Two. We were the only gaited dressage team riding among 36 horse/rider combinations.

Instead of a three-day affair like last weekend, the Rocking R Show was three hours for us; this included two hours travel time! We were off to a frantic start since I didn’t plan for how long it would take to get there and arrived 20 minutes before my first test. Yet we missed the soaking rain storm that swept through the show grounds a half hour earlier. The overcast sky and rain cooled the temperature down to a comfortable 75-degrees and the precipitation made for excellent footing.

Judge Jane Linville remarked on our winning Gaited First Level, Test Two ride which scored 65.67%: “Wonderful pair. Solid test. Beautiful horse.”

We received 63.1% on First Level, Test One. The Judge provided great constructive feedback in areas we can work on improving before the next show.

Video: Gaited dressage first level, test two

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Shows

Walker’s Triple R Schooling Dressage Show

Jennifer Klitzke riding Gift of Freedom her 7-year-old TWH mare at the Walker's Triple R Schooling Dressage Show held Sunday, July 24, 2011.

The record heat wave with 82% dew points and 105-degree heat indexes broke just in time for the Walker’s Triple R Schooling Dressage Show in Cambridge, MN. Mike and Judy Walker put on another relaxed and well-run schooling show for 22 rides ranging from Intro through 2nd Level.

Many breeds were represented including Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, a Paint, a Swedish Warmblood, Appaloosa, Haflinger, Friesians, and my 7-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse Gift of Freedom. We’ve been working hard on our dressage since the B.L.E.S.S. Clinic and it must have paid off. We placed first and second in First Level Tests 1 and 2 with scores of 66.2% and 61.9% against trotting horses.

Judge Val Vetos commented, “Very nice team. Good on the basics of bend and balance.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtSyIg82YuY&w=560&h=315

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Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Clinics

2011 BLESS Clinic

Jennifer Klitzke riding Gift of Freedom at the 2011 BLESS Your Walking Horse Clinic with Bucky Sparks

By Jennifer Klitzke

June 5-6, 2011 marked my fourth trip with Gift of Freedom to Proctor, MN for the B.L.E.S.S. Your Walking Horse Clinic with Bucky Sparks. And yes, clinic participant Barb Nunke said it best, “The sun really does shine in Proctor!” No parkas, rain suits, or knives to cut through the thick Proctor fog this year.

For me, the 2011 BLESS Clinic was all about breaking through the mystery about contact. How do I ride a head-shaking horse with contact? Do my hands move with the motion? Do I keep the reins slack so that I don’t bump the horse’s mouth with each nod?

Not interrupting the head-nod was the main reason I switched to an Imus Comfort Bit, but a curb and a snaffle function differently. A curb bit has leverage and poll pressure that a snaffle does not, and for dressage, a snaffle is essential in training the lateral movements, and it is the only legal bit in showing at the lower levels.

While I love how free Makana moves in the Imus Bit without contact, Bucky helped us ride forward into a light (not loose) contact without stopping. This was simply breakthrough for us!  A training level frame we get, and now Bucky has helped us capture impulsion into the outside rein for a first level dressage frame.

We began the exercise at a flatwalk on a 20 meter circle with a shoulder-fore position. As Bucky’s German schoolmaster would say, “You need to ride shoulder-fore for the rest of your life.” Shoulder-fore can be ridden on a circle and a straight line where the horse is slightly bent to the inside. You should see the inside eye of the horse, and the horse should bend slightly through the poll, neck, rib cage, and spine. The outside rein helps keep the horse from overbending the neck and popping the outside shoulder.

On our second day, Bucky helped us school second and third-level movements as shoulder-in, hauches-in, traver, and renver. He helped bring awareness to the rib cage. Whenever Makana was stiff on the inside rein, it was because she was stiff in the rib cage. Once we established bend through the rib cage by applying inside leg at the girth and outside slightly back to hold the haunches from falling out, Makana became soft and round and light on the inside rein through these exercises. Once we learn these movements fluently at a walk, they can be ridden at a flatwalk.

According to Bucky the shoulder-in and haunches-in are three-track movements and the traver and renver are four-track movements. All four exercises help establish balance, suppleness and softness, a more upright frame, and contact.

For more about Bucky Sparks, visit www.blessyourhorse.com.