What could be more unusual than seeing a Mustang among Warmbloods at a dressage show? How about a barefoot horse that doesn’t trot!
Last month I took my Spanish Mustang to St. George’s Dressage Academy Schooling Show and was so impressed with the facility, the friendly people, and the show organization, that I asked if I could bring my Tennessee walking horse to the next show and ride the NWHA tests that mimic the USDF tests with gait in lieu of trot. After the show secretary talked with the judge, they both welcomed us into our own division.
St. George’s Dressage Academy not only has a state-of-the-art facility, they really know how to order the weather! A perfect “10” summer day: sunny, slight breeze, 75-degrees, and no bugs, made for a very comfortable outdoor show. Warming up in the St. George’s 80 x 220 indoor arena was such a treat: giant fans kept the air moving, dust-free felt footing was so comfortable to ride on, and mirrors along the far wall helped me see what I was feeling in real time. There was plenty of space for everyone to warm up. The outdoor arena at St George’s is on an even plane and the footing is also well groomed, watered, and consistent through out. If you’ve ever ridden your horse on inconsistent footing or in an arena on a slope, you know how much that affects consistency of gait and balance.
Gift of Freedom (Makana), my naturally gaited barefoot Walking Horse, had the second highest score of 72.4% among 58 rides ranging from Intro to Prix St George. Not bad being the only gaited horse among trotting Warmbloods. Training Level Test Three includes flatwalk, flatwalk on a long rein, medium walk, freewalk on a long rein and canter with movements as serpentines, 20 meter circles, straight lines across the diagonal and center line halts.
Makana and I also earned a respectable score of 68.79% in First Level Test One which includes all of the gaits in Training Level plus medium canter and running walk, and canter circles are reduced to 15 meters. The coaching I had received fromJennie Jackson has really helped us be more forward, connected, and engaged. Plus, the longer leg position Jennie showed me is helping to keep my heels from creeping too far back.
St. George’s Dressage Academy plans on having more schooling shows next year. A schooling show doesn’t get any better than this, so we’ll be back and I hope to see you there too!
A huge “thank you” to St. George’s Dressage Academy for opening up their luxurious facility to schooling shows. It is a treat to ride at such a nice place!
Video: Naturally Gaited Dressage at St. George: NWHA Training Level Test Three
Video: Naturally Gaited Dressage at St. George: NWHA First Level Test One
Three weeks after the Jennie Jackson Clinic: Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse, I took my Tennessee walking horse mare, Gift of Freedom (Makana), to the North Run Farm schooling dressage show held on Sunday, July 28, 2013. I was curious if the judge would notice a difference since May as I have been working on the tools Jennie gave us to improve engagement into connection, balance, bending, and increasing the depth of stride.
Although we were the only dressage en gaite entry, Makana was not the only Tennessee walking horse entered in the show. There was another Walker who has been trained to trot and what exquisite gaits this mare has! Solid round connection, beautiful smooth trot, and a to die for canter. I can’t help wondering if trot has played a major hand in improving her canter.
Makana and I rode Training Level Tests Two and Three. After our Training Two test, Judge Ginger Kawell said, “Good job! Much improvement in your contact since last time I saw you!” We scored 8’s on our center line halt, 20 meter circles, free walk on a long rein, and 7-7.5 in gaits, impulsion, submission, harmony, rider’s position, and rider’s use of aids for a total of 70.7%. Hurrah, now that we reached 70%, we’ll be moving up a test for the next show!
Training Level Test Three was solid, but not as strong as our first ride. Makana didn’t have as much gas to go as she had in the first test. However, we rode a respectable 68.2%. Areas of improvement are in showing more bend through the serpentines and more stretch in the flat walk 20-meter circle on a long rein.
The next North Run Farm schooling dressage show will be Saturday, August 17. Come on gaited dressage riders! This is one of the most friendly, organized, and low key dressage shows I’ve been to. It would be great to have some company in the dressage en gaite division!
For more information about the next North Run Farm schooling dressage show open to gaited horses, visit www.northrunfarm.org.
Minnesota Distance Riders Association (MnDRA) sponsored the Mosquito Run held at Crow-Hassan Park Reserve July 13-14, 2013. The event was appropriately named: when you see mosquitoes…RUN!
Lots and lots of mosquitoes kept me and my Tennessee walking horse Gift of Freedom (Makana) on pace at our first ten mile novice endurance ride. MnDRA sponsors several long distant rides that range from 10 miles, 25 miles, 50 miles, and 100 miles in several divisions: competitive, long distance and novice. Each ride begins and ends with an official vet check. Horses are checked and scored for hydration, soundness, pulse, and respiration. The results are calculated with the time for the final score. The goal is to safely complete the ride on course within the designated time and be rested for the post-ride vet check which is scheduled 10 minutes after reaching the finish line.
The mid-summer weather conditions couldn’t have been better: mid-70s, overcast, and breezy. The event drew lots of Arabians, a Spanish Mustang, and a few gaited breeds as Paso Finos, an Icelandic, and a Rocky Mountain Saddle Horse. Makana was the only gaited horse in our 10-mile novice group of five led by my friend with a handy GPS speedometer. Our strategy was to reach the two mile marker 30 minutes from ideal time so that we could slowly walk the remaining ride and give our horses a chance to pulse down for the post-vet check.
At a walk my TWH is usually faster than the non-gaited horses, but the tables were turned when the group moved to a brisk trot. Makana quickly fell behind in a flat walk. Then she began to mimic the other horses by trotting until I said, “Ah, that’s not why I brought you to this, my dear.” It took about 15 minutes for Makana to discover just how fast of a gait was needed to keep up with the trotting horses. Getting there I think we covered the full gait spectrum: flat walk, trot, canter, pace, and rack until she settled into a nice running walk. Endurance riding is exactly what Makana needs to think “forward.”
Nothing improves depth of stride better than the event photographer standing in the tall grass!
Friday’s heavy rains collected many large puddles through the first two miles of woodlands which slowed us down quite a bit. When we reached the dry open prairie, we made up time at a hand gallop. This saved our final two miles for walking which helped the horses pulse down for the final vet check. That was the mosquitoes’ strategy. They waited at the two mile marker for us when they knew we couldn’t run away!
Thanks to my friend and her handy GPS speedometer, we reached the finish line exactly two hours from the start. (Now if only I could get my gaited horse to trot in hand for the vet check.) Well, maybe next time!
During the vet check, horses are required to trot in hand (not gait!)
A huge “thank you” to MnDRA for hosting the Mosquito Run. What a terrific group of fun people. And an enormous “thank you” to the event photographer Bob Zimmerman for taking such fantastic photos. I doubt anyone had more mosquito bites than Bob! For more about the Minnesota Distance Riders Association, visit their open group on Facebook: MnDRA.
Jennie Jackson dressage for the gaited horse clinic.
By Jennifer Klitzke
Still seeking answers as I apply dressage with my naturally gaited horse, I learned about a DVD by Jennie Jackson. In January, I purchased her DVD set with my Christmas money.
The DVDs showcased naturally gaited horses moving in collection, engagement, and forwardness within their smooth gaits. I watched every DVD back-to-back for hours. This is what I wanted to learn how to ride my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse using dressage.
An Amazing Connection
To my amazement, a couple weeks after my purchase, Jennie Jackson contacted me and asked for feedback about the DVDs. ME? I was a bit spellbound that the famous Jennie Jackson, only person in history who has trained and shown a naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse to the highest levels of dressage, was interested in knowing my thoughts. More so, I was thrilled just to connect with her.
She was interested in knowing, “Who is this person who bought my entire DVD library?!”
During our conversation, I asked, “Do you hold clinics in the Midwest?”
That’s how the first Midwest “Jennie Jackson Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse Clinic” got started. Six months of preparation came together June 29-30, 2013.
So how was the clinic? Stupendous! The Jennie Jackson Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse Clinic exceeded my already high expectations. There was a terrific mix of gaited horses, ages three to thirteen, green to advanced. There was a unique mix English and western riders who were new to dressage as well as experienced. Riders and horses were challenged and took home effective dressage methods that addressed their riding goals.
Jennie drew from 40 years of training and showing experience with Tennessee walking horses and the dressage she has learned from top instructors.
During the clinic, both horse and rider received individualized instruction. Jennie explained dressage concepts to the horse as she rode. Then she coached each rider through these concepts as they rode their horse.
My training questions
I brought two questions to my sessions: 1)How to ride a head nodding horse with contact and 2) How to cue my horse forward without rushing into short quick steps.
Jennie addressed both questions with effective tools to help me at home. During each lesson I experienced moments of “the feeling of right.” Connection, forwardness, and engagement while riding at a medium walk, flat walk, and canter.
I’ve been an avid dressage rider since 1988, so the concept of inside leg to outside rein is not new. In fact, I believed I had been riding this way. Jennie explained a more effective use of my rein, seat, and leg aids. She helped me understand why “hands together” equals “horse together” and the difference between direct rein and indirect rein.
Riding at a Jennie Jackson dressage for the gaited horse clinic with my 9-year-old naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse.
Jennie also addressed my forwardness issue with Makana. Jennie noticed it took twenty-two cues of squeeze, cluck, tap, and repeat before my horse finally moved forward.
Jennie said, “Your horse reads you faster than you read her.”
I didn’t have a lazy horse. I have a smart horse. Makana had duped me into believing she’s doing the best she can when she’s only been giving me 20% of what she is capable of! It is quite sobering to realize I had desensitized my horse to my leg aids.
Jennie’s intervention was just what we needed. She showed me the need to establish myself as the leader in our relationship as I retrained Makana to respond to my first cue.
Riders and their Walking horses learned lateral exercises to break up pace or hard trot, engage the hindquarters. She helped others introduce the canter or improve the quality of the canter over cavalettis. We all got an adrenaline rush watching Jennie coach one of the riders hand gallop.
Jennie taught us how lateral exercises, such as pivoting around the fore, shoulder in, shoulder fore, and leg yield molded each horse into exquisite, round and beautiful frames.
Riders and auditors took pages of notes to jog their memories as they returned home.
One of my favorite sessions was watching Jennie ride a multi-gaited Tennessee walking horse through medium walk, flat walk, fox trot, rack, and running walk. Then Jennie coached the rider through the same series of smooth gaits. Another session Jennie transformed a pacey horse into a natural four-beat gait using dressage methods. Then she coached the rider how to maintain the smooth gait.
An enormous “thank you” to riders and auditors who helped bring Jennie to Minnesota and a huge “thank you” to Jennie who drove the 2,000-mile trek from Tennessee to Minnesota and back. We are already talking about when Jennie will be back!
In my quest for answers the last six years riding my Tennessee walking horse using dressage methods, I feel like I have finally connected with “the feeling of right” as it relates to riding a head nodding horse with contact and forwardness.
About Jennie Jackson
In the 1980s Jennie began applying and perfecting dressage methods of training to gaited horses, and in 1998 she introduced dressage as a humane training alternative to the Tennessee Walking Horse breed. In 2006, Jennie and her famous Tennessee Walking Horse stallion Champagne Watchout performed the first Dressage En Gaite Musical Freestyle at The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. The team demonstrated Prix St. George movements as canter pirouette, tempi changes, and piaffe and passage en gaite.
In 2010, Jennie and Champagne Watchout were formally invited to exhibit their Dressage En Gaite Musical Freestyle at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games as the official breed representative of the Tennessee Walking Horse. For more about Jennie Jackson and Champagne Watchout, visit Jennie Jackson: Dressage En Gaite.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
Rocking R Farms in Foley, MN ordered perfect weather for their Spring Schooling Dressage and Jumping Show: sunshine, light breeze, not too hot or cold, and no bugs.
Rocking R Farm is one of the few facilities in my area that accommodates gaited dressage at their three schooling shows each year. I’ve been participating at Rocking R’s schooling shows since 2010, and so far have been the only gaited rider/horse team entered. I long for the day when more people give it a try. The feedback received from a trained eye is very helpful!
Gift of Freedom (Makana) and I rode NWHA Training Level Tests Two and Three and received scores of 69.28% and 66.8%. At previous shows, judges have encouraged me to establish and maintain contact with the bridle, so I’ve been working at this. Perhaps I took it too far as the judge felt my horse was bracing against the contact. I definitely see a difference in the way Makana moves which brings up another question: What do collected gaits look and feel like?
I asked Larry this question last summer at the five-day Larry Whitesell and Jennifer Bauer Clinic. Larry said that collected TWH gaits do not track up as much as gaits shown in breed rail classes and that the head nod is less extreme. Larry said to look for rounding of the back and bending downward of the haunches—not a hollow back and a flat croup. The legs should step under the belly, not step far behind the horse’s tail, so the horse carries rather than pushes itself forward. I am very interested to hear Jennie Jackson’s thoughts on this topic when she visits Minnesota for the Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse Clinic held June 29-30.
On the positive side, it appears that our riding in the snow and over jumps have paid off. We received “8s” in our canter work, as well as free walk on a long rein and center line halts.
I can’t wait until Jennie Jackson gets here for the Dressage as Applied to Gaited Horse Clinic held Saturday-Sunday, June 29-30 at Walker’s Triple R Ranch in Cambridge, MN. Jennie will definitely help me establish forwardness and rhythm into contact for a round frame!
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