For years I couldn’t understand why my horses didn’t want to go forward. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a new approach to dressage that I realized I had been cueing my horse with the gas pedal and brake pedal on at the SAME time. Meaning each time I drove my horse forward with my seat and legs I was saying “go” and into closed hands I was saying “stop”.
Harmony, Trust and Partnership for the Naturally Gaited Horse
I thirsted for harmony, partnership, trust, and lightness in my riding with my naturally gaited horses. I was tired of setting agendas for my horses and ready to invite them into a dance of relaxation, balance, harmony, and lightness—where ever that would lead us.
If you’ve been following Naturally Gaited for the last couple years, you know that classical French dressage has become my language of choice between me and the naturally gaited horses I ride.
I’ve been studying books and DVDs by Philippe Karl, a DVD by Lisa Maxwell (a student of the late Jean Claude Racinet, who studied the work of Francois Baucher), taken lessons from Susan Norman, a student of both Philippe Karl and Jean Claude, and have taken lessons from Nichole Walters, a student of Philippe Karl.
French Dressage vs. German Dressage
The Classical French Dressage methods and philosophy I have been learning have rocked my world! Notably because they sharply contrast with the German dressage training I had studied for the preceding two decades. It wasn’t the contrast that made me switch. It was the truths in contrast that made me switch. Just watch the DVD: Classic vs. Classique where the French and German theories go head-to-head in a convincing demonstration.
Separating the Stop Aids from the Go Aids
For me, I couldn’t understand why my horses didn’t want to go forward. It wasn’t until I began to open my mind to the French Dressage method that I realized I had been cueing my naturally gaited horse with the gas pedal and brake pedal on at the SAME time. Each time I drove my horse forward with my seat and legs into closed hands was like saying go and stop at the same time. It is no wonder my horse needed more and more leg and seat to go forward.
The French Dressage philosphy taught me to separate my stopping aids from my going aids. This cured the problem I was having with my naturally gaited horse who didn’t want to go forward. She became light and forward with very little leg and seat aids when I began to separate my leg and seat aids from my rein aids. I also began to follow the motion of her head nod with relaxed arms and fingers.
We vs Me creates Partnership
I also thirsted for harmony, partnership, trust, and lightness with my horses and in my riding. I was tired of “making” my horses DO and GO, and I was ready to “ask” my horses to dance with me—even if it meant giving up my show agenda of moving up to the next level each year. It was time for me to slow down and enjoy the dance with my horses. When my horse is ready to move up a level, then that’s when we move up—no sooner.
I also changed my motivations about showing. If I was able to maintain the same harmony, trust, and partnership in the show ring as we have at home, then I’d be open to showing. If showing becomes a demand at every letter, then it was time to recheck my motives.
I hope to get out to a show or two this summer (virtual and/or live). If not, I will for sure enjoy riding my horses with harmony, trust, and partnership.
Video: Separating the gas pedal from the brake pedal
Did you know that there are different forms of dressage, producing different result? Here’s my story.
Not All Dressage is the Same
By Jennifer Klitzke
In the realm of dressage, there are various approaches and methods that can shape the way we train and communicate with our equine partners. From the competition dressage pyramid to an artistic French dressage style, each path offers unique outcomes.
After seven years studying competition dressage, French dressage master Dominic Barbier traveled to my region. I experienced the lightness and joy he brought to his work with horses. This sparked a shift in my training methods, moving towards a more creative and right-brain approach that focused on a two-way dialogue with my horse.
As I delved deeper into my dressage journey, I encountered the teachings of classical French dressage master Philippe Karl and the late Jean Claude Racinet. Their emphasis on balance, relaxation, and the separation of hand and leg aids opened up a new way of communicating with my horses.
Contrasting the back-to-front approach of competition dressage, where we drove our horses forward with our seat and legs into our hands to form contact, the French dressage method lightness to the hand and leg by separating the leg and seat aids for “go” from the hand aids for “stop.” I found an improved responsiveness from my horses through this distinction in my communication.
The focus on relaxation and balance from the beginning of training in French dressage has transformed the way I work with my horses. By prioritizing the horse’s comfort and well-being, I have seen improvements in their mental and physical relaxation, leading to smoother gaits and a deeper partnership.
Transitioning from a one-way to a two-way communication approach has been transformative as well. Instead of viewing resistance as disobedience, I now see it as a signal of misunderstanding or difficulty, prompting me to refine my communication and level of difficulty to ensure understanding and harmony with my horse.
In dressage, there are more than one path to explore, each offering its own applications and outcomes. French dressage has reshaped my approach and instilled a deep appreciation for the artistry and partnership that define this paradigm. As I continue to navigate the nuances of different dressage methods, I am reminded of the words of Philippe Karl: “If the dressage is good, it will work on any horse.”
Dressage is a journey of discovery, communication, and partnership with my horses. I am grateful for the diverse approaches that have enriched our experience.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
Dressage requires riding with light, even, steady contact—not floppy, loose reins. Contact is easier when the horse’s head and neck remain stationary, but how do you maintain contact when the horse’s head and neck nod with each step?
Here’s my story.
Following the Natural Head and Neck Motion
I’ve been a passionate student of dressage since 1988, predominantly of the German school, riding bouncy trotting horses. They kept me in shape, I’ll give you that!
Then in 2007, my aging body longed for smooth, and that’s when I acquired my first naturally gaited horse: a just turning three-year-old Tennessee walking horse filly named Makana. Dressage is the only form of riding I knew, so that’s the form of training I applied. We began with the German dressage I learned.
Then through clinics with Larry Whitesell and Susan Norman, I became acquainted with the books and videos of classical French dressage Master Philippe Karl. Around 2014 I began to gradually adopt a new way to ride.
My DVD collection of Classical French Dressage Master Philippe Karl.
In 2016, I set out to Seattle, WA, to visit family and learned that Karl had been teaching School of Légèreté instructor certification clinics at three USA locations—one of which was not far from where I would be staying. I contacted the Seattle location for lessons with Nichole, one of Karl’s instructors in training.
I took several lessons each day with Nichole on her non-gaited horses. First, I learned work in hand. Here’s a recap of my lessons: Work in Hand: Educating the Mouth.
Then Nichole taught me how to apply the same exercises from the saddle while riding at a slow walk. She noticed that I wasn’t following the horse’s natural head and neck motion with my hands. Instead, I was keeping my arms still at my sides. She encouraged me to follow the horse’s natural head and neck motion with my hands while maintaining an even, steady contact with both reins connected to a snaffle bit.
Nicole noticed that while my arms were quiet at my sides, my pelvis and back followed the motion of the horse more than necessary. My efforts to remain still with my arms and hands created tension which translated heaviness to the horse.
Interesting.
While some following motion with my body is needed, Nichole encouraged me to also follow the horse’s natural head and neck motion with relaxed shoulders, arms and hands while maintaining a light, even, steady contact with both reins to the snaffle bit.
This was an epiphany for me!
Granted, I was riding a non gaited horse, but I was riding the horse at a natural four-beat walk. This got me thinking about the smooth four-beat gaits of the naturally gaited head nodding breeds.
I wondered, what compromises have tension to create stillness had on the quality of the naturally smooth flat walk, running walk, and fox trot in my naturally gaited horses?
Could the tension in my shoulders and still arms and hands be saying “stop” to my naturally gaited horse, Makana?
Would following hands produce less prodding on my part to encourage Makana to go forward?
Would following hands produce less tension and more relaxation, harmony and lightness in my naturally gaited fox trotting horse, Lady?
Would Lady be more apt to seek contact with a snaffle bit if I followed her head nod?
Would Lady’s back be less hollow if I rode her with following hands?
Would Lady be less heavy on the bit?
Would Lady learn to relax more rather than take off at a quick gait?
Would Lady track up more with deeper strides if there was greater relaxation in her back?
Think about it. Are we creating braces in our horses through our tension to ride still? How many of us struggle with a camel walk, hard pace, step pace, and a lateral canter? Wouldn’t our horses be smoother to ride if they felt more comfortable and relaxed if we followed their natural head and neck motion?
Nichole taught me the importance of following the natural head and neck motion of the horse’s four-beat walk with relaxed shoulders, arms and hands. This fostered relaxation, harmony and lightness with each horse I worked with.
If following the natural head and neck motion of non-gaited horses at a walk produces relaxation, wouldn’t this translate to the naturally gaited head-nodding breeds that move in flat walk, fox trot, and running walk?
I just wonder if following the horse’s natural head and neck motion—the head nod, head shake or what ever we want to call it—might lead our naturally gaited horses to greater relaxation, harmony, and lightness, and produce less bracing in the jaw and back and produce more naturally smooth gaits?
True or False
When the horse’s tongue, jaw and poll are stiff and tense, it will lead to tension in the back which will cause more pace in horses prone to pace when tense.
True.
Wouldn’t the opposite be true? If we follow the natural head and neck motion of the horse with relaxed shoulders, elbows hands, seat and back, our naturally gaited horses will be more apt at relaxing their backs which helps to break up pace caused by tension. Right?
Granted, it is a lot easier to ride a naturally gaited head nodding horse with floppy reins, but if dressage is your passion, like it is mine, then we need to figure out a way to establish a light, steady contact with both reins that produces relaxation, harmony and lightness. I believe following the naturally head and neck motion of the naturally gaited horse is the way to do it.
Watch: Why follow the natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms
Special thanks to Nichole Walters, the owner and instructor of Cadbury Farm who taught me the “Educating the Mouth” and “Following Hands” exercises that she learned first hand from Philippe Karl and his School of Légèreté.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
When I first bought my naturally gaited TWH Makana, Candace Rundell was one of the first friends I made with the Minnesota Walking Horse Association. How she acquired her naturally gaited Spotted Saddle Horse, Yankee Doodle Mandy, is heroing on its own. Yet it is the adversity I witnessed this duo face which exemplifies a shining example of hope, a trusting partnership, and what is possible when you persevere to never let up on your dreams.
—Jennifer Klitzke
Candace Rundell riding her naturally gaited Spotted Saddle Horse mare Yankee Doodle Mandy in one of their dozens of Country Pleasure Championship rides.
Every Horse is Good for Something
By Candace Rundell, Guest Writer
I’ve been horse crazy as long as I can remember and owned my first horse at the age of 9. Gaming and trail riding on the bouncy variety were my gig until I became acquainted with a naturally smooth gaited Spotted Saddle Horse in an unexpected way.
In 2003, my sister and I went to an auction, and I was drawn to a 1993 black and white Tobiano Spotted Saddle Horse mare named Yankee Doodle Mandy (Jazzy). After talking with the seller, I tested out Jazzy’s naturally smooth gait. I liked her a lot, only I didn’t come to the auction to buy. I wasn’t in a place to take on a horse.
When the auction began, my sister and I noticed that not all of the horses were getting sold to good homes. We were sickened to learn that the horses no one bid on were being sold to the “kill buyer.”
Just as my sister and I were ready to leave, Jazzy’s owner caught up to us and said that no one had bid on her. The owner explained that she was pregnant and had promised her husband that she wouldn’t return home with the horse. I saw her husband anxiously waiting by their rig and ready to get going. The woman said in a panic, “It’s either you or the “kill buyer.”
My sister reached into her purse and wrote out a check for $600, and that’s how my first gaited horse entered my life.
“Every horse is good for something.”
Although Jazzy had a smooth ride, we were off to a rocky start. She was rather wild and used to charge at me which gave me quite a scare. After we overcame that hurdle, it took 45 minutes to saddle her and another 45 minutes to get on her back.
Remembering what Seabiscuit’s trainer, Tom Smith once said, “Every horse is good for something,” I set out to become educated about naturally gaited horses and the Spotted Saddle Horse breed. I joined the Minnesota Walking Horse Association (MWHA) and began attending clinics.
Slowly over time Jazzy and I developed a trusting bond, and she blossomed into a wonderfully reliable trail mount. In 2004, Jazzy and I became the MWHA Adult Trail Riding Reserve Champion.
Gaming the gaited horse.
Back in my younger years when I rode trotting horses, I gamed a lot. So in 2006, I entered Jazzy at a local show which offered two-gait game classes. That year we won the 2006 WSCA Free Spirit Riders Spring Fun Payday Walk Trot (two gait) High Point.
Then Jazzy and I rode at a MWHA sponsored B.L.E.S.S. your gaited horse clinic with Bucky Sparks. At this clinic those who watched our rides encouraged me to give gaited breed shows a try. Up until that point showing Jazzy in rail classes had never occurred to me.
Despite the set back of Jazzy losing an eye in February 2010, Candace and Jazzy’s amazing partnership of trust developed their canter before traveling to the Nationals in Missouri.
So in 2009, I began showing Jazzy at gaited breed shows. To my surprise and delight, Jazzy earned Champion in Country Pleasure Amateur Owned and Trained 2 Gait, Reserve Champion Country Pleasure English 2 Gait, Reserve Champion Country Pleasure Western 2 Gait at the MWHA Celebration Show, and we became the 2009 MWHA Trail Riding Champion.
Looking ahead to 2010, I set a goal for Jazzy and I to develop our canter and travel to Missouri for the North American Pleasure Horse Championships.
Before the 2010 show season began, Jazzy sustained a serious eye injury in the pasture. I was devastated to learn that she would lose her eye. During the surgery, Jazzy developed atrial fibrillation from the anesthesia which caused a permanent irregular heartbeat. I feared that she wouldn’t be ride-able again, or worse, that I’d have to put her down.
“You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ’cause he’s banged up a little.”
Thankfully Jazzy recovered from surgery quickly, and my confidence grew when I began riding Jazzy and discovered that she had become even more responsive and wiling than when she had two eyes!
Seabiscuit’s trainer, Tom Smith once said, “You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ’cause he’s banged up a little.” So just two months after surgery, I took Jazzy to a cutting horse clinic. Not only was she the only one-eyed horse at the clinic, but she was the only gaited horse, and the clinician used her as the demonstration horse because of how soft and responsive she was.
Losing an eye didn’t stop us from pursuing our goals and reaching our dreams. Jazzy and I went on to a stellar 2010 show season. Jazzy earned Champion Country Pleasure English 2 Gait and Champion Country Pleasure Western 2 Gait at the 2010 MWHA Celebration Show before traveling to the North American Pleasure Horse Championships in Missouri to be crowned with a National SSH 3 Gait Grand Championship!
Candace Rundell riding Yankee Doodle Mandy at the North American Pleasure Horse Championships in Missouri where the team earned a National SSH 3 Gait Grand Championship the same year after Jazzy lost her eye.
Since 2010, Jazzy and I have gone on to become an ambassador for naturally gaited horses and the Spotted Saddle Horse breed. Jazzy has participated in parades, mounted shooting, cattle work, English and western rail classes, reining, games, speed events, trail trials, and has been a flag bearer. Not only that, but Jazzy is an easy keeper and in good weight—even in the harshest of winters. She has GREAT feet, too, and has never needed shoes.
Candace Rundell and her naturally gaited Spotted Saddle Horse mare Yankee Doodle Mandy negotiating a trail obstacle.
As Jazzy turned 22 this year she will retire to a life of trail riding for others who want to come and ride with me as I train and show my other naturally gaited Spotted Saddle Horses.
Indeed, every horse is good for something. I am so glad that I pressed on through the rough beginning to experience the partnership Jazzy and I have developed and all we have accomplished together—even after losing an eye.
Candace Rundell and Yankee Doodle Mandy’s Impressive Show Record 2004 MWHA Adult Trail Riding Reserve Champion
2006 WSCA Free Spirit Riders Spring Fun Payday Walk Trot (2 Gait) High Point
2009 MWHA Celebration Champion Country Pleasure Amateur Owned and Trained 2 Gait
2009 MWHA Celebration Reserve Champion Country Pleasure English 2 Gait
2009 MWHA Celebration Reserve Champion Country Pleasure Western 2 Gait
2009 MWHA Trail Riding Champion
2010 MWHA Celebration Champion Country Pleasure English 2 Gait
2010 MWHA Celebration Champion Country Pleasure Western 2 Gait
2010 North American Pleasure Horse Championships, Sedalia, MO
Spotted Saddle Horse Western 3 Gait Grand Champion
Spotted Saddle Horse Western 2 Gait Reserve Champion
Spotted Saddle Horse Youth Reserve Champion
Hi 7 Reserve Champion
Spotted Saddle Horse Division Champion with 88 points
2010 AHAGN OSIP Pleasure/Performance Champion
2010 AHAGN OSIP Game Champion
2010 MWHA Country Pleasure Champion
2011 SSLCF Walk Trot (2 Gait) High Point
2011 MWHA MN Celebration 3 Gait Country Pleasure Champion
2011 MWHA MN Celebration Youth Country Pleasure Champion
2011 MWHA Country Pleasure 2 Gait High Point Champion
2011 MWHA Country Pleasure 3 Gait High Point Champion
2011 MWHA Country Pleasure Youth High Point Reserve Champion
2011 AHAGN OSIP Pleasure/Performance Champion
2012 Kutaways Spring Payday Senior High Point
2012 Countryside Saddle Club Spring Show Senior Plus Pleasure High Point
2012 MWHA MN Celebration Country Pleasure 3 Gait Reserve Champion
2012 SSLCF Walk Trot (2 Gait) High Point
2012 Northwood’s Saddle Club INC Pleasure Reserve Champion
2012 Northwood’s Saddle Club INC All Around Champion
2012 SSHBEA OIP
Adult Champion
Western Horsemanship Champion
Reining Champion
Stock/Ranch Champion
Western Pleasure Champion
English Pleasure Champion
2012 AHAGN OSIP Pleasure/Performance Champion
2012 AHAGN OSIP Game Champion
2012 Minnesota Walking Horse Association
2 gait Country Pleasure Reserve Champion
3 gait Country Pleasure Champion
2012 MWHA Horse of the Year
2013 SSLCF Pleasure / Performance High Point
2013 MWHA MN Celebration ADP 3 Gait Champion
2013 DFA Summer show 35+ Pleasure High Point
2013 Brew City Classic Charity Show ADP 3 Gait Reserve Champion
2013 ASCA All Around Pleasure Reserve Champion
2013 ASCA English Pleasure Reserve Champion
2013 ASCA English Equitation Reserve Champion
2013 DFA 35+ Game Champion
2013 DFA 35+ Pleasure Champion
2013 Tri-State 3 Gait Country Pleasure Champion
2013 MWHA Country Pleasure 3 Gait Champion
2013 SSHBEA OIP Adult Overall Champion
Gymkhana Champion
Saddle Seat Champion
Equitation champion
Trail Obstacle Champion
Reigning Champion
2014 SSLCF Pleasure Reserve High Point
2014 Mn Celebration Champion English ADP 3 Gait
2014 MN Celebration ADP West 3 Gait Champion
2014 Brew City Classic ADP 3 Gait Reserve Champion
2014 Tri-State ADP English 3 Gait Champion
2014 Tri-State ADP Western 3 Gait Champion
2014 Tri-State Model Reserve Champion
2014 DFA Senior Plus Pleasure Champion
2014 SSHBEA OIP Adult Overall Champion
Gymkhana Champion
English Pleasure Champion
English Equitation Champion
Western Pleasure Champion
Western Horsemanship Champion
Trail Obstacle Champion
Reigning Champion
2014 Tri-State Horse of the Year
2014 MWHA Reserve Champion Model, Champion
ADP 3 Gait, Champion Versatility
2015 Free Spirit Riders Spring High Point
2015 DFA Spring Reserve High point Pleasure
2015 DFA Spring Reserve High point games
2015 SSLCF Reserve High Point Pleasure
2015 MWHA MN Celebration ADP 2 Gait Reserve Champion
2015 MWHA MN Celebration ADP 3 Gait Champion
2015 DFA Summer High Point Pleasure
2015 WSCA DFA Buckle Series Reserve Champion High Point Pleasure
2015 WSCA DFA Buckle Series 3rd High Point Games
2015 Brew City Classic ADP 3 Gait Western Reserve Champion
2015 Brew City Classic SSH 2 Gait Western Reserve Champion
2015 Brew City Classic ADP 3 Gait English Reserve Champion
2015 Brew City Classic AOT 2 Gait Reserve Champion
2015 Tri-State All Day Pleasure Amateur 3 Gait
2015 Tri-State All Day Pleasure Western 3 Gait
2015 SSHBEA OIP Overall Adult Champion Candace Rundell
2015 SSHBEA OIP Champion Yankee Doodle Mandy
Gymkhana
Trail
English Pleasure
English Equitation
Western Pleasure
Western Horsemanship
Halter
Showmanship
Qualified for WSCA Champ Show 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015
Candace Rundell pictured with naturally gaited Spotted Saddle Horses Yankee Doodle Mandy (left) and Bo’s Whistling Dixie (right).
Candace Rundell and her husband own The Last Resort Farm in Brookston, MN where they rescue, breed, raise and train Spotted Saddle Horses. Candace is a SSHBEA Certified Inspector and SSHBEA Outreach Incentive Program Chair.
I hope you enjoyed reading Candace’s story about her partnership with her versatile Spotted Saddle Horse mare Yankee Doodle Mandy. If you have a naturally gaited horse you’ve developed a special relationship with and ride gaited dressage or versatility, and would like to share your story on NaturallyGaited.com, please contact me by completing the contact form. —Jennifer Klitzke
Since many teachers make up the breadth and depth of a student’s education, could it be the same for one’s riding studies? Here’s my story.
The Critical Student
By Jennifer Klitzke
The sound of my sneakers gripping the polished floor caught the attention of fellow students as I entered the classroom. Looking around for a place to sit, Professor Larson interrupts the glances, “If you want an “A” you’ll have to sit in the front row.” Giggling classmates lighten my apprehensive return to college after a 21-year break.
Professor Larson was teasing of course. I regathered my items and took a seat in the “A” row. I have an ambitious nature (and my peepers don’t see as good as they used to).
Professor Larson made it his mission to form critical students by encouraging each of us to listen, take notes, think through, and apply what is presented. That’s how learning is best retained.
I discovered that you don’t have to be in school to learn, but college put words to what I had already been doing as a student of dressage. For years I have been taking notes after each dressage lesson and clinic I’ve ridden at. I practice what I’ve been taught in efforts to form a new habit. I even take notes while watching instructional DVDs and while auditing clinics. I underline and scribble notes in the margins of dressage books I purchase. I think through the concepts presented. Then I try them out the next time I ride.
In fact, in his book, Reflections on Equitation Art, the late Nuno Oliviera wrote, “I know that I still have much to learn, and will go on learning until my dying day, not only my riding, but my studying, thinking deeply, and observing.”
For one of the greatest dressage masters of our time to feel there is still so much to learn through riding, studying, and thinking critically encourages me in my lifelong learning pursuits.
My favorite way to learn is through lessons, but there isn’t anyone in my area who teaches dressage, let alone dressage for the gaited horse, so between traveling clinicians with Jennie Jackson and others, my second most helpful way to learn is through video. Each week I set up my Pivo with my cell phone and record my ride. After each exercise, I stop and describe how it felt to the camera. Then when I replay the video, I can verify if what I see on screen matches what I felt from the saddle. I guess you could call it a form of self-help dressage for the gaited horse (and rider) instruction!
I became a student of dressage in 1988 with my first riding instructor. For 12 years she did a wonderful job coaching me from Training level through Second level competition with my Trakehner/Thoroughbred gelding. She taught me a solid foundation of the feeling of right and what to do when it felt wrong (at least from the German dressage paradigm).
Back then I felt like a traitor if I took lessons from anyone other than my instructor or dabbled with another training philosophy, so I became locked into only one view of riding.
Looking back, I think this was rather silly. Professor Larson wasn’t the only teacher who encompassed my college education. I learned from dozens of professors who collectively imparted diverse knowledge to form the breadth and depth of my study.
After 12 years of dressage lessons with my first instructor (for which I am grateful), much has changed in both our lives. I remarried and moved away. My instructor went to Seminary and is now an ordained Pastor leading a church (and still riding horses of course)!
In fact, in his book, Reflections on Equitation Art, the late Nuno Oliviera wrote, “By reading, riding, and meditating great results may be obtained if there is a true feeling for the horse, provided the rider’s seat is good, without following exactly all the details of any one method.”
Thankful for my years under my first dressage instructor’s mentorship, my curiosity and passion for learning didn’t stop when our paths met forks in the road. It actually freed me to try new philosophies beyond my German dressage foundation. I acquired my first smooth gaited horse and dressage for gaited horses with Jennie Jackson and Larry Whitesell; cross country and gymnastic jumping with Len Danielson; began trail riding; trail obstacles; endurance riding; orienteering; sorting cows and team penning. Then was introduced to natural horsemanship with Pat Parelli and the importance of groundwork. Began studying natural hoof trimming, and then the study of classical French dressage. All of these instructors, riding philosophies, and versatilities have added to the depth and breadth of my naturally gaited riding experience.
You see, I am open to humane ideas and activities that foster and build teamwork, trust, balance, relaxation, forward movement without rushing, lightness, and symmetry, as I work with my naturally gaited horses. To me learning goes beyond the knowledge of just one instructor and one training paradigm.
My favorite way to learn is through lessons, especially as I navigate uncharted territory and apply dressage with my head shaking, four beat flat walking smooth gaited horses. Between lessons, I sift through my treasure chest of notebooks, dressage books, videos and DVDs, and if I don’t find an answer, I Google it or search Youtube.
While I’m blessed with an abundance of online resources and much of it free, it can get tricky knowing which ideas to consider and which ones to discard. Often times one philosophy contradicts another. That’s when I become a critical student. I’ll listen to an idea, think it through. If I believe it has merit, I’ll try give it a try. Evaluate it, and if it helps my horse find balance, relaxation, and helps us build harmony, I will add it to my treasure chest. If not, I’ll pitch it. If I’m in question, I’ll ask my riding friends what they think and pick my instructor’s brain during my lesson time.
Trying out a new idea doesn’t replace everything I’ve learned up to that point. Nor does it mean that by embracing ideas from a new training philosophy or instructor means scrapping everything I’ve learned from another. I merely add workable ideas to my methods of getting to my final outcome—which is a work in progress.
In the end, my intention aims to bring about a harmonious partnership with my horse, moving together in balance and relaxation, bringing about the best quality smooth gaits and full range of motion, lightness of aids, consistent rhythm, and symmetry as it relates to the gaited horse.
You see, I’m passionate about learning and will always consider myself a student—into my grandma years and beyond.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
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