Karen O'Connor Clinic(s)

Day 4: Cross Country

2010-05-31T23:53:00.000-07:00

Karen began the day asking riders to show off their galloping positions…and then she asked them to change gaits, do shoulder in, haunches in, etc. while still in galloping position. “you should be able to do anything in this position!” Riders had to lower their heads below their butts without moving their legs. “Feel those quads burn!”

Riders needed to make sure they kept plenty of spring in their elbows. Common problems were posting at the canter, not having elastic elbows, not keeping the butt up in the air, hands too high, hands not close enough. One rider was told her stirrups were too small—there should be ample space on both sides of the boot.

Karen and David call the place on the withers where the hands go “home plate”.

To go faster, don’t lean forward; use your arms.

Don’t just survive XC. Be balanced. Teach the horse to trust you.

In my session, Karen told me “open your sail! It’s big enough!” OUCH. But I DO need to remember that my upper body weight affects my horse. Just like William Fox Pitt had to learn to balance his height, I need to learn to balance my weight.

I’m still having trouble with the whole preparation period. I don’t do it enough, or I do it too much. I think I’ve learned to ride to the fence, and I ASK for the short or long spot RIGHT BEFORE the fence. Karen wants me to fix the chip in the turn—that is, get a great rhythm, then ride the rhythm. I THINK that’s what Jimmy Wofford is talking about…but I guess I don’t have the right rhythm. Again, I seem to be too strong or too soft. After what happened at Road Runner, I’d rather be too strong! But that’s not the answer. It’s about balance, and I think I feel it from time to time (like I feel things transiently in dressage). I just need to learn to extend these feelings and control them.

We worked on banks, and I need to make sure that I’m a lot more aware of what I’m asking my horse to do. I worry too much about the balance, and I forget direction. ARRGGGHHH! When I lighten up and let go, it goes sooooo much better.

We moved on to ditches, and we did both the smaller and larger ditches…no problem.

We went through the small water, over a ditch to a rail, and it was good, too—I need to remember to get off his back for BOTH take off and landing on banks.

We got to do an advanced set of steps, both up and down. Even though we were trotting down, I had to remember to engage him on the second step. We needed more “umph” going up, but we got it.

We got to cross into the other field to do the half coffin, and Heidi suggested we jump over the weldon’s wall to get there. Gulp.

But we did it just fine. Perhaps too much speed the first time, but the second time I had him up and it was great. I blurted out that I was terrified of those because we’d flipped over one, and Karen barked “then do it again!” We did it really well, and I think we “own” at least THAT weldon’s wall now. I wish Karen were coming to Greenwood…!

We ended up by doing the Training water, but then by adding a bounce between the barrels and the log. Then one rider asked to learn to use the bank to go out of/in to water…so we did. Once again, I was worried about balance rather than direction, but once we got that figured out, it went well.

I had a harder time this clinic, but I think it was because more was expected of me. I need to expect more at home, and bring it with me to competitions.

Thanks to Tracy and Bobby Hewlett for bringing Karen and David in. And thanks to all of the wonderful folks I met—eventers really are the best folks in the world! Thanks especially to Karen for kicking my butt and making me rise to the occasion (even though I couldn’t do it w/out “drama”. I’m working on that). Here’s to expecting more, being safer, and having fun with the best horse in the world!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Here's a big thanks to all those who've helped us be safe, free, and able to pursue our happiness. Thanks, dad.

Lunch Talk: On the Way to XC!

2010-05-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

Lunch Talk Day 3
Karen and David made sure we knew that XC was the part of our sport that we practice the least, but the one that had the most profound consequences if we made a mistake. We needed to make sure we could apply what we’ve learned the last few days.

Just as Stadium is won or lost between the fences, so, too, is Cross Country made safe—or not—between fences. There are three parts of a XC course:

1. Galloping from jump to jump
2. Setting up/getting ready for a jump
3. Jumping

All of these things are amplified by speed, terrain, type of jump, and so forth.

Just as there are three parts of XC, so, too, there are three positions we need to know, to practice, and to MASTER:

1. Galloping/Cruising position
2. Preparation/Balancing position
3. Jump or “C” position

David noted that we’re working hard out there, but it should FEEL effortless. And while the rider’s body seems still (I’m thinking of Peter Atkinson’s helmet cam now!), the rider’s body is constantly changing with the terrain.

Make sure that in XC galloping position the seat is OUT of the saddle! Karen admonished several riders not to “post the canter”. Keep that rear end UP!

The rider’s foot is further in the stirrup than it is in stadium. Not on the arch, but right behind the ball. Also—they both made sure that we weren’t so far down in our heels. Interesting.

There are three points of contact in XC:

1. The feet in the stirrups
2. The knee area (some below—depends on horse and rider conformation)
3. The hands on the neck

Karen wants us to use a simple bridge, and our knuckles leaning on the horse’s neck right in front of the withers, pushing where our rings would be.

David made sure we knew that our job was to be in the middle of the horse at all times. Jimmy Wofford talks about how if the horse was removed, we’d still be standing. David demonstrated with a couple rulers.

We get closer to the horse to gallop, and we open our position, standing in the stirrups, “opening the sail” to balance. (as Karen says, “the hip goes higher than the turbulence, where the air is smooth”) We need to feel engagement, and work on helping the horse to know that opening the sail means balance. Then, before the jump, we lower our seat, choose a spot, and ride to it. The slower we go, the closer we are to the horse.

Every jump is different, and it’s up to the rider to feel how much the jump is holding the balance, and how much the rider needs to. I’m reminded of a Leslie Law clinic where he talked about an imposing trakehner having “a built in half-halt”.

We need to make sure we’re landing on a slightly longer rein, and that we land on our feet to absorb the concussion.

Our speed is determined by several things:

• How vertical the fence is (more vertical = slower, more collected)
• How the fence face is shaped (slanted face = more speed)
• What is behind the fence (water? Drop? Another fence?)
• The width of the face
• The terrain (up or down a hill?)

David had us stand up, then get our head closer to our feet. “How did you do it?” he asked. We didn’t do it by putting our feet back—but by sticking our butts out. That’s how we have to do it in XC when we’re trying for the “C” position over fences…..keep the leg still, but move the butt up and back so we are in balance before, during, and over the fence.

My job is to make it easy for the horse to jump.

Some things they prefer: knot the reins. Where boots. Where a breast plate. Karen loops a rubber band over the whip and has it on her finger.

We need to be all the horse being safe (once again, it’s not about US…it’s about THEM).

Decide what you want to do. Make a plan. Then do it. We are limited only by our imaginations.

Day 3: Stadium Course

2010-05-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Both Karen and David set up a thoughtful, technical course to challenge the riders on the second day of stadium jumping. Both courses had odd distances, bending lines, and lots of rollbacks.

Karen’s first question to the participants: How does the specific technicality of the course affect your warm up?

The “flavor” of this course was adjustability, so the warm up should reflect that: Lots of going forward, coming back. Karen says when she warms up, she’ll begin with the walk, making sure it’s adjustable, doing lateral work, making sure the horse is on the outside rein, etc. THEN she’ll move on to other gaits.

In Karen’s course, the riders had to come to the first jump in a collected canter so the jump will be soft, get close on take off, then do a quarter pirouette to a long five/short six stride combination. Riders needed to be able to get the turn without losing energy so they could get a good, rhythmical canter for the line.

Her next advice is what I need to tattoo on my brain: “You can’t get self-absorbed in what’ve you just done. You MUST be thinking ahead.”

Why is it SO HARD for me to do that?

After the related distance line, jump four was a little skinny demanding almost a three quarter pirouette about six strides from the third jump. The riders needed to know that they should begin the turn at least by the second stride…then a roll back left to a bending line of three jumps (a fan jump, an imposing vertical with dressage letters underneath, to a triple bar). The striding was a strong three to four stride, and participants were instructed to “attack” the triple bar.

After that line, we were to send our horses strongly around the first jump to a triple combination of one stride to three stride Liverpool with the “water” part BEHIND the jump, not under it. The final line was another triple combination, a three or four stride to a one stride.

She encouraged participants to think about how they would ride the course: where will you enter? Salute? Karen noted that if she had a “spooky” horse, she’d do a shoulder-in past the dressage letter jump and Liverpool, then gallop down the long line, collecting before the turn so she’d have a nice line to the jump.

“Jumping a course is NOT a survival game. You MUST have a plan!”

She suggested to the participants that we see the course as a series of exercises grouped together. USE our corners as “decompression” places to balance the horse and prepare for the next series of exercises.

One of the riders asked about sitting in the corners, and Karen noted that riders often snuggled in as they slowed/balanced. But don’t “sit” to the point where you flatten the horse.

She likened the rider’s position to plane: You can’t keep a plane in the air at 30,000 feet if you’re not going fast enough—so you are in two point while you are “going”, and you come closer to the horse as you collect.

She made sure that the advanced group was very, very detailed. Depending on the ground and what kind of shoes she has one, Karen will check her “stride” step with a 12’ pole. Then she’ll very carefully walk her strides several times.

As one rider went onto the course, she said “you’re nervous about getting it right, but intimidated by all that’s around you!” WOW. That pretty much sums up how I’m feeling! So how do we get over that?!

Karen tried to get riders to pick their horses up (and it might be heavy), then make them “light in the bridle”. I don’t think I’m getting that; I think I’m fighting too much. I need to learn “feel”…which means being elastic (not dropping, but not too much).

To one rider: “He doesn’t care if it’s four feet or two feet—if you drop him, he’s upset and he won’t do it!”

Once the advanced riders analyzed their first course, Karen gave them a second chance to do it again. “Ride smarter!” Karen advised. More rhythmical, too.

To another rider having trouble on the course: “What’s the big deal? Why are you hyperventilating? You’re not having a baby!”

One young woman was having trouble with her very FORWARD horse taking back too much. Karen suggested “when you add an aid, let go of one. That way he won’t be overloaded.” It really helped. “You can’t push and pull at the same time; you do so at the cost of rhythm.”

When riders (including me) chipped at a fence, she said “get the three stride in the corner! Fix the striding before you get there!”

A rider with an “electric position” was told to let her arms follow, but NOT her shoulders.

“GET ORGANIZED!” This pair of words was uttered quite a bit, and it made me wonder: how does personality type affect riding? I wonder if there are any ENFP eventers, and what they do to BE successful given their outward focus, their tendency toward theory, and so forth.

When a rider had a refusal and was tentative toward the next fence, Karen shouted “forget that happened!”

“You’ve got to be cool in your head so you can see where to kick and where to pull!”

I asked Karen how often we should we be schooling this size/level of technicality. She said “you can school technical stuff any time—even over poles. You should school big, but only under supervision.”

“Most riders can jump big, or jump technical—but if you put them together, it gets challenging.”

When a pony when first in the after lunch group, Karen told the rider “you’re dealt with a bad situation: the adults are too lazy to change the distances for you. You need to figure it out.” And the rider/pony did! Karen then asked “what does it tell you that the pony got a four to a five in that line?” One of the riders responded “Pray!”

I was really able to see how the rider’s body affected the horse/the ride by watching all the groups go. I saw picking at the reins (which I tend to do) vs. holding, and the latter almost always resulted in a smoother ride.

In my own session with Karen, I had a rough time—I misunderstood what she was asking for several times (when she yelled “Gallop!” I tried to do it—but she meant in the context of the line for the jump). It was a rough session, but ultimately, we had a good course….after several “false starts”. What I learned is that I can “get by” pretty easily: that is, my horse can save himself when I get him in badly, or in a lesser balance—but I need to step up to the plate and learn balance and rhythm (and how to control both) MUCH more.

More Karen Gems:

Jumping is NOT seeing what you can get away with.
“yes ma’am” doesn’t take me anywhere.
Your horse is saying “why’d *I* get stuck with the dope on the rope?!
Never put your body where you want your horse to go.
As soon as you get a reaction, ease up!
Land faster than you took off.
Try to do what I'm saying! I'm an expert!
Shorten his neck! He looks like he ate a telephone for breakfast! Make him look like he ate a slinky!

DOC and KOC Clinic, Day 2: Grid and Stadium Exercises

2010-05-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

Pre day (and pre-coffee!) thoughts: Before Karen and David called it quits last night, they set up poles in the arena. I know we’ll be working on getting our horses to go forward and come back, and I hope that Paddy and I are up to the challenge. Last year, we’d only been together about three months, and we weren’t so hot. We’re better this time, but still not to where Paycheck and I were. Still, it will be a good challenge for us…and for me especially, since I NEED to learn to ask him to be better on a regular basis.

Let the faint of heart beware! Karen and David O’Connor mean BUSINESS.

And that’s one of the many reasons why they are such a popular, effective training team.

But OUCH….!

The day was all about adjustability, and the morning began with the prelim group. Perhaps because this was the most advanced group, Karen was the hardest on them. I’m impressed that every one of them rose to the occasion.

She started by asking the riders to warm up, then to all together lengthen down the long side, and drop stirrups on the short side getting into a dressage canter, then picking them up again to lengthen down the long side. She insisted on a BIG change, yelling “is that your dressage canter? I want MORE” to several riders. When one young woman didn’t have much of an adjustment, Karen called her over to ask if the rider was “blowing her off”. “You’re paying a lot of money to be here—why aren’t you doing what I say?” The rider was respectful and made a much bigger effort—and was rewarded with a MUCH bigger difference.

Our group had to do the same exercise, and I had real trouble getting my stirrups back, especially on my left side. I ended up having to do it on my own for a couple laps….sigh. I need to practice this at home!

Event horses, Karen explained, are often eager. Many of the exercises they’ll be doing are designed to help teach them to hold off the jump. The first exercise consisted of two boxes set about 21 feet apart—a good solid one stride. The riders all took it as a one stride, then they had to fit two strides into it. “It’s a stupid pet trick!” Karen shouted to riders who were having trouble.

The riders needed to be able to shorten without just “pulling on the horse’s mouth!” Echoing yesterday’s rides, the riders were to use their seats and hands, pulling up the reins so that they were lighter in the reins.

“Get on a line” Karen said. “Those two boxes just happen to be there! One rider who was having trouble fitting the two stride in was asked to halt in between the boxes. She was finally able to do so, then backed up. “I didn’t say halt and reinback! But that’s self carriage! If he can do that, he can shorten!”

To another rider she said “if you can’t halt between the boxes, you’re out of control! I’m trying to save your life here!” Her main focus was to teach these riders to be able to adjust at a moment’s notice should the situation call for it…which might save their lives when they’re faced with larger jumps.

“Ask for halt…then change your mind! Karen said over and over.

Karen knew what she wanted, and she wanted the riders to oblige.

Paddy and I were able to do this exercise, but even when I felt he was collected, Karen demanded MORE. It was frustrating, but I found “gears” I didn’t realize he had….what an amazing horse!

To another rider: Too much concession! If you can’t do a two stride in a one stride, you are dangerous at Training level!

I think that’s true…but I fear a lot of riders at Training level would have trouble.

One rider’s horse was acting up, to which Karen shouted “If your horse is disrespectful, get mad! Then DO something about it!”

Several horses broke to the trot when their riders tried to make them collect. Karen encouraged them to recognize the moment when the horse comes together, then let go to lighter contact. I need to remember that/feel that.

The next exercise was a ground pole to a vertical to a ground pole. The goal was for the rider to concentrate on the first ground pole, finding a distance to it, then riding the rest in rhythm. The upper level riders seemed to “get” the exercise, but I had difficulty with it. Somehow, I couldn’t divorce the vertical from the rail on the ground, and the harder I tried, the more unbalanced I got. Karen finally yelled at me to stop counting, which flustered me even more. In later rides, she pointed out that the horse who came in balanced and in a good rhythm had no problem—I think I would’ve had more success had I understood that. Nonetheless, it’s an exercise I will set up at home!

Next we had to do a five fence one-stride grid. We had to go in balanced, then re-balance throughout. “I want to see you/hear you!” Karen yelled. She had one rider stand up in her stirrups the long side before the grid to get a feel for the grid, because “standing up means you have control of your upper body, and control of your upper body means clear stadium rounds.” Another lesson to remember. I need to get back to doing more gridwork!

Several riders (myself included!) were admonished not to “chase” their horses. After yesterday, when several riders were told to exaggerate the hand movements, I found that odd, but I realize she’s putting tools in our tool belt, and we’re expected to finesse our use of them. For me, that means being still, being quiet, and NO DRAMA. Boy, if I can master that, I’ll have come a long, long way.

“Don’t change the ride!”

At one point, Karen said “we’re about making horses and riders believe what’s possible”. Given what I saw in terms of horses REALLY coming back, etc., I tend to agree. I guess it’s hard to imagine. It’s even harder to DO. But it can be done!

To one rider Karen asked “Was that the right speed?”
“It was a little bit too fast”
“Then a little bit slow down!”
When riders reacted to this, Karen said “don’t mess with me!” and turning to the rider next to her, said “Having fun riding with an Olympian? Hot stuff, right?” I love that she can literally bark out orders, yell at riders, then poke fun at herself all within the scope of a minute!

After a rider successfully navigated the next series of jumps (short two stride to an oxer, long four to another), she told the rider to do it again. “You don’t own it unless you can do it over and over!”

All the riders did a corner to a skinny, and then she put a course together including ALL the exercises…which meant we needed to ADJUST a lot.

One group with a couple very exuberant horses came in, and Karen lamented that “the next exercise will be like marbles spilling on a floor!” She kiddingly asked a rider to move so “I can see [the rider on course] get bucked off”…..! Luckily, no riders got bucked off, and EVERYONE was able to navigate the exercises successfully!

To a rider (who recently had a baby): “Organize! Organize your life! Did you remember diapers this weekend? “ (rider responds: “who, me?”) Karen: Yeah, YOU’re the one sh**ing yourself!”

Great Karen line: “It’s a matter of keeping all the balls in the air.”

“Be effective! Make a difference!” (but I need to remember: QUIETLY. NO DRAMA)

One of the best lines from the weekend: your horse is your teacher. Listen to him!

One rider who was a bit timid (“milk toast”) was told: The great with horses is that is you are milk toast at home, you can be anything on a horse. Be an actor! Be a hard a**! Be Karen O’Connor!” The rider went quite well for a long while after that. I need to remember to try to “be” someone I respect.

TO a rider who couldn’t get her horse to “step it up” and get a good canter going: “If you’re not loud enough with your aids, it puts the horse in peril! Doing “not enough” is one of the most unkind things you can do to your horse”. That’s another one I need to think about.
Karen and David fielded questions at the lunch talk. Questions about changing leads more effectively were addressed (need to make sure haunches are in before asking). David reminded us that the reins controlled the horse’s shoulder, and the seat/legs the hind in. He had us stand up, then gave us several scenarios (leg yield, shoulder in, half pass, etc.), and had us move our bodies/reins where they should be to best assist the horse. It was a great learning aid (for instance, shoulder in and leg yield are very similar—but one is four track, one three track—so for shoulder in, the hips stay straight, while the shoulders/arms bend in to the inside of the ring, while both are tilted in leg yield).

I asked about dressage riders who seems to be leaning back to make their horses extend, and Karen noted that the “big dogs” (my term) often did it (I even saw folks at Rolex do it). Karen noted that it was a good question, but it had to do with engagement. The more engaged the horse is, the more you can be upright to push. The horses who are VERY underneath themselves might make a rider look like he/she was leaning back…but typically, even then it’s better not to lean back.

At training level, the horse’s engagement is such that ANY backward leaning is a “drag”. So when a rider posts with hips very forward AND shoulders go back, it makes the horse think the rider is sending mixed signals.

I asked about doing better about prepping at home, and Karen said “if you didn’t bring it with you to the competition, you won’t find it there”. In other words, the groundwork MUST be done at home. That means that we need to expect more: read the directives in the dressage test. Videotape yourself and critique it. And so forth.

“Too many people exercise their horses without expanding their knowledge” Karen said. I need to think about that. How can I expand Paddy’s knowledge on our daily workouts??

David said there were five levels of learning:

1. Technique
2. Theory
3. Instinct
4. Intuition
5. Imagination

Most riders, David asserted, get through the first three. Even up to Intermediate. Intuition and imagination are the prowess of the top level riders.

The problem is, most people go straight to instinct: muscle memory is the best metaphor I could come up with. They don’t finesse technique, nor do they do enough with theory. We need more of the first two.

Someone asked Karen and David what was hardest for them to master. For Karen, it was elastic arms. “It took me ten years, and a lot of ruined mouths” Karen stated frankly.

David was a bit more coy at first: “How to speak up!” Eventually, he admitted that balance was hardest for him. Karen is short, strong, with legs relatively long for her body. “She’s balanced naturally” David said. “She can pick up skateboarding, skiing, surfing, etc. and do it really well very quickly….but I can’t. I have to really work at being balanced.” David does have a “gift” he was born with, however: he’s very flexible, even double jointed in several places. He has pins in both elbows, but he’s still got full flexibility.

Nice to know that these Olympians have difficulties in certain areas…and nice to know that hard work can overcome difficulties.

KOC and DOC Clinic: Day 1, Dressage!

2010-05-30T05:36:00.001-07:00

Jennifer, I thought of you as I started the day on the floor of my trailer stretching my hips! I think it really helped me last time, and I needed all the help I could get, since I didn’t sleep well: it stormed last night, and I kept walking up thinking “are the horses ok? Is the trailer going to blow over? “ etc.

After feeding, stretching, and eating/hydrating, I stopped to consider what my goals were for my dressage lesson. I need to remember “more leg than hands”. I need to be more aware my aids, so that I can ask, but not nag. I need better, more well placed, more effective half-halts. And I need to work on lengthening, esp. at the trot.

I was in a lesson with a young woman I remember from last year, Olivia, who was working on some of the same things I was, so we had a good, productive lesson. I learned as much from watching her as I did from riding.

Karen started each lesson by asking the participants to “warm up as usual”. This served two purposes: it allowed the rider to begin feeling more comfortable in the ring (the horse, too!), and it gave Karen a chance to see us to determine what we might need to work on (other than what we talked to her about. I warmed up while Karen had Olivia work on getting more forward/rounder at the walk. Karen said “race at the walk”. “It’s not about his mouth” Karen said. “It’s about what he does with his back.”

Both of us were admonished to USE our hands. “Hands are a driving aid!” Karen stated. “Think about jockeys—they don’t use ANY leg. It’s ALL with their hands—what do they do? They follow, then PUSH.”

My contact isn’t contact until Paddy pushes into it. Even when I have him “in hand,” he’s often resistant or evading, and NOT using his back to come through. And we can’t do anything until he’s “round”.

“It’s like hamburger” Karen said (inventing a new metaphor on the spot). You can’t smash it until you make a ball, until it’s round. If you do, it gets cracks and goes everywhere.

BUT if you make a nice ball, you can carefully smash it into a beautiful, round patty. That’s what we need when we lengthen.

(can I just say I LOVE people who can teach using metaphors?!)

I need to become MORE consistent/demanding about the outside rein. Paddy wants to throw his shoulder out, and if I can be constant (but not overbearing—elastic) with the outside rein, he’s MUCH better. When we got a few steps of round, it suddenly became much easier—he was lighter, and we were shorter but bouncier.

Karen explained that we push INTO the contact, raise our hand to see if the horse becomes “light”, then re-establish the contact. This procedure, in addition to the various seat/body aids, helps balance the horse on his back end…and that’s part of our job, part of the “rider’s responsibilities” that make us better, safer riders.

We need to insist on contact in the walk. When a horse was looking at something outside the ring, Karen said “take his vision from him with your hands!” Nice image, and it worked!

“Where does the bit have contact with the horse?” Karen asked. The bars of the mouth, the tongue, and the corners of the mouth. It’s the latter that we need to be most concerned with. Karen said someone explained it to her this way: contact with the corners of the mouth is like a postage stamp: it’s there, and it’s never going anywhere w/o it.

We did a lot of trot circles, making sure that the trot was “good”…that the horse was on the bit, that he was in a good balance…because without that, the lengthen can’t happen. We prepare for the lengthen in the corner, where we make sure the horse is under us. We turn like we’re turning a boat, with both reins (and our body); then we need to be STRAIGHT. The long jumper can’t jump out of a turn—he needs the long, straight run. Same thing for lengthenings. Once we’re straight, follow with our hands INTO THE CONTACT and push. I was losing my impulsion at X, so Karen told me to push like I was going to go outside the arena…then right before the letter, say to him “ooops, I changed my mind!” then almost stop….and then say “ooops, I changed my mind again—we’re going forward”. Otherwise, I anticipate, and guess what? He does, too!

EVERYTHING in riding has preparation. We prepare for the long side in the short side. We prepare for the corner with more engagement. And so forth.

All horses have a tendency to drop contact, esp. in the walk…..when Mandiba would drop contact, Karen would GROWL at him and be VERY aggressive with her seat and hands. Eventually, he preferred the contact, and accepted it willingly at the walk.

Several times during the day, Karen used the expression that the contact should feel like a fish at the end of a line (and not an empty bobbin!). At least five pounds in each hand!

RE: elbows as a driving aid: for more movement, have more spring in our elbows. She had several riders exaggerate “rowing” with their elbows (and seats), then stop…and the difference was profound.

Karen remarked that I had a lot of weight in my upper body (sigh. Everyone here seems to be lithe little teens!), and I had to make sure it didn’t work against Paddy moving forward. Once again, she commented that my posting sent my hips forward, but not my shoulders….I need a 45 (another time she said 60) degree bend in my hips, then go forward and up, not JUST forward. Also, when Paddy sticks his face out, I need to push him into the contact—so once again, it’s LEG, not HAND. (Hand is steady here). When I don’t lean forward, the horse gets a negative drive. The body, then, largely determines how “forward” the horse will be. WHY, then, do I see so many dressage riders almost leaning back to go forward? I need to remember to ask her about that.

Big horses often need “convincing” to be light in our hands…at first, they are heavy in our hands…then, we push hands up the crest for a second. If he lightens, go with that (with re-connection from time to time); if not, start again. So consistent strength must precede being light (but connected) in our hands.

Interesting: Horses will lower their neck in a downward transition if they are connected.

Several times Karen used the image of “closing our thighs”, making the saddle go up and down (this was during a sitting trot). I like that image, but I worry about tightening too much. I’ll have to work on that.

For medium canter, we’re following with our hands. To collect, we move our hands up the crest just a smidge and hold the hands steady while still moving our hips (only this time, more up and down).

To one rider, she talked about how moving the hips forward was a driving aid, but moving them back (and this is the muscle behind the seatbones), it’s an engaging aid. “We help the horse lift his shoulders with our saddle and our hips”.

Karen talked a lot about “finger aids”….the small “adjustments” we make while keeping our contact consistent.

We “speak” to horses with our bodies. We need to try to understand NOT what we meant, but what they “hear”/feel. We teach them to move away from pressure….so the leg yield is one of the best, basic tools that provide the base for more complex movements. We need to get good at coordinating our seat and hands so that horse is STRAIGHT, and so that horse’s gait is consistent. We push with an inside leg to a blocking outside rein—so the horse needs to move INTO it. We set the tone for other movements by the quality of our leg yields. Guess what I’m going to practice more at home?

It’s not about what we did…it’s about what the horse felt/thought we did. So when I was correcting Paddy once, she said “that was mean!” (too much spur!). It’s not that Karen thought I was mean; she was voicing what Paddy was likely to have thought. Point taken—it’s like Julia’s admonition: NO DRAMA!

I like that Karen throws in personal stories: she said when she broke her shoulder last year, she had to re-learn how to follow with her elbows so that her riding was effective. Once again, we’re reminded that riding is a perpetual process

“A half-halt is NOT pulling on the reins!” Karen said. Instead, it’s the closing of the thigh that brings the horse’s back up and engages the legs under him, pushing him into contact, in to an “unyielding hand”.

“Don’t teach your horse to ignore you!” Karen admonished to someone who was pushing with her seat but had locked elbows. The horse, receiving mixed signals, simply chose to ignore one (in this case, the “whoa” rein). “Don’t make your horse think ‘Ah, gee, why’d *I* get the dope-on-a-rope?’”

Some of the riders talked about making their horses come “through”. “’Through’ is a long process. Be happy with a few steps at first. Then expect more. But you’ll always have to come back to those steps”.

She asked several of the riders with pony tails to “make your pony tail longer in the back!”.

Some of the younger horses had “intermittent organization” and small attention spans. For them, Karen said, we need to think about what we need to pay attention to, because THEY will pay attention to what WE pay attention to. So, if a horse is tossing her head or going behind the bit, MOVE HER along, and she’ll think about her back end.

What’s the best way to engage a horse? Back up. One of the participants had a young horse who’d never backed up, and Karen spent some time working with her, asking the rider NOT to pull back on the reins, but to keep her hand “unyielding” and to slap rhythmically with her legs (from her hip). (“going forward into resistance.”) The horse can’t go forward, so she goes back and is rewarded. Once the horse figured it out, it was great to see. “Backing up is a trust issue. They can’t see where they’re going, so they have to trust you.”

We need to look where we’re going…but not TOO far ahead! Look to the middle of the long side—then GO THERE.

Several riders were admonished for too wide hands (one of the observers said “it’s a disease!”). Bobo would be proud; Karen said that our hands should be no wider than our bit.

We “whoa” by closing our thighs. So it really IS a half halt…I need to figure out what I’ve been doing. I think I tighten by butt…not sure about “closing the thighs”.

She had several riders go ten steps at driving walk, then ten steps doing nothing. Same for trot and canter. It was really impressive to “see” the difference in these riders!

“Amateur riders” Karen said, “often give too soon or too much once they get contact, thus throwing it all away.” We need to be elastic in our contact, and elasticity comes from the elbows.

For the lengthening, we’re posting “cantle to pommel”

When our elbows are back, there’s more pressure on the corners of the horse’s mouth….”it’s a heavy fish!” Ultimately, contact must be part of the horse’s mouth.

She described the difference in “real” contact and not contact as “holding a gas pump and then clicking it on”.

Some of the riders came from hunter backgrounds, and Karen expressed great admiration for them. “It’s incredibly difficult to be still, have the same pace, and to make it look easy all around a course.” Eventers could take a lesson from them in stadium. But we also need to go from on the forehand to VERY uphill in cross country, so dressage is vital for eventers. Riders who are nervous can fix the nervousness with the knowledge of (and ability to produce) better balance.

A blocking hand results in a curled neck (ala Paddy!); elastic hands allow you to help the horse put his feet underneath him. In cross country, the body should be behind the legs except in long gallops.

When a horse is walking forward, his poll comes up. Don’t let the nose lower in the turn…keep it up and elastically connected! Thigh pressure helps to keep horse “up” and collected at a slower speed. Close thigh, grab saddle, relax into saddle, all while keeping bit in the corner of the mouth. The torso goes up and down like a jack hammer.

“It’s the different between dancing, and dancing on a crowded dance floor”.

The rider’s butt isn’t curled under. It’s not force out by a sway back. It’s down and IN the saddle, behind the seat bones, moving the horse’s back.

Horses want to work, they want to have purposeful lives, says Karen. We need to help them understand what we want so that everyone is happy. Never forget that YOU are the leader. You need to be clear in your communication, and you need to be consistent. Horses speak the truth….they tell us what we told them to do!

Some gems that were too good not to write down:

“That’s not a halt! That doesn’t look like a halt even a little bit!”
“Be part of the solution, not part of the problem!”
“To get a horse to walk forward on contact, make it the path of least resistance.”
“Horses really do what we tell them!”
“Multiply the motion in the saddle to unlock the back”
“He needs more convincing…he’s a bit of a brute!”
“You’re back to fishing with a bobbin!”
“Go bigger! You’re about to FEEL it!”
“Aids have volume! Turn it up!”
“Horses reward good rides”
“Horses yield to pressure. If you give them conflicting aids, conflicting pressure…it’s a pressure cooker!”
“If you feel like a broken record, it’s called RIDING!”

Karen and David O'Connor Clinic at Holly Hill: Getting Here

2010-05-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Getting here
Once again, it’s a long way to anyplace from Lubbock…but Holly Hill is a particularly long drive. Thankfully, it’s almost all highway, which is nice (albeit boring), so if anything bad happens, I won’t be stranded like I was coming to Road Runner Farm a few years ago.

That said, things still happen. I planned ahead with TWO bags of coastal, one of alfalfa, knowing that Paddy will be hungry since he’s usually glued to his round bale. I guess that was a good thing!

As I was tooling down 84 just between Slatin and Snyder, I felt a big “BUMP” and heard something disturbing. “Shit!” I thought. “I just bought a new tire, and I have a blow out!” It felt like it was the trailer, so I pulled over very carefully—but as I did, I saw hay flying everywhere in the rear view mirror. The tailgate fell down, and one of the hay bags flew out, went under the wheel, and EXPLODED all over the road. I was able to back up/walk to it, and the bag was shredded, and all I could salvage was about a flake of coastal (it was LITERALLY scattered for a mile!), which I gave to Paddy.

Then, on 20 after Dallas/before Longview, something happened…road work, an accident, SOMETHING….and we sat for about 45 minutes.

So we didn’t get in until after dark (NOT our plan!), but I was able to get situated pretty quickly. Paddy is a trooper!!

Day 4: Cross Country/Putting It All Together

2009-11-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

Karen and Cathy gave us a XC lecture the night before so that they wouldn’t have to waste time doing it for every group.

“Cross country is a continuation of what we’ve been doing: it’s all about the rider’s responsibilities, knowing how to jump different kinds of jumps, and being able to adjust your horse’s stride to be appropriate.”

The rider uses three positions in XC: the “cruising” or galloping position, the preparation or “balancing” position, and the jumping position.

In the galloping position, there are three points of contact:

Your foot is further in the stirrup iron
Your knees are pushed into the knee rolls
Your reins are in a single bridge just above the horse’s withers.

How “scruntched” you are in your galloping position depends on how fast you’re going, if you have hills, etc.

EVERY jump needs preparation! Horses need to “load the hock” to be able to jump well.

How far from the jump do we prepare? Depends on how long it takes your horse to come back/get into balance. If it’s MORE time, start earlier! Twelve or more strides out.

Here is what we need to be doing before each jump:

Let go of the bridge
Raise the center of gravity by “opening the sail”
Slightly raise hands—but still just above the withers
IF NECESSARY, if your horse isn’t coming back, you may have to use leverage to get your horse to come back to you.

The jumping position is a “C”: you “hide your belly button behind your belt”.

Don’t forget to ROW, to ride forward to the jumps.

My Lesson on Paddy in Stadium: Building Blocks

2009-11-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Today we were able to build on what we learned yesterday, which was really good for me.

I had a little difficulty getting Paddy forward again—we were doing the related distances in JUST the “normal” striding. Finally, I got him “up”, and I was able to put in two more strides in both lines. I had a chip the first time, and Cathy told me to “fix the chip further back/put the chip in earlier”. I did the next time!

I need to remember to keep my hips back, especially when I jump.

I also need to remember to keep my hands low. For some reason, I want to carry them up. Must be a residual hunter thing.

“Make your body responsible!” On a moving animal, we can’t be still. We need to move WITH the horse.

It’s not about the jump, Karen and Cathy told us: it’s about the quality of contact.

Both instructors encouraged me NOT to react to what I just did, but to keep going. Again, for someone “trained in the autopsy” of student papers, etc., that’s a hard concept to master.

I asked Karen what to do when Paddy raised his head (which he was doing when I was trying to get up collected), and she showed me how to keep a flexible contact with “elastic arms”. “Once he learns that’s what he’s going to get all the time,” she said, “he’ll stop that.” I hope so!

In the accuracy questions, we were encouraged to hold our reins wide. That really helps with Paddy, who DID look at the barrel!

Karen kept telling me to hold my reins “like the tick on the steering wheel”. I didn’t get that image at all until she explained that it was the minor adjustments we make as we drive to keep the car straight. NOW I get it! Cathy called them “Finger aids”. I like that.

Day 3: Stadium Squared

2009-11-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

As I’d done yesterday, I woke up early, fed Paddy, made coffee, and went off to watch the prelim plus group at 8 before my own group at 10. Cool and misty, the fog came on little cat’s feet to cover the whole of Holly Hill: you couldn’t see but 10 feet in front of you. Thank GOODNESS we weren’t trying to do cross country today!

I came to the stadium arena to find no one there; I was a bit too early. A lone rider was warming up in the covered arena, so I went to watch her. It was Donna Struke and her lovely horse River Trout, trotting long and low to relax both horse and rider. When they reached the end of the arena, I could only see a misty outline of horse and rider, silhouetted in the mist. The world was blanketed in the heavy mist; I melded into the mist, hearing the rhythmic beat of the horse’s hooves like a heartbeat of the world, and the only other sound in the muffled stillness was the blowing of the horse, who was obviously enjoying the cool weather. It was magical, serene, other-worldly. What a phenomenal way to start the day.

Today the riders started with related distances again, but then moved on to accuracy questions. Karen noted that riders don’t have to trot first, or do an “x” first.

The riders began by cantering the related distances they’d done the day before, and then having a contest, seeing who could get the most strides in a five and seven stride combo. It was pretty impressive; every one of these riders had their horses “in hand” and “up”.

Riders were reminded to have a “long leg with weight in your heel”. “Lower leg stillness is the key to jumping,” Karen quipped.

Direction was emphasized yet again (it is, after all, the first rider responsibility!). Push into the horse’s shoulders to hold the line of direction.

After the related distances, the riders had to “thread the needle”—jumping a series of off-set jumps so that they had only two or three feet straight area to get through all of them.

“These are stupid pet tricks!” Karen shouted. “If you are jumping straight, there’s nothing to it!”

Riders were encouraged to be “more in the middle” of their horses, and to keep their heels down so that the soles of their boots faced the fence. Nice to hear Cathy and Karen admonishing the prelim-plus group for the same things *I* get yelled at for!

“Be soft in the take off” both Cathy and Karen said. That will help us land more balanced, more WITH our horses. But don’t land collapsed; hold with our quads and our core.

After they threaded the needle, they jumped a barrel on its side, and then upright with a skinny rail on the top. VERY impressive. The riders had to control the line of direction, and to lead the horse’s forehand to what (and where) the rider wanted it to go.

“Don’t put your upper body where you want the horse to be!” Karen encouraged. BOY, do I need to tattoo those words in my brain!

More accuracy=more “in the saddle”. I need to think about that.

Cathy encouraged riders to finish downward transitions with their LEGS, and not with their hands. That makes sense; it’s all about the engagement.

One rider complained “you want me to control all my body parts at one time?!”

Karen quipped “They call that coordination!”

“You’re not steering! Remind me never to drive with you!”

“There’s gotta be a push and a steer!”

One of the horses was having a bit of a tizzy, and they put the horse in a micklem bridle. Really interesting. I think I’d like to get one!

Workshop with Max Corcoran: Mad Max RULES!

2009-11-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

We were really lucky in that Karen brought her long-time groom, Max Corcoran, who is an absolutely AMAZING horse woman. I wish I could do the Vulcan Mind Meld with her! She and my friend from the “Training Three Day by 2010” list, Stacey Curwood, wrote an excellent article about Max’s experience winning the Three Day Event at Wardeca in 2006 with David’s horse Walk On The Moon.

Today she was teaching us about grooming for the three day event. She’s old school, in that she pulls the horse’s tail—just on the sides, and to about two inches below the crest of the butt. She suggests latex gloves, because they protect your fingers and help with the pulling.

I was lamenting the fact that Paycheck’s tail simply doesn’t grow, and she told me a lot of eventers have that problem: even David’s famous horse Custom Made had a fake tail in competitions. She explained how to attach one (though we didn’t have one to look at). Makes me feel better about PC, about whom Whit Watkins said “tail extensions were invented for this horse!”

She showed us how to do quarter marks: you need a short, stiff bristle brush, and you need to use something relatively sticky like oil based fly spray. She showed us how to make shark’s teeth on the flank, plus how to make checkerboards with the cut off end of a $.49 plastic comb. She also showed us how they made a “USA” quarter mark for the Olympics.

If using a stencil, you simply brush down, put the stencil on, then brush up.

She showed us how to braid using waxed thread:

Braid the length of mane
Sew the end through the bottom of the braid
Make a loop, folding the end over on itself
Roll the loop up to the horse’s neck
Sew through it, loop around to the left, loop around to the right
Tie it off and cut off the end of the thread

The forelock was the same, only you begin by French braiding the top.

She didn’t have quikbraid, but she showed us how spit works, too!

Max provided a wealth of tips that only an insider would know/think about. We complained that the round numbers that must be on a halter get shredded, and she showed us a re-usable one she’d bought. She also said she takes light colored duct tape and wraps it around the halter, writing the number on it.

If a horse gets dusty/dirty at an event, she sprays on some witch hazel and towels the horse off.

When trimming feet and under the face, go WITH the hair.

She trips around the hoof (like a bowel cut). If the horse has white stockings, you can trim the hair to make it whiter, but it also gives them less protection against fungus, etc. She likes Ivory liquid on white legs.

A quick poop remover on white horses: I capful of quicksilver into a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol (for non-white horses, you can use any soap). Spray on, wipe off!

Make sure you use a coat moisturizer after clipping.

Buy some kids no more tangles type sprays for tails. Someone in the audience suggested Afro Sheen, too. Show sheen should ONLY go on tails; NEVER on coats.

You can use witch hazel or Listerine on itchy fungus, rain rot, etc.

Feeding garlic does help keep flies away.

She’s a fan of MTG and Lona’s Linament, a local concoction. Lona made an appearance herself the following day, so I bought some! I asked her if she uses poultice, and she says she hates it. She’ll put Lona’s linament on the legs, then sprinkle baby powder on them and wrap the legs. Not only does it make a paste which stays, it smells good!

She cleans tack with hot water, glycerin soap, and then Lexol. She has used olive oil, too, which I find absolutely cool.

I asked her what was the best part of being a groom for the O’Connors, and she said the travel. She’s been to Greece, to Australia, to England, to Hong Kong! How great is that! Plus, she loves the horses, and Karen is wonderful to work with. No argument there.

My Lesson on Paddy in Stadium: Cowboy Up!

2009-11-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

I came to the stadium ring with high hopes, and while we didn’t exactly crash and burn, we had a rather humbling beginning.

Part of that is my own doing, and I’ve been trying to figure out what it is that causes my anxiety. Is it a desire to please? A fear of failure? And to whom am I responsible: the clinicians, my coaches, my horse, my sport, myself?? Not to get all psycho-babble on y’all, but I do think I have this “gotta please everyone” thing going on. I wish I could forget about it!

Cathy kept encouraging me to “study the first rail”, reminiscent of Jimmy Wofford’s admonition to look at the first rail until it disappears between your horse’s ears. I realize I’m STILL looking down far too often…and to compensate, then I look too far up. It’s like looking to where you’re going in dressage rather than looking between the horse’s ears. So many things to remember in so many different contexts!

When I tried to make Paddy work, he would throw his head up. That was frustrating for me, and I think I over-reacted. Karen said he’ll stop when he realizes I have an elastic connection. Let’s hope so!

Once again, I jumped ahead (esp. in trot—I HATE jumping at the trot!). I was encouraged to let the horse’s thrust bend my hip—but “the hip bends first, THEN the hand follows”. That’s important, I think, because I tend to throw my hand when I jump. I need to think about that, then learn to FEEL it.

I’m also doing that standing on my toes thing again—Karen suggested I think about sinking my heels to the point that the soles of my boots faced the jump. I’m trying….

I was getting frustrated that I wasn’t getting Paddy in front of my leg—when we worked on cantering the related distances (first we trotted in, stopped; then trotted in, trotted out, stopped; then we trotted in, cantered out, and stopped; then we cantered in, cantered out, and stopped, this time trying to get more strides—more EVEN strides—between jumps). I could get one distance, but because he was behind my leg, I couldn’t contain the energy to adjust him. Karen could tell I was getting more and more frustrated; she kept saying “Enjoy the journey!”

Finally Karen stopped me and said “I want you to make him GO down that long side—pretend you’re a kid! Scream, yell, kick!”

Well, it worked. I think I scared Karen because I REALLY got going!

Next, she said, “do it again, but this time just lean forward, give with your elbows, and allow”. Once again, Paddy rose to the occasion, and we finally got going.

Once he got going, I could bring him back, and we could actually adjust our distances. What a great feeling! I’m still not in as much control of it as I’d like to be, but it felt GREAT.

After the related distances, we did some “S-curves”, then we did a course. I was a bit worried that I’d “lose” the great energy we’d gotten, but we didn’t; we had a great course. “Look at you!” Karen said at the end. My, did that feel good.

I have to remember NOT to stop my hip before the jump, to keep my legs at the girth, heels down, and the balls of my feet in the stirrup—she said my feet were too deep. Also, I tend to throw my reins away over the jump (esp. if I jump ahead). WORK ON THAT!

Day 2: Stadium and Related Distances

2009-11-06T20:44:00.001-08:00

Isn’t the second day always more difficult? Your brain is full, your body sore, and your expectations either much higher or lower depending on Day 1 went? Of course, your horse and you have both had a day to acclimate, so theoretically, we should all be more comfortable. Hmmm….maybe it’s just me.

One of Karen and Cathy’s purposes today was to reinforce that “horses do what we ask them to”…and it’s our job to make sure they are straight (direction), going the right speed, with the right rhythm and balance.

Right off the bat, she told the prelim group that “you won’t coax a prey animal to do ANYTHING”. They need LEADERSHIP. Wow. That’s huge for me. Of course, this goes back to my first experience teaching (I wanted to be Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music…if they loved me, they’d all be good!). Ha. Try THAT with 8^th graders….!

But I think I do that with Paddy….I love him, and I think of him as my pet…and I treat him like a pet. Julia Denton and I have discussed this problem, and it IS a problem as you need to ask the horse to step up at the higher levels…..and you can’t really “ask” in the sense of asking your pet… YOU need to tell the horse what to do, and to give him the confidence to do it. Karen and Cathy were adamant that if you can control the hind legs, you can do just about anything…and I’m becoming a believer. As Karen said several times to various riders: “This is NOT a democracy! He needs leadership!”

The second day was going to be mostly about related distances, with some accuracy questions. But, before we began, we worked on some basic moves: like trotting a vertical, then stopping. Later, we trotted a vertical, went back to a trot, then trotted an oxer and stopped. Finally, we trotted in over a vertical then cantered out over the oxer, and then stopped. Simple, right?

Well, it should have been. But somehow, we all find ways to complicate what should be simple.

The instructors added to the complexity: we had to stop after the fences to teach the horses that they need to be asking “what now?” after every fence—they need to be LISTENING to us (as leaders). But stopping was harder than many of us thought, and a stop wasn’t enough; we had to push into the halt so that it was round. Sort of goes back to the “expect more” thing I’ve been struggling with….!

“Don’t just practice what you’re good at” Karen reminded us.

The horse and rider needed to be on the same line (there’s that direction thing again!) or the jumps didn’t turn out well.

Before the riders started work on related distances, Karen quizzed the riders on all the variables that influence the number of strides. Some of the answers are:

Length of the horse’s stride
Terrain
The take off spot
The height/width of the fence
The speed
The impression of the jump the horse has (scary? Busy? Etc.)
The line/direction
The size of the field/stadium

And so forth. The thing is that related distances are all about lengthening and shortening strides, and that’s something that has to be done in ALL THREE PHASES. So why don’t we work more on it??

Once again, we were reminded that the horse should fold our hips for us; we don’t need a big move. What we need to do is to stay in the horse’s center of gravity.

Karen reprimanded riders for using a crest release—we need to be using the automatic release so that we can keep contact with our horses before, during, and after the jump. The crest release tends to give your horse too much rein, and it puts the rider ahead of the motion. We should follow and allow what the horse needs, and no more.

In stadium, we use two “seats”: two point and light sitting (what Jimmy Wofford calls “light three point”). In two point, our breeches should barely touch the saddle. In three point, our weight is still in our heels, but also in our seatbones and pubic bone. We need to practice BOTH.

If a horse is above the bit, we need contact—but we need to PUSH the horse into contact rather than pull him into it. Once we have impulsion, Karen said, it’s “just cruise control”. I like that—I don’t need to keep fussing.

We should be able to lengthen/shorten in two point.

She asked one rider who just had a rather awkward transition “how often do you ride your horse?” The rider responded about an hour a day. “How many hours are there in a day?” “Twenty-four” said the rider. “If you’re only giving your horse only an hour, shouldn’t you give him your FULL ATTENTION?” Point made!

When a horse says “I can’t do that!” We need to show him that he can—that means WE have to be straight, be in a good rhythm, speed, balance, etc. So the rider responsibilities really do extend into helping the horse learn HE CAN.

Both Cathy and Karen would say “you’re letting him out the front door!”, which means that we’re sending the horse forward, but not into the contact. So instead of building power, we’re letting the horse squirt out between our legs.

A few riders, when they had a bad distance, etc. got what Karen called “the car wreck” look on their faces—I wonder if you can control that?

To get a better canter, she had one participant do canter-walk-canter-walk transitions.

The take off spot is critical to what the horse does before, during, and after the jump. We need to make sure we understand that.

Workin' It: My Dressage Lesson with Karen

2009-11-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

Karen began the lesson like most clinicians, asking about our experience and our horses, with the caveat that she knew Lindsey, the young woman who shared my lesson (and had apparently found her horse for her). She’s been doing Training level, so I was excited (and a little apprehensive) to be working at that level.

Karen, obviously an excellent judge of horseflesh, thought highly of Paddy, and thought she may have seen him at other clinics/shows

She watched both of us warm up. I tried very hard to make Paddy go FORWARD and to keep him straight and consistent. I was working pretty hard, but he was doing better than we’d been doing in terms of going (bigger spurs help—I don’t have to use them all the time, but they serve as an excellent “reminder”!).

She zeroed in on some things I’ve been working with Bobo and Weslee and Kathleen about: keeping by body more still from the waist up (and NOT leaning back); keeping hands fairly still, and only about as wide as the horse’s mouth/bit; not leaning into my turns; not collapsing, but stretching up; and USING my legs, but also keeping my feet anchored in the stirrups.

She talked about the Rider’s Responsibilities: Direction, Speed, Balance, and Rhythm. She also quizzed us about key terms:

Engagement (the horse using his back legs)
Contact (a connection with the bit, with energy coming from the back end)
Impulsion (a desire to go forward, mitigate by the rider)
Resistance (any kind of avoidance)
Throughness (energy coming from the hind end and through the back to the bit)
Preparation (what we do before transitions, etc.—eventually, it becomes less obvious, but it ALWAYS must be there; it lets the horse know what’s coming)

These are ideas that I understand cognitively, but it’s really hard to KNOW when you’ve got it (or, when you do get it, exactly HOW so that you can replicate it!)

I’m really interested in understanding/feeling “impulsion” and “thoroughness”.

She also talked about the four types of yielding that horses MUST be able to do:

Front End
Hind End
Head Down
Back Up

We work on these via lateral work, transitions (especially downward transitions), both between and within gaits, as well as ring figures. She had us do some of all of these—we did a lot of leg yields at the trot diagonally across the arena, and a lot of transition within the gaits. And, of course, we were doing ring figures the whole time.

We started out at the walk, and when Paddy would “jig”, she told me to “clamp my lower legs against him like I was cracking a lobster claw”. When he walks, I release. He got it very quickly.

When he curls his neck, I’m supposed to keep the connection consistent, which might mean I have to pull back on the reins, mimicking him. He has to learn that he can’t avoid contact.

We worked a lot on transitions within the gait, and I had a somewhat “aha” moment: I DO lean back when I sit (and even when I post, alas!), thinking that somehow, I’m HELPING him (aka “doing it for him”!). But, just like the jumping ahead, I’m actually HINDERING him when I do that….so we worked on my position. I need to bend forward just a tad (or at least FEEL like I’m leaning forward) to help him. She actually had us stop, then clamp with our legs (nothing), then push with our pelvis leaning a bit forward…and we got some GOOD forward motion (and we actually stopped the horses by clamping!).

So part of my homework is to sit a tiny bit forward (and look through the horse’s ears and not lean).

In sitting trot, I kept losing my stirrups! I need to work on that anchor without tightening my legs. It’s so counter-intuitive to tighten your core but relax your butt…!

In our canter work, I learned that if I prepared Paddy (that is, shortened his stride and worked on being more “up”), I had a MUCH better canter transition. ALSO: I need to go WITH him when I ask for the canter depart, not lean forward OR be caught sitting back. THINK AHEAD!

We cantered, working on a slight bend, a good circle, and consistency (which means NOT LEANING BACK), then lengthened on the long side OR in the circle. She encouraged us to “follow” with our hands and push with our hips as we lengthened…then, to shorten, we need to keep moving with our hips, but STOP moving our hands, keeping them still. When I did it correctly, it was AMAZING. It really works!

At the end of the lesson, she noted that Paddy has trained me very well (that is, I have to work hard to get him to go). She said to think of it this way: if we stop at a red light, we don’t get praised; it’s EXPECTED. It’s what we’re supposed to do. The same thing goes for the aids: it’s expected. It’s what the horse is supposed to do—and he’s suppose to do it when we ask him (first time, every time). I need to work on short, rhythmical pressure, but NOT constant! Maybe it’s like the reins: too much, and he protests. But he responds to light aids….

Four Days in Paradise

2009-11-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

If you will recall, dear reader, that last time I had a clinic with Karen O’Connor, I had some difficulty pre, post, and during. My competition horse had just been diagnosed with EPM, and I was riding Dylan, who is sweet, willing, and relatively untrained. And we were in the Training group. I learned a lot, but it was incredibly frustrating, too

I was so impressed with Karen, however, that I signed up for a clinic with her at Holly Hill this past year. However, given my very interesting personal life, I called Tracy Hewlett and asked if I could possibly get someone to take my place and then focus on my family situation.

Well, Tracy did me one better: she shifted my clinic entry to this fall, and here I am in a four day clinic with Karen O’Connor, her groom Max Corcoran, and noted rider Cathy Wieschhoff. Talk about an embarrassment of riches!!

While this fall isn’t a whole lot less stressful (I’m still teaching three—four really—grad classes that I’m woefully behind in), my family life is less hectic, plus I’m working hard at bonding with Paddy….so I opted to go for it.

Unlike that last KOC, I had absolutely no difficulty getting to Holly Hill. And this time, the weather was nigh to perfect: 70’s during the day, mid 40’s a night. I left after several commitments on Wednesday, driving half way to Willow Draw, which Janet Book graciously offered as an overnight place. We arrived without incident, and we were able to get up and leave y 7:25 the next morning.

We arrived at Holly Hill just past noon. After unloading Paddy and making sure he had hay and water, I was able to catch the last part of Karen’s lesson. I’m going to write this information up in this post, then make a separate post for my lesson with Paddy….since that’s what I need to concentrate on!

At lunch, I asked Karen what they main thing she noted about the lessons in the am—what was the one thing you found all riders doing/needing to work on? She noted that many riders are “lacking in fundamentals”-that is, the basic rider responsibilities (direction, speed, balance, rhythm). We need to spend more time on these.

I asked her how someone who worked alone much of the time could improve—how they could ask for “more”. She said that this situation is hard—all pros have/have had a LOT of help, because it is so difficult to do things on your own. Most riders, she said, are loathe to leave their “comfort zones”, and as a result, they either don’t push themselves, or they reinforce bad habits. If we’re going to learn, we need to be prepared to do it wrong—even to fail—but to LEARN from that. OUCH. That sounds like the talk I gave at the RNF last year!!

Some great “Karen-isms” from the clinic:

Look where you’re going…then go there!
You got a whole lotta horse doing a whole lot of what you DON’T want him to….
Don’t upset the apple cart! (that means don’t lose the gait or stop)
Elbows have to have springs in them
My mother told me to be an exclamation point, not a question mark
Don’t lean back—you’re shutting the door!
And you’re PAYIN’ for this abuse!
Keep your hands straight, and your horse will be straight
Don’t soothe—you’ve soothed enough! Make him DO IT.
It’s all about growing, climbing, reaching
Horses that are over at the knee are always good jumpers
Don’t push beyond his balance
They do what WE ask them to. We’ve got to make sure we’re asking correctly!
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always get (I need to FRAME this one!)
We RARELY fall off the horse backwards…DON’T JUMP AHEAD!
Don’t practice your bad habits!
100% of your body is chasin’ that chicken!
Don’t sit on the horse like you’re sitting on the toilet!
Take off balanced—land balanced
If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much space

What a Long Strange Trip it's Been!

2009-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hear that sound?

It’s the sound of my head exploding. (The sound was also heard later in the evening, between two tiny ranching towns in the middle of NOWHERE as my rear truck tire exploded.) I’m afraid this posting is going to be a little more “all about me” and a little less an impartial report on the final day of the clinic. I’m still processing all that went on, and I likely will be for quite some time. If you EVER get an opportunity to work with Karen O’Connor, do so. You’ll learn a lot.

Now, part of the reason that my head is exploding (even still) is that some of what I learned flew in the face of what I’d learned elsewhere, and what I’d been practicing both on my own and with other clinicians/instructors. What happens when ideas and world view collide? Well, it seems to me that I’m going to have to look at both, synthesize them with what I’m doing/what’s working/what I want, then decide to follow one or the other (or some combination).

I have to say that I was a bit…overwhelmed? Remember, I’m on dear, sweet Dylan, who’s wonderful but not in very good shape (nor has he done anything above BN in terms of horse trials). And I’m in the Training Level group that Paycheck was supposed to be in—and while we were able to do all right in the stadium jumping, Cross Country was…well, a bit intimidating.

We started out by talking about the rider’s position (galloping or “cruising” position, in which the rider’s legs are forward, the seat back, and the back somewhat rounded/soft); the “opening sail” or preparation position in which the rider’s body comes up (though still in two point, with perhaps a bit of the seat brushing the saddle so the rider can “row the boat”), and the jumping position, again with the feet forward. Karen had some problems with my galloping position—I was leaning too far forward, and my feet were too much under me and not forward. I wasn’t making a “C” with my body. Similarly, when I got up into the preparation position, making a “sail” with my body so that the horse could feel the wind resistance, I was keeping my hands too high—they should always be below my hips. In fact, she had some real issues with my hands (or, perhaps it’s better to say that *I* have some real “hand” issues….!). Karen wanted us to have our hands on the horse’s withers: NO CREST RELEASES IN XC.

We practiced raising and lowering our bodies from cruising position to preparation/sail position, over and over (one of the participants said we all looked like bulldogs in the “up” position). Karen also had us work in a single bridge on the withers with our thumbs touching (I’d been using a double bridge), I think because it’s easier to slip/get back. I wonder when you use the latter?

I had a conversation with Whit Watkins (a dressage instructor/rider) once about how frustrating it was that I was supposed to do one thing in dressage, and something different in jumping (I think it had to do with me getting my legs under me in dressage after working on keeping them forward in XC). She simply said “hey—you’re the one who wants to do eventing!” Point taken. And once again, I was reminded that what works in one discipline doesn’t necessarily translate to another. So all the George Morris “learn the automatic release” or dressage hands up to help your horse be up isn’t what Karen says we should be doing in XC: we keep our hands still on the horse’s withers, slip the reins before and/or during a jump, get them back, and keep them still again.

I asked her how stadium jumping differed from XC jumping: in stadium, you’re staying off the horse’s back so that he doesn’t drop his hind end (and then drop a rail). You’re more upright, lighter, more following with body and hands. In XC, you’re a lot more defensive: since you’re galloping then “answering questions,” our positions are in part to help the horse prepare (thus the “sail” about 5-7 strides out), then we GIVE WITH THE REINS (more on that later; I had some real difficulty here, too) and get in our semi-defensive jumping position, which is more snuggled into the saddle, legs farther forward, helping but also making sure we’re ok.

“There are four things to consider when we jump,” Karen said before we started. First, we need to think about the face of the jump: is it vertical? Ascending? That will determine how fast and how collected we are. Then, we need to think about what’s behind the jump: a drop? A spread? An uphill? Water? Next, we need to consider the terrain around the jump: Is it flat? Uphill? Downhill? Mixed? Finally, how narrow is the jump? Narrows will require more collection.

I’m sure I’m not translating this as well as I could; I basically participated in my session, then watched the last half of the next group, and the first half of the third one, and I had to get going…..after all, I had what I thought was going to be a six hour drive home. Don’t I wish….

After practicing our positions (and I was having trouble with the more upright-feet forward in both galloping and sail positions), she had us take two fences, both which were Novice fences. Now, yesterday we started slowly with an X rail and trotting—so I was a bit apprehensive. After all, Dylan and I haven’t done this for a while, and when we did, it was at a lower level. But we put on our big girl/boy pants (which I think we both soiled later) and gave it our best shot.

Karen had us jump a three log ascending jump, then turn and do a stone wall (more of a vertical). Her analysis of me (and some others) was simply “NO PREPARATION!”. The thing is, I thought I had prepared—so one of the things I’m processing is this: What IS preparation? I sat up, but I didn’t keep my hands down. She kept telling me to “slip your reins!” and instead, I was raising my hands. That wasn’t enough, Karen said. We prepare, then we bring them back, then we send them forward again, with a looser rein. I’m having such a difficult time with that (recall my difficulty at the Area V Novice Championships at Holly Hill last year—another occasion where I learned more via “failure” than via success). I had THOUGHT that what I needed to do was to bring the horse back then send him forward in the collection—in other words, with a somewhat shorter rein. But I think (in retrospect…I don’t think I “got” it at the clinic) what Karen wanted me to do was to prepare, then loosen the reins, sending my horse forward INTO the looser reins, maintaining the previous preparation with my leg/seat. I’m not sure I ever quite did it, though. Sigh.

Karen used the metaphor of venetian blinds. You open up by sitting up/standing up, and your horse's head comes with you.....then you slip the reins and push with your legs/seat to keep that level of "open". I think I'm getting the image. Now I just have to get the feel!

After the two jump combo, we moved to another part of the field to try more complicated combination….and that’s where my (and Dylan’s) confidence was pretty much done in. Like shattered.

We did a slight uphill to a log pile (which was either Novice or Training), then did a wide turn to what Jan called the “roller coaster” and what Karen called a “HaHa” jump. It was a vertical with a downhill on the other side, which then rose uphill to another vertical (about seven strides between). After that, we made another wide turn to a series of three jumps: A skinny coup, to a regular coup, to another skinny coup (with five and three strides between, I think). These were big, solid training jumps (at least). Gulp. Poor little Dylan had never done anything like this before…and Paycheck and I had, but only once or twice.

I had the same problem with little/no preparation before the first one, and we simply didn’t have enough impulsion….so we had to try it again. Then I got TOO controlling before the “HAHA”….and he refused it because he didn’t get a good look at what was coming afterwards. We were able to do them all three ok then, and we came around to the Training combo. Poor Dylan was wondering WHY I was sending him at this large skinny, and he ran out….at which point Karen remembered that he’d never done above BN. She had us only do the big coup in the middle, and a direct route to it. That was scary and challenging, but doable for where we were.

I have to admit to being very, very frustrated. Shouldn’t I be a good enough rider to take Dylan over these new questions? But I wasn’t able to do what Karen kept asking me to—when she told me to slip my reins, I was afraid of Dylan running out…and then I was so focused on my reins I forgot about my legs. Then I was worrying about my feet being forward, and forgot about the reins. I think with Paycheck, who’s got more miles and seems more confident over bigger jumps, I’d be ok…but Dylan was looking to me for his confidence, and I was looking to him, and we were both disappointed.

Luckily, the next field we went to contained various drop downs and bank ups (as well as the water jump, which was frozen, so we didn’t get to do it…sigh). Interestingly, we started very slowly with the drops/banks—trotting up a small incline to a 2 foot drop, then trotting back up the bank. Then we tried a much larger drop (maybe three-four feet?). Karen was adamant about us scrunching and sliding our reins, then practicing getting our reins back (or putting our elbows back to steer).

She built on what we’d done in the previous lessons with the S-curves with her next exercise: A Training? Round coup on a slight uphill, a sharp turn to a woodpile (Novice?), to the smaller bank up/down, to the larger bank up and larger yet drop down, one stride to a low vertical, then a sharp right turn to another low vertical.

Because of the riding we have done on the ranch, Dylan had no problems with the drops/banks. Thank goodness! We actually did the exercise (with a slightly less sharp turn after the last drop), but still more challenging than we’d ever done before. I was still having problems with my preparation before the other jumps though; now that I’ve thought it through, I can’t wait to try again. I think Paycheck will benefit, too, from this lesson.

We finished the lesson trying out our “sail” positions as a means not just to slow the horse down, but to stop. Karen maintains that if you can’t stop in four strides, you’re out of control—and by that standard, we had a lot of out of control riders/horses! We all galloped, then we had the length of a telephone pole to stand up in our stirrups with our feet forward (harder than you think!), pulling on the reins….and RELEASING WHEN THE HORSE HAD LISTENED. That’s a big thing with me (and others): knowing when to release.

Some Karen O’Connor highlights:
“It irritates your horse that you have such a death grip on the reins before the jump” (to a rider whose horse was misbehaving over/after a jump)
“You job has only begun on the take off of the jump. You need to land sending your horse forward” (after horses that lost impulsion going up a bank)
“You can think ‘Yeah, I’ll lose impulsion over the jump, but I’ll get it back on the landing’”
“Your horse needs to be able to see the fence—to study the exercise. He can’t if you don’t slip your reins” (uh, to me)
“Ride positive!” (encouraging riders to push before the fence)

That last one is a great motto.

A couple not-so-highlight moments:
At the AreaV/NTEA Banquet, Mike Huber was the MC/auctioneer for the fund-raising auction after dinner. I decided to bid on a lovely necklace made of local stones and pottery pieces found regionally, and when it got down to two bidders—myself and someone in the front—I realized that Mike had been referring to me as “the gentleman in the back”. Geesh. I know getting older means less estrogen, thus your “feel” your testosterone….but I’m not a man! Ironic, though, given that I was buying the piece for Joyce.

At the banquet, Karen and others made mention of an Area V woman and her dog who were asphyxiated in her trailer when she went to sleep with the propane heat on. I was using propane heat in my trailer, and when I went to bed after the banquet, I couldn’t stop thinking about that: What did it feel like? How would I know? Of course, every time the heater came on, I woke up and worried. Which meant I woke up about every half hour or so. I made sure a window next to my bed was slightly open, and since it was about 10 degrees outside, that meant I was freezing. Perhaps another reason I didn’t have the best XC schooling on Sunday!

On the way home, after filling up in Benjamin, TX, a really small ranching town, I drove 20 or so miles and at just about 7:30 (just after dark) had a massive blow out/explosion in my “off” rear tire. Now, with my little trailer aid, I can change a trailer flat in 20 minutes…but I had never changed a truck tire. I was so frustrated! I learned that Sprint doesn’t work at all in that area, too, so I couldn’t even call anyone…but I was able to send a few texts out (but not every text made it out). I finally found the owner’s manual, and the instructions were awful. I had a moment of horrible conscience when I realized I would have to unhook the trailer A) to get the tire out from under the car (I was on the rim, and it was sort of stuck even after I got it out), and B) to use the jack. Somehow, that felt wrong to me, and I literally sobbed, telling Dylan I wouldn’t leave him. Truckers drove by and shook his trailer, and he was getting nervous—I felt awful! I FINALLY got the trailer off and the truck eased forward enough to be clear of the trailer and the spare…only to find that the lug nuts on the blown tire wouldn’t budge. I was able to figure out a way to lean against the truck and balance the tire iron with one hand and jumping on it. After three or four jumps, I usually was able to loosen the nut. Of course, that means it took about ten, because I’d fall off, the tire iron would slip, etc. Mind you, this was for about a million nuts. Then I found the jack, crawled under the truck (VERY little space—it was literally resting on the rim), and tried to put a piece of wood under it, but the axle was too low. I got the jack as high as it would go, and while I could removed the tire, I knew it was too low to get the new tire on. That was ok, because I couldn’t lift the dang thing anyway. After 2.5 hours of this, the local county Sheriff came by and offered his super-sized jack—and he and I together lifted the tire into place. He also took me to a secret sheriff’s garage to fill up the spare a bit. I drove home no faster than 50 mph…so all in all it took 10 friggin’ hours to get home. I finally got there about 1 am. Fascinating, though: I got lost on the way there, and I got lost in the SJ lesson....and I was very overwhelmed/frustrated in the XC, just like I was on the way home when the tire blew and I had to fix it. And in all the situations, I felt terribly guilty: I'm not doing enough for Dylan; He wasn't prepared for this: and so forth. The good news is that, despite my frustration (and yes, a few tears), I learned a lot, and we got it done. All with a little help from my (new and old) friends.

Sometimes the lights are shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long strange trip it’s been

(Grateful Dead, "Truckin'")

Day 2: Learning Lessons the Hard Way

2009-01-10T22:59:00.000-08:00

First, can I say that I absolutely LOVE RoadRunner Farm? It’s ensconced in a little valley, with trees all around, yet couple lovely pastures….some fabulous jumps….and well-kept buildings. Gorgeous! And the owner, Jan, is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. But I digress...

Today, two more groups did jumping exercises (we had to split the groups so that Karen could give a keynote address at the Area V/North Texas Eventing Association’s annual banquet). I saw some incredible horses today (just as I did yesterday), and some mighty fine riders. Of course, Karen soon zeroed in on some problems, and I know everyone learned a lot—including the auditors!

But we all earned it: it was COLD. I’m guessing it was around freezing, but with the wind chill, it was worse. And just standing around….BRRRRRR! Trying to video and write just about did my little fingers in.

Once again, Karen began the lessons asking for a little information about each horse and rider, strengths and weaknesses, and goals. Then she watched each rider warm up to get a sense of how they were doing. The ground poles were again used (this time, two at about 16 feet apart). The riders had to trot and canter over them in a collected fashion, and once again, the riders had the same trouble “seeing” a spot. Once they sunk into the saddle, moved with their seats encouraging the horse to go, and holding with legs and reins, they ALL got better at both gaits over the poles. Karen noted that the very top jumpers and eventers spent the bulk of their time doing exercises like these. I guess I know what I’ll need to build into my weekly training program!

Karen began the lesson by going over the rider’s responsibilities, the ways to engage the horse, and so forth. I’m constantly amazed that these simple concepts really do provide the backbone to EVERYTHING we do. We just need to master them, and think about them all the time.

I should note that the lovely place next to RoadRunner Farm has a herd of very playful, very LOUD donkeys. Yesterday, several of the horses were nervous as they went around close to the donkeys, and today one of the horses actually got so scared be began bucking, and a rider fell off (and wasn’t hurt, thankfully). Once she was sure that horse and rider were ok, Karen used the incident as a teaching opportunity: horses are prey animals, and their instinct is flight when they’re afraid. If we haul back on the reins, the horse panics, because it’s afraid it can’t get away. Once the rider gave with her hands, the horse calmed down a bit, and they were able to work. Karen kept tell her to “Bend to the left! Bend to the right!” as she went past the donkeys: “By giving your horse something to think about, something to do, he’s less likely to have time to be scared—especially ‘ADD’ type horses.” Karen noted that some horses are “big tight beach balls”….and when they get that way, we need to “deflate them by giving them something to do—they don’t get a reward for being bad; they get to work.”

When it came time to trot a low fence and halt, Karen made sure that the horses were presented with the fence straight. “By allowing your horse to be left of center all the time,” Karen said, “You’re teaching him to wander.” And while “wandering” doesn’t matter as much at the lower levels, once you begin getting more complex questions, you’ll need to be able to put your horse where he needs to be to have the best shot at being successful.

A number of times during the lesson, Karen would yell at the riders to “push to the stop”. DUH. Lightbulb moment. Last summer, after reading a thread on the Chronicle of the Horse list about getting a good stop in dressage, I tried keeping my leg on as I asked for the halt…in fact, any downward transition (which seems counterintuitive). By golly, it works! I got MUCH better downward transitions when I kept my leg on ….and “pushed to the stop”.

Several of the riders had difficulty maintaining an even pace after the jump—or, when the exercise was to trot to a jump then trot afterwards, they had a difficult time bringing their horses back down to a trot. She suggested they consciously “allow with their hands” after the jump—and bingo! Several of the horses got much smoother.

She did a couple things differently this time. After a three jump combination (vertical-vertical-oxer) she had riders stop, then continue on to the two-jump combo (coop to oxer). Again she noted that the first thing your horse should be thinking about after a jump is “what do you want me to do next?” To get them to think that way, we GIVE them things to do after a jump. Of course, WE need to be thinking ahead so that we CAN tell them what to do!!

Several riders had a difficult time getting their leads in the S-curve jump sequence. Karen maintained that riders needed to use their arms AND their legs to get the lead over the jumps. And that bit of balance really made a difference in some of these horses over the S-curve.

Often Karen would tell the riders to “put your hands far apart—wide, like you’re riding a tricyle”. She did this for a couple reasons: Several of the riders were leaning their hands on their horse’s withers/neck over the jump, and she wanted to teach them to have a more independent seat. Also, many of the riders were stiff with their arms/elbows, and this action forced them to flex.

Another activity that was different in these lessons was students jumping three fences on an angle. “Horses don’t mind jumping on an angle—it’s the riders who do. Unless something is interfering with the horse’s sight, they will jump angles just fine.” Yet another example of “rider error” and “rider fences”…the horses will do it fine if we just get out of their way! The riders had to jump three fences that were off set from each other—a straight line if everyone was jumped at an angle, and a yucky, weird line if they weren’t.

The last fence was a Liverpool, and when the horses looked at it, she once again shouted for the riders to “row the boat!” When some horses still had trouble, she once again broke it down for them, first allowing them to jump the “water” part, then adding the top rail. By the end, all the horses were jumping the Liverpool as though they’d jumped it all their lives.

Karen emphasized rider position throughout the lesson. By putting your lower leg forward and “smooshing” your seat into your cantle, you’re in a defensive position. You can still “row the boat,” but if your horse stops, you’re not going over his head. Watching these riders—all of whom were really good riders—fall into the feet back position so often, I was reminded to be vigilant about my own position. More to work on!

Between groups, I asked Karen couple questions based on a comment she made to the first group about what might well be the “fifth” rider responsibility: seeing your spot. Timing. Somehow, to me that seemed to be inconsistent with some of what other “big names” were saying. For instance, a while back, Jimmy Wofford (admittedly my all-time hero) wrote about how, by asking horses to do more and more complex dressage, we were destroying their own ability to find a distance, to develop what Karen (and others) referred to as “the fifth leg”. Being able to get out of a tight spot by themselves. By making horses so dependent on our instruction in dressage, Wofford maintained, we are killing their own self-preservation ability—and then if we don’t know what to do/don’t think fast enough, accidents happen. Similarly, Lucinda Green in her recent address to the USEA annual meeting said we need to learn to trust our horses more. How do these ideas mesh with the idea of timing being the rider’s responsibility?

Karen took the question seriously, and approached it from a variety of angles. Both of the afore-mentioned riders came up during a time when courses were different, and they all had early experience on horses that knew their jobs. Plus, she noted, cross country jumps simply weren’t as solid as they are now. As a result, riders could “kick on” and even crash into a fence and still get back on to compete (and often even do well). Yes, we want horses to find that “fifth leg”, but some horses have it—and others don’t, or at least can’t find it as easily. Does that mean they’re not good horses? No—we just need to help them more. “So we need to learn timing to help our horses all the time?” I asked. Karen answered yes, but that it’s all part of being a better horseman. Of course horses need to learn how to get out of a jam—but we have to learn, too. What we need to do, she said, is to give kids a horse and 100 acres to ride on, and have them play cowboys and Indians. I get her drift: growing up on a farm, and riding bareback day after day, I learned to “feel” what my horse was doing (even when we did, uh, crazy things like jump over gravestones, or cut calves out of the field), and I trusted her (and she me). We did some pretty crazy things—but we depended on each other. So if WE know, we can help the horse learn—and vice-versa!

What I learned today:
Ground pole exercises are vital to becoming a better jumper.
I can never do too much work on adjustability.
Clinching and pulling can make a hot horse pretty darn crazy.
Pushing into the halt works outside the dressage arena.
While I need to learn to trust my horse, I can’t JUST depend on him to save my….seat. I need to take responsibility, too.
I feel more confident when my lower leg is forward and my seat back. And seeing these riders re-affirmed that it LOOKS safer, too!

Some memorable quotes:
“If you’re going fast and your horse has an accident, you’ll likely be thrown clear. If you’re going slow, your horse is likely to fall on you!” (to a rider who was a bit afraid to go forward)
“The ground always wins” (to a rider who’d taken a spill)
“I could be in Florida right now!” (it was DANG cold)

Day 1: Finding Our Way

2009-01-09T18:49:00.000-08:00

I left just after 5:30, since Mapquest told me it would take 5.5 hours (I always add to that, given that I’m hauling a pretty big trailer). I figure would give me a hour and a half leeway. But I didn’t count on a lot of construction right around Guthrie (or a lack of ….well, anything!...including gas stations in that area). I got re-routed around the town, and missed a turn off. Thirty miles later, I realized what was going on, and I turned around. I made it just after the first group—the one I was supposed to be in—started. Now that I think about it, my getting re-routed might have been prophetic..! The woman I was supposed to switch with was riding, so I didn’t mess up the group at least. I put Dylan in his stall (after letting him stretch his legs), made sure he had hay and water, and went to watch the Novice group. I ended up riding with my original group—which frightened me at first, since they were almost all doing Novice and prepping for Training (except one, who was riding Training and schooling Prelim)—but there was at least one other person on a new horse, so I at least had some excellent company.

I admit to being a bit star-struck; after all, Karen O’Connor is an Olympian! She looked exactly like she did in the short series about the O’Connor event team and their up-and-coming riders (one of which was formerly local rider Clark Montgomery). Petite and blond, she had a no-nonsense demeanor, and yet a lively wit. I liked her immediately.

Much like David, she started the lesson by getting to know the riders and their horses, asking about what levels they’d competed at, and what their goals were. Then she quizzed them on the responsibilities of the rider: direction, speed, balance, and rhythm. After David O’Connor’s clinic, these have become a mantra of sorts, and yet it’s still amazing how difficult it is to put these four seemingly simple concepts into practice.

The initial exercise for these riders (and for our group as well) was a collection exercise, where the rider had to control the first two concepts: direction and speed. She simply set up four poles 8 feet apart and told us to canter over them. Simple, right? But we were to get our horses up, rocking on their hocks, with their front end light and a consistent pace (with rhythm and balance—so I guess we got all four!). “What are the ways we can influence collection,” Karen asked the participants. Once again, there are four ways:

• Lateral work: leg yields, shoulder in, and so forth
• Downward transitions, either between gaits or within gaits
• Reinback
• Stopping/using reins

It was amazing how difficult such a seemingly simple exercise could be!

Some horses tried to leap over at least the first pole; other swapped leads throughout; others sped up or broke to a trot (or were “trantoring”—being inconsistent in their gait). From the ground, it was easy to see how the rider’s position has a HUGE impact on the horse. The riders that tried to sit still had horses who either sucked back or went as fast as they wanted….but the ones who “rowed the boat” as Karen calls it, using their legs to push, their seat to half-halt, and their reins (but only momentarily—then let GO) had much nicer canters. She would ask each rider “what can you do to make it better?” If the rider had trouble, she’d offer a response: Is lateral work what you needed just then? (for a horse that was rushing). “No” the rider replied “I need a downward transition” Karen encouraged the rider, saying that even a halt or reinback might be in order if the horse isn’t listening.

Several of the riders applied half-halts, but didn’t give afterwards, causing their horses to speed up or to brace. If we ask them to come up using a half-halt, we HAVE to release after they do it—otherwise we’ve asked them to do something, then we keep yelling at them after they’ve done it/tried. NO ONE would like that. These horses tended to grab the bit and run at the jump. Good to know if I feel that happening to me—it’s likely I’m “hanging” onto my half-halts!

We also saw how effective these aids were when used in succession: push with leg, into the half halt, and then release, all why moving WITH the horse’s body, but lifting it with the core. In my group, I had difficulty because Dylan was so out of shape; I finally had to take my legs out of the stirrup, and use my whole leg to “fluff” while trying to hold him up. He finally did ok—but this is DEFINITELY an exercise we’ll come back to.

She said that, to really get a horse on his hind end, start with the four rails, then nine feet, then a vertical. The exercise will force them to get their hind ends under them.

Riders are responsible for speed, direction, rhythm and balance, but the horse needs to “give” in the front (turn on haunches), in the rear (turn on forehand), in the front end (reinback) and vertically. The next exercise was to get the horse to listen to the rider after a jump: they simply trotted to a very small vertical, then halted right afterwards. “Why do we halt?” Karen asked. The riders responded that we need to get our horses to listen to us after the jump. She suggested that we include other things after a jump, too, so that the horse is always looking to you after a jump, saying “what do we do now?” We could stop, reinback leg yield, even do a turn on the haunches/forehand…anything that gets the horse listening. I like that—too often, I get over a jump, and *I* need to think “what do we do now?” Perhaps by practicing these various exercises I can learn to think ahead!

Several horses had a hard time stopping after the fence. “Halt using a leg that’s holding the horse into your hand” Karen said. Again, easier said than done; I found myself being pulled out of the saddle by dear sweet Dylan. She suggested we sink our weight into our heels and sit, but that we don’t haul on the horse’s mouth.

Some of the horses were very sensitive to their rider’s rhythm. She suggested that one rider post all the way to the fence, to help her horse find his spot; she told me to lean a tad forward before the fence. For some riders, she encouraged them not to keep their hands so low; for others, they needed to stretch their hands down so that the horses can use their neck. Several riders tried to collect their horses by putting their legs back—she encouraged them to use their leg rhythmically, which means as the horse’s leg is going up. She was very good about seeing how horses could be improved by their riders—she seems to be a good judge of both!

She built on the exercise: Trotting two fences in a row, then stopping (and many of the horses had a hard time coming back to a trot). Then she added a third jump, and after trotting the first two, the horses could canter the last one (an oxer). Again, these were smaller jumps, but good for practicing the concepts we were learning/reinforcing.

“When do you think about power?” Karen asked when several horses (mine included!) jumped a little…well, flat, heavy on the forehand. “Before the jump!” I answered, and she wanted more: how much before? Since we need the horse going the proper speed and direction at the very LEAST by the base of the jump, we need to be thinking about—and influencing—these things 4-5 strides out. If you are on a 5 stride combo, that means AS SOON as you land, you’d better be thinking about what you need to do. If you jumped big, you might have to collect/shorten. If you chipped, you might have to ask for more power. It’s our job to think ahead; it’s the horse’s job to jump.

She emphasized over and over that the rider needs to sit with her foot in front of her (or at least under her) and NOT behind. We should be sitting up, but NOT with an arched back (a “soft” back so we can follow the horse’s movement). Our seat needs to go back as we jump. She had us stand in our stirrups and then get down w/ our head below our horse’s withers—and if we wanted to do that w/out getting out of balance, we really needed to keep our feet forward and our seats back. We also need to re-establish our position between jumps, and fairly quickly, too. More to practice!

She added some turning lines, including some pretty darn tight “S-curves” (fences were set up in a circle). Suddenly, riders that seemed so “together” got a little out of whack. She emphasized that we can’t turn our horses simply by pulling on his head (though many riders tried!). We need to push with our legs and our outside rein (almost like neck-reining). They need to bend around our inside leg (just like in dressage—duh!). We can USE the fences to our advantage: A horse like Dylan (who she called the SS Dylan because he’s so big/wide) needs a lot of space, so rather than putting him in the middle then asking for a tight turn, we can jump at an angle to give him more time to turn.

She had Dylan and me go out and gallop, then come back to a canter, then gallop, then come back—and he was a lot more adjustable afterwards. Note to self: DO MORE TRANSITIONS W/IN GAIT.

She emphasized that we need to be busy BEFORE the jump, figuring out speed, direction, etc., but DURING THE JUMP we need to be calm and quiet. Boy, do I need to take that to heart! One of my favorite rides was a young woman doing a whole course, and Karen yelled out “Busy! Calm! Busy! Calm!” throughout, indicating when the rider was to be adjusting, etc., and when the rider was to just sit. It really illustrated viscerally when a rider should just SIT.

Several horses (uh, like dear Dylan) lost a little forward impulsion between jumps sometimes…so she had us “rock the boat”, or push with our seats RHYTHMICALLY. It really did help the horse get going. Not to self: don’t need to goose him. Row the boat. Which comes back to that position thing she talked about earlier: we need to have our bodies in a position where we CAN move our hips.

And during our last “course” with a lot of bending lines, I got, uh, a little lost. Just like on the way here. And I didn’t figure it out until later. Karen told the story of a woman who was completely lost over and over, and Karen asked her what she did for a living: “I’m a air traffic controller” she replied…! At least I teach rhetoric, which is all about negotiation….but I really DO need to get better about remembering courses. In my defense, our 10 year old crawled into bed w/ us at 2 last night (and no one can sleep in bed w/ him—he’s a squirmer), and I got up at 5, and I’m getting old, and I drove 7.5 hours, and I got lost….hmmm. I see a pattern. I really do have to work on this memory thing.

I got a lot out of this lesson. Of course, some of it was stuff I “knew”. But boy, it helps to have someone say it just a little differently—and to SEE how it affects both horses and riders.

Here are my “lessons”:

1. I need to be balanced over Dylan’s withers—even when we turn, etc.
2. I will get more adjustability with Dylan if I over-exaggerate the transitions (gallop, come back, etc.)
3. I need to learn to “use” my fences better, given the horse I’m riding
4. If I stay up, lightly forward, and push with my hips, I get more power than if I kick
5. Turning the SS Dylan involved TWO reins and TWO legs…and good balance and planning on my part

Some highlights: after doing better at an exercise, a rider patted her horse, exclaiming “Good Boy!” to which Karen replied “It wasn’t THAT good….!”

Other great quotes:

“Watch out for trees!” (after a rider nearly took one out) And no, it wasn’t me; though trees aren’t native to West TX, I DO live in a pecan orchard!
“Never put your body where you want your horse to go” (to the same rider who almost took out the tree)
“Don’t nag your horse!” (to a rider who was using hand and seat but simultaneously, confusing the horse)
“Don’t practice your bad habits!” (to a rider who kept doing the same thing after re-starting a jump)
“Riding is complicated. It’s our job to UN-complicate it for our horses.”

An-ti-ci-paaaa-tion

2009-01-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

RoadRunner Farm is hosting a Karen O'Connor clinic, and when I heard there were open seats, I sent in an entry. I'd blogged a clinic with her husband, David O'Connor, at Holly Hill last year, and I learned a ton. Due to some sort of mix-up, I wasn't notified that I'd actually gotten into this clinic until just a few days ago. I'm thrilled!

The bad new is, however, that my competition horse--Paycheck--who was going Novice and schooling Training, aiming for a Training Three Day Event within a year, was diagnosed last weekend with EPM.

Now, I have a second horse, one that is, in fact, my True Love: Dylan. I rode him in 2007 at BN, and in the spring of 2008 HE was diagnosed with EPM. He went through two rounds of Marquis, and he seems to be better than ever.

So I'll be taking Dylan to the clinic. We schooled over jumps with Chris the other day, and he feels better than ever-really round over the jumps. I have to remember to sit UP before the jumps with my shoulders back (helps him to round), to half halt before the jumps so he won't rush, but then to relax and put an encouraging leg on (i.e., not a "goosing" one). AND I have to ask him for a lead change over the fence. The challenge for me will be to remember all of this, AND to prepare for whatever comes after the jump. I tend to be one of those "Thank HEAVENS! I made it over! OH CRAP, there's another one!" kind of person...but I really WANT to be someone who plans ahead and rides according to plan. Brain transfusion, anyone?

My friend Jennifer has been riding Dylan during the fall while I rode and competed Paycheck, so while he's not in competition shape, he's doing ok (though he DID get a little plump over the summer...!).

So we were able to drop down (although not quite to BN--we used to be in a N/T group, and now we're just N).

I'm bummed that I won't be riding Paycheck, though. We were doing really well. I hope his recovery is as complete as Dylan's was.

So stay tuned....I'm leaving for the clinic early tomorrow (Friday) morning. If I can get internet there, I'll update daily; if not, it won't be until Monday. I can't wait!