Racinet and Baucher, Recommended Reading

Just finished reading "Falling For Fallacies - misleading commonplace notions of dressage riding" by Jean-Claude Racinet. Very technical due to all the anatomy references and going to start reading it again. I definitely recommend it if you are in to technical books. I'm wanting to find more of Jean-Claude Racinet's books, he references "Total Horsemanship" a few times. Anyone have it?  I will probably have more to say after I read it a few times, it's that kind of a book.


Racinet references Baucher so I searched him and found a copy of his book, A Method Of Horsemanship: Founded on New Principles, nineth edition 1851. It's 283 pages (link attached, it's free to download), so I read that one today. I really liked it too. It assumes a certain level of knowledge and some reading between the lines but I definitely like his approach to dressage more than the german approach and find it very similar to my own ideas and just as valid today as when it was written.


http://books.google.ca/books?id=kTVFAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=francois+baucher&source=bl&ots=Dz6oPTRpFn&sig=vhzGnOt4gymLaFlYcRyAI_rIyOI&hl=enn&ei=qmdETYfeN5SosAPf8sDwCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=15&sqi=2&ved=0CHEQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Boomer, Excess Energy or Selenium Deficiency

The last two times Boomer was used for lessons he was acting spooky. Both riders learned a lot working him through it which was great but this is not his normal temperament.  I thought something must be bothering him.   He seemed a little touchy in the back which is a common symptom of low selenium.  I would expect, knowing him, that he would get quieter, more lethargic if his selenium was low but there's no rhyme or reason to the symptoms of low selenium.  I've seen horses buck, rear, bolt, be over-sensitive, be lethargic, overly quiet, be lame in one leg in the morning, then a different one later, touchy to brush...

I've had a horse of my own and a horse raised by a vet who had both been on selenium their whole lives and yet came up deficient as training progressed.  Different horses use selenium at different rates  and some don't use the more common inorganic selenium as well as the organic selenium.  There are also still vets that don't recognize it as a problem but I'm seeing it more and more.

At the other end of the spectrum, selenium toxicity can be fatal.  Some parts of the country have selenium in the soil but here in the pacific northwest we have a deficiency in the feed.  Selenium supplements in feed and available at feed stores are in some cases adequate for maintenance but will not bring selenium levels up to where they need to be.  You need a blood test from your vet and a supplement they sell. I prefer Platinum Performance Selenium Yeast available in the US but only through a vet here in Canada.  If it's not what your vet uses they can still order it.  The blood test is to make sure you don't overdose and kill your horse.

Boomer was on supplemental selenium but has been off it for two months.  Some horses just need their levels brought up and can then maintain on a regular mineral mix, others need to stay on it.  I rode Boomer myself today, I let him do lots of cantering and worked him more than what he gets in lessons.  I also am more balanced than his students so that would have been more comfortable for him.  He tried really hard and was a good boy but I will put him back on his extra selenium and see if the touchiness in his back goes away.

The other possibility, and I see this a lot as well with horses coming in for training,  not enough exercise for their calorie intake.  Although he has a pasture and a buddy to play with his lessons have been pretty quiet work.  He turns six this year and I noticed as a five year old he had a lot more energy than when he was four. I suspect due to the fact that he's done growing. It's common for people to have a horse started at 2 or 3 (and they should be) who's nice and quiet and then some time in or after their 4 year old year they become unmanageable and need to go to a trainer.  Although there hasn't been a feed change the horse now has excess nutrients available for 'play' because he's done growing.  When I got on Boomer I only walked him 50 feet then asked him to canter and let him for as long as he wanted.  He was enjoying himself and I need lots of canter work myself before I go to Al Dunnings. Then we worked on a few collected transitions with standing in between while I taught.  He wasn't spooky at all and he wasn't spooky the last two lessons, after they had ridden for awhile. Excess energy can also be a major cause of training problems.

Most of the horses, and definitely all the "problem" horses that I've had in training have tested Selenium deficient.  If something changes in your horses personality or training, consider pain to be a prime suspect.  It's worth it to have blood drawn and check mineral levels and rule out deficiencies before assuming it's a training problem.

Question from a Coach about Teaching

In addition to riders and horses I train coaches and trainers. One of my previous apprentices recently sent this and I'd like to share the answer with all aspiring and accomplished coaches and leaders. Horse training is not just for horses.


I was wondering if you have any advice on lesson plans? If you had any advice, or any words of encouragement, I would appreciate it!! It's pretty intimidating knowing I'm going to coach women who I rode with years ago...

Don't do 3 people in an hour unless it is just a riding lesson working on position or everyone wanting to learn timing. Way less stressful to start with one person and group them next time after you know their learning styles and problems.  

Remember a lesson is not a clinic, don't try and teach everything at once. One thing from different angles can be more productive. As you've heard me say before, lesson plans are for riding instructors. As a coach, the horse will tell you what you need to work on, however, ask what they want to work on, what goals they have, if possible, in advance, to give you time to think of the best exercises. You could develop a form for them to fill out, history, goals, experience, contact info, etc. Most importantly, you need to be able to relate what the rider wants to what the horse needs.  Not everyone is a follower of the Chris Irwin method, you have lots of tools to help these people from a place they understand, the goal is to not deviate from your beliefs in the method  while helping others. Give them a choice.

You also need to know are they more interested in fixing themselves or their horse.You need both but if they're there for a lope departure and you're working on their sitting trot they won't get the connection. They may need it but they won't get it. Better to work on haunches in, counter bend, Go means Go from halt to walk, walk to trot and lightly touch on them needing sitting trot without stirrups because their horse thinks they're going to fall off and is afraid to canter.

On the other hand if they're there to learn how not to fall off and you need them to stop, back up, roll over the hocks and correct a naughty horse if may be time to put them on a lunge or lead line or borrow a different horse for their lesson and offer to ride theirs at the end of the day or instead of the lesson but only if you think you can improve it in an appropriate way and if possible get them back up on it. That's the big difference between Chris Irwin coaches and others. You know you can get on the horse and improve it even if it means "just basics" (in writing that looks like such a small thing :-). Lots of other coaches don't ride.

What your student wants to work on may not be what you work on. You need to be able to quickly assess what basics are missing that they need to have in order to achieve their goal and briefly explain to them why they or their horse needs that first (develop sub-goals). Maybe give them two or three related basics that lead to the final result so they can practice and you can come back again. You can also explain what other maneuvers these basic exercises can benefit.

Explained another way.
Have them show you what they're trying to fix, work on some basic exercises, have them try again and see if there's any improvement.  Point out to them where the improvement is. Perfectionists won't see improvement. They need to understand how a horse learns and learn to accept the try.

When all this talking and teaching is going on, don't forget to listen.  Acknowledge the knowledge they all ready have, then add to it.  If they start trying to teach or convert you tactfully remind them they have paid for your time and you'd sure like to add to their expertise.

Sometimes you need to teach basics before basics. Try solving their problem with correct finished horse signals, assess where the horse is getting lost then break it down as you would when training a colt. A side-pass that won't happen may need to be turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches, it may have to be done at the fence, it may require someone on the ground helping the horse find it (rider or coach). You may have to stand behind and make sure they're not leaning or blocking...

Understanding a maneuver and understanding timing are two different things. Unless they're already Chris Irwin fans, give them the maneuver, tell them when to push or flex, now, now, now. Once they understand the maneuver let them try it and don't tell them the timing. Occasionally someone will get it naturally, most don't. When they can get it with you telling them timing, but not on their own, that's the time to explain timing, they will be ready to learn it. Whether I teach them to feel the belly swing first, get the legs working with the timing or teach them to flex reins with front feet depends on the maneuver and which it requires more of. If it's head down I concentrate on the hands then add legs but most lateral movements I concentrate on legs first then add hands. If you're rider's not getting it one way, try the other. Most lateral movements fail to work because the riders hands freeze and they lock their leg on, blocking on the other side.

I carry a pocket sized notebook, write down their name, horses name, color if group lesson, what they want to work on and right after you teach, what you actually worked on. Save this for next time or in case they ask a question later or by email. You can also list the sub-goals and give it to them so they remember what they need to work on.

Try and leave 15 minutes between lessons in case you go slightly over, if someone can't get something then back up to a part of the maneuver they can do so you quit on a good spot for the horse. Explain this to them. The extra time between lessons lets you have a drink, go pee, talk to the next person coming in...

Consider offering a bonus group lesson to prepaid students the night before or first thing in the morning on putting head down from ground and from the bending button. This will give you an indication of who is interested in Chris Irwin type information and give you a good start to the following work. This would also be a good time to work on the contact exercises with people.

Don't be nervous of teaching people you used to know when you didn't know anything :-) They've signed up to pay you for a lesson, they've already acknowledged your abilities. Approach them as you would anyone else you've never met. Your goal is for everyone to feel like they've improved (or have the tools to improve), have fun and not cry unless it's with joy.  You will be nervous until you start then you just do what you've been trained to do, it's like a first ride.   :-)

Stay Tuned, The Countdown Begins ...

Having Al Dunning say "One of these days I want you to come down to the ranch and ride with me" was exciting to say the least.  Then I started thinking about whether I could be gone that long, how much flights were going to cost, etc. and then I thought, wait a minute, "I can do this."  I emailed Al about when this could be done and he got right back to me. I had a few more questions, excitement building, has he emailed back yet, Yes! 5 days of riding with Al Dunning in early April. And so the countdown begins...

Apprenticeship Camps Date Change

Please note dates have changed  to accommodate people coming from Ontario and the Yukon . We're going to have a great time again this year.   Sign up to join us, space is limited.

The Biting Horse

What should you do when your horse bites you?

  

Horses bite for lots of reasons but it basically comes back to him reading your body language as either submissive or offensive.  It's important to recognize what your body language is saying to a horse so you can try not to miscommunicate.  It is confusing to the horse if our reactions are inappropriate based on our previous body language and this can really tick a horse off.  It's like a person greeting you with a smile then whacking you. Confusing. At the very least they have to choose whether to ignore the first thing we said or the last thing.  We don't really want our horse to ignore anything we say and that's why learning what we are saying is important. 

 Biting is never appropriate, however, discipline often turns it in to a game of "I can bite you before you can whack me." Blocking is appropriate and if the horse thinks he ran in to your block it can be effective. That said, what I would suggest is that you be aware. If you think he's going to bite you, get his feet busy.  Move him forward, backward, move the hips, move the shoulders.  This will show him you are not submissive and will hopefully change your body language to assertive not offensive.  You can also use this as a correction after he bites but a proactive response builds more respect in the horse who sees you as a higher ranking member of the herd, not to be pushed around by him.

 The other thing to remember is be consistent.  If you correct him one time and ignore it the next time it will become a game to see if you're paying attention.  In this case better to correct too often, before he does it, then it's just training.  Consistency builds trust.  Do you want to fly with a pilot that lands safely 7 out of 10 times. If you're not sure you can trust your pilot you're likely to keep testing (biting) him.  The more consistent you are, the less your horse will test you.

Even though you may be hurting try and remember that being assertive does not include anger, so take a deep breath, tell yourself it's a training opportunity, put your horse to work and work on your own awareness.

 I do have demos and clinics coming up.  Remember there are a lot of fine subtle details of body position that a horse reads and it is easy to accidentally be rude to them.

  

Good luck, hope you find this helpful.

Another Contact Exercise to Practice at Home

Here's another exercise to help improve your contact.  Thanks to my friend of 32 years, Lisa

I used to use the reins exercise as well but also had people stand face to face holding each others hands lightly, linked like holding the reins, but having to be flat because of arm physiology.. One rider and one horse... I found this way the rider could tighten/loosen their shoulder, elbow or wrist joint and the 'horse' could feel the impact it would have on the contact. The 'horse' also could help to 'wiggle' suppleness into the contact or sometimes be able to tell the rider exactly where they were the tightest - shoulder, elbow or wrist by what part of the arm wasn't following the movement. It seemed to help some people understand the differences in the weight of the contact... or the difference between using lats muscles rather than shoulder... lol - now of course, I was focused on the steady contact of dressage... 

A steady contact that is required in all horse training communication, english or western.  The only difference being the amount of "drape" eventually in the reins. 

Contact With Your Horse

I was asked this question by a fellow coach recently and thought I'd share the answer with everyone.

"If you had to describe "Contact" to a new rider and riders looking to improve what would you say?" 

 A couple of thoughts first:

 You can have pressure without contact (imagine standing in a dark alley with a large stranger).

 You can not have contact without pressure.

 To me contact is using as little pressure as you can to communicate your message clearly.  

Clearly is a key point.

No matter what the end goal is whether to ride english on full contact or western on loose reins, the communication has to be clear.

 

 In the beginning training if the contact between riders hands and horses mouth is inconsistent it's like talking on the phone with static or a loose connection.

Remember the game telephone when you were kids.  One person would whisper a sentence to the next person who would pass it on to the next person and so on down the line. The end result was a sentence that bore no resemblance to the original communication. Inconsistent contact between the riders hands (first person) and the horses mouth (last person) has the same results.

 The same could be said of too much contact (I don't mean a strong consistent block but rather contact/more contact which is common in rising trot or non-following hands as opposed to the previous contact/slack which can also be caused by non-following hands). Imagine this time an army sergeant yells a sentence. The next person yells what they think they  heard and so on...

Even though each person could hear because the communication was loud (strong) there is still misunderstanding.  We all handle being yelled at differently and it's no different with horses. Some try and guess what we want, some try and ignore us, some get upset, some get mad and so on.

Here are a few ideas to teach contact and its importance to riders.

First would be the telephone game cause it's usually funny.

Second find a friend and ride each other (standing up).

One person is the "horse", the second person stands behind and puts a hand on each shoulder and steers them around. After a few turns the "rider" takes away their outside hand on a turn. The "horse" will drift out if it was staying 

between the hands. This clearly demonstrates necessity of outside rein contact in turns. Even more so than inside rein.

Another way to help riders feel consistent contact is for one person to hold the bit and move it like a horse while the other hold the reins and tries to follow the contact.  The "horse" can offer feedback. The "horse" can also become difficult. The "rider" can also work on squats while following movement to simulate rising trot. These get a person relaxing their elbows and following movement without the tension of being on a horse.  You can practice with anyone. You can also have the rider who's following well try things like tensing their toes and their "horse" will probably tell them they felt a difference in the bit.

Hope this helps.

Let me know if you need any clarification.

Trish