Recently, I had the opportunity to travel into the central part of Oregon to evaluate a horse that could possibly work well into the family of several of my clients.  She was a beautiful Hispano-Arab who had been clearly well cared for, and was happy to do her work as it was presented to her so far in her seven years of life.  It had been a long time since I was in this situation, where I was a third-person observer and hands-on evaluation didn’t happen until later in the session.  Most of the time when I am asked to evaluate a horse, it is on my home territory with my favorite tools at hand (i.e., round pen, lariat, lunge & dressage whip, flag, bridge, car wash, etc.).  Here, I found myself watching, listening, and examining both horse and human to discover the level of communication and understanding.  In this process of observation, I was again drawn to the importance and purpose of this series of articles…to develop a set of lesson plans to accomplish together as horse and rider, and lead the team to a higher level of understanding, partnership, and unity.  It so critical that we recognize the tremendous responsibility we have to provide leadership, with clarity and consistency, in order to achieve this ultimate goal of brilliant communication.

This month, as you add even more exercises to your 3-5 Day Lesson Plan, I’d like you think about four important areas or qualities that prepare you and the horse to develop this effortless communication.  I see them as four questions I ask myself before, during, and after the ride to help me determine if I am on the right path to providing leadership.

Mental Preparation: Is my mind in the right place, in the present moment, and ready to interact with my horse?  Have I clearly decided what today’s exercises will be, and do I know why I am accomplishing them, how to set them up, and what I will reward as successful movement and behavior?  (Note: in this question I have a challenge for each of you…begin to develop your library of printed and video information.  Start studying the master horsemen of old and some aspiring horsemen of the present.  Become a scholar of horsemanship!  You will find a suggested reading list in the T&T Horsemanship Workbook, and a partial list at the end of this article.)  Finally, is my horse mentally prepared, and am I ready to watch his eyes and ears to recognize that I have him mentally with me?

Physical Preparation: Have I prepared my core area – stomach, back, ribcage – to develop a “positive tension” that enables me to flow with my horse’s movement, without being stiff?  On the opposite side, am I careful that in my desire to be supple I don’t become a noodle?  Am I flexible in the neck, shoulders, torso, hips, knees, and ankles, and have I warmed all those body parts up?  Have I checked my horse out physically by watching him move at liberty, by doing some basic and focused ground work, and with supple maneuvers on board?

Emotional Fitness: What is going on in my mind, in my body, and in my life that will affect my attitude during this training session?  How will I approach today’s lesson…with a smile on my face and ready to reward the slightest try, or as a demanding drill sergeant?  Have I asked my horse where his emotions are today?  So often behaviors that seem related to the horse’s emotions and attitude have their root in physical well-being.  I know if my back is hurting it is hard for me to approach my work and schooling in a happy, receptive manner.

Spiritual Health: This is a hard quality to discuss, because we lack the words to describe adequately the feeling I am trying to portray.  I am not talking about spirituality in a religious definition.  It is this deep, personal connection, fostered by understanding and appreciation of the greater environment surrounding you, which allows you to be open to feeling of, for, and with your horse.  This is where I believe the horse is our best teacher, in that he was never disconnected from his surroundings, so he acts, reacts, and interacts in a completely honest format.  In our very busy world, it is incredibly important that we slow down and connect daily with our personal spiritual health.  So what’s the question I ask myself to determine my spiritual preparedness?  Have I taken a deep breath, become present and aware, and taken a moment to reflect on how incredibly lucky I am to have the horse in my life?

As you apply the lesson plans for this month and combine them with previous suggestions, I hope you will begin each session by asking yourself the overarching question, "Am I mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually prepared to be a good leader for my horse?"  Personally, my answer is always not quite!  But as an “Aspiring Horseman,” I will keep trying my very best and thank God for the patience, forgiveness, and grace the horse gives to me every day!

Partial List of Resources (to help you further develop your lesson plans):

Gymnastic Exercises for Horses – Vol. 1 & 2 by Eleanor Russell

The Handbook of Riding Essentials – by Francois Lemaire de Ruffieu

The Complete Training Horse and Rider – by Alois Podhajsky

Dressage – by Henry Wynmalen

Kinship with All Life – by J. Allen Boone

True Unity by Tom Dorrance, Edited by Milly Hunt Porter

Here are your lesson plans for this month, to combine with last month's specific exercises...

Day One -- Straight

Ground School -- Liberty work using surcingle with light side rein contact or reins drawn up through the gullet of the Western saddle and hooked around the horn so that a light contact is made on the snaffle bit.

Riding -- After your ground school and supple exercises on board, begin to review your rating exercises on both straight lines and circles, but now ask for a little more connection of the hindquarters driving forward as the poll lifts and the reins/hands have a very light contact with the mouth.  The outside rein should be supportive, feeling for the tongue and requesting a longitudinal arch in the horse; the inside rein should be active, also feeling for the tongue but releasing that feel when a slight lateral arch is achieved.  You are striving for the beginnings of collection and engagement with rhythm, balance, and straightness.  Think of developing “carriage” rather than a “frame."

Day Two -- Lateral

Ground School -- Review the steps of work in hand from last month, and add:

* Shoulder-in on a square

* Haunches-in from the track to the diagonal (half pass)

Riding -- After supple exercises while riding, begin a series of requests that combine the lateral maneuvers you have been practicing.  Take particular care in thinking of and seeing the pattern in your mind's eye before each transition.  (Riding will become increasingly geometric!)

Example: start down the outside track traveling left.  At the far corner of the long side, pick up a shoulder-in and carry for five steps, then straighten. At the next long side corner, pick up a haunches-in and carry for five steps. Now begin alternating five steps shoulder-in, straighten, five steps haunches-in, straighten. Next come down the quarter-line and leg-yield on the diagonal to the wall.  The possibilities are endless!

Day Three -- Cowboy

Ground School -- Send your horse forward on a circle; change the positioning of your energy to develop a turn-on-center, where you are leading the outside front foot of the horse on a forward arch and your energy is flowing on an arch past his tail. The outside front foot reaches on the arch of a small circle while the inside hind foot reaches under the horse's body, in balance

Riding -- Don’t forget to practice last month’s drills and supple exercises!

Accomplish the same pattern/maneuver on board as you did in your ground school (i.e., balanced turn-on-center). The key is to keep all four quarters of the horse moving and reaching equally.  Often times, as you make the circle smaller and smaller, the outside front foot declines to reach forward on that smaller arch.  Keep the forward momentum with a little bump of your outside leg.  When it feels smooth as glass, reward by softly riding out of the circle.

Day Four -- Dressage

Ground School -- Your warm-up for ground school will first be warming up YOUR mind and body!  Start on your two-leg horse and ride the patterns you have been practicing work in hand.  Pay particular attention to where your weight and balance needs to be to accomplish a leg yield posture, such as shoulder-in, as opposed to a half pass posture, such as a haunches-in.

Riding -- After warm-up of utilizing previous straight and lateral day movements, combine the training level tests from the past two articles with some of the lateral movements and write your own test!  Take advantage of the long sides to throw in steps of shoulder-in, and when you find yourself on a quarter- or center-line try a few steps of half pass.  I highly recommend finding the book of USEF Dressage Tests, maybe even joining the organization: www.usef.org or

www.oregondressage.com

Day Five – Doma Vaquera

Doma Vaquera Basico Test

Note: School letters in Doma Vaquera are different from dressage

1. Enter at A, canter to halt at C (judge sits at D); proceed C-D-E-F-G at working trot, track right.
2. G-B track right, ¼ turn just shy of centerline; at C ride figure 8, 1^st circle right, 2^nd circle left; proceed track left, C-D-L, working trot.
3. At L, begin serpentine to E-K-centerline.
4. At centerline, halt and back up four steps, facing E-F.
5. Centerline to F-G-B, walk, track right.
6. Between B and C, figure 8, 1^st circle left, 2^nd circle right.
7. Proceed C-D-F at medium walk, track right.
8. Canter at F.
9. Working canter F-H-A-I to J; at J, 10 meter circle, right lead.
10. Proceed J-K-L, working canter, right lead.
11. Walk at L, proceed L-D-E at working walk.
12. At E, begin serpentine to the right.
13. At J, 10 meter circle, left lead.
14. Proceed J-I-A-B-C at working canter; at C, halt and back up 6 steps.

 

H                 A                  I                                                G                 B               J     F                  C                K                                           E                 D                             L