Fair warning to the
non-dressage-geek types that read my dribble, this post may bore you to tears. For
the dressage geek readers out there, this post will probably be right up your
alley.
As you know, January 21
and 22 I attended USDF’s FEI Trainer Symposium down in Wellington, Florida.
During that symposium, I got to watch Steffen Peters work with nine different
riders for two days. I extend my stay for a couple of days, and spent one morning
watching Catherine Haddad Staller train. The week before I went to Florida, I
was down at Hassler Dressage where I got to watch Scott ride. True to my dressage geek nature, I have spent
a lot of time comparing what I saw.
The first thing I saw is there
many, many similarities in good training. With all three trainers, I could
watch their work and logically figure out what they were trying to explain to
the horses. There was no random riding around. Everything was very purposeful
and very clear. They were quick to correct, and equally quick to reward their
horses. Because of this, all three trainers made significant differences in all
of their mounts. Two areas where I noticed differences were slight differences
in thigh position and different warm up plans.
First, the thigh position and how
that affected the leg aid. Steffen, of
course has that beautiful vertical thigh/deep knee leg position that we all drool
over. Ironically, with one exception, he didn’t stress the thigh position with
the riders he taught. He did, however, admonish several riders to keep their
toe underneath the knee. That toe-underneath-knee alignment was common to all
three trainers, regardless of their thigh position. Scott’s thigh wasn’t quite
as vertical as Steffens, and Catherine had at least vertical thigh of the
three.
The interesting thing about the
thigh position was how it affected the use of the calf and spur. Steffen uses
his calf as the primarily leg aid. He was very, very sparing with the spur. He
advocated a pressing half to encourage a longer stride (which differs from the
leg aid discussed at the Young Dressage Horse Trainer’s Symposium in November
-- which is the topic I intend to discuss with Scott when I see him next week).
He used the spur more as a correction when the horse did not respond correctly
to the calf.
Scott, on the other hand, was working
with the horse to get a more prompt, active response from the hind legs. He
used the spur further back, aligned with his hip, as the initiating aid for
more hind leg activity. He supported the spur with his voice and with rhythmic
taps from the whip. With the angle of his thigh, he could easily use the spur
that far back without rotating his leg onto the hamstring.
Catherine, whose thigh position is
the least vertical of the three (but still much more vertical than the huntseat-horizontal
thigh), advocates using the spur three ways -- tapping with the spur, resting
the spur against the horse’s side, and a pressing spur. Her a-bit-more-vertical thigh position allowed
her the control to differentiate these three aids without moving the rest of
her leg.
Of course, since I’ve been home I
played with all three thigh positions. From my research and teaching, I know
that the amount of arch someone naturally has in the lower back and the
tightness of their psoas muscle often determines their thigh position. With my build,
no matter how much I want to, I’m not sure I am physically capable of riding
with my thigh as vertical as Steffen’s. When I try, I spend so much time
focusing on my thigh that I get distracted from what I’m trying to do with my
horse. That being said, if there’s a camera nearby you bet I’m going to try to
get my thigh to look like that.
Focusing on keeping my toes right
under my knees, however, has been helpful. This seems to stabilize my wandering right leg,
which gives me the control I need to use leg and spur in a more specific
manner. Which, in turn, helps me activate
hind legs of the horses I ride that need activating-- although I need to
remember to turn it off. When I got on Liz Dobrinska’s horse, Rocky, who has a quick,
active hind leg, right after riding Venus, who tends toward a longer, bigger, slower
stride, he got his hind legs cranking so much that he had a hard time
maintaining his balance. I could hear Scott’s voice in the back of my mind, “easy,
Ange, easy.”
Second, the differences in the
warm-up and how that flowed into their training session. Steffen spent a lot of
time discussing warm up. He has a strong advocate for warming the horse up in a
balance that really helps them. Which means not every horse was warmed up long-and-low.
When he chose to keep a horse in a more uphill frame for warm-up, he clearly stated
that he felt that taking that particular horse long-and-low compromised their
balance. That being said, he had each horse go forward in steady, rhythmic, ground-covering
strides during their warm up, regardless of how high or low he asked them to
carry their neck.
Another large component of Steffen’s
warm up was testing the aids. He used different exercises and school figures to
check if the horses were responding to each leg individually, both legs
together, the seat eight, and the rein aid. Once he was happy with the horse’s
responses to his test, he would then ride test figures.
For example, one horse was not
responding properly to the right leg. Steffen, who was riding with microphone, commented
that the horse was pushing against his inside leg when making a right corner. He spent a few minutes schooling smaller circles,
asking the horse to be more responsive to the right leg. He then tested results
of his schooling with a half pass. He wasn’t happy with the first half pass, so
three strides into it he turned right, and went back to schooling the horse’s
reaction to his right leg. He then tried the half pass again. This time it flowed
beautifully.
Catherine, on the other hand, seemed
to have a fairly consistent warm-up routine with each horse she rode. She
started them all out in a longer, rounder frame. Once the horse was starting to
swing its back, she used transitions between or within the gait to bring the
frame up. Then she gradually flowed from less complicated movements more
complicated movements. For example, on one horse, she began with a half pass
from the corner to the centerline. Next she rode the half pass from the corner
to the second quarter line. Then she rode the half pass from the corner to X. She
did the same thing in the other direction. Then she rode a half pass zigzag. She gradually increased the degree of
difficulty each time she rode the half pass.
I think both approaches have their
place in my toolbox. With my over-achiever type horses, I think Steffen’s
approach would probably make them anxious. When I ride them, I find I intend to
build more lines, like Catherine’s approach.
Some of my more laid-back types, on the other hand, seem to understand better
when I insist on quick reactions to each aid before I set up each movement.
The last week and a half, I’ve
really had a good time applying all that I learned to each horse I ride. I really
enjoy sorting out each horse’s mind and body, and helping them become more
relaxed, fun athletes.
Special thanks to all of my boarders,
who gave me the Christmas gift of a check to spend on my education. Thanks to
their generosity, I was able to spend these four days in Florida. Watching this
caliber of training inspired my winter training. Thank you again for investing
in me.
