This is written by Maddy Mangan, SFD's Assistant trainer. I started teaching Maddy when she was in junior high, and after a break from riding while she was in college, I happily accepted her back as a working student two years ago. Her work ethic and commitment to her education impressed me enough that after her time as working student was over, I offered her the title of Assistant trainer. I asked her to write a blog about the difficult process of learning to ride in such a way to improve a horse's overall balance. I hope reading about her learning process helps you with yours. ~ Ange
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About a year ago, when I was offered the assistant position at SFD, I
decided to take the plunge and go full time in horses. As a young professional,
I knew I was sorely lacking in show miles. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a horse
to compete on. So Ange so graciously offered to let me bring her big, black
mare,Silhouette, back into competition after time off as a broodmare. I was
thrilled except that there as another problem. I could not for the life of me
figure out how to ride the black mare with a big engine and big attitude.
So the struggle began.
Ange warned me when this started that Silhouette is a tricky ride. She
has a sensitive mouth and hates to go on the forehand, so riding her uphill
from the seat and leg is really important. When the rider gets it right on
Silhouette, she locks into a wonderful, uphill floaty gait. But if the rider doesn’t
get it right, Silhouette tells on the rider by nodding her head like a
bobble-head doll and squealing in the canter departs.
Ange’s goal, besides giving me a show mount, was to take my riding from
the “steady-keep-you-head-down-horse stage” to learning to ride my horses with lowered
hips and a more uphill balance. Which,
of course, takes that elusive dressage thing we call “feel.” In short, Ange’s
goal was for Silhouette to teach me how to ride.
I took lesson after lesson trying to get the “feel.” This is one of the
most difficult parts of dressage. Learning and teaching “feel” is tough because
“feel” is a bit different for each rider. Ange had to translate how “feel” felt to her into words, and hope those words translated to something my body could lock
into. So much of dressage is figuring
out the right balance and feel for each individual horse at each moment of the
workout, so sorting this out at this stage of my riding career is pretty
important.
Ange was trying so hard to help me. “Ride her hind end, don’t worry
about her head,” “Don’t fight with her mouth.” And the list continues. I just
could not figure out the balance of my aids to help Silhouette understand that
I wanted her to carry herself more uphill.
It is not that I did not understand how Ange was trying to get me to
ride this horse, but Silhouette and I just could not find the right place where
we clicked. We just kept fighting with each other. There were some very good
rides and I would think “yes I finally got it!” but the next ride I would just
not be able to recreate the feel from the day before. I was getting very
discouraged.
So Ange put me on Venus for a few rides. She is quite a different mare
then Silhouette, more tolerant and very kind (no head bobbing or squealing or
anything), so I felt a little more at ease on her. During a lesson on Venus,
Ange had me working on transitions. We started with halt to walk, focusing on keeping
Venus’ shoulders up-which is really easy to feel on Venus as the pommel of the
saddle practically drops if she isn’t keeping her shoulders up. If she dropped her
shoulders, I had to make her halt again. By the end of the ride, Venus was
taller and more connected. It was like the front of the saddle not only lifted,
it became connected right into my seat.
I took this back to Silhouette, hoping it was the missing piece. It
certainly helped, but Silhouette seemed to still be getting trapped somewhere.
I just could not carry it through like I could on Venus.
One day, Ange called me into the arena. She was riding one of the training
horses and asked if I wanted to hop on a get a feel of her. I never turn down a
ride. Ange told me that she had been working on the half halt, very similar to
what I had been working on with Venus and attempting with Silhouette--half
halting with my back and lower leg, asking her to carry on her hind end, and
then release up and out. It was the same feeling of keeping the withers and
shoulders up like on Venus, but for some reason on the training horse, the
feeling was a light bulb moment for me. I had to hold her on my seat with
shoulders and core but let it out in a controlled way. I had to own every step.
I had to own the balance. Could this be the missing link for Silhouette? Was I
just letting the energy spill out over the front of the saddle, instead of
lifting the shoulders up, and letting her fall more on the forehand?
So again I brought this new light bulb moment to Silhouette. Half halt
the balance onto her hind end, then own the motion and allow it through, controlling
the out. I focused on keeping her shoulders more up and not letting the front
of the saddle drop at all. And it finally clicked! Six months of struggling and
I finally had found the key to the uphill balance that Silhouette needed to be
through and connected.
Of course I was worried I would not be able to carry it to the next
ride, but I got on telling myself that I could. And I did.
Silhouette and I still have a lot of work to do but I am happy to say
that we are now working together and not fighting. And I certainly know that I
have a horse to show this summer.
So Miss Silhouette, you are teaching me to ride!
