I have been negligent about my blogging these past several months.  My path has been to return to the show ring with Rubaiyat and that has taken all my time and focus with little time to process and reflect.  One of the things I have learned about my horse is that he can do dressage.  He is built for it, has the talent for it and when he is working correctly, he can do it easily.  What my horse has lacked is trust and confidence in himself and in his leader.....me.

This I have been working on in many ways.  His dressage training has leap frogged forward by taking the time to work on the relationship...meaning, I have had to step up to the plate and act like a strong and confident leader and not accept intolerable behavior such as Ruby ignoring my personal space. I have learned that he needs time.  Rushing and demanding work has added to his uncondidence. Think about trying to learn something when someone is yelling at you. It just adds pressure and you can't think.

So to progress, I have focused on these concepts and because of the successes we have made since January, I decided to return to the show ring. Not without the help of my dressage trainer Jochen Hippenstiel and my friend and Parelli teacher, Pete Rodda. With the two of them, I felt it was time to test the waters. My goal: a happy experience for both me and my horse.

The result......which was at first thwarted with misunderstandings, attempts and tries on the show ground that did not work but came around to a successful showing on Sunday morning.  While still unsure and a bit tense, Ruby made it through the test, trying his hardest to stay with me. The result was a horse that was tested and came through unscathed emotionally, a score of 62.2% which earned me my first 2nd level score toward my bronze (I now have 3 out of 6 required) and a confidence that we can look forward to more competitions in the future.

The judge's comment was:  A very talented horse that will be nice when he has more trust and confidence to relax through his back.

We are on the right track. And I am continuing to work with Pete on the relationship, and with Jochen on the dressage training and will be looking forward to the next test of our relationship and abilities.

Meanwhile, enjoy watching some highlights from the test:

I have heard of Walter Zettl for many years now, and actually met him at a Parelli function just a few years ago.  I have known of his books, but up to this point had never taken the time to read them nor have had the opportunity to ride with him.  I do know that one of his books is called “A Matter of Trust.”  

My journey with Rubaiyat has been this, a matter of trust. Through the years, we have had many days where things were so bad I wished I hadn’t bred him so I could feel free to sell him.  Other times he has blown me away with both his ability to do dressage and his actions that have shown me I could trust him completely.

When I go to Florida in the winter, dressage training generally falls by the wayside as I work on my horsemanship through the guidance of Linda Parelli.  Each year I come back better, understanding more, but have still been unaware of how little it takes for a relationship to be built between a horse and rider. But it has to be built on leadership and then trust and then lightness.  This is what I became real to me this trip.

Linda invited me to ride with Walter Zettl the weekend before I left Florida.  I had been concentrating on my horsemanship through the help of Linda, her mastery students, and both Genievieve Benoit and Pete Rhodda, both Parelli instructors. I was honored to be asked to ride in the clinic, knowing Linda is very particular about who rides with Walter.  On Saturday morning, I arrived early in the very cold (29!) and Pete was there to coach me.  Ruby settled quite quickly and I saddled and began riding him around the arena and playground.  He got worried when more people began to show up to watch, but Pete came to the rescue and without me knowing it, kept me focused so I could keep Ruby focused.

Although our lesson was good…..Walter speaks softly and it was hard to hear him at times, and his style of riding was so different from what I am used to and it was a bit confusing. I began to understand it was all about lightness and asking very quietly and allowing the horse to make the right decision. We did well, and although I enjoyed the lesson, wasn’t sure what I really understood what I was supposed to do to help my horse. At the end of the ride however, Walter complimented my horse and that always makes one feel great.

Day 2. I arrived again early and repeated the warm up Pete had us do the day before. It was cold again, but Ruby warmed up faster and we were both more focused. Pete arrived after I had mounted and just knowing he was there kept me focused when activity amped up. We began even better as now I was more in tune with Walter’s style of teaching. Going through the lesson, I noticed how much more I could keep my hands together, how much less I could do and how much more Ruby would respond.  He got loose, supple like I never imagined he could physically be. He felt slow though, and so I was a bit concerned he wasn’t forward enough or through enough.  However as we kept going in the lesson, there were moments of true lightness and self-carriage in a way that I never felt. These moments were coming from Ruby, not from me making him that way. He was offering.  

At the end of the lesson, all of the auditors, including Linda, spontaneously erupted in applause. While smiling at this and dropping the reins, Walter asked if my horse was for sale. I smiled and said “I was there when he was born.” He knew the answer. As I stood by Ruby’s side, I listened to what Walter was saying to me.  Trust, trust, and more trust. And lightness. And if I could ride like this everyday, in two years we would be Grand Prix. But it has to be like this for my “magnificent horse” he said.  

And somehow, I have to come to believe that if I can sustain this lightness and trust, it can happen.  

The unfortunate thing about learning is that understanding comes in pieces.  When I started this blog over a year ago my first post was about this.  You get a piece of the puzzle from one person and another from someone else and at the moment, they don’t seem to fit.  Then you get another piece, and meanwhile, you think you see the picture but the pieces just don’t fit and in fact you can’t fathom how you are going to connect one into the other. 

What I love about Parelli is their motto of “Never ending self improvement.”  However when one is improving one’s self, they can be caught in between one piece and another and see that as a conflict.  As a teacher, it is hard sometimes to hand a piece to a student and know they can’t see how they will fit because you know that they don’t see the full picture yet. 

This has happened while I have been here in Florida and while I would like to fix the problem, everyone has their own journey and they have to sort it out for themselves. Learning is hard and understanding is even harder.  If one can be quiet with the questions, they will see eventually. When one is not, they will only see conflict.

I remember learning Pilates from my teacher, Romana.  She is Joseph Pilates’ true heir to the Method.  I was an accomplished dancer at the time and went to her because Pilates had improved my dancing and I wanted to know where it originated. I was a bit overwhelmed with the knowledge and often felt what I was learning conflicted with what I already knew.  I had so many doubts and questions, but I kept silent.  I knew I was not ready for the answer.  And indeed, when I was ready, I answered the questions myself when all of the pieces finally clicked.

To question is good, but sometimes to wait is better.  Understanding will come.

As I watch my apprentice teach a rider, it strikes me how hard all of this is even though it is so simple.  The rider lies on the reformer, feet on a bar, knees and hips bent.  Her job is to straighten her hips without disturbing her torso.  In order to do this she must use hip extensors and her core abdominal muscle dynamically in order to over come the body’s naturally strong hip flexor muscles–the muscles that bend the hip joint.

Also in this endeavor, the rider is not allowed to straighten the knees, which is the more “natural” thing to do.  Most people easily access the “global” muscles, i.e. neck, hands, forearms, knees, lower leg.  Learning to use the core muscles and the muscles that attach the appendages to the core/torso requires a different way of thinking.

I have taught Pilates now for almost 20 years and in the beginning, even as a certified instructor I didn’t get this!  I was a dancer and could do anything and so thought I didn’t have to think differently.  When my teacher would tell me “soft knees” I actually did not believe her.  I tensed every muscle in my thigh and did the work.  I was not capable of thinking differently.  

Then one day I was teaching in the dance studio the college I worked at and all of a sudden, I let my quadriceps go, softened my knees and in a heartbeat I understood hip extension…..! I finally felt what it was to stand with the muscles that attach my femurs to my torso rather than holding on in my knees and lower leg.

While the rider is working on this in front of me, I sigh.  It is a long journey to understanding how to use the body in a more balanced way.  It is hard and takes concentration and dedication.  There is no quick fix. But remember the definition of insanity:  doing something over and over the same way and expecting different results.

If you want to change, you must go down this path of learning.  Good for you Genevieve.

I was teaching the other day and was leading a client through exercises and concepts to help her find new places in her body to feel and live in.  I realized that although we all believe as fact that we only use a small part of our brain capacity, it occured to me that that is true of our bodies. This is exactly what I have been teaching–enpowering people to find more places to "live" in the body. While musing with my client about this, my teacher, Noël overheard the conversation and proclaimed that we should "Occupy your body." Ha! A movement has begun!

Think about it. Do you realize how much of your body you don't know? Take your foot for example. Don't quote me but it has approximately 23 bones, 33 joints and about 100 muscles/tendons/ligaments.  A dancer knows about everything there is to know about how to move and use the foot but most people have not occupied every joint and muscle in the foot.  And that is just the foot!

Along that line there are about 16 (again, don't quote me here) muscles that attach to your scapula, or shoulder blade. That is a lot of movement possibility. And that is important to know how you can occupy the shoulder blades for riding. Knowing how to correctly move or not move them will help to connect the shoulder girdle and upper arm/tricep to the core which is an essential concept for an independent arm...a special requirement if you are riding with contact!

So take this challenge: occupy your scapula today! Let me know what you find out!

I gave a lecture Friday night to the Santa Ynez chapter of the California Dressage Society. It was a very rainy night and we huddled in the barn aisle with portable heaters and I gave my PowerPoint lecture on Pilates for Dressage®.  Each time I give this lecture, I feel overwhelmed at the amount of information I am giving but when I look into the eager eyes of the riders, I know it is going to be both worth it, but also a challenge. 

Many riders come to riding later in life and most of them have not lived, what I call the life of the “physical.” As a former professional dancer living fully in the body is the norm. But for most people, the body is usually capable of everyday tasks and regular physical activity, however the vast majority of the body is not activated. In the clinics I give, I ask the riders to explore the body in a way that is almost unfathomable. We all have heard that we do not use our brain to it’s utmost, and most people accept that as a fact. But what people don’t often accept is that they don’t use their bodies to the utmost. 

Kudos to those who came this weekend and learned that often the problem they have with riding is not always the horse’s fault. They began to see that what they have been doing to ride their horse, could be done better. And the horses responded by going softer, rounder and in some case, more powerful as the rider learned to truly "aid" the horse with proper body posture and energy.

Each time I teach I know it may be a challenge for me to open the minds of already accomplished riders to change how they use the body. But I also know it is completely worth the struggle when I see the “ah ha’s” come and the partnership improved between the horse and rider.

A few weeks ago as I was driving home from dropping my student, Heidi, off at the bus station, I called my a friend of mine who had e mailed me the night before. She wrote that she had had an awesome ride on her horse, which was not the usual report, so I had to find out what had happened. She began to explain that from start to finish, she felt for the first time that she had a connection with her horse. Often times, other people ride her horse first, but this time she was on her own with a friend in tow for moral support. She began to describe light aids, an elastic connection, a gentle questioning from the horse and then said that although it probably wasn't spectacular, for her it was a "cloud nine" ride. She went on to say that although her progress was slow, she was a serious rider.

Flash back to a couple of nights before that. Heidi was watering my indoor arena and I was riding Rubaiyat. Ruby had recently gone back to being spooky and that night in the arena with Heidi and a hose that moved like a huge snake, he was decidedly unnerved. I decided to keep him on a long rein and just walk around the arena and allow him to figure it out. Forty minutes later, we were able to cross the hose, circle Heidi and be down at the scary end of the arena without being scared. I mentioned to Heidi that I was "training" my horse although many people wouldn't have agreed with that statement.

Back to the phone conversation with my friend. When she said she was a serious rider, I replied, "maybe, but really, I think you are a serious learner." Many riders would look at what she and I did with our horses as not being "serious riders." It is often thought that training means to give your horse a workout 5 - 6 days a week, and for high level competition, that is most likely necessary. However there are those of us who ride with different training goals in mind and should probably be labeled "serious learners."

While goal oriented, a serious learner understands and appreciates the complex nature of learning. Learning takes time and as this same friend said to me recently, "There is no short cut to mastery." While I do have goals to ride Grand Prix dressage, the journey is more important to me than the arrival. It can be frustrating and there are days I wish I could take up some other hobby that I could just "do." But the arduous journey to mastery is a solo endeavor and everyone must follow their own path and timeline toward that goal.

Would that learning was linear. It would be really simple. You would go step by step and each step would bring you closer to knowing what it is you were trying to learn. Or would that it was an actual learning curve where once you heaved yourself over the hump of what you need to learn and the rest is downhill easy from there. However, it is not that easy. Learning is a circular journey that spirals forward but then comes back on itself just a little further along the the path forward.

I remind my Pilates clients of this all the time. They learn something and a few months later, they revisit what they have learned and deepen the concept. My clients often say, "Darn it? You mean I have been doing it wrong all this time?" To which I reply, "No, you were doing it absolutely right but now we are making it better." Often the forward moving circle encounters a problem and then we have to come back again, regroup and in order to move forward. Sometimes it is a matter of quality, sometimes a matter of an issue that needs to be addressed more intensely. Whatever it is, the circle slowly moves forward and then back on itself before continuing forward again. And sometimes it can be frustrating.

I had to apply this concept to me and Rubaiyat this week. Since August, we have been making great strides forward with both our partnership and dressage. I have had some great zen moments of connection where it has been actually easy for us both to feel the flow of harmony in motion. But lately, things have not been harmonious. Ruby has been tense in the contact and I have been demanding that he soften. He has started spooking again and I have been angry at him for that. Rather than a partnership, it has become a contest of wills. In other words, we seem to be going backwards. 

What I began to realize was that we were on the back spiral of the learning circle. We had been flowing forward with both the trust and the work, so much so that I thought we were almost over the "hump" of the learning curve and we were getting ready for the next level in dressage– the flying changes. My goal to have him ready to learn this movement this fall has been overpowering the partnership. When Ruby would get tense about he learning, instead of relinquishing my goal for the moment, I was demanding more of him. Here is where the backward spiral began. The more I pushed, the more he resented it and got nervous and worried. 

I get it. Take off the spurs, begin whispering the aids, ride on a loose rein, play Linda Parelli's "you spook, I spook" game and her game of contact.....go back to the root of the problem one step further from where we were 2 months ago. Here we are. I need to be patient and know that we are spiraling along, just on the back curve of the learning circle.

Janice

Would that it was, but life is not that easy. I have rarely experienced going somewhere that doesn't require a turn.

So they say...the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  I think I have finally become sane.  

In my dressage journey, Rubaiyat and I are poised to begin learning flying changes. There are two things that must be confirmed before we can begin the changes: counter canter and canter-walk-canter. Canter-walk-canter, will be another story. Counter canter however has been kind of a mild insanity and I have finally figured out why!

Watching Jochen glide Ruby through the counter canter is evidence that my horse is capable of doing that movement. It has taken Ruby awhile to learn this with Jochen, but in each of the last three clinics, it is apparent that Ruby can counter canter while being through, soft and on the bit. However with me it is another story. Ruby anticipates disaster, speeds up, throws his head up and ends up doing a flying change because that is much easier than doing the counter canter. Now, it is obviously me that is the problem. I, no doubt, brace my body, lock it up in terror, pray and hope we get through the short side of the arena in one piece. And of course, not much improves in that scenario. Some days it isn't sheer panic, but most of the time it feels like medicine to be swallowed. Gulp.

Today, I took Ruby to the outdoor arena. I already knew he would be in red alert mode, so I tried some things to get his focus. We began to work with a minimal amount of tension and had some nice swingy trot. Given the arena is a real dressage size, I decided to work on counter canter with a three loop serpentine; true canter, counter canter and true canter.  It was mildly successful, but Ruby still had a sense of impending doom when we came to the counter canter and would throw his head up and try to run for his life. My student Heidi was there and I asked for her feedback. She said "just keep working on it." I thought about this. Hmmm. If I just keep doing what I have been doing, I will get the same result. And that is insane. But if I don't keep working on it, it won't get better.

Here is where I had to ask to myself: "how can I work on counter canter sanely?" It finally occurred to me to stop panicking and begin to ask Ruby questions. In the true canter, I asked him one question per circle: do you need more inside leg? More inside rein? Should I sit on the outside seat bone? Should I wrap my thighs down to my heels and lift you up? With each question I waited for an answer before I asked another. I finally found out he wanted me to use more inside leg, sit on my outside seat bone and pick him up with my ankles. When I got all of these going, his canter got soft and round. Now, I realized, I just need to keep doing what he really likes, or what really helps him, while entering the counter canter. Bingo! This was the ticket! If I continued doing what he like the best in the true canter, he could easily glide around the counter canter. Panic was gone and sanity was instated.

Why I haven't thought of this months ago is a mystery, but then I know I am a slow learner. All I had to do was ask my horse a question and wait for his answer. I did not allow myself to just hope and pray things will somehow come together with enough practice. Heidi was right, I needed to just keep working on it. But I had to change the way I was working in order to progress.

I should never forget the power of the non-verbal question!

Best,

Janice

While working with one of my students this morning, I kept telling her to get her heels down with the back of her seat during the canter. While this was clear to me, it was not at all happening with her. We finally stopped the lesson and began to discuss this topic.  She told me that one of her biggest riding problems was that her heels tend to come up and she doesn't know how to fix it.

Since Heidi is also a Pilates student of mine, I asked her to think about the Reformer exercise called the Footwork. This is done lying down on the Reformer carriage. Part of the exercise is to put your heels on a bar and then push your body away from your heels against spring resistance. Instinctively, one would most likely straighten the knees and if you don't have a savvy instructor, that is what one usually does. However instead of straightening the knees, Pilates requires one to, instead, straighten the hips. This is done by using the back of the seat...or as we like to call it, your "thuddock" (the top of your thigh/the bottom of your buttock.) When you do this, your weight or energy transfers from "your seat to your feet." 

When Heidi stopped to think about this, the "aha" came. Keeping her heels down had nothing to do with her ankle as she always thought. Keeping her heels down came from her seat, or "thuddock" muscle. And the bonus she realized, was that by doing this, it also opened her hip. Her eyes were clearly opened also, and we are anxious for tomorrow to explore this new aha!

Meanwhile, if you have this problem, try this exercise. Stand and bend your knees.  Now straighten them. You probably used the front of your thighs to do this. Now bend your knees again. Think about straightening your hip with the "thuddock" muscle. While you do this, think about sending the energy you generate as weight that lands into your heels on the floor......using your seat into your feet.

Now try it on your horse and let me know what you find!

Janice