Dear Ronda, Montys new Longlining DVD will give you a lot of tips, understanding why things happens and how you can get your horse to find wonderful balance! Think "outside the box" and remember: what you do on the ground - you will take with you in the saddle! Good Luck Warmest Ann

Ronda
Good for you. I just looked at Marijke de Jong site and I think you picked a good training method. I assume that since you may not be able to ride STAR for a while you are getting a head start on her training for the saddle as well. I wish more horse went through the ground school and were given the chance to learn all the different movements that we expect them to master. My boy is now twelve and he just learned the side pass this year. It is difficult for a Peruvian Paso to do a side pass because of the way their legs and shoulders move. It took me about four months to get him to do the maneuver and I work on it every time I ride him. Once to the left and once to the right then quit!
Can you take videos of you work? I would love to see how STAR progresses.

Happy New Year!

Cheers

Hi Dennis,
I really like her methods.
And for me ground work is the most important step of all.
I have been working this dressage method with STAR for some time now and she catches on very quickly.
I do a sideways game with her to enable her to do side passes, it's ground work.
This particular ground work also enables her to learn the other steps needed as well.
Basically what I do is, have her on a lead rope, stand at her middle. Her nose is at a wall of our house or on a fence line (so she cannot go forward), first I move her head sideways, then her hindquarters, so on.... away from me and my pressure. I use my arm, swinging like the arm of a clock, back and forth.
Until she moves her whole body together sideways, it works.
The message is clear and it relaxes her and gets her in the learning mode.
She gets use to her feet under her without any weight to worry about.
This teaches her yeild to pressure very easily and makes her supple.
I also do reaches with her by using a long stick that I attach a piece of apple to the end.
For dressage stretching and building muscels are very important when they are young.
I do these several times on both sides to keep her straight.
Only by the summer will she have human weight on her back, when I know she is physically strong enough for the damands I intend for her.
Yes I will take videos of this process, for my benefit as well. I find it to be a good teaching tool, I can see where I have to imporve.
When I thought she might be a Lippizan I was excited because they make fantastic dressage horses but the wait is so long for them to mature.
When I first saw her as a baby I knew what I wanted to do with her and started the basics right away.
Dressage training for any horse is the best we can do for them, it makes fantastic athelets of them and helps our horses to do maneuvers that can help them in all forms of riding ventures, even trail riding.
Imagine yourself stuck in a right spot and your horse has not been taught to do sidepasses, how are you going to get out, by backing the horse only.
A horse likes to see where they are going. If they have been taught to do sidepasses correctly you will have no problem, they can turn in the tightess of circles because thier bodies have been trained to do this.
Have a great day,
Ronda

Hi Ronda,
may I give You a little advice, that could help you to communicate better with your horse while doing exercise and get his attention. It is about breathing. Before you start an exercise, take a deep breath. Do it when the horse looks another way and turn his head towards you . Make sure that the horse is “looking at you”. When he does so, exhale and let all tension out of the body and give him a hug. Do this several times, also in different places. Later you add a very easy exercise for Star after he turned his head and then release tension. He will soon learn, that inhaling means to give you attention, because you will ask him something. The positive reward will be through exhaling and release of tension, which means he did the right thing and can rest.
My horse pays a lot of attention to my breathing, even if I walk behind him. It is very effective. I avoid to raise my voice or hardly use it. My aim is to communicate through body language and breathing. Even when you will be riding your horse and he has learned to pay attention to you, he will turn his ears towards you, when he notices you are inhaling in order to create a tension in your body that initiates a new exercise. We usually and unconsciously inhale and keep the breath for a moment before we start talking to somebody. So it doesn't need special exercise. Just do it consciously when you work with your horse.
I hope you will have a lot of happy moments with your Star and create a really deep relationship.

Hi cristina,
Thank you very much for your sound advice. It's great!!!
I have practised yoga for 44 years now and have found that to be very helpful.
Also, Thi Chi has helped me to remain focused.
Since my car accident, 7 years ago this has been more difficult because of the brain injury.
Now I have to concentrate more on my method.
You are absolutely correct, STAR does pick up on any thing I do, either in a postive way or a negative way.
That is why I use my video so much so I can be more aware of what I am doing.
I don't always post my videos, I don't have the time but we watch them on our TV and I can see were I have to improve.
Poor STAR, I wish I could do what I use to do, she would benefit so much more.
I just gave her the worms meds for the winter and it was so funny, up went her lip, as if to say, yuck!!!
It's sunny today and she was able to be groomed outside in the sun, lovely.
I noticed your horse pays very close attention to whatever you do, I love watching you with your horse!!!
And you are very subtle, I didn't notice any breathing.
Have a sunny day,
Ronda

Ronda
STAR is a very fortunate horse to have you as here trainer. The training that you can accomplish on the ground is the secret to a well behaved horse as well as an intelligent horse. Christina's horse is a great example of allowing the horse to be who they are, but also to connect with you in such a way that you can read the horses intensions and the horse can read your intensions. I love watching horses at liberty when they interact with humans.

An aside to this. My iPhone ring tone is a galloping horse that whinnies. i was just finishing my ride yesterday when my phone rang and when Merengue heard the Whinny he called back and was looking for the horse. I think it is because he is a stallion because his brother was right next to him and he did not respond. My trainer almost fell of his horse laughing!

Cheers

Hi Ronda,
only at the beginning the breathing might look a bit theatrical, just to catch the attention of the horse. But when he has connected with you, the breathing will be subtle or almost unconscious, as talking to a person. I still have to learn a lot from my horse. Since the last videos I notice a lot of progress, especially the movement of my legs and arms. Also Degas is still learning to read my body, like this we come nearer to each other every day. And I think that this process of learning will keep on the whole life.
The more you teach the horse from the ground, the more he will have the possibility to get to know you. This is a fundamental aspect to build a sane relationship. We will learn to realize when horse does not want to work or play, and we have to accept that. Only if we respect his moods and learn to deal with them, we will earn our horses respect that is necessary for leadership. With each new exercise the horse has learned, he will become more secure, prouder and willing, because the success is rewarding him if you really show him that he did it right.
I wish everybody a happy new year
Cristina

Hi Ronda! Good luck with that! Have a blessed New Year.