Posted in Advice on Dec 17th, 2009
Hi again. Today we will be moving on with the Uberstreichen Exercises.
When your horse will stand on his own then you are ready for the next step. Put your hands on each side of the noseband of the halter and do not but in fingers or thumbs inside the halter in order to prevent injury to yourself your horse should jerk his head up. Don’t but your head above his for the same reason. Hold the horse’s head straight, breathe deeply, and relax. If the horse turns his head one way or the other gently bring it back to straight and then float with him holding his head. Do this for a short time as the horse will tolerate it, then let go slowly and walk away and disconnect. The disconnect is very important to practice. The horse is learning to give and to stay put. He is learning to be responsible without you having to police him. This teaches your horse to stay focused in a hold as well as in a disconnect. Self-carriage of the horse’s gaits can only occur when the horse is free from the rider’s active influence. This exercise starts the journey. Self-carriage creates… Read more
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Posted in Advice on Nov 26th, 2009
Hello. Today we’ll continue with my discussion of the Uberstreichen Exercises and why there are so useful.
The Uberstreichen exercises will benefit any form of riding. I created them for all kinds of equestrian pursuits from a dressage approach from the heart of dressage when the horse is trained only in unity and harmony without force. Once the horse is schooled in the Uberstreichen Exercises for your work to translate to the saddle you will need to be a seasoned rider because you will need the same connection, tact and authority on your horse’s back as you have developed from the ground. The Uberstreichen’s can most definitely empower a person to ride more effectively but nothing replaces experience under saddle.
The exercises have so many elements to their purpose. Try not to think of them as half-halt exercises which might confuse you particularly if you are a pleasure rider who does not think they are necessary for your riding. If you feel that the term half-halt is too hard to understand, let’s think of them in plain English. Think of half-halts as the smallest request you can ask the horse in order to get the most response. Whatever your… Read more
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Posted in Observations on Sep 3rd, 2009
Hello. My great passion with horses is dressage. This may surprise some of you but as always, it’s about approach and application.
There is little difference between a classical dressage rider and a competitive rider in the hands of a master, but the methods of training are very different. The two methods are different from the standpoint of how to develop lightness and self-carriage.
At this time in history the classical school of dressage is very strong and is suffering little conflict in their theories and methods of training. However, the competitive world is suffering greatly. There are a lot of horses that are being rushed through the process because of the desire to compete. They are ridden with new methods of training to shortcut the old methods through the rider’s talent to take a horse falsely to the FEI levels.
Currently there is an upsurge in the classical methods helping the competitive world. I have had a lot of personal success using these classical principles and theories with riders and horses. I would like to suggest a book by Sylvia Loch, The Classical Rider. It points out that dressage riders in the top levels of competition,… Read more
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Posted in Misc on Apr 23rd, 2009
Today I’d like to continue to talk about the ubstreichen excercises I use.
The exercises isolate and address blockages in the horse’s body, whether in the neck, jaw, shoulders, back or hocks. Once the horse performs the exercises easily and properly, he will be in front of the leg. I have found that the exercises’ greatest benefit appears in their use before competition. They enhance the horse’s way of going, its attitude and desire to perform.
Clarity of aids is the key to a horse’s willingness to perform. A horse commonly gets turning rein aids mixed up with supplying rein aids and half-halt aids. We can hardly get angry at a horse for turning off to the subtle differences of our rein aids and leg aids. Many times, when asked to supple, a horse will drift in or out of the turn because he thought the rider was using a turning rein rather than a suppling rein. I believe most performance problems are caused from the horse’s lack of understanding, which can create defiance.
Some individual problems can occur. Aggressive horses with big performing gaits can find it difficult being submissive to rein aids when they are at the… Read more
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Posted in Misc on Apr 21st, 2009
Hi again. A week or so ago I mentioned my uberstreichen excercises and many of you wrote in asking more about them. Well, the good news is that I have just given the green light to produce a series of DVDs on how I use them. These will be coming out later in the year and in the meantime, here is a piece I wrote about how the excercises can help with dressage.
Uberstreichen or more correctly, überstreichen, comes from German although there doesn’t seem to be a literal translation you can use (unless you can tell us otherwise!). What I like about the exercises are that they can be used on all horses no matter what level of training they have received. The purpose of the exercise are to enhance the forward expression of the horse’s gaits. They improve collected and extended gaits by giving the horse the ability to perform with ease. They support the horse’s way of going by removing locked muscles while simultaneously schooling the horse to respond correctly to rein and leg aids.
The eight uberstreichen exercises are exaggerated requests of the half-halt. There are eight because they cover the different ways we want the… Read more
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Posted in Advice on Dec 9th, 2008
Hi everyone. Well, I hear from Stormy that she had a tremendous response to news of the teleseminar series starting in January. If you haven’t already signed up for the series, to remind you it’s free and you can sign up at http://www.thepathofthhorse.com.
OK, on to today’s blog post. I often get asked about starting with a horse and so I thought I would give you some tips for those of you in that position and also for those who think they are having some ‘control’ issues.
*** To read the rest of this post, get Carolyn’s Blog Collection Volume 1 ***
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