Monday, March 22, 2010

Have some fun with IT!

My sister was having some trouble with her horse 'Florian's' desire to go forward in the 'big giant sandbox' at her facility in Wellington so Kismo and I joined her for some Pas de Deux fun. At first Florian was a little wary of this horse keeping pace with him but it is evident in this photo that he joined right in the dance!
Sometimes you have to be creative with your horses and take a risk and have some fun for goodness sake. Here we had the music up full blast to something latin (I think).
Photo credit: Erol Pinto

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Hard Work Pays Off in Piaffe

Marquis de Matcho performing the Piaffe after working a great excercise (thanks Juan Matute) with his owner Jillian. His hind leg is active while he remains softly on the contact.
It is important to recognize that even trainers need a trainer or ground coach to help develop the sport horse.
I got some great coaching this week in Wellington and was able to pass some of the lesson along to Jill on 'Paco'. It is tiring for the horse to travel and exhausting for all concerned and thank GOD my other clients are patient for my return.
This photo shows that hard work does pay off! -SVdN


-SVdN

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Adult Clinic retreat weekend

Marquis de Matcho -working piaffe

The weather was spectacular-finally a break in the cold snap! Donna learned to long line Charlie and Gift and then rode each after the long line work. This work is so important to supple all the muscles in the horses top line and bending through the neck and poll.
Martha learned piaffe and passage on Dancer, after riding her own Icaro XXIV who is just 5 and has not learned this yet.
Jill rode her own Susquehanna and we worked on the tempos for the new musical freestyle and the music that was selected for the 11 yr old Hannoverian mare.
Alexia rode Karona who is working all third level work (half-passes and counter canter and wald-canter transitions) and she is still confirming that the mare is in front of the leg in all movements. Alexia warmed up Dancer for Martha and was a great help in getting all the horses ready for work.
Jill also rode Marquis de Matcho (pictured above) and we worked on transitioning from collected trot to Piaffe and out. It was fun to watch the trot change after this work and get livelier and more animated. I also explained how this work puts the horse in the stress zone for moments and it is important when to know to go back to the comfort zone to calm the nerves of the horse who now has his adrenaline up.
Everyone worked very hard and I think all were exhausted but entertained.

Thanks to Jillian and Terry for the wonderful photos!