Eddo Hoekstra Clinic June 11th through June 13th.
Hay River Equestrian took three horses to this clinic. Jamie rode Hazel, a basic training level mare, and I rode Bacara and Amedeus.
We arrived on Thursday evening and were hoping to get the horses into the indoor arena to show it to them. Le’ts be honest. Bacara and Hazel did not really need it as bad as Amedeus did. He panics at first when away from home. He does o.k. if I can move him around in the arena I later have to ride him in. Minus that and I am not going to have an easy time of it. Well the arena had already been dragged so Amedeus was out of luck. I will have to arrive earlier to be sure next time to get him in there.
Eddo is very straight forward in his teaching style and shows the rider how to ease into and out of movements as to not disturb the horse. That is especially useful if your horses are a bit sensitive like mine are. One thing he had me do was to school the shoulders in and haunches in. What I mean by that is to do shoulder in and then come off the wall and then back to the wall all the while with the same angle. This was really useful in that it made the horse more adjustable within the lateral movement. I see this as universally helpful.
Amedeus benefitted by walk canter walk exercises to help him with his canter elevation. We also mixed up a lot of shoulders in haunches in, haunches out and half pass. I could feel that helping his flexibility and his ability to carry himself.
Bacara benefitted by riding two squares one inside the other. We did half passes in and out and flying changes to change directions. There is a lot going on in the riders head but it later makes the tempi changes feel easier.
Hazel did really well, adjusted to her environment and allowed herself to do lateral movements. Jamie and Hazel have not done that many lateral movements yet and I could really see it loosening the horse. They both picked up a lot of information.
Eddo has a wonderful soft focus that the horses love. He keeps things playful but focused. I noticed the way that this technique made the most out of each horse at the clinic.
Karen
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Hay River Equestrian travels to Fargo Horse Fair
The weekend of April 10 and 11 Karen, Jamie and I headed out to North Dakota State University for the North Dakota Horse Fair. Karen was invited to do a demo ride while speaking about dressage.
Karen rode Bacara and Sparky the first day to show a beginning horse in Sparky and a more advanced horse with Bacara. She rode just Bacara on Sunday. Jamie rode Hazel, the rescue horse from Trempeleau County both days.
On Saturday, April 10, Karen talked about exercises she does to improve collection in Bacara. She also demonstrated the difference in collection in a beginning horse and one that is more advanced.
Sunday both Jamie and Karen rode dressage tests to show the audience what a test is like. I got a chance to practice reading tests on the fly. To add a touch of humor the arena was put up backwards. To Karen and Jamie’s credit they just kept riding able to figure out a way to keep going even though what I was reading did not match the arena. Even more difficult was Karen was showing Bacara with a third level test, not designed to be a small arena, which was set up for them. Way to go to keep the show going despite whatever is thrown at you. Jamie did well, despite suffering a cold and cough. She even got a chance to let Hazel take a bow at the end Sunday.
Isabella, the dog, went along. She may well have spent her first night in a motel. The first night she yelped at every noise. I spent much of the night keeping her quiet and missing out on some sleep. By the second night Izzy was a pro and snored the whole night after getting a treat off the local Chinese buffet. Izzy loves her chicken nuggets.
Izzy was quite a hit at the horse fair, enjoying the attention, although she is not sure if she is a fan of cows.
NDSU offered demos of a number of different types of horseback riding, including reigning, cow work and some natural horsemanship along with dressage. It was cool to see many different horses at work and play.
Pam
Karen rode Bacara and Sparky the first day to show a beginning horse in Sparky and a more advanced horse with Bacara. She rode just Bacara on Sunday. Jamie rode Hazel, the rescue horse from Trempeleau County both days.
On Saturday, April 10, Karen talked about exercises she does to improve collection in Bacara. She also demonstrated the difference in collection in a beginning horse and one that is more advanced.
Sunday both Jamie and Karen rode dressage tests to show the audience what a test is like. I got a chance to practice reading tests on the fly. To add a touch of humor the arena was put up backwards. To Karen and Jamie’s credit they just kept riding able to figure out a way to keep going even though what I was reading did not match the arena. Even more difficult was Karen was showing Bacara with a third level test, not designed to be a small arena, which was set up for them. Way to go to keep the show going despite whatever is thrown at you. Jamie did well, despite suffering a cold and cough. She even got a chance to let Hazel take a bow at the end Sunday.
Isabella, the dog, went along. She may well have spent her first night in a motel. The first night she yelped at every noise. I spent much of the night keeping her quiet and missing out on some sleep. By the second night Izzy was a pro and snored the whole night after getting a treat off the local Chinese buffet. Izzy loves her chicken nuggets.
Izzy was quite a hit at the horse fair, enjoying the attention, although she is not sure if she is a fan of cows.
NDSU offered demos of a number of different types of horseback riding, including reigning, cow work and some natural horsemanship along with dressage. It was cool to see many different horses at work and play.
Pam
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Soft Focus
Learning to ride horses can be a very difficult thing to do. Many people if they have difficulty learning something just focus harder. Focusing harder has a negative impact on the horse. Horses are creatures of flight by nature so anything intense like hard focus, fear or anger can cause problems. Riders will ask: "What am I doing wrong?" I will have to say technically nothing, but the focus intensity is too strong or anger or fear is present.
Fear shows up when the horse is too advanced for the rider. Maybe the horse is too sensitive and reactive for the riding level of the rider. Or maybe the horse is too large and in charge and tests the rider for his or her own amusement. In this situation, enlist the help of a trainer to help you through it, or decide if a different mount would be more appropriate.
Anger shows up when the riders have a certain idea of their own talents. Horses show the riders that they do not know as much as they thought they did. Riders then either go into very hard focus or outright abuse. Either way both the horses and riders lose.
Some riders actually go into hard focus innocently, because they learn best in hard focus instead of soft focus. The problem is that the horse is afraid of hard focus - so the rider has no choice but to learn to go into a soft focus to get the best out of the horse.
Do your horse a favor and practice soft focus - you will be surprised at the willingness to learn that your horse will offer in exchange.
Karen
Fear shows up when the horse is too advanced for the rider. Maybe the horse is too sensitive and reactive for the riding level of the rider. Or maybe the horse is too large and in charge and tests the rider for his or her own amusement. In this situation, enlist the help of a trainer to help you through it, or decide if a different mount would be more appropriate.
Anger shows up when the riders have a certain idea of their own talents. Horses show the riders that they do not know as much as they thought they did. Riders then either go into very hard focus or outright abuse. Either way both the horses and riders lose.
Some riders actually go into hard focus innocently, because they learn best in hard focus instead of soft focus. The problem is that the horse is afraid of hard focus - so the rider has no choice but to learn to go into a soft focus to get the best out of the horse.
Do your horse a favor and practice soft focus - you will be surprised at the willingness to learn that your horse will offer in exchange.
Karen
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
December 29, 2009
Hay River Equestrian is going to have an open house on February 27, 2010 at 10:00a.m.. We plan to talk about the 10 things your horse wishes you knew about him or her. There will be riding demonstrations snacks and something hot to drink.
Included in the riding demonstrations, will be Hazel and Amore, two horses that were taken in charitably as their owner could no longer care for them. Jamie Johnson will be doing a demonstration with them as she works with all of the young horses here at the farm. Also included with be Sparky to demonstrate the qualities needed in a good school horse or beginners horse. And lastly will be Bacara demonstrating more advanced dressage movements.
Everyone should be comfotable, we have heated our indoor arena this year for all season riding comfort.
Karen
Included in the riding demonstrations, will be Hazel and Amore, two horses that were taken in charitably as their owner could no longer care for them. Jamie Johnson will be doing a demonstration with them as she works with all of the young horses here at the farm. Also included with be Sparky to demonstrate the qualities needed in a good school horse or beginners horse. And lastly will be Bacara demonstrating more advanced dressage movements.
Everyone should be comfotable, we have heated our indoor arena this year for all season riding comfort.
Karen
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