A weekend at the Fork with Rebecca Howard - Achieving Straightness
Last weekend, Ashley was kind enough to let me tag along with her to the Fork so I could take a couple of lessons with Rebecca Howard. Rebecca Howard is poised to take a spot on the Canadian Olympic team and the weekend was a special fundraising event for her. There was free food, an auction and a riding demonstration by Rebecca and Rupert, her Olympic hopeful.
Friday I was lucky enough to have a private lesson with Rebecca. She watched Leo go for about 5 minutes and then got on and rode him herself. Ashley said she almost always gets on a new horse so she can feel what's going on herself. I love this approach.
Ashley and I have been putting more pressure on Leo lately which has resulted in more frequent tantrums. But the tantrums are shorter and I can get Leo back to working pretty quickly now. I love this new maturity of his! We've been working on collecting and lengthening in the gaits, which is quite difficult for Leo. With Ashley's encouragement, I've been more disciplined in my approach to Leo's training. For example, I don't allow Leo to proceed with an upward transition if he starts to brace against the bit and invert. I am trying to be more correct in my aides and then more disciplined in expecting a correct response from Leo so everything becomes more black and white for him.
Leo's crooked tendencies
Leo's tantrums always manifest themselves like this: he drops his haunches right and stops moving forward. He won't turn right and won't move off the right leg. For the last year I haven't really known what to do to correct this disobedience. I just do my best to kick Leo forward. Well amazingly, Rebecca had a fix!
When she got off, she explained that Leo was very crooked in his body. Dropping his haunches right was an evasion grounded in crookedness. I had to focus my training on achieving straightness in order to deal with the resistant tantrums, improve our connection and ultimately resolve some of our jumping issues.
How to straighten Leo
Rebecca said no matter which direction, Leo's crookedness is always the same: shoulders go left and haunches go right. This means that I always need to move the shoulders right (opening right rein) and the haunches left (right leg), no matter which direction I am going. She said walk is always difficult for a sensitive horse so get to trotting. To the right, counter bend, open the right rein to move his shoulders right and keep his haunches moving left to align his body. Once I have straightness, then I can start to ask for a right bend. Constant changes of direction helped to reinforce the aides and Leo really responded well. It's amazing to me that Rebecca could ride him for 10 minutes and then turn around and in the most simple terms, help me work through the problem.
Moving onto jumping, Rebecca said Leo's crookedness is what creates many of our problems. When Leo gets crooked, he drops his head behind the vertical and stops his forward motion. Then makes a bid for the fence. When Leo is straight and forward, he jumps smoothly. Sounds like it should be so easy to fix right?
We jumped a single fence on a figure-eight and worked on the same concepts from the flat. Opening right rein to move the shoulders right and then outside leg to move the haunches left. It was quite difficult when the jump was added to the mix. Then we move on to roll-back turns, which is something I would have never schooled on my own because its hard and intimidating. Funny how in a lesson, you buck up and get it done!
On Saturday, we schooled xc with Rebecca. The jumps weren't big or technically difficult. She focused on related jumps that required lots of turning and balancing. She wanted Leo to understand that he could jump comfortably without speed. The crookedness was magnified horribly with the slower speed and small jumps. Plus, Leo does not perform well in a group environment. He gets herd bound very quickly and then throws tantrum when he has to get to work. Not super fun!
The couple of galloping fences we did do, magnified my habit of fussing with Leo to try and correct the crookedness. Rebecca said, when galloping and jumping I had to go forward to correct the crookedness. It can't be corrected by trying to slow him down and fussing with the reins.
We also worked on my position. Rebecca wanted me to hover over the saddle in the approach to my fences, rather than sitting in the saddle and driving with my seat. She thought that sitting drove Leo forward unnecessarily and that is also was one of the reasons Leo was able to jump me out of the saddle. It was hard concept for me. Ashley, Sally and Lucinda have used the 3-point position to help correct Leo's tendency to drag me out of the saddle. But it was an important lesson because I need to learn to drive Leo forward with my legs, not just rely on my seat. I also need to make adjustments for the horse that is under me that day. The one thing I've learned this year is how reluctant I have been to use my leg on Leo, but its an aide I need for everything - from lateral moves to galloping fences.
Rebecca's Recommendations:
Friday I was lucky enough to have a private lesson with Rebecca. She watched Leo go for about 5 minutes and then got on and rode him herself. Ashley said she almost always gets on a new horse so she can feel what's going on herself. I love this approach.
Ashley and I have been putting more pressure on Leo lately which has resulted in more frequent tantrums. But the tantrums are shorter and I can get Leo back to working pretty quickly now. I love this new maturity of his! We've been working on collecting and lengthening in the gaits, which is quite difficult for Leo. With Ashley's encouragement, I've been more disciplined in my approach to Leo's training. For example, I don't allow Leo to proceed with an upward transition if he starts to brace against the bit and invert. I am trying to be more correct in my aides and then more disciplined in expecting a correct response from Leo so everything becomes more black and white for him.
Leo's crooked tendencies
Leo's tantrums always manifest themselves like this: he drops his haunches right and stops moving forward. He won't turn right and won't move off the right leg. For the last year I haven't really known what to do to correct this disobedience. I just do my best to kick Leo forward. Well amazingly, Rebecca had a fix!
When she got off, she explained that Leo was very crooked in his body. Dropping his haunches right was an evasion grounded in crookedness. I had to focus my training on achieving straightness in order to deal with the resistant tantrums, improve our connection and ultimately resolve some of our jumping issues.
How to straighten Leo
Rebecca said no matter which direction, Leo's crookedness is always the same: shoulders go left and haunches go right. This means that I always need to move the shoulders right (opening right rein) and the haunches left (right leg), no matter which direction I am going. She said walk is always difficult for a sensitive horse so get to trotting. To the right, counter bend, open the right rein to move his shoulders right and keep his haunches moving left to align his body. Once I have straightness, then I can start to ask for a right bend. Constant changes of direction helped to reinforce the aides and Leo really responded well. It's amazing to me that Rebecca could ride him for 10 minutes and then turn around and in the most simple terms, help me work through the problem.
Moving onto jumping, Rebecca said Leo's crookedness is what creates many of our problems. When Leo gets crooked, he drops his head behind the vertical and stops his forward motion. Then makes a bid for the fence. When Leo is straight and forward, he jumps smoothly. Sounds like it should be so easy to fix right?
We jumped a single fence on a figure-eight and worked on the same concepts from the flat. Opening right rein to move the shoulders right and then outside leg to move the haunches left. It was quite difficult when the jump was added to the mix. Then we move on to roll-back turns, which is something I would have never schooled on my own because its hard and intimidating. Funny how in a lesson, you buck up and get it done!
On Saturday, we schooled xc with Rebecca. The jumps weren't big or technically difficult. She focused on related jumps that required lots of turning and balancing. She wanted Leo to understand that he could jump comfortably without speed. The crookedness was magnified horribly with the slower speed and small jumps. Plus, Leo does not perform well in a group environment. He gets herd bound very quickly and then throws tantrum when he has to get to work. Not super fun!
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| Rebecca giving us a critique |
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| Rebecca explaining to me that if my feet are in front of my shoulders, even in 2-point, my position is secure |
The couple of galloping fences we did do, magnified my habit of fussing with Leo to try and correct the crookedness. Rebecca said, when galloping and jumping I had to go forward to correct the crookedness. It can't be corrected by trying to slow him down and fussing with the reins.
We also worked on my position. Rebecca wanted me to hover over the saddle in the approach to my fences, rather than sitting in the saddle and driving with my seat. She thought that sitting drove Leo forward unnecessarily and that is also was one of the reasons Leo was able to jump me out of the saddle. It was hard concept for me. Ashley, Sally and Lucinda have used the 3-point position to help correct Leo's tendency to drag me out of the saddle. But it was an important lesson because I need to learn to drive Leo forward with my legs, not just rely on my seat. I also need to make adjustments for the horse that is under me that day. The one thing I've learned this year is how reluctant I have been to use my leg on Leo, but its an aide I need for everything - from lateral moves to galloping fences.
Rebecca's Recommendations:
- Always seek straighten Leo's body, no matter what I am doing
- Be disciplined in expecting Leo's attention and connection on the flat
- Work on jumping exercises that will help Leo become more supple and use his body without requiring speed
- On cross country, correct crookedness by going forward
I wish I had taken advantage of Rebecca Howard sooner! I learned a tremendous amount from her and loved her teaching style. Maybe I will luck out and get one more lesson before she leaves for England.
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