USDF Convention
December 6, 2003
Horse #1: Harmony’s Weismüller owned by Harmony Sporthorses (Weltmeyer/Bolero, 6 y.o. stallion)
Work began in hand for this horse. Lisa uses a cavesson, and attaches the sidereins/reins to the noseband and not the bit, so that the horse will be encouraged to chew—in that manner she can apply half halts to the nose. The work is done using 2 handlers—in this case, Ernst worked from the hindquarters, using 2 short whips (one for the hocks/croup area, and a second under the belly/stifle area) and Lisa worked from the shoulder/front.
They began by testing his reaction, because he had had no experience with in-hand work. They were not waiting for the perfect piaffe. Work was done on the rail. Lisa moves her legs in a stepping pattern, even if the horse was not moving or moving forward, because she wanted to give him the idea of movement, and did not want to block him with her body language. It was Lisa’s job to keep him straight. Because the horse was behind the bit, they shortened the connection.
The whip used behind was stiffer, and asked for movement. A more flexible whip in front of the stifles was used to prevent too much forward movement. They stopped frequently and praised the horse for any attempt at a correct response. Ernst was only requesting lightly, taking care not to get the horse too uncomfortable in his head. This was an exercise in patience for the handlers, who needed to take the time to make sure the horse understands. When the horse back-pedalled away from the work, they did not get after him. Lisa said that that was a normal reaction. Instead, they patiently repositioned the horse and went back to work. It was not allowed to become a battle.
Lisa said it was OK to let him go very forward. The most important thing when he was learning was to let him go forward and to think forward. Lisa’s body position was important in signaling the stallion. When she was faced him head-on, she was signaling “stop” and blocking his movement. When she was facing his shoulder, or she was allowing forward movement, and if she turned to face the direction of travel, she was encouraging forward movement.
At most, Lisa and Ernst would work in this fashion twice a week at home for a period of 6 months, then give the horse a break and revisit the work 6 months later.
After the work in-hand, Lisa rode the stallion. She rode him initially only on the snaffle, leaving the curb alone. She likes to leave the curb as a “last resort,” always wants to have a reserve. Lisa says the curb is too sharp, and would discourage chewing in the warm-up phase.
Lisa says that every horse has weaknesses, and that you want to focus on them from the beginning of your warm-up on through your work of the day. Typical of many stallions, this one has wonderful muscling and looks finished, but he hasn’t yet developed the carrying power that he will have as a 9 or 10 year-old. He looks more developed than he really is, and the rider needs to be careful not to go over his true ability in the warm-up and in the work.
It’s important in the warm-up not to ride him too deep or you will encourage him not to step under his center of balance. Shorten his frame by driving him into a quiet hand, and through sitting more and stepping into the inside stirrup. It’s important to really ride and maintain the supporting/driving seat in the bending lines (i.e., corners) and along the short sides. The horse must not decide that the short sides are rest breaks.
Begin half pass work from the center-line, especially for horses that get “stuck”, correcting them with small aids from the ring finger. Teach the horse to move from both hands equally.
In the canter work, this horse has the natural tendency to be out behind, so Lisa said she does not want to send him more forward which would exaggerate the tendency. Instead, she wants to concentrate on collecting work, and focus on sitting him down/asking him to sit. She said she needed to focus on not allowing his unbalanced canter to unbalance her seat.
She wanted 2/3 of the weight on her outside rein, and 1/3 of the weight on her inside rein, and wanted to support him so that he could increase the balance to his hind legs. The rider position is critical to balancing the horse. The rider has to pay constant attention to the connection in the outside rein.
Horse #2: Werbellin owned by Rachel Ehrlich (Weltmeyer/Lady Laurin, 9 y.o. stallion)
Lisa wasn’t able to talk as much during this ride, because she was concentrating intently on Ernst's instructions with this more advanced horse that thus required more skill and coordination from the rider in order to execute the movements. In general the principles were the same as above. Differences follow:
The short side is important. Use it to really prepare. Collect and bring the horse together to ride the collected movement on the long side. Ask for changes in the bend slowly.
In-Hand: Have to keep the horse straight through neck/poll. This horse wants to twist/tilt over topline which interferes with the ability to find rhythm behind.
Horse #3: Bergamon owned by Stargate (Baryshnikov/Pik Koenig, 9 y.o. stallion)
Bergamon just out of LONG quarantine, and learning to trust connection again. Instead of a tendency to drop too low like the other stallions, Bergamon wants to come above the connection. He plays with his head, so it’s especially important that she’s quiet with her hands—it’s the only chance she has of getting to trust the connection.
This horse doesn’t allow her to sit too heavily into his back. She has to respect that. She posts longer, sits lighter, also asks for initial bend with canter work. His being shows a strong character, and she doesn’t want to destroy that. Lisa worked very slowly, and all movements were approached slowly/gently and with great finesse with Bergamon.
In the half pass, Ernst said to let the eye/head lead, and everything else will follow. Half pass begins with the eye/head, then the shoulder, middle-hand (mid-section), and hindquarters follow.
With this tense horse, the rider must sit quietly, and use very slow hands, softening the horse slowly. If Lisa uses her fingers more quickly, she can make the horse tight. The rider’s body needs to ABSORB the movement and not be creating movement. Lisa uses the center-line in a horse that wants to lead with the hind-end. The connection is critical in this horse. Every disruption causes loss of rhythm and subsequently, things fall apart. This is the reason why Lisa was unable to translate/comment to the same degree.
In hand, Bergamon showed a “rare gift for piaffe.” Lisa’s legs moved even when the horse was not moving. Her body language was saying move, not stop so that she wasn’t blocking him. When he started to see himself in the mirror, he puffed up and got distracted. Lisa said that was typical stallion behavior, but they didn’t move away from the mirror. Lisa said that he needed to learn that he still needed to pay attention.
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