European Training Journal Day 27 - Teaching! | |
I am back in the land of the living after two days either in bed or staying quiet. Something hit me that sapped my energy and gave me such a migraine, that hearing the silverware clatter sounded like symbols crashing, and I knew that I would be useless if I tried to ride or work in the barn. I came back to work today feeling much better, and ready for a busy day. There is someone here for the next week or so to look at horses, and my little stallion friend is one of the prospects she is considering, so Anja said that she had ridden him on Sunday when I was ill, and she would be riding him again today for the prospective buyer. Of course, I was disappointed, but the good news was that Anja said how much improved the horse was in his mouth, that she was pleasantly surprised, and that other people had ridden him without making him better. I was thrilled to hear that he was improved and for the confirmation that I did bring some competent skill with me, even if there is much that needs refining. And then I had a lesson on my schoolmaster friend, and even he was easier to put through today. However, if I hear one more time to let my legs hang, take my spurs out of the horse, or quiet my hands, I may have to commit myself. Also today, Anja suggested that I teach another student here, Steffi, with her supervision. Hmm...OK, I'll give it my best shot. The student that she assigned me is a 19 year old Austrian girl here to do her 2 year apprenticeship for licensing to become a Bereiter. She has been here since August, and is already a lovely rider. Also, she does a great job with her somewhat difficult horse, and I wasn't sure how much I was going to enhance the picture. During her lesson she rode her 5 year old Hanoverian gelding who does not like to go through his back, and she spends a lot of time asking him to be supple, both laterally and longitudinally. I watched her warm up and designed a series of exercises in my head that I thought would help her get the horse more through. Steffi graciously tried my plan for a while, and while the horse was a little better, Anja thought that there were many more comments that I should be making to this rider about her position as well as helping her to soften the horse through his neck and back. So I tried again for a while, and asked some technical questions about how Anja would tell the rider to accomplish what she was looking for in the horse. By that time, the poor horse had been out there an hour, and it was time to put him away, but I felt that I gained insight as to what would be expected from a lesson here. Anja said we would practice more with other horse-rider combinations. These people all ride beautifully, and I am a little reluctant to give them lessons, but that is one of the things I am here for, and if they are generous enough to take them from me, I will take the opportunity to improve my teaching. I misspoke regarding Anja's status here. I mistakenly thought that she was one of the students, and as a matter of fact, she is a 25 year old German citizen who passed her Bereiter exam in 1999, and is employed here as stable manager as well as educator of horses and riders. She not only oversees many aspects of the daily operation of the stable, but rides several horses per day, and teaches students as well. She is very capable in her various roles, and hopes to continue to improve her skills in all aspects of her work. Judging from her demonstrable determination, aptitude and desire, she will be successful. Over the next few days I have seen more great exercises. The next two can be ridden at the walk, and then the trot or the canter, whichever is more appropriate. The first was a shoulder in down the long side followed by a volte in the middle of the long side, followed by a leg yield along the wall. A few of those each way and the horse was much improved in his engagement. The other was a half pass out of the corner to X followed by either a half or full walk pirouette and then half pass to the other corner, depending on the way you were facing at the end of the pirouette. Such a simple movement and so effective! Both of these exercises were done at the walk, and then the first at the trot and the second at the canter, with very good results. Another exercise consisted of the half-pass down the centerline or across the diagonal to renvers along the wall to renvers on the circle. The size and steepness of the movements depended on the horses' ability, and they were done at the walk, trot, and canter. At the canter, the renvers on the circle was followed by a schooling pirouette. Really excellent for engagement, and any horse that was marginally through could not do it until they became more through with less difficult exercises. One such exercise used this way was renvers along the wall to renvers 1 or 2 meters from the wall to renvers along the wall again without changing the bend or rhythm of the horse. A younger horse worked first on a turn on the forehand to reinback to forward on a straight line to another turn on the forehand-reinback combination in the opposite direction. The next exercise in the progression was a volte at the walk to a leg-yield along the wall finished with another volte at the end of the long line. After some work at the trot that included leg-yield from the quarter line to the rail, Mr. Schumacher went back to the walk volte along the rail, to a canter transition as the horse met the wall, to a 20 meter circle at the canter, to a 10 meter circle at the origin of the large circle to a walk transition as the horse approached the rail again. The idea being that all the transitions should be made with the support of the wall to give the horse confidence and balance. And to top it off I watched the lesson of the most elastic, expressive, dynamic, gorgeous horse I have ever laid eyes on. He and his rider were working on pirouettes and piaffe-passage transitions. This horse had such engagement in the canter pirouettes that there was a remarkable moment of suspension with every canter stride as he made his way around the pirouette. The piaffe-passage work took my breath away with its ease and elegance. I never wanted the lesson to end, and I could have watched that exquisite horse all day. |
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