Tag Archives: USEA Area 1

Area I USEA Annual Meeting: Tik Maynard

January 23, 2018 christinakeim 5 Comments

I had the occasion to attend the US Eventing Association (USEA) Area I Annual Meeting out in Holyoke, MA on January 7, 2018. I try to make it every year to attend the event organizer’s meeting, and getting to stay to hear the guest lecture each year is an added bonus. I was quite enthused to learn that Canadian event rider Tik Maynard had been asked to speak at this year’s meeting. Recently, I read a piece Tik wrote for Practical Horseman about the ground work training he had used with his Retired Racehorse Project mount, Remarkable 54. I found the article well written and thoughtful, and had a sense from it that Tik was an educated, thinking horseman. In his presentation, which he called, “7 Big Picture Ideas to Get Along Better with your Horse”, he did not disappoint.

My overall impression of Tik as a horseman only improved upon hearing his introduction—the son of a show jumper and a dressage rider, he attended college in his native British Columbia before embarking on a quest for absolutely top of the line horsemanship education by spending nearly two years apprenticing with riders such as Ingrid Klimke, Johann Hinneman, Anne Kursinski and David and Karen O’Connor. The work was hard and sometimes he didn’t measure up—in fact, he was asked to leave Hinneman’s barn for “not being good enough”. He worked hard to spend time with some of the best in different disciplines, even though eventing became his main passion. At the O’Connors, he had his first exposure to natural horsemanship, which completely changed the way in which Tik approached horse training.

This experience inspired him to do a working student position in Texas with a western rider who specializes in training cow horses using natural horsemanship techniques. I may be getting the exact timeline wrong here, but you get the general idea. In working at this facility, Tik says that he didn’t learn so much about riding— he learned a lot about horses. He became more interested in the behavioral side of horses—how they think, how they respond, and how they process training.

Through his practical education, Tik developed the perspective that all trainers have a philosophy which is the result of the unique combination of their personal training in technique and theory combined with their own instinct or horse sense. Each trainer’s philosophy will be unique to them, which he thinks is a good thing. It is sort of his premise that a student becomes a sum total of their teachers, and every experience has something to teach us, even if what we learn is what doesn’t work well. It is only once a trainer has a solid foundation and philosophy of their own that they can begin to use their imagination to, in Tik’s words, “do something better than it has ever been done before.”

Tik’s personal philosophy would seem to prioritize a horse which is engaged in the learning process. He talks about “The Look”, the moment when the horse looks at the trainer with both eyes and ears focused, seemingly saying, “What are we doing today?” He emphasizes a difference between communication and control in training. And though he was told that there was no way that he would be able to combine natural horsemanship training with developing competition horses at the highest level, he has not allowed such negativity to dissuade him from his path.

In his presentation for the Area I Meeting, Tik highlighted seven concepts which he has found to be important in working with his horses in training.

Taming versus training. Tik argues that there are horses being ridden and shown which are barely tame, never mind trained. For example, when the horse is showing even a slight fear reaction to certain stimuli, or grossly overacts to a small stimulus, these can both be signs that the horse is not fully ok with what is going on. “It is like you have this horse simmering with energy just below the surface,” says Tik. “The horse reacts to the sound of a twig snapping, but that is not the cause of the horse’s tension.” Tik gave as an example of one of his horses, Carollina, who needed to be taught to really think forward.

“There are lots of ways to communicate with horses, but they only have two main ways to show how they feel—either more anxiety or more relaxation,” says Tik. “Too often people learn to compete before they learn how to ride, and before they learn how a horse thinks.”

Start with something you can Your goal may be huge (compete at Rolex) but to get there you must learn all the skills which come before. When training, start with the skills that your horse can do well—even if they are quite basic—and build from there. Tik used the example of teaching a horse to handle a bank. Start with: can my horse look at the bank? Get closer to the bank? Look across the bank and realize that there is someplace to go? “You must be patient,” says Tik. “For example, almost all water problems with horses are the result of someone pushing too hard with the horse’s first experience.”

When working with a horse which has lost confidence, it is important to take a step back and do many small things successfully before revisiting the thing which is hard. “People often get into trouble because they skip steps,” says Tik. “There is still an attitude out there that you ‘have to win’. You need to know that what you get into is something you can get out of. Do not have a battle. Back up to something you can do, and then repeat it.”

Becoming exposed to unfamiliar stimuli should be like a game.

Make your session with your horse like a song. When working with a horse, your training session should contain moments at different levels of intensity. The warm up is gradual, and then you may progress to a new skill or lesson which is higher intensity, before the energy gradually comes down towards the end of the session. “All moments are not created equal,” says Tik.

Horses can only learn when they are relaxed. Tik says if there is a scale of tension, a horse must be under a level three in order to learn. “You need to be polite, and do little polite things to help the horse be more invested in you,” says Tik. “If you touch the neck on one side, touch the horse on the opposite side at the same time. Approach a crosstied horse with the same care as a hard to catch horse.”

Tik tries to end each training session by dismounting in the area where he rode, facing away from the barn. He then loosens the girth and might remove the bridle, and waits there until the horse lets go and takes a deep breath.

“Rule number one is the person is safe at the end,” says Tik. “Rule number two is the horse is safe. Rule number three is that the horse is more relaxed at the end of the ride than at the beginning.”

Learning to cross tie is one important basic skill which all horses should be taught.

Make your horse’s world neutral.

There are stimuli which will attract your horse (positives) and those which will repel them (negatives). The trainer needs to shift the horse’s energy towards where they want it to go to. As an example, Tik spoke about acclimatizing his OTTB, Remarkable, to the coliseum in preparation for their freestyle performance at the Retired Racehorse Project. The ring was full of banners, which worried the horse. So Tik led the horse towards the banner, and had an assistant feed Remarkable a small treat from the opposite side of each banner until the horse began to relax.

Trainers need to make themselves be more interesting than anything else going on. This means that the lesson being taught must be more interesting; trainers must learn when and how to be big with their actions (body, waving a flag) and when to be more subtle. Which leads really well into Big Picture Idea #5….

Stop at the top of the bell curve.

As a horse progresses through their training, they will get better with a new skill and then often start to get worse—this is a sign that they are bored, frustrated or similar. Tik reminded the audience that “repetition is the mildest form of punishment”, so a better approach is to get to the top of the exercise and then stop, even if the horse gets there quickly. Continuing to repeat the exercise once the horse has already gotten the point of it for the day will mean that they are likely to end their lesson at an energy level higher than a 3 (see Big Picture Idea # 3).

Be a problem solver. Think.

Be creative. Seek help. Think laterally. “The more you do it, the better you get,” says Tik.
“Almost everything we do with horses is about communication or motivation.”

Tik says that the best trainers learn to think like a horse, and they also are aware of how they want the horse to be responding to them. “Dressage horses think about the rider the whole time, but for jumping horses we maybe only want them focusing on the rider during the turns,” says Tik. “Then they need to focus on the jump. So the horse needs to learn how to smoothly shift their focus.”

from-solstice-079 — Lee says, “There is definitely something OVER THERE.”

What are the Olympics of Everything?

Tik joked with the audience, “what if there were an Olympics for cross ties, for leading, for being caught, etc?” His point is that no matter what kind of interaction we have with the horse, we can always work to make it better. It is upon these smaller steps which big goals are achieved. “Have your end goal in mind but always stay in the present,” says Tik (seems relevant to so much in life, no?).

In listening to Tik’s presentation, as well as his responses to audience questions, I was struck by his calm demeanor. He seems humble and authentic. He did announce that he is working on a book with Trafalgar Square, scheduled for release in June 2018—I suspect that this text will be one to add to the library.

Clinic Reports, Personal Stories, Training Tips and Techniques

Motivating the Lazy Equine Athlete

December 30, 2015 christinakeim 2 Comments

Further Learnings from the Area I Scholarship

In 2015, I was lucky enough to be one of ten recipients of an Area I Eventing Scholarship. In my application, I indicated that I planned to focus on training rather than competing Annapony this season. I used funds from the scholarship to pay for lessons with Verne Batchelder, Denny Emerson and Nancy Guyotte (see Another Clinic with Nancy Guyotte). Throughout each session, one theme became abundantly clear: Anna is a capable, but somewhat lazy, athlete, and nagging her for “more” will get you nowhere. My lesson with Nancy focused mostly on show jumping, while Verne tackled dressage and Denny, cross country. In this blog, I will discuss the main exercises and techniques learned in the sessions with Verne and Denny.

Verne Batchelder: Using Double Longeing to Improve Suppleness and Impulsion

Verne Batchelder of River House Hanoverians in Williston, FL, gives clinics regularly in New Hampshire. I have really enjoyed working with him over the past several years both with Anna and Lee. One of Verne’s great strengths is his ability to find many different approaches to correcting deficiencies, all while staying within a clear training system and progression. Verne is also an expert with work in hand, including double longeing and long lining; he regularly includes such techniques in the training programs of his own horses, which I had the opportunity to witness on a visit to his farm several years ago (see Winter Training Sessions: Mini-Pro Style).

Having worked with Verne a number of times previously, he is well familiar with Anna’s tendency to be generally lacking in impulsion. Some of this he attributes to her inherent mellow nature, but some of it is due to a lack of suppleness. We have worked on improving her suppleness in a variety of ways, including improved neck control, the use of traditional lateral exercises such as shoulder fore, leg yield and haunches in, as well as longitudinal stretching work like long and low or lengthenings.

This spring, Verne decided for the first time to incorporate some work on the double longe into our session. His intention was to provide increased support through the outside turning aids while improving control of the curvature of her neck. I remained mounted while Verne ran two lines; the outside line was simply attached to the bit ring and ran over my leg and around Anna’s hindquarters, while the inside line was set up as a sliding longe. This meant that the line ran through the inside bit ring and then attached to a loop on the girth, underneath my inside foot. With the sliding longe, the ground handler can smoothly achieve correct inside flexion. The outside line allows for a clear and consistent support through the entire arc of the horse’s body while also providing a mechanism to apply a traditional half halt.

Here is a video which shows a little bit of basic long lining.

It is quite a strange feeling to essentially have one’s horse ridden from the ground while one remains mounted! Anna has longed only a little bit, and I was definitely mildly (well, greatly) concerned that she might not be a model citizen when put into these boundaries. My job was to essentially hold the reins evenly and to remain centered, adding leg to support Verne’s body position and voice. At first, Anna was somewhat resistant to the idea of accepting the newly imposed limits. It is important for a trainer to remember that resistance is only the horse’s way of expressing their displeasure. If the question the trainer is asking the horse is fair given their physical condition and previous training, and the aids are appropriate, usually the rider’s best response is to simply ignore the resistance and remain consistent in using the aids to ask the appropriate question. In fairly short order, Anna relaxed into the new parameters established by the double longe and began to more actively engage the muscles of her topline as well as increase the degree of thrust from her hindquarters. In addition, the connection further stabilized and the quality of the bend improved.

After this session with Verne, I incorporated the use of about ten minutes of warm up on the double longe with Anna on dressage days, with the inside line set up as a sliding longe. When the horse is unmounted, side reins set just a little bit on the longer side will help to maintain straightness; as always, they should not be adjusted in such a way that the horse’s head is forced down or in. In working with this technique independently, I noticed that Anna could find her own balance and begin to develop looseness throughout her back more rapidly than when warmed up under saddle. When I rode her after this style of warm up, she was much more willing to stay “hotter” off my leg and therefore I could use a much quieter forward driving aid.

Here is a video of some double longeing.

One of the other huge benefits of using the sliding longe technique to warm up was that the overall work session could remain “short and sweet”. Because she had already loosened up her muscles, it was possible to keep the actual “work” session much more focused and organized. I think this is super important with all horses, but especially those which don’t have an unlimited reserve of energy. If you can get in the ring, do what you need to do, and then go out for a hack, the horse’s attitude will stay fresher and more enthusiastic than when they anticipate a long session of drill work.

Denny Emerson: Jumping Fences off a Forward Stride

Anna and I spent the summer of 2014 up at Tamarack Hill Farm, where we worked hard to rebuild our confidence over fences (see The Tamarack Chronicles: Vol III). We left in August with a renewed sense of harmony and assurance in our jumping work and completed the fall season with placings at King Oak and Stoneleigh Burnham Horse Trials.

Keim-C-090714-3765 — Anna at King Oak Farm, September 2014. Photo courtesy of Flatlandsfoto/Joan Davis and used with permission.

Overall, I was able to continue to apply the techniques I had learned at Denny’s to our regular schooling routine and keep Anna’s jumping skills tuned up while working on my own over the winter. In general, I keep the fences low enough that “mistakes” are not a big deal. I have focused a lot of energy on further refining my jumping “eye” and improving the quality and consistency of Anna’s jumping canter.

Denny always says that when under pressure, all riders will show a tendency to either “choke” or “chase” their eye. What he means is that we all have a preference for pushing a horse to lengthen their stride, perhaps leaving a bit too long, or to overly compress the horse, causing them to jump from a deep spot. While either option might be the best one in a given circumstance, neither is ideal as a method of riding to every fence; this is why most of us have to develop, through practice, the ability and habit of organizing the horse’s canter to arrive at the “ideal” take off spot. It is my opinion that horses, too, have a tendency to prefer to leave long or to jump deep, and they also need to be conditioned to be able to jump from a variety of different reasonable points.

Anna would be a “choker”. She can be carrying a decent amount of energy and power in the canter, and then in the final few strides before the fence, drop behind the leg, compress her stride, and calmly decelerate to the base with increasingly shorter strides. It isn’t quite the same as a “chip”, which is when the horse will squish one extra small stride right in front of the fence. With Anna, it is a steady deceleration which allows balanced but small strides to be fit into the space where a few longer strides would have been better. She is simply more comfortable jumping from a slightly tighter distance off a shorter stride.

For a long time, I have allowed Anna to manage her fences in this way, as it seemed to be the place from which she was most confident. It is also incredibly difficult to prevent her from doing it, and when I try to address the issue, I feel like I am beating her with my legs and/ or crop to keep the canter going. I have participated in clinics (most notably with Kim Severson) where the entire focus became trying to eliminate this change in the canter, to get Anna to jump more “out of stride”, but I always end up feeling like both Anna and I are frustrated. She also will begin to shut down if you really push her on it—her response seems to be, “hey, I jumped your fence, lady, what more do you want?”

The major issue is that there are some fences which simply do not ride as well when jumped from this tighter spot, including upright verticals like planks and wider oxers. In addition, she will often quit when faced with this deep distance and a tough question. Yet when I push her to maintain the same canter to avoid this situation, she will obstinately ignore my aids and put herself into the not ideal take off point. It is just yet another manifestation of her tendency to not stay in front of the leg. Story of our lives!

So if I rode like Michael Jung or Ingrid Klimke or any of the other equestrian elite, my horse would never have gotten to this point. But as I am a mere mortal, and have made a ‘deal’ with my horse, I am now faced with trying to change the terms of our established contract.

My session with Denny started in the show jumping arena. After a brief warm up on the flat, I began popping over a few of the smaller fences in the ring. Anna was obedient but also performing her signature “I change my canter on the approach” maneuver. Denny decided that the focus of our session was going to be keeping her much more forward overall, but especially in those critical last few strides before the fence.

JumpingtheCows — In this lesson at Tamarack in summer of 2014, we were racing an impending storm– the energy in the air came through into the pony and we finally found some forward intention!

Still in the show jumping ring, Denny had me kick Anna up into a cross country style canter—as much of a gallop as Anna will do under saddle (have I mentioned that she is not a very forward thinking animal?). My job was to do whatever it took—growl, flail, kick like a D2 Pony Clubber—to keep her not just in a jumping canter but a forward, cross country canter, to each and every fence I aimed at. I really did feel just like a 10 year old whose legs don’t clear the saddle flaps, both in technique and overall effectiveness. For her part, Anna did stay much more forward, but it wasn’t coming from within her—it was the result of my motivation.

So in spite of seeing this glimmer of improvement, Denny decided that we needed to go out onto the cross country course to seek more energy. Most horses show an intrinsic improvement in their forward intention when they are out in the open, and the terrain of Vermont would also provide some assistance. Denny hoped that by adding in these variables, Anna would begin to better ‘self-motivate’ in her approach to the fences.

OneStrideBank — Working on a similar exercise at Tamarack in the summer of 2014, we had jumped up a bank and then were looking for a bounce to this vertical. I must be trying to pick her up off the ground here!

The exercise seemed simple—pick up a positive canter at the bottom of a slope, kick on up the hill, then ride a gradual turn over the crest of the hill and allow the momentum of the descent to carry us forward down to a tire jump at the bottom. The objective? To maintain the positive, forward energy up to and across the fence, with no change in step.

It was really, really hard to not “check” Anna on the descent down the hill. The tire fence we were tackling at the base was small, and so no matter where we came to, Anna would be more than able to cope with getting us up and over. In spite of that, it took everything in my power to not try to come to a specific take off point. For the first several attempts, I did pretty well at the roll down the hill but when Anna began her typical slow down at the base, I did little to prevent it. It was truly amazing how effortlessly she could check all of that forward energy and then insert her little microstrides in before the jump.

I ended up having to channel that inner ten year old girl again, and basically kick and flail and feel like we just galloped down the hill, before Anna FINALLY jumped the tire fence directly out of stride.

Left to my own devices, I don’t think I would ever have been brave enough to ride Anna so aggressively. I still have hunter equitation roots, where aids such as visible kicking or moving out of harmony with the horse are certainly frowned upon. I think I would also have worried too much about getting her out of balance and causing her to make a dangerous mistake. But Denny made two comments regarding these thoughts: 1) The fences MUST be kept low and straightforward, so that jumping them is a given almost regardless of the horse’s balance and 2) he almost never ever coaches riders to ride like this either. Anna is just that lazy!

THFAug5 — Finally getting it right! Photos by Denny Emerson.

My major take home from this session was that no matter what, I NEED to practice remaining assertive and positive with the forward driving aids up to and away from each and every fence. I don’t think that I have been passive with my aids at all; it is just clear that in some circumstances with some horses, it is possible to be even bigger and louder with your aids than you might think is appropriate!

I would really to thank the members of the Area I Scholarship for choosing me as one of the 2015 recipients. I feel that I definitely benefitted from the instruction I gained from the scholarship, and I hope that through these blogs, other riders with lazy horses might gain some additional ideas or insights into techniques which can help them, too!

Clinic Reports, Training Tips and Techniques

(Another) Clinic with Nancy Guyotte: Keeping your horse in front of the leg

May 26, 2015 christinakeim Leave a comment

Blogger’s Note: I am grateful to be a recipient of a 2015 Area I USEA eventing scholarship. In my application, I indicated that this year may be one in which I focus more on training than on competing in the sport, and I asked for funds to help cover the expenses of training sessions with both eventing and dressage experts. My recent ride with Nancy Guyotte was included as one of these training sessions. I would like to thank the scholarship committee for awarding me with this funding and I hope that this blog will help to share some of my experience with others who are interested.

I recently had the opportunity to ride once again with Nancy Guyotte, an alumna of the University of New Hampshire Animal Science program, who returned to give a clinic for the UNH Equine Program at the end of the spring semester, 2015. After working on my own for most of the winter, I welcomed the opportunity for some feedback and fine tuning from such an experienced coach.

One of Anna’s qualities, which can be simultaneously both helpful and frustrating, is that she is by and large “ho-hum” about most things. New events and activities are not necessarily worthy of great energy or reaction. This is a wonderful attribute in that you can be confident that most of the time she will remain sane and sensible. However, she has never been one who has had a strong response to any of the forward aids, meaning that it can be incredibly difficult to get and to keep her in front of the leg.

None of us want to be “that rider”, the one who goes around kicking and thumping ineffectively on their horse’s sides, nor do we want to have to use the whip constantly. We all know that, theoretically at least, we are supposed to use “light” and “invisible” aids. But doing this is only possible when the horse has been properly conditioned to respond to these cues, which means that we as riders must be able to administer our aids precisely and accurately and then release them immediately, without nagging or holding too long. Here is where riding well is simultaneously a skill and an art.

I think Nancy might be "helping" us off the ground here! — I think Nancy might be “helping” us off the ground here!

I asked to ride privately with Nancy this time because I have found that in clinic settings I am often riding with people whose horses have the opposite problem of mine—they need to be slowed or steadied, as opposed to moved forward. The clinician then spends most of the session working on exercises which bring the horse back to the rider. With Anna, the response to “whoa” is pretty good, especially when she is already behind the leg. So when you do exercises such as, for example, halting in between two fences in a line, Anna only becomes more and more sucked back, and usually she begins to stop. What I needed in this session were exercises that asked my horse to go forward and which improved the timing and accuracy of my “go” aids. I know that I am not alone in this, so if you ride a sometimes lazy and unmotivated horse, perhaps some of Nancy’s exercises will help you, too!

In watching Anna warm up, Nancy immediately noticed that she lacked suppleness and was reluctant to stretch through her topline and to let those muscles swing. These issues can be difficult to improve on when the horse is reluctant to move forward. Nancy suggested that there are two ways to help motivate a lazy horse during the warm up: first, go into a canter in two point sooner rather than later and do many forward and back transitions within the gait; second, do lots of transitions between slower gaits (like walk and trot), asking once and if the response is lackluster, using the aids really strongly and then immediately letting them go. It is important to remember in either of these exercises that the response to the downward aids must also be immediate. The goal is that the horse responds quickly to either the “go” or to the “whoa” aids. Further, one’s application of these aids ideally becomes less and less yet creates a greater response.

We tried each of these approaches with Anna, and the improvement was excellent. One of the most critical pieces of guidance Nancy offered was to not worry so much about the position of the horse’s neck during the transitions. At this point, being above the bit is acceptable. As the horse becomes more forward thinking and their suppleness increases, they will also become softer in the topline and more willing to seek the contact. This then creates the roundness in the transitions. In general, I needed to keep Anna’s neck straighter and to use more outside leg on the turns in order to keep the connection correct.

I admit that I was a bit skeptical of the’ transitions between slower gaits’ exercise. It has always been counterintuitive to me to come all the way to the walk and then to ask the horse to go forward, since the walk by definition lacks impulsion. The other thing with Anna which has been challenging is her utter lack of concern regarding the whip. Most young horses that I have worked with are aware of the whip and most respond to its presence alone by increasing their speed; it is only over time and use that they become desensitized to it, hopefully in a positive way, one which results in their appropriate response to its use. To say that Anna is unimpressed by a whip is an understatement; even the very first session that I carried one with her resulted in a minimal response. It takes a significant amount of application before its use elicits any response at all; to “tickle” her with the whip is not a useful technique. So when you decide to use the whip to back up your leg aid, the timing of its use is critical, and you have to commit to getting a response. Years ago, when I was a working student for Lendon Gray, she said it was far more humane to make your point once and be done than to nag a horse with your aids. This is certainly the case with Anna and the dressage whip.

So what Nancy really had me work on improving through the use of the transitions exercise is the timing of my aids in the transitions. No sooner had the transition been made than we were working on the next one. For the first several transitions, Nancy had me take both reins into one hand and use the whip strongly behind the leg, but then immediately let go. It is the letting go that is the hardest part of the transition, I think. I find that I want to keep supporting or squeezing with the leg aids, even if the response was good, instead of expecting Anna to carry me forward. But the other place in which it is possible to hold for too long, and therefore dull the horse’s response, is in the downward transition. This might be in the use of the rein aids, which would seem fairly obvious, but also in the use of the seat. If you want your horse to maintain their energy through the downward transition, be sure that you aren’t inadvertently holding too much with the seat. Check to see that your hips and lower back still flow and that you aren’t gripping with any muscles that need to stay soft. I know all of these things, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job in executing them, but Nancy reminded me that we are always working to be even better and even faster. The trick for me was figuring out how to be faster at releasing without releasing so much that I was dropping the aids all together.

Anna took great offense to these fake flowers at first!

We also worked on a variation within the warm up, taking advantage of Anna’s ability to do clean flying changes. After doing some forward and backs in the canter, we then started riding a half circle back to the track with a flying change at the end, followed by a transition forward and back within the canter to another half circle to the rail and flying change in the other direction. The half circles were smallish, between 12 and 15 meters. The purpose of this exercise was twofold: first, to get Anna thinking faster by making a series of changes in gait, direction and balance and second, to improve the turning from the outside aids.

Once we began the actual jumping work, Anna was staying reliably in front of my leg and therefore the exercises felt easy and do-able. As always, it is impossible to adjust a canter that is not forward thinking, so any attempts to manage timing at the fences are futile without a forward thinking canter. I think this session was a good reminder of the fact that horses don’t usually have jumping problems so much as they have canter problems. When you improve the quality of the canter, you then improve the quality of your performance over fences.

At one point, Anna had become so forward that she was starting to motorcycle a bit around corners and turns. To address this, Nancy had me work on another exercise which combined turning, transitions and improving the responsiveness to the aids. Starting on the long side in the canter, I rode a transition to the walk and then immediately rode a turn on the haunches followed by a canter transition in the new direction. Again, the purpose at this time was not to execute a flawless, round, dressage test worthy turn on the haunches but rather to improve the responsiveness to the outside aids as well as increase the suppleness through the inside rib cage. We progressed to riding the whole exercise in the canter, so the half turn on the haunches became a small circle around the inside leg with a flying change at the rail.

This exercise clearly showed me that Anna is stronger on her left hind than her right, as the turns flowed more easily with the left hind as the strike off phase of the canter stride. I would never have thought of using this kind of exercise to improve her jumping work, even though I am familiar with it. I would have assumed that because she isn’t reliably in front of the leg and that the quality of her gaits and connection while doing this exercise would not be good, that it wouldn’t be an appropriate exercise for her at this time.

I was reminded, yet again, that sometimes you have to use the exercises and movements themselves to help to teach the horse how to do them. Even if the execution is not perfect, or the horse isn’t “round enough”, sometimes it is helpful to use the exercise as a tool and then you can improve the details later. I remember working with another clinician, Verne Batchelder, with Lee some time ago. Lee has always struggled with connection issues, and he said that there were many trainers who would just keep her on a 20 meter circle until the connection improved. His philosophy was to use movements, and to allow the connection to develop as it would through the use of those movements. Verne said that otherwise what you end up with is a fifteen year old training level dressage horse who can only do twenty meter circles. His point was that sometimes to get to where you want to go, you have to take another way around.

This particular session left me with new ideas and new inspiration to take back to the laboratory to experiment with. I will definitely be working to discipline myself to do less with the leg and to be quicker in the timing with my aids.

Equestrian Sports Psychology

Daniel Stewart “Pressure Proof” Your Riding!

January 26, 2014 christinakeim 2 Comments

The question of “mental toughness” as it pertains to equestrian sport is one which has been of increasing interest to me in recent years, for several reasons. First, as the coach of an intercollegiate riding team, I have often noticed that what seems to separate those who win from the rest is not simply equitation skills; of course, you must find your fences, but equally important is the rider’s ability to maintain focus and self-confidence. Secondly, as an instructor, I have seen so many riders whose progress is stifled because either they don’t believe that they are capable of being better than they are, or they don’t care to be better than they are. Finally, “mental toughness” is an area that I find that I now personally struggle with as a competitor. Nerves plague me far more today than they ever did when I was younger, and these jitters sometimes turn into a level of anxiety which causes me to feel utterly exhausted before I have even set foot in the stirrup. The question of how to build a rider’s “mental game” is one which has intrigued me and prompted me to begin investigating the topic further.

This summer, I was fortunate to be able to participate as a rider in a clinic focusing on “pressure proofing your riding” with equestrian coach and sports psychologist Daniel Stewart. The clinic was hosted by Lauren Atherton Eventing and was held at our facilities at UNH in Durham, NH.

The participants and auditors from the Daniel Stewart clinic at UNH July 2013. Photo credit: Lauren Atherton Eventing

Prior to the clinic, I was moderately familiar with Stewart (he has been a frequent guest speaker at the USPC Annual Meeting) and had read his first book, Ride Right, which focused a bit more on combining physical exercises with mental imagery. His new book, Pressure Proof Your Riding, was just released this fall, and after riding in the clinic, I found myself pre-ordering a copy.

As it happens, the book arrived as the fall semester was beginning, and it was moved to the shelf, waiting for that mystical “free time” in which I would “focus” and “really absorb” the book. Hmm….

A few weekends ago, I was able to hear Stewart speak again, this time at the Area I Annual Meeting in Northampton, MA. The lecture he gave was similar to the one he provided at the clinic this summer (and a hearty “atta boy” to Stewart for being able to maintain the same high octane energy level and enthusiasm he did presenting this lecture, which he must have given at this point on countless occasions), but it did help me to reconnect with some of the important concepts that I learned about in July. As we continue to move forward into the Year of Gratitude, it seems like a good opportunity to “focus” and “really absorb” some of his key concepts, even if I don’t actually get to that “free time” where I will sit and read the book from cover to cover.

Developing a Solution Focused Mindset

One of Stewart’s first points is that being nervous means that you care about what you are doing, and overall, nerves are a good thing! However, nerves can get out of control, so learning to manage your nerves is a critical skill to master. To quote Stewart, “Perfect position won’t help you if you can’t focus”.

Stewart also discussed learning to develop a “solution focused mindset”, as opposed to a problem focused mindset. Of course, this can sometimes be easier said than done. Therefore, he proposes several unique yet interconnected strategies to help riders learn to control their arousal level and thereby maximize their performance.

Music Motivation

We all know that music can affect our emotional state—so why not use this to our advantage? Stewart suggests choosing several songs which you personally find “pump you up” (if you need that type of encouragement) or “calm you down” (if you are someone who tends to get hyper under pressure). Look up those songs’ lyrics—do any of them contain motivational messages? You are basically looking for positive affirmation sentences within the lyrics. Stewart then says you should narrow your play list down to just one or two songs whose anthems really help you get into a positive and focused mental state.

Listen to your music at the beginning of the week before an important ride or competition, and imagine yourself having the ride you are hoping for. Stewart likens this to creating your “personal highlight reel”. You can listen to the music on your way to the barn or in the aisle as you groom. Spend some time really feeling your ride as you let the positive motivational messages seep into your psyche.

Anna on approach under Daniel Stewart's eye during the "playground" exercise at the July 2013 clinic. My "pressure" would have increased exponentially if these jumps had been about five holes higher.... Photo Credit Lauren Atherton Eventing — Anna on approach under Daniel Stewart’s eye during the “playground” exercise at the July 2013 clinic. My “pressure” would have increased exponentially if these jumps had been about five holes higher…. Photo Credit Lauren Atherton Eventing

Cue Words

Stewart points out that when under pressure, it is easy to forget what it is you are supposed to be doing—does anyone remember watching David O’Connor looking for the next jump when the Olympic gold medal was on the line? He calls this “stress induced amnesia”.

We all know that there are certain pieces of our riding that require extra focus—maybe you need to keep more weight into your heels, or look where you are going, or establish a forward canter with your horse before the first jump. But add a bit of pressure, whether as intense as competition or as basic as someone you want to impress starts to watch you ride, and those skills go out the window.

To help riders stay focused and motivated, Stewart suggests coming up with a personalized “cue word”. A cue word is a three to five letter acronym which triggers your long term memory about important information. He gave several examples—STAR (Sit Tall And Release), LUCKY (Look Up Cluck Kick Yell), there were more… but you get the idea. This cue word will help you to remember the one or two most important physical or mental things you can do to ensure your success. Most of the words he gave as examples also carried a positive message or image in and of themselves.

Stress Stoppers

Stewart says that a “stress stopper” is a pre-competition ritual that can be used to regain focus when you have lost concentration. It puts your attention back onto something that you can control, and helps to stop the perception of stress. Apparently professional athletes in more conventional sports do this all the time—a particular dribble of the basketball before taking a foul shot, knocking the bat against a cleat before matching up with a top pitcher, etc.

In riding, a stress stopper can be as basic as taking deep breaths and smelling the “aura” of a horse or stroking a ‘lucky’ braid, even wearing a special pair of socks. It really is a personal ritual or action that you find gives your brain something to do, to calm down and re-focus when needed. Many of these rituals are almost superstitious, but they allow us to take our brain’s focus off of the pressure or nerves and onto something else.

An interesting concept that comes up a lot in sports psychology (and education, as well) is “flow”. When someone is in a state of “flow”, they are totally immersed in whatever task they are doing, and it is as though no time passes at all. They are focused, intense, and wholly engulfed in the work at hand. Stewart spoke of “flow” and that it is important for a rider athlete to be in a state of flow in order to “get in the zone”. When a rider is “in the zone”, they are able to focus on the present, and to identify solutions to problems by being aware of the skills that they have and what they are good at. The ride at this point becomes automatic.

Here, Anna and I were "in the moment" and the exercise became easy and fun-- like bring on the playground is supposed to be! Photo Credit Lauren Atherton Eventing — Here, Anna and I were “in the moment” and the exercise became easy and fun– like bring on the playground is supposed to be! Photo Credit Lauren Atherton Eventing

“Targeting” is when you use an auditory target to help achieve a state of flow. In horseback riding, Stewart says that focusing on repetitive sounds such as you or your horse’s breathing, or the sound of the horse’s footfalls, works really well. This is a form of “cadence training”, where you focus your attention on the rhythm of your horse’s gaits (one-two, one-two), which can help you to achieve harmony with the movement of the horse.

Stewart explained that this type of auditory cue can almost become like a chant, a positive affirmation or a mantra that can help riders to maintain focus.

Focus for a rider really is everything—humans are not good at “mental multi-tasking”, says Stewart, meaning that in spite of what we might think, we cannot focus on two things at once. I know that I can’t watch TV and also attend to the person on the phone (so don’t expect an answer if I am watching one of my favorite shows), and I also know that I can’t focus on my placing in a class and my show jumping course, or wonder what score the judge just gave my centerline while still riding a balanced and flowing corner. The rider must choose what she wants to focus on, and that is why these techniques which can help us to “stay in the zone” become so critical.

Staying focused when the unexpected happens (like clearly missing your distance) takes practice and "mental toughness". Photo Credit Lauren Atherton Eventing — Staying focused when the unexpected happens (like clearly missing your distance) takes practice and “mental toughness”. Photo Credit Lauren Atherton Eventing

Building Your Brand

Stewart’s final theme of the lecture was on “building your brand”, and my take away is that this is a way of combining all that you have been working on into one effective strategy to gain control of your focus. Actually, writing this blog is part of my own “building my brand” process. Stewart reminded us that up to 80% of what we hear in a day will be forgotten; to just sit in the lecture and not do anything with the material will not allow the listener to really absorb it. However, we DO remember 90% of what we teach to others—so in listening to the lecture twice and now summarizing it for you, I definitely feel as though I personally am beginning to internalize Stewart’s message. Whether you, gentle reader, will do the same is up to you!

To “build your brand”, Stewart says that you must take your four pieces of homework (music motivation, cue words, stress stoppers and cadence training) and connect them together. He gave many examples of how previous clients had done this; the only one that I really remember was the LUCKY girl, whose horse’s name was Lucky, she rubbed a horse shoe for luck before mounting, had the word “lucky” in her music, etc. By making all four of your pieces “fit” together, they become a system which is easy to remember and to apply.

Laugh Learn Love

In spite of our best mental preparation, things do not always go the way we had hoped for. And so, a final message from Stewart—and so relevant in this Year of Gratitude—is to remember to LAUGH (even if you don’t feel the laugh for real, faking it with ‘strategic laughter’ will still release feel good hormones, and since your brain can’t focus on two things at once it will respond as though you meant it), LEARN (when things don’t go your way, figure out what went wrong and look for the solution) and finally, LOVE—there is a reason we do this sport, after all, and I doubt for most of us it is for a $2.00 ribbon.

Our first ride-- already a match! — Our first ride– already a match!

Final Thoughts

So what is my “brand”? I am not quite sure yet; actually, I don’t even have a clue. I do think that much of what Stewart is teaching really makes sense to me—and some of his concepts are ones which I have already (unwittingly) used. For me, it is all about being able to push the other thoughts aside and to find that state of ‘flow’; those moments when it is just you and your horse, and you aren’t worrying about what people think about your style of riding or whether you are going to embarrass yourself or make your horse look bad. I guess these are some of the worries that go through my mind, anyway. When I can just feel my horse, feel the rhythm, and really ride, all the rest of that goes away.

The Academic Equestrian