Shaun Mandy’s dressage blog: if your horse makes a mistake, don’t make a big deal out of it
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Dear gorgeous readers,
As I write to you, I am sitting up in bed at my parent’s home with Pringle tucked under a snuggly blanket beside me. We have just had a little morning beach walk which Pringle loves as it gives her a chance to say hello to all her Bournemouth friends!
The following weekend I was back in the big international indoor arena at Hartpury, this time sitting on a chair instead of a horse. I travelled up with fellow dressage rider and friend, Debbie Beasant, for the British Dressage convention. It was fantastic to be there and to watch the brilliant Dr Ulf Moller and Michael Klimke in action as they coached.
I was only able to attend on the Saturday and watched the training of the five and six-year-olds, PSG, Inter 1 and grand prix. It was inspirational and very much the theme for every horse that came in was to focus on the hind legs and not to pay too much attention to the neck. This was not to be confused with not having a contact and at all times the contact to the mouth is important. What I loved was the emphasis on all riders moving their arms forward in the walk with every step the horse takes. Even on a longer rein, making sure the hand is following forward to the mouth; making sure the horse, from the beginning, is in front of the rider’s leg and travelling to the bit; not being so quick to correct with the hand if the horse is a little distracted or loses balance, instead put the leg on more. Any time a horse made a little mistake or misread a rider’s signal, Ulf or Michael were so quick to say “doesn’t matter”. This was very refreshing as too often you see riders making a big deal when they feel their horse has not done what they are asking and generally this results in the horse’s back teeth being pulled out. We are not perfect and we are working with animals so mistakes will be made. The important thing is how we deal with them and move forward positively to create a good learning experience.
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Shaun Mandy’s dressage blog: on the move
