My Dressage Training Regimen

Photo by Rick Hustead

“A fit horse needs a fit rider.”

When my trainer said that to me this summer her words had the effect of a medieval knight of yore dropping the gauntlet to encourage me to step up my dressage training. My gelding, Galahad, has been in full training with her for five years and their hard work really shows. He is much more muscular and flexible than the horse I first sat on in August of 2011. There is more suspension in his trot and canter strides, and when he gets in frame his movement is, well, it feels like flying (to me). So, to be able to comfortably sit those gaits I needed to do some work, too.

My trainer is a former professional ballet dancer, so the first thing she did was develop a more intensive warm-up regimen for me to do before each ride. In addition to Pilates roll-ups and a sequence of hip-opening exercises ballet stretches like demi- and grand pliés, she incorporated a series of side lunges and sprints up and down her (very long and moderately steep) driveway.

Meanwhile, I continue to take at least five yoga classes each week, including classes devoted to deep stretches and restorative/therapeutic yoga for greater flexibility, and Vinyasa flow sessions to practice smooth transitions between various positions. As I explained in my blog titled Me, Dressage and Yoga, these classes are a perfect complement for my riding because the positions emphasize balance, increase strength and teach independent movement of specific areas of the body.

I am also paying close attention to my diet (nutrition) and quantity and quality of sleep, especially before I ride. As I have mentioned in many of my blogs, fluctuations in blood-sugar levels can increase anxiety and frustration levels as well as potential moodiness. To prevent these effects, I make sure to eat a light meal with some form of protein about an hour before I ride. I also avoid caffeine, which can cause a similar response. The last thing I want is the negative physiological effects of a sudden drop or spike in my blood-sugar level to trigger anxiety in me and that spirals into to a fight/flight reaction in Galahad.

The final component of this physical-fitness program entails a lot of training on the lunge-line—bareback, without a bridle or reins and my hands resting on top of my head (helmet)—to work on my balance, improve my seat and perfect my aids (leg and seat). My trainer often likens Galahad to a fine German sports-car in that he has a very powerful engine in the back (his hindquarters) and he has a manual transmission. In other words, my gelding is not a kick-and-go horse; he is very sensitive to every aid, including inhalation and exhalation of breath. So, if I take my legs off him or shift my balance even slightly he will do something I didn’t (intentionally) ask for.

I still have a lot more work to do until I get to ride with a saddle again, but that is actually fine with me. There is something so freeing about this training, and I can feel what Galahad is doing and thinking about doing so much better than when there is a big leather saddle between us. It is also great for bolstering my confidence knowing that I can ask my horse to move forward, backward, halt and transition between gaits completely “hands-free.” Finally, these past few months I have learned how to trust myself to ride my horse with such subtle aids. More important, I realized that I can and do trust him when we work together. Every ride, I am re-writing and creating a new subconscious mental script about riding and, specifically, riding this (my) horse.

There is truly no greater feeling than this, and all the training I do on and off Galahad is helping me increase my strength and improve my skills as a dressage rider.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2016

More Dressage Training Tips from Charlotte Dujardin: For the Rider

Photo by Sara Fogan

On March 8, 2014 and March 9, 2014, I audited a dressage symposium at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, California. Charlotte Dujardin, the British individual gold medalist in dressage at the 2012 Olympic Games and 2016 Olympic Games and reigning world champion in the sport, was the featured clinician. She and her former trainer, International Grand Prix champion Judy Harvey, shared their expertise with six accomplished equestrians and their equally impressive horses to work through specific training issues. Following are more tips and training insights about what to look for in a young horse/competitive dressage prospect that Ms. Dujardin shared during these clinics, which you might find helpful too. 

·         There is a saying that practice makes perfect, but the truth is that perfect practice makes perfect performance. Bad habits form very easily, so it is important to do and teach your horse to do the movement right in the first place. Moral of the story: “Nine times out of 10, riders who do bad transitions at home will do bad transitions in a competition. Always practice doing good transitions,” Ms. Dujardin cautioned. “Do good transitions as if your life depended on it.” 

·         The Olympic champion emphasized the importance of using clear and natural aids when teaching transitions. “Lose the whip! The horse must know to go off the leg,” she said. “Soften your hands. You’ve got to let go and then press to get the other gears.”

·         A common error/reaction when asking for a bigger stride or an up transition is to inadvertently shut down this process. “When you ask a horse to go [forward], let him go!” the Olympian encouraged. Whether you are doing up or down transitions, the horse must always be waiting for the rider’s instructions what to do next.

·         If you hold the reins too tightly you are likely to make your horse tight and nervous, Ms. Dujardin said. “You should be able to relax your hands and the horse should be able to continue the movement without you holding her in,” You hold the horse with your seat and legs, not the reins, she said. Riders must also be careful not to shorten the neck too much when rounding the horse, she added. “He needs his neck for balance.”

·         Keep your horse interested in his training by including hacks (trail rides) and a day completely off in a pasture. “It is very important for the horse to have time off/switch-off periods.” For example, the Grand Prix horses that Charlotte Dujardin trains typically go on 20-minute trail rides before spending 15 to 20 minutes warming up, followed by a schooling session. While older horses work for 40-45 minutes schooling session, the training repertoire for younger horses is considerably shorter: they work for a maximum of 30 minutes with plenty of walk breaks, she said. 

·         No matter what level you are training, always reward your horse for doing good work during his training. The reward for good collection work is a long rein so he can stretch his neck. “Be sure to reward the horse when he does something right or you will get a sour/unwilling horse,” she warned.

·         If your horse is spooky, don’t make an issue about what is setting him off, Ms. Dujardin advised. Instead, “Ignore it and use leg-yielding into the object rather than away. If you beat the horse up for spooking at something, you give him more reason to avoid it.” Continue to practice riding a line toward the object that is acceptable to the horse so he can get used to what scared him before until it is no longer an issue. “Over time, you build a bond with the horse and give him confidence to deal with whatever until eventually he will walk through fire for you. You know you have a real connection with your horse when you feel him relax under you when he was scared of something.”

·         The horse needs to be in front of your leg to maintain suspension in the gait. “Rhythm and balance makes good movement,” she said.

·         “Don’t punish a good horse by making him practice one movement over and over.”

·         Think of the walk as a movement. It has a double co-efficient, after all! “It is equally important to work on the walk as any other gait. It is not a chance to goof off,” Ms. Dujardin said.

I will share more of her horse-training and riding suggestions in future blogs.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2016

Progress

(This blog was originally posted on April 6, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

 

Recently, I finally had a few hours free so I could watch my dressage trainer, Laurel van der Linde, school my horse, Galahad. While I do spend time with him every day, now that my hypnotherapy practice is growing, I don’t get as many opportunities to watch him work as often as I used to. My horse’s training is much further along than my own, so it is a real treat for me to be able to see Galahad’s progress for myself. And he has progressed a lot since the last time I watched him work.

When I watched him work yesterday, I suddenly understood what my grandparents meant when they told me how grown up I seemed since the last time they saw me. The Santa Ana winds were blowing hard during his schooling session, but Galahad remained calm, relaxed and focused the whole time he was in the arena. Even from my seat outside the arena, I could see that his back was up and stretched all the way through his topline; I think I got a virtual back stretch just watching him move. The length of his trot strides was longer, and the movement of his hindquarters reminded me of pumping pistons as my horse pushed his body forward. When Laurel asked for canter transitions, my horse easily picked up a comfortable, rhythmic canter that seemed both slower and more contained than I remembered him doing last time I watched them train. Galahad has always been a very balanced horse in that he carries his weight pretty equally (self-carriage) at each gait—walk, trot and canter—while tracking both to the right and to the left. Yesterday, he seemed even freer in the shoulder and through the back while cantering on the right lead, which has always been a little stiffer for him in the past. Also, he has had a tendency to rush a bit in some of his canter-trot transitions—especially when on the right lead—but yesterday Galahad’s body moved in that even, flowing cadence of a true rocking-horse canter.

 I was most impressed by the way he was able to maintain an almost-vertical flexion in his poll and the lift in his back throughout Laurel’s ride. It has taken a lot of time, training and conditioning to get him to this point, but Galahad seems to understand that his work is easier to do the more collected he is. How do I know this? Well, at the risk of seeming to anthropomorphize my horse’s interpretation of collection, whenever he received praise after he completed a movement, he needed very little aid to transition back into what he had just done.

He suddenly seemed like a much more mature and “together” version of himself than I had ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off him: Is this really my horse? I kept thinking. Laurel has been fine-tuning his flying lead changes, and Galahad did some gorgeous ones yesterday. He looked like a real dressage horse. I have already started visualizing, imagining, picturing and pretending how he will look doing—and how it will feel to ride—his single tempi lead changes, one day.

 I am so lucky to have this wonderful horse in my life. Now, I have to work hard to keep up with him!

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015