The Journey of Dressage: Courtney King Dye Horsemastership Clinic

I am so grateful to be participating in the Courtney King Dye Horsemastership clinic this year in Chesapeake City, Maryland! Today, July 30^th, we arrived at the barn at 6 a.m. and fed the horses and swept the aisles. Then at 7 we had a yoga session with Alyson Leinbach. For me, I felt like this was very beneficial to use as riders because sometimes we get so caught up in our position that we start to develop some tension throughout our body which transfers into the horse. We did exercises like warrior pose to open up our hips and allow more fluid breathing through the opening of the chest.

Then we transitioned into the lessons which started at 8. Today the coaches were Scott Hassler and Micheal Barisone. I rode with Scott Hassler today and this was also my first ride ever on Terciero, (or TC). Today we worked on really getting a good connection between us and first kept on keeping him more forward and active by reminding him with a bump of the leg. When he wanted to swing his haunches in, Scott .Hassler instructed me to bring him into a more shoulder-in position and developing the bend within it by driving the inside leg into the outside rein then giving half halts on the outside rein to also straighten the outside shoulder. Another useful exercise was the leg yield in canter every 2 strides then straightening him because it was a good balancing exercise and gave him more confidence with his canter.

After a good first lesson and observing other rides, our lunch was generously organized by Maria Guthrie. Then Scott Hassler lectured us on horse conformation. He described to us the different things breeders look for in a horse and what scores the horses would receive. For example, a horse with a mouth too small is not ideal because the bits of a double bridle would not fit comfortably in it. Also, a back that is too hollow may not be strong enough to carry a rider sufficiently. Also, if the area between the head and the neck is too thick, then that can restrict the airway and cause the horse to be struggling for air during intense work. We then put our knowledge to the test and evaluated 3 horses ourselves then compared our answers with Mr. Hassler's results. Next he informed us on the Young Horse Program of which he is the official coach. This program can be shown starting when the horse turns 4 and is used to find the horses with the most potential at an early age.

Then we got a tour of his beautiful facility where everything is detailed and elegant. Even the stall doors latches are customized with an engraved metal "H"! Everything was so manicured and everyone made us feel welcome! Today was an amazing first day participating in this opportunity!

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Day 2 of the CKDHMC started off with the regular barn duty and yoga. Because I was one of the first riders, I unfortunately was not able to participate in the whole yoga session. During my ride today I worked with Michael Barisone. TC was a little fussy today and not willing to come into the contact nor go forward off of my aids. So we first just worked on my hand position which needed to be a little higher and closer together. Then I would push him into the contact but sometimes he was resistant and would start to rear, buck and shoot backwards. So I stayed calm and Micheal said "don’t be a part of the drama" and that "a good rider can stay with a horse when it misbehaves, but a great rider doesn't let it get to that point”. So I just gently pushed him forward. We would ride on a circle and leg yield out by keeping the contact and keeping him active off of my inside leg.

For our first lecture Micheal Barisone taught us how to start teaching the piaffe. His first advice was to ALWAYS teach the piaffe before the passage! He said to always start schooling the piaffe while the rider is on the ground and to touch the whip to the croup. This way you are able to teach the horse while on the ground and on the horse so the training can continue.

Next we toured the Fair Hill Theorpy Center and were able to see the machines used to rehabilitate horses. One of the machines infuses oxygen into a chamber to help a horse breathe more easily. Another machine, an Aqua Tred, is a treadmill that fills up with water and allows the horse to loosen the joints by walking and pushing through water at the same time.

After day 2 we were already pretty tired but still excited for what was coming next in the week!

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On August 1st we started to do the yoga more fluidly in a pattern. We did variations of the warrior pose to engage our quads and increase balance. In the pigeon pose we bent in one leg while stretching the other one out then reaching forward to the straight leg to stretch the back. Today my lesson was with Lendon Gray, the founder of EDAP (Emerging Dressage Athlete Program). Like every other occasion, she had organized the day perfectly with everything going smoothly! First we worked on the free walk and maintaining the swing in his back. When I shortened the reins he tightened up and shortened his steps so as a result I would have to push him forward into the more natural walk. Lendon said that this teaches the horse that picking up the reins doesn't necessarily mean that the rider is going to do something. Then once we picked up the trot she really had me bend him to the inside to keep him supple and also to show me how strong I was on the outside rein compared to the inside. The constant bend really benefited TC and he relaxed more. During that time I was also reminded that my hands were too wide and needed to be almost touching to correct the problem. Ms.Gray is a fan of over correcting the issue rather than not making any change. Also, in the past I had heard the phrase "look between a horse's ears" so that you are looking ahead not at the ground. Though in this particular case, since TC is a little more downhill, his ears were geared more toward the ground so my eyes followed, which was a big mistake. So she had to correct me a lot about looking up and to where I want to go. She would say "you don't need to look down at the horse; you should know what he looks like by now!”

For our lectures today we went to JJ Tate's barn and her husband informed us about how to do long lining. I found it very interesting because I was always curious about how it worked and how one is able to bend a horse from the ground and actually have an outside rein. He demonstrated some leg yield but it does not have to stop there because at home we can use almost all the lateral movements while on the ground.

Then we took a tour of the Select Breeder's Services where we learned about the process of breeding and how they freeze their products in liquid nitrogen to store them!

For dinner we all gathered up and Ms.Gray wanted us all to say something about ourselves that doesn't involve horses. She said it is so easy for us to get sucked up in the horse world that we can be oblivious to the real world around us. She told us a story of a friend of hers that said he would not sponsor someone if they "could not go to dinner with him and his non-horsey friends and have a regular conversation". It was very fun getting to know all the girls in the clinic, especially the ones we were housing with!

Another great day at the CKDHMC!

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Today it was very rainy during the morning so we had our lessons inside in the main ring at Hassler Dressage. It is so gorgeous and huge with the perfect footing and beautiful woodwork that made it dreamy to ride in! I was able to have a lesson with Courtney King Dye today in this area! But first JJ Tate gave us advice on multiple aspects of riding. One of the main subjects she touched on was the athleticism of the horse. The goal of riding is for the horse to move better under the saddle than by itself. Every time you ride a horse you are the teacher. The most efficient way to teach a movement is to repeat it. In order to help a horse learn a movement, the rider has to be "self sitting". This means that we need to support and carry ourselves in order to make it easier for the horse to learn.

JJ also talked about the different stages we go through during our daily riding. The first step is to make the horse limber. Then make your way to the warm up phase and start doing transitions and changing bend etc.. JJ said that the best exercise to loosen up your horse is canter to trot and trot to canter transitions. Then move on to the training phase which is where you really start to work on solving the problems that you face. Then for the cool down phase you want a horse that is joyful at the end so that they are willing to work tomorrow.

Courtney King Dye answered some questions about riding and her life in general. One of the comments she made was that "you should do the movements to make the horse better, not the movement better". Another thing I found helpful were the tips she gave about what to do about a really lazy, impulsionless horse. First she said to "whisper" to it with your aids then wait to get their attention then praise them if they respond correctly. But do not mistake "soft" aids for "quick" aids. So ask for one second, then wait one second for a response, and then if the small aid does not get a response you can really get after him.

My lesson today was with Courtney King Dye and we did some exercises similar to the ones I did with Lendon Gray yesterday, such as flexing him to the inside by giving with the outside rein and half halting with the inside rein to get him more supple in his neck and poll. We did 5 loop serpentines throughout the whole arena and she told me to really ride him from bend to bend. Then we did some canter work where we would push him out into a forward canter then bring him back into a more collected canter by "flopping" my legs on his side before bringing him back in order to keep the activity in his hind legs. I really enjoyed her instruction and found it helpful!

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August 3rd, 2014 is the last day of the CKDHMC and I'm so sad to leave this stunning facility and all of the new people I met!

The workout today was led by one of the riders, Marlena Kurz, who instructed us how to do a “Tabata” workout. It consisted of intense core movements and cardio for short intervals then a break followed by more interval exercises. For one of the exercises we even used our helmet to stabilize ourselves for the squats! This workout really engaged our core and we were all tired and sore by the end of it!

The lessons today were held in the indoor arena again and today I rode with JJ Tate. I felt like my lesson with her produced the best results with TC out of all of my lessons. She had me really hold one rein as if it were a side rein. Then, when he was resistant to the contact, he realized that he could pull all he wanted, but it would just snap at his mouth so he will learn to stop. We also would put him into a shoulder- in position in order to straighten him and really make him come into the contact on one rein. After loosening him with some trot to canter transitions, we tested his submission with some canter half pass.

She thought he wasn't completely “through” in general because of soreness in his back, so we limited our exercises to ones that would not aggravate that condition. JJ said that you want to have control of “every single molecule in his body”. In order to do so, she said that we need to think about how there are two hind legs and two sides for the bit. That means that there are 4 ways in which the horse can connect. Left hind leg to the left rein, right hind leg to the right rein, left hind leg to the right rein and right hind leg to the left rein. Every time you have a horse that wants to “take his neck away from you”, the horse wants to check and see if your hands are closed and your elbows are stable (which mine were not all the time!), but you never want to trap a horse between both reins! But the horse does need to accept the contact and not panic and not fight and have submission (acceptance of the bit).

This experience has been so incredible and words cannot even begin to explain how much knowledge I have gained during the past 5 days. I consider myself so lucky to have been a part of it and I look forward to my next riding adventure!