Cari Swanson

Dressage Protocol

When competing at a dressage show, it is important to observe certain rules of behaviour. Most of these points are common sense and should be considered when attending a competition.

When entering the warm-up arena, take care not to cut off another rider. Slower gaits should take the inside track.

Pass left shoulder to left shoulder and look where you are going at all times to avoid a collision. When overtaking traffic in the same direction, pass to the inside with care and plenty of clearance. Better yet, make a circle or cut across the arena to avoid passing.

Keep at least one horses length from any other horse.

Plan halts in the center of the ring.

When turning, check your “rear view” first.

Be careful how you use your whip.. Other horses may react more enthusiastically than yours.

Fractious horses should be removed from the area immediately.

Make way for ring maintenance crews in the warm-up arena. Some competitions post a ring maintenance schedule so take care to observe them.

School your horse in a positive manner, do not school after a test if you are angry. There is no place for anger around a horse. Perform your warm-up routine with a purpose. Stick to your plan.

Always be polite. Foul language is never tolerated.

Horses not entered in the competition do not belong in the warm-up area.

Young riders have a wonderful opportunity to learn and test their skills at Lendon Gray’s Youth Dressage Festival, visit www.dressage4kids for details.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Perform at Madison Square Garden

Last Saturday night, I attended the concert of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw at Madison Square Garden in New York City. I have never been to a country western concert and had no idea what to expect. There were more cowboy hats in one room than I had ever seen, including at Quarter Horse Congress. Many generations of families came out to experience this unique concert of a superstar couple performing their many hits.

Although I knew some of the one hit wonders like Breathe, Live Like You Are Dying, and Firefly, the other songs were new to me. I was amazed at how the audience sang every word of each song with incredible devotion t0 their favorite group. Looking around the arena at over 35,000 people loving this music was a very powerful experience. We were seated in the fifth row on the floor between 2 sections of the stage so that we could see the performers from 10 feet away. Both performers are charismatic and beautiful people, extremely gracious to the fans. The almost 3 hour concert had no break, with the couple performing a song and then Faith performing for one hour followed by another duet and finally Tim taking over until the end. They paced themselves throughout the performance, moving in and out of the audience to make contact with the fans. They did not seem to care that the fans wanted to touch them and shake their hands.

In the end Tim tossed out his guitar pick into the audience where it sailed though the air– landing under my chair. As I picked it up and noticed his signature on the pick, I felt some good luck wash over me. If you ever have a chance to go to their concert, I would highly recommend it.

Improve Riders Position

The rider must influence the horse effectively with clear communication from the saddle. When the horse does not perform correctly, the origin of the problem is almost always with the riders postion. Therefore it is important to understand the correct position and how to fix any misalignment. The rider’s postion should also make the timing and coordination of the aids easy and harmonious with the movement of the horse. Some common faults are:

The arms are too straight which results in a loss of flexibility in the elbow joint.

The elbows fall behind the riders back, or the reins are too long resulting in the loss of flexibility in the shoulder.

The shoulders are raised and pushed forward resulting in the loss of flexibility in the shoulder joint.

The elbows are sticking out causing loss of flexibility in elbow and shoulder joints.

The head is pushed forward losing alignment with the spine.

The waist is weak and wobbly creating loss of straightness in the back, as well as overall strength in the vertical postion.

Gripping of the knee causing loss of flexibility in the hip and knee joints.

The lower legs are too far back causing loss of balance and flexibility in the hip and knee joints.

The toes of the inside foot are pressed down against the iron and the heel raised, to give more strength to the leg aid and allow the use of the spur causing loss of flexibility in the knee and ankle as well as losing the lateral postion in the saddle.

The outside of the foot is lower than the inside, the ankle bulging outward causing loss of flexibility in the hip, knee and ankle joints.

By now it is clear that the riders position in relaxation and alignment is critical to effective communication with the horse. Check your position the next time you ride and learn to experience when you are out of balance or out of alignmnet. Without a doubt, your horse will perform more effectively when you correct your position.

Fighting Flies in the Heat of the Summer

Fly season is upon us. It is time to protect your horse from the onslaught of the black menaces. Did you know that there are over 16,000 fly species are found in North America, and of those, 300 are horesfly and deerly species. Fortunately, only a small number of these are likely to menace you and your horse. The species you are most apt to encounter depends on the region of the country, in our area, the worst toublemakers on the trail include the horsefly, deerfly, blackfly and on occasion, the horn fly. The most annoying of these are the biting deer flies which suddenly disappear in September.

There are many fly sprays out on the market, so take care that you test them on your horse as some can cause an allergic reaction to your horses skin. In some cases, sensitive horses will develop many bumps which can be cleared up easily by treating him with various drugs you can aquire from your vet. If your horse tolerates garlic, feed him a supplement with each meal. You can also mix lavender, lemon, skin so soft and rub on your horses ears and face to repell the nasty menaces.

A correctly fitting fly mask is a must for horses turned out in open fields.You can also use a light fly sheet to protect the body of your horse.

Flies are day time biters, most active on sunny still days. So if possible ride at the end of the day or first thing in the morning…happy trails!

Children’s Clinic to learn about Horses

Last week, a class of 32 children came to the farm to learn about horses. Mosts of the children were 4-10 years old, a few had ridden at camp or on vacation. They learned about the history of horses through time. There is evidence that man began domesticating horses as far back as the Neolithic times some 10,000 years ago. Although the time reference was difficult for the children to grasp, they understood that horses and man have coexisted forever.

We discussed how important horses have been for transportation, growing crops, communication, carrying man into war, and most recently as companionship and sport. For some reason, man has always been fascinated by horses, watching them move, listening to them, trying to understand them.

My Mini Hop, a miniature horse served as the demo horse to show how to groom a horse, how to work around him, and to discuss his nature. Horses need to drink up to 10 gallons of water a day and are naturally forage animals. That is they have a small stomach the size of a football, and over 100 feet of intestine so that they must eat small amounts of food all day long in order to stay healthy. We walked around the paddocks to look at the various horses of differnt sizes, color and breed. The children were thrilled to feed them carrots and watch them run around the fields.

Each child had the opportunity to ride a horse and feel his movement under the saddle. One young boy asked eagerly, was this pony in a war? I was amazed they were paying attention to the lecture. These were astute children who all loved horses. It was a fun day for them to experience the country and learn about one of their favorite animals.

Half Halt Demystified

The half halt is simply a re-balancing technique to engage your horse. It is simple if you feel your way and do not force the movement. A half halt when correctly ridden, does not block the forward motion, rather it simply transfers weight to the hind legs. First you must use your driving aids to maintain a forward feeling, then sit deeper for a second. Hold the energy by keeping the contact with both reins, a bit more with the outside rein so that you can maintain flexion. Keep your legs on the horse to shorten the stride, yet maintain the same rhythm. Now soften your arm muscles, allowing your horses back to come up and his neck will “grow” out of the withers. You should be able to do many half halts in the time it takes to say “half-halt”.

Remember, you are simply shifting the energy to the hindquarters, lightening the front end. Your horse will feel lighter and more engaged, movements will be easier to perform. Practice the feel and have fun!

The Eye of the Horse

Theories and controversies about how a horse percieves its world have existed forever. The main questions are:

Does a horse bring a visual image into focus using the eye’s lens, as we do, or by moving his head?

Does a horse see color?

Do horses suffer from visual defects such as nearsightedness or farsightedness that may affect performance?

Whatever the real answers, it is clear that normal vision is very important to a horse’s daily life. As a mere matter of beauty, a sound, full, clear, intelligent eye is something to be highly valued in our equine friend and is often the sign of a champion.

At a glance

–the equine eye is the largest globe of all land mammals
–it is possible that horses see objects 50% larger than humans do, but no one knows for sure…
–the horse has an amazing 350 degrees of total visual field
–it is thought that horses may raise or lower their heads to focus on objects

Notice the horses ears and you will see which direction he is focusing on. An aware rider will always be alert to the horses ears and the direction the horse is focused.

Horses are thought to be color blind, however, in some tests it appears as if they respond best to yellow, followed by green and blue. Red is difficult to see. Interestingly, the color of the most frequently knocked down rails is yellow.

It is important to be aware of your horses eyes, and treat them as soon as you see any abnormality such as squinting, tearing, greater sensitivity to light, or cloudiness. Most important, never treat your horses eye with an old eye cream in your medicine chest unless you are absolutely certain of the condition. The wrong cream can create ulcers and lead to blindness.

Understanding Submission

At the bottom of each dressage test are collective scores called Gaits, Submission, Impulsion and Rider. All of these scores are doubled and are very important to the outcome of the riders overall score. Each of these aspects is evaluated in every movement of the test.

Submission is defined in the USDF Glossary as “Copliance and throughness. The yielding of the horse’s will to that of the rider, as revealed by a constant attention, williness and confidence in the attitude of the horse, as well as by the harmony and ease displayed in the correct exeution of the movements, including the correct bend, acceptance of and obedience to the rider’s influences, and a balance appropriate to the level and task at hand.”

In other words, everything from the shoulder up shows if a horse is being submissive. Thus, if there is tension in the bridle with the horse grinding his teeth, or resisting the connection, the scores will be very low. You want to have a soft neck and elastic connection to the bridle for the horse to be submissive and to achieve high scores. Obviously a submissive horse will receive higher scores across the board as it is considered in each individual score.