Cari Swanson

New Training DVD’s

Learning to ride is a lifelong endeavor. Riding is a constant challenge for me as I seek to feel the invisible connection of harmony with my horses.

It was tremendous fortune when a mutual friend insisted I meet Tony Mason. We share the same phylosophy of working with horses. That is tuning into each individual horse’s character and talent to find a common ground for communication. I have always been a firm believer in cross training all of my horses (eventing, jumpers,dressage), instinctively knowing they were happier and healthier horses.

Each lesson with Tony is a journey where we discover new secrets of communication while attempting to achieve our goal. He begins each day with a plan, however, remaining flexible when something else evolves. The combination of his psychic abilities, solid classical training methods, and sheer joy of life produces magical dances each day. By training the muscles from the inside out over time, my horses are strong and supple achieving peak performance.

During our training sessions together I realized it was important to share this amazing experience and thus our company, The Horse’s Eye was born. Tony was reticent because of the danger of our words being misinterpreted in translation, however he finally agreed if our sessions are presented as works in progress. These tapes will allow you to experience the harmony of three spheres, the teacher, the rider and the horse. Our idea is to include you in the journey of discovery and show you the remarkable results in spite of inevitable errors and mistakes that are crucial to learning. Enjoy these sessions which I hope you can learn from and allow you to dance with your horse.

If you are interested in ordering these lessons contact cari@cariswanson.com

Dressage 4 Kids August 20-22, 2007

Plan to qualify for the Ninth Annual Dressage 4 Kids Youth Festival at Hits on the Hudson, Saugerties, New York. This is a wonderful opportunity for young riders to become true horsemen by teaching the correct position, competitive skills and knowledge of all aspects of riding and horse care. Dressage4Kids offers scholarships to enable competitors to further their education while having fun and developing good sportsmanship.

Check out the web site for qualifying details www.dressage4kids.com

Coole Park Farm Calandar of Events

Friday April 6th Jumper Schooling Day

Sat and Sun April 14-15 Dressage Show

Friday May 18 Jumper Show

Sunday June 3 Dressage Show

Thursday June 28 Jumper Show

Friday July 20th Jumper Show

Sat and Sun August 18-19 Jumper weekend

for details and entry forms contact www.cooleparkfarm.com or call 845.373.8591

Chloe in Florida

Keep Your Eye on Upcoming Clinic and Show Dates

Larkin Hill has a Stadium Series in Chatham New York April 6th, May 4th, and June 1 for practice and fun. This is a wonderful opportunity to test your training and skills over courses comprised of cross rails up to 3 feet 3 inches. Please pre-enter so schedules are more accurate.

There is also an Eric Horgan clinic scheduled for April 13-15. This is an excellent opportunity to hone your jumping skills through learning proper training on the flat followed by gymnastic and jumping excercises. You can learn more about Eric at his web site, erichorgan.com

Icelandic Sheepdogs Climbing Trees

Apollo climbing the avacado tree in the backyard.

Improve your Leg Position

In a recent lesson, I was focused on bringing attention to my students leg postion or lack thereof. I video taped the ride so that we could discuss what was going on and this was her response; “You really do keep a good humor, no matter how painful the picture! I read a few parts of the book and looked at parts of my video. I definitely can see the gripping in the trot – it looks like my knees become a sort of pivot point – the knees don’t move, but everything else does! I understand about not gripping, but when the horse takes that first stride, my legs get a life of their own and grab on! The book had an interesting bit about becoming aware of the trot as a side-to-side movement, not just an up-and-down movement – that is, each side of your pelvis has to rise and drop independently as the horse’s body tips slightly side to side, and if you just think of it as up-and-down, you end up bracing against it and bouncing. I’ll pay attention to that next time I ride, and see if it makes sense. Her discussion of using the stomach muscles to pull the pelvis up was interesting, too, because she points out that the other thing those same muscles can do is pull the chest down and upper body forward, which you have to deliberately counter by lifting the chin and chest (sitting tall, as she says). Makes sense”.

I recommend a wonderful book called Anatomy of Dressage
by Heinrich and Volker Schusdziarra. This book will help you feel your body and determine where the tension is. Riding is a lifelong adventure, exciting and frustrating at times. Keep on learning and experimenting and you will find the moment of harmony that is the utmost reward.

Improve your Transitions

Today I was teaching a student who had an “a-ha” moment of how to improve the transitions. First of all you must prepare your horse with a half halt, next you ask with your weight aids first, and very little hand. It is important to test your horses responsiveness to your aids of lowering the heels, shifting the shoulders slightly back, lengthening the spine and sinking into the saddle with relaxed hips. The horse should melt into the transition smoothly and easily. Always take care that your horse has a soft neck which will only be possible if the rider is relaxed in her neck, shoulders and arms.

If your horse tends to brace against your hand in the transition up or down, chances are your hands are too strong. Remember, less is more. Ride with feeling and finesse.

Have someone video your ride to study what you are doing correctly and incorrectly in order to learn how to improve your transitions.

From the Judges Box

Here are some of the most common faults seen from the judges box. They are simple to fix and ride correctly. Every horse at training level should be able to get at least a 7 on each movement if ridden correctly, regardless of the gaits. However, the rider should always be striving for higher marks.

Enter trotting on center line

Riders often overshoot the center line, drifting back to the correct line, sometimes losing balance and straightness. It is very easy to practice riding down center line. Remember that when you start to turn in the corner, continue to bend and turn with your eye on the judge, this will put you straight on center line. Also ask for a bit more trot so that you are entering with a sense of purpose and commitment. Finally remember to smile, the judges enjoy seeing riders having fun. More importantly when you smile, you relax your body which effects your horse. Remember do not override, less is more. The goal is to ride in harmony with your horse. Show the judge a dance rather than a drill.

Ride a Circle

Do not ride an ameba, a box or an egg. Learn to ride a proper circle. Have a friend video tape your schooling to see if you actually are riding a circle.

Do not rush your Halt
Establish your halt. Count to 5, exhale and relax. Very often the rider will halt beautifully and then rush off to the next movement. Slow everything down. Breathe.

Ride the Correct Diagonal

Again, keep your eye on the destination and ride with purpose and conviction to that letter, the diagonal line should be straight, balanced and the same rhythm. The new tests at training level allow posting trot, so do not disrupt the rhythm of your trot by switching the posting diagonal at X, wait until the corner at the end of the arena. Commit to the line, soften, breathe. Your scores will improve.

Improve the Canter

Sometimes your horse may start to flatten out in his canter stride and you feel that you need more jump. A simple and effective excercise is to ride a 20 meter circle after several warm up stretches in each gait.

On the 20 meter circle you will trot half of it and canter half and repeat until the transitions are smooth. Remember that the aid from canter to trot is to sit down, outside heel down, outside shoulder slightly back, half halt outside rein and soften. This will shift the balance of your horse into the trot. Feel the horse when he starts to trot and give the rein at that moment to reward him for understanding. Always think of a soft neck. Take your time and breathe. The goal is for the trot to be forward.

To add difficulty to this excercise, try to canter/trot at each quarter of the 20 meter circle. Count the strides to determine if you are symmetrical. Once mastered, you can decrease the size of the circle to 15 meters and go back to only 2 transitions at the half way point. Finally for the most difficult test, try a 10 meter circle and ride a transition at each half way point.

Take care that the rhythm does not change, your horse is straight, balanced and forward thinking. Always finish with another stretch down to reward your horse. Remember, never rush, ride with integrity and focus. Your horse will improve his canter stride and strengthen his muscles.