Aletheia Dressage

08/01/2024

Moonlight DJ "Moose" is a 15.2h 7yr KWPN Gelding

04/15/2023

Boarding and training in Ashland, OR. Openings available!

USDF Silver medalist, 30 plus years of experience, many references available. Trailer loading, ground driving, lunging, starting, re-schooling, SALES, and problem solving.

See what your horse can achieve and feel like when he is unblocked, mentally and physically. Gaits change and give their full expression; balance, coordination, and power improves; stiffness and heaviness dissolve; and confidence and willingness is elevated when you and your horse learn to release the tension and locking in the jaw and shoulders, raise the chest, lift the back, open the channels of energy, and engage the hind quarters. Learn the biomechanics to improve your horse’s ability to perform in any sport or discipline. Watch the transformation happen, it’s why I do this every day. Let’s ride! ☺️🐎🌈

All disciplines and levels of ambition welcome,
Contact Ellie for inquiries! 541-941-3655
www.aletheiadressage.com

04/05/2023

Last minute opening for Jeff Moore clinic!
April 14-16
Located in Applegate, OR
Auditors welcome
Contact Ellie for details, 541-941-3655

09/15/2022

Scoop this little cutie up! Johnny Cash is a 14h, 16 yr old tobiano gelding (unregistered). He is a been there, done that type of guy. Plenty of trail rides, obstacles, gymkhana, and has recently been in dressage training. Super safe, no spook, buck, or bolt. Big enough for a small adult, small enough for a child. Lateral work and nice transitions, easy to ride, cute collected gaits, barefoot, sound, healthy and current on routine care. Doesn’t get cuter! Located in Southern Oregon, priced mid 4 digits.

https://youtu.be/cWDLNclJ0QE

09/02/2022

Join us at Williams Creek Ranch!

07/26/2022

Panda, 15h, 4 yr old, Reg Fresian Sport Horse mare. Very friendly and brave. No spook, loves to hack out. Solid w/t/c, leg yeild, and shoulder in. Incredible bold, forward mover, with enough movement and flare to go up the levels. Very round canter with tons of climb. Eager to come to work every day. Should mature around 15.2. Located So. Oregon. Priced mid/low 5 figures.

https://youtu.be/ZTVq9BUAn7k

07/26/2022

She’s available here!

https://youtu.be/ZTVq9BUAn7k

05/21/2022

SOLD! Congratulations Pamela on your new boy. Excited to see what you guys do together!

Now Available, Lincoln!
Lincoln is a 15.2h unregistered Anglo gelding. He is approx 13 years old, sound, barefoot, no health issues, no maintenance, no stable vices. He has had many years of experience on the trail, including working cows and riding at the beach. He loves to be ridden out and is very easy to hack. Lincoln has been in dressage training for 4 months and has excelled in learning contact and balance. Up-hill and leggy, he has very nice dressasge gaits, and easy latteral work including leg-yeilds, shoulder- in, and half-pass. His canter is easily collected and he is confirmed in counter canter. Easy transitions and schooling the flying change. Loads, bathes, etc. He's ready for more and will be able to do it!

Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/g5CiipJeHCY

located in Southern Oregon, priced upper teens

04/14/2022

SOLD! Congratulations to Karen Fredrickson, I am so pleased to have found R***r such an awesome home.

R***r

13 yrs old, 14.3 hh, registered AQHA gelding. Nice auto collected gaits, goes english or western, but mostly has been ridden western. Has a reining foundation, loves to work cows. Goes in a snaffle or neck reins in a curb or bosal. Would be very competitive in Western States Stockhorse or Cowboy Dressage. He LOVES to trail ride and has a ton of experience in the high country trail riding & camping in the mountains, high lines, hobbles, ponies & leads a mule string, etc. Clips, ties, trailers, healthy and sound. Sensitive enough that he’s not a beginners horse, but he’s a really nice guy. Located in Southern Oregon.

03/31/2022

Between the stimulus and the response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Many of us ride with a sense of urgency. Our horses’ head comes up, we must immediately fix it. The horse breaks from canter to trot, immediately fix it. The horse falls in while doing lateral work, immediately fix it.

You may read that and think, “yea, what’s the problem?” Well I’m not saying you shouldn’t correct these things but I think there needs to be a little space between the issue and the correction.

It’s like the saying goes, “Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

If we take a moment to be open to what is happening, we may see a clearer picture, a broader picture. Sure, you can aid the horse back to the canter if the horse breaks to the trot and in turn you fixed the immediate problem. But if you took just a moment to process the horse breaking from canter, you may have realized that they broke because the balance became incorrect and the horse no longer could hold itself together. So by simply pushing the horse back to the canter you temporarily “fixed” the problem. But you haven’t addressed the root of the issue which is the balance in the canter, therefore this issue is bound to happen over and over unless you help the horse understand where to put their body in the canter.

Quick thinking is important in riding but stepping back for a moment gives you a broader picture that may lead you to a better understanding of what is actually happening in that moment.

Picture is Sandra Nicholas handsome boy, Fantastico

03/03/2022

02/22/2022

Jeff Moore clinic
March 24-27
One opening left!!
Auditors Welcome

12/08/2021

Rising Hope Stables is offering a mini Working Equitation clinic this Saturday! She still has room.

I have room in a working equitation (obstacle work) mini clinic this Saturday the 11th 12pm-2pm. $50/person
Contact if you want to join in the fun! No prior experience needed.

11/08/2021

Jeffrey Ashton Moore clinic at Williams Creek Ranch
November 12 - 14, 2021
18200 Williams Creek Ranch, Williams

**Rider spots are full, Auditors welcome!**

Williams Creek Ranch and Aletheia Dressage are hosting a dressage clinic with renowned international judge and clinician Jeffrey Ashton Moore. This clinic has very limited openings for riders, but auditors are welcome and very encouraged to attend. Auditor fee: $20

Soup will be offered for $8 per person. You must RSVP and sign up if you want to join us for lunch

Williams Creek Ranch head trainer, Ellie Brown, has this to say about Jeff:

“Jeff has been absolutely essential to my development as a rider and trainer, and I wish for anyone looking to improve their understanding of bio-mechanics and their framework for thinking about training to come and join us.”

Jeff is the head trainer, owner and operator of Osierlea, in San Juan Bautista, CA. www.osierlea.com. He has trained more than 20 Grand Prix horses ridden by himself and his students and he was shortlisted for the Olympics. Jeff has judged at the World Equestrian Games, and, along with Liz Searle, conceived and launched the USDF's "L" Education Program. Jeff studied with such masters as Col. Alois Podhajsky, former director of the Spanish Riding School, Col. Waldemar Seunig, Count Herman Wrangel, and Baron Hans von Blixen-Finecke, an Olympic gold medalist, coach, and Commandant of the Swedish Cavalry School at Stromsholm Castle. Jeff also wrote the FEI glossary of terms.

Please contact Ellie 541-941-3655 if you are interested or need more information. We look forward to seeing you!

10/11/2021

**Date changed to October 30th due to scheduling conflict**

Working Equitation Clinic at Williams Creek Ranch!

Aletheia Dressage and Williams Creek Ranch are hosting a Working Equitation clinic on October 30, 2021.

Join us for a fun, relaxing opportunity to learn more about one of the fastest growing equine sports in the country! Consisting of four phases or trials, Working Equitation was created to celebrate the partnership between horse and rider, with a focus on classical horsemanship and the use of the horse for ranch work.

This clinic will focus on both the dressage and Ease of Handling or obstacle phases to guide students through the dressage test of their choice and to help familiarize horse and rider with the navigation of each obstacle and how obstacles are judged.

Open to ALL levels of experience, all breeds and riders of any discipline. No prior experience with Working Equitation is necessary.

Cost: $80
Rider limit: 12
Auditing: FREE

Location: Williams Creek Ranch, 18200 Williams Hwy, Williams, OR
Contact: Alex at [email protected] or PM via Facebook

09/26/2021

We had a wonderful turnout for our first dressage workshop! It was so neat to see you all make positive changes and then see your horses respond.

I want to thank each of you for your participation and willingness to allow me to work with you!

09/24/2021

What is collection truly?
Collection is not a head set, it is not “tucking the chin” and it is not the restraining of the head and squeezing of the body.

To simplify, collection is the availability of the horse’s body. It is the ability of the hind limbs to bear weight equally and of the shoulders to be free, supple, and directable.

You cannot simply get this by bringing the horse’s chin in, you cannot get this by simply squeezing the horse via the legs into a restraining hand, and you cannot get this with tie downs, side reins, Martingales, or other restrictive gear. Muscles cannot be supple by method of any restrictive positioning - muscles must be stretched, posture must be changed, the horse must be released, relaxed, and given time to understand and develop.

The only way to develop collection is through systematic athletic development over time. It is not done in a weekend clinic or even in several months. It is done by an educated seat and hand, and adherence to classical principles - guiding the horse toward equal weight bearing hind limbs and straightness through the body. This is the essence of classical dressage - the development of the horse as an athlete and partner, and to enhance his natural ability and create longevity and wellbeing.

Photo is of Manolo Mendez

09/23/2021

**Opportunity to participate in Ellie’s FREE dressage workshop** We had to postpone due to weather, so there are a couple of rider spots that just opened up at the last minute for the dressage workshop this Saturday, September 25th. Please let us know if you want a spot!

09/23/2021

LEARNING IS NOT LINEAR

Learning is recycled, over and over, in a spiral.

You constantly revisit the things you have already learned.

Each time you revisit something, you see it from a deeper place of awareness, and learn new things.

If you feel like you're going back to the basics, or revisiting things you have learned before, GOOD!

That means you are progressing!

"The basic techniques, or what they call the basics, are more difficult then what comes later. This is the trap of dressage. Correct basics are more difficult then the piaffe or passage." - Conrad Schumacher

I have heard more than one dressage master say "show me you're walk and I can tell you how everything else in the ride will go."

I have joked, a bit seriously, that how you put a halter on is already preparing your flying changes (or any other movement).

Nothing is separate. Everything is connected. They are all little building blocks that add up to other moments.

If you haven't started to experience this spiral yet, you will know it when it happens.

You're ego will take a hit, you will eat humble pie. Frustration and confusion are another sure sign.

These all indicate that you're starting another spiral of growth. What feels like going back is actually moving you forward.

Eventually, you welcome the new spiral of change with excitement, because you know that knowledge and awarness are on the horizon.

You come to truly understand that it's the focus on the basic ingredients that gets you to the next step, not the "thing" itself.

Things that once were challenging, like the piaffe, start to organically produce themselves, like seeds sprouting out of the ground; by-products of BETTER BASICS.

No matter the level of rider or trainer, the spiral of learning is never ending.

Be wary of self proclaimed masters. Anything that is no longer growing in learning is shrinking in knowledge.

We are all spiraling around the same center of basics, just from different vantage points of awareness.

"The path isn't a strait line; it's a spiral. You continually come back to the things you thought you understood and see deeper truths"
- Barry H. Gillespie

09/08/2021

What is good, ethical training?

A core principle of Training for Wellness™ is to develop straightness which can be defined as good spinal alignment, musculoskeletal symmetry and ambidexterity without creating mental or physical stress, pain, tension, discouragement or sadness in the horse.

One way crookedness damages the relationship between horse and rider besides making the horse painful and eventually lame is that it can make riders unfair with and angry at their horse, and act harshly.

Riders do not always recognize that the horse is not “hanging on the outside rein'” or being “lazy”, obstinate” or “resistant”when it does not travel equally well to both reins.

What the uneducated rider experiences as the horse “holding or hanging onto the bit” and refusing to relinquish it and bend to the inside has nothing to do with the bit or the horse being willful and resistant. The horse has no choice in the matter – it is held prisoner by a muscular straight jacket that is man-made or exacerbated by riding.

How come?

Because too often, horses are started without the right amount of consideration to building their fitness, suppleness, straightness and balance from day one, in-hand and later under saddle, to minimize and make manageable their slight in-born crookednesses which riding magnifies and turns into a health hazard by the time they are in regular work.

⭐️ When the horses’ body is crooked, it is contracted on one side and hypo-tense on the other.

⭐️ When the contracted side is on the outside of bended lines or circles it has great difficulties stretching and cannot straighten and change bend.

⭐️ When traveling with the contracted side to the inside of the bend, the uneducated rider experiences the movement as more fluid, easier to achieve thus better or more correct which is a misleading impression as a crooked horse is a crooked horse to both hands.

Our late friend, Dr Kerry Ridgway
explained this beautifully and in great depth.

To help the horse travel soundly and protect it from the effects of crookedness we have to:

⭐️ Recondition his body and help remodel his muscles, tendons and ligaments so they are equally developed on both sides of his body and he can carry us with ease and without developing unhealthy compensation patterns.

⭐️ Train slowly and progressively so the horse can come to use his entire body equally well left and right

⭐️ Help him regain his balance and ability to load all his joins equally.

As we do this, always in a good posture, with particular attention to the horse’s rhythm:

⭐️ We neither rush him of his feet nor denature his gaits by asking him to shuffle.

⭐️ We understand and take into account that we are also training the horse’s central nervous system and making it possible for signals to travel easily and fast throughout its body which is what creates an exquisitely responsive horse

⭐️ We understand and take into account that we are also training his heart rate and breathing so that he can stay comfortable and clear headed as the training becomes increasingly demanding on its body.

⭐️ With every single ride, we understand and take into account that we are also training him to trust us and have confidence that we see, respect and love him as the individual he or she is

⭐️⭐️⭐️ We understand and take into account that it is his untrained or poorly trained body not his character that is what is standing in the way of his desire to work with us.

By not punishing the horse for what he cannot do, by teaching him how to move in a manner that makes it more and more pleasant and pain free for him to carry and move with us, we teach the horse that we are fair and a good companion.

Stewarding a good equilibrium between all these mental, emotional, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions is what leads to balance in movement and a sounder, more contended horse.

It is what leads to the kind of partnership in the saddle every rider dreamed off when they began to ride.

When we do not yank the bit brutally on one rein, when we do not spur or kick his side hard to get him to fold himself around our leg, when we do not tie him up in all kinds of contractions to make him give as though he is willful or lazy, stupid or obstinate we teach the horse about what kind of person we are.

When we act as a bully, wether we understand that we do or not, horses may carry us passively, stoically through some of these unfair actions but they retreat far from us and learn to protect themselves from us by connecting only on the very surface of their beings. We miss out on the very thing that drew us to them in the first place. The dream of connecting to a creature that is as noble and gentle as it is beautiful.

Training horses is never about training just their physical bodies nor is it ever only about “just”the horse. How we work towards straightness and balance is a litmus test of our willingness to listen to our horse and get the education we need to help him prosper in our care.

Training ultimately is always about the person doing the training.

https://www.manolomendezdressage.com/2015/07/18/more-on-straightness/

First published in Jan 2015. Photo: Chantelle and Clint

You are welcome to SHARE this post if you wish. Thank you.

09/07/2021

Position is something that really isn’t worked on enough. Often we see riders go on for years and years spending enormous amounts of money on lessons and no improvement is made because no one addresses the real problem… the rider is tense, or out of balance, sits to one side, draws their legs up, has no body awareness, or all of the above. This is not to say that unless a rider has a perfect position they will not be a good rider. I am a firm believer that there is actually no perfect position, simply because we are all so different. If you try to sit a rider in a certain way, and this causes them discomfort, they will not relax or find their balance. Each rider must search for their own perfect position, which by definition for me means the position in which they do not hinder the balance of the horse, but allow him to move freely. A position which enables the rider to give subtle and effective aids without stiffening or losing their own balance.

The key to most top level sports is training the body to relax in a position of strength, or endurance, or speed. Dressage therefore can be defined as just that: finding relaxation in a position that requires strength, both in terms of horse, and rider.
Think about it: The horse must be strong enough to perform the exercise, but be able to relax within it. A rider must be strong enough to hold their posture, their seat, their legs in place, strong enough to position the horse, to provide the necessary pressure for the aids, but to be able to relax within that position of strength.
It seems so easy, find your position, then relax. But in terms of both horse and rider this concept is extremely difficult to achieve. Why? Because both horse and rider often fall too far on either side of the relaxation/strength spectrum. A rider will either use too much force (strength) without the necessary relaxation, and produce a horse that is tense, and being moved around the arena by the use of harsh aids, and strong hands. Or the rider will be too relaxed in the saddle, will seem to flop about with the horse, without being able to let the horse balance, because their own weight is being distributed unevenly and without any correct posture or balance themselves.
In terms of the horse, a horse is often either too strong, leaning on the hand, and has not learned the value of strength and relaxation in correct posture to establish self-carriage and balance. Alternatively a horse may be too relaxed, and thus not have the strength to carry himself, and will therefore rely on the physical effort of his rider to sort of drive him around the arena.
So how do we find the right balance between strength and relaxation? How do we find that “relaxation from a strength pPosition” that is so hard to find, yet is at the heart of all dressage training, from young horse to Grand Prix?
First in terms of the rider; this comes down to body awareness. Often as riders we have muscles that overactivate. This means that when we want to do a simple movement, our muscles go all in and use more than the necessary strength required. This also means that when we think we have relaxed a muscle, we actually have only relaxed it partially.
If you don’t believe me sit down with your feet together and your knees out to the side. Relax your adductors. Then, think about whether they are really relaxed and try to really let them go. Typically you will have one of those, oh, moments, where you realised that your idea of relaxed, and actually fully relaxed, are two different things. Once we can learn how to fully relax, often yoga or pilates helps a lot, we can learn how to hold and balance our own bodies evenly, and then relax maintaining that position of strength. Doing it on the horse is more difficult, and it takes patience and work, and thought, and help!
For the horse, Nuno Oliveira used to say that “the horse is not a machine, but a living being. Therefore, we must know what dose of relaxation and degree of vigor that we must employ with each horse.” What he meant of course is that the dose of strength versus relaxation required on one horse, will be vastly different to that required on another.
We must learn to set the horse up for the movement, and then let him do the work, allowing him to relax into it, move alone, and build the strength to carry out said exercise with ease. He will then learn to not only relax physically in the exercise but also mentally, because his rider is not banging and crashing about with every stride.
Finding relaxation from a position of strength, poise and balance, is about patience, and feel, and adjustment. All the elements of dressage that we must incorporate into every training, until things become effortless.
“The criterium of a good rider is a rider that we cease to notice, and we only watch the horse," said Nuno Oliveira.
Follow our Instagram Wetterau equestrian 📸❤️

08/23/2021

**This workshop was postponed to September 25th due to weather. There are two rider spots available! Join Ellie for this FREE opportunity to have a lesson with a professional dressage trainer!**

Dressage Workshop at Williams Creek Ranch
18200 Williams Hwy, Williams, Oregon
September 18, 2021
9am - 4pm

Ellie Brown of Aletheia Dressage, head trainer at Williams Creek Ranch, is offering a FREE Dressage Workshop. Ellie is a USDF Silver Medalist who has helped multiple clients take their horses to FEI levels. She has a special ability to communicate complex concepts with great clarity and a deep commitment to helping students reach their full potential.

Ellie will present a short demonstration and then she’ll work with each rider/horse team individually for thirty-minute sessions. The focus will be on helping each rider develop a strategy for achieving his/her goals and to fix problem behaviors that might arise. These training concepts apply to any discipline and style of riding. All backgrounds, breeds and levels welcome!

This event is FREE. Haul-in fees are waived. Auditors welcome. Bring a chair and all participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch.

Riders will be scheduled in the morning or afternoon with an hour for lunch. Rider limit is set at twelve (12), so register now to save your spot. To register or for more information, contact Alex at [email protected].

*Ellie plans to hold a free clinic like this every month or two, so even if this clinic fills up, do let us know you want to attend and we can put you on the list for the next one.*

**Ellie invites her friends and clients to participate in this free workshop!

**Williams Creek Ranch will be hosting an Open House later this month. We hope to see you all there. Date and time TBA, so stay tuned!

07/21/2021

One opening left with my mentor Jeff Moore in the beginning of August!
Anyone interested??

07/20/2021

So lovely. Tesoro is going to be a super fun one. Can’t wait to see the future 😍