Sarah Dodge Dressage

12/02/2024

Conrad Schumacher Schedule is up! We still have a few spaces for auditors on Sun and Mon, Sat is sold out. Given the rain today we are so happy to have Lily Barlow hosting with a lovely covered arena! If you would like to audit Sun or Mon please message me to reserve a space. You must preregister. Looking forward to a few days of great rides in Aiken!

22/06/2023

30/04/2023

Andrew McLean looks at the equitation science principles and asks –
“Are you training according to these scientifically based principles? Don’t get put off by the academic terminology, it is important for your horse that you understand these concepts because they enable maximum efficiency in training. We as horse trainers, can achieve optimal training efficiently by understanding the natural behaviours, learning abilities and biomechanics by taking account of available knowledge.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2022/01/the-ten-commandments/

23/04/2023

Wisdom and feeling from the great Rosemarie Springer:
“Take the contact, don’t stretch your arms, close your fingers, feel with your body into your hands, push your horse into your hands with quietness, calmness, satisfaction and harmony…”“The most important thing is to push into your hand – push into your hand and give again, many many half halts are required to achieve greater collection. Then you will be successful with the flexibility of your horse.”.

10/04/2023

One of my favorite pairs!

Stars of the Past, Margit Otto-Crepin talks about her World Cup winner, Corlandus:
“He is the horse of an era. To own such a horse is the most wonderful thing. He is like riding nothing else. I feel so dissatisfied when I am on other horses. Yet the feel he gives to me, helps me, to make the other horses better. He is an inspiration.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/12/great-horses-of-the-past-corlandus/

04/03/2023

'Showing the horse the way to the ground', 'Lip in the sand', both expressions for asking and allowing the horse to stretch. Is it of benefit? Read Christian Thiess's explanation.
And is it an exercise that has to be forced?
Pic is a rising 4yo, not yet ridden, or mouthed, starting out on his breaking program, on the lunge...
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/01/showing-the-horse-the-way-to-the-ground-with-christian-thiess/

21/12/2022

27/10/2022

Some of the best advice I’ve ever received came from a friend several years ago. I was in a tough work situation and I was going back and forth about what to do. She said you really only have two options “work harder or quit”. When you’re not where you want to be you can simply “work harder or quit”. I have thought of this often training horses. Especially with some of the more challenging horses. But really with every horse.

Horses reflect the time you put in to them, period. The harder we work towards solving their problems, making them comfortable, becoming better ourselves, they reflect that. Horses get better in proportion to the energy you give them. With every horse I’ve worked with, solutions to their problems have presented themselves if I was seeking out the answers. Sometimes that was a year or more of exploring different paths. Every horse needs a slightly different approach but the one thing they all need is time and energy.

Are you seeking ways to improve your horse every day? Are you devoting the appropriate time/energy relative to your goals? Is your horse physically capable of what you want, could you help him be more comfortable? Are you giving him the time he needs to get fit, to overcome previous baggage, to physically change? Is your equipment fitting well? Are you physically fit enough to meet your goals? Are your expectations in line with their current abilities? Are you observing and listening to what your horse is saying? If you are not yet at your goals with your horse, it may be time to “work harder”.

23/06/2022

A “Serious” Rider can be so without competing. There are plenty of highly skilled riders who take lessons, study, hone their craft, but do not feel the need to have to prove it by competing.

In horse sports there is plenty of pressure applied to persuade people to compete.

All the big organizations are competition based, and they derive their incomes and their power from regulating competition. So THEY push.

All the horse magazines push, because they have a vested interest in stirring up interest in who did what, who beat whom.

The equipment and apparel companies push riders and drivers to have the latest and most “in” styles.

Some parents push kids, to acquire reflected glory.

Many riders and drivers self-push to have their own sense of glory.

What happens, so often, as a result of this consistent pressure, is that a Kool-Aid mentality is created that winning is what counts and that the higher the level of the win, the more glory is attached, and that the most worthy riders and drivers, under that presumption, are “better” than all the “lesser” non-winners.

Now here’s the deal---You may or may not be persuaded to imbibe that Kool-Aid those others are trying to get you to drink. You can also say “$ #@&* you” and go do your own thing, and you can do that at any level that you choose, including being highly competent without needing to compete to somehow prove it to others.

And, in reality, those others are so busy trying to prove THEIR worth to other others that they don’t notice or care what you are doing---It is pretty weird!! When you really look at it.

30/04/2022

With thirty years of experience and success, Christophe Theallet coaches and trains dressage riders and horses to Grand Prix and FEI levels. He graduated from France’s prestigious ENE National Riding School in Saumur, France, and has been a French Equestrian Team member. He has trained and ridden ...

09/02/2022

Conquistadors and Artists: Dressage and the Military Posted on February 8, 2022 by horsemagazine A new article from Paul Belasik Keeping the History Clear If one wanted to make a case for how the military, particularly the cavalry, influenced modern jumping it would pretty much be irrefutable. Capri...

07/12/2021

"Unlock – Connect – Collect:
Before the horse can be collected, all the muscles in his body have to be connected with each other and with the rider’s aids, as well as the ground. In order to establish all of these connections, the horse has to be unlocked. All muscle blockages and all false bends have to be removed, so that all joints work with their full range of motion and the energy can flow freely between the rider, the horse and the ground."
(Thomas Ritter)
Drawing: Anonymous, 16th century, Italy

19/11/2021

Ingrid Klimke – more on stretching to consider:
“I think it really shows he stretches from the wither, really down, and makes his neck really long, and the nose forward, that is important. Some horses crawl behind the vertical, holding their nose very tight to their chest, then you feel that the back is still tight – the stretching must be from the hindleg over a swinging loose back, and then stretch really down. You see how long his neck is and he is still saying, softy, yes, I know the way is free. My father always said, think of stretching the nose to the sand.
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/06/brilliant-basics-with-ingrid-klimke-two-stallions/

09/10/2021

-Reiner Klimke-

“The rider who is sitting a little bit forward, who doesn’t make himself heavy, is what I like. When I ride, I always try to not make myself heavy and bring the horse down, but to go with the movement and keep light...”

30/09/2021

I notice something interesting when I teach people, especially women. When I pay attention to improvements and make a big deal of them, many people are often immediately suspicious.
The conversation might go something like this:
Me: “you rode that circle very nicely!”
Student: “well I still didn’t get a good rythm, my right leg is still too tight and my horse didn’t bend well.”
Me: “ok but it still is a really nice improvement”
Student : “well it could be better”

It sometimes seems that our brains are committed to focusing on the negative aspects of our work, that we aren’t allowed to be proud of our improvements. When I ask my students to tell me something they did well, they often look visibly uncomfortable, and if they can come up with something, they add conditions to it. “I got better at x, BUT I still didn’t do y and z.” I tell them often that a successful moment doesn’t need to be described with conditions. You can be aware of what needs improvement without needing to beat yourself over the head with it.

I also think people can get accustomed to the authoritarian type teacher who just hollers your every failure at you, until you accept you are never going to be as good as them. So a teacher who compliments their improvement and draws on their strengths draws suspicion - maybe the teacher doesn’t know anything if they think *I’m* good.

The thing is, I would never in a million years teach a horse the way some people have become used to being taught. Hanging your failures over your head puts too much emphasis on your shortcomings. Yes I can see what your leg is doing, but we’ll get to that. One thing at a time. When you ride with a laundry list of your own faults, you don’t reward yourself, or notice your accomplishments - and you don’t notice the horse’s either. You can’t help it. You think you’re being hard on yourself but you’re hard on the horse too.

You are allowed to be proud of your improvements. In fact, I highly recommend it.

21/09/2021

Getting to know each other ❤️ Elfe and I enjoying a beautiful afternoon after the rain!

18/07/2021

I love this so much!

It’s not in your job description to make people happy but you can show them the way. You can only light the path by following your passion, living with integrity, empathy and kindness and by being present and helpful to those around you. This is a simple and revolutionary idea that once grasped is difficult to ignore.

24/06/2021

This! I often teach about “riding the x”!

When thinking about collecting a horse, many riders only think of closing him longitudinally from hocks to bridle. However, one must realize that one closes the horse also laterally from outside leg to inside rein and from inside leg to outside rein, like an X. Half pass and the shoulder-in, for instance, are exercises that utilize this concept of closing the horse laterally. In the half pass, when the horse is closed correctly, he lowers his outside hip and thrusts his pelvis toward the inside shoulder. In the shoulder-in, the inside hock is supposed to reach so deep—not just across but deep forward—that it reaches level with the outside stifle. The rider who fails to close the horse longitudinally as well as laterally will fail to engage him.
- Charles de Kunffy

06/05/2021

“Should we not ask the question, ‘is competition really the only measure of an equestrian?’ No. It never was, it isn’t, and it never will be! For ages, for centuries, real horsemanship existed, thrived, and survived without any competition at all.”

Charles De Kunffy, The Ethics and Passions of Dressage

21/04/2021

Matt and Andrea are one of my original remote lesson clients. I couldn’t be more impressed with this horse and Andrea’s dedication to her goal of riding GP with him!

A horse who can dazzle in the dressage arena one day, bring home medals as a reining horse the next, chase cows the day after, and then go for a nice relaxing trail ride? It may sound like a challenge, but Matt the Cowpony calls this a typical week. Region 9’s Andrea C. shares about her Quarter Horse, a great ambassador for his breed, in this YourDressage exclusive: https://yourdressage.org/2021/04/20/dancing-with-my-cowpony/

Come back to YourDressage all month long for more great Quarter Horse content as we celebrate them as our April Breed of the Month.

American Quarter Horse Association

Photo by Caitlin Demura

11/04/2021

German Team Dressage Coach, Jonny Hilberath answers: You see these open mouths/ tight necks. What’s the basic missing?
“The correct moving of the back, the contact forward to the hand. It is the wrong pressure in the horse; the wrong tension in the horse also mental tension in the horse because the mouth is like a mirror to the brain. That is something that definitely has to be fixed”.
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/03/top-tip-from-jonny-hilberath-german-coach/

25/03/2021

It is in perfect ex*****on of three-pace circles that we prepare everything else.
If the horse doesn't run strictly perfect and equal circles on both sides, he can't work the rest properly.
The concept of circle is necessary and fundamental not only in equestrian art but in all the arts (N. Oliveira)
---
(drawing by J.L.Sauvat: ′′ About equestrian sketches ′′ at Belin)

20/03/2021

"To help you understand what the horse feels when you sit crookedly in the saddle, load a wheelbarrow heavily to one side as in the center illustration. Now push the wheelbarrow, and feel how it pulls to the weighted side and how you are forced to lean in that direction to compensate. That’s how your horse feels when you sit unevenly in the saddle, as shown in the left image. When you sit evenly, the horse will be centered and balanced as shown in the illustration on the right." — Sharon Sweet

Illustration by Sandy Rabinowitz