Earlier today, we published an “Ears” photo from Julie Poveromo and Nora Endzel. Julie and Nora are attending the ICP Symposium while in Ocala and sent us this report. Thanks for writing and thanks for reading!
From Julie:
We went to the ICP Symposium today with Stephen Clarke (GBR ‘O’ dressage judge). I took some quick notes on my iPad, and I apologize if it is a bit brief!
Common faults –
As a judge he sees lots of common faults. One is how much bend to have within a movement. Stephen said he wants to see a a uniform bend poll to tail, too much neck bend is seen. Emphasis on controlling outside aids. Watch the inside hind leg, should be on same track as inside fore. He sees many different evasions to the correct bend. Head tilting is a fault commonly seen and it is proof of lack of submission to the bend or that the horse is against the outside rein. Only when the horse is able to bend in equal directions can they be straight. Tilting is sign of unequal contact. He also sees too much sitting trot and driving with the seat when the horse should be forward off your leg. Don’t sit on a horse that doesn’t move forward. Don’t work so hard. The less you do the more they will move forward.
Spooky horses –
Robin walker and Leslie Law rode 2 very nice horses in a session with Stephen. Leslie’s horse in particular was very distracted and spooking at the spectators but Stephen praised Leslie’s handling of the situation and discussed how a spooky horse needs to work on the submission of the bend. Submission begins with the leg not the hand. Don’t force bend with the reins get the reaction from the leg. Spooky horse that are sharp and reactive are ok, they are aware of their surroundings. Turn those reactions in a positive direction so they work for you not against you.
Lateral work –
Lateral exercises are there to develop the horse in its way of going.
Shoulder in- young horses should do lateral work in rising. SI is a collecting exercise. If steps get shorter or energy goes down then the SI has no value. Don’t take them sideways with a bend if you can’t take them sideways without a bend (i.e. leg yield). Correct aids for SI are: inside leg is for forward, outside leg controls the haunches, outside rein controls the shoulders. Inside rein is for direction and flexion. All the same aids as for a circle the only thing that changes is the emphasis. Don’t pull shoulders in from inside rein. Not too steep an angle. Rider needs to not collapse. Sit deep in inside seatbone. Riders often compromise their position to get something from the horse but the horse is the one who needs to compromise.
Leg yield – perfectly straight before the leg yield, and there shouldn’t be bend in the leg yield just a tiny flexion in the poll away from the direction of travel. When done wrong it trains the horse to evade through the shoulder. Submission through the leg is important: that’s why it’s LEG yielding. Interrupt and freshen up collecting exercises with forward exercises.
Travers – front legs in track hind legs on inner track. Horse should be bent into direction it’s moving. Priority on quality and regularity of trot. Riders should have outside neck and shoulders exactly in the track. Instead of controlling the hindquarter, the outside leg is influencing the quarters.
Judging and scores –
Judges don’t give riding lessons with their scores. They tell you what you would have to do to get better score, what they were expecting to see. You shouldn’t have 6s, dressage begins at 7. When he gives an 8 he doesn’t think of it as giving an 8, he thinks of it as taking away 20% of a 10. There are 10s to be given, if he can’t imagine that something can be done better it gets a 10. Be braver about using the full scale. A low score isn’t to be mean but to be fair to the other riders who do it better.
General words of wisdom-
Hold out for things when you have to and give when you can. Then the horses learn obedience and confidence. Regarding training he says whether eventing, dressage or grand pix jumping, when you think it they should do it. If not, it’s already too late. When they’re good in a movement take advantage of that and ask for more. Changing the gears at gaits is the best way to improve your horse’s proficiency.
Where you use the inside rein matters, see photo. If you use it away from the neck the horse bends in front of the withers. The closer you use your inside rein to the neck the higher up the neck they bend. Also, using the hand wide is a cheat to accomplish what your inside leg isn’t doing. It is vital to give an instant reward the moment you get what you want. He has everyone stretch at the trot after any hard work. He also has everyone work “round and down” rather than long and low. Long and low makes you envision work that’s flat and on the forehand so think round and down instead. He does this all three gaits with all levels. At the canter he encouraged round and down and getting off the horses back to allow them to stretch and work over their back.
Parting thoughts –
Jon Holling stole the show with his big bay horse, Quigase. They did the most advanced exercises of anyone (ex: shoulder in during a counter canter to set up flying change. Also he had him cut the diagonal line into 3 parts, ride the first third in half pass, then straighten to medium trot for middle third, then last third in half pass. Jon’s talented horse didn’t put a foot wrong! Beautiful. He praised Jon’s soft and effective position.
We are planning to attend training session tomorrow so will report back then.
