The Learning Never Ends

From January 13 through the 15, Olivia Steidle Dressage had the privilege of hosting another clinic with Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel. Our venue was Bailey Ridge Farm in Pittstown, NJ, and we are so grateful for their hospitality and generosity. We had a fabulous weekend of lessons, and as always, we came away with new tools that we can all use to help improve our riding and create improved harmony with our horses. I rode Brenda Curnin’s Ducati all three days of the clinic, and I also had the fantastic opportunity to do a lesson on 4-year-old Wolfie, owned and also bred by Brenda.

By, Paige Zimmerman

In my first lesson with Ducati, Felicitas mentioned to us that starting to work towards the half-steps would help him learn how to lift his thoracic sling and work through his long back. However, before teaching the half steps, we needed to work on the building blocks that would lead to that exercise. Firstly, in order to help Ducati better understand how he can lift up the base of his neck and stretch his neck to the contact, Felicitas wrapped a polo wrap once around his neck and then I held the ends in my hands. This way, it was sort of set up like a neck rope, and I could use the polo wrap for a half-halt and sit him down on the hindquarters without using the rein (which can result in him shortening his neck). This really allowed me to draw his attention to my seat and the polo wrap for the half-halt, and it allowed for my contact with his mouth to remain soft. We used the polo wrap in each of my subsequent rides throughout the clinic. It was an extremely helpful tool.

I was excited to show Felicitas our improved rein back, and Felicitas said that it was the best and most relaxed she has ever seen him back up! Ducati has a hard time with the rein back since it requires him to lift up his back and load the hind end. Some- times he will grab the reins and walk forward to resist going backwards, and other times he will duck his head and run backwards. However, recently we have had a great breakthrough in teaching him that he can rein back without anxiety, which is an important building block for eventually teaching him the half-steps. He needs to feel that he can rock back onto his hindquarters without feeling anxiety or pressure. We spent a lot of time working on this idea, working on the transition from rein back to trot, and encouraging him to keep the same level of engagement behind as he powers up into trot. Ducati offered some really fabulous steps, and however fleeting they were, they were very powerful steps in which he was sitting down and lifting his back and thoracic sling without anxiety. And that was really exciting to feel!

The following two days, we continued to work on ideas from the previous day to set Ducati up for success. We worked heavily in the walk: Felicitas had me doing square turns and straight lines to collect Ducati’s long walk and keep his middle supple off of either leg. The exercise can be best described as a three-loop serpentine, but with squared, 90-degree corners instead of rounded edges. On some of the square turns, Felicitas had me do a turn on the forehand, and on other turns, she had me do a turn on the haunches or yield the shoulders around the haunches in a counter-bend. This exercise was super helpful in allowing me to feel how he was running away with me in the walk and taking big and unbalanced steps, rather than collecting himself. Making the walk more collected and keeping its quality is very important for eventually creating half steps. We then took this exercise of square turns and straight lines into the trot and canter, in order to help him feel the same level of collection in the bigger gaits where it is easy for him to get long and flat rather than carry himself. When working on these ideas, he began snorting and stretching his neck into the contact with power from behind. It was really fun to feel his confidence grow! Using the polo wrap around his neck also made this exercise easier for him, since I was not resorting to the reins for the collecting half-halt and could encourage him to lift the thoracic sling and shoulder from my seat.

Another interesting dimension that Felicitas added to the square-turns-straightlines exercise in the trot and canter was increasing his power and energy through the square turn, and then asking him for higher collection on the straight lines. This was different from what I had been doing, which was collecting him through the turns and then increasing the power on the straight lines. This modification of the exercise really made me think about encouraging his hind end to activate more to make the turn, and rather than simply running him forward, he had to add power and then maintain collection on the straight lines. This made his trot much more cadenced.

We also worked in both the trot and canter with standing up in the stirrups for a few strides interspersed with sitting. Felicitas had me stand in the saddle and ask him to stretch his neck longer to the bit and collect while I was in a two-point position, and then she had me ease back into the saddle and allow him to open up and flow forward in my sitting for about half of a circle. This had great results in both the trot and canter, focusing his attention on my seat and increasing the quality of his gaits without producing anxiety. She then had me ask him to walk while I was standing, half-halting mainly from the polo wrap to avoid shortening his neck. Then as soon as he stepped to walk, I was to sit back down and ask him to trot. In standing in the stirrups, he would be encouraged to stretch to the contact and lift his back, and then I could sit and add power to that feeling. All of these exercises are very simple and uncomplicated to practice, but they worked wonders! On the last day of the clinic he was unfortunately very tired and lethargic, so we worked mainly in the walk, but the lesson served to cement Felicitas’s exercises in both of our minds.

On Saturday, I also had a lesson with Wolfie. Since he is young, we focused on different exercises, but all were building blocks towards the concepts we worked on with Ducati. Felicitas had me ride him with a piece of baling twine around his neck to serve as a neck rope, to aid him in steering and becoming more mindful of his shoulder placement and also to act as a half-halt aid, similar to how the polo wrap functioned on Ducati. One main exercise that we worked on with Wolfie was the shallow loop serpentine in the trot, with a canter transition afterwards. He has a tendency to fall through the right shoulder, so working on the shallow loops with changes of bend helped him to increase his coordination and then be able to step into canter quietly and with more balance. He has a naturally balanced canter, though it is big. So asking for the transition in a more mindful way made it easier to manage. Then, when coming out of the canter and into the trot, Felicitas had me make sure that I could ask him for a smaller trot right away so he didn’t just fall onto the forehand. These simple exercises of bending and paying attention to his balance will help set him up for success as he grows and becomes more educated. It is so much fun to be a part of the development process!

Thank you Olivia Steidle for offering the clinic, keeping everything so well organized, and making sure that all the riders’ and auditors’ needs were met all weekend long. It is not an easy feat to accomplish, but she is successful every time! Thank you to Ingrid and the entire Bailey Ridge Farm crew for welcoming our clinic to their lovely facility, and for hosting us with gracious hospitality. Thank you Brenda Curnin for sharing your wonderful horses Ducati and Wolfie with me. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to learn on and connect with such fabulous horses and for Olivia for patiently guiding me in that learning process. And of course, thank you Felicitas for always sharing your wealth of knowledge: my subsequent rides after the clinic have greatly improved. I’m looking forward to next time!