Aug '08 Newsletter by Dressage Naturally

Dressage, Naturally

with Karen Rohlf

Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage... leading to Results in Harmony! photo: fotosiwek.com never underestimate the potential for harmony & lightness to improve in ways you cannot yet imagine

Welcome back to the Temenos... Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no limits, where special rules apply and extra-ordinary events are free to occur.

My upcoming clinics are: Aug. 13-17 Avenches, Switzerland. Contact: Carmen Zulauf

This month...

Aug 23-25 Wiltshire, UK. Contact Lyla Cansfield

NEW COVER FOR BOOK! The Book/DVD is in it’s second printing, now with a hard cover (still spiral bound)! RESULTS IN HARMONY VIDEO SERIES We are happy to announce a new instructional DVD... The first in a series. Read more about it in this newsletter. INTERVIEW BY RICK LAMB Karen was interviewed by Rick Lamb of The Horse Show. You can go to www.thehorseshow.com to listen. WEB SHOP SALE for my newsletter recipients! (through Sept 15, 2008) Enter Discount Code: DNSS43 to get 10% off everything on Dressage, Naturally web shop!

New DVD!

QUESTION FROM NATURAL DRESSAGE FORUM Karen answers another excellent question about how to interpret expression, such as earpinning ANCORA IMPARO Karen asks... David Lichman answers!

you would like to submit a story or a question please email it to: karenrohlf@earthlink.net to submit it. If you didn’t receive this newsletter directly and you want to subscribe: go to my website and sign in as a guest. At the bottom of that form you can check a box that says ‘sign up for newsletter’ To unsubscribe: CLICK HERE

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You asked for it! I am so happy to announce the availability of a new instructional DVD. This is the first in the Results in Harmony Video Series. The subject of this series came directly from you, my students. Whenever I begin a clinic I ask students what they are having the most trouble with or need more information about. This DVD covers the most frequently requested subject: Riding in Connection with the Reins. In this 30 minute DVD I explain my basic theory that makes the transition from your natural foundation to a connection that you will want for dressage. Then you can watch as I put it into practice as I play with my young horse, Ovation. At the time of the filming, Ovation is at a stage that is similar to what I see with many of my studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; horses, and he has a big potential to have a bracey, heavy connection if I am not careful with how I play with him. You will be able to see and hear us move through the process... definitely not looking perfect every step of the way, ;-) but finishing with a connection we can move forward with in a positive way.

CLICK HERE to order yours today. Web store SALE! To Celebrate the release of this DVD I am offering a 10% off sale on everything on my web store until September 15! As readers of this newsletter can enter the Discount Code: DNSS43 when you check out and 10% will be taken off your subtotal before shipping!

The Instructional Book/DVD is in its second printing. Now with a hard cover, yet still spiral bound.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to check the NEWS page on my website for latest happenings!

'body language' do you look for to make your decision? Thank you much! -The Members of the Natural Dressage Forum www.naturaldressage.2freedom.com

and not taking into account particular situation and the influence we are having on the situation. Sometimes (believe it or not) we are the cause of the disturbance, and it is not just the horse ‘having an attitude’!

Here are some questions I ask myself when I come across the ear-pinning: • What does all the evidence tell me? Real ear pinning (not just ears back) Thanks for your question. is definitely telling you something... This for sure can be a tricky subject, the horse is putting out some inbut just the fact that you are thinking tense energy. I will see horses do and asking this question means you this when they want to drive anare half way to solving it. And of other horse away, or in an intense course, we can thank Linda Parelli for activity, such as cutting (which all her investigation of the individual really is driving a cow away, so it is ‘horsenalities’ which gives great the same) or racing each other. But strategies for figuring these things in these moments the horse isn’t out. Given that you likely have the thinking it is mad or unhappy, it is information from Parelli, I will just just using his energy and body lanexpand with some more ideas. guage as a very effective tool! Depending on the personality of the horse it seems like it would make sense for him to do this activity Hi K1, with the ears pinned. My horse Atomic is VERY dominant and I This month our question concerns the can’t imagine him coming up to the horse's expression, specifically his molasses water with his ears up ears (since that seems the most obvisaying: “Excuse me nice Mr. Ovaous). tion, please, if its ok, and you don’t mind could I kinda squeeze in If you are playing with a horse online, at liberty or even while riding, and he here?” pins his ears what do you do dependWhat we need to assess is whether ing on how you read the horse? If he this horse is pinning his ears because seems dominant, do you stop him in he is really ‘going for it’ in an intense his tracks (because he is being domiactivity that we asked for: “Look out nant and you want to interrupt the beworld, my human and I are coming Some considerations of your queshavior) and "wipe the look off his through” or is he using his effective tion: face" (by somehow disciplining zone tool to try to drive you away? Atomic 1). • What does ear-pinning mean? loves to put his feet in feet tubs and to • What is the cause of the earchase a ball (have you seen him on Under what circumstance would you pinning? youtube?) and if I send him to a feed simply keep your picture and continue • What to do about it? tub he sometimes runs over, ears on, trusting your picture will eventually pinned and really shows that tub become his picture or something In observing horses we can use catecompletely different?! who’s boss! That’s just fine in my gories to group the different types in, book! But if he tries to drive me away and this helps get a general view and Whether you read his behavior as simply to see if he can... That is not clue as to approach, but the danger is dominant, unconfident or simply one OK and I will assert my leadership in in seeing the horse only as that type of deep concentration, what other

“What is that face you are making?” Q:

that moment to drive him away, the same as any horse would do to maintain the top position. • How was it related to our interaction? Now, another layer to the issue is to ask yourself: ‘Am I causing this?’ Besides just dominance games, horses will pin their ears for a couple main reasons:

ing along doing something that I asked and his ears are pinned, but if I stop, they go forward, then I have to ask myself if I am causing it. Why does he feel like he needs to defend himself?

Parelli Professional Bernie Zambail was visiting me once and he watched me play with Atomic at liberty. He is such a spirited horse, but is kind of 1. Because I asked for something and like a chihuahua.... can be aggressive, they didn’t totally do it, so some of but there is fear behind it. Atomic the energy went into just holding and I play with high intensity and I tension. The ‘Left Brain Introverts’ am really wanting to preserve as (to use Parelli terms), get stuck in this. much spirit as possible, but without am in neutral’ but these sensitive You ask, they do 40% of what you ask feeding into the aggression or reachorses are still feeling pressure... your and the other 60% goes into locking tion. Bernie really helped me to see arm is still clenching the stick, you are down or feeling put out about it. Of that I was putting pressure on him staring at them, still moving in the course sometimes humans create LB even when i didn’t know it. Because I saddle, etc. I see this a lot in mares, Introverts by being unclear and condidn’t really trust him, I kept my eye and the sensitive, fearful types. fusing, so they are not really sure on him (so I didn’t get bit!), but this Mares are different than geldings. what to do, and because they are nice posture of defensiveness from me was You won’t really see mares out messhorses, instead of exploding, they just feeding into the general vibe of: ’there ing and playing with each other... err on the side of doing less. For these are things not to be trusted here’ that’s for those silly bachelor geldcases you need to follow through and which just made him more defensive ings. Dominant mares are used to increase your horse’s motivation (and offensive!). giving the directions, and if they and/or understanding. aren’t a lead mare, they pretty much For sure we established some clear just want the list of rules and then be boundaries, and this is what made left alone... and they really can put in my next statement possible and safe: huge efforts, but they don’t like to be I had to trust him before he became fiddled with and are very sensitive to trustworthy. I had to soften myself pressure remaining on, even when we and become less aggressive myself for think it is off. him to be able to do it ‘happily’. So if he is doing something I am asking River really taught me this. We would be playing, either on the ground or riding and she would sometimes get her ears really back, and I found that if I just touched her while she was going (like a rub), the ears would go forward again... as if she just needed to hear from me that she was doing great, I didn’t need any more from her. My neutral hadn’t 2. been neutral enough for her. Because they have done what you asked but they are still perceiving But Atomic needs this too. He is a pressure on them. You are thinking: very dominant horse, but also very ‘yay, I got what I asked for so now I sensitive and fearful. We can be go4

him to do, and while he is doing it he is thinking :’boy there is a lot of pressure in the air” and if I bop him in the nose... it just confirms to him that things are not so pleasant and feeding into perpetuating the situation. Now that was a bit scary to do, to turn my back on him when he was sticking to me with ears pinned and gesturing aggressively at me... and what helped me was to know that my leadership in general was high with him, so if I needed to get him to move, I knew I could. Don’t misinterpret this. There are for sure times when a horse is pushing on you just to see if he can and you need to be quick and clear with your assertiveness of who gets to move who’s feet. Just make sure once you are safe, that you look at the whole situation and take responsibility for your part in creating it. And always check your friendly game to make sure the mere presence of your tools isn’t causing it. Ears are such and obvious sign, but we must take every thing into account. ears pricked forward is not always a great thing, either. With some horses I am on alert when their ears are pricked forward when I ride them, because their attention is way off in the distance and not on me. Ears softly back can be a wonderful position when you are looking for your horse to really be focused on your body. If you are working on point to point and destination type games, with an aloof or unmotivated horse, then you want to look for moments when he pricks his ears and gets literally looking forward to something! I am sad to say that I have a video of a horse being ridden who’s ears are

pricked forward the entire time... even when this rider repeatedly punches him in the head. This is ears pricked forward in desperation looking for a way out.

I sure hope this helps... I love that you are thinking about this. If we keep our intention that we want our horses to end up feeling good about what we do with them, then one must look at this topic. The answer is in the observation. What is happening now, and what happened right before? When does it change? What role did you play?

~Karen

Ancora Imparo... David Lichman answers a question from Karen 5* Parelli Professional David Lichman was my very first teacher in Parelli. Obviously he and his teaching made a big impression on me, and still today, he is a source of great information. He is a unique blend of knowledge, skill and art. He is also a connector of people. Many of the people you have enjoyed meeting through Parelli (Sasha the former circus performer who flies through the air as his horse is at liberty, JoAnna Mendl Shaw and her dancers, Walter Zettl, Honza....and more) came via David’s open spirit. Please visit his website and especially check out his ‘Center for Excellence’. He is always learning and sharing and this is just one of the many reasons I enjoy staying connected with him. So when I recently felt a need for a little boost of creativity, I asked him this question:

Q (Karen):

Hi David, I am always looking for new inspiration of how to balance precision and play. I often find myself dancing between the kind of leadership where my horse knows a behavior where, for example, I point to a barrel and he knows to run around it and come back... with the kind of leadership that I need for dressage where it is more like we are dancing together every step. So I Do you have any insights about how I can was wondering if you had any thoughts balance these two kinds of interactions? on this in general. Do you have thoughts on how they can connect in a way that makes sense to a horse? (David) My first thought is to do the

For example, I play with my horses at liberty or riding freestyle in ways where I focus on: go jump the jump, go put your foot in the bucket, follow the ball.... etc and they feel so free and playful...even a little wild and exuberant and I see them thinking and making choices and I like this..... Then I do dressagey things or have a different focus where the intention is: be with me 100% like a dancer. They can get really let loose and open and free and it feels so yummy, but in a different way. I like both of these modes, but they are definitely different. I am looking for more conscious thoughts about my strategies of how to mix the two! 6

same play exercise, but mounted... and make the motivation high on your list. WHY is he doing this for me? Not just because I lead and he follows, why this thing this time. Each thing needs to be rewarding to him. So if it's rest, dismount, cookie, massage, dismount, bridge (if you've trained it... soothing words if you have not) or any combo of the above make sure you get'r done before you move on. So then I'd make a game of it. Build some dressage patterns backwards. These are called chain behaviors. They might be used to train a complex series of events for a show... you are going to use them as temporary one time chains. The chain will vary on the level of stuff the horse knows. This isn't for teaching, it's for

connecting and motivating the stuff he already knows. So that he learns to get motivated to respond to longer and longer chains of "dance steps" - until he starts to realize that even though they vary - there's always a big payoff. So for a simple example. 1) Trot A - C 2) RL Canter C - M - R 3) Half pass R - V 4) FLC V 5) Left Lead Canter V - K - D? (down center line) 6) Transition Trot X 7) Small Circle L around Barrel @ I (twice) 8) LL Canter Barrel - C - H - S 9) Half Pass S - P 10) Halt at P

[Note: The letters David is using are the letters around a dressage arena...]

Depending on the horse, could be shorter or longer, more unusual elements added (jump, sideways over log, squeeze etc.) David (Left) and me with two of the Dancing with Horses dancers, Gina and Blake

I would guess if it takes more than 3 days to accomplish - it's too long or too difficult... but there's not really a guideline. So to begin start at the end - 9) Half Pass S - P 10) Halt at P reward repeat until it's easy. If necessary practice each piece individually before combining. Assuming this is already done go backwards to 8. 8) LL Canter Barrel - C - H - S 9) Half Pass S - P 10) Halt at P reward then add in 7. 7) Small Circle L around Barrel @ I (twice) 8) LL Canter Barrel - C - H - S 9) Half Pass S - P 10) Halt at P maybe as the chain gets longer the reward gets a bonus with increasing frequency then add in 6. 6) Transition Trot X 7) Small Circle L around Barrel @ I (twice) 8) LL Canter Barrel - C - H - S 9) Half Pass S - P 10) Halt at P at any point you could build sub chains. so for example instead of 6 - 10. do 5 -7. then 3 -7. then chain the two sub-chains 3 - 7 and 7 - 10 so you have total 3 - 10 Probably enough for one or two days here already. Just remember to start at the end for any chain, and build it backwards, the longer the chain, the better chance the reward will include a bonus. Teach a chain.. if it's too long, shorten it and end the deal. Teach it.. then throw it away. You want the horse to be interested in learning new chains, not any one particular chain. All the while you are building a positive "what's next? - Can we do more???" excitement in your horse. Building the responsiveness to the dance - through dancing. Hope this helps!

Thanks, David... this should give me (and my readers!) lots to think about and play with! I can imagine how this can help the horse find the mini-destinations in the middle of the flow of dressage type gymnastics. It is always a challenge to develop the body in a way that the horse has an open mind, but doesn’t go brain-dead... and can stay playful without tuning out the rider... Thanks again for another insightful, educated answer for me! ~K1