Jan '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... photo: Peggy Finnerty

never underestimate the potential for harmony & lightness to improve in ways you cannot yet imagine

Welcome back to the Temenos...

The D, N Reins are a big hit, more hats and visors are now available, and the book is still... moving forward....

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.

I got a visit from JoAnna Mendl-Shaw and her new group of dancers, more on that inside.

This month... After a lull in activity from the Holidays, things are revving up here in my Temenos! The January Workshop already took place and after some actual freezing temperatures (!) earlier in the week, beautiful, perfect weather is back.

Inside there is another Q & A from the Natural Dressage Forum Carlos was not happy about the 2 days that went below 50 degrees. That wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t part of the deal of living in Florida!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------

I have added a Youtube player on my website, so now you will not miss any new videos I post. Currently there is one of me and Monty playing with collection and one of Atomic playing soccer!

Ashlyn Pumphrey has joined the team here, along with her 2 horses; you will meet her in this issue.

you would like to submit a story or a question please email it to: karenrohlf@dressagenaturally.net to submit it. If you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t receive this newsletter directly and you want to:

subscribe: k2@dressagenaturally.net unsubscribe: k2@dressagenaturally.net Dressage Naturally website: CLICK HERE Info on clinics: Contact K2

Dancing in the Temenos A ‘Temenos’ is a place where special rules apply and magical events are free to occur...this was especially true this past weekend when I got a visit from JoAnna MendlShaw (Dancingwithhorses.org) and her new troup of dancers. My horses and I helped Jo play with ideas for scores (un-choreographed situations) and to help them further their horsemanship abilities. Atomic obliged by giving a demonstration of how much we can accomplish at Liberty without a lot of actual control! He stepped dramatically into a feed-tubs, circled barrels, jumped jumps, leapt in the air, circled around me, went sideways over logs, not to mention chased a cat! And I was able to show how even in a situation where things are not in perfect control, you can preserve harmony by going with the horse; (he’s not leaving if you are going with him!) I love what JoAnna is working on these days...her dancer’s abilities with the horses is excellent; she has spent time with Linda Parelli, some of her dancers have their Level 1 and it shows! She is putting a focus on creating situations where the dancers, the horses and the horseman all have parameters, but need to problem solve in the moment. It is less about a ‘perfect routine’, and more about an true sharing of the moment...no mistakes... only possible outcomes....Hmmm sound like a philosophy that can help with horsemanship oh yeah, and life in general? Whenever I see a common thread between seemingly different worlds, my nervous system starts ringing little bells that tell me this is something important! 2

In playing with Jo and her troop, he lines became blurred between the equal but unique energies of horse, horseman, and dancer. Monty loved the part where he moved slowly and intricately around the dancers in close proximity...(maybe that was because if their arms were out he could stop and get a free hug and scratch!)

Jedi had the best time, prancing around with light feet and a big smile on his face. He quickly decided to become part of a ‘herd’ of dancers led by me!

I always enjoy time with the dancers; it is so inspiring to see the grace with which they move, and how much they can embody the energy of the horse, deepening the connection between horse and human. I am always playing to increase the freedom of movement and expression in my horses, and I got a good reminder this weekend, of how much freer and more expressive I could be.

Dressage, Naturally Reins (click here for the Dressage, Naturally Store)

Hats and Visors are also now available on my website... The Book/DVD...still in post production processes....see page 7 of this newsletter)

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I own lots of rope reins. I have the Horseman's Reins, the Sport Reins and Fluidity Reins, and they all have their purpose and lots of great attributes. However, I can honestly say that I love my DN Reins the best for Finesse riding. The leather ends are not only beautiful and classy looking but also very functional in that they are quiet and steady. They have a totally different feel to them than my reins with metal clips which I didn't expect. The metal clips are a bit noisy feeling and bounce around on the bit, but the leather keepers are quiet and steady. I didn't even realize my rope reins with clips bounced until I rode in the DN Reins. I love the fact that they are black which means they always look clean and, even better, they don't look like rope reins even from a short distance away. I feel this is important to anyone who might like to blend in a bit with those using traditional leather reins while still giving all the benefits of using rope reins. I also want to add that the rope that they are made from is not the squishy, cheap yacht braid but the tight, firm yacht braid that we all love because it has so much life. I love my DN Reins and thanks to Karen for coming up with such a wonderful interface between the Normals and Naturals.â&#x20AC;? ~Peggy Finnerty

then again, most questions with horses do, don’t they?!) Collection, suspension and elevation (‘uphill-ness’) whether on-line or in the saddle, in general can be achieved in 3 ways: 1. By asking the horse for it. This involves setting up a signal, an aid, a ‘half halt’, a postural change...that the horse understands as a direct communication and so he makes the change. He will make the change immediately, and may make a change that is bigger than he can sustain. www.naturaldressage.2savvy.com 2. By doing a transition or some sort of maneuver that will cause the horse Karen, to make the desired change. He will After seeing your wonderful video on make a change to regain and sustain YouTube it seems only natural to ask his best balance possible for him on about getting suspension and collection this day. You don’t necessarily use a online (it seems more attainable than signal, just choose to do a particular the bridle-less pirouettes!). We can astransition or pattern that will help sume that lots of transitions help, but him maintain his balance and lighthow do you - or rather, how can we ness. If you do this well, you will noachieve higher levels of suspension and tice a difference at the end of the collection online? What are the steps or ride. some exercises we can play with once 3. By investing in correct posture and the basic communication has been gymnastics in such a way that over achieved? What should we be looking for time he develops more carrying in the emotional and physical response power. This is the sort of change of our horse (which also bring thoroughyou don’t necessarily notice everyness into the picture)? day, but you will notice his capabilities increasing and your friend that Thank you for your always insightful anhasn’t seen him in a month will noswers. We are patiently (well, trying to tice a big change.

Ask Karen:

A(nother) question from the Natural Dressage Forum

be patient!) awaiting your book and

can't wait for the discussions it will certainly bring!!!

CLICK HERE to see the video

Hi everyone! Another great question! And as usual one that involves several layers of answers...(but

Of course ideally you are doing each of these three. But I am sure you are thinking: ‘well, what aids and what exercises do we do?’ And that is a long answer...but...here is what is important to me:

With a good foundation as a given...having horses moving freely forward with an engaged, active hind leg, good impulsion (in the dressage and NH sense of the word), a released, free spine (that is a result of alignment and balance) and calmness (communication about relaxation) are the most important starting points. From here I makes sure that there is a postural communication between me and the horse...That my body embodies what I want the horse to do...they are primarily reading your body anyway...you might as well be conscious of it! So I make it meaningful to them... if I soften my spine, versus if I stretch tall and sink through my tailbone (collecting myself). If I want shoulder-in on a circle (a very collecting exercises) around me, I do in my body what I want the horse to do. Transitions such as walk to canter, canter to back up, to shoulder-in or to smaller circles are very collecting if you pay attention to the weight shift and the readiness of the horse to move forward and back...really looking at the lack of hesitation, quality of the let-looseness to the suggestion. Watch for the feet to initiate the forward steps, and that it is not just the weight falling forward and the feet moving just to keep up, or that they aren’t pushing out the back with their hind legs, or lifting themselves forward with their necks. You will have to look at your own timing and your own posture or body language. No recipe of exercises will help unless you look for these qualities and adjust your timing and positioning to achieve them. Transitions to higher energy or longer strides can end up being collecting if you have a horse that tends to forget

to use his hind legs. This is an example of Option 2. above, instead of using stronger aids, you simply choose to make transitions or changes in the pattern at a moment that will best cause your horse to make the gymnastic change you desire. If you can play between a stretched, let-loose, free forward gait...and transitions to back up and total relaxation, then you will see the horse offer moments where he is ready for all...he is loose in his spine, active and ready with his weight back...they may only last for a moment or two, but make them feel important and gradually build them. Imagine if you can mix and match these ingredients just by changing it in your body?! Your horse could be stretched, you could add energy while still stretching, then keep the energy and elevate the posture, then if he gets tight, can start to stretch maybe an inch or two, then back uphill again, then release it and let him just flow and stretch again....a nice picture, huh?

been riding using option 3. above...and so have a horse with a strong hind end, a strong, elastic back and good posture through alignment (as seen in all the stretching). This is why he is able to sustain the collection in the pirouette for so many strides. I don’t have to talk to him about posture during this pirouette, because he takes care of that himself, as it is the best way to get a confident, keen pirouette accomplished, and he is willing to do it!

Also in the video you see Monty collecting at liberty...this is a product of several things. One is that I have a good enough draw that I can add energy and he stays... [in the moments I have on video at least, ;-) ]... When he wants to stay and I add energy, one place for the energy to go would be into speed, but the other is it goes into elevation and expression in his gait. In this case he is matching my uphill posture and so the energy goes into being more up hill. A lot of that really is natural...horses will tend to respond to that if we haven’t taught them not to What is that, you want more specifics? listen to our posture! But some of ;-) what I am getting is When you watch the video on Youtube, from a signal up with in the beginning I am walking along the stick above the stretched and relaxed, then transition withers to support to a canter pirouette...I changed my what my posture is posture from stretched to collected, asking for and to ask added a canter rhythm, and turning. for even more...you (an example of option 1, above: I gave will see I am not really specific aids that my horse undertapping, but more am stands. I worked on each one of those drawing up with the aids separately and got them to such a stick... I have taught high degree of sensitivity and coordihim to jump up from nation, that now he understands how this...but also it is a pretty natural reto do them all at the same time.) sponse and I think of it mostly as an extension of what my posture is The reason the pirouette turned out in doing...getting tall and lifting. such good quality is because I have

I put all the stretching in that video to highlight something that is very important...that everything comes from and returns to relaxation. I hope this helps. Thank you for the great question and thank you for allowing me to share what my horses have taught me. It’s funny, but I have heard that some straight dressage people criticized the video saying “but he’s not uphill when he is stretching” well... I am asking him to stretch and release from collection in that moment! He is in enough balance to stretch without speeding up or losing general balance. And I certainly thought I demonstrated that we have the ability to come up hill anytime I want...sigh...I tried, on the video to show many ingredients...free movement, stretched spine, carrying power, natural posture, connection with the reins, strong hind leg, maintenance of rhythm, trust, communication, harmony and general goodboyedness. Don’t worry, Monty....we know you’re perfect! ~Karen

Ashlyn, Loxley and Massidor join the team at Temenos Fields.

Hello everyone, my name is Ashlyn Pumphrey and I am nowworking for Karen, while supporting my two horses. I am originally from Lake Ridge, Virginia and heard about Karen through Marj Cassetta, a trainer educated in the Parelli system, located about an hour away from me.

Last August, I made a trip to Germany to check out a working student opportunity. Well, I hated it. But, I didn't leave empty handed. I had fallen in love with a three year old Westphalian gelding (Loxley) that couldn't keep his big eyes off of me. When I asked the owner why he was stuck in his stall, she repeated "he is crazy and he has been in there for 4 months now." I was stunned. How could anyone

ignore him? Well, being brave I ventured into his stall, and what I found was a very sweet and worried horse. I knew I was in for some work, and I was told to find a "cowboy". Luckily I found some thing better, Marj Cassetta and Karen Rohlf. Loxley has transformed in 3 months into a completely different horse and I am excited to see his potential. I have another horse (Messidor) who I have been competing FEI Young Riders with, but have been unsuccessful in correcting his flying changes. I have been to top trainers all along the East Coast and no one has took the time to understand my horses willing to please personality and that the fact of he thinks he is doing changes correctly. With Karen, I hope to accomplish my goal of getting Messidor up to Grand Prix and furthering Loxley's education and trust.

Welcome aboard, Ashlyn!

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“And you didn’t look at all like a lizard, like most newborns do!” ~My Dad, describing what I looked like after finally being born... 6 weeks late.

It’s true, I was born 6 weeks late... It’s not too surprising, I expect I was pretty comfy in there. Warm, interesting sounds, free food, weightlessness, got to kick things and people thought it was cute....

It can be very frustrating! I fight with myself or find myself wishing I could blame something or someone else. But maybe... it is just the Universe taking care of things.

When I asked mom what it was like, she said: “Well, it got hard to pick things up off the floor, and I knitted an afghan to make the time go by.” So I guess it wasn’t so bad for her, either; she could throw stuff around and other people would clean up after her... And she got to do arts & crafts... must have been like being at summer camp! When I learned of this, it made me realize: It’s been a pattern in my life..I tend to stay in situations just a little longer than I really want to... Its a tricky thing to know when to stick with something and when to move to a new plan. There have been plenty of times that I really want to do something, but I just can’t seem to mobilize... not from lack of desire or ability...I just catch myself ‘stalling out’ and can’t seem to figure out how to take the next step. Or I feel like I am pushing to get something done and it just simply won’t materialize in the timing that I want.

The Dalai Lama says to remember “that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck”. Xenephon said that: “Anything forced cannot be beautiful.” Well, in that case I sure am glad my mom didn’t induce! When I was ready...I popped right out: “It was easy”, Mom said. Even the doctor commented that when I came out, I looked like a baby that had been out for 6 weeks. So I guess just because I hadn’t shown my face to the world at the time that everyone was expecting me, it didn’t mean I wasn’t developing, improving, maturing, working out all the details..making sure everything was just right - that the world was ready, the stage set. I guess it’s only natural that the Dressage, Naturally book (like its author) will be born only when she’s good and ready... and it will be worth it. ~K1 One baby & book that refuse to be forced out before they’re good & ready.