June 2011 Newsletter by Dressage Naturally

June 2011 Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage... Karen Rohlf

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

Welcome back to the Temenos...

“A man doesn’t know what he knows until he knows what he doesn’t know” ~Laurence J Peters

Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no limits, where special rules apply and extraordinary events are free to occur.

August 17-28

This Month • Q&A • 10-week Intensive wrap up

Finding the Sweet Spot

3 days Sweet Spot, 3 days Upward Spiral, 3 Days Advancing Private lessons

Santa Cruz, CA Contact: Shelley Candelario

Somerset, UK Contact: Stephanie Gaunt

July 19-21

shelleycandelario@yahoo.com

Sept. 16-17 Spots Open!

• Ancora Imparo

2 days Focusing on Connection,

July 22-25 One Spot Open!

Upward Spiral (Smaller group format)

Upcoming Clinics:

Clinic schedule: CLICK HERE

email: stefgaunt@yahoo.co.uk

Santa Cruz, CA Contact: Shelley Candelario

shelleycandelario@yahoo.com

Sept. 18-21 Spots Open!

4 days Upward Spiral (smaller group, more private attention)

Lindstrom, MN Contact: Sally Taylor Phone: 612.616.2550 email: zazz@aol.com

Auditors Welcome At All Clinics!

NEWS from the TEMENOS

The 10 week Intensive The 10 week Intensive finished up June 11 and it was just a little surreal... It felt like we had done a a yearʼs worth of changing, yet the time flew by! If there was a theme for this course it was to “BE HERE, NOW” to be fully present, self aware, disciplined and curious. I am so proud of the 5 students who came from all over the world to attend. All but one were on horses that they just met on the first day of the course. We had a range of experience from Parelli Instructor with no dressage experience, to a dressage judge. All had their hearts in the right place and strong foundation. One of the beauties of this course is it allows individual attention, so everyone could be taught at their level. Our goal was to be the best we could be and to do the same for our horses... To help them be the best they can be. The horses ranged from a quarter horse, and an arabian/warmblood cross with no experience being ridden with contact, to a warmblood whose owner has taken clinics with me over the past several years, to a National show horse who was a champion western pleasure horse until age 11 when he came to the Temenos, to an Andalusion/Percheron cross whose only dressage was the last 10 week course this past fall. It sounds like a pretty strange assortment of horses, but what they all had in common was a good foundation. They were all ready to learn their next steps in their gymnastic development. What is interesting to me is to see each horseʼs dynamic... To understand how they use their bodies and to see how we can ride them so they have harmony in their body, healthy biomechanics and a more powerful circuit of energy that we can connect with in a happy and respectful way. After reading these descriptions I think you will enjoy these photographs on the next page and click here

to view a video that shows the results! I send out a big Thank you again to their owners for allowing them to spend this time with us.

<-- Ewa Angantyr (Sweden). Ewa is riding Jedi, a 14 year old National Show horse. Jedi came to the Temenos 3 years ago to be sold but he liked it so much here his previous owner let him just stay with me! He was a western pleasure show horse, and had done quite well. Then of course did Dressage, Naturally with him. He is very light and delicate to ride. Ewa made a wonderful connection with Jedi and really helped him find some power inside his dainty body! It looks a long way from western pleasure now! With Jedi it is a lesson in creating a circuit of energy that flows all the way through the body. He is delicate, wiggly and can be tight in the back... But if you ride him in the right way he can be connected, straight, can use his back and be excellent at lateral work. Ewa did an excellent job of finding the place where Jedi can use his body to the best of his ability!

Michele Richardson (The UK) -->. Michele is riding Sarah, an Arabian/Warmblood cross. Sarah is quite a different type of horse from the friesians she is used to riding! Sarah has a Level 3 Parelli foundation, but had no experience being ridden in connection with the reins. Her owner has excellent foundational skills and a specialization in reining. Michele did an excellent job of learning to trust her balance on this new type of mover. Sarah始s excellent Parelli foundation was key to this! Michele then could then start the process of giving Sarah the skills she needs to move comfortably, with healthy biomechanics while being ridden in connection with the reins. Sarah始s body and confidence truly transformed during these 10 weeks!

<-- Sarah Grimm (USA). Sarah participated with her own quarter horse mare, Lilly. Neither Sarah or Lilly knew anything about dressage beyond taking a 3 day clinic with me last fall. Sarah and Lilly both have a strong Parelli foundation (with occasional 驶right-brain moments始) and they were ready to dive in! Sarah did a great job sorting out the massive amount of new information in this course. They had the biggest challenge in some ways because they were the only pair that had habits together that they had to break! Everyone else was on a new horse! But with great focus and curiosity the results were equally big. The process that the two of them went through together will set them up for a great future of stronger partnership AND healthy biomechanics. It is really fun for me to take a clean slate and give a horse and rider their first taste of just how good it can feel!

Liesbeth Jorna (The Netherlands) --> Liesbeth and Cocoa were perfect for each other! Cocoa is an 8 year old warmblood owner by a student of mine who has taken clinics a couple times a year for several years. Cocoa also participated in the last 10 week course. Everything that Liesbeth needed to add to her riding skills, Cocoa required! And Liesbeth, with the experience she already has in dressage, was the perfect human to take him to the next step of increasing his core strength and carrying power. Once we got both their super-elastic wiggly bodies straight, the magic happened! Liesbeth did a great job of staying aware and focused on the subtle details that end up making all the difference. The two of them learned together how to find the balance and rhythm that allows room to breathe!

<-- Sally Thompson (Australia). Sally rode Huey, an 8 year old Andaluison/Percheron cross. Huey also participated in the last 10 week course, and Sally was the perfect person to help Huey continue on to the next steps. Huey has a wonderful foundation and learned about finding the sweet spot in the first course. Sally was able to find that sweet spot and take it forward; developing him through more gymnastic patterns. Huey was the perfect mount for Sally to learn to let go, and be free in her riding. He showed her she can canter in an open field and bridle-less! The pieces he needed the most were the pieces of her riding that she needed most to learn, so they (like all the pairs, really) helped each other to gain confidence, expand their abilities and be their best. copyright 2011 temenos fields, inc JUNE

SiMoN, The Lateral Work School-Master Noodle is at it again! SiMoN is a serious learning tool, but he is also a bit mischievous. If you have watched to the end of the DVD that comes with the kit, you have seen him buck me off (if you missed it you can see it by clicking here). If you don始t know about SiMoN, you can watch this, or if you want to order your own SiMoN click here. One warning...

playing with SiMoN can lead to extreme confidence!! If you are wondering what we are doing with SiMoN in the photos to the right... CLICK HERE to see SiMoN始s MUSIC VIDEO!

There is another important video to watch. It is a conversation between a natural horsewoman and a dressage rider. They are discussing why they do what they do, and believe it or not, they end up agreeing that they should work together! CLICK HERE to watch this video.

D,N Video Classroom is an amazing resource of instructional videos from Karen and conversations with other D,N students. If you haven始t signed up check it out! The first month is half price!

Q&A “Too Much Foundation” follow up question: (In the May 2011 Newsletter I answered a question of whether “too much Parelli could ruin the dressage”.)

Hi Karen, Just a quick note to say thanks so much for your letter about "too much Parelli" in your last newsletter. It was very timely for me...over the last few weeks I had been coming to the hard realisation that I had over done Rowley's foundation and it was working against me big time now that I wanted Rowley to be confident and thinking forward. He was stuck to me like glue and all his thoughts were about stopping & looking at everything wondering if he had to stick his nose, feet or body on it. Oops!

Not Happy with the Posture My coming 5 year old mare is doing an interesting behavior during alignment exercises on-line. She is 1/4 Friesian and of all the less desirable Friesian traits she had to get the wretched underneck and the "cart-pulling" trot! She has made a pretty good habit of holding tension in her underneck any time there is any kind of pressure or anytime she moves faster than a walk. I have finally started to tackle this on-line with your alignment exercises and some help from David Lichman.

I have discovered that as soon as she lets go of the tension in her underneck and reaches forward with her head and neck, she pins her ears flat back! I get the feeling she doesn't want to let go of that last bit of dominance her high head and bracey posture give her. I wait until she no longer pins them or at least pins them less, and then reward her, usually with a stop, at which point she faces me and again pins her ears back! Today I So we have been working on forward for backed her every time after she approached me or faced me with pinned us and redefining relaxation and energy ears, which did help. If I try to do the and finally finding some power. I have to moving massage she usually gets even say it has been a really tough few weeks more tense or worried or ends up on top working on undoing patterns for which I had been rewarding him, for over 5 years. of me, unless it is at the walk or halt, her favorite gait. It will be no surprise to you But we are coming out the other side and she is an LBI, so I do use treats for reit's very exciting. :) ward and to motivate her. So thanks again for being an endless source of inspiration for me and my horses. Hope all is well, Anne

What do I do with my disgruntled girl here? I can no longer play circling game and watch her run around like she has a pulley on her underneck! Please help me to help her realize that moving in a free, relaxed way can feel good. Thanks for any advice you can give. Stefanie --A couple things to keep in mind: There are many factors in creating a good posture and balance... Even though the neck is an obvious one, and an indicator of the rest of the body, it isn't always where we start... And sometimes lowering the head too soon actually can make them feel even more unbalanced onto the forehand, so they either do it and don't like it, or they go up and down with their heads. With a horse with a temperament as you describe it, the added challenge is to ask her to make some changes in her

way of going without boring her or updating her.... No one likes to have their posture changed... The process isn't fun, it only becomes fun once you can stay there long enough For them to realize it feels good, but along the way sometimes the steps need to be small and made really fun. It is very important that anything you do is based on really good clear and interesting communication. Her attitude will have a huge effect on her posture so that is VERY important. No nagging One other thing to note is that the head low posture is a vulnerable posture and i have met a few horses who feel more unsafe and defensive when they go there at first. Respect this and give them space and really take the pressure off.... Even moving massage in that moment can feel too close ... to them Cheers, Karen Hi Karen, I'm a huge fan of the art of dressage but has re-schooled myself in order to find a partner and not a robot. I love what you are doing and would not be surprised if I signed up one day for your courses. :) However, I would like to know your thoughts about the cradle bridle. I have been riding freestyle in a Parelli hackamore up until now and I'm getting ready to start the process with the bit. It makes sense to me what Parelli are saying that the cradle is affecting not only the mouth but in several places of the head. Like this it distributes the pressure and it's not all in the mouth. But at the other hand it does look like a sharp bit compared to a snaffle. I'm afraid if I start with the cradle she will have trouble using a snaffle later. Do you have any experience regarding this? I would love your inputs on this subject since I feel I'm stumbling in the dark. Opinions from Parelli people seems a bit one-sided. Thank's and keep up the good work! Anna

(My answer on next page)

Hi Anna, Thanks for your email, I hope I do see you in a course some day! Your question is a really valid one. Here are some thoughts: You need to look at it as a tool. In order to know when and how to use the tool you need to understand what it does. You also need to know what result you want to have, to know if that tool is the way to achieve it! The cradle bridle has several elements to it. 1. the bit: some horses really enjoy the shape of the mouth piece with the tongue relief and lack of 'nut cracker' effect. Keep in mind it is not 'legal始 for dressage showing, so if you want to show, keep that in mind. Not that that is the only way to make a choice, but it is a reality. If your horse likes that mouthpiece, you could use that without the 驶cradle始 part of the bridle, just hang it on a regular head-stall. With the reins adjusted on the little rings there is leverage. A bit with leverage acts to flex the poll and is not meant to be ridden with in sustained contact. A port that gives tongue relief can, when leveraged, act on the roof of the mouth creating poll flexion 2. The nose piece: The nose piece of the cradle bridle is narrow and has little knots in it. This does not say: "hold my hand" it says: 'don't touch this' The nose piece is adjustable, so you can vary it. 3. The strap that goes under the jaw (which is sort of related to the nose piece): it also is narrow and has knots in it. It also says: 'don't touch this' and helps create leverage at the poll. So, as a tool... it says: "i want your tongue to have room, I want the reins to be light, I don't want you to touch the bit and I can leverage your poll" I personally would like a bit to say: "hold my hand, you can trust me". I personally would like a bit to recreate as much as possible what it would feel like if my arms were long enough to have a finger sitting in the corner of their lips. As a dressage trainer I spend more time trying to get a horse to feel comfortable reach6

ing into the contact... lightly because their bodies are in balance. If their bodies are not light I need to feel that! As a trainer I know that it is a much more difficult issue to correct a horse who has learned to become 'too light' by avoiding contact, has been taught not to touch the bit, or has learned how to over flex at the poll. Poll flexion for me comes later in the training rather than earlier for that reason. Now, this is the ideal, but every horse is not a clean slate. I have seen horses go in the cradle bridle nicely if their bodies are in balance and the riders hands are good, but with these horses you could have anything in the mouth that they find comfortable, so it seems silly to have all that mechanics...Even a double bridle in dressage is a more refined tool because you can separate the snaffle action from the leverage action... I have also seen horses and riders who have a long time pattern of brace and desensitization in the mouth, and the cradle sort of makes the horse 'stand up and salute' instead of leaning. Sometimes this is just the thing the pair need to break a pattern of brace, feel lightness and then be able to ride better. But it is important to know in this moment you are saying: "Hey, get off of that!" And that is not my complete message for my final picture. So as a standard tool for a normal horse's progression i would not use it or advise it. It does not give the message that I personally want to give, to teach the horse about my picture. Special cases are special cases. I for sure would not use it on a horse who tends to hide from contact, curls too much with their necks, or is unconfident about forward energy. I do like the idea of distributing the message to something other than their mouths.... And this is why I often go through a stage of riding them in the halter and snaffle. I hold the two sets of reins (you can see this explained on a video on my website). This way I can adapt moment to moment. It is a good education for the rider's hands. I hope this helps. And remember, there is no 'right' or 'wrong'. There is only cause and effect. Understand the cause and understand what effect you would like to have. Then you can wisely choose the best tools for the job! My Best, Karen

Ancora Imparo

“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”

“Ancora Imparo” is what Michelangelo is quoted to have said upon finishing the Sistine Chapel. It translates: “I am still learning” If You Want Consistency: Change It Up! Or maybe I could have called this essay: “Everything I know about life I learned by dragging my arena”. I drag my arenas with a metal drag pulled behind an ATV (who is affectionately called ʻLarryʼ as in: ʻLarry Polarisʼ). My arenas are sand with a clay base and it works beautifully. But, as things will do, the drag got misaligned, some thingies fell off of it, and so it developed a little bump in it. If you have ever had to deal with some of those metal drags with the links and the ʻteethʼ sticking down, you know it can feel close to impossible to get copyright 2011 temenos fields, inc JUNE

the kinks out of them once they bunch up. But it still worked pretty well and so we carried on. The past 6 months I have had a couple of great working students. They worked well together, were good at establishing routines and at being consistent. They dragged the arenas every day and got very efficient at it. So even though the drag was a little ʻoffʼ, the sand is fluffy and forgiving and the arenas always looked beautiful each morning. But a funny thing can happen when you are that consistent in your patterns. Everything about the pattern becomes reinforced... The good, the bad, and the ugly things. Because they dragged in the same way, in the same direction consistently, the teeth that dug deeper kept digging deeper and the teeth in the ʻbumpʼ, that only went in shallow, kept only going shallow... in the same spots. Furrows were forming. The perfect repetition of a small imperfection was creating a

— Confucius The perfect repetition of a small imperfection was creating a bigger problem.

bigger problem. But that is only one of the interesting things I learned from dragging my arena. What was equally interesting is that even though I am sure this was visible for a while, they didnʼt see it. I didnʼt see it either and I was riding and teaching in the arenas everyday. It wasnʼt until these working students were getting ready to leave and I was getting ready to transition to another one, that I adjusted my eyes to see things in a different way. I started looking around the property thinking of what I needed to remember to tell the new assistant. Once I focused, it was such a huge, obvious thing. “My arena looks like I should plant corn in it!” I thought. I hooked up the 7

drag myself and started getting in there and dragging in circles instead of lengthwise and it was like going over washboards when going across. Now, again, my footing is soft sand, so the horses were not really feeling this, but with the tires of the ATV is was obvious. For sure things were heading in a direction I did not want them to go! So as I spent the next few days dragging the arena in circles in both directions and overlapping my tracks, (and generally enjoying the ʻsilenceʼ of buzzing around on an ATV. I get some of my best thinking done this way... My riding white-noise machine). I thought how ironic it really is, that in order to achieve a truly consistent footing, I need to vary the way it is dragged. Even if it was a ʻperfectʼ drag, the sand would get pushed into the same direction each time. What I learned from this was that in order to have consistently excellent results, I need three things: 1. Core symmetry. Best if I eliminate the original flaw... Fix the drag. 2. Variety/Inconsistency will lessen the damage of any core asymmetries... Drag in different patterns (much less boring this way, too). 3. Observe with fresh eyes every day.

to think of balance is: ʻready to do anythingʼ... you need to transition from one position to another. It is this ʻprecarious balanceʼ that leads to true straightness and and true balance. When you are in true balance you can choose anything. You can stay where you are or you can change. Like a martial artist, you can be rooted into the ground when you want, but still be able to move quickly and adapt. So to sum up: The key to having things work consistently well is to have the things on the list as I wrote it above, but to practice them in the opposite order:

1. Observe: every day, the result of what you have been doing the day before. 2. Vary: Constantly challenge, develop, test, explore... To make sure on this day, you are getting the results you desire. 3. Choose: the technique that works the best, do it consistently enough to enjoy it, then repeat steps 1,2,3 again. If we stay aware, effective, and adaptable, we have more chance of creating balance and consistently good results... And nice fluffy footing!

When you are in true balance you can choose anything

Then, of course I realized how this applies to horse training, especially when it comes to gymnastic development of the horse, but really for any aspect of training. Then I realized how this applies to life in general. Even if you have something that ʻworksʼ, it is possible to do so much of a good thing that it turns into a bad thing (Anyone else here have laugh-lines?). Everything we do can make itself permanent by engraving itself into our lives through sheer repetition. If you are “set in your ways” you will get “stuck in a rut”. From a dressage point of view, if you always ride ʻstraightʼ you will stay crooked... The way to straightness is through lateral work. And in lateral work if you always do what is easy, you will make the strong side stronger and the weak side weaker. In order to end up balanced... and one way 8

Endorsed Dressage, Naturally Clinicians Breanne Peters & Shelby Hume

I am proud to introduce Shelby Hume and Breanne Peters as the first new clinicians endorsed to teach the Finding The Sweet Spot of Healthy Biomechanics 3-Day clinic. The curriculum is set by me in a tried and true format to learn the first and most important steps in finding physical harmony while preserving and enhancing the mental and emotional harmony. I am so excited to add these two individuals to the Dressage, Naturally Team!

Shelby and Bre will be available for clinics beginning in August, 2011. Shelby will be available within the United States and Bre will be available in Canada.

For information about clinics with Bre or Shelby, please contact Sally Taylor at: info@dressagenaturally.net My traveling clinic schedule is filled for 2011 and is filling up fast for 2012... And I simply can始t be all the places that I would love to be. Sending Bre and Shelby is the next best thing. If you are curious about Dressage, Naturally, have wanted to have a clinic with me, but I am not available, or you want to prepare for a clinic with me in the future... Breanne and Shelby are great options! It has been so wonderful to see all the interest already! I know you all will love them!