March 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... 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.
You have freedom when you're easy in your harness. ~Robert Frost
July 22-25 One Spot Open!
Upward Spiral (Smaller group format)
Santa Cruz, CA Contact: Shelley Candelario
This Month • Introducing new D,N Endorsed Instructors! • From Students • ‘The Meandering Path to the Horse’
Upcoming Clinics:
shelleycandelario@yahoo.com
April 17-22 6 Days in the Temenos Spot Open, closed to auditors Contact: K2@dressagenaturally.net
August 17-28
April 3 - June 11 10 Week Intensive Full!
email: stefgaunt@yahoo.co.uk
July 19-21
Clinic schedule: CLICK HERE
Finding the Sweet Spot
Santa Cruz, CA Contact: Shelley Candelario
shelleycandelario@yahoo.com
3 days Sweet Spot, 3 days Upward Spiral, 3 Days Advancing Private lessons
Somerset, UK Contact: Stephanie Gaunt
Sept. 16-17 Spots Open!
2 days Focusing on Connection,
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
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New Dressage, Naturally Endorsed Instructors! The past few years I have had a ʻlovely problemʼ... There are a lot of people who want to take a Dressage, Naturally Clinic and not enough of ʻmeʼ to go around. I have been open to a good solution and now I think I have one! Breanne Peters and Shelby Hume have studied with me consistently over the past several years and have demonstrated not only the focus and desire, but the talent and character that I would feel confident sending out to teach others the basics of the Dressage, Naturally philosophy and method. Shelby and Breanne will be 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. These are two special individuals, I know you will love them! I will still be doing clinics at home and around the world, but now will be able to see more of the advancing students while bringing this information to even more newcomers!
Shelby and Bre will be available for clinics beginning at the end of July, 2011. Shelby will be available within the United States and Bre will be available in Canada only. For information about clinics with Bre or Shelby, please contact Sally Taylor at: zazz@aol.com For those who will be wondering and asking: No, I do not currently have an instructor training or certification program. These two individuals were selected due to their outstanding characters, my experience with them, their abilities, and other studentsʼ responses to them. The stars just lined up for them.
Shelby Hume
Breanne Peters
Photos: Dawn Garner
Photos: Dana Rasmussen Photo: Bob Bain
Shelby has loved horses from her first breath and started her work in 4-H where she rode and competed in a wide variety of events; considering them all opportunities to be a more well rounded horse person. She was drawn to Dressage but her first experiences with Dressage did not match the picture of the "happy athlete" she was hoping for. She pursued a BA degree in Business Administration and strengthened her teaching skills in the equestrian world and in Tae Kwon Do. She has spent time in the world of Reining through showing and being a NRHA judge. Shelby taught at a College Equestrian program and coached Intercollegiate Riding and Judging Teams through out her years of employment there. She studied and rode in Portugal, fell in love with the Lusitano horse and a version of Dressage that was closer to Shelby's ideal picture (but not quite there yet)! Her first Lusitano stallion caused Shelby to pursue Natural Horsemanship because of the challenges he provided to her. Through this journey Shelby learned about Karen Rohlf. She has been thrilled to have the opportunity to study with Karen over the past several years and considers Karen to be her "true north". She looks forward to not only bringing her own horses along in the image of Dressage Naturally but she also looks forward to sharing her passion for this way with others. 2
Breanne began her horsemanship journey with her first pony at the age of 4 and her passion for horses has never ceased. She began her natural horsemanship journey with the horse she bought at age 12. She trained in Western; Reining, Pleasure, Conformation and Barrels and Competitive Trail - doing light competing. Eventually she found Parelli; achieving her level 1 and 2 in 1 year. She was working on her ʻoldʼ level 3 when her horse was diagnosed with a serious illness. At this time she travelled to B.C. to work on a ranch for 7 months to gain more horsemanship experience. It was through working for the ranch that Breanne found Dressage Naturally. Bre has continued at University to earn her credits towards becoming an Elementary School Teacher. Her focus is on communication and in addition to University she also studied the course: Crucial Conversations. In 2007 Breanne moved to Temenos Fields for 1 year to spend more time understanding Karen and her methods. Breanne has since returned for 6 months periods of time for the past 2 years to continue her Dressage, Naturally education. Breanne has trained her current horse to Second Level Dressage in one year and has aspirations of reaching higher levels with quality. She is eager to aid others in their horsemanship and Dressage, Naturally journey. copyright 2011 temenos fields, inc March
Noseband Question This is a question from the Dressage, Naturally Classroom Forum that I thought I would share. There are some great conversations happening on the Forum. If you subscribe to the Classroom please join the discussion! If you are not a subscriber, you may want to check it out! Hi everyone, I am new to Dressage and trying to learn as much as possible. I recently took in a clinic at a local barn and even thought I really enjoyed the clinic I noticed something that made me just question the barn. All the horses had their mouths strapped shut and I was just wondering what the reasoning for it was? All the horses in the clinic were quite advanced, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. I'm sure it's not a natural horsemanship barn that I was at, but it has left me quite confused on what the purpose of the strap around the mouth is for. Thanks for any info you may have Lisa Hi Lisa, Re: The nosebands.... a correctly fit cavesson (room for 2 finger's width minimum, and with no dropped noseband part) can be to prevent the bit from sliding through the mouth in the unfortunate event that pressure must be put on just one rein for too long... It is the same reason why western or people who ride with no noseband may use a lip strap. The rationale for a dropped or tight noseband is usually something like: 'to prevent the horse from opening his mouth to evade the bit." My philosophy is that if the horse is supposed to be relaxed in the jaw, licking and chewing the bit and so to strap it shut is in conflict with that. Of course we don't want a horse that is gaping his mouth trying to avoid the bit.... But in my philosophy, if the horse wants to do this, then it is a valuable piece of information that tells me about his balance, trust of my hands or thoughts about what is happening.... As my horseʼs partner and trainer, then I want to know this information, and donʼt want to tie
copyright 2011 temenos fields, inc March
the mouth shut so the horse cannot ʻtellʼ me his opinion! We want a softly closed mouth with a relaxed jaw that can move... and we want the truth! A horse that is trying to avoid the bit by opening his mouth is still trying to do so even with a noseband tight.... it just makes it so most people can't see the mouth open and so they can pretend all is well instead of letting the horse 'speak' and tell them that something is wrong with the moment or the training and thus having the opportunity to make it better. Unfortunately it has become the 'normal' equipment so most people don't even question it.... The dressage bridles come with the crank or flash noseband and that is what everyone wears so it 'must be the right tool.'... So not very student who wears this bridle has a bad intention or wears it too tight, but they still don't realize they are cheating themselves and their horses of something better. So good for you for asking the question! I hope this answer helps! Karen
“Thank you for the D,N Classroom video: Creating Enthusiasm!” Dear Karen, I just had to email you and say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I just recently watched you and Ovation. "Creating Enthusiasm"!! I have an extreme LB Introvert. So bad that he has been known to lay down in protest to any physical exertion! I am working on/ playing in Level 3 of Parelli Natural Horsemanship. In order to pass you need to have the horse canter a circle 6-10 times. (AARGH!) My horse has just been getting worse with all of my efforts....until yesterday!! Yesterday, I put grain in a small bucket and put the bucket on my arm. First I had my horse (River) stand on a pedestal. He has always been excellent at 2 feet but not all 4. He took 1 look at the grain on my arm and from 22 feet away gently put all 4 feet on the pedestal. Of course, I told him good boy and gave him a hand full of grain! You should have seen his face!
Next, I took him away from the pedestal in an OL traveling circle. He instantly offered a canter!! It was a slow "watch this" canter. Then he was literally offering "flying lead changes" on the circle. It was too funny! He was obviously trying to do "tricks" for grain. My goal is to have him put his energy in from behind when going into the canter and not stringing himself out on the forehand which is his typical effort. So next we did a trotting circle and then a straight line canter to the pedestal and reward grain at the pedestal. I wish you could have seen the effort he was putting in...it was awesome! He was asking me..."When do I 'get to' canter to the pedestal?" I would also like to say that he usually goes around with his ears back and a sullen expression. Yesterday he was a horse on "happy juice"! Again, I can't thank you enough! I hope that someday River and I can come ride with you! All the best! Holly Thanks, Hollly... That sounds like it was quite a sight and a load of fun! Keep it up! ~Karen
More Thank you’s For the D,N Classroom! Your class room video's are a fantastic help. They are so effective I feel because of the variety of horses, which relates to "our" situation in a very real way. Karenʼs words are all to the point therefore easy to remember. It's so helpful for the eye to see movements before and after and it really train my eyes so I can be more exact for my horses needs. I could go on and on - so many thanks from Kris Thanks for providing such awesome and generous resources - for me it is filling what was an enormous blank in my horsemanship journey. Cheers Hilary
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The Meandering Path To The Horse Many of you likely watched The Road To The Horse competition either live or via webcast. This was my first time watching it. I donʼt really like the premise of the event but I thought I should actually watch it before having an opinion, (what a concept!). For those not familiar, it is three people each trying to start a horse in a total of 4 hours over 2 days, culminating in a riding test including obstacles.
“I’ve got time! I’d like to shout this out to every rider who suddenly runs into problems and can’t come to an agreement with his horse.” ~Alois Podhajsky
It was ʻinterestingʼ and impressive. I learned a lot... Mostly that I still disagree with the premise of the event. It is just, IMHO, a terrible set up for the horse. The chances of it being a positive experience for the horses are so small. It is such a critical moment in the horseʼs life and to add a human in competition to it, is a recipe for tension, confusion, fear and force. Unless, of course, you are Pat Parelli. He was impressive. Pat not only stuck to his principles, taking his time and doing just the minimum of what was necessary, leaning always toward the horse feeling calm and safe and understanding.... But he also completed the obstacle course, demonstrating readily, how taking the time it takes takes less time... And how the horse really doesnʼt care how much you know until he knows how much you care. What is even more amazing is that it seemed that his horse really did get a wonderful start... Crazy circumstances and all! So my hat is off to you, Pat. I am proud to be in your corner... Even if I donʼt ever watch that event again.
Photos: Dana Rasmussen
I start my own horses myself, but my method is more of a ʻmeandering pathʼ rather than a super-highway. Itʼs just my style. Colt starting is not my specialty and I donʼt do it for other people, but I do love to start my personal horses. I take the time it takes, and find that when I have this time, there are so many potential issues that just dissolve simply if I wait and ask again at a better time. There are so many layers of maturity with a horse, especially the slow-developing ones like warmbloods. For example, today Natilla had a full bath standing quietly in the wash stall. She loves water in front of her, (grabbing the hose and playing with it) but she had been very uncomfortable with water anywhere behind her withers. She also was unconfident in the wash stall with the water puddling. In the time I have had her (1 year) I probably bathed her 3 times. It had to be in an area where she could move away if she needed to and I was happy if she just allowed me to let the water run down her hindquarters. I also have had her inside the wash stall just for grooming and treats. But I have not directly worked on having a bath in the wash stall. Today, she walked in and stood quietly while she had her bath. Sometimes you need to present something to them and then wait for the message from them that it is OK. I think many issues are like this. The game is to have all the time you need, without avoiding the issue or lacking progress! These photos are of my 3-month-shy-of-3-years-old Andalusian filly, Natilla. She is already 16.3 and still growing so am going to take the physical stuff really slow, but the time felt right recently to get on so I did! Pictured below is our very first trot on our very first ride! I am so proud of her, it is going so smoothly. For her, I got a message to have someone on the ground for our first flight... I do it this way often... I think it is a nice bridge for them, where they are used to someone on the ground. This way I donʼt have to be a leader from the saddle; she can just get used to the feeling of someone on her. But this way also she knows exactly what to do, because it is the same as she had been doing: Follow the rail and do walk trot and canter, listening to the cues of the person standing in the middle. I am so excited to be on her and now I must control myself to not do too much more right now... But I am sure you will be seeing a lot more of her in the future!
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The 10-Week Intensive! Liesbeth Jorna (NL), Sarah Grimm (VT, USA), Michele Richardson (UK), Sally Thompson (Australia) and Ewa Angantyr (Sweden) will be arriving soon to the Temenos!
The Website
Open Clinic Spots
Includes archives of all newsletters
There is one spot open in the Santa Cruz, CA clinic in July. This clinic otherwise filled in 24 hours so act fast if you are interested. Contact:
articles by Karen
The D,N Classroom 1 hour of new instructional video each month Full searchable archives Access to the D,N Forum
shelleycandelario@yahoo.com
Also some spots are now open in the Lindstrom, MN clinic in September. Contact Sally Taylor at: zazz@aol.com The NH clinic co-teaching with David Lichman is FULL but we would love to see you there as an auditor!
The Web Shop Instructional book, DVDs, Poster and more!
SiMoN the School Master Noodle Kit for learning lateral work Includes Workbook, DVD and everything you need to turn a pool noodle into a tool for learning lateral work. You may think it’s silly... but wait until you try it! This has been one of my most effective tools for teaching everything you need to know about lateral work in a way you won’t find anywhere else. copyright 2011 temenos fields, inc March
D,N Reins The feel of a rope rein with the look of a dressage rein! The perfect choice for those of us with a foot in both worlds! 5
Some images from the March 6-Day group practicing their drill team! You may remember them from their debut video of a drill that we ‘threw together during a clinic last year:
Photos: Dana Rasmussen
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copyright 2011 temenos fields, inc March