I was lucky enough to watch a lesson taken by Grand Prix rider and trainer, Jody Hartstone, on Sunday. I was there on behalf of online equestrian resource, Equine Trader. A lucky member of the website had won a Power Hour Lesson with Jody and I was taking notes and photos so I could write up a report later (not an easy task, I can tell you- it requires more hands than I have!)
I was intrigued as to how many similarities there were between what Jody was teaching and how the classical dressage masters of old used to train their students and horses.
Jody adheres to the McLean system, where the emphasis is on breaking lessons down into simple, logical steps, making it easy for the horse to succeed and be rewarded. The reins are used to bend and steer the horse- never the legs. The reins control deceleration of the horse’s front legs, whereas the rider’s legs control the acceleration of the horse’s back legs. There's a bit more to it than that but I think it would take more space than I have here to explain every inch of it! Andrew McLean is coming over to New Zealand in May so if you want to learn more, you can pop over to one of their clinics, either as a rider or to observe. Find out more here.
I think Jody is a bit too far away from me to contemplate training with her but it has cemented my belief that I only want to get instruction from a person with her kind of ideals. Yes- I want to have my horse going beautifully for the show ring and whatever other disciplines I might want to try my hand at but never, ever at the expense of the horse. Truly understanding how the horse is thinking, placing their welfare and happiness first and keeping the human ego out of the process is something I have always put above everything else. It might sound a bit tree-huggy but I think it's the right way to approach the training of any animal and it always amazes me to see people going so entirely in the other direction.
To finish, here is one of my favourite segments out of my much thumbed book 'Dressage for the 21st Century' by the awesome Paul Belasik:
'Today, humans design experiments to teach animals to talk like humans. In equitation, the best riders have put down their own native language to try to learn the horse's- and they have. Once you have made friends with horses, and have lived with them in this world without words, you begin to see words as less important than actions. Horses don't care about your words, they care about and respond to actions. Riding will bring you into a world of action, of real living. It will show you how life is interconnected.
'You might have already decided to take up the practice of dressage. You might think that I have implied you will have to choose- picking sport or picking art. But that is not our real choice at all; a bad artist is as bankrupt as a bad athlete. Your decision has to be whether to do it right; without a desire for gain, for profit, for the reason of ego. Do it for the purity of the experience, wherever it takes you- for the love and excitement of the trip.'
And isn't that what it should be all about...? :)
I was intrigued as to how many similarities there were between what Jody was teaching and how the classical dressage masters of old used to train their students and horses.
Jody adheres to the McLean system, where the emphasis is on breaking lessons down into simple, logical steps, making it easy for the horse to succeed and be rewarded. The reins are used to bend and steer the horse- never the legs. The reins control deceleration of the horse’s front legs, whereas the rider’s legs control the acceleration of the horse’s back legs. There's a bit more to it than that but I think it would take more space than I have here to explain every inch of it! Andrew McLean is coming over to New Zealand in May so if you want to learn more, you can pop over to one of their clinics, either as a rider or to observe. Find out more here.
I think Jody is a bit too far away from me to contemplate training with her but it has cemented my belief that I only want to get instruction from a person with her kind of ideals. Yes- I want to have my horse going beautifully for the show ring and whatever other disciplines I might want to try my hand at but never, ever at the expense of the horse. Truly understanding how the horse is thinking, placing their welfare and happiness first and keeping the human ego out of the process is something I have always put above everything else. It might sound a bit tree-huggy but I think it's the right way to approach the training of any animal and it always amazes me to see people going so entirely in the other direction.
To finish, here is one of my favourite segments out of my much thumbed book 'Dressage for the 21st Century' by the awesome Paul Belasik:
'Today, humans design experiments to teach animals to talk like humans. In equitation, the best riders have put down their own native language to try to learn the horse's- and they have. Once you have made friends with horses, and have lived with them in this world without words, you begin to see words as less important than actions. Horses don't care about your words, they care about and respond to actions. Riding will bring you into a world of action, of real living. It will show you how life is interconnected.
'You might have already decided to take up the practice of dressage. You might think that I have implied you will have to choose- picking sport or picking art. But that is not our real choice at all; a bad artist is as bankrupt as a bad athlete. Your decision has to be whether to do it right; without a desire for gain, for profit, for the reason of ego. Do it for the purity of the experience, wherever it takes you- for the love and excitement of the trip.'
And isn't that what it should be all about...? :)
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