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    Re: [RC] Dressage - Kathy Mayeda


    I'm not a dressage trainer by any means, but the best thing I ever did for
    my riding skills was to take riding lessons from Becky Hart - utilizing
    Centered Riding.  I was the typical uneducated trail rider riding a head
    high hollow backed Arab.  In a few lessons, she taught me to have my
    previously resistant horse softly on the bit and traveling happily rounded.
    I'm not saying that you won't see me riding sloppilly because I'm sure I
    lapse back into bad habits since I haven't taken a lesson in awhile... but
    she taught me how to get the horse "on the bit" WITHOUT USING FORCE!
    
    One of the most valuable lesson she taught me that she got from a dressage
    instructor during a Centered Riding clinic was the concept of "unpull".
    Basically it's not to get into the tug of war when your horse leans on the
    bit - but yielding slightly when he pulls then bring him softly back on the
    bit.  Having to pull that hard creates stress and is fatiguing for both the
    horse and rider, which is the opposite of what we want to do for endurance
    riding.
    
    My thoughts on getting down the trail is that the horse needs to have a
    little freedom to balance with his head and neck rather than being cranked
    back into frame.  I used to ride with a dressage person that had a
    Thoroughbred that she insisted to get him downhill that he had to be ridden
    "like a croissant" bent sideways down the trail.  The poor horse was always
    resistant and always had back problems.
    
    Correct longeing is supposed to build up the topline, and this is where I am
    totally deficient and lazy.   I believe it to be a good thing, but I
    wouldn't rely on it for my total conditioning program at all - just as a
    warm-up and/or calisthetic in addition to normal trail conditioning.
    
    K.
    
    
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    From: Val Nicoson <sweetmare55@xxxxxxxxx>
    Subject: [RC]   Dressage (little long)
    
    
    This instructor believes in riding in a "frame" and
    most students wear gloves because of pulling
    on the reins.
    
    
    
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