The Horse Piece and the Rider Piece: A Commentary on Coaches Sandy Howard, Mary Wanless and Charlotte Dujardin
I have been a student all my life. For many years I took "riding lessons", and I presumed that there was a single standard of competency. Instructors were good or bad, pedestrian or genius. These rankings seemed to me to be absolute, and to apply equally to horse and rider. It is only recently - magnified by experiences with two top clinicians this year - that I feel able to begin to describe the vast difference between a coach who can profoundly help the rider, and a coach who can profoundly help the horse. These are not always the same person.
Now and then, you'll find both talents in one package, and so it was with the coach (and friend and mentor) who opened these doors for me. Here's the story.
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Alexsandra "Sandy" Howard, USEF rider on several squads in the 1970s and 1980s. Grand Prix competitor on self-made horses. Judge, USDF Dressage Committee member and extraordinary coach, teacher, and friend with endless curiosity. 1940-2013.
I came to the study of serious dressage late in life. In 2006 when I was offered an FEI horse to lease, I was 45 years old with a solid background riding jumping horses (primarily eventers and jumpers). I thought I had “done dressage” but in hindsight, all I had learned was to wiggle the reins to get a pretty neck while riding the horse flat and on the forehand. I really had no idea there was any other way to ride than to kick with the feet and pull with the hands.
Because I am a saddle fitter, I get to all the local barns and see all sorts of trainers. Years ago, one trainer in particular caught my attention because all the horses and riders in her barn made progress (unlike many programs, where horse, rider, or both achieve a certain level and, well, stay there). I’m keenly aware that progress is not for every rider (and is stressful and counter-productive for some), but I’m a goal-oriented progress junkie who needs measurable results to be satisfied. Know what you need.
I was fortunate when I found Sandy Howard and more so when she took me on as a student in 2003 for a few lessons on a borrowed horse. A few years later I proudly and timidly showed up at Sandy’s American Sport Horse in Watsonville, CA. I unloaded Carol Babington’s Iditarod (“Ditto”), a 14-year-old confirmed FEI dressage horse wearing the jumping saddle I still favored. Sandy accepted us (though said archly, "surely you, of all people, could find a dressage saddle?"). Thus began a journey down a path I still follow.
Sandy (who sadly died much too soon) was a pioneer in rider biomechanics. She was an open-minded advocate for change who found and embraced new ideas, and remained fiercely loyal to the ones that actually worked (both Mary Wanless and my EQ saddles came onto her radar and stayed there).
Through Sandy, I began to learn and finally to understand how the rider’s body must function: first to follow and later to influence the moving horse. As Sandy taught me to ride Ditto, there were major lightbulb moments as I retrained my jumper rider's strong but immobile leg and swaying body to have the exact opposite pattern: an active thigh with stable core. I had absolutely no idea how to hold the horse with my seat, or how profoundly the thigh can influence the horse's balance and collection. Through Sandy's patient and careful tutelage, I began to ride with my center, not my ends. Hands and feet became secondary to the main aid system, which I learned is essentially between my belly button and my knees (and uses every single muscle in that region, sometimes nearly to the point of failure). This transformation is NOT an easy proposition – and sometimes, more than 15 years later, is still challenging.
Here are some of the more memorable “aha” moments I took from Sandy as I began to learn to ride a upper level movements (forgive the liberal interpretation after all this time):
On posting a huge trot: Don’t try to limit the amount you rise. Instead, post higher. Take the lead, set the rhythm, and control the trot with your hip. It will be easier to post if you post big.
On sitting (the same) huge trot: When a trot has a great deal of vertical dynamic, it is easy to focus on the up beat and forget to ride the down. The horse drops out from underneath you if you're not riding the down beat with just as much intention as you ride the up, and if this happens, you'll bounce (for anyone interested, here's a link to a piece Sandy wrote about sitting the trot which explains this much more accessibly: http:http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/dressage/you-can%E2%80%88master-sitting-trot-really///
On collecting the canter: If you think that a collected canter is slower, you're wrong. The feet actually hit the ground quicker because they don't travel as far. To get the stride to shorten, use the seat aids in a quicker timing. (Let me say: this is totally counter intuitive. And it totally works).
On improving the canter: The canter has three distinct beats, and most people push on the first beat. To get more jump in the canter, push on the second beat (I push my pubic bone against the rise of the saddle - you may find a different pattern with your body or your horse). Sandy would say, “It’s Mo-ZAM-bique, NOT CAN-a-da”.
On collection, in general: It takes an active thigh to influence the horse. This might sound basic to many, but it was revelationary to find that when my horse is trotting too fast, if I lift my thighs in a quick rhythm, the horse will slow down much more reliably than if I pull on the reins. If I lift my thighs AND bounce my lower belly, the step will be short with suspension. It is really interesting to try these things!
On extending the trot: This seemed counterintuitive to me when Sandy taught me to use my seat in a slower rhythm while riding a medium or extended trot. As she explained, if you don't ask for suspension, there won't be any.
On steering an FEI horse: Turn with the knees, not the reins. Another cool moment!
At times, Sandy and Ditto seemed to be having their own conversation. She would tell me to do something incomprehensible to me, then cluck loudly. Ditto would understand, and do as she asked. I would get the credit. This didn’t happen all that often…more commonly, Sandy would ask, I would be perplexed, and Ditto would share my confusion. Eventually though, things came together. I began to ride a competent shoulder-in, then half-pass in trot and eventually, in canter. We added flying changes, then multiple changes, and finally tempi changes! The collected canter became easy, and we learned pirouettes. One fine day, we even made it down the centerline at Prix St. Georges (this was the day I learned that Ditto had show ring phobia, but that is another story for another day).
Sandy taught me to be inside my body and to be a much better and more effective rider. Through me, my horse learned to carry himself in balance and collection. Sandy was equally gifted at getting the best out of the horse and the rider simultaneously. I don’t think at the time I fully appreciated her for this incredible skill set.
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Mary Wanless, author, teacher and clinician of her own style of teaching, called "Ride With Your Mind" (RWYM). While thousands have benefited from her teaching over decades, she has recently been given new prominence by her star student, Heather Blitz.
I heard about Mary Wanless many years ago through reading her book “For the Good of the Horse”. I honestly think I was drawn to it because it was one of the only books written in the 1990s that referenced ReactorPanel saddles. I was intrigued with her commonsensical and basic approach, but that’s as far as it went at the time.
After I met Sandy in the early 2000’s, I learned that Mary came to Sandy’s farm to clinic every year or so. The clinic consisted of two sections: individual riding sessions as any clinician offers, and a teacher-training section to get inside Mary’s work. The first year that I was involved, Sandy asked me to lead a session on how the saddle might influence rider seat and position. I was thrilled to be invited to participate and excited about meeting and working with Mary, which has now become a favorite habit.
Mary Wanless doesn’t just teach her information (which is vast and marvelous, and almost always transformational). She also teaches how to learn. I attended her most recent teacher training in February 2014, and got my money’s worth during the first hour of the first day, when Mary said, “if you tell many people the same thing, you will get many results. If you want to get the same results from many people, you must say many things”. Mary explains that each person translates information differently, and comes up with their own metaphor for their own success. She makes a point of connecting with each student until she learns their own definition of how it feels to make a breakthrough, and then feeds back their signal to encourage better riding. She may tell a student, "Be meringue", or "Squeeze the cheese", or "find the carousel pole". Each causes a specific and favorable reaction in one - and only one - student. This, alone, is remarkable.
Mary is very much against rote instruction which is interpreted differently by different people. Such instruction does not give riders the specific information they need to achieve improvement. For instance, those who are taught to “stretch up” or to “grow tall” almost always exhibit the opposite of a functional rider's desirable traits. You'll often see a lack of core strength and a hollow lower back with a high center of gravity. These are terms that must be used to be understood.
My own Mary epiphany happened perhaps a decade ago, as Mary encouraged me to reduce the distance from my armpits to my hipbones and to ride chest down. I passed the mirror expecting to see that I was slumped over in the saddle like some rank beginner. I was shocked to find that I was perfectly stacked over my neutral pelvis. Though I saw the reflection of my elegant and functional torso, I felt like the Little Teapot: short and stout! This became my metaphor for a correct upper body – one I returned to time and again as I was learning to access the strength and effectiveness of a strong and stable core. "Teapot", I would mutter to myself. "Teapot".
Mary is expert at finding a rider’s weaknesses and asymmetries, and then providing extremely specific instruction that enables the rider to use isometric strength to increase their effectiveness in the saddle. Watching Mary work with a new horse and rider combination is to watch a massive transformation take place. As the rider improves, the horse transforms as well though in the Mary-world, there is absolutely no instruction directed toward the horse. Mary never says “put him on the bit” or “bend him” or “lengthen the stride” but all these things happen as the rider improves, no matter the level of the rider.
A few years ago, Mary asked an upper level rider to imagine that the horse had a grappling hook in each hip, attached by rope to a hook in the rider's hip. As the rider trotted, Mary asked her to pull on the grappling hooks with every stride. Within 20 seconds, the trot had improved loft, suspension and reach. I saw the rider the next day and commented on what an amazing transformation had occurred through what appeared to be visualization. "Oh no," she said. "That wasn't imaginary - you would not believe how sore I am today".
Mary Wanless is a true genius in the “rider piece”. Any rider who comes before her will benefit in terms of greater effectiveness, improved position, better connection with the horse, and a more solid seat.
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Charlotte Dujardin, Gold Medalist at the 2012 Olympics, and current world record holder of the top scores ever recorded at Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special, and Grand Prix Freestyle.
You don’t need me to tell you that Charlotte is a whiz kid. A bonafide freak of nature who is an unbelievably talented and natural rider. She has a sense of harmony with horses that is heart-wrenching (in all the good ways!) to behold. When she was a teenager, she watched a video about piaffe and passage, and in very short order, taught both to her National Show Pony. And that was just the beginning...
I was fortunate enough to observe Charlotte teaching and riding over a two-day seminar at Los Angeles Equestrian Center a few weeks ago. The horses and riders presented were all of the highest quality (many were successful international competitors), and Charlotte demonstrated that her skill at observation is absolutely on par with her riding ability.
There were some fascinating components to Charlotte’s approach. Her work is less about a pyramid of training and more about what might come easily to a horse in his present state. She had a four-year-old attempt (and succeed at!) flying changes, after encouraging the rider to trot “as fast as you can” around the arena until the youngster began to lengthen his stride. This requires a level of intuition about the horse and knowledge of what is possible for this horse to achieve safely and sanely that is not available to most of us, who must follow tried and true formulas instead.
In every situation, Charlotte suggested exercises that improved the horse to positive and immediate effect. Her approach is the opposite of drilling a movement or concept. Whenever a horse was sticky, didn’t seem to understand, or began to anticipate, Charlotte had a new exercise or technique to get the best from the horse. The work was incredibly varied with very little time spent on any single movement, and each working session ended with a stretchy swinging trot.
As Charlotte’s suggestions improved the horses, it was clear that she expected riders to show up with a full tool kit, and to have enough experience to know how to use their aid system to get these results. She gave very few practical suggestions for getting the work done, but instead, requested a do-over when the work was less than perfect. It was clear that this worked for some but not all of the riders. Charlotte’s rider comments were along these lines: “stop pulling on the reins”, “sit more over to the other side”, “get straighter”, or the devasting, “that was terrible! Do it again”. These comments are only useful to a rider who has the body awareness to understand the issue, the control to correct it, and the mindfulness to stay corrected. More than one rider had moments of being absolutely unable to follow Charlotte's commands, and her cheerful insistence that there was "nothing to it - just pull the reins to slow down, and use the feet to go forward" were completely undermined by her riding, which includes one of the strongest and most active thighs I have ever seen, coupled with a dynamic seat and pelvis that lead every step of her dance with the horse. She is so good that she has no idea how she is getting it done. But don't for a minute think that this phenom is riding with her hands and her feet!
It has become increasingly clear to me that to reach the greatest potential, both horse and rider need expert coaching that is patient, humane, and progressive. It is also clear that some coaches have the key to the rider piece, and others can provide the horse piece. As we set goals for ourselves and our horses, perhaps we should contemplate using more than one coach to achieve our dreams.