Oklahoma Dressage Society

It was a pleasure to judge last Sunday for GCC at Rocking C Stable. Many riders I had seen at Lily Pond in September were showing again. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all had improved, some showed major improvement! It was obvious many riders had been working hard and taking lessons to improve and hopefully, my comments and the comments of other judges, have helped them along the way. That is my hope when I comment either verbally or in writing on your test. I want every rider to enjoy the pleasure of a happy, athletic horse and try to point the way in my judging. We are not supposed to teach and I try not to, but sometimes fail and have to give pointers. I want the best for every horse, pony and mule(Go Hilda!), for them to comfortably and happily carry their riders. Age, type, breeding or color doesn't matter, just that they are comfortable in their work. So, Happy Trails and Dressage Arena To You!!!

Ok, now this is too much rain! But I'm still grateful as the footing will be great when it drys out. So, what do you do with your horse when it's too wet to safely ride due to slick conditions? I use cavaletti work (suggested book: Cavaletti by Reiner and Ingrid Klimke )in walk (or trot if it's not too slick) either with tack and loose sidereins or just the lunge caveson or a halter if the horse is calm and not prone to playfulness. I have Blocks to adjust the height so I can get the amount of "work" done I want from each horse. It's really interesting to watch a horse learn to be more rhythmic and balanced over the cavaletti and raising the height increases hock and back flexion. This must be done slowly, first just poles on the ground until the horse masters the timing and relaxation necessary to build confidence and physical strength,
then in a week or two, add height to increase the difficulty.
If you haven't used cavaletti before, definitely get the book and get some lessons in their use as improper use can cause many problems including lameness.Learning to use cavaletti is one more step in your growth as a rider/trainer of your horse and it surely worked for the Klimkes!

Hope everyone is having a productive summer! I am working my current horses, Persis, a Hanoverian mare and Atlas, a Spanish-Norman gelding in my backyard. So for all of you who have worked horses(and taken lessons) out of your backyards for years, I have joined "the club". Right now I don't have a ring so we just ride on grass which luckily, thanks to all the recent rain, is now soft enough for me to work the horses hard. I'm working on getting some sand into a suitable sized area for a nice grass court. The area is wonderfully shady in the morning. Both horses are low level, Persis at Training/First and Atlas at Intro and are two totally different horses in every way.
The horses have a lovely pasture to graze and a run-in shed to get out of the weather. No barn for them anymore and they don't seem to miss it a bit, so far.
I'm available to teach lessons in your backyard, so give me a call if you want to get ready for the fall shows, get that green horse working right or just increase your dressage riding ability. 405-831-3827
Hope to see you at a Fall show or Clinic!