MelantheLLC
Mar. 1, 2009, 03:00 PM
By "better" I mean, with more relaxation, balance and lighter more effective communication with your horse.
I've been thinking about this after reading the topics on chatty students and the dressage trail class.
For me, I was taught in my early training by instructors from European traditions, and you DID NOT TALK during the lesson. There was a question/answer period at the end. But you shut up and Just Did It in the lesson, and you NEVER gave a reason or excuse for not doing it. This went for my piano teacher (Miss Kraxner, Hungarian, I was terrified of her, the only teacher I can still name from my childhood), my riding instructor and my sister's Russian ice-skating coach. What these instructors did was instill that bone-and-gut level training that you repeat so often that it sinks way below conscious thought.
They weren't kind about it. Many many many students dropped out. (One night when my father picked me up from my piano lesson, he found me in tears. When I told him how frightened I was of the woman, he told me I didn't have to go back. I never did and I never touched a piano again. She taught me well but I didn't love playing as much as I feared her. She effectively killed my initial enjoyment of playing.)
In later days, I've very much enjoyed working with dressage trainers who seem use more of a sports psychology approach, with much more positive feedback. I do talk a lot now, because I am analytical by nature. I'm fortunate to have instructors that will discuss things with me, but I do very much have a tendency to over-think things.
So (back to the topic!) I've actually found that when I chat, as long as it's about general things and not about dressage, I ride my best. I can do things w/o thinking about them that I can't do if I consciously try.
For me, I think this works because my body DOES know what to do, once I get out of its way. If I trot along for awhile discussing whether it's going to rain tomorrow, I will suddenly find myself riding a relaxed horse that is using its back and making balanced turns instead of falling in.
The other (more focused) thing that helps me carry my own balance through patterns and exercises is to imagine I'm on a jumping course. This seems to allow me to get my eyes up and my attention focused on where I'm going instead of fixating on every little thing that I think is happening underneath me.
So I love the idea of the dressage trail course, from that angle.
But I don't think these things would work for me if I hadn't had the initial base of Just Do It repetitive work that taught my body, through constant reproval of mistakes.
However, those reprovals are always in my head, telling me what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it. So unless I get out from under the WORDS, and let my body do what it knows, I am tense.
What sort of visualizations and approaches help you get out of your head and into your body and with the horse?
I've been thinking about this after reading the topics on chatty students and the dressage trail class.
For me, I was taught in my early training by instructors from European traditions, and you DID NOT TALK during the lesson. There was a question/answer period at the end. But you shut up and Just Did It in the lesson, and you NEVER gave a reason or excuse for not doing it. This went for my piano teacher (Miss Kraxner, Hungarian, I was terrified of her, the only teacher I can still name from my childhood), my riding instructor and my sister's Russian ice-skating coach. What these instructors did was instill that bone-and-gut level training that you repeat so often that it sinks way below conscious thought.
They weren't kind about it. Many many many students dropped out. (One night when my father picked me up from my piano lesson, he found me in tears. When I told him how frightened I was of the woman, he told me I didn't have to go back. I never did and I never touched a piano again. She taught me well but I didn't love playing as much as I feared her. She effectively killed my initial enjoyment of playing.)
In later days, I've very much enjoyed working with dressage trainers who seem use more of a sports psychology approach, with much more positive feedback. I do talk a lot now, because I am analytical by nature. I'm fortunate to have instructors that will discuss things with me, but I do very much have a tendency to over-think things.
So (back to the topic!) I've actually found that when I chat, as long as it's about general things and not about dressage, I ride my best. I can do things w/o thinking about them that I can't do if I consciously try.
For me, I think this works because my body DOES know what to do, once I get out of its way. If I trot along for awhile discussing whether it's going to rain tomorrow, I will suddenly find myself riding a relaxed horse that is using its back and making balanced turns instead of falling in.
The other (more focused) thing that helps me carry my own balance through patterns and exercises is to imagine I'm on a jumping course. This seems to allow me to get my eyes up and my attention focused on where I'm going instead of fixating on every little thing that I think is happening underneath me.
So I love the idea of the dressage trail course, from that angle.
But I don't think these things would work for me if I hadn't had the initial base of Just Do It repetitive work that taught my body, through constant reproval of mistakes.
However, those reprovals are always in my head, telling me what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it. So unless I get out from under the WORDS, and let my body do what it knows, I am tense.
What sort of visualizations and approaches help you get out of your head and into your body and with the horse?