Report 2006

A New Site

2006-07-30T07:54:00.001-07:00

Finally the new site with all its ideas, attachments and leads is working.

At http://www.otherideas.typepad.com you find the representation of the 'Association of Interdisciplinary Studies'' ongoings, of which Study-Horsemanship, a research of the physiology of riding, now in its fifth year, is only one.

If you would like to read the continuation of Report 2006 please use the link http://www.otherideas.typepad.com/report_2006. In the introduction of this site you find links to all other Study-Horsemanship published information.

The Half-Halt

2006-07-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

The interaction of extending strides and the half-halt, although, quite obvious, never occured to me.

Fabian, after an earlier concentration on L1 and the second gear, now is on a detour. Making him go forward with less effort, the extending of strides suggested itself and with it, without prior warning, he has begun to understand the outer ringfinger's impact on his hindlegs. It still vage, but it is there.

Meanwhile I am testing the effect of moving C8 up and back on the lower vertebra forward move from L1 on down. So it may have been these two things, the extending of strides and a changed mobilisation of my vertebra, which have brought on the half-halt.

As The Season Gets On

2006-07-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

It always is fun to see the horses improve as the season gets on. To see them get straight and muscular, to see how, as their understanding improves, they get more serious and committed by the day. To watch them serve the rider with pride.

Sometimes I overtrain and, experiencing a set back, have to wait until they have overcome the difficulties I have created for them. Still I find the greatest difficulty in training horses to know if more or less work is appropiate in a given situation.

Fabian, after giving him a real work-out on the lunge the other evening, appearing to be frustrated and a bit cross, now does very well. Nidal on the other hand, after a similar work-out still is very cautious while getting straight. Leporello after doing very well under saddle yesterday, today was set back.

Message To All

2006-06-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry, you can't reach me this week. It is the last of a server transfer problem. I hope to be on-line again the beginning of next week. Meanwhile I am working away at the new research: The rider's physiology and how to teach riding most effectively. You may all want to begin doing stretches and creating an awareness of the vertebra's uprightness and flexibility.

All is well. Hope to see you soon. Christine

Fabian Now Wants to Find Out

2006-06-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

A few days have passed with other ideas, see http://www.otherideas.typepad.com. And, unexpectedly, my view reoccured that horses should be useful first and foremost for the transportation of men. To carry them from here to there, comfortably and pleasurably.

Not so Fabian. After many years of seemingly unsurmountable physical problems (his and mine) he now is commited to learning. He wants to be a horse of the Haute Ecole. And, to find out, he needs me to advise him accordingly. In addition he offers and desires a true, profound friendship, leaving me ashamed.

Forget about horses being animals. Once they have mastered the second gear they are marked by the marks of civilisation: manners, commitment, the desire to excel.

Will I be able to find out...

A few days later I find a weakness in this statement, a confusion, which the horses keep on clarifying. Fabian wants to work in the school: to overcome his warp, to figure out how to change from bending to the right to bending to the left, to change from trot to canter and back to the trot, to do the half-shoulder-in, to be even, to mobilize, to be comfortable, to go into the second gear. In the second gear he enjoys the outdoors...as did Leporello today.

C8 Again

2006-06-14T03:25:00.000-07:00

There is an automation attached to the nerve section C8 (located in the bottom of the neck).

Concentrating on C8, I raise my vertebra from C2 and move my head and neck up and back. This move is easily done and also holds a sort of an automatism. It results in a pulling under of the sacrum. All the while I make sure that, in the process, L1 moves if at all back and not forward.

Next (and this is what I would like to report here) without any further input from my side my sternum rises and pushes my shoulders back. As I sit in a chair and watch these reactions, I can see what I feel. My hands move, visibly.

Here now is, what I ask myself. Does my shoulders' peculiar reaction have to do with autonomous muscles and how they function? Is this particular way of calling on C2 and C8 a clue to accessing autonomous muscle actions, to understand them and make them teachable?

It does not come as a surprise to me, that a control of human autonomous muscles and the control of the horse in a suspected original inner circuit of communication should originate from one spot: C8.

L1

2006-05-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

While sitting in the train, going to Germany for meetings on a Study-Horsemanship 3D room here in La Boulaye, I red last year's Report 2005. Surprised I found out that Fabian, almost to the day, suffered the very same start-up complications, that I came up with the very same solution...

Quoting,

„... And yet, I was missing impulsion and a more decided mounting of the back. To get both I worked forward, at first in the rising trot, yet ending up experimenting with my own back and how to better accompany his. The trick was to lean back a bit and, with lumbar vertebrae slightly pushed back and a more pronounced pulling under of the sacrum, smoothly accompany the forward swing of his back. Elbows well connected to the body. He clearly enjoyed this changed approach and mobilised, timidly blowing off a few times....“.

So far last year's entry. I will bring more on this when I have a photo which illustrates what happens when you ride the horse from L1 only...

The reason I can leave the premises...

Presenting Out Swiss Participant

2006-05-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

It was a gamble. And the gamble worked. This young woman was a novice rider when she arrived in La Boulaye last Christmas. Together we did one run through the basic riding theory à la Study-Horsemanship. I accompanied her closely for a week or two. Since then she is on her own. Learning to see, feel and understand the horse's needs and doing Feldenkrais #3 (our numbering) to release her hollow back. We assiged her three thorough-breds, who surely knew first gear only.

Today I was surprised to hear and see Alisero produce the same sounds and signs, which the horse's here tend to produce in preparation for the second gear. In the photograph below you see her on Filly, who is just beginning to find her form.

Nidal and C8

2006-05-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Nidal, at age 15 still dealing with the results of not having been made straight, today was able to stretch his back, release his withers, turn and bend smoothly left as right. Yesterday there was no go in the matter, even after so many minutes of walking on an extended rein. So I gave it a go, Indian style, troting and cantering, reins released, holding on to a piece of his lower mane. He was not well and reacted with excitement, all the while lifting his front end and poising himself. But he was in full control.

I wonder if anyone has researched the horse's dermatomes. I would not be surprised to find out that the dermatome which is innervated by C8 covers a broad stripe from the horse's lower mane to its front legs. I tested the same thing with Fabian in the out-doors today, holding on to his lower mane while releasing the reins. He got excited and dropped his back, as if this was too strong an impact for him. Yet - he was in full control. After calming down I asked him to go into second gear. His back came up, so did his lower neck. Reins hanging we did a small tour in this 'other' gear, trotting uphill past the house, returning to the stables with delight.

Age

2006-05-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

Thinking about horses' age. So far I have calculated one horse's year for four human years. That is a 1:4 ratio. A four year-old horse compares to a 16 year-old human. But does this make sense? After all, the human's average age is 70. The horses' average age could easily be 35, if they were not started so early.

If I take not 1:2 but 1:3 as my ration, Nidal (15) would be 45 in human terms, Fabian and Zola (12) 36, and Leporello (9) 27. The white horses, who you do not see in the photograph below, Mira (10), at this time master of a group of mares over in Les Rochers and Pinochio (14), keeping his golden girls happy in the valley, would, respectively, be 30 and 42 in human terms.

And, as a matter of fact, these ages do correspond to their current states of development. It is my hope that, now, that we found out how riding functions and no longer submit horses to false training concepts, Fabian (12/36), Nidal (15/45), and the others, will continue to progress and one day soon and for a long time thereafter be useful to a generation of new riders, who will learn how to be one with the horse.

Early in the Season

2006-05-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

Break throughs early in the season can be no more than tokens of things to come. First the horses must be oxygenised. They must go forward and be enabled to muscularly support that, which nerves and structure have understood. Living in the fields in groups supports this approach.

Lazy

2006-05-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

Leporello, after the winter break lazy. But he has fully understood! Can't see here that this horse's reactions are faster than the wind's.

In the the background the ferme and the big school.

The Day After

2006-05-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today a break through. And another missing link to how and why riding functions. C8 and its role in an inner, possibly the original ciruit of equine/human communication, is where I felt off last fall. I will post details as their evolve.

Fabian still not sufficiently pushing forward none-the-less was completely 'there' today (one may also call it round, together and available). In the rising trot and occasional strike-offs in the canter (!!!, they were our problem at the end of last season, especially left hand) (reins - to make sure not to disturb him in any way - in one hand, changing the hand with the changing of hands) I kept wondering what exactly was different. It is a change in how he positions his lower neck. Yesterday, on experimenting with my new multi-purpose tool, he decidedly raised his lower neck from C8, stretching and rounding it, with a clear forward tendency of head and poll.

The Difficulty of Being A Researcher's Favorite Horse

2006-05-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

I think he was surprised. And I forgot that the season only started. That he is not fully muscled up yet. And besides, working alone in the yard, when his friends are out in the pasture, playing... But I had to checked on the result of my new exercise on his posture. To do so I looked at him after the fact, from the ground. And indeed, he did copy me, all the while getting a bit excited, and not pushing forward sufficuently.

To recapitulate: Lifting the head upward and backward from C2 has an impact on the sacrum. It brings the rider's sacrum under the vertebra, thus providing a level base for the vertebrae above. This motion also raises the sternum and frees the shoulders. I do not know if it is only me, nor if any rider is able to gain these result in the same way i do. However, Fabian today copied my posture with precision. His backbone being in horizontal position, and the equine sacral joint being quite different from the human's, the closing in of my sacrum lowers his. The raising of my sternum raises his forehand, the raising of my head liberates his front legs.

In the mornings I work on illustrations for 'The Elements of Equitation (2005)', which will illuminate these physiological facts as well as many others pertaining to riding.

Spiraldynamik

2006-04-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

Spending time with Christian Larsen's book 'Die Zwölf Grade der Freiheit', I saw a drawing in which the correct motions of the human torso are indicated. Putting these into practice I am amazed how an upward and backward move of my head (again from C2) releases the curvature of my spine, brings the sacrum forward and the shoulders back. The correct position of the human spine, meanwhile, indicates the horse's lightness (brings the horse's sacrum down and lifts its shoulders). A prerquestit, the closing of the croup, is discussed at length in 'The Elements of Equitation'.

This Is a Test!

2006-04-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

Now, this post is a test to see if indeed, as my web tutor tells me, my click rate will improve, if I incorporate famour names such as the Wiener Hofreitschule and the Cadre Noir in my text. So please don't be surprised if, out of context I name the Kentucky Derby or the Pardubitz Steeple Chase, the Celler Hengstparade or the Wiesbadener Pfingstturnier. Or such famous names in the world of equitation as Ludger Beerbaum and Andrew Nicholson, Nuno Oliveira and Philippe Karl.

In any rate, I am working on a new curriculum for riders, emphasis on how to improve body language before getting on the horse, looking again at Feldenkrais, Zilgrei and, for the fist time, the Spinaldynamik. All of these approaches have one thing in common: they deal with the one and only human body. Each from a slightly different point of viewing OneHumanity. Fabian and Leporello appreciate my improvements. They have shoes again, and grasing on the first fresh gras of the season, they begin to look good.

Dermatomes in the Human Body

2006-04-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

Martin has spent a few days in the 3D room, indicating the various skin regions of the human body on the surface of our virtual rider. This he does in preparation for physiologically correct animations and in reflection of the correlations between rider and horse, which we experience on the horses daily.

Interested to participate in this research and its visualatisation? Please be in touch. C.S.

Horse's Improvement

2006-04-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

In 'Elements of Equitation (2005)', Part Two, Chapter Three: 'Correlation', there is a list

- The lifting of the rider’s head and a simultaneous upward stretching of his vertebra activates the functions of the long ligament (C2)
- The raising of the rider's chin stabilises the carrier of the horse’s neck (C3)
- The turn of the rider’s head moves the horse’s upper neck sideways (C4)
- The horse gives in its lower neck to a one-sided touch of the rider's rein (C5)
- The pressure of the rider's thumbs on the reins brings the horse to a halt (C6)
- The turn of the rider’s shoulders causes the horse’s change of direction (C7)
- The rider’s ringfingers impact the horse’s sacrum (C8)
- The closing of the rider's shoulder blades, initiated by a lifting of the sternum, raises the horse’s forehand (C7-T8)
- There is a correlation of human and equine diaphragms in T9 in regard to the horse's and the rider's lightness
- The turn in the rider’s vertebrae T10-12, which are located between lumbar region and ribs, bends the horse in the vertebrae before the rider’s seat bones (T10-12)

Each of these is a distinctly different motion in the rider. Each of these motions in the rider causes a distinctly different reaction in the horse.

This evening I tested these motions systematically, like tools, always using them according to the horse's needs and as their actions and reactions would suggest. All three horses have experienced major set backs in their lives as a rider's mount: Fallada (accident), Secret Taboo (bad rider) and Lacor (erraneous training concepts). And yet, sitting on them, feeling the effects of the original body language riding on their twisted and tortured skeletons and, in fact, in doing so verifying this body language, there was no resistance or hard feeling. On the contrary, a lot of blowing of nostrils and licking of lips. And a pleasure for me, their rider.

Rider's Improvements

2006-04-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

A door opened for me the rider with the first exercise in Moshe Feldenkrais, 'Consciousness Through Movement', entitled 'Moving like a tree in the wind'. It greatly impressed me and I spoke to friends about it, who, of couse, turned it into a standing joke. Not long after, my riding completely changed and a few weeks later I began the manuscript for 'The Elements of Equitation (2005).

Since then I have a growing awareness of exercises which may be useful to improve riders' performances. They are so far the following, with new ones appearing at my the horizon.

1. Feldenkrais: Moving like a tree in the wind
2. Feldenkrais: Rising without effort from a chair
3. Feldenkrais: Learning how to sing
4. Feldenkrais: Distinguishing intentional from autonomous muscle action (which permitted me to turn my vertebra into a column and to drop my shoulders
5. Bio-feedback: Stopping my breath (which confirmed the Zilgrei instructions) (to me this is a most powerful general purpose exercise to maintain and restore health and well-being
6. Skeleton studies: Raising the vertebra from C2, which lets your grow two inches
7. Skeleton studies: Raising the sternum from T9, which closes the shoulders
8. Meyners: Using the back side of my thighs to propel the horse on
9. Meyners: Pushing back C8, which in the process straightens my upper vertebra and closes my shoulders

Each of these moves (I do not want to call them lessons) works easily and produces a perfect, always same result: an upright vertebra and more power.

Monday

2006-04-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

Again, on Leporello, I applied my new tool 'using my thigh's backs to propel the horse on.' And again it worked perfectly. I used it in the sitting trot, helping him to get straight and even. There was no time to give him a final workout on the lunge. I will have to start him on the lunge next time. He was not fully pleased when I took him from riding directly to the field, without this customary routine.

Fabian, after Sunday lunge, today much improved in stength. And like last year in start-up, he, after warming, decidedly closed his croup, signaled by several deep caughts and subsequent blowing of his nostrils. It is a premordial gesture, in Fabian's case accompanied by a fart. Thereafter his back was decidedly mouted, he was shorter and broader behind and raised up before me. There was a greater availability and an improved impulsion. He invited me to lean back and activate the Sprungfeder effect of my lower back from L1, leaning my elbows against my sides.

None-the-less, I found out (only when looking at us in the glas door of our pantry), that his neck was tilted to the left; that is, he did not give to the my right ringfinger in setting the neck to the right. I changed my Zügelführung to more left rein and more left hand, to straightenen the neck and bring the nose in an upright position. The setting of the neck to the right we did in a final move from the ground. It took him a while to truly release neck and jaw. The result we shall see tomorrow.

Fallada did very well on the lunge. Her neck now being completely free, as is her jaw. A good cyclical movement in her hind legs. I see her trot and canter in the field, elevated. No time for Secret Taboo, who will go first tomorrow. Nidal still eying me with caution from afar.

Sunday April 9, 2006

2006-04-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

At times the most obvious escapes the mind.

This happened with my understanding of the use of legs in riding. The books from Warendorf arrived and, at the same time, our Swiss participant lent me a book on sport physiology riding. While looking at photographs of the Hannoversche Kavallerie-Reitschule's in the 1930s, most notably of Felix Bürkner, and reading a statement in Meyner's book, it all of a sudden dawned on me, "...to increase the horse's impulsion the rider uses his upper thigh's back, in the process dropping his heels".

Oh no!? Have I not seen a hundred photographs of just this fact, and have I not seen a thousand rider's ride their horses to the jump doing just that? And, in addition, have not I, in earlier times, ridden horses to the jump, also using the exact self same aid. Why did I forget?

In any rate, said and done, I took Leporello and Nidal from the field and subjected them to this knewest pearl pf knowledge. It took no longer than a few turns for Leporello to discover that I had found the 'button'. Nidal, still working on getting straight, responded, but difficulties in his withers still hold him back. Today I saw him in the field move correctly but very cautiously. Fabian, who last time I introduced to extended back-ups, on the other hand, in the field today moved with perfection, his well-stabilised back and beautiful hind legs clearly visible from afar.

On the Sunday lunge he worked up from somewhat restricted shoulders, to liberal, well-mobilized impulsions, particularly left hand (his difficult side). A certain restriction remained right hind, and all of a sudden I remember last year's start-up findings (as seen in Pinochio and Mira): while the horse begins to get straight it may be hindered by a fixing of the lower neck to the left. This fixation hinders the free displacement of the neck and a liberal swapp of the horse's mane from left to right and back.

Participants

2006-04-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

We interrupted work on the illustrations. All data will soon be deposited on a disc and await an experienced illustrator,who will do print preparations. Meanwhile there is some modelling of muscles left to do, as is the set-up of a final 'beauty' skeleton, the set-up of the 'as-is' skeleton (full of arthritic and trained deformations). And, in preparation for the animations and the various positions of the horse in 2D, a character set-up remains to be done. The volumn of data has shrunk from many gigabits to a few gigabites in the process, all foulders are properly declared, there is a list of images and their numbers in the book and a final report, encompassing an analysis of the project's current state is prepared. So, if you are an illustrator, who is experienced with this sort of project and likes horses, to the extend of wanting to take on a few in our research-of-riding efforts, please be in touch. C.S.

Tuesday

2006-04-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Asking a bit more today of Leporello and Fabian. Going to their respective limits, to see were we are. Its the kind of situation that after the fact I regret; which is possible only because of the horse's most generous nature.

For Leporello the limit of evenness and forward impulsion was reached after a tour of trot on the lunge to the right. He did not want to give his neck laterally and after that was unmotivated; after up until then doing very well. He still is a bit sleepy and his neck and jaw are kind of dead.

For Fabian the limit was the demand to canter from a few steps of collected walk after halts. He did it, but he did not like it. After that body fear reactions. He today started out being perfectly light. While riding along and enjoying him I was thinking of how to define the difference between yesterday and today: to me it is the difference in how much pressure a horse puts on the long ligament from behind. Fabian, when he is light, has beauitful hind legs, his croup is closed and some what lowered. Neck and head are up and the poll is slighly opened. He looks at where he is going.

Monday

2006-04-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

Secret Taboo: She does not set her neck. Curiously this and the release of the jaw were no problems at all last season. Is it that our new participant did not call on it, or is it the winter break. In any rate, its good for this year's research. She also now keeps her head dropped left hand and twists her entire neck right hand. The plus, she trots regularly, as long as nothing disturbs her, the hind legs stepping forward towards the center of weight in an okay cyclical movement. As before, the left legs has difficulty to laterally step the center of weight, the right hind legs steps laterally past the center of weight. She was eager and well behaved as usual, yet a little apprehensive of what I might demand of her. Small improvements in the setting and lateral giving of the neck.

Fabian: At age 12 and being familiar with the second gear, profits more from a few rounds of brisk in-hand-walking in the shoulder-fore than from lunging. And it wakes me up. Under saddle he is perfectly instructed, yet weak. We did walk in shoulder-fore right and half shoulder-in left, until he brought up his neck and stabilised his back. Rising trot was easier right hand. Left hand he offered a kind of overbending, which felt good. After that a deep stretching and turning of the entire neck. In the walk I incorporated 6m voltes, done on turning my head only; in the trot we worked towars the big eight. No sitting trot, flat serpentines, canter-strike-offs or turns-around-the haunches as yet. He spends the night in the paddock, no hay, no straw. I gave him carrots and started him on grain. He must loose his big belly.

Fallada: After big excitement yesterday!? today in the small school back to normal. Changes of left and right hand, walk and trot. Turns-around-the-shoulders. Strike-offs in the canter left and right. Walking her off and on on small circles left and right hand finally brough a lateral release of the poll. Still no true release of the jaw. She is a litte uneven and shakes her entire body left hand, she pushes her neck down suddenly right hand.

All three horse's symptoms are typical for start-up. They usually disappear after a few times and require no other treatment than continuation.

Sunday

2006-04-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Using the calm of Sunday I have put on paper a concept in seven steps of how the horse's physiology works in riding. It will serve as the parameter of this season's training. Anyone interested in participating and testing these parapmeters, please contact me. C.S.

Lunging Secret Taboo today I wonder how far she will recover her abilities. She also has the damages we see in Sinja's skeleton, if not quite as pronounced. With all complications to be expected in training her, she is every bit a lady. She appreaciates to be addressed politely and lovingly and beautifully responds.

Saturday April 1, 2006

2006-04-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Like an April 1st joke my Internet connection quit this afternoon. So I begin this report in Word and will hopefully soon be able to transfer it to the Report 2006 blog.

The land is awakening. The colors of the sky are back. By the end of winter I tend to no longer remember them. And each spring their transcending beauty surprises, excites and inspires me anew. It is a completely different training of horses, and the only way that works for me, under these hugh beautiful skies of in-season Normandy. And so, I am glad to be on the horses’ backs again, accepting the winter break as a chance to do other things.

Fabian, after three shots of Zeel and the osteopate, two days ago, after prep and lunge, under saddle soon straightened and did a reasonably good start-up work. Today I did a more extended lunging, including taking a small jump and with it starting him in the canter. He brought up his energies. A few hours later I mounted; he was straight and available. None-the-less, his back was not sufficiently up. It will be interested to see, if it is just a matter of time...

During the winter break he has processed the information on lateral movements we started last fall. It feels like keeping him correctly between the reins will be a major aspect of this season’s riding and I sense that with it there will be some more insight into how the suspected inner circuit of communication works.

Leporello and Nidal continued; Nidal well improved, now almost willing to look into the direction he is moving and Leporello willing as always, a bit sleepy still, but slowly more even. He also started canters. Fallada, after the osteopate and two days break was well behaved. Kicking her head in the turn-around-the-shoulders speaks of tensions in the back and or hindquarters. She will profit from cantering on the lunge tomorrow. All four horses are reasonably straight, instructed, willing and ready for training. I am looking forward to ride them this season and find out what they can do.

Participants Update

2006-03-30T11:58:00.000-08:00

Our cook/editor (American English) will return tonight. He spent his winter break from the 'Association of Interdisciplinary Studies' touring Europe.

Our Swiss participant has begun a big gardening project and now plants, builds, improves, non-stop... The ferme team, responsible for stabling and feeding the Study-Horsemanship horses and for the care of the land helps. Remaining time is spent with Alisero, Lucky, Filly and Secret Taboo (in short, our thoroughbreds). I plan to suggest she also takes on Odessa, who is good for the forest. She learns to play the guitar and goes swimming in the beautiful new local pool. This young woman was a beginning rider only some ten weeks ago. She now is an accomplished horse woman with talent and aspiration for more.

Here you see our organic garden a few month later.

Our 3D man and participant in the research-while-riding program will hopefully soon mount his horses again. They are Pinochio, who towards the end of last season showed amazing improvements in his go and volunté, and Lacor, who at times is still a bit long, but very well behaved and well cantered. Presently this participant prepares in long-distance contact with our web master and competent illustrator from Münster/Germany the illustrations for our upcoming publication. We have begun to design a software for riders. If you are a software developer, interested in equitation and with time on your hands to come for a year, please contact me. C.S.

Time to Ride

2006-03-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Today I started horses only at 7 p.m., after having spent all day working on texts and illustrations for 'Elements Equitation (2005). Before that, at tea, we discussed the Paris student riots and the difference of French Napolean to German Frederician political approaches. I feel ashamed of living in France for eight years and still not having coomand of the French language; I am looking forward to reading Alain Touraine's "Le Grand Refus" and "Le Monde des Femmes", as recommended by today's Frankfurter Allgemeine.

To work Leporello and Nidal from the ground took 90 minutes. That is, bringing them in from the field, cleaning and letting them turn around the shoulders, and lunging them to the point of giving and mobilising. The point: they must look in the direction in which they go , bring their shoulders before their inner hind leg and move steadily forward, with their backs mounted, their hindquarters closed. Leporello (9), after several seasons in the Study-Hormanship program, is polite and very well instructed. His performance was not bad for the first day of start-up, his weaknesses and his good will were appearant. Nidal (15), with very little training here, was not willing to give his neck and look in the direction he was walking. His charm and temperament are intriguing none-the-less. After a while he began to destress, to blow his nostrils and show short movements of his tongue. I left it at that, to avoid reactivating a lameness, which he developed 18 month ago, in the contexts of getting straight.

It is a pleasue to work with these horses again. It took 45 minutes, all included, per horse to achieve a positiv result. Here is my thinking for this season 2006: If I do four horses (4x45 min) and add 2x30 minutes for riding two horses, I should be able to train four horses in four hours, alternating their riding. Add one hour for a daily ride out makes for five hours horses a day, six days a week. I would like to go for the white guys (Leporello, Nidal und Fabian) and Fallada in regular training and Secret Taboo to do rides out, alternating Zola. If this works, I will keep six horses happy, and they will make me happy.

This plan will leave Anna, Pepita and Fiona (Farma's family) out in the field, as well as Anisette (Anna's daughter), who deserves to begin, and Wallina, who might be a perfect hack for rides in the forest. And there also are Therese and WaIk-on-Top. I do not know, which group I like better, the chestnuts or the grays and dark brown one. But I am willing to pass one of these two groups on to a rider, who might want to come to La Boulaye as a participant of the 'Association of Interdisciplinary Studies' to learn and gain experience in a real life work situation. And if that person also wanted to learn how to control a virtual 3D space, as well as loves to garden once in a while, he/she would be a perfect match (please let me know if it is you. C.S.).

Why this blog?

2006-03-28T00:19:00.000-08:00

This blog reports on Study-Horsemanship's research developments 2006. Study-Horsmanship is a project of the 'Association of Interdisciplinary Studies', founded by Gerd and Christine Sander in 2005, at home in La Boulaye, Cerisy-la-Forêt, Normandy.

To all who follow this report we wish the same sense of optimism we, here at Study-Horsemanship, share in respect to the horse's noble nature and riding's utility in a modern world.