Do you see the differences between Clint and Dinamico? A few more photos from the 2014 EA Interschool Australian Championships showing Manolo long lining and working Dinamico and Clint in-hand as well as Clint enjoying greeting his young fans and their parents. It was a pleasure seeing how much Clint has grown to enjoy crowds as a few years ago they made him very anxious. When you look at Dinamico and Clint you will notice some differences and some similarities. First, take a look at the forward/down and out postures of the trot work pics vs. the collected postures of the schooling piaffe pics. While these horses can work in collection, it does not mean they should work in collection all the time. To create suppleness, straightness, independent balance and self carriage the handler needs to vary the horses postures to help them develop their fitness and elasticity as well as their mental and physical wellbeing. Allowing the horses bodies to lengthen and move out freely in 4/4 balance (equal weight on all 4 feet) is one important key to soundness, performance and a happy, willing horse. Second, if you compare Dinamico and Clint, you can see that Manolo is not demanding the exact same work, the same exact posture in forward/down and out mode or in collection from both of them. Manolo does not pressure Clint for more collection because this is a Masterclass. For both horses, he is working towards eliciting the best performance each horse can give in that moment WHILE REMAINING STRESS AND TENSION FREE. When looking at Dinamico schooling Spanish Walk, you can imagine what would happen if he was tense and Manolo was blocking his head and neck. He would loose the freedom in his shoulder and to compensate he would have to drop his back and step very tightly behind or not at all. This focus on keeping tension out of the training equation and varying the postures the horse travels in (caveat: never purposefully behind the vertical, short necked or high necked) are keys to Manolos training to wellness approach. Note that these keys are as old as good horsemanship and are reflected in the FEI guidelines when they tell us that dressage seeks to develop a calm, keen, attentive and confident horse that is loose, supple and flexible. We would like to thank the terrific Jenny Bray for doing a stellar job explaining Manolos work to the young audience - he needed both hands to work :-) We also would like to thank the many parents, children and teens who came up to Manolo to express their pleasure after the demonstration. It was a great pleasure for all of us to see the smiles that lit up the childrens faces when they were able to visit with the horses. Finally, thank you to everyone involved in this event for a warm welcome and a super opportunity to share Manolos work. If you like this post, share it because this concept of varying the posture and working with the horse we have today is one that all horses can benefit from. Thank you.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 21:21:26 +0000
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