How Little Can You Do?

I recently took a client's three year old stallion with all of sixteen rides to a dressage lesson. I don't really know what promted this act of genius. The colt had never been hauled. The venue was a haul-in situation into an arena horses often find a little scary. The colt was just sort of understanding go-stop-turn, but I thought it would be interesting to play the least advanced end of the spectrum that day, so along goes young stud-muffin.

Let me back up and introduce the great Nick Handy. Nick is a USDF bronze, silver and gold metalist with 20 years experience from Training level to FEI. Nick rode with Cavalia and the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions. I think this experience of performing with constantly changing horse and rider dance pairs brought home to him the value a rider can bring to any horse by being responsible for their own balance. He focuses his training on balance and feel.

I arrive at my lesson on my barely wobbling forward youngster, and Nick rises to the occassion-or maybe I should says sank to the foundation. We spent the day on transitions within the walk, finally graduating to a few walk-trot and within the trot. It was about as interesting as paint drying. One step following the other, but only if we were balance. Only if we went together.

I learned a huge lesson. I have started hundreds of colts. I have always been aware of their hoof placement and balance, but I never believed that they could improve either drastically until they developed it with time under saddle. I was wrong. In that lesson, I learned I could insist he be balanced and he learned he could wait to move until he was. I continued to ride him that way, never allowing movement we could not both control. I told his owner I didn't know if we would be on track for our planned schedule, but we had no time constraints, so he allowed me the flexibility to keep trying this excruciatingly slow work.

Two weeks later, when I first asked for the canter, I had no high speed trot into the gait like most babies do at first. I had no wobbly steering as we changed gaits. No wandering circles or weaving straight lines. He moves smoothly and confidently into the gait with balance and transitions back to trot from my seat just as smoothly.

I think since we began the canter work, he has missed one lead. One.

Lesson One: Do less. Have the confidence that slow and deliberate work will be faster in the long run.

Lesson Two: Ride the babies like they are broke and they will be.

Fun random fact-Nick trained elephants at the Memphis Zoo!