Hi Everyone,
I've spent the last several evenings devouring posts and figured it was time I stopped lurking and registered my login. I'm a 22-year-old lifetime rider. I've been interested in natural horsemanship for the last decade or so and have relied on the principles of Parelli and a few other natural horsepeople in an effort to achieve a greater connection with my mounts. These approaches have helped to make horses calmer and more obedient, but I've always lost interest when the horses I worked with became bored. At that point, I almost always remove the horse's halter and experiment by playing games at liberty. Judging by my own findings, something in the 'traditional' natural horsemanship approach is to be found lacking.
I always rode with eventing trainers, but started to get seriously interested in classical dressage when I studied as a working student with Michelle LaBarre (
http://www.labarredressage.com) in Northeastern Pennsylvania in 2009. It was supposed to be a 3-month stay, but I was learning so much and so excited about the improvements in my riding and horsemanship that I skipped a semester of college to stay on.
The horse I ride here at home is a strong-willed 15-or-so-year-old matriarchal a Trakhener named Phresca. I'm a competent rider, and have been riding Phresca since early 2008. But something about the combination of Phresca's biomechanics, my riding style and her attitude towards my aids keep me from being able to connect her front and rear ends except in rare instances.
She's built downhill with powerful hindquarters, large shoulders and a long back - not ideal for collection. And yet I know that she's capable of it. A year and a half ago, I had one lesson on her with my trainer, and Michelle was able to give me enough insight to help me straighten her out and work through her back. But most of the time, when I ride her on my own, I find myself overwhelmed with enormous pressure in the reins and nothing but leaning and rushing if I try to supple her mouth while trying to maintain greater pressure between her front and back. She's the only horse I have this problem with, and she's the only one I want to ride. Currently, she's grumpy and resentful because I've been trying too hard to achieve what I'm not capable of asking for. Hence my arrival to this site.
I really am excited to be starting an approach of positive reinforcement with Phresca. I'm a philosophy major in school and fairly scrutinizing, but I couldn't be more pleased with the melded combination of natural horsemanship and classical dressage I've found on this site. With all the talk about "grassroots organizations" in American politics, I'm extremely pleased to have found this overwhelmingly awesome example of a grassroots, non-commercial online learning community.
In the summer of 2009, Phresca had a foal named Teddy. Their owner plans to start him under saddle this winter, but I'm hoping to work with both Phresca and Teddy until further notice. It will be wonderful to compare their development, as well as to have two horses to practice on. I'm looking forward to Phresca becoming a willing, active participant in her training and to Teddy learning how to be a proper big boy right from the start. The videos posted by Miriam & Romy are especially inspiring.
It's a pleasure to be here and I feel very lucky to have this forum to help me as I stumble along in (hopefully) facilitating these horses' natural skill and aptitude.
My best,
Adair
Register
Login
FAQ
Search
Looking forward to reading about your interaction! 
So nice you have found your way here. I'm sure you will find a lot of like minded people here from all over the world.
