The Art of Natural Dressage

Hi,
Josepha, thank you very much for the invitation. I think I'm gonna like this forum. I've seen there are already a lot of like-minded people here and I hope I can learn a lot of all of you.

I'm Els Weinans. Live in Holland. I started horse riding at my 6th on a normal horseriding school. I realised quite soon that I didn't really like the opinions of the people there. I learned all the technical stuff about horseriding but didn't learn anything about feelings and emotions, and how to control them on your horse.

I moved houses some time ago (more than a year now). Since I live here I have 'kind of' my own horse: Amiro.
Here a picture of me on Amiro, made half a year ago:

You can see I don't have a very good seat, I think my seat is much better now, since I started with Centered Riding.
Amiro is a 15 year old NRPS gelding. I've had some problems with him; his hindlegs are very weak so he couldn't collect properly. The first few months I had him I tried to make him collect by using a bit and puling my reins. I noticed very fast that this was impossible, Amiro wanted to do things right, he just didn't have the ability to do so.
So I bought a bitless bridle. Now I could feel exactly what was happening, what Amiro felt and what he could do and what he couldn't do.
A few months ago I registered at Nevzorov-forum. I learned a lot there. I'm doing much more groundwork now, and see much improvement with Amiro's muscles. At the moment I ride about 1 or 2 times a week. Almost always bitless (when I have lessons I'm not always allowed to ride bitless, I'm trying to change this!). The other days I'm going for a walk or do groundwork. I ride mainly with my thoughts. I see how Amiro reacts on everything I think very fast. When I think "make a circle here" I feel he's doing it already before I notice that I asked him to. I'm learning how to control my thoughts better. Some time ago I saw a girl who I didn't like. I was thinking about her and getting angry. When I rode past her Amiro tried to hit her. Form then on I knew I have to stay focused on Amiro for 100% while working with him. This is somethimes very difficult for me, but I see improvement and I like to work on it.

I'm going to a clinic from Donald Newe tomorrow, as a spectator. I'm looking forward to it very much and hope I get more ideas and learn some new things.

Hopefully you understand my English. When you have any questions or want to know more about Amiro or me, just ask me

Best regards,
Els

Hi Els,

I though I had seen your name come by in the Nevzorov forum already, and now I know for sure. Welcome! I like Amiro in this picture already. He does indeed seem very much awake and very eager to respond to what you feel.

I'm very much interested in your experiences at Donald's clinic tomorrow too. Can you post a report on what you learned and what the participants had to do?

And please do post more pictures of Amiro! I'm interested to seeing how he moves with bitless bridle too. Does he respond better to the Bitless Bridle than to the halter? And how did you make your choice between the different kinds of halters? I'm going to have to look for a small one for driving the ponies soon, but I'm in doubt between the ones that have the reins cross over the head, and the one that has the reins crossed right under the jaw. Does Amiro like this one?

Hi Miriam,
Sure I'll write a report about my experiences with the clinic!

The halter he's wearing on this picture just hangs loose. I don't use it. I sometimes ride with nothing at all, and that feels the same. I used a halter here because there were a lot of people at the stable at that time, and I don't think they would like it when I'm riding with nothing at all.
When I want to ask a bit more of Amiro I use the bitless bridle, I can ask things more precicely with it.
I only tried the Bitless Bridle, haven't tried any other halters. The bitless bridle works great for Amiro and me, so I have no real need to try other bridles. However, I'll maybe try another bridle once, just because I'm curious if there's much difference

I like the bitless bridle so much because the pressure is equally divided around the whole head. I think that the bridle with the reins crossed under the jaw works a bit sharper. I guess you should try to what works best for your ponies. What kind of halter/bridle do you use now?

I'll try to make more pictures soon.I haven't seen any pictures of your Blacky and Sjors yet, it would be very nice to see more of them since I've read a lot of you.

Hi Els,

Very nice to see you here also Welcome!!!
I also like the picture with Amiro very much.
You are a great team!

Warm regards

Bianca

Hi Bianca,
Thank you very much for starting this forum. It's great!
And also thank you for the compliment, it means a lot to me.
Kind regards,
Els

Hi Els,

ah there you are!

I had not seen this picture of you and Amiro, it is wonderful!

nothing week to see there!
You two look rather strong and connected together.

looking forward to your posts and pictures as always

_________________
www.equusuniversalis.com

Hi Josepha,
Thank you so much, I'm so glad to hear that you think the picture looks OK, I've heard other things also, that's probably why you haven't seen it, I was not so eager to show

And thank you as well as Bianca for starting this forum

Hi Els,

What did others see wrong about the picture then?

You two look well balanced.
Draw some lines through both of you, 1 through you vertically and 1 through Amiro horisontally and you see

_________________
www.equusuniversalis.com

Hi josepha,

Someone told me we were abit unbalanced. She told me Amiro was walking on his frontlegs and what I was doing was no good fo his back.
She is true amiro is not collected here, but at that moment he couldn't do much better with me on top...

I imagined the lines that you told me to draw, but don't completely understand how these tell you if you are balanced or Amiro is walking in the right way? Can you explain more about it? What exactly is good about these lines and what not?

the lines tell you about the balance, about the point of gravity, not about collection.

I really get annoyed when people find all sorts of mistake in horse riding pictures...
One needs to know the stage of training a horse and rider are in at that moment for starters.
Second, a photo is only a photo, it can look wonderful or bad but it is only a fraction of the actual movement.

Ofcourse it is different when you see a rider in the picture pulling the reins like mad etc.

With you, I see a well balanced rider, a horse who can walk to the best of his abality for that particular moment under his rider.

The person who said it was not good enough... does she know Amiro?
And what does she think you should do?
And how does she ride?

Let me guess...

_________________
www.equusuniversalis.com

Josepha,

Now I see what you mean by the lines. Thanks a lot!

The person indeed didn't really know Amiro or me and his past, so that's probably the reason she said so, becuase I must confess she's actually doing great with her own horses (much groundwork, balanced horses, natural collection, etc...).

There's still so much more for me to learn, but thank you for learning me so much! Your words are really motivating to me!

Warm regards,
Els