Eric Smiley clinic part deux.

[maximum]

We broke for lunch and the RNLI came up with hot bacon and egg rolls for us!! mmmmmmm was just what we needed! ;D

so afternoon and we had new riders and horses and moved onto pole work and then jumping but was so cold by the jumping could not even write!

so over the poles we discussed how one of the horses was not really engaged behind and therefore not in an outline.

Eric ( get me first name terms) explained to the rider that she was too busy fiddling with her hands to try and get the horse "on the bit" - oh we don't see much of that! and he was in a false outline and that she needed to think of getting him in an outline by thinking legs - quarters - back - poll - jaw - bit - hand thats how it happens its a big curve and the hands are last but if anywhere there is resistance it will block and you won't complete the curve. he said imagine there are no roadworks on the motorway we can can get from one to the other easily but if there are roadworks - i.e resistance then we cannot complete the journey.

To explain the importance of the relaxed poll he showed if you make a fist out of your hand and hold it straight and stiff it is very hard to move it left or right as well - relax it and allow it to drop and you can move it about - so as for the two bones in the poll - the atlas and axis- and if you don't have the longitudinal acceptance you cannot get the lateral acceptance.

simplez!!

In this vein he also discussed talking to the horse through the leg and not the hand and consistently riding leg to rein and having that quiet hand - no fiddling just an elastic allowing contact.

All these must be in place before jumping - if the basic acceptance of the aids is not there then the jumping will not be of the high standards we should be aiming for.

The pole work was interesting as without fail every horse brought up their head to trot or canter through them so he made the riders keep the horse secure between the hand and leg and round and soft - if the head comes up its resistance so they had to work pretty hard on that!

Did a bit on rider balance and bemoaned the fact so many ride with their heels so far down the toes are straight up! all this does is tip the upper body too far forward.

He also was very strict about making them turn and stay on a line and keep straightness through the curve - he didn't want a corner but a flowing line using the outside leg so the horse stayed straight rather than pulling round with the inside hand and creating too much bend which in turn causes the hind legs to become unbalanced.

The I had to retreat into the gloves!

The rest was exercises to get the riders thinking and looking ahead.

great day and defiantly would go again.

[spotti]

Was going to comment on part 1 but then saw this other bit and decided to comment here instead

Sounds like a fab day and it's great when you learn lots as well - always seems to make it worthwhile...even having to brave the cold!!!

[maximum]

been 6 days and think i may have thawed out!

[fimacg]

glad to hear it- fingers working again now?

[duckles]

Sounds a great clinic (despite the frost bite:-) ). I so agree with his opinion on getting the horse forward and willing (physically and mentally) in order to work but I suppose more tips on how to do this would have been good! I'm not been critical here, but we all know that trueness comes from the engine and yet this seems to be a problem at all levels. I'm thinking aloud here (hope you don't mind):- Obviously the rider'sposition can really help a horse go forward if it is correct and supple as there will be no blocks to movement; I have always noticed that the correct physical and mental relaxation of both horse and rider promote more forwardness and this is particularly obvious when they are both doing things they enjoy; I suppose a rider who can motivate and give a horse confidence will also help the horse move freely as well. I am only saying all this because I hate the repeated advice of give the horse a bigger slap or kick if not moving forward - yes, that can be relevant with a lazy horse (or rider) but not always with an active horse. Fitness of horse and rider also help with the forwardness. BUT these are my own musings I would love to see tips on this from experienced instructors .
(Sorry I seem to be very argumentative but - Ive had very little sleep :-) )
On another note, I first heard of Eric Smiley when I was learning to ride myself as one of the guys at the school had been to lessons with him and was forever going on about it - one lesson in particular he talked about was when Mr Smiley (or Eric to you Maximum) made him do his entire lesson without stirrups and he had to lower his stirrups by 4 holes after this lesson.
I have a great deal of admiration for Eric Smiley and he is at a lot of events over here (but mostly in Northern Ireland) . He is a wonderful horseman and (after reading your posts) he seems a really nice guy as well.

[scattymare]

It sounds like a brilliant session. Wish we had things like that round here.

[brigadier]

Fascinating stuff, reallylike his approach. Interesting point Duckles about the lively horse, dont you find though that they rarely accept the leg, simply spring away from it? (having a horse who can turn up the voltage instantaneously has made me realise this,) so you still need to use the leg, but in such a way that it gives the horse confidence and supports it into riding through into the hand. So many times Ive ridden horses that will crab and siddle when the leg goes on, but lively horses seem to need more leg than slow ones and with consistence will accept a leg, and then it becomes good for the rider in that the horse responds quickly.
I used to ride such a horse and nearly everyone used to say, "Dont touch him with your legs" but it was the hands he didnt need much of, and I found he worked well with a close still leg. The riders who didnt understand this were frequently carted off at great speed.

Cant ride at moment due to stuff going on but reading this has made me itch to get cracking again, thanks Maxi.

[maximum]

I was desperate to get back on a horse that day!! stored it all for use later!

I always think with horses that are sharp off the leg they tend not to have had the leg on and only associate it with forward movement rather than being taught to move away from it - whether that be forward or lateral movement and they need a quiet leg against them all the time and just used when needed where as the slow ones you need the leg to only go on when you really mean it!!

Duckles I think as the audience were all registered instructors he didnt spend so much time on the 'how' more the why - maybe with a different audience he would have. he was not really teaching the guinea pigs more using them to demostrate the exercises!

However you are spot on in that unless the rider is sitting correctly the horse cant move freely forward - they block it - I have lost count of the number of ties I am told ' oh my horse wont canter on the left/right rein on the correct leg' then you watch them and they are leaning over the poor horses inside shoulder or they say 'my horse stops at jumps' and they are leaning forward over the shoulder and the poor horse cant get off the ground.
They are obviously extreme but not enough people think ' what can I be doing that is causing this to happen'. So often we are blocking without even noticing.
I know my block is my left arm and hand and I need to be really aware of keeping it soft - that and dropping my right hip as well.