Solene - february 20, 2015

Reining back is a difficult exercise. First, the English term is somewhat misleading, since it seems to imply hands moving back, which is not the solution. The French 'reculer' is more neutral and hence more appropriate. Many authors have written on this gait, with considerable divergences in views. Some will advise using hands and no legs, others the contrary, others combinations of alternate use of legs and hands, each side in succession etc..Even within the Baucherist chapel, opposite views can be found between masters. The issue becomes so confused at times that some authors go as far as banning 'reculer' by fear of 'acculement' (putting the horse behind the hand forever)
With most horses, many riders manage a way to get reculer by 'trial and error' approach, fiddling with hands and heels, with no guarantee of correctness however. Correctness here means diagonalization, legerete, head carriage at 'ramener', no resistance, straightness and symmetry - all this leading to a fluid, supple motion with the horse's back not hollow and with regular strides which can revert immediately into a decided forward movement when requested.
With Solene, reculer requires careful training. Maybe it is due to his right shoulder stiffness. At first, it was difficult for me to ask it from halt; he was raising his neck, opening his head/neck angle and getting his back hollow. The result was stiff and poor.
So I worked this issue starting from walk, shortening and slowing down the walk to the minimum achievable while maintaining impulsion with vigilant legs, then without stopping, increasing the contact on the right rein ('demi tension') and at the same time pushing my right leg slightly backwards with a soft stroke, and a light touch of the stick behind the boot. Once the first backward diagonal movement was obtained, I loosened reins, sent him forward again and patted his neck with much compliments. After several days of this, we added a  repeat of the right aids action, but even more lighter. I thus obtained two then three strides, controlling the left hindquarter side with the left leg at contact and if necessary the left rein lightly controlling the external shoulder.
This method inspired from Fillis works quite well with Solene. He is improving by the day, and we can see the point where we attempt getting the reculer from halt at standstill.
It is not the first time that I find Fillis' advice pertinent. I have to confess though that for many years  I did not have much time for him because I was somewhat put off by his weird position shown on many pictures of him riding his favorites Germinal and Markir, and some seemingly harsh aspects of his horsemanship. I wrongly considered him as a curiosity rather than a Master. On the positive side, I was impressed though by his boldness and 'perçant', and by his love of Thoroughbreds which I share. I should also have given more thought on his influence on the Russian Dressage school.
His book 'Principes de Dressage et d'Equitation' is in all cases quite pleasant to read. It is well written (thanks to the help of his friend Clemenceau) and full of practical, pragmatic experience displayed openly and honestly. And this little post proves that it can be most useful in practice! It is clearly worth having in one's library.

Solene - december 22, 2014

Work with Solene is progressing well. It is time to make a first assessment of Solene's performance, in order to shape up his training programme over the next months. Our mutual understanding is developing nicely. He is eager to please his rider. His impulsion needs to be mobilized at the beginning of the session, after which his sensitivity and responsiveness is fully available, with a fine degree of subtlety. He needs very light aids, and responds to the slightest touch of the boot. Regarding the mouth, he still needs to get more used to lightness. He has been allowed/encouraged by his previous riders to lean on the bit, and keep a high head carriage. Consequently he can be still disoriented, and clumsy at 'descente d'encolure'. It is clear that he likes it, but he does not completely control his balance when his nose is down to the ground and can stumble slightly at times. I think I will have to go slowly in this process, and understand why it is so. The obvious mechanistic answers such as lack of impulsion, and too much weight on the shoulders do not seem to apply satisfactorily in his case. I tend to suspect that it is more a matter of getting used to it, even getting educated to it; he has to actually learn how to move forward without the 'support' of the rider's hand.
His walk is getting much better, more energetic and he begins to be able to extend it slightly. His trot has always been fine since I have known him. His canter is a joy now: no more any four beats, lovely, light and happy strokes into canter, upon extra light aids: open inside hand fingers, touch with inside leg at girth, outside leg slightly behind, quiet and relaxed seat and.. he gets at once into a supple, light, comfortable, neat canter.
His instant of glory stays with 'doux passage' which I can get now in 'descente de main'. Piaffer on the contrary seems beyond reach at this point.
Solene can give nice square halts, but the rider must coordinate his aids very carefully: legs, pressure on the reins, belly navel forward on a deeper seat. Here, the improvement stays with the rider, not him!
I have started  a study on reining back which I will develop in a further post.
To sum up, I can say that Solene is going to rank about the best horses I ever rode - a dream horse!

Solene - october 17, 2014

We were alone in the large indoor arena. Solene was quiet. We started by a long (15') session at walk. I am impressed so much by a video of Nuno Oliveira ('In His Words') riding a grey at walk, and 'twisting' his horse in a relaxed, apparently improvised way, in a wonderful fluid manner, that I thought a good idea to apply it with Solene. So, we worked shoulder-ins on both leads, yield to the external leg, with external bend, half-pass, pirouette on the haunches and on the shoulders - all this in a loose set of sequences, aiming at taking advantage of the instant rather than sticking to a schedule, looking for relaxing neck, poll and above all mouth. I was pleased with the outcome, since Solene adhered to this sort of play without resistance nor impatience. No more stiffness on shoulder-ins on neither side. Jaws became more mobile, although not yet chewing the bit as one can see on Oliveira's horses. This 'conversation' with the horse is something which I look for with all horses, but which is not easy to get with several and requires time and patience, especially when you are not the only rider of the horse. This is the case with Solene, who is also ridden by a young lady - a good rider, but more interested in 'modern' dressage than me, and hence less haunted by 'legerete'.
A good rest at brisk walk with extended neck and head down on loose reins. Then, after a posting trot energetic and piling up impulsion, we spend the rest of the time working the canter. His canter is good at both leads now, and shows four beats strides no more. After 10' of straight canter with change in speed and circles of various diameters we focussed on counter-canter. He masters it quite well on both leads: we worked the following sequence: starting from walk, strike off on straight canters five strides, walk two strides, strike off counter canter five strides and again. We did this on both rotation rounds on the arena. He never lost his calm, keeping good head carriage and lightness. I was delighted. We ended it there, with a long walk on loose reins, lots of murmured gentle compliments and scratches on the withers, then a good grooming in the stables.

Solene - august 29, 2014

Last week session's stiffness aches, due to my body's inactivity, were quickly gone and I was eager to enjoy a new exercise time with Solene again. I was not disappointed indeed. We were alone again in the large arena, and Stephane was there to supervise our work. We started with relaxing at walk: frequent halts, variations of speed looking for extending the pace gradually. Extended walk is not Solene's strongest point, as indeed for many Iberian horses, but I was pleased to notice that he did opened his compasses without hasty or disorderly steps. We also worked some shoulder-ins, taking special precautions on the right hand in order to avoid provoking a resistance. This one is incidentally more apparent when doing the haunches at the same hand. No tension at all on the inside rein is of course necessary. But furthermore, it is good not to ask this lateral work with elevated neck. Starting with neck only slightly above horizontal is helpful. We did some halt followed by reining back. without legs. Good response.
Then the work at trot went well. First posting trot during 10". I applied a recommendation I read in a book by V. Laurent, a reputable instructor who taught in Paris in the early XXth century. A retired 'sous-maître' of the Cadre Noir, he wrote an excellent manual for practical use, without detailed analysis or reflections, but simply aiming at providing simple and efficient tips for riding the French horsemanship. It is both unpretending, and yet full of solid culture: there is clearly a lot of measured Baucherism in the background. This particular recommendation is about swapping the diagonal of the posting trot every four strides as a means for straightening up a horse. It looks sensible and should be helpful I guess after some time. The sitting trot was devoted to circles of various radius length, spirales, changes of speed, transition to walk over three or for strides, halts followed by reining back and rebounding into trot at once. Stephane told me that I was asking too much bending. I reduced the bend and tried to keep it slight, but regular across the whole body. It worked well and I could notice that Solene's shoulders were light, and responded well to neck rein.
The canter session showed a correct three beats tempo, with a tendency to speed up on the left lead. This could be easily controlled by seating deeper in the saddle, and some light demi-arrets.  We did work at both hands on various figures, with circles of small diameters at the end, in the corners. As we were reducing the diameter of the circles, Stephane observed that Solene was probably not far away from the premises to the pirouette. Sequences canter-walk-canter were smooth, and the head carriage was stable and already clearly above the horizontal. Long session at walk followed to come down, very enjoyable with Solene bringing his nose in the dust, on a very light contact with loose reins, and yet keeping a good, energetic pace.
As a now usual bonus, I asked him a short passage sequence, which he offered quite freely - a journey to the sky!
We went back to the stables, where he enjoyed a good rolling on the ground, followed by a careful brushing and caring by me. As he is a stallion, it is not necessarily a good idea to pat him too much, because of the need to keep a 'dominant' rank vs. him. But grooming is a good surrogate for proximity and friendship building, and he likes it!

Solene - august 22, 2014

I am back again in riding Solene today, after another year away from horses because of health hitches by me.
Anyway, what a joy to be able to ride again! Riding must be an addiction indeed, and the want of it is  definitely depressing.
Over these past months, Solene was ridden by a few young people, all reasonably experienced. I found him quite receptive, and less cold than before. We were alone in the large arena, and could enjoy a quiet environment. After such an absence, it is difficult to measure the changes in the horse training and behavior, because of the impact of the rider's lack of activity and hence erosion of skills. Under this cautionary point about my own current judgement, I found more stamina on the positive side, and a stiffness on the left side on the negative one. This stiffness showed in shoulder-in on the right, when he resisted with a little jerk from the forelegs. Series of circles and spirales with a very soft hand gave a good result. His mouth has also improved, being less mute and in fact beginning to talk now and then. Last but not least, his canter is now no longer four beats, and begins to show a nice cadence.
At the end, I could not resist asking him whether he would go for little passage - and he did it quite nicely, without leaning on the bit and with regularity. A wonderful way to reconnect with the joys of riding which I missed so much this past year!

Solene - september 08, 2013

Solene has a brilliant pedigree. Above is his father, Licor, AR, full of stamina. Among his ancestors was Euclides, Nuno Oliveira's  famous grey. Quite a reference and pride!

Solene - august 30, 2013

I have been obliged to stop riding for a several months. Since the last post, I could ride Solene only twice before this (too) long break. I kept visting him as often as I could, and have seen him changing and adapting to his environment. He was ridden by three ladies during that time, in a soft, and not too demanding way; He is in good physical shape, and his stallion temper is showing more openly. He has been stabled with no discrimination from other horses (geldings) and mares, which is good for his socializing and mood. However, although quite a nice character, one must be exert due care as with most stallions over his hormonal temper especially when walking him along in-hands.
Under the saddle, he is quite supple and has no issue with lateral work. He is relatively cold, and one must concentrate on building up impulsion at the beginning of the working session before any attempt to collect him because he can give a false ramener easily while letting his hind limbs far behind. His trot is very comfortable, his walk needs impulsion to be encouraged, and his canter definitely needs collection because it is prone to fall into a four beats tempo.
Currently, I ride him with advices given by S., the owner of the barn who is also Solene's owner. As I have perhaps already written earlier, S. is a professional, national level show jumper. An excellent rider indeed, but quite on the German side as for the horse needing to lean on the bit. He does not recognizes the virtues of Baucher's search of lightness as a prerequisite to everything else, and wants the horse to be first 'sent on the bit' and compressed before allowing lightness to be allowed as a consequence, a fall-out - the never ending debate between Baucher and the German school.
Today, we had a good session on the outdoor arena with a warm, wonderful weather. I did abide by S. request to push him forward on taut reins (at the three gaits, with changes of speed) during about half an hour, and then I could ride him in lightness, in a lovely attitude which ended up in a delicious opprtunity for piaffer which I was lucky enough to capture rather nicely: a joy after all these months of inaction!
Of course, while taking full advantage of S. experience and knowledge, I do hope to instill some more Baucherist, lighter horsemanship as soon as possible..