Reinsmanship: A Photo Tutorial

As an exercise towards enhancing my curriculum for teaching reinsmanship, I decided to post a few photos on what is admirable and what is far less than correct to illustrate my philosophy.  I always try to find a clear way to communicate to each whip on the cause and effect of their own bodies on their horse's ability, so this might be another way of defining it.

These photos were shot on a numbered cones course, by my dear friend and professional photographer, Tobin Bennett.  I think they give a very unique reference for judging my reinsmanship and I thank Tobin for his skill in capturing them.  I am driving The Major General, a Morgan and Caddy That Zigs.

Approaching Start/Finish: Good collection, contact, shoulder to hands angle is open and allowing.  Major is soft and alert.

This course was mostly short and tight, on the side of a hill.  I knew I needed to let Major go long and low as much as I could.  I open the angle of my shoulder to hands, and he opens the angle of his nose.  He seeks contact, so he lengthens his top line and stride to find it.  His cadence is lovely.

I have driven the outside line on the turn through this set of cones very nicely.  We are on the side of a hill turning down fairly sharply.  Notice we are starting the bend without the wheel completely clear of the cone.  It is tight.  The gig is high.  To keep the wheel on the ground, I am leaning.  When the whip drops the shoulder, so doth the horse.  You can see this in the photo: horse mirrors whip.  One saving grace for me as whip: my hands are still fairly level.  In the gig, you must drive the horse and ride the vehicle, or you will end Up. Side. Down.

BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD.  When I first saw this photo, I screamed, "NO!" And almost deleted it from record.  But then I decided to keep it to remind me NEVER to do this again.  This is an epic fail.  I misjudged our speed and the distance for the turn.  See how far under himself Major is with his inside hind leg.  Fail.    My shoulders are telling his body to go straight.  Fail.  My inside hand is bending his head around the shaft. Fail.  My outside hand is not supporting him through the bend.  Fail.  I am bending him front front to back.  Fail.  Cadence is completely lost.  Fail.  What I should have done was check his speed two strides before the cones, raise my hands slightly to rock him back on his hindquarters, support him through the turn with the outside rein, while bringing his shoulder back to his properly supported inside hind leg.  He then would have pivoted through the turn [two strides sooner] at an angle to get straight through the cones on the left.  Only Major's supreme athletic ability got us through this.  I beg his forgiveness.

This is more like it.  We serpentine right to go left.  Notice Major's properly supported right hind leg.  He is rocked back on his hindquarters, bending from behind.  His cadence is still somewhat compromised: look at how uncertain he appears.  My shoulders are somewhat [could be better] open to the direction I want him to bend- right, but I am looking left to judge the change of rein...

..which he does beautifully.  Bless him, he has forgiven me already.  Again, his inside hind leg is near vertical to support his weight through the turn, he is light on his forehand as a result.  If you have been paying attention you will see I have again dropped my weight over the wheel to balance the gig, but my reins are level to balance Major.  Cadence is restored.

Asking him to go long and low to the Finish, but gave the contact away too quickly and lost a little cadence in the process.  He is more than ready to stretch out, though, after a grisly drive...

And we're done.  Asking Major to transition to the walk, I have dropped my center of gravity by my hands are a little too low and I'm applying too much front brake: using too much bit, ergo, throwing him slightly on his forehand [that common front to back problem].  He is trying hard to get his hindquarters under him to transition correctly and if I had lifted my hands to allow him to finish getting underneath himself, he wouldn't be slightly behind the straight pull of my hands on the bit and the transition would have been great.  Instead, what probably happened was as his stopping leg [left hind] hit the ground, he hollowed out his back for relief of the bit and popped his nose up.  If I realized my mistake, I may have lightened my contact to give him the relief he needed as he stepped on his left leg.  I am focused quite intently on his frame, but there is sadly no photo proof of what happened next.

So, there you go, the dynamics of reinsmanship on an obstacle course, where it matters most.  Ultimate communication through the reins is achieved by understanding how to use them to support and balance the horse to allow him to be brilliant, instead of solely as a means to control him.  If you have photos that you would like me to evaluate for you, let me know.  I am also available, in person, for carriage driving lessons, and carriage driving clinics on this very subject.  The best way to improve your horse's performance is by improving your own.

Again thanks to Tobin for these great reference photos and to Major for his greatness.

Please leave a comment or contact me with your questions/suggestions.  I greatly appreciate everyone who stops by to read this blog and Google Analytics tells me how many of you do and approximately where you come from, but I am old fashioned and still like know faces or names.  So, thanks for stopping to read Accidental Sagacity and please don't be anonymous!

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

A Bit On Bits

Carriage driving clients are always asking me if they should change their bit to help their horse's performance. If they are not using a mullen mouth Liverpool, I generally say yes. If they are using a Liverpool, I tell them to change the way they use the bit to improve performance.

Too few people understand how bits work and too many people resort to them as a method of control. I have seen too many horses pulling the vehicle with the bit and too many riders stopping their horses with it. "I need a more severe bit, my horse doesn't respect this one," makes me want to sob for the horse and throttle the owner.

Any bit is severe when it is operated by uneducated hands. That is why I always suggest a mullen mouth: it takes work to be severe. A snaffle can be so easily misused. It works like a mutcracker with the jointed end poking into the roof of the horse's mouth. A double jointed snaffle has two places to poke. The bar of the mullen places equal pressure all through the mouth, which reduces discomfort by uneducated hands.

Think about this. What do you use that bit for and why? Is it a valuable tool to communicate with the horse? Are you using it to help your horse or control your horse? Does your horse willingly open his mouth to take the bit or do you stick your fingers in his mouth and pry it open? If the latter is the case, I will suggest that the horse has no problem with respecting the bit. He has a problem trusting you.

Case in point: Don Pecos stopped willing taking the bit when he was bridled. I thought that was strange. I made him take it. We drove. We worked on correcting his counter bending problem with the whip. Over and over and over. All spring and summer. The last few days I have been focused on this bit idea. I concentrated on driving the bit instead of the horse. I used my shoulders to mirror the bit through turns. I felt Don Pecos, but I focused on the bit. We had lovely drives. Yesterday, Don Pecos opened his mouth and took the bit when I offered it to him. And he bent to the right. And he forgave me.

I hope this bit [you know me] of accidental sagacity will help you to understand and inspire you to listen to your horse. That is the key to improving performance. Always.

If you would like to schedule a Serendipity riding or carriage driving lesson on bits, contact me. Your horse will thank you.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Driving the Whip

Another excellent weekend of carriage driving lessons in Cedar Rapids spoils me for choice on blogging material. Not even Mother Nature's attempts at dampening [with a morning of showers] the spirits of the participants could prevail over the wide eyed, beaming smile AHA moments. A couple of seasoned whips attended for some experience with the Michelle Blackler Method of Reinsmanship and left with what looked like inspired to moi.

I used a teaching tool that has become indispensable: driving the clients. I give them the ends of the reins and ground 'drive' them around with and without contact to demonstrate the process from the horse's point of view. Then I turn it around and have them drive me, reacting as a horse would to their cues. If they cross their mid-line with a turning signal, I cross over with my legs, not 'bending'. If they are too heavy on the reins, I pull back. If they loose contact, I rush forward. If they don't support the outside rein through the turn, I slice it.

The exercise really opens the whips' minds to their own responsibility in balancing and supporting the horse and coordinating their cues. Add to that a great deal of hilarity about the 'naughty pony' [me] and the lightness with which their own horses responded and you have the screenplay to Whips Dancing With Equines.

Ahhhhh. I love my job.

Lessons are available during the week at our home barn in Granger and again in Cedar Rapids, hosted by Laurie Renda on September 3rd and 4th. Come add some polish to your reinsmanship for Villa Louis and New Moon Carriage Classic, or just as a gift for your horse.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Exceptional Equines and Their Exceptional Gals

The irresistible Cody gets double grooming

A very happy Mickey Hansen and the very adorable Toby

Gypsy Gold: Eli and Maggi Tyler

The Money Shot of Missy [photo and caption courtesy of Maggi Tyler]

It might be the gorgeous setting. It may well be Laurie Renda's hospitality and elan. It is undoubtedly serendipity. I've just returned from another fantastic weekend of carriage driving lessons in Cedar Rapids with a heart full of joy. I made new equine friends, intrigued new clients with my unconventional teaching and ate like a queen.

I've blogged before about Laurie Renda's magnificent house, cooking, and company. She proved it was the rule and not the exception this weekend. She even had a proposal of marriage, albeit dependent on her conversion to Mormonism, but that is another story. On top of catering to our every wish, she also acted as photographer and gave everyone who took lessons a CD full of photos to take home. As a hostess, Ms. Renda raises the bar beyond most mortals. In fact, I think she should be a religion.

The horse lords gave me the opportunity to continue my work with Missy and sent me three new friends: Eli, Toby and Cody. What strikes me most profoundly about going to Cedar Rapids to teach is how perfectly these horses have chosen their humans. Each one of them has greeted me and seemed to say: we've been waiting for you. Missy actually seems to have managed to be born for Laurie. Eli searched all over the country before finding his English mistress, Maggi. Toby and Cody [twins from different dams] somehow networked their way to be re-joined and 'familied' with Mickey.

Exceptional equines, exceptional gals. I am so honored to work with these individuals and can't wait to see them achieve their potential. It will be epic. I guarantee it.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www,hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Learning by Teaching: Carriage Drivng Aha Moments

I have always maintained that teaching carriage driving lessons helps me be a better whip. This weekend was another illustration of this concept. Micheal Scott, a fellow carriage driving competitor, came to Serendipity for a lesson. This was a wonderful opportunity to evaluate my teaching. Having a whip of Micheal's excellence as a student really challenged me.

We focused on body awareness and its relationship to bending in the horse. The first exercise involved snapping two lead ropes together, which I held pretending to be the horse while Micheal held the ends of the ropes as reins and pretended to drive me. With my back to him, I asked him to turn to the right or left and then I interpreted the turns by telling Micheal what my 'horse's' body would do.

We talked about how some cues of the inside rein made my shoulder come into my hip, which is the desired effect of bending the horse around a turn. We also discussed how much support was needed on the outside rein to support the bend, and I did my best to 'be the horse' and respond to each cue of each rein. This, of course was not a news flash to Micheal. But, when I asked him to participate in the turn by using his own body on the box seat to mirror the horse's through the turn, he said, "I never thought about that!"

Using only the whip's upper body [shoulders, arms and hands] to turn the horse will do the job. The horse will turn, and depending on the athleticism of the horse, they will turn ok, good or well. But adding a slight shift in the whip's hips and legs to the upper body, will allow the horse to turn better. Instead of making the horse bring its shoulder back to its hip on the inside of the turn with the former, with extra participation by the whip, the horse is allowed to bring its shoulder back to its hip.

This is something on which I base my entire philosophy of carriage driving and training. Don't make the horse do what you want it to do, allow the horse to do what you want it to do. Just make sure you are doing as much work from the box seat as you are requiring the horse to do. It is a partnership. Participate.

As I watched Micheal drive Don Pecos, I was able to further hone my teaching skills. I hope he got as much out of the experience as I did. Saying that, I might rue the day. It is hard enough to place above Micheal in the show ring. I might just have made that impossible. Oh, well. A big thank you to Micheal Scott for his belief in me as a teacher. That is what I'd like to be remembered as, after all.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Definitions of Carriage

Word Origin & History

carriage

1388, "act of carrying, means of conveyance," from Anglo-Fr.cariage "cart, carriage," from carier "to carry" (see carry). Specific sense of "horse-drawn, wheeled vehicle for hauling people" first attested 1706.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

Conditioning and Training the Whip: Body Awareness and Carriage Driving

Part One: Posture

by Michelle Blackler

As 21st Century horsemen, we are bombarded with ways to improve our horse’s performance through training methods of top clinicians, the latest bits or training devises, and videos and books galore on the subject. We are so busy concerning ourselves with conditioning, suppling and training our horse that we overlook an essential component of the partnership- it takes two. Communication is not a one way street; when do we concentrate on ourselves and our performance from the driver’s wedge?

Body awareness is essential in top level riding. Cues are subtle: a shift in weight from one seat bone to another, the release of breath, the turn of the rider’s head- imperceptible to any but horse and rider. Driving should be no different. After all, we compete in driven dressage, have our own version of three day eventing, and desire soft, round, forward moving horses. If your hands feel like a brick wall at the end of the reins, your horse will have a different interpretation than yours of just how much weight he is pulling.

So how and where do we start suppling and conditioning our selves? Thankfully, it does not involve expensive gym memberships and exhaustive yoga techniques, but, of course, those help. We can do it simply by addressing body awareness and the beneficial byproducts that accompany it.

Sally Swift, in her excellent series of books, Centered Riding, gives us many tips for improving body awareness. Peggy Brown applies these principles to driving. “When you watch others drive, it is obvious that poor posture is inelegant and unattractive, but lack of posture and balance has other ramifications. Notice the Whip who uses his reins to help maintain his own position in the seat during transitions, turns, or bumps. Watch the Whip who leans sideways on the turns; as if leaning is going to get that horse and vehicle around that turn.” She also notes, “Tension travels like electricity right through the reins to the bit.”

Awareness and Movement

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (1904-1984), a Russian born physicist, judo expert, mechanical engineer and educator provides valuable tools for improving body awareness and overall physical and mental health through his techniques of Awareness Through Movement. The most important of those techniques involves an association with posture and poise: mental and physical tranquility. Poor or faulty posture involves muscular tension combined with emotional intensity that is often a result of stress. Habitual tension, coupled with the associated emotional reaction, accumulates over the years and manifests in a variety of discomforts: back pain, stiffness, headaches, etc.

Learning new attitudes and mindfulness about how we carry ourselves is the first step to improving posture and alleviating a multitude of malaises. The most powerful aspect of Feldenkrais’ methods often manifests a shift in our overall perception of ourselves, which can lead to life altering behavioral changes. Here, we will concern ourselves solely with the beneficial changes that can occur in driving and horsemanship.

Exercises In Awareness

Try this exercise, inspired by Feldenkrais. Sit in a chair, with both feet on the floor, do not rest your back on the chair. Think about how your body feels. Is there any tension in your neck? Your shoulders? Your back? Is the weight distributed evenly over your seat bones? Is your pelvis tipped forward or backward? Breathe deeply through your nose. Does your chest feel heavy? Think about how your body feels as you breathe deeply. Now, as you inhale, lift and expand your ribcage. Keep your ribcage from collapsing onto your diaphragm as you exhale. How does your chest feel? Lighter? What happened to your shoulders as you raised your ribcage? Has your posture improved?

I use this exercise both mounted and in the carriage for my riding and driving clients. Their performance increases dramatically and at the end of their lesson they are always vibrant and energized. The very act of raising the ribcage allows for proper alignment and correct breathing. The body simply doesn’t need to work as hard to do its job. Correcting posture alleviates muscle tension required to adopt the incorrect position. In addition to which, by sitting tall, self confidence is markedly increased, making the learning process much freer and more dynamic to the student.

Transfer this exercise to your own vehicle. It only makes sense that if your chest felt lighter to you when you lifted your chest and allowed your body to function correctly, it will feel that way to your horse, as well. Remember the brick wall earlier? There will be a period of adjustment for you and your horse. You will forget and return to your former posture unless you employ mindfulness every time you drive. Your horse has got accustomed to your poor posture and it may take him a while to believe the new you is permanent.

Take time to experiment in body awareness. Make a mental checklist of your body as you are warming up your horse and use the time to warm up yourself, both physically and mentally. Focus on your breathing and lower your center of gravity. Open up your trunk to accommodate your breath and align your posture. Consider the partnership with your horse and do your best to ensure you are being as supple with your cues as you expect him to be in executing them.

In The Tao of Equus, Linda Kohanov describes, “the rush of clarity and serenity unleashed when one’s control of a thousand pound creature begins to flow from the mind and not the muscle…It’s about courage and humility, focus and flexibility.” This statement dovetails with the Feldenkrais and Swift teachings perfectly. And how do we expect our horse to move freely and correctly if we can’t? Through body awareness and correct posture we can begin to improve our performance and partnership with our driving horse, and begin a new journey of self exploration and understanding of our role of ‘Self’ on the box seat.

Michelle Blackler is the president of Serendipity, an Iowa based equine company that provides riding and driving instruction and seminars. She is active in Pleasure Driving Competitions and has earned championships in several divisions. For more information: www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity Strategies for Carriage Driving Obstacles

Accidental Sagacity for The Day

1. Know Your Course

2. Know Your Horse

3. Love Your Horse

That is oversimplification, I know, but it's true.

This photo of The Major General and I at the Harvest Moon Carriage Classic in Urbandale, IA, shows something important that I harp on about all the time. Carriage driving clients of mine will say, "Michelle! You are dropping your shoulder!"

Yes, slightly. And notice that Major is slightly dropping his shoulder to mirror me. It is incredibly hard to drive a cones course on a hillside in the gig without dropping your shoulder, but this is what happens. This is why we placed fourth or fifth or whatever.

Second thing I say that sounds like a broken record: Look where you are going so your horse knows where he's going. I know he has blinkers on, but they KNOW. See, Major knows where he's going, he's looking at exactly what I'm looking at. He mirrors me.

Mirroring is a topic that too few people are aware of in their relationship when training horses. It can elevate you from a competent horseman to a remarkable one. It takes a study of body awareness both of the person and the horse. It takes commitment to the process both physically, mentally and emotionally. I constantly work to achieve the level of brilliance that my horses attain. The mirror works both ways.

A photo is worth so many words...

A Kid and the Ultimate Carriage Driving Machine

There really is nothing like driving a finely tuned, super charged horse.

I hitched Pecos yesterday for a fun birthday lesson for one of my clients. She and Pecos have a chemistry that is awesome. She feeds off his power and speed. He senses her verve and fearlessness. Her mother and I often stand there regarding them with our hearts in our mouths, but they stick like glue, the Daring Duo. Did I mention this kiddo is 9?

So she and Don Pecos are careening around the cones course I set up to train Ace with earlier: complex angles, tight, tight turns. Her first attempt she clocks 1:13 with several cones down. I am telling her to, "Slow down! Slow DOWN! SLOW DOWN!" Her mother remarks with that should-I-be-concerned-tone, that it looked the gig was on one wheel some of the time. We discuss an alternate route through the cones, and I tell her to go a little more s-l-o-w-l-y so she can be precise. Her next time is 1:09, one penalty. Yep. Tweleve sets of cones over 40m x 80m. In sand.

Well, I had to see if this course really was that fast. If you read Wednesday's blog, you know how I feel about cones. I am not going to tell you what my time was. I am going to tell you that I am a very fine instructor. I am going to tell you I have very talented clients. Very talented, 9 year old clients. And a very fast, finely tuned, super charged bad boy prince charming, Don Pecos.

Have a serendipitous weekend!