This December Christmas has come early for me in the form of riding lessons! I have been very fortunate to work with many top level instructors this month! For instance, this past week I rode under the tutelage of Wendy Murdoch, Jimmy Woffard, Stephan Bradley, and Bruno Greber! Next week will top it off with two lessons from Boyd Martin!
I can definitely say that it is a first for me to get the opportunity to work with such esteemed professionals all over the course of one month, much less one week! I learned tons from all of them, but can honestly say two have stuck out as phenomenal instructors! Both Wendy Murdoch and Stephan Bradley both prove to be outstanding instructors! Each instructor has assisted me in working through various training challenges with my horses in a very kind, encouraging, and effective manner.
Wendy came to Playland Farm on December 5th. She taught me a lesson on Darby and Tammy. She immediately spotted the "throughness" problems I was having with each of them and tackled it through body work. I have found body work with the horses to be extremely beneficial. As we train our equine athletes to be stronger and fitter, we also are subjecting them to more stress on their body as a whole. The body work helps to relieve muscular tension and habitual holding patterns, resulting in a healthier functioning system that can choose a new option for movement! Specifically with Tammy and Darby, Wendy helped me work through some head tilting issues -- which is a particular habit that can be quite tricky to resolve from the saddle. The head tilting was caused by the horse rotating (twisting) through their spine instead of bending. This problem results in the horse not staying level through her/ his topline. Through body work, Wendy and I were able to teach each horse how to bend instead of twist!
With Stephan Bradley I took both Darby and Diamond to a jumping lesson. We did gridwork in various set-ups, designed to challenge the horse to jump from power instead of speed. Stephan's lessons have been particularly useful in working Diamond through some training issues. Diamond being a super talented Irish horse, can JUMP! And he loves to jump, as long as he makes the calls on take-off, striding, etc. Through setting up various grid exercises, equipment changes, and riding techniques Diamond has become a team player! The various changes have not only improved his jumping, but have done wonders for his dressage. He has now become quite light in the bridle while swinging and lifting through his topline with ease! I feel that Diamond is definitely ready to move up to Training level eventing in spring after a couple "refresher events"!
Want a chance to ride with Stephan? He will be coming to Playland to teach a jumping clinic on January 8, 2012. The clinic is filling fast, so sign up now with margaret@mythiclanding.com
Hope to see you there!
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