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Dressage, Naturally with Karen Rohlf Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage... leading to Results in Harmony! photo: fotosiwek.com never underestimate the potential for harmony & lightness to improve in ways you cannot yet imagine Welcome back to the Temenos... Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no limits, where special rules apply and extra- ordinary events are free to occur. This month... I spent most of August away from home, but had a wonderful time in Switzerland and the U.K. teaching clinics hosted by Carmen Zu- lauf and Lyla Cansfield, respectively. My working student from Ontario, Breanne Peters did a wonderful job of taking care of all my beauties and my place. There is a lot of educational information in this issue! Read a question and answer from the natural dressage forum about contact and suspension. Read an email dialogue between myself and an advanced level dressage judge regarding her “horse with a fried brain”. I stopped by Stonehenge on my way to the airport in England! Don’t forget there is one more week to take advantage of the 10% discount on my web shop. Just enter the special discount code: DNSS43 when you are completing your order and the discount will be taken off the entire order. (the discount won’t show up unless you enter it! Horse needs a ride from Ontario to Florida My working student, Breanne Peter’s horse needs a ride from Woodstock, ONT to Ocala FL. If anyone is travel- ing a similar route with their horse and has room on their trailer for him please contact Bre at 352 425 3291 or miss_starfi[email protected] My upcoming clinics are: Sept. 12-14 Heber, Utah Contact: Ellie Gallagher Oct. 3-7 Stone Mills, ONT Canada Contact: Fawn Anderson Oct 9-12 Algoma, WI Contact: Kris Fulwieler to subscribe to this newsletter: go to my website and sign in as a guest. At the bottom of that form you can check a box that says ‘sign up for newsletter’ To unsubscribe : CLICK HERE Dressage Naturally: CLICK HERE S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 1
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Sept '08 Newsletter

Mar 30, 2016

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Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage: Dressage Naturally Newsletter by Karen Rohlf, www.dressagenaturally.net
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Page 1: Sept '08 Newsletter

Dressage, Naturally with Karen Rohlf

Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage...

leading to Results in Harmony! photo: fotosiwek.com

never underestimate the potential for harmony & lightness to improve in ways you cannot yet imagine

Welcome back to the Temenos...Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no limits, where special rules apply and extra-ordinary events are free to occur.

This month...I spent most of August away from home, but had a wonderful time in Switzerland and the U.K. teaching clinics hosted by Carmen Zu-lauf and Lyla Cansfield, respectively. My working student from Ontario, Breanne Peters did a wonderful job of taking care of all my beauties and my place.

There is a lot of educational information in this issue! Read a question and answer from the natural dressage forum about contact and suspension.

Read an email dialogue between myself and an advanced level dressage judge regarding her “horse with a fried brain”.

I stopped by Stonehenge on my way to the airport in England!

Don’t forget there is one more week to take advantage of the 10% discount on my web shop. Just enter the special discount code: DNSS43 when you are completing your order and the discount will be taken off the entire order. (the discount won’t show up unless you enter it!

Horse needs a ride from Ontario to FloridaMy working student, Breanne Peter’s horse needs a ride from Woodstock, ONT to Ocala FL. If anyone is travel-

ing a similar route with their horse and has room on their trailer for him please contact Bre at 352 425 3291 or [email protected]

My upcoming clinics are:

Sept. 12-14 Heber, Utah Contact: Ellie Gallagher

Oct. 3-7 Stone Mills, ONT Canada Contact: Fawn Anderson

Oct 9-12 Algoma, WIContact: Kris Fulwieler

to subscribe to this newsletter: go to my website and sign in as a guest. At the bottom of that form you can check a box that says ‘sign up for newsletter’

To unsubscribe: CLICK HERE

Dressage Naturally: CLICK HERE

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8

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Pressure in the Reins and Suspension... How do they relate?

Hi Karen,

This month we'd like to ask about contact (again). :) We have heard different numerical values of how much 'pressure' you should feel in the rein. If a horse is free of brace, will there be any pressure? Parelli gives us a 4oz mark, Walter Zettl says 8. We hear that contact is good and that heaviness is 'bad', but where's the line?

It seems like more pressure in the rein, for better or for worse, creates more suspension. In specific, we are thinking of higher level competitive dressage where there seems to be more tension, but more suspension too. Is it possible to get the same de-gree of suspension without the heaviness in the reins?

Thanks!

-Members of the Natural Dressage Forum

Ahh the mystery of the contact!

Lets talk about the first part of your question first… ‘How much contact is OK?’ Different schools and systems will answer this differently, and it really depends on what you want in the end, what is the picture you are going for… As long as the system is consistent and fair, a horse has a chance to learn it and being the amazing animals they are, can be

successful and there can be a won-derful harmonious connection be-tween horse and rider. Also within a system, there are different horses, and an excellent horseman will be open to adjusting to each horse. Also you must consider that within a range, it is less about the amount of pressure and it is more about the quality of the pressure. Just know that we are definitely not talking about pounds of pressure... It shouldn’t hurt your arms or your hands. It takes experience and feel to be able to assess the quality of the pressure and if it is not a positive type of pressure, to be able to diag-nose the real root of the problem.

Lets start by reviewing what the con-tact is for in the ideal, finished prod-uct (according to what I would like):

• Positioning:

• Subtle, precise positioning of the head

• Limiting the length of the neck

• Connection:

• Receiving information and energy from the body

• Another point of connection between horse and human, a complete circuit of energy.

These are communications that the reins do exclusively. The reins are the most precise tool to use for these jobs. Anything else that you do with reins likely can be done with some-thing else (your body) instead. If you take an honest evaluation of what you are often actually using the reins for, you will start to see why there is such a high potential for brace, heaviness or escape/avoidance in the contact...

But even with shaping the neck, if you think of the neck as a reflection of the rest of the spine of the horse, many of the ‘correct’ positions of the head and neck will happen naturally if you are riding the middle of the horse (including his heart) in opti-mal, healthy balance. But still, if you want to make a suggestion of a subtle position of the head, then the reins are a great tool for this!

For positioning, how much pressure should there be? Well, not very much if your horse is responsive. Why not? All your communicating with horses should be done in order to achieve clarity and response to very light pressure. Most horses pre-fer and will offer this unless... there is some other factor preventing it (lack of balance, impulsiveness, rider off balance, etc)

For connection, how much pressure should there be? This is where it is variable, because it is not about the amount of pressure, as much as the quality of the pressure. Think about it like holding hands with someone. If you are holding hands with your grandmother, it may be very light (depending on the grandmother!) but will feel very good. But if you are holding hands with your best friend as you run down to the beach it may feel a little creepy if the pressure is that light (depending on the friend) ;-)

Here is another analogy: Have you ever tried to windsurf, or watched someone trying to learn to windsurf? Until you figure some things out, even a little wind can rip the sail out of your hands and you fall on your face. But once you are going along, the wind can be powerful and strong, but it can feel totally harmonious. The difference is in the balance. Is the energy disconnecting in quality (brace, impulsiveness, lack of balance, lack of communication/response) or is it connecting in quality (power, throughness, confidence)?

Everyone should take ballroom dance lessons.... just to experience this same kind of connection dy-namic. I use this example in my book when i describe riding in connection with the reins. When I did ballroom dancing, even with the professional, the connection sometimes was so soft and smooth (like in the fox-trot) and sometimes was so strong and power-ful (like in the mambo), but it was positive. When I danced with my partner who was also a student, sometimes the connection was light but felt icky because we were leaning on, pushing or pulling each other.

So how do you tell the difference? Experience, awareness, listening to your instincts rather than simply measuring the weight will help.

Q & A

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Does it feel good or does it feel icky? Don’t keep doing something that is the ‘proper 4 ounces’ if it feels like an icky, and don’t shake your horse off of more than 4 ounces if it feels posi-tive. If you have taken a clinic with me you likely have done a simulation with a partner where you can feel the difference between a positive connec-tion and a bracey connection with the reins. (It is also on the DVD that comes with the book).

Have hands that receive what your horse offers, then use these check points:

• Can you put a loop in the rein by moving your hands forward and inch or two, all else staying the same, and have nothing major (speed, balance, posture, etc) fall apart?

• Can you also cause/allow your horse to stretch and take his neck longer?

• Can you feel ready to do either of these in the same moment?

• Is the horse’s mouth steady, yet moving (licking), not gaping open, clenched shut or chomping?

• Can you still feel the freestyle in-side the finesse?

• Can you ride without gloves and not have it hurt?

When watching an excellent dressage rider, the reins will not necessarily have slack in them, but we cannot assume that means they are heavy.... the same way if you watch two ball-room dancers fox-trotting, they likely will not be bouncing in and out of connection with each other, but they may have a very positive, light con-nection. We also must not assume that just because we do see a loop in the reins, it doesn’t mean the horse is in true lightness.... I have ridden horses that are used to being ridden with a loop in the reins always.... so they may look light, but if I do take up a feel it is like meeting a wall. This, to me, is not lightness. Light-ness in the connection means the horse can follow the feel anywhere without giving up self carriage. “Freedom is when you are comfort-able in your harness”. An excellent connection should feel like holding

hands with someone you love.

Now, for the suspension question. Suspension is not created by pressure in the reins. Different horses feel dif-ferent in the reins when they are of-fering suspension. Some feel like holding the wind-surfer in a strong wind, some feel like holding hands with a bouncy 6 year old girl.

Suspension happens when there is a certain combination of carrying power, thrust from behind and light-ness of the front end. If you have icky pressure in the reins, it could actively work against suspension... too heavy and it locks up the shoul-ders instead of allowing them to be free...The horse could have icky pres-sure by being ‘too light’ because he has been taught to avoid or escape from pressure in front, he may be ‘sucking back’ and will not feel able to power up to a more suspended gait. Bits that have any kind of lever-age that are introduced too early, can easily teach horses to flex at the poll before they have learned to accept positive hand-holding contact and so anytime they feel anything in their mouth they curl up and hide. These horses may feel light, but you have to be careful it is not ‘false lightness’. False lightness is when your horse is light because he avoids the connec-tion, not because you have lightness within the connection.

Suspension is sometimes inherent in horse’s movement, and some horses need to develop it. The key here is to develop it. This can take time. First we must develop a positive connec-tion through reins. Or rather, we must develop a positive connection with the whole horse that can be shared and not destroyed by having the reins there. This will allow as much natural suspension as the horse can offer. To build more suspension it is a combination of establishing communication about the qualities of suspension mentioned above: carry-ing power and thrust of the hind end, lightness of the forehand. The reins can either compliment and feed into this or can get in the way, but they can’t create it.

So is pressure in the reins necessary for suspension? No. Horses in na-ture can have suspension when there

is not a human in the vicinity. Is pressure in the reins necessary for suspension when we are riding them? It is absolutely possible for horses to have suspension even if a human is on his back, (ever seen a horse get excited and start getting really suspended even if the human is trying to stop it?) You don’t need reins to create it, but if you want to regulate it, make flawless transitions in and out of it and sustain it with regularity, it will serve you to have the most excellent connection with your horse... in all areas of contact: your seat, your leg, your mind, and yes, your reins.

Knowing the end sure makes it easier to know what to do in the beginning, but also make sure you are not trying to ask your horse for passage before you have just a nice pleasant ‘work-ing gait’. It is possible to teach a horse to get higher in his stride by teaching it like a trick, but it is not entirely fair to the horse to ask him to sustain this if he is not physically conditioned for it. When I see excel-lent communicators get their horses to offer to try this without putting in the physical development as a base, the horse learn to ‘climb’ or ‘hover’. This often causes horses to use mus-cles in their neck to lift themselves up and it makes it more difficult to get real power later.

If you have good alignment, connec-tion, throughness and communica-tion with your horse, and you have an athletic seat, you are now ready to put the gymnastic investments in the bank that will lead to your horse de-veloping more carrying power, more thrust from behind and more light-ness. If you also ride paying atten-tion to doing excellent transitions and finding the optimal tempo, rhythm for your horse, your horse will naturally, slowly, surely have more suspended gaits over time. Even if you teach a horse to jump up and lighten the strides, if there is not the gymnastic strength, balance, co-ordination behind it, it will only be random isolated moments, not a way of going. I do teach my horses to jump up and lift their front legs as an ingredient in suspension, but I also develop the ingredients of strong, supple backs and high willingness to energize.

Q & A

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Heavy pressure in reins is not neces-sary for suspension. The contact could be lighter or heavier and be negative, the contact could be lighter or heavier and be positive to the sys-tem. The difficulty comes in diagnos-ing what we are feeling in our hand, as all things in the body and mind can be felt in the hands. What we see in upper level competition are the super-athlete horses, so when things aren’t perfect, they often tend to end up looking like wind-surfers in the strong wind... things get a bit out of balance and riders just hold it to-gether as best they can. After all, those are moments of competition, not training.

What does need to be happening in order to ask for our horses to have more suspended gaits while riding, is:

• Energy that is flowing forward through the horse... a willingness and readiness to activate (this doesn’t mean a horse going fast) and a supple back.

• Influence over regulation of speed and rhythm.

• Sufficient strength and posture to sustain.

• Athletic, independent seat of the rider and all other qualities of ex-cellent riding!

I hope this helps. I realize this was a long answer, but based on your ques-tions, I can tell you have put a lot of thought into this and I love to give you an equally thoughtful answer!

~Karen

Q & A

4 copyright 2008 temenos fields, inc septemberPhoto: Coco

Photos above and below: Terri Miller

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Letter from a student:“Karen, I thought you might enjoy these pictures from our first trip to the beach (Long Beach, Washington).  Again, I just wanted to thank you for teaching me how to get my horse to relax!  The online stretching pictures are from Aiko's FIRST day on the beach (taken after only 15 minutes or so of warm up).  There were chil-dren running everywhere, big kites in the sky, etc.    He is normally a very uptight horse, especially when taken into new envi-ronments, but the let loose posture is becoming muscle memory for him (he LOVES it!).  If his body can find that yummy place to be, his mind just automatically follows.  It reminds me a little bit of the coping mechanisms that David Lichman teaches. Also, for the first time in three years, my horse is starting to relax over fences.  In the past, I have had suc-cess with many different horses over fences, but I have never had a horse that was wound as tightly as Aiko.  I was at my wits end.  Without the techniques you have taught me, I think I could have plugged away at this for a long time without making any progress.  Thank you for help-ing me through this very chal-lenging time with my horse. Hope all is well with you in Florida...” Shelley McGhieSnohomish, Washington   

WOW, Beautiful Shelley!Thanks for sharing the wonder-ful story & photos!~Karen

A D A Y A T T H E B E A C H

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An emotional horse, a dressage rider/judge and a search for partner-ship...

Following are emails between myself and an advanced level dressage judge. I think many of you will appreciate these heartfelt emails from an obviously edu-cated rider. I thought she has such a beautiful way of describing what she is feeling and what the horse is doing, I asked if I could share these letters with you, my readers. As she explains at the end, she was happy to allow me to do so, but has requested to be anonymous. I can easily relate to the difficulties there are in being a professional in a particular discipline of riding and ‘straying’ from the norm, I could understand. What is en-couraging is to know that this woman IS sitting at ‘C’ and as I told her, I think any rider would be lucky to have a judge with such a concern for the horse’s experi-ence. Read on... enjoy.

---- Original Message -----From: MTo: karen rohlfSubject: A fried and damaged brain

Hi KarenI have been working alone for 3 years with a thoroughbred warm blood cross who came to me with a fried brain. He is hot, sensitive and used to tremble at the sight of a saddle .It became counter pro-ductive to attend lessons with dressage instructors as most of the lesson was spent in achieving some sort of control - of mind and body. So I have worked at home with him and although we have come a long way his muscles rarely ever let go and breathe so although his body performs the tasks I always have the feeling his brain is in a constant state of alert and his body is never fully let loose. It seems one ear is on me and one is always in flight modeAs an advanced level dressage judge I am a passionate advocate of classical dressage but have also had to search for others ways to understand this horse and achieve relaxation. Your book and DVD is a masterpiece of insight and classical knowledge, and has given me the cour-age to keep going with him ,.As I read it again and again it continues to provi-de me with ever more subtle links be-tween dressage and the psychology of the horse and reconfirms the pathway that with study and knowledge I have

come to choose -relaxation of the horse and a constant awareness of my position.As the O level judge Stephen Clarke said at a judges clinic here in Australia - "Im-pulsion is the horse doing it , Submission is the horse wanting to do it", which to me means not being forced to do it - the picture I most often see in the competition arena.Against all advice and with time running out ( I am now over 50!!!) I continue with this horse but I seem always to be hav-ing to deal with the same issues of the mind every day. If you could just help me very specifically with one problem-EVERY SINGLE DAY he shies, stiffens and counter bends at the same two cor-ners of the arena, and only on the left rein....which constantly interrupts any flow of training exercises . So advance-ment in gymnastic training is minimal and progress or not seems to be all about damage control. I won't list all the strate-gies I have tried but if you could just tell me how you would address this I would be so grateful. Briefly will do - I have enough knowledge, I hope, to understand . . It is such an issue now that I am unable to decipher whether it is a genuine association of fear (There are logs remaining from a huge broken tree that last year made a shocking crashing noise as it fell in the wind) or has now become a learned response I know you are busy and must receive many questions . I'll understand if your schedule prohibits personal replies but this is a cry for help because in dealing with this I know I will tap into a deeper level of his mind . Thank you again for sharing your amaz-ing knowledge , I look forward so much to your next DVD! ~M 

From: karen rohlfTo: M.

hi M,I have a soft spot for ‘fried’ horses trained in dressage, so I am happy to help you if I can!

I think you are right on track with your concerns... it is so important that the horses can let go and release men-tally and physically.... so we can then

allow tone and power to flow, rather than tension and fearful energy.Of course, once you make the deci-sion not to simply wrestle with their bodies, the road to their minds can be a narrow, hard to find path.here are some things to think about and do that I hope will help:

1. Separate the issues:One thing that can help right away is to separate out the confidence issues from your dressage training.  If there are emotional issues that are disrupt-ing the training (the constant spooking in that one area of the arena espe-cially on the left rein...) then that is the fact and it will continue to disrupt your training... you will not be able to fully address the spooking if you are trying to get some gymnastic exercise done, and you will not be able to train prop-erly if he is spooking.  that is the cur-rent reality, and not facing it as such will only decrease his trust in you and make a negative association with the gymnastic dressage training.  The good news, is that the arena is not the only place you can do dressage.  I have a very emotional horse who is very wary of certain areas (and I just put in my arena with 'H' in what turns out to be the scariest corner of my property (according to him)) so for the past few months as much as i wanted to school him in there i just couldn't do dressage.... we used other fence lines for straight lines, other areas of my property where he is relaxed and confident to do dressage, and when ever we took a rest, we would go over to the scary spot to do our resting.

2. Build his confidence in general, by specific exercises... increase your trustability according to him.These will be long term strategies that over time will show him you are a trustworthy leader of your 'herd of two'.  There are many styles of lead-ership.. If I am scared to do some-thing and someone takes me by the hand and says: 'come on we're going'

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(and I get thru it safely) I might think :'wow, thanks for showing me I can do that."  But, sometimes if i am scared to do something and I tell that some-one and they push me into it, even if i survive, I am not only still scared but now I am untrusting of that person..."couldn't they see I was scared? I can't believe they knew I was scared and disregarded me!"With many horses in many situations, the "come on i'll show you this will be fine" style leadership works, but it seems it doesn't with your horse.  It doesn't matter if it makes no sense to us... he is telling you he is scared and he doesn't seem to be improving.

exercise for this are difficult to de-scribe quickly, but you can think of finding other things that he may be sacred of a little bit, and play with building his confidence... taking the pressure off if he even thinks about maybe approaching it.. letting him fol-low something that is scary (have someone drag a tarp, for example and have him follow it (at what ever distance he can tolerate) curiosity usually will win in the end and as he approaches let the tarp stop (he will think he is able to push the scary thing away and then 'kill it'... )  I love this game, it works really well to change the reflex from 'turn away and leave' to  'approach with confidence and curiosity'

Don't push him towards anything he is scared of, but you can encourage him to turn and face it and wait.... use comfort, lack of pressure as a reward and encourage him to put his nose on things.... they are not really confident until they are ok to touch it with their nose.  don't push if you see him say-ing he is scared, have him turn face, wait.... but then you can move him away ("i see you are scared, you can go away") but immediately then re-approach and give him a chance to come close on his own. ('how about now?").  if he approaches really take all pressure off, turn away, sit down,

what ever....so he doesn't feel that you won and got him to do it, we want him to feel. "oh, that was no big deal'

this is long term, depending on your personality type it may drive you nuts and it will seem like you are 'letting him get away with something by al-lowing him to face and relax and go investigate what he is afraid of... be-cause yes, it will totally interrupt your dressage training in that moment (but not really if you remember the words, 'confident' and  'keen' are part of the object of dressage!)  It takes letting go of direct line thinking of trying to 'get him to be confident'.  this is the stuff that the Parelli program is so powerful for.

3.  Let the body bring his mind to relaxation.Play with all the 'letting loose' exer-cises from my book/DVD so you can build your ability to actively free his body.... and help him realize he is able to get comfortable and release the feeling of pressure... during activ-ity..  you want to do these exercises in a place where he is confident... it will be more difficult to do in the scary place and he will not appreciate it, and will wonder why you can't also see the scary stuff!  he will feel extra vulnerable if you 'make him' release and put his head low.

my horse, Monty (the emotional one) is only now able to concentrate inside the arena at the scary end.  but it took a lot of just being around that area and not working his body.... it was the play area and anytime he looked scared i would turn and let him face it and rest.if i was going down the long side and felt him get nervous I would tell him: 'oops, Monty, we better turn here, it's pretty scary down there"  then at lease we had our harmony together and our partnership was improving instead of him trusting me less.  somedays he would go all the way

down there, and some days not.  When it was 'good enough' then I played with the releasing exercises with his body.  and I really appreci-ated if there was a time that he even released a little bit in the scary area... careful not to get greedy... when he says "yes, i will open myself" then don't just take it and use it... say "thank you' and then relax and give him his freedom.

I really hope this helps, please email me and let me know how it is going, i think this horse is a great opportunity to learn something!  Sometimes these patterns are so deep they can take a while to change... remember he is acting with a perfect horse behavior that could serve him well if he was a wild horse.... so we must forgive him for that, and for all the times that hu-mans have, in the past, proven to him that they will not acknowledge or honor his fear....

He is lucky to have you, I think!

Ok, they are passing out the sand-wiches on the plane now, so I will end this for now.  I look forward to follow-ing up on how you and he are going!

My Best,Karen

From: M.To: karen rohlf Dear KarenI can't tell you how much I appreciate your considered and thoughtful reply. I had made the decision to not wrestle with his body and I am on that narrow hard path to his mind, so you have totally and very insightfully hit the nail right on the head! Your advice has confirmed for me what I have sort of felt is the direction ,after lots of trial and error, . This is something I have arrived at after reading your book over and over and extrapolating your philosophies. As I feel him stiffen I have started to absolutely not move a muscle ( stay completely neutral), then just at the

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moment before I feel he is going to counter bend , I turn him away. But I have made mistakes. I have tried to do let loose exercises where the danger is- it didn't work! ( now you have ex-plained why). I have tried riding him for-ward and changing my bend to match his, but the pressure of forward where he didn't want to go did nothing for his mind,( now you have explained why) I have tried turning his head away from the scary spot so he can't see it - this worked to a de-gree but I didn't like the destabilization at the wither and how much hand I needed in his mouth to do it. They all get the job done, but not how I wanted it to feel. .I have spent hours with him in the arena , on the ground. It took 3 months for him to start to follow me. He would stand stock still with one leg resting and not move a muscle. I could leave the arena for half and hour and there he would be , same place , same position. Frozen with fear. I have cried tears of frustration with this horse, but finally about 18 months ago when I let go of what I thought I wanted to achieve and started to focus on him wanting to do it for me , not me making him, that's when the whole new journey started and that change in mindset I think is what led me to find you! Now there is no frustration, no wanting to ride the next movement up the levels, just working every day on suppleness of body and mind, his AND mine!

So Karen I can't thank you enough for your email- With your book and DVD I am more and more developing the "how" but it's the subtleties of where and when that you have filled in for me that I know now will start to really make a difference. It is not just feeling the body, but it's knowing and working with the mind as well. I know when I was in Portugal last year riding the lusitano stallions , Fran-cisco de Branganca said that without a "character" that is with him, then talent means nothing. So yes , it is all about the temperament when you buy a horse, so I know I have a hard road , and I can't for the life of me tell you why I go on, but every day I do go on and I love it and I love him . Thank you so much Karen for your gen-erosity Kindest RegardsMPS I can't wait for your new DVD to arrive - I have it on order!

 To: MFrom: Karen Rohlf

Hi M,How are you and your horse??I am putting together this month's news-letter and would love to include our emails in it, as I think many people could relate to your story and will appreciate your heart in trying to create a partnership with this horse.

I would love to get your permission... let me know if you would like to be anonymous, or if i can include your contact info... also... if you have any photos of yourself, or you and this or another horse i would LOVE it!!thanksMy Best,Karen

From: MTo: karen rohlf Hi KarenWell I can't begin to tell you the change in ‘T’.

Firstly we have stayed away from the scary end of the arena , so feeling ex-actly the place that he stiffens I then turn him away and busy his mind with a flexi-bility exercise - like could you soften your poll, or do you think you could put your head a little lower. One thing I must say is that the thought in my head asking if he "could" rather than telling him he "should" has made all the difference to the results I am getting. My body language and aids must be less pressurized so together with the fact that we are not in a scary zone he has been able to let loose and relax his body more. At first I had to ask him quite often , though always giving him a few strides in between to feel the new softness, then allowing him to stiffen back to his old way then asking again. Now, however I 'm feeling him stay softer and more relaxed for longer periods and for the last week we have been sailing round the corner down the scary end and his ears are listening , almost as if he is say-ing " do you want me to be soft here too" instead of being like pointed radars look-ing for the monster ready to get him!

So Karen what has happened I think is that I have become far more tuned into

his emotional state , and his physical ca-pabilities as well. For example , I have become much more aware of how deep I can make the corner without him losing balance and falling on his inside shoulder - far better to make a shallower corner so he can hold his bend rather than having to correct the dropped shoulder and feel him lose confidence again and us both lose the rhythm and flow. And I am also far more tuned in to the subtle nuances of riding every step assessing everything as we go -It's hard to explain but it's as though I am doing more in my mind and body by making more subtle adjustments to keep HIS mind and body relaxed and flowing. but the overall picture must look smoother, because it certainly feels smoother. Anyway we went for our first lesson in 3 years , to my instructor and he said it was very good riding, that I would not find a horse with better movement and that we were well suited to each other.

Feel free to use my emails in your news-letter, however I am a bit of a private per-son, do lots of dressage judging etc and would prefer to be anonymous , It has been such a hard road for me and I have felt very alone and to be honest quite hopeless at times. Hope you understand.

With so many thanks ~M

S E A R C H F O R P A R T N E R S H I P

8 copyright 2008 temenos fields, inc september

Karen & Monty Photo: Peggy Finnerty

Page 9: Sept '08 Newsletter

I saw this sad blue ribbon hanging in an indoor arena in Switzerland, and it made me wonder: What had to happen to win this ribbon? How much preparation was there, how much stress did the rider have? What did the horse go through? What was he thinking? Were there principles being violated for the sake of winning? Was it worth it? What did this winner do in order to be the one who received this ribbon? Was it the measure of excellence or just a way of saying that you were better than the others at that show that day? Did the horse know he won? Did he care?

But this is not meant to be an anti-competition essay... I am not saying that if you let your ribbons get dusty you are not honoring your horse and if you keep them in a fancy display you are. In fact, perhaps that dusty ribbon is a symbol of how much that rider put the horse first, that the ribbon doesn’t matter. If you see your horse and your heart as the real judge, then the score doesn’t matter, and you only wish everyone in your class could be feeling this good... and the ribbon becomes unimportant.

It made me think about the choices we have to make . How easy it would be to get sucked into the heat of the moment, and how important it is to keep everything in perspective... what are you really ready to sacrifice... time, money, your

horse’s dignity and trust? For a rib-bon that will soon

be collecting dust. And as that ribbon fades, the only thing left is the feeling in-side. That feeling can be of pride or shame, depending not on the color of the ribbon awarded, but instead it is depending on the actions you took, the thoughts you thunk.

Over the last decades, I have moved a lot. I have carried bags of ribbons and boxes of trophies around with me. Now that I have a place that it seems like I will be staying at for a while, I have gone through the rib-bons and trophies to decide how to display them. It was actually an interesting proc-ess for me.

I had to decide what to put up and where. I hung ribbons in my tack room, and what I found, was I put up the ones I had good feelings associated with. The good feel-ings and the blue ribbons didn’t always go together. I wondered for a minute if I should just put up the blue ones, you know, to really impress my guests... but decided not to. In my office I have some special ribbons and medals on display, they are accomplishments that I am particularly proud of, the majority of them because they were won by horses that I had a very special connection with. Some of them I look at and think only “I am so sorry” as I remember how much I carried my horse that day, when he didn’t feel his best.

When I look at those I am reminded to be careful in my decisions in the heat of the moment.

Some I look at and I feel such gratitude as I remember how much my horse carried me even when I was not at my best. Those remind me to be humble. Some I just feel so proud because we were both at our best at the right time, in the right place, and we felt like winners even before the scores were given. Those remind me it is always about a partnership... my horse & I as a team taking on the task.

So I guess I am not really sure what point I am trying to make, Perhaps I am not mak-ing one.. I just think it is worth thinking about: What will you value, treasure as you go through life? What will be important to you, what will be left in the dust? Will you display what feels good in your heart, or simply what (you think) will impress oth-ers? Can both be done at the same time? Can you make choices that you can live with and be able to remember the outcome of those choices with gratitude, humble-ness and a sense of connectedness...

Just something to think about..... ~K1

(of course this could only have to do with horsemanship) ;-)

Copyright 2008 Temenos Fields, Inc September

“You can stand tall without standing on someone.

You can be a victor without having victims”

~ Harriet Woods

Page 10: Sept '08 Newsletter

10 copyright 2008 temenos fields, inc september

Parelli and Dressage... Naturally!I spent 5 days with Carmen Zulauf and her team in Avenches, Switzerland. All of the students in the clinic were ones I have taught before and so it was really nice to see all the progress and then take it even further.I had great fun at a new clinic for me in England, where there were 4 Licensed Parelli Instructors Participating in the clinic. (Pictured at right from top to bottom: Victoria Crofton-Wadham, James Roberts, Lyla Cansfield and Alison Jones.) It is always so fun to have instructors in my clinics. For one, they are at a level to really take in the information I teach, and also because I know that the students in the course will have even better chances of support when I leave. So much of what I teach is based on the foundation that is developed through the Parelli program and there is just no way around it... the better your foundation, the better everything will be. And... conversely, the more you know about what you would like the end product to be, the better you can do your foun-dation. This is why I am committed to sharing the knowl-edge with Parelli and their instructors, students.... it is the best recipe for success!!I also got a chance to catch up with Neil Pye, Sue Shoemark and some of the staff at Parelli UK office (pictured above). I was so impressed by what Parelli has set up in the UK in such a short time. What a great facility they have in Stone-leigh Park. 4 instructor photos above by: ZAPimages.co.uk

The IENA facility at Avenches,

Switzerland -->

<-- Parelli UK