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Dressage for
Beginners
High Point Farm
46 High Point Farm Lane
Afton, Virginia 22940
(434)361-1427 |
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This is Prince a
purebred Morgan owned and ridden by Bill Hartenstein.
This picture
was taken in 2006, and even after years of dressage work,
Prince still bears down on the bit and runs on the
forehand, especially when he thinks he’s stressed, like
at a dressage show.
As you can see here,
Prince is hard in his neck
and pulling forward
and down into Bills hands, there is no attempt at
engagement or self carriage from Prince. |
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Here is a typical
example of Prince’s canter:
Fast, especially when
on the straight side. He has a hard, braced neck and has a hard, hollow
core. Bill can only hang on by the reins. |
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Working toward a new
and improved Prince |
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With new
knowledge acquired at a week-end clinic with Michael
Schaffer, I am
using this two rein lounging technique to lounge Prince.
I have in my hands an outside and inside rein going
through a ring right at the wither, close to where my
hands would be if I were riding. There are no sides
reins. I can bend, I can half-halt, I can give the
reins. I can control the size of the circle and Prince’s speed. I can also support his bend and
control his rhythm. |
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Here by keeping
Prince walking close to me
he is forced to soften his body by himself. He has to
bend, or walk sideways which is more work. All horses
look for the easy button. |
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Here Prince is
trotting very softly.
He’s bending and softening his neck, his core is
working, and he is engaging his inside hind leg. Look! A
swinging back! |
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When we get to
canter, our
training goes out the window and Prince barrels off. He
is fast, leaning in and just plain running around the
circle AND it took awhile to get this circle!
We will follow
up with Prince
in a month after more practice. |
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