Another Mclean Clinic - an epiphany....a hard one, but a good one

So, another Mcleans clinic for the history books. This time, both Andrew and Manuela were in attendance and it was such a great couple of days. What a difference it makes having the clinic over a long weekend in spring. Lots of people turned up to hear Andrew's lecture and watch his demonstration with a young horse that pulls back. And it was a good vibe, as always.

My lessons were pretty all over the place and, as I am a firm believer that confusion and disappointment are the great drivers of positive change, I'm going to chalk this clinic up to being a bloody Lamborghini for positive change! The first lesson with Andrew on Jedi was bloody awful. I didn't really have enough time to warm up. Andrew was running late because his plane was late so I thought I had ten more minutes than I did. Ah, well, my bad.

Jedi started very tense and didn't really get better. He was at his worst with his head tossing, pig-rooting, tail-swishing and rushing the jumps. He is really not usually like this and I was disappointed. Andrew, quite rightly, told me I shouldn't be jumping him higher than the piddly jumps he had set up and that, frankly, I was not suited to hot horses. I ride too heavily for sensitive Jedi and am really pissing him off. Sigh. Not that I didn't always know that in the back of my mind but it was a hard thing to hear, especially when he was misbehaving to a far greater degree than normal.

That being said, Andrew and I go back almost 30 years, so he wasn't just being an arsehole. He knows I appreciate honesty and I really think he's right. We worked on me having a more forward seat to be more balanced and subtle, allowing him to round rather than hollow under my weight. Things improved marginally, but it was a pretty crappy lesson. I was on the phone to my two best horse sales contacts within 15 minutes of the end of the lesson letting them know Jedi was up for sale.

Rose was pretty tense to start with Manu, but that soon dissipated as we worked on straightness (equal cheekpieces) and getting a slow walk. Lots of halting and even stepping back as she has a tendency to get strong and haul me around! Manu commented on my seat too, asking me to lean forward more. I was astounded - I reckon my whole riding life I've been told to 'sit up' and 'sit back' as I always had a tendency to be too forward. Now, I've over-compensated (probably from riding crazy Tux and now slightly nutty Jedi), and my posture is too defensive. This causes my seat/pelvis to literally drive down against the wither and into both horses' shoulders, creating soreness and discomfort.

As I started leaning forward (at least, that's what it felt like - I was really only sitting upright!), Rose's demeanour changed and she was less chargey and more rhythmic. It was quite counter-intuitive and will obviously take me ages to learn.

The other really great tool I picked up this time was the 'time-out box'. Manu has been experimenting with halting the horse, holding contact with hand and leg (neutral) for 5 seconds (the same amount of time in a halt/salute or halt at C) before letting the horse stand with the reins on the buckle. The horse is not allowed to move its legs out of this 'box' but may do anything else it likes - chewing, head-shaking, stretching forward, blowing). This opportunity to stretch and relax seems to make a huge difference and, after 15 seconds or so, the horse is ready to move on again. Best results are obtained if you do it in the same place everytime.

The major difference between doing this and, say, walking on a loose rein, is that walking on a long rein is an actual movement in dressage, something that must be trained. It is not really possible to relax the horse by walking on a long rein when it is also something the horse must do at a march, on a contact. I really like this idea and it seemed to have great results with both horses.

We never got out of walk in that first lesson with Manu on Rose! But it was a pretty great foundation.

I was lucky to get another privated with Manu the following day after someone had to cancel. I rode Jedi first as he is usually the most exhausting - not this time! He was practically dopey! I was almost disappointed as I wanted Manu to see him when he is tense. He did turn it on a bit later so she was able to see, but I think she knew what I was saying and could see his adrenalisation.

Leaning forward was one key and I worked on that. The second was active walk into slow trot for 8 steps, back to active walk. I also didn't take a dressage whip. This 20 min repetition of walk to slow trot, gradually developing from a dribbling sitting trot to a good working trot, rising, was genius.

Manu had me do a lot of a particular exercise involving strong indirect turns to the outside. These start when the horse is no longer straight or concentrating. The sequence goes, inside knee pushes in to the horse, followed by the inside hand locking against the wither - pressing the inside rein into the horse's neck. The horse should step out with the outside front leg ie open that leg. If not, the outside rein is opened wide to help the horse get the message. The key is not to release that inside rein, maintaining flexion to the inside. Once the horse steps out, all aids go back to neutral to reward the horse.

After some repetitions of this exercise, both horses started to round, lift through the back, swing across the hindquarter and go 'gooey', as Manu says. It can be repeated as often as you like and seems to really focus them on the rider.

We had a great lesson and I was really grateful I had that opportunity with Manu. I feel a lot less useless!

Rose's second lesson was really a duplication of Jedi's lesson, but Rose has a lot less strength and balance. She also pulls like a train when she wants so we had some serious halting and stepping back to do! I had been having trouble leg-yielding to the left on Rose - she would run, get stressed and toss her head. So, Manu had me slow down, then if Rose got heavy at all during the yield I would ask her to step back a step or two, then immediately push her into leg yield. After a few repetitions she was really quite good.

So, that's another exhausting clinic full of learning and sweating! Lots to work on and Jedi is now officially for sale. We'll be doing Canberra and Lynton Horse Trials in the coming two weeks, hopefully with a respectable dressage score to kick us off. I'm really aiming for calmness and 50%! Like always.....keep you posted!