Tag Archives: Mary Wanless

Gaited dressage: My riding recipe

By Jennifer Klitzke

Have you ever thought about how you ride your naturally gaited horse as a culinary chef experiments with flavors, colors, textures, temperatures, and techniques to enhance a recipe?

I do. I like to keep my mind open to ideas that improve relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, symmetry, and collection as I ride my naturally gaited horses, Makana and Lady.

Over the years I have learned a lot from a diverse mix of equestrian professionals such as my gaited dressage mentor Jennie Jackson; riding biomechanics clinician and author Mary Wanless; gaited horsemanship clinicians Larry Whitesell and Jennifer Bauer; and classical French dressage clinicians Nichole Walters, Susan Norman, Philippe Karl, and Lisa Maxwell.

Each clinician has taught me life-enhancing ingredients for my riding recipe.

Jennie Jackson has helped me best understand how to ride a head-shaking horse with contact to develop a quality four-beat gait.
Mary Wanless has helped me improve my riding position to become a more confident rider which has helped me overcome riding fear.
Larry Whitesell and Jennifer Bauer have helped me discover how to become a trusted leader for my horse and to understand the bio-mechanics needed to help my horse improve the quality of her gaits by unlocking the braces in her jaw and back, and by engaging her abdominal muscles to lift her back and engage her hindquarters.
Nichole Walters, Susan Norman, and Linda Kaye Hollingworth Jones, all studied under Philippe Karl, have helped me develop the feeling of balance in relaxation (of body and mind) to produce lightness and self carriage.

I have also learned through the books and DVDs of French dressage masters Philippe Karl and the late Jean Claude Racinet. Their method taught me a different application of dressage which aligns with the late François Baucher’s second manner “balance before movement.”

Blending these essential ingredients has enhanced my riding recipe.

Sometimes one instructor’s philosophy or set of aids differs from another’s. This is when I experiment with the ingredients of my riding recipe to see what will work best for the horse, its level of training, and the situation.

While my goal to produce rhythm, relaxation, balance, impulsion, lightness, harmony, and trust does not change, the ingredients I use in my riding recipe are a work in progress.

In the end, I aim to bring about a riding recipe that delivers a harmonious partnership of trust with my horse, where we move together as one in rhythm, relaxation, and balance to produce my horse’s best movement in elegance and lightness of aids.

Bon Appétit!

I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.

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Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Rider Position for Gaited Horses

Gaited Dressage: Rider’s seat and direction

June 26, 2012 Jennifer Klitzke

By Jennifer Klitzke

As I explore this rider’s seat concept of “knee to knee and everything in between,” I’m discovering the effectiveness my thighs play in directing the horse through circles, lateral movements, canter, forwardness in flat walk, and straightening the horse when popping the outside shoulder.

In regards to rider’s position, what do you think of when you hear the dressage term “inside leg to outside rein”? For decades I had applied this term by using my inside calf as my leg; my thigh had never played a part of this equation. Consequently, I had developed a bad habit of riding with my thighs and knees off contact with the saddle and my calves on contact with the horse’s sides.

This bad habit of “calves on” and “knees and thighs off” has several consequences. First of all, it places the brunt of my weight poking into my horse’s back with my seat bones as three pressure points. To remedy this discomfort, I had added back pads. It had never occurred to me until now (thanks to Mary Wanless and Larry Whitesell) that my thighs and knees play a huge supportive role in distributing my weight along my horse’s back. This repositioning of my seat as “knee to knee and everything in between” has made my horse more comfortable, rounder through the back, and naturally more forward.

Secondly, riding “calves on” and “knees and thighs off” has desensitized my horse from responding to my calves in lateral work and as a gas pedal because I had always ridden with it pushed to the floor!

Thirdly, riding “calves on” and “knees and thighs off” has made me rely too much on my reins for steering my horse. I’m now discovering the effectiveness my thighs play in directing the horse through circles, lateral movements, canter, and forwardness in flat walk (thanks to Jennifer Bauer). My reins play a supportive role instead of being the only means of directing my horse.

The thigh connection to the saddle is also helping in the instances where my horse pops the outside shoulder. How many times have I tried to correct this crookedness by pulling on the inside rein? Too many to count. And it never worked! My horse only became more jack knifed. Now when I apply inside leg to outside rein in efforts to bend my horse and the horse evades by popping the outside shoulder, I apply more outside thigh to straighten my horse along with turning my shoulders into the direction I want the horse to travel and a slight lifting of the outside rein. At the same time, I slightly open my contact of my inside thigh and inside rein to give my horse a place to go.

Next time you ride, think of steering your horse from the withers instead of the mouth and apply the thighs as part of the bending and directing equation.

For videos, books and more, visit: mary-wanless.com, whitesellgaitedhorsemanship.com and gaitedhorsemanship.com