Marzipan the Broodmare

 

This is Marzipan GF, Faline's dam.  She is 19 this year, as a 2002 Oldenburg.  She is a homogygous  cremello warmblood. 

Here is Marzipan's pedigree:

Marzipan was imported from Germany, here is a link to her page on the farm where she was born: http://www.gestuet-falkenhorst.com/gfgovmares.html

She’s also the half sibling of the stallion Mirabeau GF, who is standing at Blazing Colors Farm. (He is out of the dam, Mirabelle GF)  Here is a link to information about Mirabeau:

http://www.blazingcoloursfarm.com/Mirabeau1.htm

Here is some video of Marzipan playing in the pasture today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXZCLuwIt1s

Here she is walking and trotting to and from the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42NJRQ0E6CM

Faith the Broodmare

 

This is Faith, Curioso's dam. She is 11 this year, born in 2010.  She is Hanoverian by the stallion For Play and out of Fleur de Lis R (damsire Fuerst Gottard) and goes back to Furioso on both sides.  

Here is her full pedigree:

 Here is some video of Faith playing in the pasture today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QleDOJFECMc

 And here she is walking and trotting to and from the camera in hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uGJkJyKKJE 

 

The Right Fit Riding and Horsemanship Instructor

On his facebook page I came across a post from Denny Emerson, a legend in the horse world and particularly eventing.  In it he discusses various aspects of riding and horsemanship instruction, and I thought I'd share, then add to it my own thoughts.

 

"Riding teachers come in many varieties. So do students.

 

Getting the right fit can mean the difference between productive learning and failure---So what do you look for? Some thoughts...

 

How far along are you in your riding, total beginner, somewhere in between, or expert? The teacher for one may not be good for the other. A university professor of astrophysics might not do well teaching second graders, and the second grade teacher might not have a clue teaching high level material. 

 

What kind of teaching meshes with your learning style? Can you thrive under a more disciplined approach, or do you need a softer style to bring out your best work?  Are you primarily a visual learner, a kinesthetic learner, or an auditory learner? Find the teacher that fits your strengths.

 

Are you more comfortable with one instructor, or do you learn better by having different teachers for different aspects of your riding, as an event rider might have one dressage coach, another for jumping?

 

Do you prefer being pushed over being allowed to progress at your own pace?

 

Do you find that you thrive under lots of praise and cheer leading, or are you better served by someone who tells it like it is?

 

Can you have meaningful discussions after lessons, questions and answers, or are you finished once the lesson has concluded?

 

I don't think that any of these have right or wrong answers, because they are aimed at individual learning styles, with a couple of possible exceptions.  Some teachers are not knowledgeable enough to provide valid information, and some teachers are OK with using methods that are tough on horses, and neither of these are productive. This leads to the obvious question, though, of "How do I know the difference if I am a green rider?"

 

Probably the honest answer is "You can't." But maybe a friend can, or some other more experienced person.  Some of this---possibly the key to this---is whether or not it feels right. If you eagerly look forward to your lessons, that's far different from being apathetic, or, worse, almost dreading them.  But don't be in too much of a hurry to decide, because things take time to assimilate."

Denny Emerson, Tamarack Hill facebook page

 

 

I largely agree with these sentiments.  Getting the right fit between instructor and student is extremely important if the student wants to make progress with their skills in their discipline.  When I have a potential new client interested in coming for riding and horsemanship instruction, I always have them come and audit a riding lesson or two (or three - however many they have time to watch on a lesson day).  This is to ensure that my teaching style fits with how they learn.  

 

 

In addition to finding an instructor who teaches the discipline the student wants to learn, it's important to look at teaching style.  A good instructor will address various learning styles within a lesson, helping students progress by verbally explaining things (auditory), showing the riders how to do a task by having them watch each other or watch the instructor (visual), and giving them exercises that will set them up for successfully accomplishing a task (kinesthetic).  

 

 

As students have dominant learning styles, instructors also have dominant teaching styles.  Find an instructor who, if she doesn't have the same dominant style as you do, can at least alter her teaching to accommodate and include other types.  Studies have shown that students learn better when material is presented in multiple ways, regardless of what the dominant learning style is.

 

 

Temperament is another important consideration.  Does the instructor push students beyond their comfort zone?  In what way?  Does the instructor yell?  Give the riders exercises that challenge the existing skill set?  It's important to be pushed beyond your comfort level so that you grow as a rider, but how the instructor accomplishes this can vary widely.  Is the instructor positive and encouraging, or more militant with barking instructions?  What type of instructor temperament helps you to progress and enjoy your lessons?  Does the instructor allow and encourage questions from students, and is discussion helpful to you?  Or do you prefer to think on the lesson without engaging in more verbal examination?

 

 

Another consideration is your horse's preferences if you're riding your own and not a school horse.  Particularly if your riding instructor is also a horse trainer, fitting the trainer's style to the horse's style is critical.  Some trainers excel with the compliant quarter horse type, some specialize in hotter horses such as arabians and thoroughbreds, some have a way with mustangs, and others can get the best athletic effort of a cold blood such as a draft horse.  The ability to read the horse's body language and teach him in a way that he learn confidently can make the difference between a fun lesson and a miserable one.  Of course there are variations of temperament and personality within each breed, and a good trainer will be able to adjust their training to suit the individual horse. 

 

Often a trainer will have a system that she uses on every horse, and it works well with a certain subset of animals.  However, in these situations when a horse comes along who doesn't learn well with those techniques, the horse is often blamed and declared to be un-trainable, difficult, or not suitable for the discipline.  Indeed, the horse does have a preference regarding what job he wants to do and would be good at, and it's important not to smash a square peg into a round hole.  However, a multifaceted trainer will adapt her training and methods to the horse, and have a wide variety of techniques upon which to draw so that she doesn't run out of ways to teach the task.  Some trainers do find great success with their favorite personal methods and only train the horses and riders who fit that box, others will have a deeper well of techniques and experience and are suitable for a wider variety of students both equine and human.

There are so many aspects to finding an instructor and/or trainer that is a good fit for you and your horse.  Do you enjoy a lesson program with lots of kids and ponies around all the time?  Do you prefer a more mature environment with more focused individual instruction?  Taking a trial period with various instructors can be beneficial as you learn what is most helpful to you, discover what you enjoy most, and realize what methods help you progress most quickly in your own riding and horsemanship skill set.  

 

 

 

Riding Lesson

Today we had a group jumping lesson, the first in what felt like ages because of weather and holidays.  We had 3/4 of the blender set up.  Normally there are four fences, but today we just worked with three.  This exercise is good for steering, creating consistent bend, and pacing.  

If introducing this exercise to a horse or rider who hasn't done it before, we start out with ground poles.  The jumps/poles are set 60' apart, so from center of red to center of purple is 60'.  From center of blue to center of the fourth (missing) fence is also 60'.  That sets it up so if an average size horse is cantering the exercise at a medium canter and is riding it as a round circle, there are five strides between each jump.  If the canter stride is shorter, you can get six strides between each one.

If the blender is being ridden more as a square, an average size horse in a medium canter will get four strides between each jump.  

Today we worked on getting an easy rhythmic canter in the round version, and making sure the rider is looking ahead before the horse is in the air over each jump. 

 Carol and Ladd did a great job with the exercise.

In this first purple jump photo you can see Carol on Ladd, looking straight ahead, so he lands and goes straight.

 

 In this photo, you can see Carol looking through the turn in the air over the jump, and so Ladd landed turning.

Silver and Gillian did well, too.  Since the two of them are farther along in their jumping training I raised the fences a bit.  Most of my exercises are very challenging unless you build them up gradually.  We sometimes start as simply as walking a course of ground poles.  This gives the rider and horse a chance to figure out the technique while the jumps are very low-risk.  To increase the difficulty we raise the fences, and do the exercise faster.  So eventually the blender is ridden at the canter over verticals.  But first ground poles at the walk, then crossrails at the trot, then cantering over verticals.

 

Beauty and Alice had a mental breakthrough today.  They made the shift from thinking of this as a jumping course, to thinking of it as a canter circle with three slightly larger strides (the crossrails) in it.  It made a wonderful difference when Alice rode the whole circle, and just stayed put as Beauty negotiated the poles.  Riding it as "jump - canter five strides - jump - canter five strides - jump - canter five strides" can mentally get stressful.  When it's just cantering along and once in a while you have a slightly larger canter stride, you can ride it as a circle and it all goes much more smoothly.

 

Dewey and Sara are making some tack changes to make it easier for Sara to keep her lower leg in the right spot.  Today I loaned them Raven's jumping saddle for them to try.  The balance on that one is very different from Dewey's jump saddle, and the flap puts Sara's leg in a much better position.

Today's extra member of the peanut gallery was Bhakti, Carol's new dog.  He's about six months old and so he and Pascal did a LOT of playing today while I was teaching.  

 

It's really good for young dogs like Bhakti and Pascal to go places, meet new dogs, learn social skills, and observe horses riding around.  Just good life lessons and acclimation to the world.  When the lesson was over, Bhakti was content to lie down and stay with Carol and Ladd.

 

Rizzo worked hard all day, and when we were finally done, she hopped up on the picnic table, curled up into a little ball on top of Kimberly's sweatshirt, and went to sleep.