Courtney King Notes...

And now, my notes from the Courtney King clinics I spectated over the weekend at Equine Affaire. There were two clinics each of the two days. I hadn't known much about Courtney King going into the clinics, just that she was a Grand Prix rider.


Friday Morning-Dressage, How to Ride More Precisely
Horse 1-Dutch Mare

Collected Canter-keep the same jump and cadence throughout, always need a sense of forward

• Keep the collection by doing shoulder fore throughout the exercise
• When beginning schooling ask for 3 or 4 strides and then go forward again

Flying Changes-let the canter flow between the changes, there should not be a change in the canter prior to each change, the approach to a change should be the same as the departure from the change

Walking-(especially the free walk to working walk transition)-to loosen the back ask for sideways as you pick the horse back up. Ask for extra bend and a little sideways as transitioning from the free walk to the working walk to prevent the horse from stiffening and to keep you from just pulling back as you do it

• Never rush when picking the horse up at the walk

Miscellaneous-to get the horse more "up" use walk-trot transitions-not shorter reins and more leg.

Humorous Sidenote (this rider had said that she needs help with her half passes, and Courtney had a great sense of humor and was very witty).

Courtney: "Now lets see that horrendous half pass"

Rider half passes

Courtney: "It's not horrendous, but it's boring"

Grand Prix-the horse's understanding...

Leg=collect and sit

Hand=extend

Miscellaneous

In dressage, you should always ride shoulder fore, it encourages the inside hind to track between the front legs; weights the inside hind leg while keeping the haunches from being toward the center of the ring

Half Pass

-go into it with extra bend

-use inside leg to prevent too much sideways

-need to keep the horse from falling onto the shoulder, keep her upright with the inside leg

• will help with rushing the sidepass when walk-trot transitions within it don't

-if your half pass is honest and in self carriage the inside rein will become loose

-if horse leads with its haunches go straight while in shoulder fore and then half pass again

• don't wait until the haunches lead though, shoulder fore *before* the haunches lead, if you do it before there's a problem you might only need to do it for a stride or so, if you wait, it'll take a few strides before you can go back to half pass

Training-do a movement with precision and quality for a few strides and then change when quality deteriorates to improve the movement--then try again

• don't just keep going while doing it badly, horses learn through muscle memory and they'll learn it wrong if you do

Canter Half Pass

-if losing it *push* the horse straight, don't just allow the horse to stop going sideways

-make sure the horse keeps reaching

-do it on the 3/4 line because you'll already have the horse balanced on your outside leg, rather than beginning from the wall

General

-if the horse gets too up play a little with the reins, don't hold it in; up is what allows the horse to be expressive

-after doing canter work make sure you get a good trot before stopping for a break

• make sure the horse is supple and loose in a way that encourages expression because horses are trained on muscle memory, so don't throw the trot away on the way to the walk

-if the horse picks up the wrong gait when you are asking for something correct it right away because otherwise next time the horse will think "I was right, that is what she wanted" and will be more likely to repeat the incorrect reaction

Horse 2-Danish Gelding

Lendon Gray's #1 rule for riding--Learn to do nothing (be part of the horse); until you can do that you have no right to ask the horse to conform to your body

Sidenote

Courtney would give the horses 3 or 4 walk breaks during each 45 minutes session, I found that interesting because quite a few on the internet seem to think that the horse should never be allowed to walk and rest during a schooling session

Light hand is not because you give it; it's your ability to react

• Some horses want a heavier connection, which is ok, as long as it's consistent

"Don't do anything artificial with your hands, let the horse have control"

Shoulder In

-can be corrected when you're not in the shoulder in; do a volte halway through

-start it when the horse is already good

Collected Canter

-move the bit a little

-sit a little deeper

-sometimes just need to relax and stop focusing on being perfect

-the horse has got to pull your arms, you don't push it's mouth

Other

Low hands look nicer, are more elegant and effortless (not to mention that the two riders prone to holding their hands too high had much nicer rides when they lowered their hands so that there was a straight line from elbow to mouth). Another thing I noticed was that the two riders that tended to ride mainly off the curb were the two that held their hands too high. Almost everyone was told shorten the snaffles (those two to lengthen the curbs too) at some point, a couple because the snaffle rein seemed to slip through their fingers; the other two were told to lengthen the curb and shorten the snaffle (sometimes the curb would be taught for them and the snaffle rein loose). Courtney got very tired of telling one person to get off the curb.