Satori Center

Every now and again you get gentle reminders, and every now and again you need an 'easy day.'  Today I took a hint and went for an 'easy day' by practicing some 'Hangbahn' training - a dvd I found out about a couple months ago after finding his book, Elements of Dressage.

In his DVD Hangbahn (sloped area) Training, Kurd Albrecht von Ziegner advocates working on sloped areas and throughout the dvd you get to see lovely examples of how horses rebalance themselves in order to navigate up and down hills.  The idea here is that the horses rebalance themselves.  Because, horses rebalance themselves.  Horses ... rebalance ... themselves.   Why?  Horses don't want to fall over, they rebalance.  

Instead of working at it forever in a flat arena, why not just put the horse in a situation where it automatically does what you want?  You build up the muscle and the horses brain is engaged and quiet.  Win-win-win.

I have to say, this is *not* a new concept for me.  But it's been a little too distant.

I learned to ride (in a ride) in a field, which was not flat.  One of my sister riders commented that when she moved to the area, riding on a slope was a new thing as it was very flat where she came from, and it was surprisingly not easy.  I don't want to say it's hard, but it is for sure different.  As a rider, you need to be fluid and adjustable to the terrain as well so that you don't mess up your horse.  

Before I learned to ride in a field in a ride, I memorized the book Effective Horsemanship by Noel Jackson.  (I didn't have a horse and that was the closest I could get to riding.)  In there, he advocates starting the green horse by riding it over gently undulating terrain - for several months before starting the school work.    And he also has some lovely pictures of how to work horses on slopes for collection and extension.

The hill concept was also used very effectively in a Centered Riding clinic taught by Robin Brueckmann.  Her advice was to find slopes where you could maintain your tempo, cadence, and rhythm going both up and down and then gradually find steeper slopes, always going for maintaining your tempo, cadence, and rhythm.  

And I actually bought my current property 25+ years ago expressly because it has hills!  But there is a tendency for life to run away with me.  And then there are gentle reminders.

So today, when I needed a break, I rode in circles and figure 8's in the side yard, gently weaving in and out of the crepe myrtles and elm trees, enjoying the cardinals and finches - a woodpecker in the distance, hawks and buzzards playing on the air currents above, the dew glistening like jewels.  And my girls relaxed and relaxed and relaxed.  And it was good.

This is his book. Amazon isn't carrying the dvd at this time; however, it's available through Xenophon Press and The Horse Studio, among other places.