Interesting ride/lesson

As I mentioned in a previous post I've been working on training Barokko more in the style of Phillippe Karl the past couple of months. I'm doing it on my own, without a trainer, so it hasn't been a super smooth transition, and of course I don't have a 100% understanding of the system yet, but I'm doing lots of research, and trial and error. It's hard to guage progress when you're in the middle of things, but now I've been taken out of the loop involuntarily I've had a chance to look at it from the outside.

M has ridden dressage on him twice last week. She was aided by a very experienced rider at the barn, who's trained very classically in the German school, and of course this was the method they worked with for Barokko. They both felt they got some good work out of him, and I was curious to get on him yesterday and see what he felt like afterward.

Well, I definitely felt a difference! There was a hardness in his mouth that hasn't been there, and a sense that he was trying to fight my hand to evade contact (different from the "normal" instability issues we've had). He was also more resistant to bending aids from the leg. M isn't an unbalanced or insensitive rider, this wasn't a case of "bad riding," but it was very clearly a departure from the work I've been doing and the direction I've been taking Barokko recently. I was actually very surprised to be able to feel such a clear difference, partly because the system change is still new to us, and also because it's only been 2 rides!

I did his 35 minute walk warm-up myself, getting him lighter in the hand, more responsive to bending around the leg. My neck didn't enjoy riding, though, so when I had him loosened up to where I felt it was time to start trot and canter work, M got on. I tried to explain the difference in feel that I had experienced, and how what I'm working toward feels.

Throughout the ride I stopped her every now and then, we talked through the different issues that came up and how to work with them, I gave her some exercises I've been working on with Barokko, some of the ones he's done lots of times before, so he's familiar with. Toward the end of the ride, she got some really good moments, he was through the back, steady, soft contact, rhythmic trot, and she lit up in a proverbial Eureka moment - oh THAT'S the feeling you're after!

I'm so glad she was able to experience the sensation, so she got a better understanding of why I want to do in this direction with him. She understands it intellectually, but actually feeling it on the horse is different ;) But also hard work, she trains with a very German trainer, on a horse trained in the German school, so it was difficult for her to adjust. I think she'd like to try again with me teaching her, but she'll stick to trail rides when I'm not there, because now she (and I!!) realized how much of a difference there is in what I've been doing, and what she's able to do when she's riding on her own.

It was a really cool experience, and strengthened my conviction that I'm on the right track. I've just ordered PK's 2nd and 3rd DVD's despite not being able to afford them right now, I can't wait for them to get here!

I was watching some vids on youtube, and came across a few rides with AWESOME expression - this is the kind of thing I'd like to aim for with Barokko:

A BEAUTIFUL passage - and those jambette things are pretty fun, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs7UXTUX3YQ&NR=1

The same horse showing passage & spanish passage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiS-GciTz5E&feature=related

Spanish walk, WOW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpCvQBALBX0&feature=related