Horses For Life Electronic Magazine

Hello Valerie,
I also subscribe to the magazine.Ms.Nadja King,the owner and editor,is a good advocate for the horse and works very hard to make her magazine useful as well as interesting.I don't know if she has much help but when she started it was almost singlehandedly.

My regards,

Sandy.

Hi Valerie,
Me too!! It's a brilliant resource and Nadja seems relentless in her search for excellent items, lucky us!
Mmm, somewhat damp with a sunny finish although not quite so far south as you!
Regards Trudi

Hi Trudi and Sandy, her magazine has gained in reputation and rightly so as the quality of her articles is superb. Have you read the article on the interview with Klaus Hempfling? I participated in one of his workshops last year and am going up to Hartpury near Bristol for his October workshop that is mentioned in Nadja's interview. He is an extraordinary person in himself and as a horseman, his approach to this animal is the most respectful and joyful that I have ever witnessed.
Sandy, I see from past posts that you are a western rider, I'd love to hear about what you do and how you came to Allege, are you "marrying" the classical and western styles of dressage? Or do they remain two very distinct types of dressage in your view?
Tomorrow is another day and . . . it's sunnier!
Kind regards to you both, Valerie

Ah Valerie, a friend undertook his course last year, although she was somewhat frustrated by his lack of focus on how to train horses (I believe they spent most of the time discovering themselves). I'm pretty sure she's off to the Hartpury do on the Sunday.
Good night, Trudi

Hello Valerie,
Yes,I have read the interview with Hempfling.I hope you enjoy your clinic.As for me I have some difficulty 'connecting',so to speak,with what I call 'behaviourist'horse people.A different era,I'm afraid.
As for my riding proclivities I have always been interested in academic riding even when training my reining horses but in that discipline one rides for the crowd and artistic riding becomes impossible.In modern times I don't believe it possible to 'marry' Classical and Western styles,as Western styles exist today.That said, there is a great deal to be learned by some dressage riders from Western style riders not the least of which is to stop pulling on their horse's mouths.For some years now I have enjoyed a 'baucheriste' approach to my riding style which is based, as you may know,on L'Hotte's definition of lightness where "we search for perfect obedience in our horses to perfectly applied aids".This concept therefore reflects upon the horse as well as it's rider.I don't show reining horses anymore.
My best,
Sandy.

Hi Trudy, can understand anyone's frustration in terms of his focus on training horses and discovering yourself can be quite a surprise! His concepts are interesting though, the change in the horses when he works with them is food for thought, horses don't have problems, they have humans - some who want the horse to work for them and some who want to work with them, slight nuance, big difference in the resulting relationship of the horse/rider couple. A bientôt, Valerie

Hello Sandy, hmmm, have never been terribly convinced by the so-called "horse-whispering" thing (if that is what you mean by "behaviourist") as my interpretation of what some of them do is that they capitalise on, and exploit, the horses' natural fear instinct to get where they want to go, fast, which can be impressive for some publics. Have you ever had access to any of the papers written by Jean-Claude Barrey of the ENE here in France? He wrote a paper in 2003 called "For the Protection of our horses, our riders and french equitation" where he suggests that the submission obtained by "join-up" is in fact a pathological alienation known under the name of the syndrome Kluver-Bucy. An extremely interesting paper. As for Hempfling, he does not enter into the register of a behaviourist(only my view).
Concerning Western and Classical dressage, I agree totally concerning what some could learn in terms of contact with the horse's mouth! As you are applying a Baucherist approach you must be working with a classical "maitre"? I'm on this classical path too and have been fortunate to have found a classical master (who often refers to La Guerinière, Fillis and Oliveira also) with whom I train two or three times a year, not often enough I know but one does what one can. The perfectly applied aids of which you speak take much, much time, patience and acceptance of our lack of clarity in what we ask of the horse, his response educates us in every sense of the word if we take care to listen and feel. Kind regards, Valerie

Your quote;his response educates us in every sense of the word if we take care to listen and feel.

Hello Valerie,
What you say above is true and forms the basis of an 'equestrian tact',mentioned so fully by Baucher,Fillis and others and without which equitation can only be taken to a limited level.Some are born with it,but most of us spend a lifetime developing it by practise with an open mind.
I am familiar with the work you mention concerning the alienation aspects of'Join up'.I would make no comment.As I grow older I notice there are detractors to nearly every concept developed.Pessimism overides optimism.Each rider,based on his knowledge,must draw his own conclusions,and be prepared to change them as his knowledge grows and matures.
Decarpentry was correct when he said that we cannot study a practical classicism in equitation in isolation without the strength and knowledge of mentors or Masters of equitation.Mine have been,and still are,Colonel Christian Carde,Jean Claude Racinet,the Literature and last,but certainly not least,my horses.
My very best to you,I wish more people would post in this English section of the forum.It's available for us all,
Sandy.

Hi Sandy, thanks for your reply which echos very much my own sentiments. Keeping an open mind helps the learning process, I don't always agree with what I read or see but there is always something interesting to consider and learn from. Let's hope more folks will contribute to this english forum, best wishes, Valerie

Valerie,

Just cyber spoke to Vicky in the UK and it seems she is hoping to meet up with you at the Klaus do, heck it's a small world. Maybe Bambu's owner will make it too, it was her that I referred to in my previous post.

Trudi