This video of a clinic with Nuno Oliveira, instructing Hélène Arianoff is the perfect way to start the weekend!
[fbvideo link=”https://www.facebook.com/diamond.harmony.1/videos/692545030828613/” width=”680″ height=”580″ onlyvideo=”1″]
Watch the original video on Facebook
And, let's follow it up by fast-forwarding today at a clinic with Hélène Arianoff.
What did you enjoy or disagree with?
Receive New Articles In Your Email
I've been riding since I was 9, and in love with horses from the day I was born. Living in Washington with my horse and 5 dogs.
“Here should be inserted a word especially for equestrians, because the above truth, which is perfectly obvious to all other animal trainers and utilizers, most often seems to escape riders. At least, they generally behave as if they were unaware of it. Since they are in direct physical contact with the horse and communicate tactile sensations to it through the use of their muscles, they are easily taken in by the utterly false illusion (which is all the more convincing to them because it seems to be verified by certain superficial effects), that they act directly on the horse’s body through force, and thereby obtain a sort of mechanical response.”
In looking around, there seems a great wealth of images and video, articles and books, media and marketing; all of which demonstrating the use of the horse for human gain and purposes. The focus, the mindset, the intent is control and consumption of the horse – we ride, we travel, we tour, we compete, we battle, we seek to impress.
It’s never a bad time to watch equestrians outside the mainstream for inspiration. What do you love, what do you hate? Bartabas horses danced on the world’s greatest operatic stage, the famous Felsenreitschule in Salzburg….
Circular, that is time. We live in a world dominated by linear functions, our calendar reads left to right, start to finish. There is little left of the cycles we once relied upon as a species to guide our functions from day to day, week to week, month to month, season to season, year to year. Instead we rely upon days, minutes, hours… seconds, to remind us of the time we have lost or wasted, or perhaps the time we have saved.
If you push the people [horse], down deep inside, you really do not know which way they’ll go or what they’re really thinking. But if you can lead them and get them to follow you, then you have the skill everyone should have, which is to be a leader.
The term “on the bit” doesn’t have an origin in the long-time history of Dressage, but according to Bettina Drummond it is an orphan that is only causing chaos, confusion and much of the demise of Dressage.
It seemed for me that the horse was a bit unsound from behind.
I love the first video! Iberian horses move differently, so the canter isn’t as “powerful” or “bounding” as we’re used to – but the ease and correctness is what we’re lacking on the current world stage. And it looks fun to boot! Loved the canter pirouettes.
My main issue with the second video is the rider seems a bit too busy with hands and heels, sometimes creating issues in how the horse goes … but so relatively minor when you look at the wrestling and hanging that we see too often!
Really nice inspiration – thanks for sharing!
I agree re the busy-ness of the second video, was interesting to note when the rider came close it appeared as though she was constantly see-sawing the reins, albeit very subtly. You can see it in the movement of the horse’s head side-to-side when he’s moving towards the camera.