News
Dienstag, 25. Mai 2010
"Let me laugh and try again." (engl.)
"Let me laugh and try again. " (Stian Pedersen)
Or: This is the attitude one should follow in the work with horses.
For the third year in succession Stian Pedersen and his mentor Bent Rune Skulevold paid a visit to the "Jugendkader Baden-Württemberg" at the Wiesenhof.
And also this year it has been a nonrecurring experience to be allowed to watch these exceptional "horsemen" while working with horses and some of the young riders even shared the honor to be taught by them.
Predominant topics this year were "straightness" and "collection", which followed the contents we worked on in the last years with Stian and Bent Rune. Both in theory and in the practical part we approached the topic and tried to understand how the horse feels and what we actually ask of the horse when we - or the judges at competitions as well - expect that it takes down the hindquarters round after round in the oval track. And the way Stian is - and we like him - , we did not only have to understand this in theory, but we also had to duplicate this in the practical way. So the whole "Jugendkader Baden-Württemberg" walked round after round in the riding hall, bending in the knees, coming up, bending in the knees, coming up,... , until at last all riders - trembling in the muscles in their legs - promised that they would every time they tried this in the future now let their horses relax after only some collected steps. In small groups some riders were allowed to train this on horseback theirselves - we worked with the elasticity, the straightness and the collection - always paying attention which level riders and horses were located at. In a calm and pleasant atmosphere riders, horses and spectators had the opportunity to improve their knowledge with the help of those international eminent authorities. Single and impressive with Stian and Bent Rune surely is their particular positive attitude towards the horse as a partner and friend. Alleged mistakes of the horse are never seen as mistakes but as opportunities to develop and as a possibility for the rider to improve one's precision of the aids so that the horse is better capable of realizing the rider's request. Since the horse never does a mistake, it only reacts to us and our body language. Bent Rune and Stian made up a nice simile as they told us that educating horses was something similar to playing computer games; one collects experience points, solves tasks and reaches new levels. But risking too much and concentrating too much on marks and competitions and disregarding what the horse tells, one loses games and descends. But one also is capable of building up foundations by a solid and patient basic work and education which never can be lost no matter how many mistakes one does. In my opinion this is a nice simile which expresses how much value there is in every personality of every single horse and how important it is to save it and support it with all the riding qualities we have. Since finally it is our passion to spend our time with horses, to care about them and to have fun with them. And when we eventually built up a relationship with solid foundations, then nobody will be able to stop us in the competition either - and this is what Stian shows and proves us competition after competition, right?!
Thank you so much, Stian and Bent, that you - once again - made this clear for us and gave us the opportunity to participate in your unbelievable "treasure of knowledge"! Once more it has been an enrichment to our minds!
Delighted we are looking forward to meeting you again!
(Svenja Braun)
Or: This is the attitude one should follow in the work with horses.
For the third year in succession Stian Pedersen and his mentor Bent Rune Skulevold paid a visit to the "Jugendkader Baden-Württemberg" at the Wiesenhof.
And also this year it has been a nonrecurring experience to be allowed to watch these exceptional "horsemen" while working with horses and some of the young riders even shared the honor to be taught by them.
Predominant topics this year were "straightness" and "collection", which followed the contents we worked on in the last years with Stian and Bent Rune. Both in theory and in the practical part we approached the topic and tried to understand how the horse feels and what we actually ask of the horse when we - or the judges at competitions as well - expect that it takes down the hindquarters round after round in the oval track. And the way Stian is - and we like him - , we did not only have to understand this in theory, but we also had to duplicate this in the practical way. So the whole "Jugendkader Baden-Württemberg" walked round after round in the riding hall, bending in the knees, coming up, bending in the knees, coming up,... , until at last all riders - trembling in the muscles in their legs - promised that they would every time they tried this in the future now let their horses relax after only some collected steps. In small groups some riders were allowed to train this on horseback theirselves - we worked with the elasticity, the straightness and the collection - always paying attention which level riders and horses were located at. In a calm and pleasant atmosphere riders, horses and spectators had the opportunity to improve their knowledge with the help of those international eminent authorities. Single and impressive with Stian and Bent Rune surely is their particular positive attitude towards the horse as a partner and friend. Alleged mistakes of the horse are never seen as mistakes but as opportunities to develop and as a possibility for the rider to improve one's precision of the aids so that the horse is better capable of realizing the rider's request. Since the horse never does a mistake, it only reacts to us and our body language. Bent Rune and Stian made up a nice simile as they told us that educating horses was something similar to playing computer games; one collects experience points, solves tasks and reaches new levels. But risking too much and concentrating too much on marks and competitions and disregarding what the horse tells, one loses games and descends. But one also is capable of building up foundations by a solid and patient basic work and education which never can be lost no matter how many mistakes one does. In my opinion this is a nice simile which expresses how much value there is in every personality of every single horse and how important it is to save it and support it with all the riding qualities we have. Since finally it is our passion to spend our time with horses, to care about them and to have fun with them. And when we eventually built up a relationship with solid foundations, then nobody will be able to stop us in the competition either - and this is what Stian shows and proves us competition after competition, right?!
Thank you so much, Stian and Bent, that you - once again - made this clear for us and gave us the opportunity to participate in your unbelievable "treasure of knowledge"! Once more it has been an enrichment to our minds!
Delighted we are looking forward to meeting you again!
(Svenja Braun)
