{"id":34744,"date":"2018-06-28T13:15:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T03:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=34744"},"modified":"2025-04-20T12:53:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T02:53:49","slug":"in-perfect-balance-riding-in-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2018\/06\/in-perfect-balance-riding-in-portugal\/","title":{"rendered":"In perfect balance – Riding in Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Visiting the home of\u00a0Rodrigo Torres at his family’s Torres\u00a0Vaz Freire Stud is a highlight of any trip to Portugal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watching Rodrigo work his horses is one of those moments when you\u00a0reflect on just how important rhythm\u00a0is in protecting the horse – for the\u00a0moment you introduce tension,\u00a0that is the moment in which perfect\u00a0rhythm is lost. Here is a rider asking\u00a0four and five-year-old horses to show\u00a0a little piaffe, to try a few one times\u00a0changes, or a baby pirouette, and all\u00a0the time, the rhythm is perfect, and\u00a0the minute Rodrigo drops the rein,\u00a0the horse walks calmly from the\u00a0little (30 by 15) school.<\/p>\n

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Certainly the shape and the style\u00a0of the modern Lusitano is changing\u00a0rapidly, and while the one I wanted\u00a0was the grey Teddy Bear, the rest of\u00a0the horses were a real modern type\u00a0as you can see…<\/p>\n

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You were saying with the\u00a0young horses that they\u00a0need to be challenged,\u00a0need to try to more difficult\u00a0movements …<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>“I think when young horses\u00a0have a lot of power and a lot\u00a0of talent, it is important that\u00a0every day you ask different\u00a0things. Of course you need\u00a0to make the basic work, they\u00a0are very young, but this work\u00a0needs to be less as training progresses, they need to understand this\u00a0basic work quickly, then to\u00a0improve this work to another\u00a0level, then another level,\u00a0because if you work these\u00a0talented young horses with\u00a0power every day trot and\u00a0canter with the frame down and long,\u00a0then I think these horses are bored.\u00a0They need to learn in another way,\u00a0and this is what I am searching for.\u00a0Of course they need to be in balance,\u00a0they need to be confident with your\u00a0hand and with your leg, they need to\u00a0understand that when you make an\u00a0action with your hand or your leg,\u00a0where they need to go, they need to\u00a0understand what are your orders.\u00a0But once they understand this, they\u00a0need to make different work every\u00a0day, this is my opinion.”<\/p>\n

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There was a point in the schooling\u00a0of the young bay stallion that the\u00a0horse started to get confused and\u00a0bounce up and down on the spot,\u00a0I suppose it was the point at which\u00a0we mere mortals freak a bit and\u00a0back off. Rodrigo’s response was\u00a0very different, he sort of ‘enclosed’\u00a0the horse, blocking all the options\u00a0except the one he wanted, which was\u00a0to go quietly forward. I remember\u00a0watching the late great Herbert\u00a0Rehbein schooling a horse,\u00a0and he did much the same,\u00a0channeling the horse’s\u00a0energy ever so smoothly\u00a0in the direction he\u00a0wanted, quietly closing the\u00a0possibilities of resistance. It\u00a0is a rare quality.<\/p>\n

With the very talented,\u00a0very tall <\/em>young <\/em>bay horse,\u00a0at one time he seemed to\u00a0get <\/em>confused, <\/em>but <\/em>you <\/em>just\u00a0sat there and gave him\u00a0only one channel to go\u00a0down <\/em>…<\/em><\/p>\n

“Exactly. When they begin\u00a0to be confused in an\u00a0exercise, that is normal.\u00a0The bay one is very young\u00a0and he is already doing a\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>little piaffe, passage,\u00a0when they have so\u00a0much information in\u00a0their brain they can\u00a0get confused, and\u00a0it is important that\u00a0you are strict with\u00a0them – strict doesn’t\u00a0mean strong. Today he\u00a0started doing canter\u00a0on the spot because\u00a0he was confused, I am\u00a0teaching the piaffe, I\u00a0was searching for the\u00a0balance of piaffe, so I\u00a0just kept the pressure,\u00a0pressure, pressure\u00a0until he went into the\u00a0balance of piaffe, and\u00a0then I leave him alone.\u00a0To say to him, it’s in\u00a0here, in this place we\u00a0are in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd he\u00a0begins to understand.\u00a0It happened again\u00a0later, then I did again\u00a0pressure, and he went to the place I\u00a0wanted him to go. In this way, they\u00a0are in order.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn my opinion,\u00a0riding has a lot to do with psychology,\u00a0if they make the same mistake ten\u00a0times, then it is not a mistake, it is\u00a0something else, it is a habit. Then\u00a0they learn in that place, they are able\u00a0to escape from the balance that you\u00a0want! But if they make that mistake\u00a0once, and you push them strongly,\u00a0just to say no, it is not there, and then\u00a0they go to where you want them to be,\u00a0and they feel comfortable and they\u00a0understand, and then they respect\u00a0you. I think it is important that the\u00a0horse respects you, they need to be\u00a0confident with you, but they need to\u00a0respect you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But when you finish working with\u00a0your horses, they are so calm, they\u00a0are so relaxed in their head – many\u00a0people would say if you ask these\u00a0things, like piaffe or one times\u00a0changes, of a four-year-old horse\u00a0then they will get very excited\u00a0and nervous <\/em>…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>“But I think that is exactly the point,\u00a0to teach horses is not just physical,\u00a0it is psychological, and you need to\u00a0know when you need to be strong,\u00a0and when you are strong with\u00a0them at the correct moment, they\u00a0understand, and then they are calm.\u00a0People might lie, but horses don’t lie\u00a0– if at the end of the work, they are\u00a0confident and relaxed with you, then\u00a0the stronger actions you did in the\u00a0lesson were well done.”<\/p>\n

more follows…<\/em><\/p>\n

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“For example, I have many times\u00a0made mistakes – I made strong\u00a0actions with the horses and in the\u00a0end, they didn’t understand, and in\u00a0the end they said to me, what you\u00a0did before was not correct. I need\u00a0to think very fast what I did wrong,\u00a0and I need to correct it. Many times\u00a0I make mistakes, I am human, often\u00a0you think you are doing well when\u00a0you are not. It is important for\u00a0riders to understand that when you\u00a0are teaching horses, you can make\u00a0mistakes, but you need to correct\u00a0them very fast. It is the horse that\u00a0tells you when you are doing well, or\u00a0not doing well. If you do well, they go\u00a0forward, if you are not doing it right,\u00a0they don’t improve.”<\/p>\n

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It <\/em>is interesting the different types\u00a0you showed us today, from the\u00a0older type, the grey, to the very fine\u00a0bay horse that if you told us, ‘this\u00a0horse is from Oldenburg’ then we\u00a0would believe you – it\u00a0is interesting within\u00a0the breed that you\u00a0are getting modern\u00a0dressage horses that\u00a0are Lusitanos…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, I have many times\u00a0made mistakes \u2013 I made strong\u00a0actions with the horses and in the\u00a0end, they didn\u2019t understand, and in\u00a0the end they said to me, what you\u00a0did before was not correct. I need\u00a0to think very fast what I did wrong,\u00a0and I need to correct it. Many times\u00a0I make mistakes, I am human, often\u00a0you think you are doing well when\u00a0you are not. It is important for\u00a0riders to understand that when you\u00a0are teaching horses, you can make\u00a0mistakes, but you need to correct\u00a0them very fast. It is the horse that\u00a0tells you when you are doing well, or\u00a0not doing well. If you do well, they go\u00a0forward, if you are not doing it right,\u00a0they go backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cRecently I had a German visitor here, he asked why I rode my young horses in double bridles. I answered that I want\u00a0to keep the energy of my horses, and I need to control\u00a0that energy that my horses have in them, so I can use it to train the movements I want,\u00a0. They need the power to be\u00a0able to learn these movements. I don’t want to hit them\u00a0with whips and spur them. Then the visitor asked, ‘why\u00a0don’t you lunge the horses and then you can ride them\u00a0in snaffle bits?’ But that for me would be boring, to get\u00a0on the horse that is not filled with energy that I can use,\u00a0and just ride around in circles, boring for the horses too.”<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visiting the home of\u00a0Rodrigo Torres at his family’s Torres\u00a0Vaz Freire Stud is a highlight of any trip to Portugal. Watching Rodrigo work his horses is one of those moments when you\u00a0reflect on just how important rhythm\u00a0is in protecting the horse – for the\u00a0moment you introduce tension,\u00a0that is the moment in which perfect\u00a0rhythm is lost. Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":42005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,4],"tags":[20,1693,1842],"class_list":["post-34744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-dressage","tag-dressage-training","tag-rodrigo-torres","tag-torres"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34744"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68892,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34744\/revisions\/68892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}