{"id":8917,"date":"2012-09-11T11:04:42","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T01:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=8917"},"modified":"2015-01-22T07:31:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T20:31:31","slug":"ulf-moller-taking-up-the-challenge-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2012\/09\/ulf-moller-taking-up-the-challenge-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Ulf M\u00f6ller – Taking Up The Challenge Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last time Ulf M\u00f6ller worked with two four year olds and stirred up his audience on the Sunday after D&JWTS by saying horses learned to be light by accepting contact.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next horse into the arena was a five year old, the Just de Pomme gelding, Flashazz, ridden by Lydia Jackson.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have a problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets strong and tense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTense is good, tense you can use\u2026 but first give me the whip. Okay, so you should never go to war without weapons but if I have a horse that is a little hot, I will take the spurs away and get the horse calm to the leg. Even if you are an experienced rider, you can, without meaning to, kick with the spur and ruin all the good work. It is the same with the whip, it is easy to touch the horse at the wrong time and with this horse, I can see that I want the rider to try and feel the mouth with both hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get too active with your hands, look for a nice rhythm, contact on both reins, legs on the horse, the contact quiet. Bend the horse in the corner, feel the mouth but try to get the feeling on both hands that you had on the long side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink, when the neck comes up, don\u2019t press down. Take your hands up a bit and feel the mouth, but don\u2019t pull down. If you feel he is going to look at something, your first reaction should be with your leg. With a younger horse, we ride lines with the reins, but with an older horse, we ride the lines more and more with our legs but that doesn\u2019t mean, no contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung horses get confidence from our legs, and if something surprises them, we can react much quicker with our legs. Feel with your leg, in the beginning, it might feel that he is getting faster, but after a while, he gets slower.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cDon\u2019t over react. Give him a chance and wait \u2013 if you over react, then he goes away from the rein.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry about the neck, feel reins and leave the neck to the horse. Carry your hands and wait until he comes round on his own.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the canter, have the same idea. Feel, don\u2019t pull, leave your leg on the horse, and look up and loosen your shoulders. NEVER the outside hand higher, MAYBE the inside hand higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou don\u2019t have to hurry so much with the medium canter, the judges will wait for it to come, it is not a Grand Prix test.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRide him forward to collect. You can\u2019t collect out of collection. Be quiet, if he gets faster, relax. It is difficult to ride one round around the school where every stride is the same \u2013 ask Greg Best \u2013 but don\u2019t control the tempo with your hands. Collect with your seat. Ride a circle and bend and play, it is still too hurried, relax, relax, relax. Why does it work on a circle and not on the long side? You get nervous \u2013 allow the horse to finish the canter jump.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf he drops out of canter, don\u2019t go to canter from trot. Walk and bend the horse, and then canter, so the first canter stride doesn\u2019t go away from you. Grow in your seat and try to collect without pressure. Touch the mouth, don\u2019t have the feeling you can\u2019t touch the horse\u2019s mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really want things, you are too ambitious, it\u2019s good to be ambitious but it has to be in the right direction. He gets strong because you put too much pressure on him. Sometimes you might think, today I want to work on counter canter, but you can\u2019t collect the horse, so then don\u2019t try and train counter canter that day. Better to wait one, two even three days. Okay you might fight with him and get one counter canter but you lose the friendliness with the horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next combination was Bernadette Gibson and another five year old, the Rotspon gelding, Neversfelde Raphael.<\/p>\n

Their problem? \u201cSelf-carriage, especially in canter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bernadette Gibson and Neversfelde Raphael<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ulf thought that one look at the horse might explain part of this: \u201cThis is a nice type, a very modern horse, but when we look behind the saddle, we miss the muscles. The horse needs exercises to build its back \u2013 the back is the bridge from the hindlegs to the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the horse trots off, Ulf is quick to point out: \u201cYou don\u2019t build the bridge by running away. Start on a straight line because it is easier to get contact on both reins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, Ulf was in familiar territory, trying to get the rider not to pull the horse\u2019s head down, but to allow the horse to come a little higher in the neck and carry itself. Working on the walk to trot transitions, he asked the rider to use the whip:<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t hit the horse with the whip, just put it on the croup and try to get the walk to trot a little quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The walk trot transitions are the preparation for the half halts: \u201cNow without doing the walk transition just think it and then go out. Don\u2019t pull down, if you do that he just becomes\u00a0shorter \u2013 you want him up in the neck and out. More and more with the seat and less with the hands. Now try walk to canter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gelding trots.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour inside leg is in the outside leg position, try it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the transition, bring your upper body back and start the canter from your hip.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time they get the canter, but Ulf questions the rider\u2019s reaction: \u201cWhy do you pat him? Is it a wonder that he canters? When you pat him, you lose your seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow go to walk and up, up, up \u2013 that was better, you could touch the mouth without getting him too round.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the canter, Ulf had the same problem with the outline: \u201cHe gets too deep for such a big canter jump behind, too deep with nowhere to go. Now put him on the circle, and collect \u2013 not pulling, weight, seat, whip, maybe there will come a little pressure on the bit, just wait until it comes light again. In the canter, he must collect without getting deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the trot the accent was on building strength:<\/p>\n

\u201cTrot quicker, not deeper. If you feel he comes too deep, think about a transition. Try to get him quick behind so he is really using his hind legs, then you will get a swinging back and more muscle. Long and low with a horse like this will just make him slower. Try to make three trot steps where you were making two trot steps, try to make three canter jumps where normally he was making two jumps. With this horse the main thing we want to do is build the muscle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next horse\/rider combination to work with Ulf was John Thomson riding the six year old gelding, Kalimna Emblem (by Earl).<\/p>\n

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John Thomson riding Kalimna Emblem<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched this combination, and you must take care you don\u2019t produce too much with your body \u2013 let the horse work, not you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, one of the common problems from this style of riding\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful that the trot doesn\u2019t get too passagey. Not so much pressure from you, forward your hands without shortening the reins. The horse has a short neck and you must show the judges that you are willing to open \u03c5<\/p>\n

the frame. Keep him more on your seat, not holding him into the frame with your hands. They don\u2019t mark you down in a six year old class for conformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ulf was insisting that the horse be ridden with less rein. \u201cKeep your legs on the horse and ride a straight line with your hands forward, control the tempo with your back and legs, not so much rein. Concentrate that your elbows are not behind your body, keep the contact, keep your hands in front of you, and try to get the horse\u2019s neck longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ulf did not like what he saw in the corner: \u201cDon\u2019t make me angry, when you ask for bending and then pull with the outside rein, that\u2019s shit. Bend and allow the bend, the horse goes through the corner like a piece of wood, the bit is more out on the outside than the inside, that is impossible for the horse. Let him bend and follow without losing contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink haunches in, bend, allow, for once lose contact with the outside rein \u2013 haunches in, ride it with your legs. If he gets slower, don\u2019t get angry with your legs. If something goes wrong, don\u2019t correct with the reins. If you feel you are losing the horse over the shoulder, more outside leg, not more outside rein.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the canter it is the same idea. Bend him so he accepts the outside leg and comes light. Only support him with the outside rein. Everything you are doing, you do too much. Wait until he accepts, then pat him. Go forward with your inside hand, and pat him. In an ideal world, he\u2019ll stay in the bend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you clicking? This is reserve, when you have nothing more, click. With the first couple of riders it was teaching control, now it is UN-control. Go on the long side and sit like Ingrid Klimke, even if it feels too strong, don\u2019t pull, bend and light in both hands. Keep your hands together and in front of you. Ingrid bends a horse but you don\u2019t see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you are looking better. In the beginning it looked like work, now it looks elegant. Maybe for a while you will lose the cadence but in the test what you did looked too much like work. Work hard at home, but at the show, no-one should see that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Ulf was saving the best for last. Daniella Dierks had a stellar show even making a bid for the Esther Belliss award when she picked up a placing in the young jumping horse 4 year old class Sugarloaf Sirhara (Sir Donnerhall\/Capone).<\/p>\n

Ulf paid tribute to Daniella\u2019s position \u2018the only thing I would change is the shoulders a little back\u2026\u2019 but he commented on a couple of things he saw when Daniella brought Revelwood Donatello out to win the Champion of Champions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYesterday you showed some passage and some tempi changes, but be careful to come back to the basics, The horse can go away from you with passage, be careful when you ask for half pass that he doesn\u2019t go to passage. I want to see a really nice working trot, and not too short in the neck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIngrid said she liked the really nice contact from the horse, but you must make sure he doesn\u2019t shorten\u00a0 the neck when you take the contact. Now you are going to have to start showing in the double bridle, and often horses that are good in the snaffle are too light in the double.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time to work on the walk to canter transition. \u201cPay attention to the first canter jump. Make him a little more collected in the walk and keep the jump always in front of you \u2013 be careful it doesn\u2019t come little by little, behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the medium canter, keep more contact with a little bend to the inside. A little more pressure on the bit in medium so he stays rounder. Ride him into the bit \u2013 come, come, come, without getting faster. In the medium he gets longer, keep him more together. When there is a little pressure on the bit, keep it, you need this pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was back to trot, and again the discussion of the passagey tendency: \u201cI love passagey trot but it has to be forward to the bit, not away from the bit. Be careful, sometimes he loses the hind legs \u2013 make him quicker behind and get positive pressure. Now take your hands a little forward following the pressure and there is the perfect neck. Don\u2019t think \u2018perfect neck\u2019 and lose the hindlegs.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time Daniella was invited to play with passage:<\/p>\n

\u201cRide your collection forward, then you can get passage with rhythm. Passage is also forward. Don\u2019t do it with your hands: seat, legs and maybe whip, just two or three steps, then forward and out, and then the hindlegs are more active, more carrying.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that was the end of the 2011 edition of Uncle Ulf\u2019s annual young horse seminar. Summing up for the audience, Ulf apologized that he didn\u2019t get the riders to show many test movements: \u201cI\u2019m not a friend to riding too many lessons at home. Half passes are bad for the joints. If the horse can bend and go forward, then it can make a half pass. If it can canter more or less on the spot, then it can make a pirouette \u2013 one jump to test is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is for you to have no fear to touch the horse\u2019s mouth \u2013 it is not there for sugar. Try to get contact, and if the horse is not willing to accept the contact, take it even if the horse gets too short for a while. After a while you can follow the mouth and the neck follows too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now I am quite sure that this series of articles with Ulf M\u00f6ller are going to inspire a negative reaction from some in the equestrian community, particularly Ulf\u2019s forthright views that horses have to be asked to accept contact and that riders must not be afraid of looking for it. However \u2013 as with last year\u2019s session \u2013 I challenge anyone to point to a horse that looked worried or stressed by what Ulf was asking them to do, and that, to my mind, is the final test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tense is good, tense you can use\u2026 but first give me the whip. Okay, so you should never go to war without weapons but if I have a horse that is a little hot, I will take the spurs away and get the horse calm to the leg…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18343,"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":[4],"tags":[932,96,380],"class_list":["post-8917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dressage","tag-training-the-dressage-horse","tag-ulf-moller","tag-young-horse-training"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8917"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18344,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions\/18344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}