>>downward ones. I know this must be some kind of failure of
imagination on my part, but I can't figure out how clicker can be useful
when I
have my hands full of horse. Is anyone using clicker for dressage in the
saddle?<<
The answer to your question is YES! The most important thing I needed to do
in order to fit it together was change my thinking. It is about creative
solutions but it is also about realizing that it is ALL THE SAME to the
horse. The problem with dressage as most of us know it (and the truth is I
think that most of us are exposed to something that really has missed the
point!) is that as it is it is not conducive to clicker training.
Everything about how we are taught dressage is so totally UN-click-like it
isn't funny. :-( Only now after trying to work it out in my mind did I
realize that it wasn't that I needed fit the clicker into the existing
dressage work, I needed to change the dressage work so it fit into the
existing clicker work. (a BIG duh moment for me) So, first thing you need
to do (kind of) is forget what you *thought* you knew about "dressage."
OK so that has a bit of an air of mystery about it. Sorry! But so much of
it is about the mindset change it is hard not to start there.
I get a fair amount of "flack" from strictly dressage types when I say this,
but I learned more about what I needed to know about dressage from a cowboy
(and C/T) than most of all the dressage trainers I ever rode with. (save
Karl Mikolka who is a true master in his own right) So, one thing I think
is worth doing if you want to find out how to make this work is get Bill
Dorrance's book, "True Horsemanship Through Feel."
One of the difficulties you are having is probably in trying to figure out
how to break the behaviors down when you are busy "doing" dressage. ;-) The
answer is stop "doing" dressage and start figuring how to break the
behaviors out into their most fundamental components. Bill's book can
really help you out there because he shows how the little "particles of
feel" started on the ground transfer to the saddle. The next thing is you
need to start "playing" at the dressage just like you do the ground work and
other training games.
NONE of this will look like what *most* people define as "dressage." But
given my horse's leaps and bounds of progress in just the last 6 months I
know I'm on the right track. This is all since I finally just TOSSED the
last dredges of my preconceived notions (about dressage as I knew it) out
the door and started REALLY applying the c/t and nh stuff to the riding.
About 3 months ago my horse's massage therapist ;-) commented, HEY look at
this.... soft supple muscles are growing on her back and haunches, and that
tight braced feeling in her neck is gone. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... This
from a horse that would just as soon kick your head off for touching her.
Kudos to the masseuse for continuing to even COME!
Anyway. Not too long ago we were talking about c/t and piaffe. (maybe that
was before you joined the list?) I listed all the preporatory stuff one
would have to have WELL established before attempting piaffe. I'm thinking
that list might be a good place to start in terms of what behaviors could be
clicked. Here was my list (others may wish to add thoughts to it):
A very soft feelback in the reins.
Lift the withers on a breath.
Halt on another breath of seat and rein. From walk and trot.
Diagonalized reinback on another breath.
Soft transition to sitting trot off a very light leg.
Light soft turns on the forehand and haunches.
A light and soft collected walk that is barely advancing forward.
You may or may not notice that I did not mention the need to drive the horse
forward. I spend NO TIME pushing my horse. NONE. I spend all my time
thinking about her responding to light aids and staying soft throughout.
Nothing, it has turned out has been more important. Amazingly enough when
she is "with me", light to the aids, and soft, she has no brace either
mental or physical that prevents the forward from happening. She is now a
bazillion percent more "forward" (in other words willing to move in a soft
fluid way in self carriage without me having to push for it) than she has
ever been in the 6 YEARS (I hate to have to admit that part) that she has
been in my life.
My day to day strategy has TOTALLY changed. While everyone else is huffing
and puffing in the arena doing the dressage THANG I'm out and about around
the property. I'm fortunate in that the property where Tulsa lives has a
track, some nice hills to go up and down and some nice grassy spots where I
toodle around. And, I do mean toodle. Oh I might ask her to trot on in a
big swingy type gait if it seems like it would be a good thing, but most of
the time I am doing bits and pieces type stuff (from the list above).
The next thing is figuring out what to click. The problem with most
dressage folk is they are trying to do it all at once. There are even some
people that will swear till the cows come home that "real classical
dressage" can't BE broken down into chunks. wrong wrong wrong. Well I
think so anyway. :-) So don't get caught up in the IDEA that you MUST do
thus and so. No, you CAN work on one rein at a time or just one leg. You
DON'T have to push push push the horse for more forward. This is something
typical from what my day looks like:
Get on, c/t. (yes, I still click for mounting. do I Have to? no I don't
but I like to and it gets us off on the right foot).
Ask for a rock back onto the haunches right there, c/t.
Teeeeeny tiny touch to move forward, c/t. Yes, I haven't moved but 10 ft
and already we are stopping. We do a lot of stopping. Does it matter? YES
it matters. But not the way most of us might have thought... before. It
matters to the HORSE. I can't tell you how much a willingness on my part
to c/t every 10 feet has done for my horse's attitude. Do I c/t every ten
feet ALL the time? No but if you did for the next month it would probably
do you and your horse a lot of good. (by a truckload of mints, I use easily
handled stuff, not wrapped).
OK well now what... oh nice soft neck there, c/t.
oooo even NICER soft neck, c/t.
halt, c/t.
walk on, c/t.
walk on again, wait a few steps, ooooo nice swingy walk AND soft neck, c/t
and jackpot... have some grass.
OK walk on, and halt, oh nice halt, c/t.
Ask for a flexion to the right with the right rein, ah nice feel back there
c/t. Left side, nice feel back, c/t. walk on.
halt, and ask for reinback, oooooooo nice soft lift to the withers and rock
back, c/t. (never went for the reinback) try again.
now c/t for a step or two.
Have some grass.
It just goes on and on like this. Hopefully you get the idea. I probably
spend more time in the process of feeding treats or letting Tulsa graze than
DOING anything. Yet, she has blossomed. Just so you know, I DO still get
help from a "normal" dressage trainer. Every couple weeks I check in and
I'd show him my work. He has seen a HUGE change in Tulsa. When I DO put
things "together" she is 100 bazillion percent MORE put-together-able. The
forward is there, the bend is there, the softness, lightness, etc. But I
only "go there" for short bursts.
Well, this is getting long!! I'm sure I have barely scratched the surface
but perhaps it will generate some food for thought.
If you want to see some pictures of Tulsa being c/t'd see my webpage and go
to the photo album (which has a link to the clickryder pictures too). Also,
you can learn about the clinic that Alexandra is doing here in MA that is to
be sponsored by the New England Dressage Association.
