Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining

natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage...

never underestimate the potential for harmony & lightness to improve in ways you cannot yet imagine

This Month• News from the Temenos

• Comments from students

• Photos of the fillies

• Atomic ‘before’ and ‘after’

• Developing the physical

Upcoming Clinics: Clinic schedule: CLICK HERE

July 16-19Finding the Sweet SpotBridgewater, NHContact: Brenda Ladd603-217-0040 H603-715-0253 Claddfarmllc@me.com

July 23-25 Finding the Sweet SpotArlington, WAContact: Tina Crawfordtinac@rtui.com425.445.8726

August 21-23Upward Spiral of SuccessDusseldorf, GermanyContact: Sabine Reubsteckenpferd@cityweb.dePhone 0492857 902537Mobil  049157 78771277

August 26-28Finding the Sweet SpotAugust 26-28Upward Spiral of SuccessSomerset, UKContact: Suzanne Cooksccook@tiscali.co.uk

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Welcome back to the Temenos...

Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no lim-its, where special rules apply and extra-ordinary events are free to occur.

"Success is neither magical nor mysterious.

Success is the natural conse-quence of consistently applying

the basic fundamentals."

~ Jim Rohn

Auditors Welcome At All Clinics!

Karen Rohlf

July 2010

News from the Temenos

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OK, maybe Kris Fulweilerʼs horse, Wouter (above photo) didnʼt find me that interesting in this particular mo-ment, but I promise... I give good clinics!! Here are the groups from my recent clinics in Ohio at Mary Ann Mooreʼs The Ranch OutBack and from Sally Taylorʼs group in Lindstrom, MN (home of THE best massage therapist ever (Jim Dale) for deep tissue work that actually feels good... Really. AND the place where every year I sign up for a special treatment from Kristi Kelly-Raverty who works her VHT and cranio-sacral magic that puts me in a wonderful relaxed, energized, balanced, free place...Hmm there may be a reason I have been to MN 6 years in a row!Both clinic locations were really fun and I loved seeing new and returning students.Next week I am off to NH and WA for clinics (see front page for contact and location details). In August I travel to Germany and the UK. There was a change of venue for the UK clinic, so if you are planning on coming to audit, make sure you check the location!In between flying to all corners of the country I have been enjoying my beautiful horses and working feverishly on getting RIH#6 DVD out (still waiting for things beyond my control, but I promise) ... SOON!I also am working on 2 other projects that I know you will love when they are available... All to do with learning & having fun at the same time.

Namaste:I just wanted to share a wonderful artist with you. Daniel Nevins is a fantastic painter whose work I have admired for years. I am lucky enough to have some prints and small pieces by him in my home.

Recently I received this painting by him (in photo above) as a birthday present (Thanks, Dana!). He has been doing a series of small paintings as part of what he calls The Na-maste Project. Namaste is a word that is usu-ally used as a greeting or in parting and it re-fers to acknowledging the God in you, or that ʻThe light in me sees the light in youʼ, or some-thing to that effect.

Most of his paintings are of humans, but as you can see, the one he did for me is of a horse! I love how it turned out... so peaceful, yet there is something whimsical about it... those fingered hands on the horse... It makes me smile and feel warm and fuzzy all at the same time every time I pass it!

In the spirit of horsemanship and just simply excellent ʻhumanshipʼ I think it is a wonderful sentiment to keep in the front of my attention... All Is One...

Here is a link to the page on his website where he talks about the Namaste paintings. Check out this video where he talks about it. you can have your own custom Namaste painting, too!

Ansur experience:Hi Karen,

It occurred to me that there was an Ansur dis-tributor near me. She came to my barn today with 2 Excels, a 17.5 in and a 17.0 inch. The 17 fit me best. It was an amazing saddle. On my 19-year old 14.3H Morgan, the saddle allowed me to have a lot more of my leg in contact with her barrel and my legs were very quiet and non-grippy. On my 5-year old Ca-nadian Sport Horse (taller and not as broad...yet!), I felt very balanced at all 3 gaits.

The most amazing change was seen in my 16.1H hulking Appy mare. She has always been reluctant to move forward and I always feel like I am constantly nagging her. She is also girthy, snapping at whoever is tightening the girth. I blamed all of this on Appy-tude. However, I now know her actions meant she was in pain. First of all, she did not even bother to turn her head when girthed with the Excel. She felt the same as usual when walk-ing and when I first asked her to trot but then she started changing. She was not traveling crooked; she relaxed her neck and started to move more forward with bigger strides. At the canter, she absolutely went nuts! I could feel her raise different parts of her back. She al-most cantered in place and seemed to be test-ing the saddle. Each time I asked her to can-ter, she lengthened her stride a little. The fourth time, her canter was huge, soft and

round. There is no way I can put my Albion Ultimate on her back again. Guess I'm stuck riding her bareback until the Excel shows up!

I owned an Ansur Classic about 7 or 8 years ago and was not happy with its lateral stability or security even though my Morgan mare loved it. Ansur definitely listened to their cus-tomers when designing the Excel!

Thank you for your website and the info on the Ansur Excel. I am looking forward to having one comfortable saddle for all three of my horses!

Karen O.

Note from K1: The Classic can be less stable laterally, especially with some horses/riders. The Excel really does do a great job of keep-ing the positives of a treeless and adds the positives of having a twist and a gullet.

Realization about the feel of the connection:Hi Karen, 

I thought I would write to you, as you have truly been very helpful in my journey.  I have yet to attend one of your clinics....

 My name is Carol-Anne Robinson, I have  read your book and watched your DN dvd several times... and you new DVDʼs as well... In fact the DN dvd is starting to blurr..... The other day I was watching again and you were talking about connection with the reins, and what you said what very powerful.... to the effect of “ you can have my hands and my elbows , but not my seat or body....”  well.... it was like it was the first time I had watched or heard this... hmmm....

So down to the barn I went thinking, I really wonder how often my gelding, Spirit, has me when we are playing with soft feel and boy some days are just not soft... So I observed with a curious attitude on line, then saddling, then while riding.... It was truly amazing how often he did “ have me, my seat, sometimes my feet ( on line)”  so..... I decided to try the “you can have hands and elbows “ but not the rest of me.... It was not pretty in the middle of the session, as Spirit often pressured into the line and the reins and I kind of think this has been occurring for quite some time.. hmmm again...

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Licking and chewing on it... but by the end of the session, wow, what a difference in him and me.   I simply waited with my ask upped my phases and was clear about what I was asking ( that is a whole other concept onto itʼs own that makes a significant difference) until he did respond, and then released and tried again with softer ask, and wanting a softer response and continued on with everything we were doing ... Since then, 2 weeks ago, I have real-ized how many areas werenʼt working while we were playing.... And now we are playing to have this concept become equal and con-nected in everything we do.  It is truly amazing what one little light bulb can do!  THANK you so much, for all your explanations.  

Carol-Anne Robinson, PT, MCPA

Note from Karen: What Carole is referring to is a simulation that is on the DVD that goes with the Dressage, Naturally book. I also do this simulation in my clinics as it is one of my fa-vorites.

The simulation is where two people hold reins together and practice creating a positive con-nection with the reins where there is contact, but no bracing or balancing on them.

The key is to be able to be passively resistant: non-negotiable, yet not bracing. The feeling is as if the reins pass through my ʻempty hands and forearmsʼ and connect into my body. I make sure all my energy is going to the horse, and if there is some contact it may feel like my forearms are being stretched, but I make sure i am not allowing my upper arm to be taken forward (you can have my forearm, but you canʼt have me”). The elbow joint needs to be very elastic, and the shoulder joint very free in order for this to happen, especially when rid-ing a horse who is moving freely through his back. Sometimes I think of ʻsitting on my el-bowsʼ.

Any pressure from the horse will go through my arms and actually make me feel more rooted to the ground... (when things are going well!). It is a challenge to maintain this when there is an animal that is 10 times your body weight at the end of the line!

That is why it is so important to eliminate as many reasons as possible why there is extra pressure ending up in the reins or on the line. Then we have a chance to practice the art of being positively connected through the reins.

DVD #5 helps to achieve power:Karen, Just wanted to let you know that Barney and I are just making so much progress with the help of your dvdʼs.  It is just amazing to me that I get such good results by watching a dvd, but the instruction is so good and so appropriate.  Every time I watch it, I get some-thing else out of it.  I watch them over and over usually right before a riding session be-cause it keeps it fresh in my mind.

 The trot lengthenings was big break through.  One of my challenges was that when I take contact, I would lose the impulsion/power.  Freestyle, he was loose and powerful but once I would take contact, he would get short and tight and I felt as if I had to drive him with my seat in order to get the power.  The exercise in your dvd has really helped me break through that barrier.   Now I have a strategy.

 Another challenge is the walk.  I feel like I donʼt get the power or the stretch at the walk.  I have been told that the walk sometimes is the most difficult gate?  Maybe that could be your next dvd?

Keep them coming.  I love them. ~Tina B.

Brief thoughts on the walk:I thought I would respond briefly regarding Tinaʼs question about the walk. In general, the walk is considered the most difficult gait to improve and the easiest one to ruin. The trot is the easiest gait to improve and the hardest to ruin and the canter is sort of in the middle. When looking to purchase a horse, many people look for a fancy trot and a hugely over-tracking walk... Those are features that are easy to see (and doesnʼt everyone love a fancy trot?)

Dressage trainers will want to see the horseʼs canter. The bare minimum would be a horse with a good canter (3 clear beats and a nice amount of airtime), a clean walk (meaning a rhythm of 4 evenly spaced beats) that is not too big or too small, and a normal trot. This is because in dressage, the most complicated advanced movements happen at the canter (counter changes of hand at the half pass, tempi changes, pirrouettes.... ). Just about any horse can do something of a piaffe and pas-sage.

The walk is often given a lower priority be-cause there simply arenʼt that many move-ments in dressage tests at the walk... it isnʼt a weighty gait as far as accumulating points. So even though the free walk and extended walk are always scored double, you can get a way with a less that stellar walk and still be suc-cessful... Unfortunately.

I say unfortunately because the the walk is the gait where any problem in the system will show up, so it should be important to see it! Just about anything can disturb the walk. One of the main reasons for this is that the walk has no airtime. If a horse is excited/nervous at the trot or canter, he can spring or jump higher. but there is nowhere to go at the walk. What typically happens is the rhythm starts to approach lateral, where the front leg comes down too quickly (due to lack of balance/engagement or the tense back/shoulders) so instead of the walk sounding like: 1--2--3--4 it sounds more like: 1-2------3-4 (if you are start-ing your counting with a hind leg).

So one of the reasons dressage students are told to “not work the walk too muchʼ is simply because if your work has tension, brace or anything else negative hiding in it, it will show up at the walk and will make it worse and worse. If the way you trot/canter makes the walk worse, probably the way you walk will make it even worse!

If there are problems at the walk they need to be addressed and let it be a wonderful indica-tor of something else that is not yet as it should be. The same way an un-nosebanded horse can show you with his open mouth that something is not right.

Rarely do you see a horse whose natural walk is not clean. If their natural walk is clean, but in riding it it loses quality, then you are not there yet and there is something coming in to disturb it. What you find to get a better walk will help everything else, because you will have solved it.

The tricky part of the walk issue is that the number one killer of clean walks is tension. And it is difficult for the human to go and ʻex-plore to develop the walkʼ rather than to just work it using that same system that caused the problem in the first place.

So, yes, do not keep riding a walk poorly, but yes, do put a lot of attention on it and it will give you input about the general state of qual-ity of the connection that may be hiding in the other gaits.

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Ahhh, summer fun with the youngsters! I am just taking them in to be groomed, to explore and to get used to being out of the herd. No big goals, just to kind of show them how the world works and let them know that it is all OK if they understand a few basic rules and I do my best to under-stand what it must be like to be a young innocent equine.Natilla is so much like Ovation... Reluctant rock star all the way, (Dominant, Low En-ergy, Curious, Friendly), She is not too creative, but is very proud of herself when she learns something. She is not fearful of things and has a very ʻtomboyʼ kind of en-ergy (if that is possible). She has a very quiet power that I am just sooo excited to explore.Solana, on the other hand is such a little girl. Sheʼs very flirty, and if she was her human equivalent, she would be texting constantly. As far as her character, she is Submissive, Energetic, Afraid and Friendly... This would make her a ʻPeople Pleaserʻ which sounds great, but they can be worriers, not so much about their envi-ronment, but about keeping their human happy. It becomes so important that they are doing the right thing. So I am very motivated to nurture her curiosity/confidence and be methodical/reassuring to her so she doesnʼt have to be a worrier! These descriptions of their characters are from Dessa Hockelyʼs book “Is Your Horse A Rock Star”... You can find it on my More Resources page.As you can see in these photos, Solana (smaller, bucksin) can concentrate and relax (top photo), but when Natilla and I were concentrating on each other Solana got the ʻzoomiesʼ and tried desperately to get some attention from at least one of us!

Summer fun with the girls

Photos: Dana Rasmussen

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I know I write a lot about Atomic lately, but the little bugger just captivates me. Maybe its because he is so

much like Monty. Maybe because he is such

a strong character who knows where all the holes in my leadership style are.

Anyway, here are some photos of his luscious,

muscle-man body. Because on the next pages

I am going to write a bit about the physical aspect

of our horsesʼ development

(Finally we have enough partnership that I can ask him for the things HE really likes to do!)

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Body by Dressage, Naturally

The photo above/left was taken the day Atomic arrived at the Temenos, 4 years ago as a 3 year old stallion. This photo begs the question: ʻWhat the heck was I think-ing?” but I have moved beyond that now. The photo top/right was taken just this week. And although i feel like I am cheating because obviously I have a better photog-rapher and nicer, mowed lawns in the ʻafterʼ photo, I am giving an honest comparison because did use a shot where he was in a similar ʻon alertʼ state of mind in order to more directly compare his ʻbeforeʼ and ʻafterʼ bodies. Let your eyes soak this in, as this is not going to be a lesson in anatomy, but more a lesson in some things to think about to help you develop your horsesʼ bodies as well as their minds/emotions.In the foundation stage we of course, talk to the body, but the intention of the exercises is to develop something mentally or emotionally. First we need to have a horse that is in an emotional state where he is open to communication, not reactive and in survival mode. We set up exercises or puzzles that cause him to think, or to get curious about something. We make it so he can find the answer and that when he does he will feel better and think: “Oh... What was I so excited about?” Often there can be a lot of physical motion, but we are not being particular about that, we are focusing on the emotional state.Mental exercises may look like almost nothing is going on. We ask the horse for something and if he gives us something resembling what we are asking for we say: ʻYes! Something like that!” Then we dwell and let him think about it. It is a great technique for establishing communication and understanding. As they get better at that, we raise our standard, expecting the horse to respond without hesitation and in a positive way, and we need to adjust our timing accordingly to help him find this. We would like our horses to answer our questions with a: “Yes. Iʼll do it!” When they are willingly offering something, then they are ready to sustain it. This is when we should be doing less and our horses offer more, it is when we start something and they finish it or keep doing it until we direct otherwise. if we have developed them well to this point, they are in a motivated, willing state.Now we can begin to think about the quality of the movement. We use our communication to guide our horses through gymnastic patterns that help his body... The focus at this point is to achieve healthy biomechanics. Have you ever seen or felt the first moment a rider sits on a horse? Unless it is a very strong horse and a very light rider, there is some sort of hollowing of the horseʼs back and a sprawling of their legs. From this moment forward we need to pay our horseʼs back for this burden by helping them overcome this aberrant posture, and develop the skills in their body to carry us in a pain-free way. And, of course we want to do this in a way that does not violate their mental and emotional state! Often students feel ʻbadʼ or confused when it comes to understanding how to develop their horseʼs physical qualities, strength, stamina and coordination.

Often we can do the same basic pattern, but with a different focus or priority. For example: You may do a serpentine in order to get your horseʼs attention. If your horse is distracted, frequent changes of direction can help, plus the rhythmic, repetitive nature of a serpentine can cause relaxation and confidence which also helps the horse feel good to pay attention. In this case, you are doing the serpentine when he is off balance, (not thinking, not paying attention) and you will stop doing the serpentine when he regains balance and focus. This is great for the mind, but the body only got to practice moving during the out-of-balance phase!Lets say we have done exercises excellently so we now have moved our horse in ways that he is in a good mental and emotional state... This is a great time to now focus on the body! To con-tinue with the above example, now we may choose do do serpentines in order to reap other benefits of serpentines such as: suppleness through changing of the bend, balance in requiring equal turning ability in each direction, deeper focus through precision, equal carrying power in each inside hind leg, and equal connection in each rein. The only way to achieve these benefits is to practice the serpentines! And we need to accumulate higher and higher percentage of steps taken in healthy biomechanics versus unhealthy biomechanics. So at first it takes 5 serpentines to get a good one, but a week later you get a good one on the first try. At this stage you still may stop after the good one, whether it took 5 or 1 attempts. Hopefully now you have now developed a coordination for riding serpentines and have gained these skills which can only be gained by doing them. (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

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Once you can reliably find those good serpentines on the first or second try, then you are ready to have another priority of focus which is building up your stam-ina. Wouldnʼt it be nice to be able to do several excellent serpentines in a ride, maybe once at the trot, then at the canter with changes of lead through the trot upon crossing centerline? If it is a movement that requires strength you donʼt have to do the movement continuously, you may take a little breather between repe-titions, (just like weight-training in the gym).

The key always is to develop their physical bodies without ever going so far that our horses regret offering their willingness.

It can be very confusing to know when to do what, but keep in mind this general idea:First priority is quality of the emotional stateSecond priority is quality of communication (with understanding and positive feedback)Third priority is quality of movement.Do your best to get the first step the best step, then strengthen that.But even with that said it can be confusing, because we need a certain amount of communication and body movement to come to a good emotional state, and in order to achieve communication, we have to ask them questions and often these will be questions with answers that require their bodies to do something. Riding with good quality of movement can help calm a horse, and being in good physical balance helps them be physically able to respond to our communications. Sometimes when I write stuff like that I am not sure if I make things better or worse for you! But my most common answer to most questions is: ʻIt depends!”I have a little rule of thumb that applies to horses at the level of ready to focus on the physical aspects, and that is: Donʼt try to sustain, something that was not readily offered in the first place. Donʼt practice building stamina of a trot that you had to beg and plead with your horse to begin to do. First do exercises to have excellent understanding and willingness. Then when your horse says: ʻSure, Iʼll do that! No problem!” then I can gradually increase the stamina and strength. But I will play with great curiosity and focus in order to get to that point.Here is another rule of thumb: If you are making it more difficult, also make it easier. An example of this would be when beginning lateral movements (shoulder-in, haunches in). If they say they canʼt do it at the walk, keep your standard high for the shoulder-in, but do it at the halt. If they can do it at the halt and walk but find it difficult at the trot, keep your standard high for the shoulder-in, but do it at the walk. This gives your best chance for allowing them to develop their coordination and your feel for the movement, but also their trust, in that just as it was getting difficult, you acknowledged that you felt that in them and made it easier for them to be successful without dropping your standard or the exercise altogether. It is so important to understand and develop healthy biomechanics for our horses, and the best way is to start with a horse and rider who trust each other, under-stand each other and are curious and focused. Use your foundational skills to arrive at this point. Know what the reasons are for the exercises you do in your foundational work. At first the patterns are there to achieve this excellent foundational balance. From there, they become gymnastic patterns to develop the body. Believe it or not there is a certain exhilaration, pride and confidence you and your horses can get by becoming strong and supple in your bodies.When the time is right, when your horse is ready and willing, when you have an idea how to create healthy biomechanics (and the Dressage, Naturally instruc-tional materials are of course a great resource!), then donʼt be afraid to explore slowly building you and your horseʼs coordination, stamina and strength at better quality movement. If you always stop at the stage where you spent 90% of the time to get 10% good quality, then you are still building poor physical habits. At every level of your horseʼs development make sure you get to the place where it takes you 10% of the time, to get 90% quality... then strengthen that 90%!It is a dream, but we can only get closer to it if we try!

Photos on this and previous page: Dana Rasmussen