Blue River Farm

10/19/2024

One of our own could use our support. Stef's a darling and US health care is expensive. Please donate.

Our girl Steph is facing a new diagnosis of oral cancer. She will be having a… Robin Lor needs your support for Help Stephanie Maxwell Kick Cancer to the Curb

09/05/2024

My farm has been sold to a lovely young couple, Katie and Isaiah, and they'll be running it as a boarding facility. They're a joy. I am very grateful that this beautiful land and the horses I've loved for so many years are being passed on to such a delightful pair. At the end of September the next chapter begins for all of us. Me in Portland somewhere, them here in the heart of the community I love so much.

08/21/2024

This post has garnered some attention just recently.

To use a bit, or not to use a bit. Gentle riders all over the world are looking at this question.
We hear lots of opinions, and there's no shortage of studies done by bitless proponents supporting their feeling that metal in the mouth causes problems to the horse. But any "scientific" research that starts with a point to prove is bad science.
Classical riding begins with the hand. The hand is on the bit. And we, who advocate an inexpressible lightness, wind up feeling like a lone voice crying in the wilderness: we absolutely love the experience available with the correctly used bit.
YES, everything about the interaction of the rider's aids with the horse in modern use is causing problems.
But it's not the bit that causes the issue, it's the mind using the tool that is confused about how to interact in a useful, healthy way with the horse through the connections we have in this tactile language: the bit, the hand, the leg, the seat.
Francoise Robichon de la Gueriniere stated categorically in 1733 that the hand is the first or primary aid. And he's considered the father of all modern riding.
The seat and legs came into fashion when the trainers of the 19th century decided the army full of commoners were all too crude and brutish ever to learn the subtle nuance of the hand. They took away the poetry of the interaction between the hand of the rider and the mouth of the horse, and replaced that conversation with the blunt instruments, the legs and seat. They created a system of cues based on the pull, push and squeeze, since neither horse nor rider was considered to have a mind.
Even if they were exemplary beings, the rider would likely die in battle, and if he survived he'd likely eat the horse on the march home. It takes time and education to create a good hand.
So the 19th century military trainers set aside the sweet subtlety of the hand and the bit, and just gave the peons a way to muscle the horse onto the battlefield.

But you don't have to act like a peon in a 19th century army. You can actually relax and come to listen to the mind that is calling to you from your horse, and you can come to offer him your mind in return.

We use a baucher snaffle bit, because it hangs flat unless the horse interacts with it in a way that alters that hanging. The horse can push or chew on it if he chooses, the rider never pulls.

The hand touches the reins which float on the bit, the bit is carried by the bars of the horse's jaw which is released and mobile in the mouth of a peaceful horse at ease. The jaw is the first part of the body to reflect tension when the horse begins to feel any discomfort. Emotional, intellectual or physical discomfort all appear first as a tightening in the jaw, just as the relaxation of the horse first appears as a release in the jaw.
Laying lightly across the bars of the jaw, the bit carries that subtle change to the rider's listening hand.

What is wrong with modern riding using bits is that contemporary trainers think the bit is used at very least as a threat to inflict pain, that you control with more and more severity if the horse offers resistance, that you tie the face shut to stop the horse from gaping its jaw or chomping at the bit. That you tie the head into position to make him assume the shape you think he ought to hold. Contemporary riders who use a bit never deal with their hands, they think of themselves as having "good" hands if the bit doesn't interact with the horse much.
Modern riding using the bit is mute, deaf, dumb and crude.

What is wrong with the only alternative people know, bitless riding, is that it never addresses the mistakes of the hand, the muteness, deafness, dumbness or crudeness. Nor does it address the cacaphony the horse hears in an inadequate balance. And it leaves well meaning, loving, gentle riders ignorant of the pain they cause their horses with the mistakes of the hand, seat and leg.

Learn to use the bit well, and a world of communication opens from your horse to you. Learn to use the bit as we teach and you'll find your horse telling you never to go back.

If you're interested, or willing to at the very least be curious, find us at www.classical-equitation.com.
(Photo by Linnea Falk.)

08/21/2024

Several people have been sharing and resharing a post I wrote about the bit many years ago. Here's another variation on the theme...
One of the concerns riders who dislike the bit express is the belief that the seat and legs are more natural, more "in tune" than the hand. They don't want to use the bit, they call it an artificial aid, they want to avoid the bit because it is a hard object.
Your pelvis is an artificial aid made of bone. Your pelvis acts just as the bit does, but with less clarity. Learning to move with the horse, balancing very well, and using appropriate tack,your pelvis can communicate beautifully to the horse-- but the hand has authority that the seat lacks when authority is required, and it sometimes is. Your hand has the potential for specificity when things are unclear to the horse that the rider's body can sometimes mask.
In this set of images, you can see that the horse's back carries the rider's back, when his hip raises or lowers in his natural motion, (and, though you can't see it, when his shoulders reach forward or contract back) the rider's seat is carried in a sort of "hour glass" shaped movement, up and down, forward and back.
If the hand on the reins belongs to a rider with a good balanced seat, the bit lays on the bars of the jaw and gently carries the rider's hand as the jaw expresses the same forces in physics that carry the rump and the spine. The movements of the horse express themselves in the movement of the jaw if the horse is relaxed and without tension.
It's why nosebands have to be loose to allow the horse to move without obstructions.
It's also an invitation to the rider's mind. The mind of both the horse and the rider are the first consideration. This is why L'Hotte says "Calm, forward and straight" in exactly that order. The mind is paramount.
The rider's hands are no more or less "natural" or "gentle" than the rump, legs and spine. Our bodies are all of a piece. And there's a reason we play guitar and stroke our children's faces with our hands, and not with other parts of our anatomy.
If you can balance well enough that your hands are listening and floating along with the movement of the horse, cadenced with him at this level, then you can begin to use your hand with intelligence. Then you are in the area of developing balance well enough to use your seat and legs with hope of some nuance too. If your balance is such that you can't work this well...don't abandon the bit, just assume it's really time for serious seatwork.
If you can already balance this well, Great! Now, don't abandon the bit, learn to listen to the information your horse is sending you through it. There's a marvelous channel of communication available there from him to you, if you're listening.
And that is allowing the natural horse to communicate to the natural human through the most nuanced of their tactile centers, and in this interaction both animals find the other beautiful.
We do intensives on seatwork for riders from all over the world at Blue River Farm.
I'll be offering a limited number of these intensives in the coming year. Consider asking if you'd like to learn more.

05/24/2024

"I thought of the first education of a child, and I said to myself: First, one introduces him to letters, then he combines them, eventually he reads fluently.
The horse must follow a similar gradation in its education, and, if I can be allowed to push this comparison to its end, I would say: The knowledge of letters is relaxation; spelling is properly placing all the parts of his body; finally reading is taking any direction easily once he is in movement; here is education by degrees.
But, far from putting it into practice, they neglect it. It is not by degrees and gradually that they want to train a horse: on the contrary, they rush his education, and a simple study does not always precede a more complicated one.
Also, many horses that could have been called to return good service were corrupted and even ruined, thanks to this poor education." Francois Baucher

Craig Stevens comments:
"It is interesting in this quote that Baucher puts such a premium on relaxation... without calm nothing good comes of work. Improper tensions are destructive and break down everything.
The linguistical aspect of this is frequently overlooked. As with any language, it has a structure, an intention, and a uniform manner of conveying meaning. Because equitation is based on largely tactile awareness, it is difficult to examine the structure of this language objectively.
This is the difficulty in teaching this language. It is important to keep in mind that the point is communication. Communication is about emotion and ideas. When there’s a high level of emotion, the ideas can become confused. If the ideas become the center of focus, the emotive expressiveness can be lost. Both are components in a satisfying dialogue.
What is essential is that these two aspects of communication be balanced.

Mary Anne Campbell Comments:
"One of the most effective things about this older approach is that the handler also is given small bits to master, the "A B Cs" are attended to, we learn the building blocks of the language in a calm, friendly way, and from the simple language of the aids we slowly build to creating sentences, prose, poetry and songs. So the work takes on life the way great art does: you don't learn a method and endlessly repeat it and punish the horse if it doesn't understand. You learn a way of speaking together, of listening with your heart, your body, and your mind to the horse's heart, body and mind-- and then! The magic, the symphony, the delight and the unexpected unexplainable joy can begin.
I kinda like this way of working.
I kinda do.
Thank you Craig, for all that you taught me... and for the doors you opened for so many of us! And thank you Baucher, you ornery rascal, for the same."

04/18/2024

Craig's memorial at our farm in Snohomish is up now on YouTube. It was a beautiful day.
The memorial starts with an introduction, it's a little hard to hear but we fix that in a little bit...
Then a beautiful song by Linnea
Then a montage of photos and memories and music...
Then remembrances.
And finally a special treat: Marie Haglund receives her certification as a Foundation for the Equestrian Arts instructor... a very big deal.
Thank you Craig, for all you gave us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJJjY6PIZ2k
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This is the tribute that we gave at the home he lived in at NSAE, in Snohomish, for Craig P. Stevens.He was a man who loved horses. From Craig's origins in N...

04/09/2024

What is the right contact with the bit?
Should the rider feel a pound of pressure? A kilogram? Five? Do you drive the horse into your hand, so you can feel the push from his rear pressing into the bit, or reins? How much pressure is required to know that your horse is "on the bit?"

In this old work, contact is just touch.
Just that... touch.
The rider communicates through the rein aids by the weight of the rein, not by pressure on the mouth.
The lips are never even moved by the touch of the rider's hand.

If you look at the connection between the rein and the bit, there is a small area of play between leather and metal. As you begin to gently lift the leather of the rein toward the metal of the bit, there is a moment when the rein comes in contact with the bit.
That is contact. And it is enough.
The bit is not moved by the touch of the rein in your hand.
The rider’s hand is soft, relaxed, at ease. The rein is held between thumb and forefinger, with one rein in each hand, or with both reins in either the right or left hand.
If you can feel that light contact and you have a truly balanced seat, you can communicate a subtle suggestion, a direction. If you have been educated to the rein aids, with that connection you can communicate to the horse so that he places his weight exactly where you want, on any of the four legs, and anywhere in between. You can, using the smallest indication of the aids, suggest any of the gaits, and any posture desired to make movement simple and easy for the horse.
It takes no pressure, but to create meaning from touch does take a link between the rider’s and the horse’s minds.
Now, there are two of you here.
The horse's mouth and mind is as involved as the rider's hand with the bit, the horse should be free to be as curious and sensual about the connection between you as the rider is. A fully supple, balanced horse and a supple, balanced rider with a good education view the simple snaffle bit as something to listen to and speak through quietly to one another.
The rider listens through the bit as much as we communicate through it. The mouth is the first thing to change if the horse begins to tense, and the last thing to release as he relaxes. The hand in the rider plays much the same role.
This weight of the rein connection is easy if the horse and rider both are in self-carriage and perfectly balanced. If we are not supple or balanced, we express our stiffness or lack of coordination through altering the touch on the bit.
This is not wrong, no one is perfect—but only one person in this pair of animals has a vision for an improving connection.
Some horses will root at the bit, some will fiddle with it, some will clench it between the teeth, some will lean on it, some will pull back from it, or tuck their nose so that the feeling is lost. (And, by the way, the unbalanced or fearful rider’s hands start with the same problems.) In the old way of working, any change to the feeling of the bit is information, communication, an indication of a change in the horse’s carriage, balance, and calm.
The rider never ignores the horse’s discomfort. The rider always returns the touch to “légèreté”, that is, to lightness.
The feel on the bit has been said to be like stirring heavy cream, deeply connected, smooth, effortless, delicious. It is the feel you have when you are going to dance with a great partner, and you float up from your chair when he offers you his hand, no one is gripping, no one is pulling, and no one is leaning, your hand rests like a small bird on his, and with that sweet, sweet connection, as with the horse, together your balance is exquisite and your rhythm divine.
Weight of the rein. That is "right contact". Weight of the rein, and the intoxicating link between two minds.
Mary Anne Campbell
www.blue-river-farm.com

03/03/2024

"It is your right and the horse's right to stand on the earth together and prove that you are both better together than you are separate from each other because you both belong to this good earth. This is the nobility of dressage and it is your birthright. This is self carriage."
~Craig Stevens

03/03/2024

Craig Stevens' ten riding rules:
1. Keep the horse between you and the ground.
2. Don't annoy the horse.
3. If you find you have annoyed the horse... stop doing it.
4. The horse is stronger than you... do not wrestle with him.
5. The horse is heavier than you... do not throw your weight around.
6. The horse is faster than you... do not try to be faster than him.
7. You are smarter than he is... act like it.
8. Make what you want easy.
9. Keep it simple
10. Don't annoy the horse.

03/03/2024

The mentor at the heart of the work we do, Craig Stevens, passed away during the night of March 2, 2024. Impossible loss.

10/19/2023

We talk often in training about resistances. How to address resistances, how to recognize them, what to do about them, what causes them.
What we don't talk about is cultivating acceptances.
Transmittal is a word that comes up in training. In the state of transmittal, the conversation is about a situation in which I say 'jump', and the horse says 'how high'.
What if there's a whole lot more going on in the state of acceptance than just a blanket "yes to all you request."
What would training look like if when a resistance becomes apparent in either horse or rider, the work together becomes an exploration into acceptances? How would you savor making it safer and more comfortable and more and more possible to offer acceptance, inviting a deeper and deeper "yes", creating a habit and an expectation of curious, playful, willing, soft, inviting, living, thriving conversation about

'AH here's the yes. And oh, a brighter yes! And even more, even more yes.' from both of us, horse and rider.

Consider the idea that every touch we give the horse can be as welcome as when a mother strokes her foal. If every aid from the beginning is inviting and curiously listening rather than aggressively telling, if boundaries are set clearly, simply and early- before a problem arises-- and if the base line begins with, and throughout the training remains, connection... then the horse remains enchanted with the rider, the rider with the horse, and resistance is never created by the training.

Natural resistance, when it arises due to environmental alterations, flows past without becoming stuck in either animal.

Patriarchal work- work that is about the status of the superior being as the source of an unquestioned hierarchy results in predictable arguments, predictable aggression from all the beings involved, horse and human. Just as it does in our culture. It's not about 'men' or any other gender, it's about status and ego and the fear of losing face.

Matriarchal work-- work that considers both horse and rider as having worth and interest-- is not a romantic ideal, it is the root of great training. And the source of a kind of relationship with life, with horses, with each other... that is open, buoyant, filled with possibilities and endlessly improving.

The more we study in the matriarchal manner, the more we learn and the more there is to learn-- it's endless, this beautiful work.

Mary Anne Campbell,
Blue River Farm.
Come ride with us.

08/15/2023

The intensive WORKS. From R.T., a rider who came to do an intensive a little while ago...

"Hello Mary Anne!

I returned from a week long riding trip in Montana recently. About half way through the trip, I realized my mare's back was becoming sore and I was also becoming sore as well. So I had the idea to play with some of the riding techniques B. and I learned from you during our intensive... and it completely changed the rest of the trip for me! I spent the last 50 miles gently working on my seat, and I was so amazed by how effortless and how much more comfortable riding became in such a short period of time. It made me excited for when I can work on these things with you again! I'm not sure when that will be yet... but hopefully soon. :)"

RT