The Cavalli Connection

06/18/2025

https://dressagetoday.com/lifestyle/is-it-time-to-break-up-with-your-trainer/?lid=z44jafu7xo4u&uuid=66f68a661c0441f7a784ca8b

Making the decision to leave your trainer can be agonizing and emotional. We'll help you determine if it might be time to move on and how to have a healthy break-up.

05/28/2025

“Off the bit”

There’s endless energy expended in trying to make sure that horses are “on the bit.” So often, though, in those attempts, there’s a lot of pulling, a lot of heaviness, a lot of just about anything BUT lightness and self carriage, And sometimes the use of stronger bits.

Perhaps something I saw in a long ago clinic might shed some light on the topic, maybe not---

Anyway, the clinician said that she felt that while on the long road to true engagement, where the horse brings its hocks and stifles into play to lift as well as to push, with the bit being a sort of means of containment toward which to drive energy, that a good test is to have moments OFF the bit, to see if the horse continues to move in balance at least for a few strides or either gets stronger-faster, or plunges onto its forehand.

Her thought being that since a horse can trot and canter in balance WITHOUT a rider, the process of getting the horse to be able to do the same thing WITH a rider should not involve as much use of hands as so often becomes part of the training process.

I also remember another of her quotes, that the rider FILTERS energy out through the bit, rather than TRAPS the energy---

05/26/2025

"Ride the horse"!

Go anywhere that there are horses that are not currently being used in some human based activity and watch them for any length of time, and the chances are high that they are not doing much in terms of exercise.

Some can’t because they are stuck in stalls, but even horses in wide open spaces tend to stand around much more of the time than they are active.

So that tells the observant viewer that if the goal is to have an athletic horse capable of handling much active work without being stressed, then there is one sure fire method that can be used to create fitness. It takes very little skill from the human, but it does take the effort to actually do it.

And what is this secret technique? It is called “ride the horse.” (see photo)

If you or someone you know wants a horse to do things with, other than groom it, it is only fair to the horse to make sure the horse can handle the work, and, no, the horses will not do that by themselves. No they won’t.

It is up to the human, because horses are stand arounders as a species, not exercisers. It is a myth that horses will do enough on their own to be able to handle the human owner’s desires to “go for a fun ride.” Fun for the human, maybe, not so fun for the unfit horse because that same human didn’t prepare the horse to withstand the work.

05/11/2025

If a rider wants quiet hands, don't start with trying to quiet the hands.

Start with establishing a secure, flexible, elastic and independent seat.

Why? Because the concussion created by trotting and cantering horse creates waves of motion that are either absorbed by the rider's seat, or are avoided, as much as possible, by having the rider post at the trot and get in a half seat in the canter, or, worst case scenario, having those shock waves jolt the rider around.

If the body of the rider gets jolted, what do you think the rider's arms and hands are going to do? 99% of the time, they are going to get jolted right along with the rest of the rider, and jolted hands are not quiet hands.

So to fix your hands, first fix your seat. All the best teachers understand that if a rider has not trained his/her body to become part of the motion, that student is not as adroit a rider as the ones whose independent seats go with rather than at cross purposes to the motion of the moving horse.

If an instructor does NOT insist that a student be encouraged to acquire that "independent seat," it will be because of one or more reasons.

Reason one---The teacher does not know.

Reason two---The teacher has tried, the student has resisted, and rather than persevere and probably lose the student's income, the teacher thinks, "The heck with it. If she doesn't want it, far be it for me to insist."

Reason three---The teacher realizes that because of health or physical issues, the student probably needs to be kept at a less challenging level.

Reason four---The teacher knows what the young student should learn, but the pushy parents want the kid out competing, and don't want to go through the sometimes long waiting period while the child learns to ride.

And so we see many many horses having to endure the rough, uneducated hands of many many uneducated riders, who may actually understand the concept that quiet hands are some sort of "good thing," but do not understand that quiet hands are a by-product of a quiet seat.

It is amazing how many riders resist acquiring an independent seat, when that single skill unlocks so many other riding doors, and its absence guarantees that those doors remain locked shut.

And, as they say, it IS a choice.

(Photo---Richard Watjen)

03/28/2025

Dressage is a long journey of patience, precision, and trust. It’s about refining the details, seeking balance, and listening to your horse, until, one day, everything just falls into place.

A moment when your horse lifts through their back, the contact feels like silk, and the power flows effortlessly beneath you. A moment when all the training, all the hours, all the setbacks suddenly make sense.

This is why we do it.

Not for the ribbons. Not for the scores. But for that moment of harmony where horse and rider move as one.

And once you’ve felt it, you’ll chase it forever.

If you know this feeling, you understand why we pour our hearts into every detail—down to the tack that connects us to our horses.

Because in dressage, feel is everything.

03/08/2025

Anxious or Calm? It starts off their backs.

I have watched thousands of humans deal with horses over the last 70 years. So much of how horses behave has to to with whether or not they are anxious or calm, and so much about whether the horse is anxious or calm depends upon how it is handled---I think---

Watch the way a good horse person catches a horse in a field, how they put the halter on, how they lead the horse, how they handle the horse on cross-ties, how they groom, how they tack up, how they mount, and then, after they are on the horse, how they warm up.

I don’t think with the better horse people you will see much drama. You won’t see yanking and snatching and slapping. You won’t hear lots of yelling. You will see quiet movement, almost deliberate handling, consistency, and when the horse gets tricky, like sticks its head way up to get bridled, there won’t be a big deal, lots of patience.

You won’t see the saddle getting slammed on the horse’s back, or the girth getting cranked tight, maybe the horse being kneed in the belly to “make him let out his breath.”
There just won’t be all that hassle and drama.

And once the rider IS on, you will see calm walking, no insta-contact, no feeling of rush or hurry, or frenzy.

All of this is not about riding skills or training while riding, but it is a prelude to that, and usually how you see a human deal with horses OFF their backs will give you a pretty good clue about what you will see when you watch them ride.

03/06/2025

02/13/2025

Why do the basics take so long?

The basics actually don’t take much time at all. Teaching a horse and rider the building blocks of balance and relaxation is not that difficult or complicated, as long as both are a blank slate.

What takes so much time is undoing poor basics, undoing poor movement patterns, and letting go of the wrong muscle memories and building the right muscle groups.

I’ve been riding with my teacher for almost a decade now. The first few years I barely made any progress, not because the work wasn’t good, but because I didn’t understand what she was even talking about. It went right over my head, and every lesson I had we sort of repeated the work of the last. My poor teacher repeated herself over and over, but I rode with others who’s work undid what she was trying to do, and I just wasn’t ready to understand it yet.

Then, when it clicked for me, I was all in- but my muscle memories, habits and understanding was counter productive. It took a long time (and I’m still working on it) to let go of the habits I had that stood in the way of progress. Same for my horses - they had habits that weren’t helpful either, especially the habit of coming behind the bit: some of it wasn’t my fault, some of it was. This was a very lengthy, uncomfortable and downright yucky phase. There didn’t feel like there was a lot of winning. This is where most people quit - they find a new instructor because they aren’t getting anywhere, or bounce around to different “methods.”

Then the break through: I finally understood where she was coming from, what the benefits were, and my horses were starting to buy into it too. We were finding harmony, beautiful moments sprinkled in, and getting successes to keep us motivated. This phase required lots of vigilance from my teacher and myself to not revert to old habits when we were tired, distracted or learning something new.

After these new, more productive habits were better cemented, upward progress was possible. It took so long. Not because the learning itself is fated to be arduous, but because I was in my own way for much of the time.

So why does it take so long? It doesn’t. But we make it so- and there’s nothing wrong with that process, because as Ray Hunt said, “you’re not working on your horse, you’re working on yourself.”

02/04/2025

Because there are so very many ways of training and riding horses, there are not many absolutes, as in “correct” ways to do things that cut across the various disciplines.

But there are two that should be widely accepted no matter what system of riding. One of these is that old standby, the “good seat” idea. No good rider bounces. Good riders have the ability to move with rather than counter to the movements of their horses, to mesh and blend, not be jolted around. So having that kind of ability gets called “having a good seat” and it cuts across all ways of riding, those who mesh, versus those who get jarred around.

The other absolute has to do with the basic philosophy of training, and whether it is based on coercing and forcing the horse to perform, or teaching the horse to be more of a cooperative partner.

So those two, one a riding skill, the other an attitude toward training, are, or ought to be accepted as basic to good riding and good training regardless of what type of riding someone prefers.

(Photo--The stallion Pepel and his rider, Elena Petushkova, a gentle trainer and an elastic rider)

01/27/2025

According to Buck Brannaman, "very few things require the amount of focus it takes to ride a horse well." Otherwise instead of riding your horse, your horse is taking you for a ride.
The amount of time and effort you put in is directly correlated to the amount of success you will experience in the saddle. Your expectation for your level of skill cannot exceed the amount of work you are willing to put in.

01/16/2025

"And while it might seem tempting to think that a horse resists out of stubbornness or because he is ”being bad” the true reason is usually discomfort, ranging from mild to sharp pain."