Manolo Mendez Dressage

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Feel, Technique & Compromise – The Foundation for any and all Training

Many trainers and riders believe that the artistry of training is all in the technique. And while there can be no true artistry without technique, technique alone is not, and never can be, true artistry in itself. Training a horse well is a marriage of feel and technique, and feel and technique must be blended together. If you make a good marriage, the training will be easy. 

Technique is experimenting with the feedback you get from the horse.
Sometimes that feedback is good, sometimes not so good. Technique is how you use that feedback to get a better result on any given day. You have to learn when and how much technique to use at any time. That comes back to feel.

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Developing the Basics: Step-by-Step

Just as we would never pressure a kindergarten child to jump straight into high school and expect them to be able to think critically and produce A+ essays overnight, we should never “jump steps” or rush the levels in the training of our horses.

It is vitally important to the success of the horse and rider partnership and to the harmonious physical, mental and emotional development of the horse that the horse understands each aid, each request, each exercise that he is asked to perform. It is the rider’s responsibility to ensure that the horse is prepared properly and has the physical capabilities, flexibility and balance necessary to be successful before introducing a new request, the next exercise. Instead of having a set of rigid expectations based on the horse age, breed, pedigree and the rider’s goals and ambition, the rider should train the horse they have in front of them: what do its muscles look like, how confident is it? What does it understand? How long does it take to warmup? What working routines work better for him? Only by knowing his horse and adapting his training to his individual needs will the rider truly be able to forge a partnership with his horse.

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The Importance of Riding the Whole Horse: Supple and Tension Free

“Bring the back up, bring the back up!!!” “Drive the hind leg under, more, more, MORE!” and “Make him more round, rounder” appears to be considered by a lot of rider’s to be the three keys to dressage. To achieve these goals they are taught to put the horse in a frame by pulling on the outside rein while kicking with the inside leg, often while keeping the horse in endless shoulder fore or shoulder-in. Instead of a flexible, supple and tension free horse, this approach creates stiff and crooked horses, with little enjoyment for their work and eventually leads to soundness issues.

When I train my horse, I ride the whole horse, knowing that as I create postures that are biomechanically correct using correct gymnastic exercises, overtime, my horse’s back will naturally rise as a result of the whole body being straight and without tension.

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Feel, Technique & Compromise – The Foundation for any and all Training

Many trainers and riders believe that the artistry of training is all in the technique. And while there can be no true artistry without technique, technique alone is not, and never can be, true artistry in itself. Training a horse well is a marriage of feel and technique, and feel and technique must be blended together. If you make a good marriage, the training will be easy. 

Technique is experimenting with the feedback you get from the horse.
Sometimes that feedback is good, sometimes not so good. Technique is how you use that feedback to get a better result on any given day. You have to learn when and how much technique to use at any time. That comes back to feel.

Read More

Developing the Basics: Step-by-Step

Just as we would never pressure a kindergarten child to jump straight into high school and expect them to be able to think critically and produce A+ essays overnight, we should never “jump steps” or rush the levels in the training of our horses.

It is vitally important to the success of the horse and rider partnership and to the harmonious physical, mental and emotional development of the horse that the horse understands each aid, each request, each exercise that he is asked to perform. It is the rider’s responsibility to ensure that the horse is prepared properly and has the physical capabilities, flexibility and balance necessary to be successful before introducing a new request, the next exercise. Instead of having a set of rigid expectations based on the horse age, breed, pedigree and the rider’s goals and ambition, the rider should train the horse they have in front of them: what do its muscles look like, how confident is it? What does it understand? How long does it take to warmup? What working routines work better for him? Only by knowing his horse and adapting his training to his individual needs will the rider truly be able to forge a partnership with his horse.

Read More

The Importance of Riding the Whole Horse: Supple and Tension Free

“Bring the back up, bring the back up!!!” “Drive the hind leg under, more, more, MORE!” and “Make him more round, rounder” appears to be considered by a lot of rider’s to be the three keys to dressage. To achieve these goals they are taught to put the horse in a frame by pulling on the outside rein while kicking with the inside leg, often while keeping the horse in endless shoulder fore or shoulder-in. Instead of a flexible, supple and tension free horse, this approach creates stiff and crooked horses, with little enjoyment for their work and eventually leads to soundness issues.

When I train my horse, I ride the whole horse, knowing that as I create postures that are biomechanically correct using correct gymnastic exercises, overtime, my horse’s back will naturally rise as a result of the whole body being straight and without tension.

Read More

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