I went for the entire four-day event, spending the first day on my own and the rest with my momma and our wonderful horsey friend (and my psuedo-sister) Laura. We had a blast! The dressage and jumping clinics were fantastic, the weather was mostly nice, and we got some good deals.

Clinics at Equine Affaire Ohio 2010

I pretty much stuck to the dressage and jumping clinics this year with Linda Allen and Jennifer Nadaline for hunter/jumper and Jeremy Steinberg and Reese Koffler-Stanfield for dressage. Big fan of all of them, but especially of Reese! All of the clinicians this year did a fantastic job of teaching the audience and not just the riders assisting them. And they all also focused very heavily on building a strong foundation, which was exactly what I needed with my green horse.

Linda Allen, Jumping

Linda Allen, an internationally renowned and FEI certified  jumping course designer (she has the Olympics on her resume) focused on the two most important rider functions for jumping: pace and location. She emphasized that too many riders focus on getting over the jump; but that’s the horses job. As riders, we should be focusing on the approach and where we are going when we land, and let your horse do the rest. She also recommended not practicing courses at home, but practicing elements of courses and exercises that will make them better. A major takeaway from Linda’s clinics was that you can do all kinds of training with just one jump because there are 25 ways you can jump one jump. You have 5 ways to approach and 5 ways to land (which gives 25 total combinations):

• straight
• angle left
• angle right
• turn left
• turn right

If you want an idea of the kind of exercises she uses, pick up a copy of 101 Jumping Exercises. Fantastic training tool!

Jennifer Nadaline, Hunters

Jennifer Nadaline was a last minute substitute for the recently injured Pamela Graham, and we loved her! Her session focused largely on preparing a novice horse for anything on course. It was about developing a desensitization and encouragement technique that teaches your horse to look to you for leadership and to determine when something is safe or if they need to turn tail and run.

She had her riders demonstrate developing a signal for you horse that a scary fence or situation is indeed OK; a slight relaxation of the inside rein. As with any type of training, this is a process. She had the riders patting the horses all over as they rode, swinging their arms around, and moving all over to first teach the horse not to worry about what the rider is doing or if she gets a little unbalanced. From there, any time something went well, the riders gave the horse a light pat on the wither with the inside hand. She then used the technique during an increasingly difficult course with funny looking fences to reassure the horses that all was well. It couldn’t have been planned or demonstrated better, as a bunch of Friesans for a breed demonstration entered the far end of the arena – one flipped out and dumped his rider, and several came in attached to large carriages. The horses all handled it very well with the reassurance from their riders.

Jennifer trains from Sugar Run Farm in Plain City, Ohio.

Reese Koffler-Stanfield, Dressage

I’d have to say that Reese Koffler-Stanfield, a dressage rider and training from Lexington, was my favorite of the weekend. She was so sweet, encouraging, and knowledgeable in her sessions. While she was working with 2nd and 3rd level horses, she identified some of their foundational issues affecting the higher level movements and put them through exercises to strengthen the basics. It was perfect for me and my green horse, with whom I’m trying to establish a solid basis.

Reese emphasized quality over quantity in her sessions, which tied in well with Jeremy Steinberg‘s emphasis on building muscle memory. They both talked about how horses aren’t necessarily made to do dressage, and some aren’t built for it conformationally like others are. But they can all learn. When you are teaching something new or your horse struggles with a particular movement, just ask for a few good steps at first instead of going and going until they get it right. This teaches them to do the right thing and helps them build the strength and muscle memory to do it well and for longer stretches.

I also go to talk to Reese afterwards and get some specific ideas to address some of Ace’s particular weaknesses. So helpful!

Equine Affaire Shopping

What horse girl doesn’t love the hundreds and hundreds of booths of stuff to buy for you and your horse at Equine Affaire? Even on a small budget I was able to find some great deals and get some good loot for me and Ace. Here’s what we came home with:

The best deal was the Ariat down winter coat that I got half off. I bought it Thursday, just in time to wear it Friday when the temps didn’t get above the low-40′s. Hopefully I can put it away until next winter now! I’m also very excited about trying out the loose ring snaffle Myler bit (with bit guards) and the 101 Dressage Exercises book that Reese Koffler-Stanfield recommended. Oh, and I got a good deal on the sweatshirt from Planet Cowgirl, as well as a green thermal that was in the wash and missed the photo shoot.

Equine Affaire 2010 was officially everything I hoped it would be. I learned a ton, had fun with family, got some fun stuff, and connected with all kinds of wonderful people I’ve met through blogging.

And of course I went to the Extreme Cowboy Race finals, which are a blast and you definitely need to see should you have the opportunity. I was just disappointed that my favorite cowgirl Casey Pierce didn’t win. She always had amazing runs and flair. I’ll be there to cheer you on again next year! (and I might just come take a reining lesson or two from you as well…)

I’m already looking forward to next year …

I’m trained to ride hunters. I know all about jumping impulsion, oxers, rollbacks, broken lines, and hunter carriage. We also always worked in a little basic dressage, asking our horses to round up and carry themselves more and move away from our legs.

But it was only a few years ago that I learned a haunches in was not the same as a leg yield. And then they started throwing in those foreign names just to make it even more confusing.

I’ve spent the last few years attending dressage clinics at Equine Affaire, reading Practical Horseman articles, and otherwise studying up on the topic just to get these most basic elements of dressage figured out. I’m finally starting to really get it after watching Steffen Peters and George Williams at Equine Affaire.

It’s taken a long time for me to solidify the differences, so I wanted to share what I’ve learned for all you other riders in non-dressage disciplines who are wondering the same thing.

Differences Between the Basic Movements Used In Dressage Training

I discovered that the biggest differences between sideways movements in dressage is the direction of the bend and which legs cross.  Here are some definitions:

Leg Yield: your horse moves slightly sideways away from your leg while flexed in the opposite direction from which he’s moving. His body remains straight with a slight flexion at his poll. Both front and back legs should cross as he moves. For example, you are on the rail going to the left. You ask for slight flexion to the right and push him away from your right leg so that he is on an angle with his head closer to the wall.The horse’s movement is always more forward than sideways.

Turn On The Forehand: a type of leg yield. Your horse pivots on a point directly under his poll, bent the opposite direction from which he’s moving. If you do a turn on the forehand to the left, he is bent to the right and moving away from your right leg. A key point here is that he pivots on a point under his poll as opposed to a front hoof, which means that his front legs are supposed to move as well as the back. Front and back legs should cross as he moves.

Shoulder In: the horse’s body is bent around the inside leg, causing his front end and hind end to move on different tracks with the front legs crossing as he moves. The inside hind leg is placed in front of the outside hind. In a shoulder in when you are moving around the ring to the left, your horse should bend around your inside leg with his front legs to the inside of his hind end.

Haunches Out/Renvers: the horse moves with his haunches on the outside track and his shoulders on the inside track and is bent in the direction he is moving. He should be bent so that his feet are moving on three tracks with the hind legs crossing. For example, if you are moving to the left around the ring, he would be bent to the right and moving off of your left leg with his tail closer to the wall. If you stood directly in front of him, the three tracks would be the right hind, left hind/right front, and left front.

Haunches In/Travers: the horse moves with his haunches on the inside track and shoulders on the outside track, bent in the direction he is moving. Again, his feet are on three tracks with the hind legs crossing. For example, if you are going to the left around the ring, he would be bent to the left, moving off your right leg with his head closer to the wall. The three tracks would be the left hind, right hind/left front, and right front. Travers is the basis for many of the upper level movements, including the half pass and the canter piroutte.

And there you are! All of these are finally starting to make sense to me, and I hope they are to you too. If you are a non-dressage rider and still don’t quite get it, please ask your questions in the comments. If you are a dressage rider, please leave a comment and let me know how accurate these explanations are, or answer questions. I really look forward to hearing all of your feedback on this topic!

Additional Resources

• Haunches in, shoulders in, leg yield from Sustainable Dressage
• Leg yielding from Art Of Riding
• Volker Bromman on leg yielding for Equisearch
• Leslie Webb: teach your horse turn on the forehand
• Shoulder-in versus shoulder-fore
• A novice rider’s dressage adventure

I’ve been to Equine Affaire a few times before, but the tradeshow has never been that alluring to my bank account. That was, before I had my own horse. Sure I was riding, but only the cool horse paintings and funny t-shirts attracted me. Now, it was saddles and bridles and grooming tools and supplements and gloves and breeches and every piece of horse equipment under the sun. I managed to exercise some self-control, but I did spend most of my money in the first half-hour of wandering the tradeshow hall. Here’s what I came home with:

Missing from this photo are the 22-pound bucket of Farrier’s Formula supplement that I hauled across the Ohio State Expo Center to my car by myself (and wasn’t getting out of my trunk again until I get to the barn tonight) and the matching red and blue jump blocks that are also residing in my car.

A pretty good haul, huh?

In case you aren’t sure what all you’re looking at, I now have:

• A birthday present from my mom: Two pairs of 3-sided jumping blocks, which will get plenty of use as soon as I actually get poles to go with them (8 foot PVC pipe from Lowe’s will do the trick!)
• hunter green polo wraps to protect my klutzy horse’s legs
• a dressage whip
• citronella shampoo (came free with the aforementioned bucket of supplement)
• a super-cool World Equestrian Games hat (that I had been drooling over on their website but wasn’t paying full price plus shipping for)
• a new shedding blade
• Irideon sage riding tights (which I’m totally hooked on – so much more comfortable than breeches.)
• Definitely didn’t get the cat at Equine Affaire, but she’s obsessed with the string on the end of the dressage whip. I got it for $4; should have bought an extra to keep at home as a cat toy.

Ace’s favorite will probably be the new shedding blade, and I doubt he’ll mind the shampoo either. The dressage whip and the jumping blocks are a different story, though. Although he usually does what I ask, he gives me his grumpy face when I introduce something new. I fully expect some laid back ears and a wrinkled nose the first time I pull out the jumping blocks. But he’ll get over it!

I sure hope my boy Ace knows what he’s in for when I show up with a head full of new training ideas and a trunk full of toys! I’m sure horses all over the country aren’t going to know what hit them this week.

And to top it off, 2008 Olympic dressage team member Steffen Peters is one of this year’s clinicians. He has a full schedule of sessions on Thursday and Friday of the April 2-5, 2009 event, and they look amazing. Here are the titles:

• Collection: Establishing a Solid Foundation at 1st & 2nd Level
• Creating a Better Ride: Explaining & Applying Effective Aids to the Dressage Horse
• Evaluating Performance & Setting Realistic Training Goals for the Young, Advanced & Olympic- Level Dressage Horse
• Going for the Freestyle: Tips for Developing and Performing an Impressive Dressage Freestyle Test

These look like some incredible sessions for beginning and advanced dressage riders, and for this new-ish owner with hunter/jumper, dressage, and/or eventing aspirations.

Because of these wonderful clinics and shopping, I look forward to Equine Affaire every year. But just four years ago, I’d never even heard of it!

What is Equine Affaire?

Equine Affaire is one of the largest equestrian conventions in the country. Held three times a year in various locations across the country (Massachusetts in November, Ohio in April, and California in January), it is an education-oriented, four-day horse event. Each day is jam-packed with clinics from the most well-known authorities in every discipline you can think of – from jumping to western pleasure to gaited horses, natural horsemanship, and trail riding. Exhibition halls are filled with vendors selling everything from feed to trailers to show clothes to barn equipment, tack, and horsey gifts.

According to their site, Equine Affaire’s mission is to:

• Improve the horse management, training, and riding skills of current horsemen
• Promote communication and cooperation within our very diverse national horse industry
• Provide an introduction to the extraordinary world of horses
• Showcase the finest horses and riders representing a variety of horse breeds and equestrian disciplines

Four days of clinics run from 9:30 am-7:00 pm (done at 5:00 pm on Sundays) with multiple sessions running simultaneously. They typically have different clinicians every year, and some accept applications for outside riders to participate. The tradeshow exhibit halls are also open during this time.

The event also features a breed show, youth pavilion, horse and farm exhibits, and Extreme Cowboy Race competition.

Pfizer Fantasia

Fridays and Saturdays conclude with the Pfizer Fantasia show, a pretty awesome display of horsemanship. It’s described as

This one-of-a-kind, family-friendly musical celebration of the horse will feature a variety of special equestrian actschoreographed to a wide variety of musical styles. Professional performers will dazzle the crowd with acrobatic artistry, and precision drill teams will impress their fellow horsemen with intricate pattern work. The evening will highlight the brilliance, grace and athleticism of all equines-from smaller horse breeds through large draft breeds-and the special connections they share with their human handlers.

2009 Ohio Equine Affaire

April 2-5, 2009
Ohio State Expo Center

Clinicians this year include Steffen Peters, Julie Goodnight, Monty Roberts, Craig Cameron, George Williams, Mark Rashid, Tommy Garland, Angela Moore and many others.

• Clinic session schedule (PDF)
• Presenters
• Tradeshow exhibitors

Tickets

General Admission

One day: $14
(kids 7-12 $8)

Four days: $48
(kids 7-12 $28)

Pfizer Fantasia

$12-25 (depending on seating location) + a $2.75 reservation fee

General admission or Fantasia tickets may be purchased in advance online.

Blogger Meet-Up?

If you are a blogger or a blog reader and are attending this year’s Ohio Equine Affaire, I’d love to meet up with you! If you are interested in getting together over lunch or something, contact me. If enough people are interested, we may be able to plan a scheduled group meet-up.