As I was out of town… anyone want to share some good tidbits of wisdom from Chuck?
The clinic is still on today, and according to Rebecca’s post in the original thread, that’s where she is. I didn’t audit, having suffered major brain fade about which weekend it was.
riley, I got my Chron. hat. Are you still going to the Potomac Hunt races next weekend?
that my horse had the honor of carrying Charles on his back for part of my session! Charles kept hinting that he wanted to ride my horse and silly me kept saying that I was feeling OK to ride! Duh!!! He finally asked me what I would do if he had 3 people come over and drag me off my horse so he could ride. So did what any fool would do, I got off.
Oh, I loved it when a rider makes one of Charles’ corrections and the horse really improves and Charles says to the rider “Am I right, or am I always right?” It is much funnier in person. I guess you had to be there.
Oh I’m SOOOO SAD Rescuemom! I LOVE the Potomac Hunt races! I love taking a big box of Staub’s fried chicken… yum yum. Sadly, I have a wedding to go to! DARN BRIDE! Couldn’t she pick ANOTHER day to get hitched??? Have fun, eat some fried chicky for me! (I’m DROOLING now!)
Dagnabit riley, I was looking forward to meeting you! Hope your friend’s wedding is fun, although I can’t imagine it will rival Staub’s chicken.
But I didn’t call him Chuck! (just Chuckles, Chuckmeister, and Chuck-o-rama).
But let someone far more learned than me comment. I enjoyed it, and the Fat Boy responded well, but I feel sooo confused. The more I ride dressage, the less I seem to know.
This is what I get for starting dressage in the 70’s. No one knew anything back then, so it was much easier to stay on top of things!
Also, having owned a psychotic OTTB for 7 years, and doing the endless circling-the-training-level-drain thing, certainly didn’t advance my knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Off to order the video…
I rode and it was very usefull. I’m a low level rider and my horse is an 18 year old former foxhunter with no dressage work before I got him at age 16. The weekend before last I did a starter horse trial which involved the Novice A test with a small amount of sitting trot. I was bouncing all over the place and certainly didn’t help our canter depart.
On Friday I stop by the clinic site to make sure I know where it is etc. there was only one ride left and the owner of the farm encouraged me to stay and watch as Mr. DeKunffy was probably going to ride the horse. In that lesson he had the rider doing sitting trot most of the time and I thought, “Oh my God , I’m in way over my head.”
My only hope was that when he saw what a low level rider I am he would have me doing my work at the walk and posting trot and I wouldn’t end up on the ground.
Saturday morning comes due to how far my house is from the barn and my husband/groom/video camera operators unreasonable desire not to rise at 4 a.m. on his day off I didn’t get to watch any other rides or even really warm up the horse. I go in and he immediately comes over and fixes my position. I was too much on my crotch with legs not far back enough. He wants you very much on you seat bones. When worked on getting the horse on the bit and he walked around with me for a bit. Then it was time to trot, start a sitting trot he says. He had me lean back with my upper body and it worked! I could actually do a sitting trot. I ended up doing quite a lot of work at the sitting trot and did indeed manage to stay on. He encouraged me as a novice to lean way back actually behind the vetical to learn how to sit the trot. He noted that of course once I was proficient I would be on the vertical. He called this “earning your vertical”. He also encouraged me to put my hands on my thighs to prevent them from bouncing around and jabbing the horse in the mouth as I learn to sit the trot.
I watched the video and my old foxhunter usually Mr. Hollow (“Tense” is the most frequent comment I have gotten in dressage tests) looks so soft and relaxed. Now all I have to do is translate this into my everyday training.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to watch any of the other rides so I can’t give any info on his approach to other issues.
ErinR, my horse is very green, and my lesson was quite a bit like yours. We did mostly posting trot, and worked on the sitting trot just at the end. The leg position and leaning back (he used the same phrase with me, “you must earn the vertical”) was ultimately comfortable. (Thank goodness, since I haven’t worked on sitting trot in about 100 years.)
I would like to hear from more educated people on the issue of hands. deKunffy wanted a very still hand. Is this just for early dressage training, or for all levels? I thought we were previously taught to have “soft following hands”? I felt sort of heavy and stiff with the arm/hand position, but will it feel more natural with time? It kind of gave my biceps a workout…
But Fat Boy was relaxed, and rounded his back, and seemed quite content with himself. Can’t argue with a round and happy horse.
Hi Erin!
That must have been me you saw on Friday. I was the last ride of the day, and I wasn’t even planning to try to ride. I don’t know if anyone mentioned it to you while you were there, but I had badly pulled some muscles in my pelvis/hip/lower back area a few weeks ago (happened following another clinic which I rode in, but that is another story) and I was planning to let Rebecca ride my horse for me since she’s my regular teacher and is very familiar with my horse. Well, then she spoke with “Chuck” and explained my situation to him, and he said he understood my problem and it was OK if I wanted to give it a try and he was willing to ride my horse if I couldn’t. So, I got on just to see whether it hurt or not, and it was actually not painful at all. I have been walking around like Quasimoto for the last two weeks, but it was actually quite painless to ride! However, I was quite limited in my range of motion and my body strength, so we did not do very much at all–just walking and trotting (sitting believe it or not?I was stiff from my injuries but not in pain) on a 20m circle for the most part. However, I must say, I was totally impressed with the easy helpful exercises Mr. DeKunffy gave me while I was on my horse. The session became physical therapy for me and I actually felt better afterwards. There was nothing forced in changing my position, and no pain involved in working the necessary muscles and body parts. It was fantastic! Fortunately, I was able to ride again on Saturday, and was actually capable of riding like a “normal” person again. In fact, I considered it to be up there amongst the best rides I’ve ever had! Yay!!! I still couldn’t stand up straight afterward, but heck, I could RIDE!!! Amazing.
A quick summary of some of the things I saw Mr. DeKunffy point out over the course of the 3 days I was there (this is only a small sampling):
Riders of all levels not having a good seat and leg position. Most if not all riders were using the wrong part of their leg on the horse, and often bringing the heel up. Leg needs to flex down with flexible ankles and the knee and thigh more turned inward to allow the lower part of the calf to come on the horses sides, not the heel. The lumbar back needs to be soft and straighter with the buttocks tucked under more rather than buttocks sticking out and the curve of the pelvis tilted forward. In the incorrect position, the rider cannot follow the horse’s back but instead crashes into it. Correct position allows the whole leg to absorb the shock rather than the spine.
Busy, unsteady hands. Also seen at all levels. The hands should remain fixed with the fingers closed, but not insensitive. This does not mean they are not yielding. If our hands are always moving, the horse cannot accept the bit. To correct this he had some riders (including myself) place their hands down on their thighs and keep them there. It was obvious in all cases that the horses enjoyed this right away. Most horses became round and soft and on the bit almost immediately, whereas they had been coming above the bit before the exercise. Also, the fist must remain tightly closed so that there is muscle tension in the hand. Many riders (myself included) had a bad habit of opening and closing the fingers. He also had riders momentarily give with either the inside or the outside hand by moving it forward (like in the 2nd level canter circles) at both trot and canter as a reward.
Elbows not close enough to the side of the rider’s body and shoulders to far ahead of the hips. He did his usual alternating the shoulders forward and back while having the rider lean back 30 degrees. This allowed the rider to “ride the horse’s wave.” Again, it was easy to see the horses really responded positively and not only were their gaits improved and more beautiful, but the horses were much happier in their work.
PS-Rebecca is on her way home even as I type from the final day of the clinic. She’s been quite busy the last 4 days, as you can imagine, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s too exhausted to post!
[This message was edited by anita m on May. 14, 2001 at 05:38 PM.]
to say much. On Thursday night Charles found a huge black bug in the bathtub of the first hotel in the first 5 minutes he was there, and it went downhill from there after we drove to the smoke-filled bar that was the "restaurant within walking distance) so I moved him to another hotel for the rest of the clinic. That took up a little extra time. Anita and Mary J. were indescribably helpful, as were the owners of the beautiful farm where we held the clinic, Highland Springs Farm in Finksburg, MD. He was equally good with experienced riders on more schooled horses. The October clinic is already basically filled–I tried to get one more day but he can’t. Auditing is highly recommended. I’ll start a waiting list. More later. r have to go make my cream of wheat.
As I was out of town… anyone want to share some good tidbits of wisdom from Chuck?
All of these comments are bringing back to me the DeKunffy clinics I attended in the NW in the early 80’s. It sounds as if Charles has not changed all that much after all. I still hear his voice on occasion as I too try to steady my hand and get my guy on the aids. My favorite quote of his as I was so struggling with my mare to be on the aids, “Kathy you must suffer with courage.” Oh too true.
And the hotel story, yes, that is Charles. I chauferred him on more than one occasion. I had to agree with him on his insistence of quality accomodations though. He spent almost 300 days a year in hotels at that time. I would think quality would be very important. Another Charles story and peeve of his. People walking through the hallways of a hotel, late at night, talking and joking like they are in their own home. Charles’ question was, “What do they think people are doing behind all of these doorways. Obviously, not trying to sleep.”
I hope I have occasion to attend a clinic of his or at least audit. I still read his books and should order the video. I feel his basics are very dependable, and based on true horsemanship and classic position to improve the relationship with the horse.