I agree 100% with HicksteadFan above. Watching many Art2Ride videos helped a few things click with connection that I was struggling with before. Incorporating the long and low method occasionally throughout my rides has really been useful with many of the horses I ride. I use it more during warmup or breaks as a reward and the horses I ride seem to love it. It has taught me to be lighter with my aides and to consciously work toward relaxation and a loose swingy feel in my horse’s body every ride. Riding a horse soft & round on a long rein (especially the normally tense, high-headed horses or horses previously hollow & strung out on the forehand) is a thing of beauty and a pleasure to ride. I agree it doesn’t make sense to ride this way 100% of the time, but the method does have merit and shouldn’t be dismissed altogether.
I think the problem some people have is not necessarily the ‘method’ of stretching or encouraging the back to relax…its that WF confabulates his resume, claims things that aren’t true, has been asked to leave several barns in the area for abuse and sheer obnoxious temper/personality, calls himself a Master Horseman like that means something, pretends to be something he isn’t, and misrepresents the horses in his progra, has a nasty temper, thinks everyone else in the horse world is a moron and that only he has the answers to collection. Hes a fraud. The work itself has value, but not endlessly and endlessly and endlessly and…hes a one trick pony and horses pay the price for it. If watching his videos helps people, that’s great. They can get more comprehensive instruction or help by following myriad other people though…Anya Beran, Sylvia Loch. the Legerete people…
First off, define “the method.” If you’re talking about stretching/long and low work, I don’t think there is anyone on this thread saying that it’s useless or bad. Quite the opposite. I’m a big fan of stretching and to this day incorporate into every ride, but WF didn’t invent it and he’s not the only one to teach it, either.
But if “the method” is how WF actually likes to go about doing it, not just what he goes on about in the voiceovers, then check that video link I posted. That particular ride is more about force than harmony. I’ve taught many, many horses to stretch over the years and it never occurred to me to lean that far back and pull…because it’s not right. Between that and the character issues Plainfield and others have mentioned, that’s what made me run away from the guy and seek some in-person instruction with reputable dressage trainers.
Don’t know anything about this person except from this thread.
Stretching is all well and good, but my understanding is that lifting the back is achieved by strengthening the abdominal muscles.
