Dressage, Naturally with Karen Rohlf

Creating healthy biomechanics and stronger partnerships through combining natural horsemanship principles with the art of dressage...

photo: Peggy Finnerty

never underestimate the potential for harmony & lightness to improve in ways you cannot yet imagine

Welcome back to the Temenos...Temenos is an ancient Greek word. It refers to a sacred space that has no limits, where special rules apply and extra-ordinary events are free to occur.

This month...After a lull in activity from the Holidays, things are revving up here in my Teme-nos! The January Workshop already took place and after some actual freezing tem-peratures (!) earlier in the week, beautiful, perfect weather is back.

I have added a Youtube player on my website, so now you will not miss any new videos I post. Currently there is one of me and Monty playing with collection and one of Atomic playing soccer!

Carlos was not happy about the 2

days that went below 50 degrees.

That wasn’t part of the deal of living

in Florida!!

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Ashlyn Pumphrey has joined the team here, along with her 2 horses; you will meet her in this issue.

The D, N Reins are a big hit, more hats and visors are now available, and the book is still... moving forward....

I got a visit from JoAnna Mendl-Shaw and her new group of dancers, more on that inside.

Inside there is another Q & A from the Natural Dressage Forum

If you would like to submit a story or a ques-tion please email it to: karenrohlf@dressagenaturally.net to submit it.

If you didn’t receive this newsletter directly and you want to:

subscribe: k2@dressagenaturally.net

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Dressage Naturally website: CLICK HERE

Info on clinics: Contact K2

~ J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 ~

Copyright 2008, Temenos Fields, Inc January

Dancing in the TemenosA ‘Temenos’ is a place where special rules apply and magical events are free to occur...this was especially true this past weekend when I got a visit from JoAnna Mendl-Shaw (Dancingwithhorses.org) and her new troup of dancers.

My horses and I helped Jo play with ideas for scores (un-choreographed situations) and to help them further their horseman-ship abilities. Atomic obliged by giving a demonstration of how much we can ac-complish at Liberty without a lot of actual control! He stepped dramatically into a feed-tubs, circled barrels, jumped jumps, leapt in the air, circled around me, went sideways over logs, not to mention chased a cat! And I was able to show how even in a situation where things are not in perfect control, you can preserve harmony by go-ing with the horse; (he’s not leaving if you are going with him!)

I love what JoAnna is working on these days...her dancer’s abilities with the horses is excellent; she has spent time with Linda Parelli, some of her dancers have their Level 1 and it shows! She is putting a focus on creating situations where the dancers, the horses and the horseman all have pa-rameters, but need to problem solve in the moment. It is less about a ‘perfect routine’, and more about an true sharing of the moment...no mistakes... only possible outcomes....Hmmm sound like a philoso-phy that can help with horsemanship oh yeah, and life in general?

Whenever I see a common thread between seemingly different worlds, my nervous system starts ringing little bells that tell me this is something important!

D A N C E P R A C T I C E

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In playing with Jo and her troop, he lines became blurred between the equal but unique energies of horse, horseman, and dancer.

Monty loved the part where he moved slowly and intricately around the dancers in close proximity...(maybe that was be-cause if their arms were out he could stop and get a free hug and scratch!)

Jedi had the best time, prancing around with light feet and a big smile on his face. He quickly decided to become part of a ‘herd’ of dancers led by me!

I always enjoy time with the dancers; it is so inspiring to see the grace with which they move, and how much they can em-body the energy of the horse, deepening the connection between horse and hu-man. I am always playing to increase the freedom of movement and expression in my horses, and I got a good reminder this weekend, of how much freer and more expressive I could be.

Dressage, Naturally Reins(click here for the Dressage, Naturally Store)

“I own lots of rope reins. I have the Horseman's Reins, the Sport Reins and Fluidity Reins, and they all have their purpose and lots of great attributes. However, I can honestly say that I love my DN Reins the best for Finesse riding. The leather ends are not only beautiful and classy looking but also very func-tional in that they are quiet and steady. They have a totally different feel to them than my reins with metal clips which I didn't expect. The metal clips are a bit noisy feeling and bounce around on the bit, but the leather keepers are quiet and steady. I didn't even realize my rope reins with clips bounced until I rode in the DN Reins. I love the fact that they are black which means they always look clean and, even better, they don't look like rope reins even from a short distance away. I feel this is important to anyone who might like to blend in a bit with those using traditional leather reins while still giving all the benefits of using rope reins. I also want to add that the rope that they are made from is not the squishy, cheap yacht braid but the tight, firm yacht braid that we all love because it has so much life. I love my DN Reins and thanks to Karen for coming up with such a wonderful in-terface between the Normals and Natu-rals.” ~Peggy Finnerty

Hats and Visors are also now available on my website... The Book/DVD...still in post production processes....see page 7 of this newsletter)

P R O D U C T R E V I E W

Copyright 2008 Temenos Fields, Inc January 3

Ask Karen: A(nother) question from the Natural Dressage Forum www.naturaldressage.2savvy.com

Q: Karen, After seeing your wonderful video on

YouTube it seems only natural to ask

about getting suspension and collection

online (it seems more attainable than

the bridle-less pirouettes!). We can as-

sume that lots of transitions help, but

how do you - or rather, how can we -

achieve higher levels of suspension and

collection online? What are the steps or

some exercises we can play with once

the basic communication has been

achieved? What should we be looking for

in the emotional and physical response

of our horse (which also bring thorough-

ness into the picture)?

Thank you for your always insightful an-

swers. We are patiently (well, trying to

be patient!) awaiting your book and

can't wait for the discussions it will cer-

tainly bring!!!

CLICK HERE to see the video

A: Hi everyone! Another great question! And as usual one that in-volves several layers of answers...(but

then again, most questions with horses do, don’t they?!)

Collection, suspension and elevation (‘uphill-ness’) whether on-line or in the saddle, in general can be achieved in 3 ways:

1. By asking the horse for it. This in-volves setting up a signal, an aid, a ‘half halt’, a postural change...that the horse understands as a direct communication and so he makes the change. He will make the change immediately, and may make a change that is bigger than he can sustain.

2. By doing a transition or some sort of maneuver that will cause the horse to make the desired change. He will make a change to regain and sustain his best balance possible for him on this day. You don’t necessarily use a signal, just choose to do a particular transition or pattern that will help him maintain his balance and light-ness. If you do this well, you will no-tice a difference at the end of the ride.

3. By investing in correct posture and gymnastics in such a way that over time he develops more carrying power. This is the sort of change you don’t necessarily notice every-day, but you will notice his capabili-ties increasing and your friend that hasn’t seen him in a month will no-tice a big change.

Of course ideally you are doing each of these three. But I am sure you are thinking: ‘well, what aids and what exercises do we do?’ And that is a long answer...but...here is what is im-portant to me:

With a good foundation as a given...having horses moving freely forward with an engaged, active hind leg, good impulsion (in the dressage and NH sense of the word), a released, free spine (that is a result of alignment and balance) and calmness (commu-nication about relaxation) are the most important starting points. From here I makes sure that there is a postural communication between me and the horse...That my body embodies what I want the horse to do...they are primar-ily reading your body anyway...you might as well be conscious of it! So I make it meaningful to them... if I soften my spine, versus if I stretch tall and sink through my tailbone (collecting myself). If I want shoulder-in on a cir-cle (a very collecting exercises) around me, I do in my body what I want the horse to do.

Transitions such as walk to canter, canter to back up, to shoulder-in or to smaller circles are very collecting if you pay attention to the weight shift and the readiness of the horse to move forward and back...really looking at the lack of hesitation, quality of the let-looseness to the suggestion. Watch for the feet to initiate the for-ward steps, and that it is not just the weight falling forward and the feet moving just to keep up, or that they aren’t pushing out the back with their hind legs, or lifting themselves for-ward with their necks. You will have to look at your own timing and your own posture or body language. No recipe of exercises will help unless you look for these qualities and adjust your tim-ing and positioning to achieve them.

Transitions to higher energy or longer strides can end up being collecting if you have a horse that tends to forget

Q & A

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to use his hind legs. This is an exam-ple of Option 2. above, instead of us-ing stronger aids, you simply choose to make transitions or changes in the pattern at a moment that will best cause your horse to make the gymnas-tic change you desire.

If you can play between a stretched, let-loose, free forward gait...and transi-tions to back up and total relaxation, then you will see the horse offer mo-ments where he is ready for all...he is loose in his spine, active and ready with his weight back...they may only last for a moment or two, but make them feel important and gradually build them. Imagine if you can mix and match these ingredients just by changing it in your body?! Your horse could be stretched, you could add en-ergy while still stretching, then keep the energy and elevate the posture, then if he gets tight, can start to stretch maybe an inch or two, then back uphill again, then release it and let him just flow and stretch again....a nice picture, huh?

What is that, you want more specifics? ;-) When you watch the video on Youtube, in the beginning I am walking along stretched and relaxed, then transition to a canter pirouette...I changed my posture from stretched to collected, added a canter rhythm, and turning. (an example of option 1, above: I gave specific aids that my horse under-stands. I worked on each one of those aids separately and got them to such a high degree of sensitivity and coordi-nation, that now he understands how to do them all at the same time.)

The reason the pirouette turned out in such good quality is because I have

been riding using option 3. above...and so have a horse with a strong hind end, a strong, elastic back and good posture through alignment (as seen in all the stretching). This is why he is able to sustain the collection in the pirouette for so many strides. I don’t have to talk to him about posture dur-ing this pirouette, because he takes care of that himself, as it is the best way to get a confident, keen pirouette accomplished, and he is willing to do it!

Also in the video you see Monty col-lecting at liberty...this is a product of several things. One is that I have a good enough draw that I can add en-ergy and he stays... [in the moments I have on video at least, ;-) ]... When he wants to stay and I add energy, one place for the energy to go would be into speed, but the other is it goes into elevation and expression in his gait. In this case he is matching my uphill posture and so the energy goes into being more up hill. A lot of that really is natural...horses will tend to respond to that if we haven’t taught them not to listen to our posture! But some of what I am getting is from a signal up with the stick above the withers to support what my posture is asking for and to ask for even more...you will see I am not really tapping, but more am drawing up with the stick... I have taught him to jump up from this...but also it is a pretty natural re-sponse and I think of it mostly as an extension of what my posture is doing...getting tall and lifting.

I put all the stretching in that video to highlight something that is very important...that everything comes from and returns to relaxation.

I hope this helps. Thank you for the great question and thank you for al-lowing me to share what my horses have taught me.

It’s funny, but I have heard that some

straight dressage people criticized the

video saying “but he’s not uphill when he

is stretching” well... I am asking him to

stretch and release from collection in that

moment! He is in enough balance to

stretch without speeding up or losing

general balance. And I certainly thought I

demonstrated that we have the ability to

come up hill anytime I want...sigh...I tried,

on the video to show many

ingredients...free movement, stretched

spine, carrying power, natural posture,

connection with the reins, strong hind leg,

maintenance of rhythm, trust, communi-

cation, harmony and general good-

boyedness. Don’t worry, Monty....we know

you’re perfect!

~Karen

Q & A

Copyright 2008, Temenos Fields, Inc January 5

Ashlyn, Loxley and Massidor join the team at Temenos Fields.

Hello everyone, my name is Ashlyn Pumphrey and I am now-working for Karen, while support-ing my two horses. I am originally from Lake Ridge, Virginia and heard about Karen through Marj Cassetta, a trainer educated in the Parelli system, located about an hour away from me.

Last August, I made a trip to Ger-many to check out a working stu-dent opportunity. Well, I hated it. But, I didn't leave empty handed. I had fallen in love with a three year old Westphalian gelding (Loxley) that couldn't keep his big eyes off of me. When I asked the owner why he was stuck in his stall, she repeated "he is crazy and he has been in there for 4 months now." I was stunned. How could anyone

ignore him? Well, being brave I ventured into his stall, and what I found was a very sweet and wor-ried horse. I knew I was in for some work, and I was told to find a "cowboy". Luckily I found some thing better, Marj Cassetta and Karen Rohlf. Loxley has trans-formed in 3 months into a com-pletely different horse and I am excited to see his potential. I have another horse (Messidor) who I have been competing FEI Young Riders with, but have been unsuc-cessful in correcting his flying changes. I have been to top train-ers all along the East Coast and no one has took the time to under-stand my horses willing to please personality and that the fact of he thinks he is doing changes cor-rectly. With Karen, I hope to ac-complish my goal of getting Mes-sidor up to Grand Prix and further-ing Loxley's education and trust.

Welcome aboard, Ashlyn!

T E A M T E M E N O S

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It’s true, I was born 6 weeks late... It’s not too surprising, I expect I was pretty comfy in there. Warm, interesting sounds, free food, weightlessness, got to kick things and people thought it was cute....

When I asked mom what it was like, she said: “Well, it got hard to pick things up off the floor, and I knitted an afghan to make the time go by.” So I guess it wasn’t so bad for her, ei-ther; she could throw stuff around and other people would clean up after her... And she got to do arts & crafts... must have been like being at summer camp!

When I learned of this, it made me realize: It’s been a pattern in my life..I tend to stay in situations just a little longer than I really want to... Its a tricky thing to know when to stick with something and when to move to a new plan. There have been plenty of times that I really want to do something, but I just can’t seem to mobilize... not from lack of desire or ability...I just catch myself ‘stalling out’ and can’t seem to figure out how to take the next step. Or I feel like I am pushing to get some-thing done and it just simply won’t material-ize in the timing that I want.

One baby & book that refuse to be forced out before they’re good & ready.

It can be very frustrating! I fight with myself or find myself wishing I could blame some-thing or someone else. But maybe... it is just the Universe taking care of things.

The Dalai Lama says to remember “that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck”. Xenephon said that: “Anything forced cannot be beautiful.” Well, in that case I sure am glad my mom didn’t induce!

When I was ready...I popped right out: “It was easy”, Mom said. Even the doctor commented that when I came out, I looked like a baby that had been out for 6 weeks. So I guess just be-cause I hadn’t shown my face to the world at the time that everyone was expecting me, it didn’t mean I wasn’t developing, improving, maturing, working out all the details..making sure everything was just right - that the world was ready, the stage set. I guess it’s only natu-ral that the Dressage, Naturally book (like its author) will be born only when she’s good and ready... and it will be worth it. ~K1

. . . W H E N S H E ’ S G O O D A N D R E A D Y

Copyright 2008 Temenos Fields, Inc January 7

“And you didn’t look at all like a lizard, like most newborns do!” ~My Dad, describing what I looked like after finally being born... 6 weeks late.