Posted by 6W Ranch on 9/24/2009, 1:32 am
Message modified by board administrator 9/24/2009, 1:34 am
Alois Podhajsky--
On "In Hand" work:
"...If the trainer thinks that this work is going to require less effort and make matters easier for himself, he will be making a great mistake, and, if it is approached from this point of view, it will do more harm than good. He must realise from the beginning that this work, if correctly done, is very tiring.."
"...Suppling up and bringing the horse in balance may be compared to tuning up the instruments before a concert. Unless the instruments are properly tuned, there can be no good performance. It is the same with work in hand; the result will not be good if the horse is not supple and the action of the reins does not go through the body..."
"Whenever difficulties appear, the rider must ask himself: does the horse not want execute my demands, does he not understand what I want, or is he physically unable to carry them out? The rider's conscience must find the answer."
"With riding, much more important than recognizing the fault is to find the cause. The teacher should beware of demanding that the exercise be performed strictly according to the clasical rules right from the beginning."
"The best guideline for the appropriate intensity of the work is provided by the old rule that the horse should return to his stall as fresh as he left it."
"Just as the sculptor at first chisels the future outlines of his work of art with powerful blows out of the crude block of stone, and then lets it develop in increasingly finer detail in all its beauty, the aids of the rider must also become more and more delivate in the course of the horse's education. Every rider should always keep this strictly in mind and especially avoid destroying with crude aids, out of impatience or other reasons, what he has built in his previous work."
And the best of all is that there is nothing new under the sun in horse training. It's all been done before by the masters:
"Everything has become contemporarily more superficial ... Today, the well-grounded, established teachings of the old horsemen are being brushed aside because their methods are supposedly out-dated and take to much time in a world that demands quick success. What is the result of this ’quick-work’? The standard is lowered to mere distortions! Every top performance needs to be built up in a well thought-through and structured manner. I have learned that the teachings of the old masters can be of great help. If someone believes to have found a new way to success, he can be assured - if the way proves to be a good one - that he accidentally or instinctually did what our forefathers have already done."
Podhajsky from his book: "My Horses, My Teachers"
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