Xaile do Zambujal: Heels down, knees down, sit upright!! A clinic with Bento Castelhano. 3rd and 4th May.

That was the most inspiring, exhausting and challenging 2 days. So much so that I had to come home and write it all down. So the best thing I think is to copy what I wrote when I got home.

Incidentally Xaile wasn't phased by the busy yard or being stabled and was only slightly spooky in the new school. I was terrified before my first lesson, but it was so interesting andd such hard work I soon forgot to be scared of what we looked like and just got on with it.

My Position

· Sit upright

· Knees down

· Heels down

· Hands down

· Sit on my jeans pockets, with my tummy back

· Shoulder blades together and then down, 1,2.

· When standing your weight is on your feet; when riding your weight is on your seat. So when standing you draw yourself up from your feet, when riding you draw your weight up from your seat and down from it.

· Don’t worry about turning toes in as it makes the legs, especially the hips tense

· Shorter reins, but with hands nearer the horse’s mouth. This enables you to make small corrections easily without having to draw your arms back. Also enables you to give with your hands as a reward rather than having to take with them as a correction.

· Look through the horse’s ears- this stops you turning your shoulders more than the horse’s

· Sit deeply (?heavily) so that the horse understands the weight it has to carry. Being light, thus wobbly makes the weight much more difficult to carry.

· Keep a positive tension in the upper body.

· Don’t abandon the reins and the contact while being strong with the legs.

· Do teeth with left hand to even up fine control of the hands.

Riding Xaile

· He must feel that the safest place for him to be is between the aids.

· Keep and even rhythm. It is especially important to think about this when riding small circles or turns as this is when it is most difficult for him to stay balanced.

· To help him relax and lower his neck:

Ask him to bend to the inside

Open inside hand if necessary, but return to the neck as soon as possible to check the effect

Remember to give as much with the outside hand to allow him to bend

Allow him straight as soon as he gives

· If just flexing him doesn’t work turn him in a circle. Make the circle smaller the more resistant he is. As he relaxes and lowers his head allow him to go straighter.

· Reward him quickly for responding by allowing him to go straight.

· Keep hands still- allow the exercises to lower his head.

· He must respond immediately to aids.

· If he goes sideways, trying to scrape my leg on the fence, turn him towards the fence and go in that direction for a few strides. Then turn him again to continue in the original direction.

· Remember not to go in too many circles- vary it with straight lines and changes of rein.

· When he has relaxed and lowered his head change the rein.

· Ask for any transitions when his neck is low and relaxed. Don’t allow his head to come up in the transition. If it does, go back, relax him and then try again.

· Practice transitions to sitting trot. As with all transitions do them when he is relaxed and balanced. Return to rising trot when balance is lost and tension appears.

· If he blocks his right hand side of the neck and shoulder too much on the left rein then counter flex him. This works in canter too.

· It’s not possible to work on such extreme flexions in canter as the inside foreleg comes forwards and blocks it. So, if he gets tense in canter go back to trot or walk and do the flexions there, then return to canter.

· Keep the jump in canter- don’t allow it to become flat.

· Don’t open the inside rein in shoulder in. Drop the inside leg as low as possible.