Kingsland Winter Favorites 2011

                                                     Kingsland Jenner Ladies shirt

Kingsland Wardlow Unisex Sweater

Kingsland  Melfort Unisex sweater

                                                    Kingsland Scully Ladies Down jacket

Kingsland Alonsa Headband

  

Visit www.kingsland.no - For the full collection

Riding is perfection

Carl Hester - an amazing rider

"The 2011 Global Dressage Forum concluded on Monday 31 October 2011 with an apex, when British European team gold and individual silver medalist stepped on the podium for a masterclass on pure dressage training and true horsemanship.
Following the massive success of British Dressage at the 2011 European Championships in Rotterdam, dressage finally seems to have taken the long, coveted turn for the better in which lightness and harmony are praised and scored by the judges instead of the push-and-pull extravagance of some top riders, who are unable to let go of the reins for a second.
A very anxious Carl Hester, who had waved the offer to speak at the Forum for many years, took the podium at Bartels’ Academy and owned it! “I was forced into coming out,” Hester joked. “For the last three years Richard Davison and David Hunt have been promising me that I would do the job at some point......”

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2011/11/08/carl-hester-has-fun-factor
It is an amazing article about an amazing rider- READ IT.

Carl Hester in Nürnberger Grand Prix:

Is dressage a bloodsport?

The FEI Dressage Committee decided to withdraw the bloodrule proposal (for now). The blood rule proposal means to open up for horses competing on the highest level of dressage, after being checked by a FEI vet, being able to continue in the competition even if they are bleeding- fex. from the mouth.

At the moment the rules for dressage does not have a specific rule when it comes to blood on the horse. It is customary for the judge at C to ring the bell at any sign of blood from the horse, and disqualify the ekvipage. Any subsequent discovery that the injury is “minor” has no effect of the decision of the judge on veterinary grounds.

Notion from FEI:

FEI GENERAL ASSEMBLY OPENS IN RIO DE JANEIRO (BRA)

11 Nov 2011

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) General Assembly opened in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) today with a meeting of the FEI Bureau, the first in four days of meetings culminating in the General Assembly on Monday 14 November.
At its meeting today, the Bureau unanimously agreed to a proposal from the Dressage Committee to withdraw the proposed addition to Article 430.7.6: evidence of blood in the arena, in order to allow the Veterinary Committee to study the issue from a horse welfare perspective.
The Veterinary Committee has been asked to propose a general rule, in consultation with the various disciplines, that is valid and applicable for all FEI disciplines. This will be discussed at the FEI Sports Forum in April 2012 as part of the Veterinary Regulations revision, for adoption by the General Assembly in 2012 and implementation on 1 January 2013.
Consequently, a proposed change to Article 8430 of the Rules for Para-Equestrian Dressage regarding evidence of blood on the horse has also been withdrawn. This will allow Para-Equestrian Dressage to be covered by the new rule that will be applied across the disciplines in 2013. In the interim, Article 430.7.6 of the Dressage Rules and the FEI Code of Conduct Article in the Para-Equestrian Dressage Rules, which both cover horse welfare, will continue to allow for the elimination of horses that show evidence of blood anywhere on their body.
The Bureau today also agreed unanimously to postpone a decision on the appointment of the athlete representative to the Dressage Committee member. There are a number of legal issues that require clarification, including the validity of the expulsion of two members of the International Dressage Riders Club (IDRC) - Luis Lucio (ESP) and Maria Ines Garcia Cuellar (COL) - at its General Assembly in Hooge Mierde (NED) on 30 October.
“We we are keen to maintain a healthy working relationship with the IDRC as both the FEI and the Club have a mutual goal, which is to have democratic athlete representation on the Dressage Committee,” said FEI Secretary General Ingmar de Vos.
“The term of the outgoing athlete representative on the Dressage Committee has come to an end, so we need to move forward on this rapidly. We would like to thank Margit Otto-Crepin for all her dedication and hard work in the past.”

From http://www.fei.org/disciplines/dressage/press-releases/fei-general-assembly-opens-rio-de-janeiro-bra

Bitless or Not, It’s About Having the Choice

Article on eurodressage about bitless dressage.


www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2011/11/03/bitless-or-not-it%E2%80%99s-about-having-choice

 

"Bitless riding has attracted quite some interest over the past two years as several renowned Grand Prix riders have been doing bitless Grand Prix demonstrations (such as Uta Gräf and Alizee Froment). In The Netherlands bitless lower level classes were tested which led to the establishment of a special bitless circuit on a national level......." (from the article)

I think that this is a very interesting article and debate.

French and Saunders - Ponies

This video is just hillarious, and I think alot of other people out there will enjoy it as much as I did.

Steffen Peters and Janet Brown-Foy - Training video

The rest of the series can be watched by doubbleclicking on the title of the video and it will re-direct you to youtube. Enjoy!

GMHA Dressage Days History

its been awhile

Its been awhile since I have updated or even looked at this blog. Had alot of stuff going on, so have been neglecting this for months and months.

This blog now has over 1200 pageviews- I am impressed and very happy that some people out there is actually interested in what I have been putting on this blog so far.- Though its not much.

Personally I hope to update this blog alot more, and I appreciate all the views- alot :)

                                                                 (Happy Horse)

Competition

Want to join? Look here: http://ponnysanning.com/2011/october/tavling-i-samarbete-med-emmishopen.html#comment . 
Requires you to know swedish or google translate ;)

Blind rider and her horse

This is a blind rider and her horse Kolina, which rides an impressive level of dressage. Enjoy the video.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/play/-/9492932/sue-and-ko-olina/

Foam from the briddle- good or bad?

 

A debate I have seen on a few blogs lately, is the debate about foam created around the mouth, while riding your horse. There is alot of different opinions about this subject, whether or not it is a positive or negative thing.

One explanation:

The white foam is formed when the horse is sweating a lot, because of the protein latherin, which is also found in its saliva, and it probably helps to form the foam around the lips while riding with a bridle. The protein has a "soap-like" smooth consistency, and helps the horse to get rid of the heat, because it transports sweat all over the body when it overheats. This is the reason why the horse has a very good ability to thermoregulate at high temperatures.
"The Horse stands out not only in their ability to get rid of heat, which they of course must be able to do as large preyanimal but also in their ability to chew and digest dry food," says Malcolm W. Kennedy, Phd. evolutionary biologist from the University of Glasgow at The Horse. He believes that latherin also helped the ancient horses to survive on dry grass.
 
Latherin gets alot of extra attention because it may play a role in human allergic reaction to horses. A study has shown that equine allergic immune system reacts to the protein which is also known as allergen EQU c first.
- Source Thehorse.com 

Another explanation:
The drooling of frothy saliva at exercise is neither a virtue nor a vice; it is the physiological result of placing one or more foreign bodies (bits) in the mouth. Salivating is only one of a number of reflex responses that can be expected from such a step. The bit also breaks the otherwise airtight seal of the lips, admitting air into the oral cavity and, in the absence of food, allows the foamy saliva to escape. Apart from reflex salivation, other responses include movement of the lips, jaw, and tongue. Often the bit results in a mouth that is frankly open and a horse that makes occasional swallowing movements. All of these are normal digestive system responses. They are entirely appropriate in a horse that is feeding.

But if a horse is exercising, none of these responses are appropriate. For the deep breathing of exercise, an entirely opposite set of responses is required. The mouth should be shut and the lips sealed. There should be no air in the mouth and the mouth should be relatively dry, not wet. The jaw and tongue should be stationary in order that there is no interference with the airway from constant agitation of the soft palate and larynx. Finally, with regard to something that bit pressure is regrettably good at bringing about, the poll should not be strongly flexed, a position that further interferes with breathing.

From the above it can be seen that the bit method of control sets up a fundamental conflict. It confuses the exercising horse neurologically by stimulating inappropriate digestive system reflexes, and it seriously impairs breathing. Like ourselves, horses can either eat or exercise. They have not evolved to be capable of doing both at the same time. Drooling is an outward and visible sign that digestive system reflexes have been initiated. It is an inappropriate activity in an exercising horse. But the horse should not be blamed, for the fault lies with the method of control.

Personally I have noticed that most horses creates the foam while riding, but I consider it a negative thing when the horse has too much foam- meaning the front of the horse is "sprayed" with foam and alot of foam is comming out of the mouth. (like the above picture from http://www.hesteinternatet.dk/print.asp?id=3284) I see it as a sign of the horse being overworked and I often see this when horses are being hyperflexed and ridden behind the bridle for long periods of time, like the second explanation, saying that the horse should have a closed mouth while being exercised, when the horse is being hyperflexed it opens its mouth to release and get rid of some of the pressure from the bridle, and therefor it creates the foam.
A little foam around the mouth, I dont see anything wrong with, but it should be little and not a "flood".

Klaus Balkenhol

Im thinking it might be worth it to invest in his dvd :)

Helen & Damon Hill GPS

Adjust the window so you can see the video :)
Directlink: http://www.topdressage.tv/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2944

Cutest Thing ever!

Remember to Check the expiration date on horse products!

Fell over this article on a danish homepage (it is in danish though)
http://www.heste-nettet.dk/forum/6/166436/166436/

Bassicly the issue with a store selling expired horseproducts, which is actually illegal. So make sure to check the dates on your horse suppliment products!

Want it!

I love the De Niro Ramses II boot- Its very special in the design, but I gotta say I really like it! Not everything to do with horsesports has to be so traditional and boring, so this is definalty my new riding boot!

It is available in both black and brown.

Följ min blogg med bloglovin

Tullstrop Stallionshow 2011

http://www.korsholm.se/hi3/

Another user on the debate forum I visit quite often keep sharing amazing links, so I share them here aswell :) Enjoy!

Fürstenball in Herning

What a stallion!

Say No To Rollkur and LDR

Alot of debate about this subject is going on both on internet forums and on seminars etc. At the Hingstekåring herning 2011 rollkur was displayed by one of the riders in the Edward Gal clinic- yet none did anything about it, despite the fact that Roll Kur is an illegal practice method according to FEI. How is that okay?
Anky and Sjef which are the founders of this training method never called it Roll Kur, they have always called it LDR (low, deep and round), and this is where in my book the issues begin with Low Deep and round- Why is Rollkur then forbidden and LDR not, when the founder of Rollkur always has called it LDR? Maybe they should not ban "the name", which I think it seems to be like- but actually ban the method, regardsless of what is is called. Which means that if you practice training methods where you pull the horse in its mouth and apply hard helpers, officials at the competitions should intervene- and this should be regardless of it being a dressage, jumping or whatever competition it is seen at.

I could accept LDR if it was only performed with the horse in the following position (which alot of people claim it is):

and if it was only for short periods of time that the horse was trained in that form, then it would be acceptable- even though I would never personally train my horse like that.
The problem is that this image is very far from reality by alot of the top performers, the reality, unfortunately, often look like this:

Which in my world is absolute cruelty towards horses and this is why I strongly oppose toward these kind of training methods. The following methods has nothing to do with dressage, dressage is about making a horse use itself in the most correct way to avoid injuries (building up the right muscles, so the horse can bear the rider as easy as possible), to make it soft and to make it respond to the riders helpers with as small a signal as possible, og making it able to perform the different dressage exercises as correctly as possible- Pulling a horses head in, while agressively applying whip and legs with spurs does none of those things.

The only way I would use LDR would be the LDR and out variants (also called remonte) which looks like this and is used on young horses, horses with issues and horses which are being re-dressaged:

(borrowed from google)

 Where the horse seeks the briddle, stretches its neck and gets its back up while working in a manageable tempo. 

The idea with remonte training:

 Rollkur aka LDR does the oposite-working the nose from in the wrong position in training till out in the correct position for shows- doesnt make much sense.

So really- Just say no to Rollkur and the LDR variants of it.

A Pink summer with HV polo sports

(Notice it is the same vest on all the pictures- it can be turned inside out)

 

     

 
 

 

Seminar of the German Federation

This is some great links for other dressage entusiats like myself, with a great walk through of correct dressage and correctly ridden horses.

Enjoy!

http://wwww.clipmyhorse.de/en/archive/show/78/2700/ (a more trained dressage horse)

http://wwww.clipmyhorse.de/en/archive/show/78/2697/ (the young horses)

http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2010/07/young-dressage-horse-seminar-a-unique-learning-opportunity-in-warendorf/ - article about the seminar

Kingsland summer 2011

My favorites of the Kingsland Summer Collection 2011

From their catalog:

 

A good rider

What is a good rider?

I my world- this following rider delievers an excellent performance:

http://www.topdressage.tv/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2797

The rider has a lose and light contact to the Kandar briddle, the horse is working correctly under her- no agressive tail swiping. Its using its back and the behind legs arent hanging somewhere way behind.

Its definatly worth watching that video! (And she beat Isabell Werth- Which is Great!)