Paul Belasik Clinic write up

From Saturday - didn't go back on Sunday as we hadn't booked for it

What a nice man.

He regularly stopped to explain the theory of what he was saying to the rider.

He had a remote mic, so we could all hear what he was saying, which made it a much better experience all round.

I got a lot out of it, and took some notes, so distilled – and of course, this is only what I got out of it, others might have thought other points more important.

Hands up - keep neck up by raising the hands. We all all regularly told to keep hands down, but if you look at the top riders, they are up. PB once did some research and found that most top riders have their hands about 6” above the pommel, not the 4 – 5 we are normally told.

With a young horse, rhythm is very important and the horse has to find a balanced cadence – aim for the same quality on a young horse as you would on an older horse, otherwise you won’t get it later. You need to teach the horse so his back his stronger and equal behind as in front. I specifically asked when he would start asking the youngster for a higher frame, given that we are all generally told to look for a lower “novice” frame – he said, from early start, as otherwise, how is the horse going to be able to do it once you do ask later?

On transitions – be sure the horse stays with the contact, keep the uphill in the step. On trot/halt transitions, push up in back and use the back to nail the halt. The halt must be instant – take a shorter rein and ensure he accepts the contact, don’t let his head go down into the transition down or up.

On a slightly stress horse (the one in question looked pretty calm, but owner/rider said he had a bit of history, and the owner/rider hadn’t expected to be riding the clinic at all!) - the more the horse has to step out, the more it has to relax and breathe. Push for more impulsion to assist in relaxation, push the horse out to the hand.

On pirouettes (for those getting that far! I could only dream…) don’t train pirouette with small steps, that will come with time. The Pirouette comes from the horse jumping over behind, not from front bend, and the horse should feel stiff back to front. The movement feels a lot bigger than it looks.

On position: sit up straight, he likes lines down sleeves so he can see what the arm is doing! Do not get pulled forward - he showed how that was possible if you weren’t straight, with the benefit of a guinea pig and a lungeline. To get the arm/hand position right – hold arms up and out as if you were holding a big beach ball, then put the hands down – ensures that your chest/shoulders are right. Feel as though hand attached to back. Grip with thighs and drape lower leg, not grip with calf – pointed out that the SRS riders who say they don’t grip with thigh are in fact incorrect, they have just forgotten that that is what they do ….


and finally, on Totilas' trot:

"horse hollow in back disunited totally unnatural - it is quite incorrect"