Sudi update with pics!

[sixfootblonde]

What a fantastic story.  He looks amazing!  You have done so well by him.  Superb fairytale  

[Lusitanolou]

Thanks for sharing.  He is such a lucky boy to have you as many other owners would have given up and passed  him on but you have given him the time and space love and patience that he needed.  So glad you are now receiving the fruits of all your hard work.  To have the experiencewith him that you have this week must make you feel immensely proud and rewarded.  What a cleaver lad. Enjoy and please a video would be fantastic.

[rhillahorse]

Woo! What a stunning looking boy - so elegant, and those big, dark eyes! 

I love a happy ending. 

[chapsi]

Heather,

it's such a wonderful story to have been following through these last few years. You did wonders and he is such a huge credit to you and your horsewoman' skills.
And yes, maybe fate lurks around the corner for us and horses sometimes come into our lives with a special task.

He is looking stunning and fantastic! 

[Heather]

Aw thanks Maria- he is an amazing horse, and I hope now, that I really have got the horse of a lifetime! He has taken so long to really win his trust- we seemed to be able to get him listening to us and relaxing a bit for a few days even, and then he would be back to square one, tense, uptight, and fearful, even though we had never ever punished him in any way, shape or form.

But now, he is so consistent, is totally calm and relaxed every time he is in the school, and that is what I have been striving for for so long. Being able to go out in the fields daily with his buddies, now that he is so much better with other horses, I think has also helped a great deal. He used to be so aggressive with other horses and still would be with any horse that was not a member of his little group. He attacked Beckett when she put him out with them, even though he grazed out with him all last summer, and was his best mate!! Didnt help that Sudi wasnt gelded until 5 yrs old, guess he still has some of the stallion instincts left.

But overall, he is a pleasure to own now, and is also a great soppy lump, very affectionate!!

Heather

[Amanda1950]

I haven't read all about Sudi, but how wonderful that you have persevered with this stunning chap and what lovely photos  - an inspiration to others with problems to take things slowy and gently and to to stick with it!

I look forward to hearing more about him.

[issywizz]

Lovely pics heather.
Hes looking really soft,relaxed and happy,listening well too by the look of his ears!  
Can I ask a question?- Why is there not a straight line from the elbow to the bit in some of the pics? is this a French thing?

[Heather]

Yes and no, Sarah (good question, btw, and was waiting for someone to ask it!! -how did I guess it would probably be you? ). He had been too short in the neck and deep under saddle when I first had him. Even though on a light contact, I found that having my hands higher, PK style I suppose, helped to keep him where I wanted him. Now, he is becoming stronger, and yesterday, having seen myself on the pics, I realised I am still riding him with my hands higher than I need to now, and lowered them again. I would still raise them again momentarily, if he were to go short in the neck, and then release forward a little, again very quickly as soon as he had 'given'. I only ever do this with horses which have been ridden either too low, or lean on the rein, or have been ridden short in the neck.

He stayed in carriage yesterday the whole time, but I needed to take a more definite contact with my hands lowered. I couldnt have done that even a couple of days ago without him wanting just to speed up- as soon as you took up a contact at all, he just bogged off. Now, I want him to be on a more defined contact to be able to collect him more- eventually he will go on the weight of the reins again, as he develops more advanced self carriage. The fact that he now allows me to take up a contact is another huge step forwards. And when I say 'take a contact', it is still not a  heavy one.

He is having the day off today as he has been such a good boy, but Debbie hopefully will be down next week, so will get her to take some video.

Heather

[Wendy]

Heather, he looks so fantastic now! What a wonderful story. I love the pics, especially the piaffe.

When you say he was 'short in the neck' - what do you mean exactly - would go behind the vertical?

[issywizz]

Great explanation Heather,thank you.
So how does it affect things if you ride without the line there as normal? what I mean is,yes,I know you do the correction of lifting the hands momentarily,but if you ride with the hands there constantly for a time is there not a problem with disrupting the flow of energy?and the connection between riders seat to horses bit? so therefore including horses Qs,and back? as these go through the seat to the bit in energy terms?
Or would it not have been a constant thing anyway?
Im not having a dig btw for anybody who thinks I am,Sudi is looking absolutely super,Im just trying to understand.

[Heather]

Hi Wendy,

Yes, but not in the sense of 'deep' and btv- more short and tight. This was Sudi when I went to try him, and how he would still have gone had I not worked to release his neck by not holding onto the front end.




I will still have to be careful not to allow him to go tight, even though he is no longer doing it from tension. It is a very delicate balance between having him sufficiently between hand and leg atm, with still a light connecting contact, and him trying to take a stronger one as we build up more energy in the work through collection! I like to think of collection as storing the energy created by the legs, with the hands and seat being the valve that contain or release it. But you have to be so careful with a horse like this not to create so much energy that he cant deal with it rationally, it all has to be done by degrees that he can happily cope with!!

Heather

[Heather]

Sarah, your questions to me personally, are always valid and create interesting discussion!! 

To be honest, energy with Sudi has been the very last thing on my mind, disrupting or otherwise! With a horse like this, so hot and with masses of natural energy, you have to disrupt the energy, to a certain extent to make him concentrate on working slower and using his joints. He would- did- just rush and flatten all the time otherwise. He is not a naturally great mover, although when you see the passage, it doesnt really follow that his normal trot is flat and very mediocre!!

So you see, this is where the German idea of pushing him forwards onto a contact, simply wouldnt, (didnt) work, because that is how he was trained for 5 months before I had him, and presumably why the person (PSG rider schooling him for his then owner) training him said he would never make a dressage horse.
OK, he will never have the sort of extension required of a GP horse nowadays, that is unless I teach him Spanish trot and then dont ride it too extravagantly- he would probably then do a modern competition style extended trot, which is halfway to ST, come to think of it!!

Heather

[Melody1]

He is  great to see that all your hard work is paying off and lovely to hear about his history.

[Trudi]

It's been a really *interesting* journey then Heather and the results are looking good.
I love your questions too Sarah, especially when you haven't got pmt  , just sometimes you lack a little sensitivity shall we say? But it's never dull when you're around.

I noticed the high hands but ,especially in the piaffe shots, if I blanked out Heather and just saw Sudi then there appeared to be no energy being blocked, just a horse open in the throat lash, connected behind and soft over his back, lovely.

 I think it's all too easy to take the rules too far rather than using them to *shape* our work. The straight line bit to elbow is ideal in an ideal world but surely if the rider has feel and living hands then the cycle of energy need not necessarily be broken, especially if like Heather you are aiming to ride on the weight of the rein. Training/riding is not a matter of *painting by numbers* much more the artistry of the moment and I suppose it depends on what you understand the role of the reins to be. If you see the reins as a means to keep the energy circular then yes, I guess a straight line is ideal. If you see the reins as an open conversation with the jaw/poll then it seems much less necessary and the play of the fingers becomes (to me) far more important than any science of straight lines and energy.

Thanks for posting Heather, your 'pics do give me hope that my boy is on the right road and sounds not unlike Sudi, especially in terms of excess energy

[Heather]

Thanks Trudi, what a super reply!! You really summed up EXACTLY what I feel, rather better than I did
I am going to quote you in my next book, with that, with your permission, of course!! Spot on!!

Heather