Gerd Heuschmann Conference - my musings!!!

[Moses]

Another one who wants to thank you . I missed the day so this is brilliant to read, felt like I was there 
Can I ask you , when all the horses were working how much time was spent with long necks being worked compared to a shortened more upright head carriage .Or was it just in the relaxation periods the horse was encouraged to have a long neck?

Thanks again 

[epona]

Can I ask you , when all the horses were working how much time was spent with long necks being worked compared to a shortened more upright head carriage .Or was it just in the relaxation periods the horse was encouraged to have a long neck?

The horses were asked to work with a long neck THROUGHOUT the lesson.  The elevation of the horse was changed during the work, but the neck was always asked to be forward INTO the bridle. 

I did forget to say that Gerd found it amusing that us Brits couldnt seem to change the length of the rein!!!    We had one length and just straigtened our arms  so he encouraged lengthening the neck by LENGTHENING THE REINS!    Then by using the circle to activate the inside leg, he would ask the rider to take up the reins gradually to elevate the forehand and asking for inside flexion to keep the jaw mobile.  The elevation was always reletive to the back.  i.e the back was always to be up and swinging.

Does that make sense?

[Trudi]

  What a brilliant write up Vicky. I haven't read it all yet but what I've skimmed of the case notes sounds very encouraging and very similar to the PK work that I admire. THANK YOU it must have taken you ages but I'm so pleased you found the time to do it.

[jenb]

Great write up Vicky, thank you!  It was indeed a fab weekend, nice to see friends both old and new 

The pony made the biggest impression on me too, he was just so sore and unhappy when he came in.  I think he was feeling a little better by the end of the lesson.  But isn't it very indicative of the state of competitive dressage today, when a 14 year old girl presents a pony ridden in that state?  She was on the U21s dressage squad, so must have had quite a bit of training from the big guns, and was led to believe that way of riding was ok.  Very, very telling... 

[issywizz]

Vicky,that is just FANTASTIC!!!!! You are so darned good at these write ups!  

Its especially interesting for me as Gerd has been working with the TTT and Andrew is very much in agreement with his work-its fascinating and extremely heartening for me to see so much of Andrews work with B is precisely what Gerd is aiming for also.
Ive always taken lame horses to Sven and found him excellent,but have always wondered about his advocation of the pessoa for horses with back issues,however,yes,I would have to agree that there are very few people who can lunge well enough to correct a horses carriage and,yes,the pessoa is better than a horse continuing to go around with faulty carriage.
I *LOVE* your descriptions about the neck,very well put and absolutely what Andrew works on too.
Superb write up-many many thanks,I know it must have taken some time!
Btw,would you mind if I copied and pasted onto BD?I think that the more the word is spread,especially in the competition scene the better.

[Moses]

Hi epona , would you mind if I pm'd you with a question ?

[epona]

Issy - feel free to copy and paste    Id like the opportunity of answering any queries on my thoughts if thats OK? 

Moses - feel free 

Glad so many people have enjoyed reading - yes, it did take some time, but I do find it EVER so useful to write up my notes as it does clarify things in my mind 

[visconde]

will digest this later on but thankyou so much for this write up-really appreciate it thankyou!

[issywizz]

Thanks Epona,

I will copy and paste anything interesting back over here.
The BD server is sooo slow atm though I cant even get on! 

[Moses]

I don't suppose their was any mutterings of him doing any more of these demo's anytime in the future in the Uk ???? I would actually go abroad to see him but would fear it would be in another language perhaps ?

[sixfootblonde]

Great notes Epona!  You are so good to write them up!  (was good to meet you btw ).

There was talk of him coming back later this year, or early next year.  He is doing a 'thing' with PK in Germany in November and there are still tickets left. 

[AnaE]

Can't wait to read all this! thaks for the report Vicky!

[phillipa]

Thanks Vicky for taking the time to do such a detailed write up  It is a huge help, esp as a reminder to people like me who have the same outside rein problem  . Just wish I'd been there 

[epona]

He is coming again on 26th September at the TTT Trust in Surrey.

www.ttttrust.com/programme.asp

It says an evening presentation at 7pm - the following day says 'seminar' but no more details than that - Im only assuming it is a seminar with Dr Heuschmann  

Great to meet you too SFB   Met lots of new faces - its so good to put faces to EE names    so HI everyone  

[Pikku Karhu]

WOW. Thank you so much Epona, what a fabulous write up and so thought provoking. Will no doubt come back many times and digest more - got his book and DVD which I love and this is a great addition. THANK YOU  .

Interesting to hear he works with PK... as I was reading I kept thinking that for a German he sounds, well kind of more French school, but that explains it a bit...

A very simple question (will need a lot more time to digest to ask anything complicated or intelligent, LOL) - when he speaks about the rules of thumb for training sessions for young horses and says that 2 days off work is needed for the muscles to recover, does he mean two consecutive days?