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Dressage Judging with Margaret Freeman

Office Manager, Kristen Bosgraf, had the pleasure of attending the IEA National Finals at Tryon International Equestrian Center this past week as a scribe for S judge Margaret Freeman. Margaret, of Tryon NC, is a USEF senior dressage judge and former FEI-level competitor with her Friesian-cross mare. She’s a freelance writer/editor for horse magazines and covered the equestrian events at seven Olympics for the Associate Press. She is the former Executive Board secretary of the USDF and is active with youth dressage activities, including Dressage4Kids Inc. and Lendon Gray’s Youth Dressage Festival (NY). She’s an experienced show organizer and was on the founding committees of CDCTA (VA) and Dressage at Devon (PA). 

A scribe is a judge’s assistant, responsible for recording the marks and comments and noting any errors so that the judge can watch the entire test unimpededYou will often see a scribe with the judge at dressage competitions but it’s not limited to just dressage. Scribes are often necessary for all scored or individually judged classes such as reining, english/western riding, trail, showmanship, equitation and horsemanship, and some over fences classes. This allows the judge to focus on the competitor in the ring while sharing their scores and comments for the scribe to record. 

At the IEA National Finals the dressage ring hosted two judges for each class. In addition, both the small square and large square were utilized based on the test ridden.  There are two positions for the judge to sit during a dressage test – either at the letter E or C. When judging from E you are able to see the outline of the horse and rider and assess engagement as well as accuracy at the letter X. When judging from C you have a much better perspective of straightness on both centerline as well as on the long sides of the ring. Often the two judges have similar scores, but since they have different perspectives due to where they are sitting, the scores may differ at times. The two scores are then averaged together to give the final score for that rider.

The format for an IEA competition is a draw system. Riders do not bring their own horses but instead ride horses provided for that particular show. They are allotted a two-minute warm up time with their coach to prepare for their class. This means that the quality of the horse may vary for each competitor, challenging the judge to focus primarily on the rider and the effectiveness of their aids throughout the test. Accuracy becomes essential in determining the winning ride. 

One of the most frequent comments across the board related to circlesCircle size and location to be ridden are determined by the test being performedMost commonly we saw circles at the ends of the ring at C and A as well as in the center of the ring at E and B. The most common mistake noted was circles were not round and had drifted too large for the specification of the test. These little details often determine who scores well and who does not. Riding an accurate circle requires the rider to utilize their full corridor of aids to keep the horse in front of the rider’s leg, balanced and organized in the movement. 

Overall, the classes were quite competitive and the riders who nailed the small details came away with winning scores.  Upon their class’s completion, each rider receives a copy of the test with the scores and comments from each movement and additional comments shared from the judge to evaluate what can be done better. In this way, competing in a scored class such as a dressage test can also be a learning experience for the competitor. Outside perspective is a valuable tool in the learning process, especially when the feedback is coming from such a seasoned judge like Margaret.

Zoom Meeting Thoughts

As part of the Lyons Legacy Online Training Program, Josh conducts twice monthly zoom meetings.  These meetings are topic based, giving Josh opportunity to share knowledge about a variety of topics before jumping into the question and answer phase of the meeting. In our most recent meeting, there was great conversation about how horses learn and different types of bits.  

Tips to Raise Performance in your Horse

You don’t know how long it’s gonna take that horse to learn. Some horses it just takse a while and some go really fast. If we treat them all the same, we are going to make them all go slow. We have a time limit in our heads saying this is how long it should take and that will hold us back. One of the things I’ve learned about riding, and this comes from my good friend Al Dunning, he said “Josh, ride finished. Every time you climb on a horse, it’s finished, it’s perfect. You ride it like that. When it makes a mistake, correct it, but then go back to being perfect. Expect it to be perfect.” That has changed my training so much to where everything is just so much faster. Some horses take two corrections, and that’s it. Some horses take hundreds of corrections. But if I treat that horse that takes two like the horse that takes hundreds, it’s gonna take me forever to get done and I cause so much aggravation in that horse. What I’ve learned, and what everyone has learned and is taught, is horses take repetition. To train a horse it’s repetition, lots of repetition. But the problem with repetition is, repetition without change causes aggravation. But if I change it a little bit, asking for more softness or a little quicker through the rib cage, I’m still working on the same general concept but I’m not looking for the same exact answer. That same exact answer causes aggravation. We keep doing it because we’ve learned repetition, repetition, repetition, but the problem with repetition is, if you don’t have that change we start building in aggravation. One of the key recipes to raising a horses performance is how far, how fast, how little. Which means, once they understand any maneuver, I’m going to work on further and I’m only going to do it for five minutes to improve further. The next five minutes I’m gonna improve faster, so whatever speed he was going he’s gotta go a little bit quicker. That doesn’t mean 30 miles an hour. It just means 1 mile an hour difference, a little bit quicker. And then the the hardest, hardest part is less – which means the horse has to keep the same distance, with the same speed, off of less pressure. The problem is  when we drop that rein or we ask less with that rein our expectations go with it. If you pick up your horse and you rip your horse to back up what do you expect? You expect him to back up quick. But when you pick your hand up 2 inches, how do you expect him the back up? We’re hoping he crawls back because we don’t keep the same expectations off less rein. What’s hard is we have to learn how to keep our expectations high with less pressure, same distance, same speed, off of less pressure. Once I go through all three steps I follow back and I do it again.

More About Bits

What makes ice cream so good? What makes it so good is I don’t have it every night, it gets to be the same. There are five different styles of bits. You’ve got your gag bits to your snaffles to your snaffle shanks to your corrections to your straight bar bits. Straight bar bits can take bend out, corrections can put bend in, the snaffle shank is like having two bits in one – you get to ride it like a snaffle and get introduced chin flexion, then you got your gag bits.  With gag bits, we can work on the poll pressure and take any anxiety away from the bit. But the problem with any one of those is, to me, it’s the same as ice cream. You eat that thing every day you’re gonna get to where you don’t like ice cream. My horses have to switch bits and they switch all the time. What happens is, if I put that horse in the correction bit because he’s a little stiff in his mouth or stiff to one side over the other, I’ll work that correction bit and it’ll create a lot of bend in them for me. But then the problem is, it starts to create too much bend so now I have another problem to deal with. So then I don’t wanna take that bit out, I keep that bit in and I’m trying to straighten the horse up with it, which makes it hard. It doesn’t make it impossible, makes it hard. Or I can switch to a straight bar bit and straighten them up. So my bits are tool, it’s just a tool. So the question is, what is your horse doing? With whatever bit you have in, is he bending too much? Is he not yielding to the bit? Is he taking the bit and trying to leave with it? If you pick up too much pressure, is he panicking, throwing his head up and lunging from it? So we gotta find out what he is doing and then we can address what I would use to help fix that problem.

You know, the greatest thing about bits is they’re tools. They’re great tools, but they don’t train a horse. If it did, you would go to the tack store and buy the ones that said stop bucking and stop rearing and 10 foot slide here and 30 foot slide there but they don’t. They’re great tools to use and the more tools in the toolbox I have then the easier the job becomes. What I’ve learned is everybody was always taught that their hands aren’t good enough to go to a shank. I can tell you this, you put that person in the snaffle bit, they’re comfortable and they pull and jerk and pull cause they’re comfortable with that bit. Put that person with heavy hands in a shank. They will grab that one time and they will not touch it again and they figure out real quick I better get a little softer. The snaffle bit is the only bit that you really ever need. I can train everything in the snaffle bit. I can try to do everything I need in that snaffle bit but it’s also not the only bit I want. There are other bits that do other tools or other things that I like and things I can use like going to the split reins and tracking one-handed, and being able to narrow that road up and teach that horse to stay between those reins. It’s a cool thing you know, but absolutely the bit is not severe, it’s how you use it. If we start figuring out what I don’t wanna do is touch the horse, I want that bit to stay in the center, I don’t wanna touch them. My goal is not to touch that horse. The only time I touch him is when he makes a mistake and he’s telling me how much pressure I need to put on this horse. We think that we decide the pressure, we don’t decide the pressure, that horse decides the pressure. That horse says it takes this amount of pressure to make me do this. We don’t decide, that horse decides. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t put any pressure on them, I wouldn’t touch them. But it’s not my choice, it’s that horses choice. The nice thing about horses is the better trained they get and the more they learn. the less I have to ever touch this horse. When I’m showing reining horses, the idea is 80% of the time this horse drives, I don’t touch them. I don’t ever have to touch that horse for 80% of that ride. I want him to drive, not me, and that’s when I’m ready to show this horse. Bits are tools, they’re just a tool, same as a saddle. It’s the same as using dressage whips, or spurs, or or the end of a rope or a bat. They use all kind of different things you know, and they think that one is severe and one is not. It’s how you use it, it’s a communication tool and that’s all. The most important thing is that when you go to bed at night you gotta feel good about what you did. There’s times I’ve gone to bed and I don’t feel good. There’s times I gotta go back the next day and I brush that horse a little longer and give him a little more treats. It’s just part of it, that’s training. My whole goal is every time I go to bed, I gotta feel good about what I did and how I got there, there’s a lot of ways to get there. You know the idea is that we keep getting better – as long as we’re making progress, as long as you can see progress, then you won’t lose your temper. It’s when you can’t find progress, when that fear sets in that I’m not gonna be able to get this done, when you can’t see that progress then all of a sudden your emotions take over, you lose control, you lose your temper, and you start doing things that you know you shouldn’t be doing.

2024 Clinics – Let’s Ride!

Our team was unbelievably blessed in 2023 with wonderful hosts and facilities for our 3 and 5 Day clinics!  That trend is carrying over to 2024 and our calendar is already full. If you are looking for an amazing learning opportunity for both you and your horse, consider joining our team for a clinic in 2024! 

Our clinics take a maximum of 15 riders; we want to ensure every rider gets the attention and time they need to understand each concept that is covered over the course of the clinic. In addition, auditors are always welcome to join in on the fun!

Cost for our clinics are: 
3-Day Rider – $900
5-Day Rider – $1250
Auditors – $25/day
These fees do not include stalls or hookups, though most facilities do offer those options for the events. Check event details for pricing – some may include facility fees.

2024 Host Facilites

Art of the Horseman 2024 Online Horse Fair

What is Art of the Horseman?

The Art of the Horseman Online Horse Fair is an online resource for horse enthusiasts to seek valuable knowledge from a wide variety of professionals in the comfort of their own home.  Created by Jack and Paula Curtis, their goal was to make educational opportunities more accessible to the masses as they found over the years that a well-rounded education was essential.  The line up of presenters includes trainers from all disciplines, veternarians, farriers, and much more!

In 2024, our own Josh Lyons will be included in the lineup!  This is a great opportunity to get a taste of our Lyons Legacy Online Training Program as well as useful content from so many other great presenters.  You can view the fair for 2 Days ONLY, January 29th and 30th, 2024 at 9:00 AM CST.  There is so much information available, you may need or want more time to learn.  The Art of the Horseman offers monthly and lifetime access as well!  Take advantage of FREE ACCESS for two days only to get a taste of what this fair has to offer.

Fall Clinics with John Lyons

If riding with John Lyons is on your bucket list – here is your chance!  John will be conducting several clinics this fall and they are limited to just 9 riders.  As always, auditors can also attend and learn from the sidelines.  Cost for riders is $900, cost for auditors is $45 per day.  Shoulder, hip and head control made easy – so you enjoy riding and are safer as well.  Clinics run from 9am until 5pm and have an hour and a half lunch break.  Day one of the clinics always starts with a rider meeting on foot before getting horses out to ride. These events will be shared on the Josh Lyons/Lyons Legacy Facebook page and are as follows:

September 14 – 17, 2023Woodloch Stable, Hugo MN
Call Bill and Ingvill Ramberg to reserve riding spot at 651-796-8179  

September 28 – October 1, 2023Hardy Farms, Howell MI
Jolene Deyoung 810-569-4640
 info@hardysfarm.com 

October 5 – 8, 2023 – Copper Rise Ranch, Springport IN
Call Mike & Melinda Garrish
765-524-1383 to reserve a riding spot. melindagerrish@gmail.com 

October 12 -15, 2023Cook Forest Camp Grounds, Clarion PA
To reserve riding spots call John Lyons at 970-366-2856
To reserve camping and stalls call Ray and Terrie Smith 814-226-5985  

October 19 – 22, 2023Birchtown Stables, Forest City, PA
Michelle
Eccles host and John & Josh Lyons certified Trainer.  570-267-5918. Email meccles1027@hotmail.com. CLINIC IS FULL. Observers welcome $45 per day – contact the host for more information.  

November 2 – 5, 2023 – Long Island, NY
Sonny Garguilo Host, & Friend 516-790-8367
CLINIC IS FULL. O
bservers welcome. $45 per day – contact the host for more information.  

November 9 – 12, 2023 – Long Island, NY
Sonny Garguilo Host, & Friend 516-790-8367
CLINIC IS FULL. Observers welcome. $45 per day – contact the host for more information.

November 16 – 19, 2023Rose Hill Ranch, Naples, NY
Jack Minteer Host 585-506-7740. Email. Rosehillranch1@gmail.com 

Are You Bridling Your Horse Correctly?

In this Certification class we took a few minutes learning a simple way to properly  bridle the horse.

It is important to not hit their teeth with the bit or to force it into their mouth, especially when introducing the bridle. Take your time! Let them slowly spit the bit out when taking the bridle off.

Remember, most bad bridling habits come from rushing the process or hitting their teeth with the bit!

Adding A Pre-Cue To The Back-up

“Adding pre-cues to backing your horse off your seat.”

Here’s a peek into classroom time during one of our 5 Day Trainers Clinics.

Be sure to check out or 2021 schedule for our upcoming clinics near you!

https://www.joshlyons.com/events/

For those of you who prefer to stay at home to learn and train at your own pace, our step-by-step Online Training Courses and weekly Zoom meetings with Josh are absolutely perfect!

https://lyons-online.mykajabi.com/

The Outside Horse

You are always riding two horses: The inside horse and the outside horse.

“Everything on the left side of the horse’s mane is controlled by your left hand, left leg, left seat. Everything on the right side of the mane is controlled by right hand, right leg, right seat.”

Cueing Your Horse

 

We cue our horses to do the things we want them to do, (to go forward, to go left, to go right, to change gaits, to change direction, speed transitions, to back up, etc.) but cueing them out of it is just as IMPORTANT.

Give them the responsibility of doing what you asked, until you tell them to stop.

What we don’t want is to tell them to do something and hold them there, constantly helping them do their job. it’s easy to micromanage and over-cue. Give them a job, tell them to do it and KEEP DOING the job until you tell them to stop.