Emile Faurie at Gleneagles Feb 08

[cvb]

Anyone planning to come to the Emile Faurie demo at Gleneagles in early Feb ?

[Back2Black]

I think might come will see if Pam is up for it :D

[happy highlande]

Hey sis - what date is it - have you got me tickets for Xmas then?? (((grin)))

[cvb]

the flyer is here (http://www.bhsscotland.org.uk/documents/decemberemilefaurieflyer.pdf)

[happy highlande]

So no tickets under the tree then.....I'll buy my own!

[Fizz]

will see if the folk from the yard want to go:D

[cvb]

anyone other than me go ?

[marsden]

Nookster and I went:)

[JOJOBA]

How was it? The guy I sent Jack to rides for Emile Faurie and is one of his students, I would have been interested in going had I known!

xxx

[marsden]

i quite enjoyed it, however been to better clinics.

Here's few of the piccies and video's which i took
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d82/Nikki_and_Rod/Gleneagles%208th%20Feb%202008/th_Video029.jpg (http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d82/Nikki_and_Rod/Gleneagles%208th%20Feb%202008/?action=view&current=Video029.flv)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d82/Nikki_and_Rod/Gleneagles%208th%20Feb%202008/Photo442.jpg

[Nookster]

I actually enjoyed the masterclass on the horse and country channel of him more then the real life one :confused: But really like him as a rider and his knowledge:)

[cvb]

There were four horses planned. The first one was a young horse but looked like it was going to go a long way..

Second horse miraculously turned into Diana's horse rather than the one in the programme (and I think she had already ridden for him earlier that day ?). The horse had its eyes on stalks when it saw all the people there !! :eek:

Third horse apparently trotted up lame, so they went straight to the final (done 1 Grand Prix) horse.

Started on time at half seven, with first rider already warmed up. Finished at just past 10 - with a 20 min break part way through. Suspect he did more with the final horse, but even so - what time would we have finished with 4 horses ?

I didn't make loads of notes but...

Overall he used similar exercises at all levels but built in and asked for more as the horse advanced in maturity and training. That meant there were exercises we could all take home and use. (other than the half pass passage perhaps ;) )

He commented a number of times how he didn't correct or punish genuine mistakes or problems (like a horse breaking into canter as it had lost balance). An example of this was when one of the horses got slightly "enthusiastic" and just wanted to canter and canter. Rather than strictly bring it back to trot, he got the rider to flex it on a small circle until it trotted.

He was clearly against a lot (any !) rein in downward transitions. It was really interesting to see how many people were restricting the horse right back when going down a gait - and yet the quality of transition and pace after was way better when they did what he asked, used the voice only, and rode forward through and after the transition.

One of the funny things he commented on was patting the horse. The first rider reached forward a little and patted the horse right by the wither. Emile picked her up on it - saying that the horse has a specific area (a triangle on the neck) where patting means that vibrations go through the whole body and that is a reward to the horse. But patting anywhere else does not do this and is more an irritation. (Not sure what research this is based on ?)

His warm up is a forward walk. The middle horse was a little amazed by the audience and the rider went to trot him. Emile asked her to walk and commented that riding the horse forward when it is tense is quite a common thing to do, but his aim is not about dealing with the issue *now*, but to think longer term. By walking the horse and giving it time to look and get confident, you build the confidence for the future.

A couple of the exercises he used..

i) decreasing the circle but don't let the tempo or energy slow too much. Helps to engage the horse.

ii) trot, then transition to walk and straight in to a 6m circle, trot again as you complete the circle. important to ride forward in the walk circle.

He commented that we all ride too slow (but talk too fast :p). He kept on asking for "working" paces - which normally meant the rider and horse were not forward enough.

He also commented that we seem to have a weird idea of size - the 6m circles he asked for were ridden somewhat larger than 6m:o

The middle horse was not initially responding to leg - Emile asked the rider to use a swift aid to get a response. This seemed to get a much better response and quality of movement.

The final horse did some amazing passage in half pass - which was aiming to get more expression in to his "normal" half pass. This horse also did some 2-time and tempi changes. Emile got the rider to ask for - say - 4 two-time changes and then ride forward, then ask again. The aim was to have the horse expecting to go forward while doing the changes - you gradually build up the number of changes. Similar idea applied to the tempi changes.

At the interval there was a presentation relating to a scheme for inner city riders - a lad from a school... Emile has a foundation which promotes schemes like this.

Overall he came across as sympathetic to the horse. Straight forward and logical in his approach to training and teaching. Aware of the enormity of riding as a guinea pig - with a strange instructor and an audience.

A nice evening all round.