Mike Henaghan Clinic – May 31- June 2, 2019
Although this is the third time we have had Mike Henaghan at our farm working with our horses and kids, for some reason this time really seemed monumental. Perhaps we as a farm were at a better place to receive the information that he was imparting with, whatever the reason, Mike made the biggest impact on us yet.
The start of the three day clinic started heavy with flat work, the basis of all good riding. Emphasizing Ride Ability in all the sections, both that day and every day of the clinic, we quickly learned what it entails.
Some words from Mike (as best remembered by me)
Ride ability- your mount listening and reacting to your aids; quickly and efficiently. What are they listening to? The same 4 basic objectives that start with your first lesson and don’t end even when you are at the Olympic level; Go, Whoa, Right and Left. It’s that simple. Finesse these 4 things and you’re well on your way to a better ride.
A big walk happens when you engage your horse from your legs to your hands. Educate your arms to have a following elbow, maintaining connection with a feel of their mouth that doesn’t interrupt their walk but still be in control. All adjustments should be minimal.
Be like Bernie Traurig (US Olympian in three events; show jumping, dressage, and eventing) and warm up for several laps at all three gaits in the two point; teaching your leg where it belongs, creating muscle memory.
Your source of balance comes from heel depth.
Your hands should be independent from the rest of your body.
Use your elbows, not your body.
Your 4 angles starting from the bottom; ankle, knee, hip, and elbow
Backing Up Exercise:
Remain in a 2-Point, halt, keep the contact to maintain the resistance of your horse’s mouth, and then close your leg. Do not allow your horse to go forward. Your leg applied is a forward command. Not allowing them to go forward with a firm short rein contact leaves them only one option; to back up.
By being in your 2-point you can’t use your seat and start wiggling around. Your reins are short to start with and to do this exercise correctly you DO NOT bring you hands back. You just keep resistance in the reins and the leg pushes them to back up once they hit your hand and have nowhere else to go.
Make sure before adding leg that :
- your reins are short and your fingers are closed (and remember to NOT then bring your hand back)
- Your seat bones are squarely centered on your horse (close your eyes to then feel their hips may help)
Then add leg. If they don’t initially listen, thump your leg on their side, or use your stick. Do not to use your spur.
If your horse doesn’t respond, DO NOT go to your seat OR start pulling back on your reins. Just continue repeating the exercise.
The correct application of your aids should get you the results you are looking for. Be patient.
This is the same concept as getting your horse to come together from your leg to your hand.
Lead Change Exercise:
- Keep your horse’s body straight using rein aids to shape the turn (a slight inside bend of the neck)
- Apply your outside leg to move their outside hind in.
- As they move their inside hind leg over they will then step into the new lead.
Describing a Corner or Arc & How to Ride It ( here I have embellished with my own words)
A corner or arc, has three points of reference:
1)The start of the arc- leaving the straight line from the jump you just jumped
2) The middle of the arc
3) The end of the arc where you are leaving the arc to start straightening
up to head to the next line of jumps
At position ONE you have just finished doing a lead change as needed. You now are putting your horse back on the aids with your inside leg, creating the shape and pushing your horse into your outside hand and leg and creating the pace.
At position TWO you are maintaining your pace and rhythm, following your horse.
Between position TWO and THREE (this is where lots can go wrong because you get distracted and forget to maintain shape and pace) you start looking for the jump to line up with the point you are heading to.
At position THREE you leave the arc and maintain your line to the jump with your horse now firmly between both legs and hands – straight. You are now in a position to start measuring where you are to the jump.
Some More Words from Mike:
Every day rehearse these 4 elements: Go, Whoa, Right and Left.
When connecting and shaping your horse, sit with a slight shoulder in and then apply your inside leg to move their inside hind leg into your outside hand. Like a bicycle, with your outside hand following the wheel around the turn, your outside hand holds the contact while supported with your inside leg. Don’t throw your outside hand away after creating the shape.
For horses to learn how to do it, you have to use it!
Create what you want and don’t be afraid to go after it.
Like a boat, the engine is in the rear. “Push that boat !!! ”
Use your outside rein to balance, use your inside rein to shape.
Turn on your Axis, not tipping side to side.
Reiterating again what was already said:
Present the inside hind to the outside hand. The roundness of your horse comes from your leg. As you do it, you will need less and less rein, and more and more leg.
Transitions educate the mouth, and like what Bert de Némethy said
“Don’t lose the Integrity of the Gait” and “Don’t lose the Integrity of their mind”
(Bertalan De Nemethy was the very famous cavalry officer in Hungary who later became the show jumping coach for the United States Equestrian Team, influential in developing riding and training methods used by show jumpers today.)
When encountering a frustrating exercise; Change your focus and work with the horse, being less demanding of our horse and more demanding of yourself.. Many of us are great riders in a difficult stage of our riding careers. It is all there. We learn most from the things that we can’t do well yet.
Keep your reins shorter when using a gag.
We need to learn to separate our body parts.
Like a See Saw, horses left to their own devices will lean forward and fall onto their forehand through a downward transition. Always counter this with leg and rein aids, keeping their poll up and their hind end down.
It is necessary to have TOTAL concentration for a quality ride.
For lateral work; sit in the direction you want to go.
In a ring keep your crop on the inside for training. (It aids your inside leg)
Eyes are critical for steering
Make up your Mind!
Both halting and backing up are FORWARD movements since you close your hand and push their hind end forward to it.
Close your leg and go forward to collect
Control what you are doing
Nobody is out here to do your job
Don’t make yourself fail rather than take a chance
Riding is an emotional sport that you need to reel in
Bounces are a forward exercise
Inside boulder back, outside shoulder forward to bring their neck around
Put him on you outside rein from your inside leg.
Balance with outside rein, use your inside rein to shape.
Get them on two reins
Don’t let them intimidate you; you can’t have ride ability when they are dragging you around.
Enjoy how hard you are working and see the improvement! These are little jumps we jumped with difficult Medal Final questions.
If you saw repetition with some of what was said it is because it is that important and worth repeating.
We have lots of material to work on before Mike comes back again. It was interesting and fun to see how our riders responded throughout the three days of this clinic. Most felt like Mike was picking on them during the first day. Keeping their emotions reeled in as best as possible, nonetheless there were some frustrated tears in the barn. During the second day most realized that he was actually picking on their riding, and not them.
He was being tough on us because he knew that we were capable of better. He asked our riders to do homework the first day; Write down what they and their horse were good at and then one thing the rider felt needed work.
Mike then discussed the Homework with everyone from each group, encouraging us to look into the mirror every morning and tell ourselves “ I am a GOOD Rider”. If we don’t believe it, why would anyone else believe it?
As light bulbs went off as the clinic progressed to the third day there was much transformation as everyone improved. It was great to see the hard work being put in and all the success coming out.
I will work on getting Mike back on the schedule for later this year or early next year shortly. Stay tuned!