Independence

  Independence is such an important thing for everyone. I think we are all trying our best to build the skills we need to be more independent all the time. I know I still have a long way to go. Some things are a peace of cake for me like taking care of kids, cooking, barn work, and house work, but there are others I still have a long way to go.
  In riding it is so helpful to have what we equestrians call independent aids, which in simple terms means a rider should be able to use there legs, hand, seat and or weight without it effecting the other aids in an unwanted fashion. The coordination of these aids is of equal importance.The same way we must coordinate our independence with those who depend on us.
  A story comes to mind which may help illustrate how one of my great teachers taught me about independent aids.When I was at WDEI the instructors did everything they could to impart good practices of horsemanship with very high ethical standards in every area.
  One day I was fortunate to get a private lesson with one of the directors, Tad Coffin. Here is a link if you don't know about Tad he won the Olympic  Individual Gold in the 3 day event at age 21!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Coffin
  I was riding a wonderful little Grey horse who was a fantastic teacher whose name escapes me at the moment.The focus of the lesson was independent aids. The excessive that I remember most was I was on a 20 meter circle at the trot doing shoulder-in ( a three track movement for supplying and strengthening the horse here is a link were you can find further information on all Dressage movements http://www.dressagejudges.com/FEI.htm) with both reigns in my outside hand (it was facing palm down with the inside reign going through the thumb and pointer finger and the outside rein in its normal place) I was to pat the horse just behind the saddle pad with my inside hand in the rhythm of the stride as the inside hind leg of the horse touched the ground. He had me go form sitting to rising the trot and back again during this exercise. Nothing was suposed to change ie: the horses frame, rhythm, energy, angle, balance ex. We did this in both directions, on a circle to the left counter clockwise and to the right clockwise.
  I remember afterwords being frustrated, because it took me a few tries before I could do it. As I was telling this to some fellow students a good friend and excellent rider Karen Voss"laughed and said are you nuts! you should be proud you could do it at all!". I felt better after hearing someone I respected telling me this. I am thankful for this experience, it made me realize what is possible! How you can use creativity as an invaluable tool to check your training of your horse, your students and yourself, by creating unique challenging exercises! I owe Tad many thanks for the example he gave and the high standards he set. He taught me countless valuable lessons everyday about how to be a horseman, a gentleman, and to shoot for perfection!
  I hope you have enjoyed this story and it has helped you in some small way. 
                                                                      Sincerely,
                                                                                    John