food for thought: Anne Kursinski video series

Alli from PONY'TUDE posted about Anne Kursinski's free video series "Improving Distances, Timing and Rhythm with Anne Kursinski's Cavaletti Exercises." We all know how much I love riding with different trainers - and this is almost like the real thing. 

After watching, it's interesting to note how very similar these exercises are to the hunter lessons at ST. I always brought those lessons home to practice with Isabel - but have been on hiatus from that barn since September. (The videos also reminded me of L. Williams' recent lesson posts)

Anyways, for those of you have haven't already signed up (it's free!) and for my own record, here are my thoughts. 

The warm up:

Trot a ground pole in each direction, halting straight a few strides out. First few trips are in posting trot, next few trips are in two-point (which is picked up early and maintained after). Then canter cavaletti in each direction and halt straight. 

video screenshot

My Take: We should totes do this. It's easy and low pressure - but solid practice. 

I used to always halt straight after fences (habit from ST), but haven't been lately. But I also consistently have trouble organizing going into a corner after a jump. Specifically, Isabel almost always lands on her right lead and I'm frequently late with the simple change. Repetition of this exercise may help.


The exercise:

Count strides. Anne doesn't like counting 1-2-1-2 (which is what I do) bc it doesn't 'flow', or counting down (3-2-1) bc it promotes a backwards ride. Rather, she prefers counting up from one to encourage flowing forward strides to the fence. 

First, the rider counts eight strides out 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 to a single cavaletti. Nbd if it turns into 7 or 9 though - just keep counting to the fence. Do this with a single cavaletti a few times in each direction. Halt straight each time. 

Then count 8 out to a line of three fences (this counting is maintained throughout the entire exercise), set 5 strides apart. Get 5 to 5 down the line. Then come back and get 5 to 6. The 6 should be possible with a light half seat/two point. Halt straight.

Next time halt between the second and third elements - as close to the second as possible. Come around again and get 5-7. To fit the 7, rider will have to sit down and use seat. Halt straight. 

Anne then has the rider go down the line in 5-6, reverse at canter, then come back up in 5-7. That final 7 is trickiest bc as we know, horses tend to build to the end of a course. If the 7 is difficult to fit, rider should halt almost immediately after the fence. Otherwise, the halt can come at a few strides out. 


My Take: The exercise is too big for our arena. Le sigh.

However we could get the 8-strides-out counting bit to work if the cavaletti is on the A-C line, and we come from A on alternating leads... (I can also practice this silently in OF lessons)

And, we could fit the line by altering the positioning so that it actually becomes bending lines. This removes the 8-stride straight approach (tho probably counting from any approach is useful), and maybe defeats some of the purpose as it's easier to fit strides in on bending lines by simply increasing the bend... but hey, it works well enough for our training level.

I'm also thinking these would make good exercises in our open field at home. We may or may not still have bolting issues out there, so this could give us an opportunity to have something tangible to focus on if the openness becomes skerry. 

Regardless, I want to give this a try to help me better understand our pace and rhythm. 


Did you sign up for the videos? Have you watched any yet? If so, what do you think - are you going to try the exercises out?