Hi everyone,

Well I know many people are buzzing from having been able to finally ride and audit the clinics by Karen Rohlf (Dressage Naturally), Karen did 4 clinics here on the east coast of Australia. I was lucky enough to audit two days of her Macksville course, Karen was everything I had hoped her to be. She is a wonderful horsewoman, instructor and a beautiful lady; I have heard nothing but wonderful feedback from those that attended her courses. Karen is one of the few rare individuals who can keep our natural horsemanship principles in place and allow us the splendour of learning dressage. Travelling with Karen was Dana, Dana took some wonderful pictures of all of the courses, you can view these pictures at - http://danarasmussen.smugmug.com/

I read this recently and thought I would share; written by Anja Beran

Nature did not actually create horses in order for them to carry human beings. Accordingly, we riders have an obligation to treat our horses with the appropriate respect and to take over the responsibility which is required. It is up to us to enable them to preserve their pleasure in movement under the saddle – and there is only one way in which to do this: within the scope of classical dressage training.

Thus anyone who ever imposes their weight on a horse’s back should involve themselves with dressage and reflect seriously on its principles, which are:

- Dressage helps the horse and is useful to it. It brings the horse into balance and consequently enables it to move well and remain healthy under the saddle for a long time.

- If a horse suffers detrimental effects as a result of dressage, this is contrary to the meaning of dressage and reflects a fault in the interpretation of dressage.

- Dressage is not a special discipline which only bears reference to horses bred specifically for the purpose. Classical dressage has nothing to do with magnificent, ground-covering gaits and it is not restricted either to particular breeds or particular disciplines.

- The more innate physical or mental deficits a horse has, the better its dressage training has to be. The ultimate aim of classical dressage is not the performance of high school movements but rather the refinement of communication between rider and horse through to the absolute minimisation of the aids. The movements are not the aim but rather the means of classical training.

To read the rest of this article visit- http://horsesforlife.com AnjaBeran: FortheBenefitoftheHorse

Recently I got to attend one of our Coast ‘n’ Country Natural Horsemanship club playdays, and thought I would share a few pictures.

We hold these days about once a month, the idea was to offer a day where like minded people could get together in a supportive environment.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing... keep on having fun with your horses, but make sure they are having fun too!

Cheers,

Lee