Janet Foy Symposium

This weekend Houghton College--where we show all the time--hosted a Janet Foy symposium put on by WNYDA. You had to sign up for auditing way back in July and it was kind of expensive so I opted to do Saturday only. Of course the morning that I drove down there was a day of doom storms and was hands down some of the worst driving I've ever done in my life. 

But nevertheless I arrived safe and sound and we got to work starting at Training Level. The symposium was "Development of balance, collection, and self-carriage through the levels" so basically how one level built upon the next. 

first level rider

• The Training rider was on a young Arabian mare and Janet started off by saying that some breeds don't have great walks, mainly collected and extended, such as Arabians and Spanish horses.
• Know your horse's highlights, and know where to take a 6 and move on.
• If you try to push for a higher score on a weak movement you'll end up with a 4. 
• Example: If you don't have a difference between your medium and extended trot, just let it ride. 
• Geometry is key. Judges will take .5 off each movement for not riding the movement accurately.
• The Training and First riders couldn't ride an accurate 20m circle to save their lives.
• At Training, straightness should be your #1 priority.
• Always ride in slight shoulder-fore.
• Inside leg to outside rein means:
• If one side of the horse isn't shorter then they will pull you out of the saddle.
• The horse has four legs at four points creating a rectangle with its body. You want to use your inside leg to push their inside hind underneath them which knocks them off their four points and creates the bend/shoulder-fore.

janet explaining moving the rib cage over to the 
third level rider

• Keep your weight in the center of the saddle or they will follow your weight over. 
• It's not a multiple choice test. There's one aid, one answer. The horse must come to us. 
• The only time the hand and leg aids are on the same side are for the changes. Everything else is on a diagonal. (Inside leg, outside rein.)
• "They're the muscle, we're the brain."
• Horses have a book of evasions that they pass around the barn at night.
• Sally Swift says hold the baby bird in your hand, hard enough so it can't escape but loose enough so you don't crush it. Janet: "Kill the baby bird."
• Hand grip is more relevant to men. Women must keep the hand closed in a firm grip. Think soft wrists not hands.
• The serpentine:
• Will be taken out in the new Training tests.
• Think half circles connected by straight lines. (This is a really ambivalent statement, but she spent a long time making the Training rider go through it and it was a great visual. I finally learned how to ride these super correctly in 2-3 only this year lol.)
• Shoulder-Fore and Shoulder-In:
• Our hands and shoulders always stay together when asking.
• Outside rein stays pressed against the neck, inside rein doesn't touch the neck. If the inside rein is touching the neck then the inside leg isn't working. Half the riders couldn't do this and got their left stirrup taken away--they were right handed and bracing against that stirrup which left the right leg useless.
• Your boobs are your headlights. They light the way and point to where we want to go.
• Always shorten the inside rein first.
• Free walk: If horse curls behind the contact at all then just give them the reins to the buckle. Judges would rather see that if it keeps the nose out and the gait better.

had such a good ride on this dude the day after

• In Second Level the "shorten the steps" before the TOH will be taken out in new tests.
• You want the steps shorter and higher because of collection, not because they're being crammed into a chicken walk.
• Haunches-in: outside leg sets the angle, inside leg keeps the bend and engagement. Never both at once.
• Simple changes: Walk when the front end is coming off the ground. If you ask when the front end is going down, the transition will be croup high. This carries over to the changes as well.
• For the half pass, take the time to go through the steps to set it up so you don't get to the rail too early. 
• Shoulder-fore, inside bend, begin the half pass. Finish the half pass and move the rib cage to the new bend.
• Bend the neck to the inside on the long side (only in practice obvi) to make sure you can.

I stayed for Training through Third which got us up to the lunch break. I wanted to stay and watch the Fourth and PSG riders because I knew them, and of course it was a really good clinic, but my anxiety had reached its max level for the week at that point and I had to go home. It was well worth the horrendous drive down though, and I'm so glad we're good these opportunities more often up here!