Equisimulator Course

Eastleigh Farm August 2007

By Bay Mare

In August 2007 I went down to Eastleigh Farm in Devon to do a 2 day equisimulator course with Heather Moffett and one of her teachers, Della Orchard. It was a great couple of days with lovely people and a great pub dinner in the evening. We had to submit 'before' DVDs of our riding in advance so that Heather could assess us and see what needed working on. Unfortunately I had a serious car accident at the beginning of 2007 so wasn't able to do this as I haven't been able to ride properly for over a year.

Day One

We started off by watching Heather ride the lovely Rei, a PSL stallion, who is absolutely stunning. He moves beautifully and is very responsive. It's nice to see horses with character.

Heather is a stunning rider, so quiet and so elegant. you can barely see her aids. It's certainly something to aspire to .... whether or not I'll ever get there is another thing however!

We started off with the trot machine and it was amazing what a transformation there was from the DVDs just by sitting in the St Merryn saddle (an holistic treed saddle with correctly placed stirrup bars). Even once the simulator was started up it was all just so easy. The rising trot looked effortless and no-one was having to hoik themselves up to rise to the trot!

One of the group was a lovely lady who had only started riding in January 2007. Prior to this she had been literally terrified of horses but had very bravely bitten the bullet because horse riding was on her 'to do' list. Her video showed a typical beginners lesson that you'll see all over the country. A lovely but quite lazy horse, chair seat, no corrections to the riders' position and no attempt to explain how to absorb the movement. Once she got on the simulator the transformation was absolutely amazing. You wouldn't have said that the person in the video and the person on the simulator were the same! She was an absolute natural, it was great to watch.

Two of the other ladies were a real scream. Their video was hilarious with the comments issuing from it. Definitely one to keep! Again they had a lovely horse who looked a really good sort. They weren't having lessons but were being directed by their YM. Lots of 'kick him' and 'give him a smack' was to be heard ... it was nice to see that they didn't comply! Again they were sitting in the chair seat and again the transformation once on the simulator was instantaneous. They have since started having lessons with one of Heather's teachers and the transformation is amazing.

Prior to sitting on the simulators I hadn't actually realised that, unlike other simulators, the 'back' of the trot machine actually works in two halves like the horse! Although it obviously wasn't exactly like sitting on a horse it gives a pretty good representation and you can learn the 'feel' without having to control the horse, stay on and listen to the instructor all at the same time!

Later in the morning and throughout the afternoon we had a go on the canter machines and also took turns on the trot machines so that we could practise what we'd learned ably assisted by Heather and one of her assistants, Vicky (who used to teach at the Equestrian Centre in Wrexham ).

The canter machine was great fun It's rider powered so really does give you feedback if you're doing it wrong, it's a lot less forgiving than most horses and will stop or bottom out if you start to drive or 'polish' the seat.

Although you obviously need core stability and strength it is the strength for control of your own limbs and not strength to make the horse move! My overriding impression was how easy it is physically compared to the way that trot and canter is taught at many places. I could have stayed on the machines all day

We also talked about the effect on the horses back if you don't rise to the trot correctly. By sitting only slightly more upright on coming back to the saddle the increase in pressure is phenomenal (we put our hands under the back of the saddle to feel this). On going back to the 'correct' way of rising you could barely feel the difference between sitting in the saddle and coming back down into the saddle. Everyone should try that just to see how their 'not perfect but stable' seat affects the horse!

Anyway ... we were reluctant to finish and pretty much stayed until Heather turned the lights off and locked the door After that we convened to the pub.

Day Two

On the second day it was mostly simulators, simulators and more simulators which was GREAT.

I even tried piaffe on the canter machine (on trot setting)

Della, who is an EE teacher and Bowen therapist, came in and nicely told us that we were all wonky, I could do with a whole day with Della I think! It was very helpful, though, to have her see us in the saddle and tell us where we were stiff or twisted.

Just before lunch we went down to the school to watch Becky Holden (Heather's assistant trainer) long reining Heather's PSL gelding, Sudi. I love Sudi, he's very bright, very sharp and a great little character.

Becky is just so brilliant and I love how she relates to the horses. I could sit, watch and listen to her all day Sudi is an opinionated and sharp little monkey but very gorgeous. In some respects he reminds me of my Saff. He'd have made a very good boyfriend for her if he was still entire ... not sure that you'd want to mix their temperaments though!

If you're at all interested in clicker, in hand or long reining then Becky is your girl, she's absolutely fantastic, and another of Heather's teachers who is also excellent (and does clicker etc as well as teaching riding) is Emma Lethbridge. See the links at the end of the article for more details.

In the afternoon Heather brought in a treed GP without the set back stirrup bars and got us to try it out. If you come on the course and she gives you the option RUN very quickly in the opposite direction! Even just sitting in it (specifically ON it, it felt as hard as a rock) made my btm hurt. I made the mistake of actually trying to trot in the damn thing After just 5 minutes I've got very painful ouchies which were still sore the next day. Trying to do rising trot was just awful and I can completely understand why people haul themselves up, often using the horse's mouth as a lever.

What was nice to see, though, was that although it put people in a chair seat, everyone who had previously sat 'naturally' in a chair seat STILL sat better in the GP than they had before. It really does show what a difference the set back stirrup bars makes.

We also did a bit about contact and how just a little vibration on the reins can be felt so clearly through the bit. It's scary to think that there are people out there sawing away at horses mouths when you can feel the slightest vibration like that .

It's wonderful to see such happy horses with such great characters. The yard is a really happy and friendly yard and it made for a really lovely atmosphere.

For anyone wanting to work on their position, having problems with sitting or rising trot or canter, to learn to feel what the horse's legs are doing or just for a 'tune up' I would highly recommend doing this course I just can't wait until I can get back to riding again to see if I can put it all into practise.

I have to mention Fanta, Heather's Hispano-Arab gelding who has the biggest personality that I've ever come across in a horse. Throughout the course he kept sticking his head in to say hello (he has the run of the yard) and would rattle the door handle to get our attentions.


References
http://www.enlightenedequitation.com∞
http://www.hoof-and-paw.co.uk∞

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