2003 July - Dallas Dressage Club

Transitions, July 2003 Volume 4, Issue 7
CLINIC REPORT—DR CESAR PARRA
INSTRUCTS DDC’S YOUNG RIDERS
Submitted by Michelle Cavanaugh, DDC Jr/YR Chair
The recent Young Rider clinic was a great success thanks to
both the generous donation of Dr. Caesar Parra’s time and
Myrna Krohn’s lovely facility. I think all of the riders will be
happy to return to High Ridge Farm after the warm welcome
they receive there. The Dallas Dressage Club is lucky to have
members and friends so dedicated to the advancement of our
sport through the education of our young riders.
Dr. Parra is a skillful trainer who has the ability to push each
rider to achieve more than they expect without intimidation or
anger. This skill allows each rider to feel they have accomplished
a goal during their ride rather than leaving the ring feeling
they survived a terrifying ordeal. This was especially evident
as Dr. Parra worked with our youngest and greenest riders.
He used humor, lectures on theory, and motivation to
keep riders striving for something better than they had before.
For our beginner riders it was moving the horse forward into a
better rhythm and a more supportive contact, for our advance
horse and rider pairs experienced a few steps of passage or flying
changes.
Each rider was amazed at the simple modifications Dr. Parra
made that precipitated such incredible changes in their mounts.
We all were reminded of the importance of a tightened noseband
in lightening our horses while also stopping much resistance
to the hand. Time and again bridles were adjusted with
the most remarkable results including one schoolmaster who
with a newly tightened noseband all but rounded on his own
when the reins were shortened.
We were also reminded that flexing a horse is more than just
asking him to tip his nose to one direction but it is requiring
the horse to soften his neck and jaw. Dr. Parra explained his
continued frustration at seeing many American riders across the
country attempt to supple a horse and then instantly give the
rein as a reward often when the horse has made not the smallest
effort to soften. Dr. Parra stressed the steps of the Training
Pyramid (rhythm [suppleness [ contact [ impulsion [
straightness [ collection) and that we could not move forward
in the Pyramid until the horse learned to give in suppleness
and/or the rider learned to maintain constant contact. One
exercise he used with a particularly stiff horse was to have the
rider halt and ask him to bend to the inside and wait him out.
This was accomplished by maintaining a constant steady contact
until the horse relented and softened his jaw. As soon as the
horse did he was praised, the rein given, and pushed to the
walk and the same exercise was preformed, and again at the
trot. Not only did the horse’s neck and jaw loosen but also the
horse’s impulsion and rhythm were greatly improved by creating
a flexible neck and more malleable shoulder.
There were a few younger horses that participated in the clinic,
and the order of the day was forward with rhythm and swinging
backs for these youngsters, whether the riders were just
starting to walk their mounts in warm up or were working on
stabilizing the canter. Dr. Parra asked for a more forward momentum
and flexion in the joints. Then he worked on teaching
the horse to understand and respect a half halt. Once more Dr.
Parra revisited the training pyramid: we must have contact
before we can create impulsion or collection. He lamented the
fact that many riders on green horses are afraid to push a baby
and thus is unwilling to take up proper contact in the reins and
keep hold of it. To force the riders to maintain the contact
they would needed to really move their horses forward into the
bridles and capture the energy they would need to create true
impulsion and latter collection, he would instruct a rider to
work on a 20 meter circle doing rapid trot/walk transitions.
Dr. Parra encouraged the riders to drive as much energy in and
out of the transitions as they could. While keeping the horses
supple and forward they seemed to grow in height and their
gaits instantly improved then each horse would be given a walk
break to recover before beginning again. It was a chance to see
that when working a young horse the rider needed to be
smarter mixing the proper amount of good work with the right
amount of rest thus getting the best out of their young horse’s
minds and bodies.
Dr. Parra also shared many of the reasons why he feels his
horses and his student’s horses are doing so well at shows all
over the United States. One of the first points was consistency.
Every moment a rider spends in the saddle he is training his
horse to do something or in many cases nothing. I believe all of
the riders we reprimanded at one time or another for lazy long
walks in warm up or cool down, as well as for equitation faults.
A second point he made about many of our horses was the lack
of conditioning. He explained many of his horses are ridden
twice a day, once in the arena and once on trails going up and
down hills. This he considered mental therapy for the horse
while the bodybuilding benefits of hill work increased stamina
and strength. He also highlighted the importance of treating
our horse like athletes even in the barn with proper medical
care, supplements, and good grooming. For young horses he
prescribed preventive care like wrapping, liniment treatments,
and glucosamine, and for older horses the same preventive care
in addition to attentive, even aggressive veterinary care that can
catch small problems before they became big ones.
He also spoke to our young rider hopefuls about the top young
riders competing today and their level of dedication and the
attitude they bring to competitions like the NAYRC. They are
mounted on some of the best-trained horses in the country and
they train with top trainers in their respective regions. They
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