Symphony Dressage Stables

Hope to see you all there!

You may have seen her on the cover of California Riding Magazine or at various Dressage shows on the west coast. Chemaine Hurtado is an attendee favorite teaching in November at the Western States Horse Expo. Chemaine has her Gold, Silver and Bronze medals from the United States Dressage Federation for excellence in all levels as well as all Musical Freestyle Bar Awards from the USDF. Chemaine has also developed a way to help riders practice riding without a horse, Yoga Ball Dressage! Come learn and meet Chemaine and our many other wonderful clinicians this year!

Chemaine Hurtado California Dressage Society

When you get up onto your horse, think of the centaur. Why is this a mythological creature? Maybe, because a rider and horse were so connected that the imagination led to the idea of centaur? I would like to think so!
Physically, your horse feels everything you do in your body. If you turn your shoulders(photos #2 and #3) then the horse will turn or do a shoulder in. If you let your hips loosen(photo #5), your horse will lengthen his stride. If you apply a pulsing leg with a tighter core and seat(photo #4), you will get a shorter active stride, maybe even piaffe!
Mentally, you need to be the brains of this operation, right? I hope so! Be the leader, decide where you are going to go, BEFORE you get there. Your horse wants a leader. In a herd, there is only one or two alpha personalities. You probably are riding a beta that is scared when you aren't being the alpha! If you take the lead in a positive and gentle way, your horse will be relieved that they aren't in charge.
So, be the centaur everyday! Happy riding!
♡ Chemaine

Something that excites me as a trainer, training! Fay is a sweet and hard working Andalusian/ Arabian mare. I started training her last May. She had a nice easy trot to sit, but not much ground cover or suspension. I quickly was able to teach her third level movements, but the collection was not up to that level yet. That's where dressage purists say, "She does the tricks.". Her owner was thrilled with the progress! But I knew that I could train her to use her body better, and through millions of half halts here we are! Before and less than one year later, after!

Things that students say...
"When I ask you a question, you always have an answer. When I ask my other trainers, they just tell me that they are right!"
Trainer translator I'm adding it to my resume! With my move last year, I have become a bit of a traveling trainer. So a few of my students seek extra lessons with other trainers. I believe that everyone is right if it's at the right time. Timing is everything in riding effectively and to help your horse understand. So, these trainer's absolutes just need to be employed at the right time in each ride. Explanation...
Many riders go to pilates or yoga class, right? And, what do you start with? Stretching! So, start each ride stretching not only the head and neck down, but left and right. Then push the hind legs here and there into your soft stretching connection to stretch the loin and hamstrings, too. If you arrive at that soft connection stage you are doing it right! If you can feel your horse's tongue moving slightly, that is a soft connection.
Now, you are ready to do your dressage workout! Now, you can repeat to your self Charlotte Dujardin's "short reins win gold medals" and Edward Gal's "come, come, come" and yes even Isabel Werth(my personal hero and the most medaled rider in dressage), flexes the horse with the inside rein!
Don't forget to stretch again at then end, so you have a supple horse tomorrow!

Snow Day!

Watching as much as I can between lessons today!

I'm so proud of these AWESOME students! My daughter, Morgan received the California Dressage Society Ruby Award, for excellence at Training, First, and Second Levels! Karen received both the Ruby Award and a Second Level Performance Award for her Arabian, Ima G Starr. And, Jen received the Prix St.Georges Performance Award for her horse Paolo.
Morgan earned her scores on a few different horses. She finished on Helluva Storm, a horse that was in training at Symphony and then I made the classic move of buying for her! He had been starting First level, when she took him over. She stubbornly refused to let me help train him, unless I occasionally made her! And, she made it to Second Level on her own merits! Karen Sweaney rode her Speedy G through all 3 levels to attain the Ruby. And, again aside from the occasional hop on to help him learn something new, self trained by Karen! I had a little more time on Paolo, but it takes a lot more training to get to PSG! And still, Jen has done the majority of the training herself as well. All 3 of these ladies work amazingly hard and passionately love their horses and the sport of dressage! Thank you for sticking it out with me and trusting in my advice all these years!

We're just working away at loving horses here in Bear Valley, Moorpark, Ojai, and Bakersfield! Let me know if you want me in your city! ♡♡♡

Rocky is heading to Flintridge Riding Club today! Please, wish us luck in his first CDI!

Yoga Ball Dressage 1st and 2nd Level

It's raining in California! Which is great for the environment, but not so great for riding time. So, I got on my yoga ball to show you how I ask for leg yield, shoulder in, haunches in, canter and counter canter. I hope this helps you practice your riding on a rainy day!
https://youtu.be/7bRtB_3tOP0

Yoga Ball Dressage 1st and 2nd Level In this video, we revisit many concepts, with the main focus on 1st and 2nd Level movements. How to sit correctly to ask your horse to leg yield, shoulder in...

Rodarte, aka Rocky had a good show this weekend. It was raining a bit, but we still pulled off a 65% in Prix St George's for a second place to Hilda! He's getting over being too excited to show his stuff in the show ring. Here are some picts of him at the show!

Please share this story with your friends! I hope that other sport horse breeders in this dilemma can gain hope from Rocky's story!

It takes a village, or Team Symphony!

Rule #1. Breeding is always a risk! Never forget that while imagining that gorgeous foal that you will take to the Olympic Games 20....!

Here at Symphony Dressage Stables, we have had a small, but mighty breeding program for the past 12 years. The first 3 mares are competing in the FEI levels, and our Rocky just broke that barrier last season, with his first Prix St George's and Intermediare 1! This story is all about Rodarte, aka Rocky.

I started calling him “Rocky” after watching him fight to live from day one. Jan Handlers and I bred Free Spirit(7th in the nation in her Hanoverian mare inspection) to Rousseau (need I say more? ) We had dreams filled with sugarplums and Olympic games medals! She conceived right away. The pregnancy was on track. We sent her to the local vet hospital to foal. She arrived and gave birth to a magnificent black c**t on July 21st, 2010. When I got there, I gasped! He was so beautiful! And, then he tried to get up... That was not so beautiful. The foal had severely contracted tendons in his front legs. The tendons running along the back of his front legs would not stretch enough to let his heels touch the ground. He stood like a crab, with his knees out in front, on his tippy toes. The next day, he could only get one front leg out.. the other dragged under his body. And the third day, he just started shuffling around on his knees with his butt in the air. It was a pretty awful sight. Poor guy, fortunately, was tall enough to nurse on his knees.

We proceeded to agonize over the vet's recommendation to possibly euthanize and breed again. Our regular vet was out of town. After a day or two of diagnostic tests, we basically had a healthy foal, except that he couldn't stand up. I got my vet on the phone to update him on the foal's status. Dr. John Halford said to bring him home; he would meet us there.

We got the foal into the trailer and drove 10 minutes to the barn. I carried him to his stall with a frantic mom in tow. Then, all of my clients started crying! He was a really pitiful sight, shuffling on his knees trying to keep up with mom in a 24 x 24 stall. Mom and foal settled down quickly, though. On the other hand, the people were varying degrees of distraught.

When Dr. Halford arrived he calmed everyone when he said, "We can fix this."! That was when Rocky started to resemble Forrest Gump. We started wrapping enormous rolls of sheet cotton around his entire front legs from hoof to elbow. Then, we proceeded to wrap at least an entire roll of vet wrap on each leg. Finally, a quarter of the circumference of a PVC pipe "splint" was secured with duct tape to the back of his leg for support.

Next, we found a halter that could be used as a harness. The nose part went around his neck, the buckle went around his girth, and then we had a handle on his back. This was necessary to help him stand several times a day - to get pressure on those tendons. At first, the PVC splint was basically positioned so his toe and the splint touched the ground at the same time. Over the next several weeks, we gradually positioned the splint so that the toe and the heel would reach the ground more and more. For the first few weeks, he could not get up in his own. We moved our travel trailer to the barn and lived there 24/7 to get him up every hour. After a week or two, we could attach the halter to a lunge line looped over the rafters in the barn which allowed him to walk a little with support.

Jan, his owner and breeder, was going through her own issues with a frozen shoulder. She felt terrible that she couldn't help while everyone at Team Symphony was helping so much. No one minded the time spent; we were all set on the same goal.

Under discouragement of the foal’s slow progress and Jan's shoulder injury, one day we had a little bit of an argument about giving him more time to get better or again euthanize... Of course no one wanted that, but it was hard to see him struggle and be so dependent on us for everything. Truthfully, we didn't really know if all our efforts would help him in the long run. While we were having this mildly heated discussion, he got up on his own for the first time! I'm sure that he knew exactly what we were talking about and said to himself, "I'll show them!". That was the last time we talked about euthanasia!

After that, Rocky improved steadily and didn't need as much help. At three months, he and his half-brother R Star from our Grand Prix mare Nova, went to the American Hanoverian Inspection. For Rocky, this was his very first time running on his dam's side. We were all holding our breath. I was hoping that he wouldn't trip and fall or otherwise injure himself! He was amazing! The judges starting talking about his nice suspension, etc. I don't think any of us really listened... all I heard was Charlie Brown's teacher, "Wash, wah, waah."! He TROTTED! That WAS the amazing part!

Rocky proceeded with growing up and then it came time to start him under saddle. His forearms were still under developed due to having the wrapping around them during the first months of his life. So, he tripped often in the beginning. My assistant trainer, Jackie Duncan, was handed the task of starting him under saddle. Over time, he showed constant improvement with his training under Jackie’s guidance. She did a beautiful job and later even took him to CDS Junior Championships and won her division! Earlier in the season, I rode him in the FEI Young Horse 4 year old class at San Juan Capistrano. His first time out he ranked 7th in the nation! He and I continued on to 2nd Level and came in 3rd with a 70% at the CDS and USDF Championships and Champion in the Freestyle! This past season we took a show break to get in some concentrated training. Rocky showed PSG for the first time earning a 64% and is now moving on to Intermediare 1. At home he is schooling one tempis and piaffe / passage. He loves his work and he loves to please. One clinician almost made me cry. After telling his story, she said he seems to know how much you have given him and he wants to give as much back to you.

Watch Rodarte, aka Rocky coming up. He is going to knock your socks off. And, he will have his ears up and bright eyes while doing it! He definitely has the eye of the tiger!

Thank you to all of Team Symphony past and present and John Halford, DVM for your help and support of this wonderful miracle baby!

https://youtu.be/a5iwL2X_TWU

Yoga Ball Dressage 3D Relaxation, Focus and Intent

Here's the final installment of the Rider's Training Pyramid. Sorry, it took so long. This one was a little harder to explain, so I did a commentary of my riding to help you ride thru me. I hope this helps you to see that each step is very important to achieve the pinnacle of your riding!

Yoga Ball Dressage 3D Relaxation, Focus and Intent This session is on the last 2 Steps of the Rider's Training Pyramid riding with Relaxation, Focus and Intent. After a short review, I do a commentary on my o...

Happy New Year from our new home! My family is truly celebrating a new beginning this New Year's Day. We started moving into our beautiful home in Bear Valley Springs, CA. We had to pour champagne into solo cups to ring in an early new year, as we were so tired. But, the absolute beauty and tranquility of this area makes it all worth it. Our plan is to build a barn and arena in the 4 and a half acres and invite all of our friends to visit to take lessons and soak up some nature. We have two guest rooms, so get ready!
I am not leaving Symphony Dressage Stables, however. I will split my time between Moorpark and the new home. With the help of Jackie Duncan, my awesome assistant, I know that my clients and horses will continue to excel even when I'm not there to see it everyday! Jackie has earned her stripes in the show ring with scores in the highest 60's to 81% on her training horses this year! And, she is also an "L" rated judge. So, she is very qualified to take care of the lessons and training the days that I will be away.
I'm very excited for the new possibilities of flexibility in my schedule to give more clinics, go to extended shows, maybe even take a day or two off... occasionally(lol!).
2018 is off to a new and thrilling start for us, I hope yours is too!!! All our BEST to everyone!

Merry Christmas to you and can't wait to see ALL of you in the New Year!

Please consider donating new or used tack and/or supplies to this organization! Lotte Swauger is a friend and very passionate about helping horse crazy kids of ANY financial means to have horses in their lives. They also have a go fund me page, I'll post the link in comments. ♡♡♡ Chemaine

Moorpark is still looking like a very lucky escapee from the fires and devastation in Ventura county. I'm still available to help haul horses, but will also be training at Symphony and giving lessons today in our very mild breeze, so far. Hoping that this is the beginning of normal again... Prayers to all affected from the whole Team Symphony family!

Yoga Ball Dressage 3C Muscular Stamina

Yoga Ball Dressage 3C, Muscular Stamina
Riding each gait of the horse walk, trot, and canter. With a cameo appearance of Loki the puppy.

https://youtu.be/UPs52jZNnfE

Yoga Ball Dressage 3C Muscular Stamina Rider's Training Pyramid, Step 4, Muscular Stamina. Working thru each gait of the horse walk, trot, and canter.

Winsor Pilates 20 Minute Workout

I highly recommend this video or one like it to improve your Muscular Stamina for Step 4 of the Rider's Training Pyramid! Get on the floor and do this 20 minute workout just 3x a week to improve your riding! Yoga Ball Dressage workout coming tomorrow!
https://youtu.be/YW2eRv4kCag

Winsor Pilates 20 Minute Workout Here's the entire workout. Enjoy!

Yoga Ball Dressage 3B

Newest Yoga Ball Dressage 3B video now available! I made the Rider's Training Pyramid my own, by switching steps 3 and 4. Why work on Muscular Stamina(Step 3) if you are not in the correct Position and Balance(Step 4)? So, I switched them.
Happy riding,
♡ Chemaine

https://youtu.be/4sjfnbrdGqE

Yoga Ball Dressage 3B Rider's Training Pyramid Step 3, Position and Balance. See you next week for Muscular Stamina!

Yoga Ball Dressage 3

NEW Yoga Ball Dressage video! We're going to be posting weekly videos, starting with the Rider's Training Pyramid. This video covers Step 1, Flexibility and Step 2, Core Engagement.
Happy riding,

♡ Chemaine

https://youtu.be/HYyJF1U3RSQ

Yoga Ball Dressage 3 Training Pyramid for Riders, Steps 1 and 2

DASC Championships

Find Your Harmony... at Symphony Dressage Stables. This slogan has come true in so many ways this show season!

I've been constantly so impressed and proud of all my students this year! It is the best feeling in the world to help riders to create a harmonious connection with their horses. It's a huge bonus when that harmony continues into the show ring!

DASC Championships Team Symphony continues to shine, this time at the Dressage Association of Southern California's Championship Show in Santa Barbara, California.

Yoga Ball Dressage

At Symphony, we have an awful lot of fun with our horses. It can get serious, too. But, fun happens when you can achieve harmony with them. One of the ways we develop that harmony is to work on the rider's seat on a yoga ball. Here are a few examples to watch and learn how you can improve your riding on a yoga ball while watching YouTube!

http://www.symphonydressage.com/yoga-ball-dressage.html

Yoga Ball Dressage Yoga Ball Dressage

Welcome!

Check out what's happening at
Symphony Dressage Stables at our new Blog page!

Welcome! Wow! I am so excited to show you the newly renovated website for Symphony Dressage Stables. We've been hard at work to bring you new content, better photos, and an easier way to stay connected with...

Horse Expo Day 3

My Session on Rhythm + Submission = Relaxation on Day 3 at Western States Horse Expo. Purposefully changing the stride or rhythm using cones or letters. Counting strides to quantify lengthening vs. quickening the stride in trot and canter. Count working or collected strides between cones or dressage letters, then go into lengthening of the stride the next set. If your count is lower, example 10 working, 8 in lengthening, then you have it!
https://youtu.be/5Gk-Mfyrhm8

Horse Expo Day 3 Using cones(or your dressage letters) to count strides to quantify whether your horse is lengthening or quickening the stride at trot and canter. Plus, warm ...

This weekend at the Expo!
1. I will clarify the elusive HALF HALT!
2. I will show you at least 3 common rider mistakes and how to correct them!
3. I will show you how to sit like a Queen, but use your hips like a.... lol!
4. Musical Freestyle!
5. We will have FUN with dressage!!!

In the Strong Arena,
Friday at 4pm. Saturday at 12:45 Sunday at 1:15

Everyday come to my booth #4204 and get a Seat Evaluation and Customized Prescription for Success for only $20, plus a FREE Yoga Ball Dressage DVD while supplies last!