Warner's Sporthorses

Connie Warner, currently based in Charles City, Virginia, has been training for twenty years, beginning when she bought several horses from a local auction. She grew up in Indiana where western riding is most common. However, Connie branched out and additionally practiced nearly every discipline there is: jumping, dressage, cross-country jumping, saddle seat, gaited riding, bareback riding, vaulting, driving, and even sidesaddle. During college, she focused more on hunter/jumper and showing. Today, she trains and teaches both hunter/jumper and dressage.

Connie has been able to ride with some very good instructors, such as Frank Madden and Linda Allen. Her college professor Linda McClaren also had a big part in her development as a hunter/jumper rider. However, she says that it is John Lyons who has had the most influence over her training style, especially round pen work. Author Charles DeKnuffy is an excellent dressage trainer, and his books have aided Connie in her training. In his book Creative Horsemanship, he teaches more than just the theory and riding techniques behind dressage; he stresses the importance of humility, honesty, and hard work on the part of the rider, as well.

When asked who she thought today’s “trainer’s trainer” is, Connie replied that she loved John Lyons, Charles DeKnuffy, and George Morris. Her favorite trainer of all time is Jimmy Williams, a California trainer who began training western horses and then moved to hunter/jumpers. He is very creative and often experiments with various training techniques until he finds the right mix that works for a particular horse. Techniques tend to fluctuate over the years, Connie says, and it is common to “see the same techniques go away, come back, and go away again.” The important thing is to find a method that suits the horse you are currently working with. In fact, this is how Connie characterizes her training methods. She begins by working with a horse and observing him analytically, and then she devises a training plan based on what that horse needs.

Dressage work is important to jumpers as well as dressage horses, Connie explains. Jumper courses are becoming more and more technical. The horse must be strong, collected, able to lengthen or shorten his stride, turn quickly, and be very responsive in order to properly negotiate the course. The lateral work done in dressage, such as leg yields and half-passes, is some of the most important for building up strength in the hind legs. Dressage also teaches precision and accuracy (a horse must be able to jump straight and to take off at the right time), and builds a closer connection between horse and rider, all of which are valuable during jumping.

Every movement a horse is to learn in dressage (as in all other disciplines) must be broken down into smaller steps. How small will depend on the horse. In general, the first order of business is to make sure the horse goes forward well. After that, he must be able to circle correctly, and then bend to both the inside and outside without resistance. Only after he has mastered those skills should he be taught to leg yield, which is the most basic lateral movement...

(...) When asked about another aspect of training, the use of head-setting aids, Connie replied, “You can mess up a good horse faster than anything can by using ‘head setting’ gizmos.” She occasionally uses side reins, but only if they are needed for a particular horse and even then they are adjusted as long as possible on the lunge line. There are actually physical reasons why head setting devices should generally not be used, and are outline in the book Tug of War: Classical Versus Modern Dressage by Dr. Gerd Heuschmann which Connie recommends. Flexing the horse’s head too much actually causes back problems and lameness. “A horse, properly ridden, works from back to front. Not nose in, to trailing backend,” she states.