Wednesday 14 January 2009

Maurus 441 - New world Champion 2009!!

The young stallion Maurus 441 became this year's WORLD CHAMPION this week at the KFPS Hengsten Keuring! He comes from Stam Line 27 - the same as Antsje's!! So we are in good company along with Rypke 321 and Jasper 366 (one of my favourite stallions!)

Here is a bit of video of the 2009 Keuring featuring Maurus among others :-)

Kampioens Keuring op de Friese HK 2009 from Coby Prooy on Vimeo.



And I cant resist adding a bit of video of Jasper either lol!!! He is HOT!!!!

6 comments:

Friesianluv said...

Love Jasper too, as he is by the same sire as my boy - Olof 315.
The War of the Worlds music is very apt for the friesian dressage - all drama, fire and brimstone.
I couldn't help wondering though just how much weight of a contact the rider had in his hands. I've been reading PKs Twisted Truths where he places so much emphasis on lightness of contact. The contact didn't look very light to me (not that I could come anywhere close to riding as good as that).

Claire said...

vicki, i went to teh first link you posted (the champion stallion) and an hour later after following all the other links - i realised it had been an hour!

epona said...

Lol claire!!!
Helen, I know exactly what you mean about the contact in the Jaspar Video ;-) I don’t think it is actually as strong as you may first think though – you can see Peter Spahn give the rein forward on quite a few occasions :-) My thoughts on it, is that it is that typical Friesian tendency to not take the energy all the way through to the hand ;-) So the rider ends up taking the hand TO the horse! And so of course, the Friesian sucks back further lol!! You can see he [Jaspar] is not sufficiently engaged when it comes to the changes, as he is croup high in the changes rather than sitting. I don’t suppose an exhibition is the time and place to sort it out either lol!!! Plus Jaspar looked HOT and again that ends up exasperating these issues!!

In my experience, although Antsje can get very tight in the neck and overbent, she never feels heavy in hand and it is HARD to get her to take the rein back out and very easy to keep bringing the contact to her!! This is one of the hardest things I find when riding her – and yes, it gets worse as she gets more anxious!!

Im not sure if this IS the problem – but purely from my own experience and watching the video lots, I don’t think he is using a backward contact as such – just trying to find A connection full stop lol!!

Id love to hear others comments on this though?

So, what is the PK book like? Im hankering after it myself lol!!

Friesianluv said...

I did notice the 'bounce' from his croup in the changes, knew it wasn't right but not quite what was making him do it like that.
I understand what you mean where they seem to keep retreating from your hand. I don't seem to have that problem though. I spent a long time getting him to lower his head and stretch his neck, especially out hacking, which I do a lot of. I now have the problem that he likes being down there and I have difficulty getting him back up! When things get difficult for him his answer is to get strong and lean on my hands. This is where I am finding PKs book so good. Its all about lightness, using your hands in an upwards and not backwards direction and discouraging leaning the moment it starts.
I have loaned the book to a friend and its now been passed on to someone else so I'll have to track it down for another read. Its the kind of book you need to read over and over to get things straight in your head.

epona said...

I hope you get your PK book back!!! I am reluctant to lend my prized books out **blush**

Antsje is very good at stretching when hacking, and even in the school when relaxed - but when excited, or doing new things and anxious - that neck sucks right back at ya!!

Transitions will be good to stop the leaning - anything to get him stepping under ;-) Reinback is also very good to get them transferring the weight back too!!

Id LOVE to see your boy in action!!

Friesianluv said...

PK is very big on reinback. I have found his aids for this very useful and effective. No backwards pressure on the reins (you don't want a low head and any pulling backwards at all) and no legs which the horse could construe as a request for forward.
Hands high acting gently in an upwards direction and both legs held slightly back. As the horse lifts its head due to your upward hands its weight will naturally be transferred backwards and he should step back with light steps.
It works, for me anyway, he does it with less effort and less 'stickiness' in lifting his feet. I don't find asking him to lift his head an issue as he tends to keep it too low anyway.
PK also teaches piaffe by using rein-back/trot transitions. Very interesting, but it will be a long time (if ever) before I have to even think about piaffe!!!
When Odin gets upset or excited he doesn't come back at me, he does the opposite - more forwards BIG TIME using his weight and power (which he has in abundance). Its his answer to everything, which if I can learn to use productively could be quite good akshually.