The Golden Link

In Kundalini yoga, which I have practiced on and off for the last ten years, there is a mantra called the Adi Mantra which is chanted to connect practitioners with 'The Golden Link' of teachers who have passed their teachings throughout time and to the knowingness of the teacher within each of us, I draw my title from this.

Dante and I worked through the winter and worked through our issues, horse and human. I got into better shape and got back in touch with what I knew I knew. You see, I am very fortunate when it comes to encountering great teachers in horsemanship. I don't think I even realized this until I started back with Dante and had to examine my entire back-catalogue of knowledge for answers and ideas.

As a young Pony Clubber in Brandon, Manitoba I found myself in the company of Mr. Robin Hahn, who gave riding clinics regularly there in the fall and winter. I could never have afforded these clinics myself, but I was allowed to audit them as a groom and general stable hand. Pretty sweet to a very keen 12 year-old!

Robin showed me how to roll bandages and put them on properly and was always very friendly and outgoing with me, he even came out to see the mare I was riding and gave me a lesson for free.

I re-set dropped rails and swept up and basically did whatever he asked of me while soaking in everything that he was teaching the clinic participants. I dreamed of the day I would be able to pay to attend a clinic as a full-fledged student and set my sights on becoming an eventer just like Robin.

In 1985, my Mom and sister and I relocated to Milton, Ontario. Ten minutes down the road was Halton School of Equitation, at which I immediately became the student of Auriel Halliday. Auriel was magnificent and English and glamourous. I rode in her intermediate group and she very quickly singled me out as a part-boarder for her own semi-retired A-Circuit Jumper, the spectacular Witchy Woman.

She also got me a job teaching summer riding camp through the YMCA (when I was underage no less) and basically did everything she could to help me ride and compete on a very limited budget. I adored her and learned everything I could about hunter/jumper and equitation under her tutelage and that of her wonderful mare.

At Halton, I became acquainted with the beginner instructor, Paulette Legault. Paulette taught my younger sister, who absolutely loved her (as did all her students). The other barn Paulette taught at was Cedar Mills Riding School and, knowing I was mainly interested in eventing, she suggested that I come out to visit as it was a dressage school.

Through Paulette, I was introduced to Master Frank Grelo, who is pictured at the top of the page below his own great Master. Frank studied classical dressage under Nuno Oliveira, a Master of Masters and certainly a huge figure in 20th century dressage. Talk about a Golden Link...

Fate and circumstance led me to move to Cedar Mills as a student of Frank's and to begin a working student program there at the beginning of 1987. I was 15 years old and again, underage. The agreement was that I would attend high school in town and work at the barn riding, training, giving lessons and caring for horses (in my case the recently landed broodmares from Portugal). That all sounds a little nuts in retrospect, but I think my passion for horsemanship was pretty convincing to everyone around me, including my Mom and Frank, and they let me go and try my hand at it.

Like a typical teenager away from home and running a bit wild, I didn't exactly make the most of my time at Cedar Mills. Despite this (and I've had a hard time forgiving myself for it too), I learned more there than I could ever have imagined. Frank's way with horses could be filed under what we now call 'Natural Horsemanship', though it's Classical Dressage in the Portugese style and not the cowboy way (the two are not so dissimilar though).

I soaked it all in and despite any teenage distractions, learned more than anyone would have thought possible, including myself. Frank taught me to think about the horse first, no mean feat for a man trying to engage a girl not quite sixteen. However, it got through and has stayed with me always. When I ride today, I still hear Frank's voice in my head guiding me and telling me where to move and how to tune myself in.

At the time of this post, Frank's website is down. This makes me kind of sad, since I love to visit that particular dream. When it is restored I will share it with you here since you might also like to go there to dream. I bet you will...