Ample Prosecco
Still wittering on
I had a timely and very welcome distraction from Ginny and her problems in the form of a horsemanship clinic over the weekend with Amber. I have no interest in Western riding but I do like the overall ethos of Buck Brannaman/Mark Rashid/Guy Robertson etc who all seem to come from a ranch background and all seem to work much more with the horse's mind than the trainers I usually use who focus on the technical aspects more. Which I also love but this just adds something else I think.
The overall aim of the weekend was to work on confidence (the horse's confidence in you and in general), body control (being able to control the horse's body and life so you can move in any direction at any gait or speed) and purpose: motivating the horse.
We did 4 session which all aimed to achieve 1 or more of those aims above. Session 1 was groundwork and that was a lot about leadership which builds confidence. Session 2 was ridden in the arena and was about body control. It was incredibly precise: eg cue the horse to stop as the front inside foot leaves the ground and that foot should then land and stop. The transition should be both instant and smooth. Another good exercise were 2 trotting poles parallel to each other a horse's width apart over X. Trot a figure 8 passing through the poles each time in walk. You needed to be completely straight through the poles then change bend as you left the poles. Smooth and instant transitions to walk as you enter the poles and back to trot as you leave. The repeat with canter-walk transitions. And if your horse starts anticipating the left lead (for example) go right. Then it was canter transitions in a straight line at a cone choosing the lead each time. Basically complete control over hindquarters, ribs, shoulders, head and neck, gait and speed!
Session 3 was with obstacles - putting the precise body control into practice with things like bending in and out of cones, side passing over things etc. This began to build the horse's sense of purpose. Ie the horse recognising these movements aren't random or pointless - there is a job to do. And finally cow working to further build the sense of purpose.
Throughout it all one thing I noticed was how often the horse is rewarded in this style of riding. In my normal schooling I might let her have a long rein every 10 minutes or so after some good work so she'd get a full release 2-3 times a session. But in this work we were releasing fully every few seconds at first for any new request which seemed to help her learn much quicker and to be in a more positive frame of mind.
Amber has only seen cows once when we were followed by them on a hack and they freaked her out but I think all the previous work over the weekend meant she was curious not fearful, confident in me and task focused! So she was brilliant. Went into a herd, cut one out, guided it into the arena and then in a team with another horse we were guiding it round cones in a figure of 8 and finally penning it. If it made a break back to the herd Amber had to canter after it to head it back and she totally got it! She was alert, focused, willing. A lot of fun.
The overall aim of the weekend was to work on confidence (the horse's confidence in you and in general), body control (being able to control the horse's body and life so you can move in any direction at any gait or speed) and purpose: motivating the horse.
We did 4 session which all aimed to achieve 1 or more of those aims above. Session 1 was groundwork and that was a lot about leadership which builds confidence. Session 2 was ridden in the arena and was about body control. It was incredibly precise: eg cue the horse to stop as the front inside foot leaves the ground and that foot should then land and stop. The transition should be both instant and smooth. Another good exercise were 2 trotting poles parallel to each other a horse's width apart over X. Trot a figure 8 passing through the poles each time in walk. You needed to be completely straight through the poles then change bend as you left the poles. Smooth and instant transitions to walk as you enter the poles and back to trot as you leave. The repeat with canter-walk transitions. And if your horse starts anticipating the left lead (for example) go right. Then it was canter transitions in a straight line at a cone choosing the lead each time. Basically complete control over hindquarters, ribs, shoulders, head and neck, gait and speed!
Session 3 was with obstacles - putting the precise body control into practice with things like bending in and out of cones, side passing over things etc. This began to build the horse's sense of purpose. Ie the horse recognising these movements aren't random or pointless - there is a job to do. And finally cow working to further build the sense of purpose.
Throughout it all one thing I noticed was how often the horse is rewarded in this style of riding. In my normal schooling I might let her have a long rein every 10 minutes or so after some good work so she'd get a full release 2-3 times a session. But in this work we were releasing fully every few seconds at first for any new request which seemed to help her learn much quicker and to be in a more positive frame of mind.
Amber has only seen cows once when we were followed by them on a hack and they freaked her out but I think all the previous work over the weekend meant she was curious not fearful, confident in me and task focused! So she was brilliant. Went into a herd, cut one out, guided it into the arena and then in a team with another horse we were guiding it round cones in a figure of 8 and finally penning it. If it made a break back to the herd Amber had to canter after it to head it back and she totally got it! She was alert, focused, willing. A lot of fun.
I would love to go on one of his clinics but I just haven't been able to fit it in this year and I really need to upgrade my trailer before we venture that far.
