Silversand Clinic May/June 2008 report

[Elaine]

Heading over to gatwick again next week for a clinic with steve halfpenny of www.silversand.com.au.... will post full 4 day report when I'm back.

[Elaine]

Just back, brilliant 4 days! report (50 pages of notes!) going up tomorrow with a bit of luck.... Steve has a few videos on youtube....

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UFTBseGvXQc

[Elaine]

THURSDAY 9.30 AM

Group talk about what we wanted to work on this weekend. Answers included confidence, softness, leadership, etc.

THURSDAY 10.30 AM Beginners (I use that term loosely, new to silversand might be better) in arena

1. Large skewbald horse
2. Chestnut with white splash on face
3. Little bay
4. Little chestnut
5. Big bay

All horses in halters and 12 foot ropes, folk had a long training stick & rope on the end of it. The first part was to settle the horses down (new place, horses fresh) and instill confidence. Steve demoed this with the coloured horse (1) first.

To do this, folks stood in front of horse, and started moving stick & rope from side to side, touching ground on their left & right. Horses on their toes at the start, then calmed down and accepted this energy. When it was accepted, folk could add in more energy, and horses were chilled with it.

Sometimes horses have too much confidence and are in your face, so you might start off with manners as the first lesson. but for horses who are a little fresh, nervous, new environment, this seemed to give them confidence and they relaxed quite quickly and settled down, even with all the energy flying around them. It was a nice way to focus their attention and get them listening.

The idea was if you want your horse 100% when he's out, you need to get him at 300% in the safety / confidence of the arena / home work area. So do something well - then go on and do it until its brilliant I guess was a very good lesson. (ok don't overdo it either!)

4 little chestnut. Folks tried this on their own then - the little chestnut was getting a bit confusing and ended up just running in circles a little. Steve took over, and positioned the stick & rope at one point of the cirlce the horse was running about on. So horse could still run, but once every circle she'd have to turn around and go the opposite way. Her mouth was a little tight (anxious etc) ao to help her out Steve walked about a bit, and she followed him like glue. Steve remarked that the first lesson is about confidence - a lot of the hroses when they came in had low confidence in new place, their heads were up like giraffes.

5. Big bay - the question here was could the handler move the horse away without moving her feet? The answer was yes - up your energy instead. Control of the feet is a very important barometer for horses. Watching who is controlling who's feet can be quite educational.

Goal here is if you take off halter, and stand behind your horse, you can wave the rope & stick like a madman and you'll horse will just be chilled out abotu it all. This is energy. If you WANTED horse to you, you'd use energy AND intent. What you're currently doing is causing a catastrophie and getting your horse to live through it.

Steve said the first time he brought on a horse, it took him 15 years to get the horse to the place he wanted. Next time, it took quicker, cos of the lessons he'd learnt first time around.

I reckon its a bit like property development. I was watching property ladder that night. The folks on the show were intent on putting in a £10,000 sound system into a average 2 bed flat in islington (a daft idea). Sarah beeny said what are the 3 most important things about property development:

1. price you buy house at
2. price you put into it to do it up
3. price you sell house at

(i.e. not putting in ridiculous things which will end up costing you)

I reckon its the same ideas with horses. Whats most important is:

1. Good, bad and missing training you horse comes with them you buy him.
2. The amount and type of training you put into him, over a period of time.
3. The result when you add point 1 to point 2: your finished horse.

Horse 3 little bay This horse wasn't too keen on letting people work on his off side. Kept avoiding it - Steve noted that sometimes you might not realise who is training who. Then said he wanted to figure out a way to make this easy for the horse... (you don't want to just force the horse to do it, you want him to choose to do it) so he stood on near side, shook stick on off side, and waited until horse decided to reposition himself so Steve was standing on off side, then stick magically stopped waving. Repeat. Saw a bit of licking & chewing.

Big bay horse 5 Owner said this horse had issues taking up & standing still. You could see horse wasn't 100% (or even near that!) having Steve standing beside him and throwing rope over back. If horse can't accept a plain rope thrown over its back, its probably unlikely to be happy about a saddle & all the gear being put on it. The lesson here is preparation is key. Did a bit of this, horse chilled out a lot, then Steve moved away from horse as a reward. More licking and chewing.

Steve mentioned that Philip Nye walked 1,000k on foot with his horse to get his horse brave.

Also, said if you're going somewhere and horse refuses to go on, if you can see its going to escalate into 'horse going backwards at speed down road and has thrown all other horses in ride into chaos', there's nothing wrong with getting of your horse, leading him past & getting up again. Better than doing 90 backwards down a road with cars.

Another point - if you ask your horse to stop - he should stop 'exactly' wher you ask. Not 'kindof about here somewhere...' imagine there's a truck driving out right in front of you. If your horse doesnt stop, you'll get run over! Ones of Toms sayings springs to mind - you get what you settle for.

Horse 3 little bay worked again with off side of this horse, big improvement.

Big bay horse 5 (hard to tack up) Steve then started putting his arm over horses back. Horse not 100% at the start. Horse also walks off the moment you sit into the saddle. Could be an issue with stuff starting off in one of the horses eye, then it surprising the horse when the same thing appeared in the other eye (like someone getting up on near side, then leg appearing over on far side). Repeated this with rope again, this time with more energy. Horse not 100% yet but stands still on loose rope. Then horse gets rest and time to think it all over.

.... then Steve jumped on bareback . Lay on horse, held rope & mane (neck slightly bent to near side - lateral flexion) and patted horse all over from that angle. Good tip is hold a bit of mane, as if it all goes wrong, you leave go of the mane last, and at least then your head is the last thing to hit the ground.

Horse one - lovely big coloured horse. This horse gets a bit annoyed when you mount up. Angry face, ears back, can bite a bit etc. Steve hopped up bareback. Had one leg on near side and one leg on his arse. When horse nipped head around to bite, Steve's foot was in his way, just to block him. Steve kept jumping up & down until horse chilled a bit. The steve stopped. Once horse tried to push HQ towards Steve (for a potential kick) while he was doing this, but Steve just pushed them away again quickly. Owner got up (god bless her, she had a great bounce!!), horse was fine when she was up, rubbed horse, got off. Then repeat it all. Stopping bouncing when horse relaxed. Kept bouncing when horse looked peeved.

Big bay horse 5 Owner got up bareback - lovely. 1 rein, rubbed horse, chilled & then got off. Really cool.

3. Little bay lay on horse bareback, very cool again.

2. Chestnut with white splash on face lay on horse bareback, rubbed, very cool again.

Horses now A LOT more chilled than at the start of the session,

Horse 1 coloured - owner bouncing on far side, horse not so happy here. Worked on it.

3. Little bay got up again, all cool

1 hour over, HUGE change in all horses.

1. coloured horse repeated bouncing on both sides. If horse ratty, kept going. If horse chiled stopped bouncing.

"You can do anything with a horse, as long as you get them ready"

What was learnt: timing, understanding & working with horses nature, be confident, manual dexterity useful!!

[Elaine]

THURSDAY 11.45am YIELDING (brakes) Beginners in arena

1. Large skewbald horse
2. Chestnut with white splash on face
3. Little bay
4. Little chestnut
5. Big bay

for yielding steve wanted:

1. head down
2. flex at poll
3. soft backup

We needed to do the confident circle (earlier this morning) to get to the stage where this yielding would be possible.

3. Little bay

Put hand under halter, at start of lead rope to ask horse to lower head. Wait. If nothing happening, gently ask head to move from side to side to soften it up a little. Wait. Release when you get a little softnes & lowering. got a HUGE yawn after a while!! Head came right down.

For this horse, breaking at the poll would be too hard to do initally, along with staying soft and backing up, so just focused on those two first. Steve was buliding a few new neurological pathways!

Good backup includes the legs moving in diagonal pairs - got this after about 3 steps of backup.

Its not what you do, its how you do it.
DON'T let your horse lean on you.

A good question - what do you believe is true, and what is ACTUALLY fact?

5. Big bay Had issues going back. He was putting weight in owners hands. Steb took over. Horse was planted, so Steve tapped horse foot lightly with his foot, to get horse to move back, and stop dumping all her weigth on her front legs (a bit defensive). Keep head straight while doing backup, to get a straight backup.

4. Little chestnut

This horse pushed into pressure a bit. Steve took over. Pushed forequarters well away every time horse pushed into him. Then asked again.

Sometimes horses work better with repetitive work - I think my horse is one of those. Making regular mearning 'normal'. Brad Weesk also had a theory - why spend a few weeks training your horse through early primary school, then give him months off? For youngsters I guess it cos of physicaly maturity & not doing too much, but I can see where he was coming from - start teaching at a suitable level, then keep it up. Maybe if your horse takes his learning seriously, is it fair to suddenly stop the learning and 'go on holidays'? hmm, just a thought.......

If your horse pushes into you - DONT GET EMOTIONAL. Just ask for a forequarter yield (move shoulders away from you) and move on. Don't get emotional is a HUGELY IMPORTANT thing to be able to do when training horses.

For me with a yougster, the more I see the more I'm convinced a broad well bulit foundation is soooooooo important. My training is like a triangle - the base is the widest and there's a lot of basic stuff to be taught here - and to be taught REALLY well. After the basic stuff is done (being realistic in 2 or 3 years) then the triangle will get narrorer and we'll start to specialise in something.

The other way might be to imagien your training is like a stick standing upright. You dont teach a lot at each level, but you try your best to go foward / up the levels as fast as you can. A stick ends up being a lot wobblier than a triangle though. Does that make any sense to anyone??!!!

Steve was thinking of working on a 5 year program of horse training........

Next up - STEERING (groundwork)

1. Large skewbald horse If you ask horse to move away from you / change direction, if horse leans on you - he's pushing. Horse not to be allowed to push. Instead backup until pushing stops, then ask for change of direction again.

If you want to use energy etc to push horse away from you, ideally his outside leg (the one furtherst away from you) should move first. Otherwise he's leaning against you / leaning into pressure.

All horses

Forequarter yields (moving shoulders and front legs sideways).

- Head down first (rock head form side to side if necessary)
- Then push head away
- Energy to move shoulders, or tep if needs be

Push head to move OUTSIDE leg
Tap shoulder to move INSIDE leg

Buck Brannaman and co WILL NOT tolerate a heavy horse.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Training a horse can be a bit like driving a car - the more you practise the better you get.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

4. Little chestnut If horse pushes forward when you ask for a forequarter yield, ask for a backup straight away. Its harder to change existing patters, than to teach somethign new.

Steve: "restarts are more dangerous & more work".. he then quipped that he should charge more for them than the normal starts.........

5. Big bay

Bracy in forequarters, a bit stuck all over.

1. Large skewbald horse

A bit braced when asked for FQ yield too. Tried to kick steve. Steve moved HQ away asap. Took hands away from horse, and used 12 ft rope instead (safer) . When horse showed a bit more respect, went back to using hands again.

Steve's question 'who do i need to be for this horse today?'

Again - don't tolerate leaning - backup horse instead immediately.

When you ask for forequarter yield, you ask horse to look away from you, in dorections he's going. When you do the FQ yield, if you find horse is now looking more at you than away (ie wrong bend in neck), you backup for a while.

'Should be like a feather in your hand, not a horse'

2. Chestnut with white splash on face

Also stuck in forequarter yield. Used one or two taps on near shoulder to start them moving & free them up. Lots of backup included as horse would often change bend in neck so horse was looking at steve (not the correct bend when doing FQ), and was also leaning on him (related to the bend)

Hindquarter yield:

stand near saddle area
lateral flexion
then lift hand holding the rein, to ask for hindquarter yield.
Follow up with inside foot behind girth area if needed to cue HQ to move over.

With you & your horse, there shouldn't be a winner or a loser. You should both win.

4. Little chestnut

braced again through shoulders - hard to get a nice soft FQ yield.

Then we broke for lunch and it started to RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good interesting mornings work.

[Elaine]

Things I'm going to recreate at home with my horse - 180 degree stick waving - upping energy to lower energy, jumping up bareback, head down and soft backups.

[Elaine]

THURSDAY AFTERNOON:: Advanced people (have done SS clinics before) in the rain, start 3pm.

1. big black horse
2. dark bay horse
3. chunky black cob
4. grey
5. chestbnut arab

Not a bad idea to have a 5 year plan / goals.

This stuff (softness, perparation, bend, lightness, etc) isn't just important, ITS CRITICAL.

4. grey

FQ yield - circle with lateral flexion & soft ribs - HQ yield then FQ yield - then repeat. Trotted around cirlce, steve was trotting too.

1. big black horse

Upped energy. FQ yield - circle - HQ yield - FQ yield - etc etc

(change what eye your in regularly, I find (with oz) it seems to balance horses more / calm them down)

Horse then listening much more, and much more responsive.

Want horse to up and down energy and speed quickly.

Do this for a while, horse then much more attentive to your body language, if you pretend to canter on ground, horse will pop into a canter easily.

Horse focused on human direction - speed - energy, and mimics what the human does. Very good to create focus in the horse.

3. chunky black cob

lovely but a little asleep

1. big black horse OR 3. chunky black cob (sorry my notes not entirely clear about this!!!

Did forequarter yield to get horse moving, 1/4 circle later in walk, did HQ yield, then FQ yield then off again, repect repeating this in 1/4 circle in walk to wake horse up a bit.

Then the same idea in trot and canter with bigger circles.

If it takes a while to slow down, thats ok. Once your ready, FQ yield and you're off again.

Result after a few mins - horse listening A LOT more.

little trot from steve = straight away resulted in a little trot from horse.

2. dark bay horse

Steve first got the horse out of his space by doing a hissing noise. Then FQ yield, circle, HQ yield, Fq yield, circle, etc etc etc

Got horse out of his space again.

Hose tried to get away, but just went sideways up eth arnea with steve. Horse then figured out it might be easier to just get along. Horse was then listening a lot more, and more chilled & relaxed. Owner then took over.

5. chestbnut arab

Same again - FQ - circle - HQ - FQ - circle - HQ etc etc etc

Good reactions from horse. Watch she doesn't fall in on the circle after canter when she is slowing down.

{miserable weather, it was POURING down rain, we were all huddled in a shed watching what was going on. One car already stuck in the parking field. I suspect my car may be the second}

4pm - everyone tacks up.

2. dark bay horse

In walk, push inside leg to make the horses inside front leg step forward. Stops horse from dropping inside shoulder. But the human needs to know when the horse is about to use this leg, so you can give the cue at the correct time.

Up the walk energy by pedalling slowly with your arms and hands to increse energy. Then slow it down again. Play with various speeds of walk. Horse still getting a bit stuck and heavy on shoulders.

[POURING RAIN]

Thoughts from spectators & possibly on life in general!!

Its normal to be nervous at the start.
Bite the bullet be brave & go for it.
Push yourself out of your confort zone.
Get over what you 'think' other people think.

When training - repeat, then repeat more (if you see it improving that is!). A normal to good action, is about a 60% acceptable day to day kind of level. Get past normal. Get WELL past 60% and you'll start approaching GOOD.

Eg. horse a bit nervous on a lane = walk up and down it for an hour till its no longer an issue. Make your horse BRILIANT at walking up and down this lane.

1. big black horse

Teach your horse how to walk on without stopping, right from the start. (philip nye I think) Sometimes using the 1 step - stop- - 2 steps - stop, etc method can be a bit counter productive (I'm thinking about a young horse here)

Turned to a halt using a one rein stop to turn 180 degrees. Front feet/end not supposed to lean.

mis it up as well - trot - backup - walk, etc.

3. chunky black cob

A bit asleep. focus your energy and ride TOWARDS somewhere important in your mind.

[THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an afternoon!!]

5. chestbnut arab

Riding around with no halter, just rein around neck. Then didn't use rein around horses neck. To turn / change direction, just lightly touched the required side of the horses neck. Outsaide hand resting on neck kept head lookign in a little as she went around arena. Beautiful stuff

4. 45pm 4. grey

A little ongoing - went from walk to canter. This horse historically doesnt like arena, so getting to feeling comfortable in here is a BIG deal for this lovely little horse.

2. dark bay horse

move hands forwards and backwards like the horses forelegs during walk. Stopped with right foreleg. BE ACCURATE.

Look for an even walk.
From halt, back with right foot, then left foot, then forward with left foot into walk.

From walk into HQ yield (one rein stop) then open same hand for FQ yield, end up continuing in the same direction as before.

So you've isolated both ends of your horse (indirect rein (HQ) then direct rein (FQ)

Fr FQ yield - wait, then lead. dont PULL feet.

When you're good at this, practse in trot, then canter.

{Spent the evening in the pub}

[Elaine]

FRIDAY 9.30 CLASSROOM SESSION

- disassociate energy and emotion.

energy = controllable action
emotion = uncontrolled action

- You can walk, trot, canter etc - but can you HALT? (ie. EXACTLY where you want, NOT 3 steps later?)

- Someone said they wanted a different attitude. for example, if horse did something they didn't want, while steve / other folks would stay grounded and not get emtional, they might find it hard themselves not to get emotional. So how do you change how you react?

- You change something, you must first change yourself. Then everything else will change too.

TRAINING TREE (from the book elements of dressage)

relaxation
regularity
freedon (of mvt)
contact (communication)
on the aids (light from hand to seat, responsive, no resistance, soft)

- use cue and energy - eg to sidepass, when you're in the saddle, step right, then your horse will too.

straightness (including on a circle) lateral felxion & impulsion
balance - lightness & ease
Plyability, forward going & suppleness
Energy, engagement & impulsion
collection (elevation & suspension)


CONFIDENCE _______________l______________ FEAR

where on this line are you & your horse?

If you're horse is right beside CONFIDENCE they can walk all over you.
If your horse is right beide FEAR they'll want to run away from you.

Ideally your horse should be right in the middle.

Don't dominate your horse, teach him instead. Eg Steves stallion used get worked up around mares. Insated of getting rough / over reacting, Steve played with the boundaries - how close could he get to other mares before horse would start to get revved up? Then stayed at this boundary, playing with it until the boundary started to move a little.

1 unit of energy in by human should = 1 unit energy out my horse.

NOT!! 1 unit in, 60 units out
and NOT!! 60 units in, 1 unit out

Eg pair bound horses. Imagine one horse is in the corner of the arena. The second horse we want to ride aroudn the arnea, but horse B doesnt want to get too far from horse A. When horse B thinks hes gone too far, he spins and bolts back to horse A.

So how do you work on this?

Find out the exact limits of horse Bs mvt before he panics spins and bolts back. Maybe he tosses head 1 sec before he deices to bolt back. So when he tosses head, immeditaely turn him back nearer his friend, thus avoiding the bolt. Then continue playing like this. After while, teh head toss will start to happen a little further away from horse A, until after a while if you use this system, you'll be able to walk your horse B all around the arnea without it being worried about horse A at all.

But you need to be able to read the signs, and then react quickly.

recommended dvd - cowboy dressage
recommended dvd - the first week (available from eclectic horseman)

BEGINNERS IN ARENA 10.45 am

1. Large skewbald horse
2. Chestnut with white splash on face
3. Little bay
4. Little chestnut
5. Big bay

All folks have sticks with 6ft ish ropes on the end. Throw stick & rope to left and right, while standing in front of horse. Working on confidence. All much better

4. Little chestnut a little spooky

5. Big bay still issues on off side. Then got much better, using the human on near side, stick waving on off side approach.

JUMPING UP BAREBACK

Less faces from 1. Large skewbald horse
Steve got up on 5. Big bay
Steve got up on 4. Little chestnut did LOTS of rubbing and patting while up there.

All horses very quiet & relaxed

To ask for backup, first get a soft head, then backup. When backing up, feet should move in diagonal pairs.

FQ yields - if shoulders gets stuck and horse wont move front foot / feet, you can touch horses foot with your own foot to move it.

FQ yield - to move near front leg, tap shoulder near you.
- to move ffront leg on other side of horse, push head away from you gently.

3. Little bay resistance in backup & in FQ yield. Steve took over. 1st backup to get rid of braces, then straight into FQ yield.

[reward mental softness and much as physical softness]

1. Large skewbald horse

worked on SOFT lateral flexion. Wanted whole head to come around, not just the end of the ose and for the head to tilt. So dont just pull the nose. Play with it. Want head to stay _l_ to the ground, not _\_ or not _/_

MOVEMENT FROM A FEEL

Backup - stand in front of horse and raise energy.

4. Little chestnut not great at energy backup. Up your energy, but dont get too close. Makes it easier.

1. Large skewbald horse

Stand & twirl rope, then horse moves.

3. Little bay

FQ yield with stick. Steve twirls rope and then waits. Dont just pull.

ALL - FQ yield with rope energy

2. Chestnut with white splash on face

FQ yield from suggestion. Usually moves hind feet first (insecurity). release straight after FQ yield. Gets a bit stuck, to be worked on.

TACK UP

Circles

- move shoulders away
- go forwards
- stop when you want, not when the horse wants

4. Little chestnut didnt want to move forward. Waved stick behind HQ, then he moved on.

1. Large skewbald horse

cantering on circle.

While I watch this, I think that my horses job is to teach me. My job is just to shut up and learn

Riding - lateral flexion and HQ yield.

to do HQ yield: ask for lateral flexion, then raise hand up and into you to ask for HQ yield. If nothing happens, put heel back behind girth to cue inside back leg to move.

LUNCH (weather much nicer!!!)

[Elaine]

FRIDAY AFTERNOON ADVANCED, start 2.45pm

1. big black horse
2. dark bay horse
3. chunky black cob
4. grey
5. chestbnut arab

Circling all (ground)

5. chestbnut arab

Working on making circle bigger in canter. Also did circle - HQ - FQ - Circle at walk

and at different speeds of walk/trot/canter.

Leading arab horse - play with different speeds of walk - horse to mirrow speed of human. Horse not to walk in front of steve. If she goes forwards without being asked, ask her to backup. Repeat a lot.

Stop her running away at the walk, until you can step in and step away, without the horse leaving you. You need mental connection.

Front legs of horse and human can move at the same time. Not absolute, but it seems to happen. Often happens when me & my friends from work walk over to get a coffee as well!

When you're walking along, to communicate to your horse to want to go faster, lean forward as you walk. To go slower, lean back.

A thought from the audience - are green jelly babies really vegtables!

Don't stop too abruptly - if you do, horse won't stop right beside you, instead they walk on a step or to and probably do a hind quarter yield and end up facing you.

1. big black horse

Walk on. Then stop slowly (give your horse time to twig what you want them to do). Backup. Dont have HQ in as part of the stop.

STOP SLOWLY!

When you both stop, you should both be looking the same direction.

(had a lovely drawing done of this in my notepad but can't recreate it on here!)

4. grey same as above

3. chunky black cob also try to circle with you on the outside, good practise to do both ways.

2. dark bay horse

Did walk (slow & fast) and trot (same)
good, was listening.
Then up to fast canter
back to stop
on to walk
nice & quiet
mind not blown = good! Steve liked this horse!

TACK UP

5. chestbnut arab

Vertical flexion plus a little looseness in the reins
"Self carriage comes from the horse" (steve)
Still can feel horse rushing a little but improved after todays groundwork.

BACKUP

- backup (both reins equal length)
- then release right rein
- then horse turns left

To ask for backwards, bring your seat up and back - lift your seat to ask for backup

Dont just backup from the reins
Steve rode around.

Make your body mimic the way you want your horses body to move.

Dont use reins for backup or stop. Use your reins to change head position - up down right or left.

To get backwards think heels down shoulders up.

If no movemnet, squeeze shoulders back with your feet (toothpaste backup). If no mvt you can also tap shoulder with hand to get them moving.

riding - how fast can I walk?
riding - how slow can I walk?

Did lots of backup. Full arena length as arab getting a little stuck, still leavign a little too much weight on her forequarters (leaning slightly still).

Lightness is a BIG thing with Steve. A bit liek softnes with Tom W.

Should be able to ride backward as easily as riding forwards. (similiar to Toms ridden softness exercise, written up in his clinic report)

Nuno Olivera used to be able to canter backwards, there's nothign wrong with going backwards, it doesnt take away forwards.

Walk - stop - 1 foot back - walk on.

4.45pm

3. chunky black cob

Lost his backup, then found it again

To start horse walked straight towards steve, as steve walked backwards. With life, energy & straightness.

Theh steve walked towards horse, and horse walked backwards. Backup was fast & light. Then drop one rein and turn automatically and walk away. No bracing

4. grey

Backup with steve walking towards him. Rider to look UP so they can see where they are going! (ie straight or not straight!)

1. big black horse

keep straight both forwards and backwards.

same for 2. dark bay horse

5.25 pm end

LEARNT:

4. grey rider not to go foetal
5. chestbnut arab face up to her emotions and work through them - result = lightness
3. chunky black cob getting more effective. ask backup with feet in rhythm
2. dark bay horse figure out footfalls
1. big black horse leadership needed.

[Elaine]

SATURDAY MORNING TALK

Steve had a horse for training that would bolt out of creeks.

So when horse heading towards creek, horse woudl get tense. When you left tense, turn horse away from creeks and circle around a few trees. Then approach again. Again if tense, turn away and walk somewhere else. Repeat, playing with the horses boundaries until they start to get a little more movable. To do this, you've got to be able to read the warning signs before it becomes an issue.

First time Stsve did this, had a to walk half a mile down creek playing this game before horse was happy to cirss it calmly. By the end, could ride pretty much straight through it.

Owner tried, and started to head straight towards the creek, with horse showing signs of being tense. Steve yelled - turn away from creek - owner couldn't feel those tiny 'warnings' so steve ended up walking in front of horse, watching horse and if he saw horse tensing up, he;d walk away from river. Rider sat & listened, and then figured out what to look for.

Beginners 10.30


1. Chestnut with white splash on face
2. Little bay
3. grey from advanced group (to even up the lesson numbers)

2. Little bay practise one rein stops

When on circle, nose should be in a little, inside shoulders moving out a little - instead of looking out and inside shoulder falling in.

When circling, you can wave your inside hand as inside front foot starts to lift, to encourage inside shoulder to move out a little and not fall in.

Circle at walk, throw end of rope with energy over saddle area to desensitise. If horse runs forward, do a one rein stop.

Practise throwing the end of the rope over horses head. Let teh rope touch horses ears, face, nose, etc, forelock, etc.

Sit up tall on horse, throw, spin wave rope everywhere, with energy.

You've gotta trust you're horse so that can trust you.

A: Get fear out
b: Ask for flexion after this

Everyone rode aroudn in halters and one rein, twirling end of the one rein about. Very good, all horses very chilled out.

1. Chestnut with white splash on face

Circling. rope tight (not good, body tense, shoulder fallgin in, no bend in neck). Steve took over. moved Hq and FQ out a bit to get loose rope.

Now MUCH more bend and lightness in rope.

If you walk near Hind with intent & energy, horse should automatically move HQ away from you.

To start circle, begin by moving shoulders out.

MUCH softer. Did shoulder in and sidepass.

Nice

2. Little bay

gently touched shoulder with belly of rope when inside fore is JUST about to leave the ground. Then inside fore will move out a little.

3. grey from advanced group

A: get him out and moving
B: horse not to run away

Steve worked with him, did shoulder in and sidepass. Then rested him

new horse, youngster, in for starting

Shoulder falling in on circles. quote from steve " dont try to do it, do it!" Get effective if needs be.

Horse whynning to distant friends - looking for comfort in the wrong places.

Steve patted her ALL over. She didnt like it at the start but got used to it. Good energetic pats.

At end, using her shoulders to push into humans a little, which had now stopped. HQ yield now also in place.

Her owner ended up laying over her backback for the first tie (well, the first few times!) which was cool.

MOUNT UP 11.40 am

One rein riding

Ask for lateral flexion - when you get it, release.

This way of training is all about MANY many small releases throughout each session - imagine a basket ball bouncing along, during each bounce there the ball comes back down to the ground for an instant, and then it goes off again. A bit like horse training - you do ask for stuff, but there's lots of little small release every time you want to reward your horse, so there's not a build up of tension - instead you get the opposite, your horse actually relaxes and then can supple and lighten and get soft.

Noon

2. Little bay

Walk & trot 1 rein. lots of good rope throwing over horse head. nice and relaxed

3. grey from advanced group

Trotted around with confidecnce (brilliant!)

1. Chestnut with white splash on face

lots of releases when asking for lateral flexion. reward all tried.

3. grey from advanced group

Spooky about rope throwing when riding. something to practise.

Thought time again about my little horse..................

I reckon a young horse (well, mine anyway!!) is a bit like a big old parking area with LOTS of potholes. The potholes are of many differnt sizes, depths, and in different places all around the parking area. I've got to fill them in.

I dont know how many there are, but I focus on the ones near to me first, and start to fill them in. Then when they're done, I walk a few steps and find some more, and work on filling them in too. How long it takes to fill them in, and what kind of shovel / spade / machingery / equipment you use for each one will be different depending on what the pothole is like.

The number of potholes and size of the parking area depends on your individual horse. (my parking area ia quite large, and started off with A LOT of potholes!!) We are getting through them though

2. Little bay practise one rein stops

walk along fence with rider onboard
one rein on outside
leteral flexion into fence
HQ yield away from fence
FQ yield
walk back up fence the way you came from & throw rope to other side

end 12.50

[Elaine]

START 2.15pm ADVANCED

1. big black horse
2. dark bay horse
3. chunky black cob
5. chestnut arab


obstacles went up in arena.

Horses lead around them.

Worked on shoulder in.

Ride from marker A to marker B.
Start at marker B, have horse head looking straight at marker B, but push horses inside shoulder PAST marker B.

Again have a lovely drawing in my notebook.. will photoshop it later on if you're lucky!

Start with markers a good bit away from each other, makes it easier.

2. dark bay horse nice shoulder ins. very light

3. chunky black cob

Wasn't pushing inside shoulder out, so rider held stick at this shoulder to tap it if required to encourage horse to move inside shoulder out.

FOOTFALLS

shoulder in:

inside arm bend
inside leg push out
outside arm open & wide
outside leg nothing

Everyone doing shoulder ins.

5. chestnut arab

Steve rode arab, skipped a few markers to make the exercise bigger and easier for the horse. worked well. horse didnt rush as much.

3.40pm

Have accurate transitions at markers.
How long do you have to ask horse to stop before horse stops?

If you know its not going to happen, dont ask, otherwise you'll just create a brace.

1. big black horse

stop your body to stop your horse.

If stops not great, go straight into backup.

2. dark bay horse

Asked rider to tie knots in a string as she rode around, to stop over using her reins. Did this for a few circles horse went much
better!

4.15pm

use reins to slow down - right rein as right leg started to come forward, left rein as left front leg starts to come forward.

in walk, creep / sneak up to the marker you want to stop at, then quietly creep away.

RUMP SCRATCHING IS GOOD - CHILLS OUT HORSES.

3. chunky black cob

trot/walk/halt transitions aroudn arena.

trying for canter- want - canter - walk

Did a few canters - second time EVER!!!! Brilliant!

MIRROR GAME BRILLIANT!!



Horse A pretends to be a cow
_________________________
MIRROR MIRROR MIRROR MIRROR
__________________________

Horse B mirrors the 'cow' (horse A)


Both horse walk side by side, in the same direction. If cow turns towards horse, horse must then also turn towards cow.

Good to practise HQ and FQ yields.

Then did this with four horses.

HORSE A HORSE B
_______________________
HORSE C HORSE D

One horse woudl be the cow, the rest would follow.

Ended up doing canters, sidepassing etc in this group of four, Great fun to watch and quite cool too

[Elaine]

SUNDAY 10am

What are the differences between a response and a reaction?

You want a response from your horse - you don't want a reaction.

10am - role play

person 1 - horses front legs
person 2 - hand on person 1 shoulders, and you are the horse hind legs
person 3 - trainer, leading 'horse' witha lead rope attached to person 1's hands.

1 - to get horse to start walking dont pull him towards you, if you do, he'll just want into you. instead push horses shoulder away to get some forward mvt instead.

stay back a bit

To sidepass, work with INDIVIDUAL feet - push JUST before front foot near you leaves ground (eg to push shoulder near you out)

1. Chestnut with white splash on face
2. Little bay
3. grey

Walking in hand, changing speeds

SOFTNESS AND LIGHTNESS FROM THE START

Stop EXACTLY where you want to - not a few steps after it

To start - walk towards horse, push shoulder away, then walk on

To get into a horses mind on a lead rope:

walk on
HQ yield
FQ yield
walk on
repeat
put in a few slow down to stops.

1. Chestnut with white splash on face

Pull head (one rein stop) when he tries to trot off. woked on walk, moving should out from a suggestion.

3. grey

short circles in trot & canter
back to Hq, FQ, walk etc etc
canter when HUMAN says
otherwise ask horse back to a walk

GOAL: Both horse and human having equal fun

If horse going to fast, do a mini HQ yield to push far away hind leg out and slow horse down.

When riding - to steer out, pressure on inside shoulder.
When riding - to steer in, pressure on inside hindquarters.

Use high energy to get low energy. The high energy stuff at the start helped a lot with the low energy stuff.

MOUNT UP 11.30 am

All in rope halters and one rein. halt and swing ropes. get your horse not to want to move.

Scratch rumps to quieten horses down.

HQ and FQ yielkds in saddle. Dont pull. Bump with outside leg if needed.

walk along fence
do 180 degrees Hq yield
then do 180 degree FQ yield
Then walk on in original direction

1. Chestnut with white splash on face

Steve rides chestnut who's a bit tense at the start.

- walk & bend
- step out with shoulders - reinforce with end of one rein on shoulders if required
- ask for HQ yield as well, got a little sidepass too
- halt
-asked horse to step out through shoulder
- hourse wouldn't
-too littlebend
- straight into lateral flexion until horse softened gain
- repeat

WANTED / GOAL: step out with front shoulder end, keep soft lateral flexion.

-please stop
-please stop
-you will stop

Did above 3 times. first 2 times, had to ask three times. Third time, asked once horse stopped lightly.

BENDING IS CRITICAL

homework - work on neck and shoulder softness, lateral flexion & FQ yielding.

LUNCH

[Elaine]

SUNDAY 2pm ADVANCED GROUP

1. big black horse
2. dark bay horse
3. chunky black cob
5. chestbnut arab

circle walk/trot/canter
diferent speeds of walk, stop & backup
rope stuff on ground (lasso etc)
then lasso on horseboack, and drag stuff with rope!

first get horse used to lasso being thrown near and on him and past him over his back
rub and pat all over horse with lasso

2. dark bay horse

Steve got on bay after the abovem and threw rope at a traffic cone.

PUSH SHOULDERS OUT - horses moves out
PUSH HINDQUARTERS OUT - horses moves in

if a horse wants to move forward, allow him to move but control the direction - try backwards instead.

Dont sneak around your horse - have them 300% at home and 100% when out & about.

Traffic cone in centre of circle, and lassoed. End of lasso in riders hand she she rode in a circle (holding rope) around the traffic cone. Did walk, trpt & canter. very flash!

3. chunky black cob

More circling while holding lasso.

5. chestbnut arab

same as above. said her transitions (w/t/c) are much better when holding llasso rope in one hane. Why? body freeer, no pressure on outside rein.

Drag stuff = have to engage horses hindquarters more = collection

Try walk forwards then to 180 turn, then reverse, all in ONE fluid movement, like a dance.

5. chestbnut arab and 3. chunky black cob now pulling loga around the arena

1. big black horse a little spooky still, but with a little practise gets MUCH better.

4pm. Steve riding 1. big black horse

Dragging log around. ditched log. practised backup in circle to get rid of braces.

Backup - FQ yield - DONT walk off!

Repeat till horses doesnt walk off.

4.15 pm

back in circle then FQ yield then backup in reverse circle, then FQ
repeat

4.25
everyone circling backwards

bridle taken off 5. chestbnut arab.
Nothign on horse head now at all.

Rider walk trot and canter in balance and with perfect control aroudn arena, including figures of 8s and serpintines. beautiful. To turn, touch neck to push required direction. if head turns taht way, stop asking.

A BRILLIANT CLINIC

[Elaine]

Things I took home to work with with my horse:

Create confidence & focus using high energy (stock & rope)
Leading / lunging while moving along with your horse. Play with gaits & speeds and lateral movements.
Pat back all over and then pat body all over.
110% desentise to energy again with ropes twirling etc everywhere.
Hop up bareback.
Footfalls - Cueing particular foot the split second before it leave the ground (while leading).

[Elaine]

Report with excellent pictures from Breakfast (thanks!)

glenatron.livejournal.com/137754.html