Tom Widdicombe clinic report Aug 2008

[Elaine]

Right, suffice to say I flew through a storm, got diverted into the back end of nowhere as lightning went crazy overhead, and woke up the inhabitants of a small English village enroute to this clinic................ ;D

[Elaine]

Stunning chestnut arab thurs 9.10 ATTENTION on HUMAN, FOCUS ON CURRENT JOB, CONTROL OF THE FEET & MIND

The rider wanted to reintroduce the bit, wanted more calmness on the ground and to get rid of horse pushing and walking forward. This horse currently was not paying enough attention to handler and his mind tended to wander off to other things every now and again. So every time he does this ask him to refocus onto you by giving him a job. Dont stand there doing nothing while he looks off into distance. Get active. Currently jogging, spooking at stuff, looking out in the distance, on edge in certain corners of arnea, going off trotting when not asked, etc.,

First up, while horse was in a halter, was every time he walked forward by himself the handler was to ask him to move his feet back.

A big thing to teach this horse was to see the human as the most important thing in his life. He was more focused on everything else, rather than the person beside him.

Set boundaries - having this horse an arms length away from you is a good idea when leading to start off with.

Some leading was done. The horse tended to walk past the human or zone out and focus on something else. So this needed to be fixed. Human has to be proactive in charge and calling the shots. You could see the horse get more relaxed and chilled as he started to realise things were changing a bit.

The goal was for the human to control the direction and speed. Did more leading and turning, especially turning horse away from you so you have to walk in front of them, which they have to get out of your space to do.

If the horses head goes really high, back up horse till it goes down. Horse still ignoring handler a bit going too fast around arena with its head up looking out to the distance.

Repetition. Every time horse does his own thing or loses focus on human, remind him you are there by asking him to do something - backup, change direction, whatever.

Getting better, not rushing as much on lead rope.

Stunning chestnut arab thurs 3.20

Better. A little spooky on circle. Still not paying a lot of attention to humans. Did leading & circling. Asked for an easy trot, got a canter.

Keep at it.

Good session.

Stunning chestnut arab thurs end of the day

Walked in to arena, nice, walked back out again, no pushing better attention, BIG improvement

Stunning chestnut arab fri 2.45

Boundaries in place horse much more chilled and settled.

Walk on circles. If horse trots bring him back to walk ASAP. YOU control the speed, not the horse.

Handler got more energetic and then got more attention from the horse.

Tacked up. Longlining.

Walked. Horses pushes on bit. When he does, ask for halt, then backup till horse stops pulling on the bit. Then release and ask the horse to walk on again.

Horse now trying to figure out this new stuff. Then the penny dropped and got some nice relaxed longlining.

COOL!!!

Stunning chestnut arab sat 9.00

Longlined. Walk. Stop. Horse kept trying to walk on. Handler stood still. After about 5 attempts, horse stood still. Then handler asked horse to walk on.

Same again. Same again. Same again. etc.

This was teaching the horse that there is no advantage to pulling.

Walked. Every time horse pulls., back to halt, have your hands like a post (i.e. they do not move at all) and just wait till the horse stops pulling.

BETTER!!!! ;D

With this kind of work, do it somewhere the horse can cope with, dont do this kind of training something like a main road where you're in trouble if things dont work perfectly.

BETTER HALT!!!! HARDLY ANY PUSH!!!

Repeat A LOT.

This horse is much better at home. One theory may be that this horse is good in familiar surroundings as he takes his safety from them, He is not great in unfamiliar surroundings as because he doesn't take his safety from handler, he gets a bit lost when he is in unfamiliar places. We need to change that and get through to the inner horse, so he looks to human with him, and thus can bring his saftely with him when he travels to strange places. So he needs to be more secure in himself.

Halt. Horse tries to walk off in longlines, so handler stays still, horses reaches end of slack and then come back again.

BETTER. LESS PUSHING.

Up to now, the limit of this horses world was the far horizon - ie his world as VERY big. If something moved far away he'd spook or pay attention to it, etc. The use of the bit gives the horse some boundaries. Now the end of his world is the bit (so his world is much smaller). So now he's not aware and paying attention to stuff outside the arena, he's MUCH more focused on the human.

BETTER AGAIN.

If you dont understadn how the bit is supposed to work, the bit becomes valueless. this horse is now finding logic in the bit A lot less pulling & arguments. Horse is accepting bit now becauise it is making sense.

GOOD SESSION!!!

Stunning chestnut arab sat 3.45

Longlining.

At the start didn't have focus on human.
Set up poles and obstacle course and longlined him around these to gice him a job to do. Horse settled down quick.

BETTER BY HEAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If horse transfers attention over the hedge, give him a job asap (eg backup) and get his attention back ASAP.

Stunning chestnut arab sun 10.45

Saddle and bridle on and longlining.
Horse MUCH more focused on human. Head down, working.
Teaching horse not to pull on bit. When he does, hold your hands still like a post.
Want horse to learn there that the bit is a boundary.

Walking about, when horse looks out towards fields and forgets about human and then walks into the bit (ie pushes ahead faster than human is going) human holds his hands steady like a wooden post. Unyielding and not pulling. Horse refocuses back on human and they walk on again. Good work.

Got 30 metres with horse pulling at all!!

MUCH MUCH more settled.

Every time the horse pulls or leans stop and have your hands like a post and wait. Then when horse stops leaning, walk on.

As horse & human went round spooky corner, handler took a little hold of rein to remind horse he was still there, and horse calmly walked around the spooky corner.

The horse is now THINKING a lot more about human.

A VERY GOOD SESSION.

Stunning chestnut arab sun 2.55

Longlining.
Horse focused on human.
Not pulling.
nice backup.
Work around the edges of horses comfort zone.

Horse now quiet & relaxed and listening, COMPLETELY different to nervy on edge spooky rushing horse at start of clinic.

This is a tricky horse, but is really focused on human now and will be REALLY GORGEOUS Did a little trot on longlines with horse still listening and focused on human. This horse has changed so much over the past few days and once the focus attention issue is sorted, this little guy will be a real dinger, and he's got a brilliant owner who's got more horsemanship in her little finger than most of us have in our whole bodies!!

Reallly looking forward to seeing this horse next year as I reckon he will be a cracker. GREAT WORK ALL ROUND. ;D

[Elaine]

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Thurs 11.45am LONGLINING, CONFIDENCE, TEAMWORK, TRUST, SOFTNESS.

Right, this was one of my favourites of the clinic Horse is about 18yo, rider wanted to work on steering, wanted to try out a few saddles as she's going to buy a new one, rebuild confidence, and do some riding and longlining.

First up was leading and stopping. Horse takes an extra two steps to stop, so we need to fix this. Horse a little bracy in backup too, so we need to fix this as well.

Did some longlining in tack and trotting. At this stage I want to categorically state that the human's trousers did in no way or manner start to fall down, and that this is just an unsubstanciated rumour!! I can say though from this point on while we were all pretty chilled we got more chilled out and there were a few giggles. There were a few good catch phrases as well during the clinic.....a few of which stick in my mind are:

1. Get out there get in there.
2. Stay with me baby there's a bus coming.
3. I'm not interested in going around the edge of a school on a horse who's not there.
4. No. Not a ladyboy, a lazy boy!

;D Anyhow, back to the horses!!

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Thurs 4.15

Tack on. Longlining at the botton of the arena.

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Fri 11.20

Longlining.
Obstacles up.
A bit braced on left rein.
Be definite, don't negociate.
If you dont negociate, then your horse wont either.
Catch the unwanted thought from your horse and do something about it right then. Then its much easier to deal with.
Spot the split second when your horse needs help and be there. You need to concentrate to do this.
Better! A godo thing to work on - decreasing time between horses unwanted thought (i dont really want to go over the plastic!) and the riders reaction (yes, but its really important to me that we both go over the plastic).

GOOD WORK BY HANDLER!!! ;D

In saddle. walk, trot. GOOD!!

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Thurs 4.35

Tack on. Longlining.
Walk. halt. turning.
Going to various points of arena.
Mounted. Walked and stopped. LOVELY horse, LOVELY rider!!! Got a huge smile from rider. AAwwww!!! ;D ;D

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Sat 3.00

Lnglining.
Very nice longlining!!
SUPER LITTLE HORSE.
Mounted up.

Bloody rain starts

Walking around, nice rider position

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Sun 12.30

Longlining. walk/trot/turns.
Around and over obstacles.
Mount up. Walked about.
NICE!!!
Purple colour scheme working very well.
Good manouvres around uprights.
Practise not being scared.

When rider had legs squeezing all the time, horse walking sluggishly. When rider stopping squeezing legs walk got much more ongoing. If you squeeze horses ribs you are restricting their mvt, thus the sluggish walk.

If you are scared, imagine your legs are two wet fish and you're on your way to the supermarket.

The cutest little horse/pony ever with a purple theme!! Sun 4.30

Walking about.
NICE WORK!!!

Tom said that the old rider had come back again
A lovely team, did some trotting

This was a great progression over the weekend Horse and rider have a lot of trust and faith in each other, and in the last few sessions just looked like they were really having fun, which at the end of the day is what its all about.

[Elaine]

Very cool coloured cob Thurs 9.50 restart, softening to bit, rearing.

This horse hasn't done a lot recently, and has a history of doing a rear every now and again. A gorgeous looking horse though

First rule: no unwanted forward steps. If your horse does walk forward by himself, ask him to step back again. The horse is leading the human a little.

The plan as this horse has been out of work is to restart him during the clinic, starting at the beginning and checking everything is ok as we go along.

Horse to learn that the human is important when being lead. Did walks and turns etc to work on this.

Backup - horses head in the air. Changed plan. Put hand on poll to ask horse to lower his head and soften. Dont release on a brace. Could have done this with backup either.

NIcer leading, inc person turning in front of horse. Walk and trot in circle. Keep things simple.

A light horse responds to cues fine but mentally is not really there.
A soft horse reponds to cues with willingness, communication and thought and you can work as a real team together.

Better leading, horse staying with human. Circle in walk (slow medium and fast)

LOVELY WILLING horse! Tack up. Very relaxed. Longlined.

Woohoo the sun has come out!!

Stop and look for softness. If horse snakes his head keep your hands like a post. Dont release your hands until he stops snaking.

Mounted up. Horse cool. Backup. Wohooooo!! When in the school always have an aim or a plan. Horse and rider got a round of applause

Very cool coloured cob Thurs 3.45

Tack on. Longlining with saddle. Good. walk/stop/turn/dont pull.

Over and through obstacles including plastic on the ground and jumps. Stopped in box area.

Very cool coloured cob Fri 12.10

Longlining. Hands like post if horse is leaning.
Little bit of an issue standing still, human waited till horse did, then asked horse to walk on.

If you have a ridden problem you cant deal with, put on the longlines and deal with it. Dont shy away from it.

Habit - this horse only wants to stand still for 30 secs. GOOD HALT!!!

In saddle. Backup. Walkabout. Keep horses attention on the job. Walk - halt at A. walk on, change rein. Slow and fast walk.

WOOOOOHOOOOO LOVELY STUFFF!!!!

Very cool coloured cob Fri 5.15

Longlining with tack on. backup for softness.
Get rid of pulling. Its not a relative pull its ANY pull.

Nice backup through posts, when horse argued, just keep asking.

Riding - walk, backup, trot. Work on feel in hand communication.



Very cool coloured cob Sat 11.00

Longlining. Very windy, horse on edge. Work through unwanted behaviour dont give up. Get back to the job you wanted to do and get it done.

Better. Halt near fence is tricky. Keep at it. Better.

Gave horse slightly smaller boundary with bit (not puling but took the slack out of the reins) this settled him down a lot.

Tom took over and was a bit stricter. Horse argued a little. If this horse cant handle something, his default reaction is fear which is not good. Worked on this.

Story about another horse:

This other horse was in a different clinic and was rearing.When he reared, the rider got off, and trainer walked quietly over to the horse and clipped on a lead rope, and then worked the horse hard for a few minutes. It took maybe 15 secs from the time of the rear to the time the horse was worked by the trainer. Then the rider got up again. Repeated this for 20 mins, then the horse started to realise that rearing wasn't really worth it anymore (note thyis was a behavioural issue not caused by pain - if you have a horse who rears, get a vet to look at him first as he might be in pain somewhere or be sore from his tack)

Sun disappeared, started to get overcast

Horses can often learn how to rear as foals as no one corrects it at that stage. eg. pic of foals with legs over humans shoulders ABSOLUTELY CRAZY & DISASTEROUS.

Gotta get rid of arguments form this horse.

Very cool coloured cob Sat 4.40

Longlining. When horse pulls in walk, have your hands like a post. Horse comes off the bit. Then ask horse to walk on again. Human controlling speed. Horse finding it tricky.

BETTER!

Very cool coloured cob Sun 10am

So this horse at the start didnt understand the bit and was leaning on it. Did some longlining, practised horse not pushign through bit. Good. Mounted up.

lovely weather!

Walking around. If you have a spooky or nervy horse, sometimes they end up being better than a normal horse cos you've had to spend so much time bringing them on.

Horse still testing out the bit, pushing nose out which is where teh rear will come from. Sort hands so when horse pushes, there is no release. GOOD WORK FROM RIDER!!!

Aim: happy horse.

Horses push on the bit cos we've inadvertintly trained them to do this through releasing reins at the wrong time.

Very cool coloured cob Sun 3.45

Longlining. have reins equal length for halt. Cool backup!

Mounted. Walk. Ask to soften froma fixed point with some feel. Dont pull.

Good halt. If horse braces in backup just hang in there and dont quit cos it'll just be harder next time. Horse needs to be trained to give to backup. Really important. If tricky, then just put the horse back on longlines as its easier to do from there.

Its really nice to have a horse who is really good at doing nothing

Loose ring bits can pinch corners of mouth, fixed are sometimes better.

Softness coming in halt Startign in backup too. After a while will be able to intorduce it in walk, trot, canter, etc.

Horse got uneasy when asked to work away from other horse. Little rear. So put on longlines (easier and safer to deal with) and worked the horse, in and outside of arena.

REALLY GOOD WORK FROM HORSE & RIDER. Rider has a plan to deal with horse if fe starts rearing now and also asking the horse to soften is a great way to focus him back on rider and get him doing something other than arguing and thinking of rear. This is just the coolest horse and a fab rider Lots of homework to do, longlining very effective both for getting rid of the arguments and also to teach horse to soften to the bit. Good stuff.

[Elaine]

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Thurs 11.10

Who has lived in a field for the last three years and can't be caught normally. Lots of scars on back legs. Owner is lovely and horse has trust in her, so owner wants to build on this trust and see how they get on. Years ago horse used to be a super riding horse but hasnt been ridden in years.

Horse unconfident around people.
Walked on circle. Halt & HQ yield. Changed rein.

Bloody rain starts!!!! GGGrrrrrrrrrrr

Patted horse all over for a few. Good progress for this horse, so banked it and ended session. Good start.

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Thurs about 5.30

Did nice walk & trot on circle. One rein better than the other. Good to have her handled by a man as is currently only used to female owner.

Working on TRUST.

Did a few laps on each rein in trot.

Put the saddle on (its been years!!) very accepting of it, did everything slowly and calmly.

Did more walk & trot on circle. Horse was MUCH more wary of the bridle, so just worked on shaking bridle about near her as this was all she coull tolerate at this stage. Good session.

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Fri about 1.50

Walk on circle. Good leadership from human when horse got worried.
Trot on circle. Good rope around bum manouvre (this is a preparation for longlining) For example, you have a LONG lead rope.. it goes from headcollar past horses far shoulder, past horses far side, and around bum, while you stand on near side and pull gently on rope to ask horse to turn their head away from you and follow the rope. Its good to get a hoose to think.

Saddle on.

Longlining. Horse to have a job to do ALL the time, walk, backup, through posts, little trot both ways.

NICE WORK!!!!!

Talk off. Finger in horses mouth to prepare for putting bit in later on. Jingled bridle around head as well a bit. Horse still not too happy but rome wasn't built in a day.

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Fri about 5.30

As another horse was in the arena, owner did a little very relaxed work as the horse stood half asleep beside the spectators. Had a plastic cup of sugary water and dipped fingers into it. Put hand in horses mouth. BIG difference from yesterday!! Horse not backing up, but after a few goes actually didn't mind this at all.

When cool with hands and standing still of her own accord while fingers in mouth, owner dipped lead rope into sugary water and did the same again with that. VERY GOOD. Seriously a different horse from yesterday.

Then dipped a happy mouth bit in sugary water and did the same. Soon horse didnt mind AT ALL, had hind leg resting and was half asleep, bit going in and out no bother at all. Then on went the head piece, again no issues, and then owner attached the bit to the headpiece and TA DA!!! horse was in a bridle.

Did this a few times, horse resting back leg throughout and by the end you'd lift the bridle & bit up to horse, he'd open mouth, you'd put bit in and fix up headpiece and bridle was on without horse moving an inch. WOW!! Brilliant owner with a great feel for the horse.

Saddle on. Longlined. Walk, halt, trot.

WHAT a lovely trot. This horse has the movmeent of a horse about 3 hands higher.... really eye catching. Superb dressage prospect.

Went over tarp.

Practised gettgin up on horse by jumping about on horses sides, standing on mounting block, leaning over na dpatting etc. Horse a bit jumpy, so not ready to get up on yet till more solid. So just keep desensitising and getting horse used to all this stuff.

A BRILLIANT SESSION. REALLY COOL.

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Sat about 2.10

Tack on. Touch all over while standing on mounting block and while not!

Horse really trying hard to be brave but is twitchy. Needs more of this work. Not ready for backing.

STOPPED RAINING!!!

longlining. Nice stuff.

GOOD WORK.

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Sat about 6.10

Catching in the rain!! This horse hasn't been caught in an open area for 3 years. To catch currently you've got to catch her 3 field mates, lead them up to stables while this horse follows loose, and then catch her after she's walked into her stable.

Made small area in arena. Kerin walked after her quietly when she walked away. When horse stopped so did kerin, then approached quietly. All very relaxed. Took a few mins the first time, the got continnually better till horse wouldn't move at all and kerin could just walk up and put the halter on.

Then Sarah did the same. She wasn't as good with men though. put her in bigger area, but it below her mind so put her back in smaller area, and did more work here.

REALLY good.

Beautiful welsh-arab rescue horse Sun about 9.15

Catching: twice perfect kerin. Once perfect Tom. Once perfect kerin all in small area (about 1/4 of a roughly 20 x 60m arena)

Improved from yesterday.

Put into big part of arena. Good with owner, not so good with anyone else, so brought her back into 1/4 of arena for more work there which was easier.

Did some desensitiation, patting, ropes etc. Very good, horse learns quickly. Same on off side.

Brilliant work on both trust and handling throughout weekend. latest update is that yesterday owner caught horse out in her paddock for the first time!!! Super horse (what mvt!) and super owner.

[Elaine]

The fresian superhero thurs 12.35 softness, canter, polishing ridden work!

After Mark Rashids clinics (writtne up here too) has been working on dealing with spookying better, if horses energy goes up riders energy will go down Wants to canter!!!

Good walk in saddle. Light, but not necessarily soft throughout...........

Did backup to get rid of brace. Needs to be balanced, without any leaning on bit before we even think of asking this horse to canter. Rider to be a bit more effective eg in going forward.

NICE WALK!

The fresian superhero thurs 3pm softness, canter, polishing ridden work!

More work getting rid of brace in walk.

The fresian superhero fri 9.15 softness, canter, polishing ridden work!

-soft mouth
-now need to ask for poll flexion (horse was stopping with a hollow back)
-He was light but he was dragging his feet and moving slowly.
walking about
-With horses, start as you mean to continue and make a good first impression with your horse.
- better
- did 2.5 steps of soft with poll flexion in walk
- did 4 steps!!
- halt. better.
- trot - nice parts. Horses attitude completely changed.
- canter keep horse looking the way you want him to go.
- work on pointing horse where you want him to go. YOU are in charge of speed destination & direction.
- keep horses nose on target, eg when going from C to A. Horse has to learn how to walk straight. Point his nose somewhere, keep it pointed there and let him figure out the rest himself.
- backup - need conscious backup, not instinctive backup.

Sometimes we quit too early on stuff and turn our horse into a quitter.

ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR HORSE & RIDER!

The fresian superhero fri 4pm softness, canter, polishing ridden work!

FQ yield. Halt, ask for weaight to rock back onto hindlegs and then ask for fq yield (all one mvt).

Sidepassing NICE! made much easier cos horse perfectly balanced in halt and not leaning.

VERY nice walk.

Trot. REALLY nice.

COOL SIDEPASS!!

The fresian superhero sat 12.00 softness, canter, polishing ridden work!

Backup. A bit rushed and with resistenace. VERY BLOODY COLD & WINDY. Dublin was being flooded at this stage unknownst to me.

Nice walk, nicer backup, getting more straight too.

Trot. Nicer and with softness.

LIGHT BLOODY RAIN.

NICE TROT!!!

10 laps in trot. Horse thinking of stop need to change that.

Some VERY nice sidepassing

The fresian superhero sun 2.15

Cantering. Dont sit there, cue horse and wait for it to happen. You've got to go TOGETHER!

Look at a point and then go for it. Mean it and go together.

Pink vet wrap around riders legs doing a good job of keep boots on

Prepare for canter before you actually canter. Get horses front end nice and weight off front end BEFORE you think of cantering.

SIDEPASS.

Footfall - your horses hind leg lifts off the ground as his barrel on the same side is swung out.

When your horses hind leg is forwards and under him, the barrell (horses rib cage) is over at the far side as it needs to move out of the way to let that hind leg in under the horse.

(I did a drawing of this but have no idea how to replicate this here!!) I might draw it up later and post it.

The fresian superhero sun 5pm

Sadly missed this as had to go to catch my flight in gatwick, but I presume it was excellent and a recap of what had been done. This horse and rider really are the perfect team. They just compliment each other really well. I saw this horse a few months ago as well, and they have progressed so much since then, which is a credit to them both

[Elaine]

A really gorgeous grey cob thurs 2.10 Pushy. Not owned by rider, has a few handlers. A little bargey. Wants to improve communication

Walk on circle on lead rope. Big kick out the back! Trot and walk on cirlce. Better.

THE SUN COMES OUT!!

Longlining. Good no agruments. Backup REALLY stuck.

A really gorgeous grey cob thurs 4.55

Longlining. YOU to be in control of speed direction and destination.

When horse halts but is braced, dont release. Stand there and wait till brace goes. Then release reins.

A really gorgeous grey cob fri 10.00

tacked up.

Rider needs to be tightening up a bit mentally. This horse is really generous and fills in for the human. But the rider needs to be more in control for when she handles other horses, not all are as forgiving as this one.

Longlining. Step up to the plate and take responsibility

If you see your horses concentration leave ITS YOUR JOB to ask your horse to bring it back to you again.

BIG AWFUL CLOUDS ARE APPROACHING.

More determination when longlining Nice active walk in saddle.

BLOODY LIGHT RAIN For some reason this all reminds me of when I was working out in new zealand... I think at the time it was meant to be summer out there as well but it wasn't!!

RAIN STOPPED

Walking around cones. walk- halt. horse halted. WAIT till you get softness before you release the reins. Dont pull, just hold your hands steady like a wooden post and wait till you feel a give down the reins from the horse. Horse will give herself her own release.

Backup - horse pulling on the bit, head up. Halt. hands like a post. WAIT until horse stops pulling then relax.

SUN BACK OUT

Practing walk - halt - wait for softness having hands like a post - then relax TADA!!! ok you'll have to stiffen up your arms and shoulders while you do this (only while you do this exercise) but sometimes you have to comprimise one thing temporairly while you work on another.

Did a bit of head handling too

A really gorgeous grey cob fri 4.00

Did some backup looking for a soft feel.

A really gorgeous grey cob sat 10.00

tack on. longlining.
human to take control of speed direction & destination. STRAIGHTAWAY!

Walk & trot. Did figure of 8 in trot.
Horse stops with back hollow and head up. This creates sore backs in horses. Dont have your horse do this, train him to stop with rounded back.

Mounted up. Sat. Picked up reins. Waited for softness when horse wasn't pushing on bit at halt. Got it, relaxed

walk, stop, back NICE!!!

Stopped. waited for softnesss before left go of reins, GOT IT! walked on.

Not getting hollow back stuff any more.

Trot - going forward well but leaning on the bit. in trot, have hands like a post and ask for softness.

NICE

A really gorgeous grey cob sat 3.45

Did a bit of work down far end of arena.

A really gorgeous grey cob sun 11.35

mounted up.
backup. keep going till you end up soft. then stop.
Horse bracy, backup till brace goes.

walk. look for softness. dont pull. just have a little pressure on reins.

Just for this, fix your arms to your sides. Hands to be like a wooden post to make it easier not to give to your horse when he pulls on the reins.

Dont have your reins too long, it makes things a bit more difficult.

GOOD. This is hard work at the start.

Reason: If kid sits on patents back, parent tends to hollow their back and its hard to move then. Instead round your back and put your head lower, and suddenly its much easier to support child and move.

GOOD WORK. Horse looking for softness in walk.

2 strides of softness in trot!!

COOL SESSION.

HQ yield - 1 step to start off with.
FQ yield - rock horses weight back to hind legs then left her front end over in move mvt.

This is a gorgeous horse and rider did really well and its tough to work on this stuff first time out WWWOOOHOOOO!!!