Silversand Clinic Sept 2008 report

[Elaine]

An Overview.......

[termoninology: indirect rein = hindquarter yield = move the hindquarters sideways]

4 days of lovely weather in Sussex. We had six horses....

• Mini fresian cob doing wonderful light soft ridden work
  
  
• Quarter horse who was heavy on the forehand now getting lighter and lighter
  
  
• An incredible arab with gorgeous ridden work
  
  
• Warmblood who we same glimpses of the airs above ground with...
  
  
• Grey horse who last year was difficult to control in field, now doing gorgeous controlled light ridden work in huge field, walk, trot & canter and climbing hills
  
  
• Going from scared horse who paniced and tried to escape away to a confident super dressage horse..

FRIDAY MORNING GROUP TALK

Goals for each person:

Transitions especially downwards transitions.
Feel, relaxation - arab rides better in a string, possibly because rider requests them to do things. Perhaps in bridle, which is not as good, its to do with rider 'asking' horse to do stuff which is different.
- slowness
- impulsion with softness (mini fresian)
- human confidence and using the bit better
- soft circles with impulsion
- canter work

Story about a German horse:

Steve was riding this horse, as rider wanted Steve to improve horses brakes at the gallop. So wanted a good gallop to halt.

Steve worked on indirect rein (using one rein at a time to take power out of hind quarters nad get them to drift over sideways a bit) on both sides in walk, trot and canter.

As Steve was working on this in canter, guy shouted over: 'Thats not a gallop you know!'

Steve replied: 'I know!'

Went into gallop, picked up the two reins for a halt, and horse came straight down into amazing sliding stop. It was cos of the all the indorect rein work he'd done.

One rein indirection rein stops on both sides = put them together = sliding stop. Think guy was quite impressed.


SAT MORNING GROUP TALK

Watched cowboy dressage dvd. Very good. Before you want to move the FQs, sit on horse and move your body weight a little from right to left to prepare horse for the FQ move... when weight is on the other front foot, you can ask the front foot without much weight on it to move.


SUN MORNING GROUP TALK

If there is something scary, your horse may want to spin his body away from it so a quick turn so your horse is heading away from the scary thing and then bolt. This is not good. fast spin = you might fall off over the shoulder if you get left behind.

Instead, no matter what you do keep staring at the scary thing and kepe your horses head looking at the scary thing. Dont let him turn. If he wants to backup quickly thats fine. (its actually good - if you make horse stand still in this situation you're likely to get a rear or buck, or some part of the horse going up. You dont want this)

Keep using indirect rein (HQ yield) to make sure horses body is always facing towards scary thing then let him back away as much as he likes, you're less likely to fall off then.

Horse standing still + scared = trouble.

Going down hill = lean back
Going up hill - lean forwards

Going on hills - get the HQ tucked in under the horse. Then you've got brakes when you're going downhill.

Q: How did I get a soft horse? Do my hands always have to be
soft?

A; No they will not always be soft. If the horse is soft/not leaning, you've got soft hands. If the horse leans, then bump one rein up till he stops leaning to correct this. Then when horse light again in your hands, you can have soft hands again. Correct what you don't want. Reward what you do want.


MONDAY MORNING GROUP TALK

Q: How do you slow down a fast canter?
A: Use bend. Steve can feel a horse getting strighter before it starts to get faster. So when you feel it get straighter, introduce a little bend.

If your horse is leaning (eg in trot in long grass) stop & backup.

If you want to get horses attention, rein changes (turn and go opposite way) is very good.

It's very hard to change your muscle menory. Eg. one person said out loud, while handling her horse, "I am going to step forwards!" Then she stepped backwards. Its hard to change things you've done for years.

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

Young horse story....Steve started this big horse and had it fine going walk, trot canter in round pen. Owner took it home and it bucked him off. Brougth it back, told Steve. Steve rode it in round pen again, again perfect walk, trot, canter. Then took it out in field and put foot in stirrup and it bucked.

So he rang up Pat Parelli. What would he do with the horse? Pat said 'gallop him before you ride him'. Steve said 'but I did canter him'. Pat said 'no, you need to gallop him'. Steve said 'it was a pretty fast canter!' Pat said 'no, you need to gallop him!'.

So Steve galloped him, and horse never bucked again. Some horses are more introverted, and bottle stuff up a bit. Makgin them gallop tends to get that sort of stuff out. Particularly warmbloods its very useful.



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

I'm going to do another post with a brief overview/list of some of the exercises people were doing coming soon........... ok here they are: irishnhsociety.proboards41.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=usefulinformation&thread=501&page=1

[Elaine]

Cute grey horse FRIDAY 10.30

GROUNDWORK

-Bit of brace in horse
-the timing of the release is what teaches, not the pull of the push.
-on walk circle, to soften horse take and release on load rope quickly. Get HQ (hindquarters) to drift outwards a little. LOTS of little releases.
- quad bike took off at speed with matcatlady at the helm, not a bother on the horse
-Better!
- very nice walk & HQ yield (indirect rein)
- Brace disappearing.

- human to stay behind the drive line
- good softness through body in walk circle
- nice walk - trot -walk

IN THE SADDLE

-walk. bracing is back.
- lateral flexion on inside (ask horse to look towards inside of circle) ASK - RELEASE less than 1 second.

REPEAT and breathe deeply

If horse is leaving, bump and release on inside rein. Dont just pull him because it wont help you'll just create a brace and he'll start leaning against you, You dont want that.

Better. Nice rest as well

Remenber to breathe

Cute grey horse SATURDAY AM

GROUNDWORK

To ask horse to walk, from halt, push shoulder away from you first. Dont walk in front of horse and pull him after you. Good

Nice trot - walk. Nice balance.
Good canter

GOT INTO SADDLE

Did a circle around Steve. Had to look at Steve the whole time, and feel what the hrose was doing. This was really hard! Did walk, HQ yield (indirect rein), FQ yield,walk opposite direction, ALL while looking at Steve. tricky!

Don't look down cos thats where you'll end up.

Instea dof seeing what your hrose is doing, feel what he is doing.

This is a very good exercise

-wants to work on backup.
- steve did it on the ground.
- softer nose first.
- pick up reins
-ask
-wait until you get softness

- some very nice backups

If horse is running down hill,

- go down hill a few strides
- stop
- backup

REPEAT THE ABOVE A LOT

This will help to get the back legs in under the horse, as then you'll have good brakes going down hill and will be more balanced and more in control, and havign the back legs under the horse will make it easier for horse to slow down. A horse who has a lot of weight on front legs going down hill is a bit dangerous.

Repeat until backup going up hill and going down hill are equally as good.

WOW cool canter up the field!! THis horse couldn't do this this time last year I am told

Cute grey horse SUNDAY AM

GROUNDWORK

-sideways
-throw rope near girth area
-horse going sideways
-HQ yield / indirect rein (move HQ sideways) if they start to drift off somewhere.

Did FQ yield, sideways, HQ yield (indirect rein), backup all one after the other. VERY NICE

Horse not to pull on lead rope during any of this. if they do, HQ yield (indirect rein)

Need to be able to do all of this without extra step or two of walking away at the end.

This stuff helps to make horse braver.

GET INTO SADDLE.

Ride around Steve again, looking at him while riding. Feel what your horse is doing. This is hard! ;0)

Cute grey horse MONDAY AM

- better trot in circle
- its autumn in england now, but its spring in australia as steve told us....................

GET INTO SADDLE

- when travelling on a circle, look about 1/4 length of circle ahead.
- trot to walk downhill just using seat NICE!

Don't think trot when you're trotting, think walk. Nicer less rushed trot.

VERY NICE, LOVELY TROT! lovely trot downhill, horse completely with rider

Canter up & down hills BRILLIANT! Horse again with the rider.

canter up hill - countercanter down hill - canter up hill WOW!

Went over to the hills and backed up them well

weigth on fq - halt - backup to get weight on HQ and get HQ under the horse.

Then walk down again. Much better HQ tucked under

BRILLIANT BRILLIANT STUFF FROM THIS TEAM

[Elaine]

Stunning chestnut arab fri am

GROUNDWORK

If you want your horses mind, get busy.
Every time your horses mind leaves, ask for something new. At the start, you might have to do this every second or two.

Did FQ yield, HQ yield (indirect rein), backup, sideways, walk, trot. Good work.

When trotting on circle, if horse doesnt slow down when you do, let horse run into lead rope and he'll do a HQ yield (indirect rein).

Lovely sunny autumn weather

Circle
Indirect rein (HQ yield) to get horses attention.
Be workmanlike. Sidepass etc.
Nose on inside of circle, ribs on the outside.
You stay behind the drive line.

Forwards to backwards to forwards.

Exercise:




Aim: horse not to get stuck at any stage - do the whole thing
with rhythm flowing throughout. Do not pull yoru horse at any stage during this. To get him to move, step into him and ask him to yield out of your way. So its push, rather than pull.

Work on what is available. Then what was not previously available will start to become available. Philip Nye.

In FQ yield, don't pull horse. If you do, horse will lean on you and do crap FQ yield. Push instead. If you move your right arm out, your horse should move his right foot. Not lean on his right foot and move his left foot.

IN SADDLE

One rein. Walk circle. Steer with rein. Keep throwing rein over horses head AND stay on circle. How many times can you throw rein over horses head on circle?

When horse gets really softit hard to backup on one rein. You've Got to keep YOUR whole body straght. Easier to do this at the beginning when horses body is stiffer.

Dont stop movement. Redirect it instead. Includes stopping with life.

LOVELY FQ yield!! TWICE Dont look, feel it.

walk - HQ yield (indirect rein) - backup - FQ yield - walk. NICE

Stunning chestnut arab sat am

GROUNDWORK

When doing walk-hq yield - backup - FQ yield - walk dont pull horse.



Push horse away from you. Dont walk ahead of the horse.

Horse more attentive this morning.

Halt to walk - dont pull. Instead walk towards shoulders and push them away from you.

IN SADDLE

Horse pushing a little.

So backup - FQ - backup - FQ REPEAT. Goal here is fo rthe fornt foot to step behind the other front foot (different to normal, but we want to get rid of the extra forward mvt here just for the minute)

Using bridle. Shorten reins. Feel the horse. When horse listens let her go again.

GOOD - trying to get sticky place out of her mind.

Needs to be able to work straight into halt without leaning on the bit.

Horse still leaning a little in halt. DON'T release reins until not
leaning.

Steve now riding this horse. Working on HQ. If stuck, slap your leg.

Halt without leaning. keep shoulders up. OK in walk but tends to hollow back in the halt. Steve had his hands lifted up to encourages horses shoulders to stay up.

walk - halt - 1 step backup - walk on striaghtaway. GOOD.

Owner back in saddle.

Halt. backup. walk on before horse hollows back in halt.

Stunning chestnut arab sun am

GROUNDWORK

Working on the beginning of canter sideways (flash or what?!)

Backup. When you're facing horses sides, use your energy to push them away 1 step. Then stop. Be assertive an dthen be switched off.

You've got to learn yourself how to change your energy from low to high to low again very quickly. This is tricky.

Dont ask for sideways if your hroses head is further away from you than his HQ. If you do, he'll just run away. This is not what you want.

When doing this, DO NOT GET YOUR HORSE TO RUN IN A CIRCLE AROUND YOU. This is not right, your horse is just running away. Instead, have horse facing you. Walk towards shoulders na dpush them away from you so then you are lookign at yrou hroses side. Then push whole horse sideways 1 step. Then stop. Again, DO NOT GET YOUR HORSE TO RUN IN A CIRCLE AROUND YOU.

Dont pull, bump and release

Nice Work

IN SADDLE

Be more still when riding.

Stunning chestnut arab Mon am

GROUNDWORK

Trot to sidepass
Get the right angle and it will work
Move your feet towrds side of the horse to push them away into sidepass.

NICE SHAPE

IN SADDLE

Lovely trot up and down hills
Nice backup up hill

WONDERFUL TEAM.

[Elaine]

Lovely western chestnut fri am

GROUNDWORK

Walk, FQ, backup, HQ, walk etc do lots of stuff online.



Two ways to get horses head looking at you

1) pull on lead rope
2) have horse interested and wanting to look at you.

The second one is better

Stand horse on loose lead rope. When you move a bit, does the horses head move in the same direction?

To go from halt to walk, walk towards horse shoulders and push that shoulder away from you. Don't point arm and pull horse. When horse moving at walk, stay behind drive line (behind shoulders), otherwise horse will probably stop. Once you're in walk, you can circle or go straight whatever you want.

If you pull, you're pulling horses weight onto his forehand. If you push, your pushing weight onto his hind end (better). Same when riding.

Have your body behind pommel of saddle when circling. Works better.

Dont step backwards! If you do this, you can even step backwards without realising you are doing this. Get someone to watch you if needs be and shout when you take a step back. It is hard to change this muscle memory stuff but person now very well

EXERCISE:

Walking towards 10 or 2 o'clock.



Do not pull for any of this. Push from a distance using the energy in your body.

IN THE SADDLE

Walk, indirect rein/Hq yiekd, FQ yield, etc. Better on one side. Gets a bit stuck.

When you get stuck in FQ yield, backup to unstick it.

Now feels lighter

Steve riding horse now. walk circle. Get nose on inside.

Horse goes from a slow walk to a jog. Missing normal walk. Now when horse jogs, Hq yield (indirect rein a little, hind quarters to drift out) back to walk and have walk rhythm in your body.

Better walk. Now have slow AND normal walk

Did a few trots on straight line, indirect rein (HQ yield) 180 degrees so now going opposite way, trot back the way you came, another 180 degree HQ yield . indirect rein, repeat.

DO NOT PULL. BUMP AND RELEASE INSTEAD. If you pull you'll create brace and give horse something to lean on.

Owner back on horse. HQ indirect rein in walk. When you feel horse about to do this, stop asking. You've got what you wanted.

'we're always doing too much with our hands'

forwards - HQ yield. indirect rein - sideways - backup - FQ yield - forwards (see picture in previous posts) This is also a lead rein change preparation exercise. ALL NOW SOFT . These are all also all transitions.

If you do less, your horse can do more.

Better walk to Hq yield / indirect rein. If you really want to jam up your horses shoulders, use a LOT of reins

NICE WORK!!

Lovely western chestnut sat am

GROUNDWORK

good walk to halt.
can you canter - HQ yield - backup - FQ yield - canter?
NICE!

Horse now much less on forehand, no buck into canter now.

Still a little on forehand though so do lots of FQ yield - HQ yield/ indirect rein. You keep changing the horses balance and weigth from the front end to the back end the to the front end again then to the back end etc.

The horses body is now nearly in place but the horses mind is not quite there yet.

Horse now more focused on Steve,

When horse is doing circles, she is wrapping her shoulders and body around steve who is standing in the middle of the circle. HUGE difference. The hroses body and thus mind aren't trying to leave anymore.

Want nose to be close to steve but dont want the inside leg to be close to steve.

When you put pressure on this horse she switches off, this is not what you want.

You need to get past 'control' and get onto 'communication'. but the horse has to let Steve in to do this. This is starting to happen. MUCH BETTER

Feet away from steve and nose into him

LOVELY SUNNY WEATHER

As you sit up on horse, you shoudl be able to tell where each leg is. If you cant, have someone on ground tell you and you feel it and learn what it feels like.

Always get the nose headed in the right direction before you ask the feet to move.

Good FQ yield Tip the nose then release when you know its coming. So less. Use one rein.

'NOSE BEFORE MANOUVRE'

DO NOT PULL. Bump and release instead.

Horse getting much lighter
Not as much leanign at all.
Nice walk - halt

For halt - walk, life up, open your fingers, release the horse forwards. Thats it.

VERY NICE walk - halt.

A horse isnt a robot, its a living breathing animal who responds to energy.

DONT PULL

Horse has changed already. Not as introverted

When trot is too fast, dont pull outside rein. Instead bump the inside rein to ask HQs to drift out / do little HQ yield and disengage the engine a bit, which will slow horse down.

Lovely western chestnut sun am

Working on sideways on the ground.

Do not step backwards, and dont let horse run around you.

Need to get the angle right before you ask for sideways.

If horses head further away from you than the HQ, horse will probably leave head first and end up running on circle.

Better.

Dont pull. Push (again hard to break patterns in us)

- walk towards horses shoulders at 10 or 2 o clock.
- push shoulders using your energy from a distance if possible
- then you're in a good place for sideways.

IN THE SADDLE

Steve riding this horse now.
Rider has achieved a lto since steve met her earlier this summer

Trot circle. If needs be bump on inside rein to ask nose to come inwards a little.

If you feel horse falling in, do a smaller circle.

If horse pokes head in air, mess about with reins till head comes down, then have quiet hands again when you've got what you want (head not in air)

Its great practise to ride using one rein at a time

When riding dont kick, bring up your life instead.

In trot, if horse goes too fast, indirect rein (HQ yield) to slow down the engine. Then off you go again.

We need to be physically open to ride. Not tight or hunched etc. Think wide, tall, etc.

Lovely western chestnut mon am

GROUNDWORK

On left rein, horse keeps walking on human. PUSH her shoulders away more, MAKE it happen.

I think it was a ray hunt clinic, someone said they had bought this horse, and it bucked, reared, bit, etc etc etc. They'd worked on it for a while, so now it only bit. What woudl she do? Ray thought about it and finally answered: "It wouldn't bite me."

When you want your horse to move away from you, dont wave arms and walk backwards. Doesn't work.

Walk towards horse instead and get her out of your way. Think of how Steve did it, MEAN IT.

Someone asked Pat Parelli what he'd do with a horse who bites. Pat said 'move him away from you' The guy said 'well yeah i did, but he still bites!' Pat replied 'we'll he must have bloody long teeth!'

If you have a biter, keep a distance. When you do allow them in, you'll find they often dont want to bite you anymore.

Better yield by horse away from person

Human more determined now. Longer lead rope too If you want to horse to move, then make it happen.

If you can get this right and be effective on the ground it'll really help with the riidng.

SADDLE UP

Have your reins the same length. Old habit is to have one hand further back than the other. Be aware of this.

Backup - release when it all comes together.
Make sure hands are even, one not further back than the other.
Don't pull - bump and release quickly instead.

Getting there One hand still in front though, be aware of this. its in the muscle memory now so will need to work hard to fix this.

On the hills.

Up a little, around and down.
make it easy for the horse at the start.
then gradually add stuff

Use HQ yield / indirect rein to keep horse straight when coming down the slope.

Do easy stuff first to give hrose confidence on slopes

Have it so you can park horse anywhere on a slope, up or down hill. Then take one step forards or backwards. Then stop again.

Great improvement over the weekend. well done

[Elaine]

Gorgeous big black horse Friday pm

GROUNDWORK

Did the following pattern:



Horse a bit impulsive and was putting in a few extra steps. Pushes forwards when doing Hq yield / indirect rein.

Better

Nice distance between handler and horse. Don't get too close.

IN THE SADDLE

Lost HQ yield a bit, and was getting too much forward instead.
When asking for indirect rein (HQ yield) moce your hand up to your opposite shoulder (e.g. right hand goes up and across to left shoulder)


Steve rode the horse. Did some trot to HQ yields.

Direct rein - if you open your right hand out, then you want horses right front foot to also step out. You dont want horses left foot to step out, cos if they do its only cos they've all their weight on right front foot and are leaning on you.

So you move your right hand out = your horse moves his right (off) front foot out.

You move your left hand out = your horse moves his left (near) front foot out.

;D

Be effective. Better HQ yields.

Would be good to do a fair bit of one rein riding. Its breaks unwanted riding patterns quickly.

Steve did some one line stuff. Bump + release on the rein works MUCH better than pull and hold which just contains the horses energy and revs them up, encouraging them to go upwards. Horse not looking 100% confortable - being ridden in western saddle which is a bit tight across the back. Will change back to English saddle.

Gorgeous big black horse Saturday pm

In English saddle, horse better.

IN SADDLE

Good at low energy stuff. Not the best at high energy stuff. Rushing a bit.

Did circles in backup. Tip nose to the outside and have your outside leg back a bit.

Use your hands only if horse gets stuck.

NICE work!

When you've got this backup circle REALLY good, then you're ready for your spins as most of weight will be on HQs, FQ will be very light and movable, so you'll just need to open the front door to get a spin.

Rider rode with eyes shut. Horse went better!! Horse softer too.

If you can do a circle backup then your straight backup will be much better. Did slow and fast backup - GOOD!!!

Wants to improve brakes. Walk horse towards Steve who is holding stick with plastic bag on the end of it. When Steve takes a step towards horse and plastic bag comes closer to the horse, backup the horse.

When doing this, keep your eyes on the plastic bag. Don't allow your horse to spin and turn. You horse is allow to go back but you've got to keep his eyes and your eyes on the plastic bag at all times. To do this, use indirect rein / HQ yields. So as yoru hroses HQ move sideways in perparation to turn away from bag, use indirect rein to square them again so horse once again facing straight towards bag. backup as bag moves towards you. GOOD.

You dont get a soft mouth on your horse by having soft hands. You get a soft mouth by installing boundaries.

Steve continued waving stick. Horse backing up and wants to spin and move away at speed. Horse pretneding to be brave but she is actually not really brave with this plastic bag at all. Rider did really well to keep horse facing Steve and the bag. GOOD JOCKEY!

Ok, need to make it easier for the horse. Rider hopped off and did some desensitistaion groudnwork with the horse and the plastic bag. She is pretty unconfident around it. Let horse sniff bag, rubbed shoudler with bag srunched up. Slow progress.

Gorgeous big black horse Sunday pm

Much better today with the plastic bag on a stick.

IN SADDLE

halt - walk.

If walk too fast (you can see horse running away even after just one step of walk) halt, and backup. Then try slow walk again.

If you get even one step of too fast walk, halt and backup.

If you dont like what you're getting (too fast walk, whatever) dont do nothing and let horse get more practise at doing what you dont want. Get horse to do something else.

GOOD.

Try walk again then. BETTER.

Halt. The horse halted but is leaning forward. His front feet are under the riders stirrups, weight on forehand a lot. Do 10 halts in a row. See what happens. See if hind feet are miles out behind.

Ask for backup with seat. No effect. Stop reins - complete halt. So she cant push through them. Hands like wooden post idea.

Backup hill until backing up up hill is as good as backing up down hill.

Same for trot. Keep the same rhythm of trot while going up and down hills. This is the newly named fancy fairy feet jog ;D

Trotting up and down the field at the same trot (there's a hill).

Walk down hill, walk faster up hill.

How slow can you walk down the hill?


Dont throw away the reins when you are going from halt to walk.

BETTER!!

Horse not allowed to stick nose out now. Back legs reaching under now a lot more.

Gorgeous big black horse Monday pm

GROUNDWORK



Don't point your arm out and pull. Push shoulders away from you instead. GOOD!

IN SADDLE

If horse pushes in walk, backup until horse is not pushing on your hands. Then walk on again when she weighs nothing in your hands. If she rushes again / weighs something in your hands again, back up again.

BETTER WALK!

Rider said to the horse with a smile ' Did you get that?!'

Neds to work on

1) stop NOW.
2) dont lean - get off your shoulders.

Not leaning forwards in halt now like she was 3 days ago. ;D

If your horse is jammed up in your hands they wont be able to go forards into a feel. So dont jam your horse up. Again, it comes back to the 'don't pull, bump and release' idea.

NICE WORK ;D

Rider remarked she can now sit to the horses trot horse had been very bouncy.

Horse not running away any more in sitting trot

Sometimes you start off doing rising trot cos you cant do sitting trot as well, but its really sitting trot you shodul start to work on first.

Can now also walk up and down hills in walk and trot maintaining same speed throughout.

Ask for softness. When you get it reward it by putting hands forward a little.

NIce circles and serpentines up and down hills with teh same trot

GFREAT STUFF!! WHAT A HORSE! LOOKS LIKE A HIGH CLASS DRESSAGE HORSE NOW! Brilliant rider

Headed down to some real hills - horse good on one line, good riding backwards up hills, good standing still on hill, good taking 1 step down hill and then halting. Good work, build it up slowly to give horse confidence.

GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE CLINIC. WHAT A LOVELY HORSE

[Elaine]

Cool mini Fresian Friday pm



In walk to HQ yield / indirect rein, shoulders fall in, Bump rein if he does this. Don't get too close.

HQ from walk: set it up so the horse walks into the end of the lead rope and then has to do a HQ yield / indirect rein.

LOVELY WEATHER ;D

Halt - to walk: horse to step before you do.

BETTER. WAY BETTER

MOUNT UP

If you find yourself in a position where you are about to get kicked and you are stick and you can't get out of it, scratch the horses hindquarters.

Walk - HQ yield.

Watch out for inside shoulder falling in. Inside hand up & release real quick.

Take your hand to the opposite shoulder when asking for indirect rein / HQ yield.

GOOD

Better life in walk. Reins in one hand. Better FQ yield. Dont let horse push forwards when you want him to turn.

Feet much lighter now. (always a good indicator of whats going on in the saddle - how loud are the footfallls?)

Cool mini Fresian Sat pm

The mind is not there. Throwing a few wobblies. Steve took over. Got horse to do

Canter - HQ yield, FQ yield - Canter. Repeat will beter. Hq yield when horses rushes in canter. Horse a lot more focused now.

Then back to walk. Do the same. Horse not WITH the human.

Trot circle on line. When horse starts to speed up or leave, HQ yield / indirect rein ASAP. Then backup then FQ so horse now on the opposite rein.

Steve now riding this horse.

1) get life at the walk
2) Ask for HQ yield / indirect rein with yoru hand going to your opposite shoulder.

Owner back riding again. Good circle backup

Steve and the stick walks towards horse. horse backs away.

Then you open one hand, FQ yield and horse walks off away from Steve. GOOD.

Nice walk - HQ yield - Backup - FQ - walk.



Lovely trot up the hill, felt elevated

Cool mini Fresian Sun pm

GROUNDWORK

The training stick is an extension of the humans will. Good effectiveness. Nice sideways

Dont pull horse towards you when doing HQ yield / indirect rein on the ground. Let him run into end of the lead rope instead.

IN SADDLE

When asking for HQ yield / indirect rein, drop reins even before horse starts to move. Reward when your horse is THINKING what you are thinking.

More energy to come from Ben, not from the things he's holding. Increase the energy in your body. Very effective with horses.

Cool mini Fresian Mon pm

Groundwork

Trot on circle
Hq yield / indirect rein
FQ yield (waving stick behind his back, very flash!)

GOOD. AVOIDED RAIN SUN BACK OUT

Backup to trot. Horse finding it hard to go straight, missing impulsion.

Go straight up and down fence line. If horse not straight, HQ yield / indirect rein until you're facing the opposite direction along fence line then try it again.

CHILLY WEATHER NOW

Now have fond scary corner at the bottom of the field. Back horse into thsi corner and ask him to stand in it. Indirect rein (move HQs) to keep horses HQ pointed into the corner. GOOD!

COOL trot up the hill.

Now horse straighter and with more energy. Need a wide direct rein sometimes.

OFF TO THE BIG HILLS.. brilliant up these Backing up them, stoping on them etc. Parked downhill facing downwards. Did 180 degree FQ yield. Now facing up hill, and then walked up hill NICE!

GREAT WORK THIS WEEKEND FROM BOTH HORSE & RIDER

[Elaine]

Gorgeous big warmblood Friday pm

Did both of these:





GOOD.

Lots of energy and steps coming from this horse. If horse runs off, indirect rein / hindquarter yield.

walk - rush - Hq yield / indirect rein

Keep repeating this until the horse doesnt rush.

Release rein quickly after you ask and start to get HQ yield indirect rein.

Nice collection . Had energy in trot. Gathered up reins. More upwards energy. Too much energy = HQ yield indirect rein.

Good life. 1 sec of piaffe. Wowsers.

Gorgeous big warmblood SAT pm

IN THE SADDLE

Better than yesterday, much more relaxed. Trot and halt and backup downhill on slopes

To stop straight when going down hill, slow down the walk first, then halt. If you stop the front end too quick the hind end will swing out as the energy has to go somewhere.

Nice backup on a circle. Horse more relaxed than yesterday still. GOOD!!

LOVELY CANTER UP THE HILL!!! Horse WITH the rider.

Gorgeous big warmblood SUN pm

Sideways. Walk towards 10 or 2 o'clock.



Push shoulders out of the way then push sideways.

HINT OF THE SUN, DRY BUT CHILLY.

IN THE SADDLE.

Steve rode the horse.

Open right hand, and want right front to step over. HQ / indirect rein till it happens (to get weight off shoudlers). Then walk off.

To walk faster swing your legs faster.

To walk slower, swing your legs slower.

Ride using just one rein at a time.

When horse runs in trot, relax, breathe HQ yield.

You are looking for a yield, not an escape or a reaction.

Gorgeous big warmblood MON pm

GROUNDWORK

Get energy up in your body and cue horse to go sideways

Sideways - backup. Push shoulders out then push sideways.



Don't get too close, keep a distance.

IN SADDLE

Figure of 8 in walk & trot. Up and down hills.
Shorten stirrups.
Have 2 reins but only use 1 of them at any time.
Flexion towards inside of circle.
Bump release inside rein if needed.

NICE

Serpentines - change flexions in trot at the same speed up and down hills.

Canter-

Bring up life in your body
Bump outside leg
Sit up straight (saddle making legs be a bit too far in front and leaning forward then a little too much. maybe try different saddle)
Offer horse somewhere to go
Look up over the tops of the trees
Wide open circles hands out showing direction
Too much speed = hands back in for indirect rein to ask HQs to drift out

NICE

OFF TO THE HILLS.................

Lovely backup up the hill!

BRILLIANT WORK FROM THIS TEAM. STUNNING HORSE, BRILLIANT RIDER.

[Elaine]

Another report from this clinic with LOTS of pictures (thanks breakfast)

glenatron.livejournal.com/150588.html