Tuesday in Dublin - photos and bits of a report!FreddieTo get him moving, walk towards his shoulders and use energy to yield / move them out of your way. Think of horses arse as being 12 o clock. You walk towards 11 or 1 o clock. (i.e. just to the right of left of your horses tail)
Once horse is walking, use indirect rein (let horse get to the end of the lead rope slack as he walks, or bump lead rope slightly just as outside hind leg lifts off the ground.
Freddie is not allowed to take over handlers personnal space.
Follow a feel - rock head from side to side to lower & soften. NICE
Asked Freddie to move his feet, but got beautiful softness instead so took the €1000 freddie offered instead of the €15 we had asked for. VERY NICE
A yield weighs nothing at all.
Release as soon as the horse thinks of doing what you want.
We want to get under horses skin. Ray Hunt used to give out about 'surface workers'.
Chat.
Nice backup, 2 feet at a time
Rock head till it drops and softens. Then after this ask for backup.
Soft feel, prepararion for backup.
Exercise:Move FQ away from you.
Indirect rein to get a HQ yield.
Then after Freddie invades your space, ask him to reverse a little away from you.
Be quiet, calm & disciplined.
Turn on haunches (FQ yield).
1. Soften head & neck (rock head)
2. Backup
3. Sideways step with outside fore (backward and over)
If horse leans, abandon FQ yield plan and instead step horse backwards, then let him think.
When riding, outside hand in time with outside fore, inside leg in time with inside fore.
Nice FQ yield
Very nice soft backup!
Didn't get too much bend. If HQ also moving, maybe you're pushing too much or the shoulders are stuck.
Very nice backup
Lateral flexion.
You don't want horses head to twist, just to turn around to you.
Right hand to your left shoulder moves horses near hind (indirect rein).
Left hand to your right shoulder moves horses off hind (indirect rein)
FQ yield / push shoulders asay.
Walk.
HQ yield (outside leg to move out)
FQ yield (push shoulders)
Walk
HQ
Stop him walking on you.
Horse starting to relax
- walk & throw rope over his back.
- shoulder in
Be aware of what things mean if you were a horse. Freddie is much more relaxed now.
Freddie finds comfort. awww
Ray Hunt says he always worked from 0 to 1. Everyone else he knows works from 1 to 10, but he usually ends up with the better horses
Redirect the energy instead of saying 'don't go forwards'.
The 'yoyo' game came from Pat watching Tom Dorrance. When the rider tried to mount a horse, the horse would firstly lean forward, then after this buck.
So when horse started to lean forward when rider getting up, Tom flicked on the rope to get his weight back off his shoulders and avoid the approaching buck.
BernadetteDo the clock as above. Push shoulders away from you. If you move away from your horse to reposition yourself remember you are teaching your horse he is the leader.
If HQ stuck, don't pull on the lead rope (the horse will walk on top of you if you do). Instead tap the HQ to get them moving.
Move the HQ.
Follow a feel - hold clip part of lead rope, ask horse to put head down and soften head & neck by rocking his head gently from side to side. Back of your wrist touches underneath of horses head (thumb points down) = relaxation of the poll.
Get horse soft using feel, timing & balance. Ask for backup once soft.
Pick up shoulders. Your horses balance changes first, then after this he will move his feet backwards = backup with soft feel.
NICE!
If horse nibbles on you, tap his shoulder or ass at the same split second.
Life and energy up.
HamishYield his shoulders as above.
Working out how to yield the shoulders.
Nicely done
2 smiles and one snoozy horse
Move HQs.
Indirect rein, move the hind end (outside leg)
Backup a little bracey. Steve worked on him. Moved head left and right until horse stops thinking of leaning forwards.
Better backup. CLEVER HORSE!
Steve expains to Hamish how its done
When you get better, then add speed to the backup.
It's humbling when you realise that the horse is looking for something thats inside you.
LizNice moving shoulders
Get head to tip to the inside of circle. Use a feel on the lead rope to tip head in, and push out inside shoulder so he doesn't do a motorbike corner. Good!
Circle with head tipped in and not falling through inside shoulder.
Nice move shoulders to start. Walk, nose tipped in, HQ yield to end.
Woohooo the sun came out!!! Same again, follow a feel - ask for head to come down and front of horse to soften. Then release as a reward. If you are pushing your horse is leaning.
When you are working a horse, it should feel like you are carrying a halter with nothing in it.
A shared moment
Need to be on the ball when horse thinks of leaning on you.
He tends to push on shoulder a little.
Steve hopped up and did lateral flexion bareback. Nice.
Move the hind.
When horse relaxed, he crosses back legs over in front of each other in HQ yield. If tense, hind legs cross behind each other.
NICE WORK!
At the end of one clinic, Ray Hunt said
'You guys are sitting on what could be the best horse in the world. You just got to get it out of there.'
Cutest picture of the day
TUESDAY AFTERNOON NOTES (just a few)Everyone to do soft feel then backup, on the ground. So rock head right & left till it drops & softens, then with thumb pointed towards ground, gently ask horse to move backwards. Release when horse *THINKS* of moving backwards. Thus you get a soft relaxed backup without stress or horses head going up, right from the start.
Soft feel then backup.
Palamino & SandraBackup circle. Outside front to step to the outside of the circle.
Inside hind to step to inside of the circle.
Backup in a circle, outside front steps to the outside, inside hind steps to the inside. To do this you need softness through all of horses body.
VERY NICE!!!!!!!!!!
This works the whole horse and is a Buck Brannaman exercise. You can't do this exercise properly if the horse has got any tight muscles.
A cute moment.
Awww
Sandra & greyPush the shoulders. Look for softnesss and relaxation.
NICE!!
Reward softness and relaxation.
The speccys did the 'pretend to be horses ass, horses front and trainer' simulation.
Be particular about small things.
Move the HQs.
Move the HQs.
Lateral flexion.
Don't be afraid to be effective.
when you lead, play with speed of walk, horse to slow down when you do, both on ground and in saddle (swing your legs slower to reduce speed of horses barrel movement)
Teresa & greyWELL DONE!!
Teresa - GOOD WORK!
V good pushing shoulders away
Move the shoulders.
Move the shoulders
WHAT A CUTE HORSE!!!!
Walking on with good positioning
ALL AFTERNOON PEOPLEPut a pole on the ground.
People to walk along one side of the pole, then do a HQ yield so horses nose facing the pole (but don't step over it), then FQ yield and go back the way you came walking beside the pole. Stay at your side of the pole the whole time.
Walk along the pole into indirect rein (HQ yield) FQ yield (direct rein) then walk back the way you came.
More of the above.
Sidepass in an open space is a good emotional test.
Went through a fair bit, gw including clock face, yielding forequarters and exercise - walk with horse, HQ yield so they face you, backup, FQ yield so they have changed direction, and do all smoothly without changing the rhythm. Also back up - move head form side to side first to soften up front end, then ask for backup without horses head rising. If good, do this in a backwards circle. 
