Thanks to everyone who came to the Open House yesterday! I had a blast, and I hope everyone else did as well.
Early in the day we conquered the obstacle course of games meant to challenge and teach partnership between horse and rider. All of the obstacles could be completed from the ground or under saddle, and many of the participants did both! The horses were so impressive handling all of the games we threw at them. I hardly saw a skitter or a jump all day! I took some pictures and will post a couple here, but search us out on facebook (Three Rivers Horse Training) to see the complete album!
The afternoon was full of lessons and thought provoking questions. We had a variety of breeds, experience level (both horse and rider) and issues to discuss. Kayla and her foxtrotter worked hard on building her confidence, and by the end of the lesson they were taking barrels at a gait like they weren't even there! We worked hard on giving Kayla some ideas of how she could bring her horse's mind back to her when he got distracted...even though he is such a big horse and she is such a small girl! She figured out it was all about keeping him busy and giving him a job. And she did it all with a smile. I think they both felt better by the end of the hour.
Julianna and her older Arabian, Buck, were definitely a hit and inspired a lot of great questions. Buck was a little nervous when he came in because of the audience, and it was a great opportunity to discuss how to be a leader without being a bully, and to let him find the confidence to pay attention to Julianna, and not be so preoccupied with everything else going on. Then they worked both from the ground and from the saddle on their walk-trot transition, because Buck is known for his uncomfortable trot, and we knew there was a nice, happy trot in their somewhere! I think the thought that was left at the forefront of everyone's mind after this lesson was how to keep things about the horse's mind, and keeping things soft and focused, and not get preoccupied by a "goal." In this case, that goal might have been "get Buck to TROT," since we were working on transitions, but as Julianna demonstrated it was more about getting Buck to be soft, focused and attentive to her energy, since we were looking for a specific sort of trot, not just any old two-beat gait. So she had to do some stuff that might not even seem like it had anything to do with the trot! But it definitely did! On the flip side, Julianna had to present that trot, and everything else for that matter, in a way that was clear and consistent, so Buck didn't get locked up and feel like he was being forced into that trot.
Next up came Nicki and her Rocky Mountain Gaited Horse colt, Chessie. Nicki is a very experienced rider trying to "reinvent" herself with this colt, and she has only ridden him about 3 times since I started him last fall, so they are in the process of getting to know each other. But, you wouldn't have known it by watching them together! We worked on some exercises she can work on to build her timing and Chessie's softness, like stepping his hindquarters over and nice soft bends through the round pen. We also worked on how to find that gait that the Rockies are known for, and took a lot from Julianna's lesson as we worked on getting Chessie to a big walk and back to a small walk using just Nicki's body, and then eventually getting that walk big enough that he "found" his gait. Once again, we found it wasn't about forcing that gait, but letting him happen upon it, and then being happy even if we just got a couple steps of it. Nicki and Chessie are heading out to the hills to ride, and so I have a feeling that by the time they get back, Chessie will be gaiting up a storm without either of them even thinking about it!
Last was Joe and his Arabian cross horse, Tuffy. They have worked together a lot in all sorts of "real-life" settings, from moving horses to feed lot work. Joe and Tuffy just went to work one day, and four years later Joe felt like there was something missing in their partnership. We worked on breaking down what looked like "pushiness" on Tuffy's part, and found that a lot of it was anxiety and insecurity, since Tuffy didn't really have any clear boundaries from Joe. So, we started breaking things down even further, so that Joe could work on being able to change and direct Tuffy's mind, even if it was just a little look from one direction to another, or a few steps back without pulling on the halter. Within 15 minutes that horse looked happier, and Joe was no longer fighting off Tuffy pushing and rubbing all over him. Joe then got in the saddle and we worked on getting Tuffy to break at the pole, raise his back and soften to a feel on the reins, instead of bracing against it. Tuffy got pretty worried there for a minute, because he thought in the last 4 years he had trained Joe pretty well, and all of a sudden the game changed! But they came through it, and the lesson I think we all walked away with was that things have to be consistent to be important, and even when Joe wasn't thinking about "practicing" these things, he had to still embody them, or Tuffy wouldn't get the message.
Well, thanks again for stopping by, and if you missed it I hope you will stop by and say hello sometime soon!
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