I am firing up the old blog after three years of silence. This is at the suggestion of several friends, both "real" and "Facebook." I posted a few incredibly lengthy Facebook reviews of a clinic I went to last weekend. It was for the benefit of a couple friends who were not able to be there. I expected possibly a total of five people to slog through the entire post. Boy, was I wrong! The response via comment, private message, text and actual real face-to-face conversation (happens on occasion) was eye opening. I either have seriously interested friends or they are bored, nice, or a combination of both.
I apparently entertain, educate and well, give people someone to laugh at when all else fails. Someone asked me, "Don't you ever get embarrassed?!" Not when it comes to horses and learning. What could possibly be the most embarrassing thing to happen at a clinic? Most of us would say falling off my horse or arriving to the clinic naked. I checked the "Fall off horse in front of a world renowned clinician and random friends and strangers" box on Friday. I could say that my green colt broke in two and bucked me off into the rafters. I can't. A pigeon scared my horse. My colt. No, not really. My "broke" horse had a heart attack and dumped me on my head over a domestic bird. I am smiling just thinking about it. Read the copied and pasted Facebook post below for all of the glorious details plus the seriously great lessons I learned from Jim Anderson.
I am cheating a bit and basically copying and pasting it to my blog over the next few days. After that, I promise my writing will be all original.
Friday, Sept 30th, I took Pistol, my 5yr old gelding, with me to the Jim Anderson clinic for some help with groundwork. Pistol is a gentle, laid back character with a tendency to lean, push and just not be very responsive both on the ground and under saddle. I had him doing the basics on the ground and he has about 60 rides, but hadn't been worked in 2 months. Pistol tended to trot around me on a line with his nose straight or tipped out and pushing his shoulder into me.
Jim immediately put a lariat rope halter on him so that it was more uncomfortable for Pistol to lean on the end of the halter rope. I would send Pistol around me at a trot and any time he took up the slack in the rope, I stepped back so he had to give to get relief. I also used my whip to flick him on the shoulder or rib cage to get him to arc his body properly on the circle. This worked well and Pistol was "getting" the idea of trotting around with his body arced properly with his shoulders freed up instead of bound up.
I definitely see where this will help his lope circles. I work hard loping him properly as he wants to drop his shoulder in, tip his nose slightly out and cut the circle. I have to basically drift him with the reins and push him out with my inside leg a lot more than should be necessary. We also worked with the sidepass drill down the fence to help him free up his shoulders and worked on reversing direction on the line without cutting into me too much. He is not rocking back on his hocks like is ideal but he responded well.
For our final work, we moved to the round pen and turned Pistol loose. He was very attentive to me and quickly picked up the idea of facing up and following me. I was very happy with Pistol. He was nervous when we first got to the arena but even though he was quivering, he would stop and stand when I asked him on the line. Sometimes he creeps forward because I think his favorite place to stand would be with his feet on your feet and his head laid against you. He backs off easily when told as that is a typical Pistol move. After his work, he stood tied to the trailer very well, only nickering occasionally. No holes to China or hoofprints on my fender.;)
I quickly warmed up Cayenne for the last little bit of my clinic time. She actually warmed up well without her typical spooky crap, which led me to go to sleep at the wheel a little later and get dumped! Yes, I got to eat some arena dirt.:) I had her loping on a very draped rein and she spooked hard right from the pigeons. It unseated me and she rolled back away from me and that was that. It wouldn't have been quite as exciting but I held onto a rein and it wrapped around her legs, causing her to do a tapdance trying to keep her feet and not step on me. She almost sat on me! I don't know why I didn't just let her go!
Anyway, I did have a good ride on her. Her spin is coming way better and the #1 reason is because I've been having her stand between spins until she relaxes. Even at Jim's clinic 2 weeks ago, I'd spin her and then while she stood, she'd nervously chew the bit, stretch her neck and just exhibit stressed behavior. It'd take her several minutes or longer to relax and drop her head on her own. I've only spun her a couple days since that clinic but have emphasized the lesson Jim tries to drive into our heads about WAITING ha ha! Jim also said she is so much more relaxed because she understands what I want better because I am being more clear with my cues. I'm more clear with my cues because I am understanding better, thanks to Jim!
In my lope circles, it's mainly on me keeping my shoulders back further and my pockets deeper in the saddle. There ya have it! I'm off for another day of riding!
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