Sunday, October 2nd, 2016. Previously posted on Facebook:
I guess I don't need to tag Lisa Lichte and Laurie Ward since so
many of my friends have responded to my clinic reviews with either positive
comments or pm's. I didn't actually expect more than five people to sit and
read through the whole "book!" I am glad that others can learn from
my successes and my mistakes. Day 1 and Day 2 have already been posted and if
anyone missed them, I will briefly go over them before continuing to post about
Day 3. If you are really bored, go read the first posts in their entirety for
more detail.
In review, on Day 1 of the Jim Anderson clinic, I brought a
fairly green colt and did groundwork. That went very well. I also rode Cayenne
briefly at the end of my session to check out my spin. That went well. I went
to the "scary" end of the arena to work on loping circles on a drape
rein. She had warmed up well but caught me off guard with a quick spook. She
then reacted to me off kilter and spooked away from me and I got dumped. I held
onto a rein instead of just turning her loose. She did not give to the rein and
ended up doing a tapdance over the top of me and sat down, tangled in her rein.
There were literally spots before my eyes and I'm glad she didn't actually step
on me! We were both fine and I loped her more on not so drape of a loose rein.
On Day 2, Jim expressed his concern about the spooking incident
on Day 1. He was not worried about the spook itself, he was worried about the
fact that she stayed in an elevated flight mode and didn't give to the rein I
was holding. We discussed "why" it happened and determined it was
likely because she had been in "trouble" for spooking. I had created
more tension in her because not only was she afraid of "things," she
was afraid of my reaction to her reaction. We set her up to be spooked and Jim
found that she was not giving to pressure when she was scared, she went into
flight mode and stayed there for much too long. He worked her on the ground
first then I worked her, just getting her to bend her head and neck laterally
and give up the spook. We moved to the saddle and worked a one rein stop to
help her learn that as soon as she spooked, we went right into relax mode.
Retraining the brain. It seemed to work quite well. She will still spook but
will not have the high level of anxiety of "what's going to happen
now?"
Day 3. I warmed Cayenne up on the ground to check out our
"scary corner." She was much, much better although I did take the
opportunity to bend her around when she tried to hurry past the portion of her
trot circle closest to the wall. I then warmed her up under saddle and she did
better but not great. She would lope her circles but with a lot of leg and
guidance. No spooking sideways but definite tension about the pigeons, the
sunlight streaming through a crack, etc. Jim observed then put a person with a
flag on my end so I could try to work her through the issue. She still didn't
have the dramatic reactions from the day before but was almost asking me to
just pull her head around and "save her" from what was coming. My
steering was going to heck as she made me pick up my reins in both hands and
really guide her around.
Jim came back, saw what was going on and decided we needed to
adjust since she was now comfortable with the one rein stop and relax idea. He
got on Cayenne and really got into her because she wasn't trying hard enough.
She was giving 75% but the other 25% was gawking off in the corner and looking
for upcoming scary things. She gave him a lot of resistance for a few circles.
Like, "Whose spotted horse is that?" kind of resistance. He got her
giving vertically, driving up strong in the lope, and "with him"
120%. When she was soft, he gave her a loose rein. When she came out of form,
he picked her up, fixed her and let her loose again. When he picked up on the
reins, she was asking, "What do you want, Jim?" She wasn't even
thinking about flags, pigeons, corners and was loping so pretty!
I got back on and Jim had me lope her the same. He tells me over
and over (he must think I'm deaf or slow sometimes!) to pick her up smoothly
and hold her until she gives. I want to pick her up bumping her mouth and I
don't pick her up far enough. I also give when she head bobs, not truly holds
the position. In other words, I don't ask for enough of her at this stage of
training. I'm sure I didn't have her loping as pretty as Jim did but it sure
felt good when it was good and it was easy to fix her up when she started to
lope flat. She did not even think of spooking because she was concentrating so
hard on me and what I wanted.
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