5/13

a couple great days with Jinita at Nancy's.  Took Gem.

A Legacy of Legends

I had a great weekend with Kendall in Las Vegas. We flew out to see A Legacy of Legends, a tribute to Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt. The event featured colt-starting with Buck Brannaman, Peter Campbell, Martin Black. It also showcased Betty who's a dressage rider (can't remember her last name), a woman who has mastered jumping and Jatin Lord, a reining performer. All the clinicians were students of Ray's and/or Tom's. Betty did dressage in a bosal, which was just lovely. Buck got a jumping lesson on a warmblood in an english saddle, which was a treat to watch.

Marting and Wade Black were especially impressive. Wade started his colt and by the 3rd day, he had the colt on a cow and was roping off of him. I was super impressed with his feel and method.

I will be going next year, but maybe w/o Kendall. She got a little bored and I only saw about 1 1/2 days of the 3 day event. However, Kendall and I had a blast in Vegas!

Dave Ellis - 2011

Just did the advanced 2-day this year. It was the perfect amount of Parelli time for where I am in my journey. Dave Ellis has a tremendous way of remotivating me and my Parelli passion was burning strong again at the end.

I did a private lesson with Jodi and she threw a lot of nits at me to work on. Tweaks are a good thing at this point - easy to tweak things and nice to be beyond the huge changes I've needed. We worked on my seat position (hands clasped over my head), strong core and more rigid core, legs further back. We worked on my timing with the hinds (I've finally got it consistently!!). We worked on go and whoa responsiveness (surprise Gem, don't nag). Gem is quite uptight underneath his confidence demeanor. She rode him a few minutes and noticed right away. However, he was trying his heart out and did everything to his best ability.

Gem was awesome and I was very proud of him!

At one point, I caught him thinking to buck. For the first time, I recognized it as he was considering it and I was able to ask him to reconnect with me and let the bucking idea go. He responded and it was over. I actually stopped the buck before the buck. This is huge for Gem and me.

Groundwork was amazing, need to continue developing zone 5 work. He was extremely responsive all the time and gave good try every moment.

Very forward trot while riding!! Dressage work is paying off. We did 1-rein riding at all gaits was a blast. I worked on getting in time with the hind feet to bring the hind over.

Big moment for me: Never apply pressure to resistance. My BFO for this clinic.

Day 2 - David Lichman

drag on Jess/Kade - helped Gem have more forward so we could play with bending w/o him falling out of the trot.

more natural collection

llama herding - Gem had no fear! He was willing to go forward to the llamas and follow them, no problem.

cantering with collection - we worked on this for a while, but Gem is a short horse and I have to build more gait maintenance into him.

Simon - we played with the noodle horse to help find our body positions for shoulders in, counter shoulders in, haunches in and renvers

haunches/shoulder in (counter shoulder in/renvers) - Gem and I were able to get this done ok, but if I asked him to perform these maneuvers at the trot, he came down to the walk.

holistic vet - very interesting visit with a holistic vet. My first holistic vet experience. Not sure if it was money well spent. Jury is still out.

helping Tammy trailer load - helped her load Ruby and the new gelding Bentley. Bentley has little trailer experience and Ruby has some bad trailer experience. I used everything I know to get those 2 loaded in the dark. I was glad to help, anxious to start my drive home, but glad to help and play with my horsemanship on 2 different horses.

David Lichman - 2 days of horsemanship

A great first day with David Lichman in Yoder! I woke up early and drove the 2 hours to arrive around 8:20 am. Long drive and I was pretty tired, but so enthused to be with some great people and friends learning more about horsemanship.

I indicated on my personal info sheet that I was really focused on getting more athleticism from my horse and being a better rider. I let him know that I wasn't doing much freestyle riding lately, more focused on finesse and dressage. He made a point of helping me improve and I was quite thrilled!

Gem warmed on the ground beautifully. We had a good connection and could have played at liberty as the line was always slack. Once on his back (I chose to ride western on day 1), things went just as well. David helped me understand how to ask Gem to be more naturally collected by letting him know I wanted his head lower and his back more rounded, and then helping him learn to travel that way on his own. That was incredibly cool and I had some great, great moments on Gem the first day.

I sometimes felt like I wanted more to work on under his tutelage, as this group has wide varieties of skill levels and we don't seem to do things as a big group very much. I asked David a couple of times to give me more to work on and he obliged. We played with getting more of a collected posture from the ground and I found that to be an interesting challenge.

At the end of the day, I played for about 30 minutes with Tammy's new horse Bently. A gorgeous warmblood gelding, he doesn't have great ground manners and Tammy wanted to see him improve his appreciation for his human's space. A very nice horse, he responded positively and got with the program immediately. I enjoyed playing with this horse for the first time.

Gem did an amazing job as my level-headed and responsive partner on day 1 and I got to stretch my horsemanship and riding. Loved it!

5 days with Jinita - Day 1

What an amazing start to a new perspective! We talked for a bit and then watched "If Horses Could Speak". A very eye-opening video about the anatomy of a horse and how we, as riders, can get top performance without jeopardizing the horse's physical self.

We then went out and played with some concepts such as riding more forward (to avoid weighting the back farther back where the muscles don't support weight well). We played with the web halter vs the rope halter, to avoid intense pressure on the nucal ligament. We watched how the horse moved with these changes from the ground. They naturally extended the hind legs slightly more and dropped and relaxed their head and neck. Very interesting!! Gem had a decent headset already so I didn't see much of a change when I went to the web halter. The saddle placement was definitely better, though.

We were going to ride next and I decided to start with Z. Well, when I went to the pasture to get her, I noticed Starlet was in a bad way. As I got closer, I saw that her rump had been torn open vertically just under the tail. Oh, poor girl - she was very hurt. I let Z go back to the herd and I led Starlet in to the barn.

I have no idea how she did this. There was no indication in the pasture of a struggle against fencing. We'd had a terrible hail storm and I thought maybe she sustained a kick where a hoof snagged her skin. I just don't know. Regardless, my vet couldn't come for about 5 more hours and instead of finding a different vet sooner, I decided to wait for my tried and trusted Dr. Walters. I didn't treat her besides 2 grams of bute and putting her in the stall with hay and water. I decided to do the rest of the day with Gem since he was already with me and ready to go.

We rode for a bit then and Jinita started to help us address our riding flaws. My big offense: over-riding! This was a little tough for me to understand. We took some video so that she could help me understand. After some discussing and watching the video, I think I realized that my legs are too far forward. Once I started riding with my legs more under me, she became happier with the picture.

It was a neat first day full of information that caused me to rethink my existing views on riding, saddling, and online play. I ended up meeting Tom about 9:30 to get Starlet stitched and we didn't finish until 1:30am. Day 2 was going to be a challenge with a lack of sleep.

Ellis Clinic Notes - Rough Draft

Natural horses - look for the comfort. Normal horses look to get out of trouble or avoid an angry human.

Focus on where you want the horse to be, not on getting the horse to get there.

Muscles along his spine are as sensitive as the inside of his mouth or his genitals

Don't release until the horse gets to where I asked him to go/be.

Pick spots on the circle to get a good circle. Make each spot on the circle more comfortable than the last.

Only disengage if I need to regain control. Otherwise, just bring energy down.

We did focusing on the feet from the ground.

Gem still calling when tied, but had a good morning.

Turns at the trot - teardrop turns along the rail.

Teardrop - circle the drop shape, canter out of it along the rail. Bowties.

Larks lesson

Bit figiting. 12-18 months after the first time they wear a bit, or if things are stressful.

Slap ur leg when the horse is by the gate - make it undesirable.

Breathe in as you make your way to the focus point, breathe out when u get there.

Refind bowties vs freestyle bowties. Use a supporting rein on the inside for refined. Otherwise use the direct all the way through the turn.

Day 3 - circling by cod every time the horse isn't circling correctly. Huge change in gem.

We moved from cone to cone.

Afternoon - all abt moving the hind with the stick. Then moving the hind off the rail, the leads by moving the hind off the rail. Quick backups to the center.

Watched dave and kristins horse.

Jimmy williams, look him up.

Day 4-

Precision pen and 8 bends. Gem did pretty well. Used my stick to support my leg as much as possible.

The top half controls the front, the bottom half controls the hind.

Bar of soap analogy for squeezing energy from a horse.

From day 2: move the whole horse, move the zones, move the feet in isolation when you can advance.

Afternoon - shoulders in, haunches in.

Shoulder exercise: move the shoulders off for 15- 20 ft, then let the horse go off the rail until they're straight. Should take 2-3 steps to get straight. Then sidepass back to the rail. We did 1/2 turns from the shoulder in - follow the bend of the horses neck into a 1/2 circle, then once facing the rail go straight.

Hauches in- hind off the rail with the nose to the rail and the walk straight back to the rail. Much easier than shoulders in.

Gem was a little dull to my leg. Answer: use my stick in 4 phases. Phase 4 should be firm enough to get my horse to the next gait. This helped Gem a ton and he became much more responsive to my leg.

Did the precision pen with Gem at the canter and he got quite responsive. I was pleased with him and spanked him into a fast canter/gallop with no concern of him bucking. It was cool.

Watched Patsy and Annie get private lessons.

Day 4 was great with gem. He's starting to trust me.

Reins - partial disengagement and loping off. Neutral lateral rein.

Day 2 - figure 8's and teaching the horse to focus with me.

Day 5 - on 22s. Worked on refining our ask and use "its coming"! Concept.

Then riding. This was hard. We worked on direct rein in rhythm with the feet. We also time the indirect rein with the inside fore so the timing matched the footfall better.

When uve asked for the turn witha direct rein, go back to a neutral rein in the turn. He should be on the bend of the circle from the first step and neutral reins mean don't change.

We did a lot of riding with the suspension rein and timing it to the footfall of the inside fore for direct rein movements and the outside fore in prep for haunches in.

I thought this was a tough day.

Jodi talked to me abt zones within zones and trying to move my energy towards my horse in a way to got him moving nicely in isolation.

Keep my rein hand over the mane line!! This was hard.

Watched Lisas lesson on cantering the precision pen so that the horse would have less opposition reflex at the trot.

Had an amazing lesson with Dave on teaching Gem to move into the bit from behind. That was very cool. Pushing the hind into the fore and releasing it at a specific point. Asking for transitions just as the hind was moving into the fore

Afternoon note: using step 7 to get a feel, then ask for a transition and immediately butterfly to 0. Teaching the horse to hunt comfort of a casual rein by doing the transition.

Supporting talks to the diagonal hind

Some days play with teach control, some reinforce refine. Hunt the comfort some, refine others.

Practice the 8 bends and asking the horse to move in a counter arc along the rail.

Dave demoed with gem. Gem was so thoughtful.

Dave Ellis Clinic

Six days with Dave! What a treat and enormous growth experience. I chose Gemini for this clinic as it's time to bring him along through L4. He did quite well for me and grew plenty himself. I have notes I'll be posting as well as some video of a private lesson I took with Dave.

I brought along Tina for the exposure. She stayed in a pen by herself some of the time and with Cowboy some, as well.

One-day clinic with Tina, Z and Kime

Had an amazing day with horses! After relatives in town for a few days, it was nice to get back with the horses!

I took Tina and Z with me and started the day with Tina. We had a great 1/2 day of groundwork and riding. I was amazed at how calm she was in this new environment with bizarre things such as llamas (4 of them!), run-away horses (multiple times), plastic bags on the end of ropes and sticks, lots of sticks and strings flying as others worked with their horses... she was such a champ!

In the beginning, she started off tense. I learned from the instructor that a great indicator of worry instead of dominance is the lower lip. A tight lower lip looks like the horse has an overbite. That's a great way to know if Tina is scared or just not "in the mood" to cooperate. It took her all of 5 minutes to relax (better than Z!) and then we got some great ground work going! Sideways without a fence is coming along beautifully. Her circle game is great and relaxed and gait transitions (w/t/c) are soft and supple. I played at the very end of the 22' as much as possible. She could probably advance to the 45' line, but that doesn't mean much for her future so I probably won't go there.

When I mounted, she was calm and cool. She sidled to the mounting spot beautifully (got some nice kudos from the instructor). She stood perfectly still and was a great partner. We worked on softness to the reins and getting acquainted with the environment. She was comfortable and responsive the entire time while I was mounted. There was some silliness going on around us, like a couple horses getting away from their owners and some noisy equipment being managed. She seemed to just take it all in stride. Wow, what a great testament to where her brain is!

Before lunch, we sat in a group circle and debriefed on our morning. Tina stood right next to me, leg cocked, head low, lower lip hanging down, and just soaked in the quiet time. All the students commented on her progress since they say her 3 months ago. Pretty great.

After spending all morning with Tina, I tacked up Z for some freestyle riding. We were planning to video each other for the afternoon and I wanted to show what Z and I can do bridleless. She was tense and tight and her trot and canter were choppy and her ears were back at times. She was sometimes listening, sometimes just feeling impulsive. Our jumping felt good over 2' and our serpentines were nice, but our canter stop wasn't there. Z does not do so great in new environments and it takes her quite a while to relax. However, I was confident enough to ride her in this open pasture w/o headgear or reins, which proves that I trust her and we are partnered.

I struggled with the riding in front of everyone AND on camera, but I started to relax after about 10 minutes. Z was letting me know where she needed help and I was trying to accommodate. We're getting better about being in front of others - an important skill for me to develop.

It was a great, great day and the girls loaded up w/o a single concern for their journey home. I have a tough week of travel ahead, so I hope to get 2-3 sessions in before the weekend with Tina. Still trying to organize a trail buddy for Tina and I to hit the trail for the first time mounted. Otherwise, we have lots to work on in the arena.

Side note: surprised to see that several horses look like they need trims already!

Day 2 with Kime

More bareback. Focused on riding the fast, extended trot into the canter and back down to the fast trot. Z's large and bouncy trot is much easier to ride fluidly now.

Simulations with the 45' - how to tell a left handed from a right handed 45'. Coiling it so it doesn't get twisted. I'm using a rt handed rope, so learned how to work with that and make sure I don't foul myself up working backwards. Talked a lot about safety with the 45' and avoiding an accident with loops on the ground. Tell a rt handed from left handed by holding the end with the bull snap away from you and seeing which direction the threads go.

Tina hanging out while we watched trailer loading and getting on the pedestal - she was so cute and extremely confident! I was suprised and impressed by her. We sat on a large tractor tire filled with dirt with the instructor did a trailer loading demo. Tina continued to vie for attention by loading herself onto the tire with all 4 feet! I wish I'd taken a picture. She was so cute and nuzzled me constantly. We've hit a new plateau in our relationship.

I decided to play over her back while the trailer loading went on. I bellied her, rubbed her all over, made some commotion above her... she took it all in stride and only thought to move her feet once or twice. I realize it's not me she doesn't accept, it's the saddle.

Loading to leave, Tina went to look under the panel and lost her footing. She slipped and fell in the trailer. I opened the panel quickly and she righted herself and got out. Poor girl! I let her settle down, another student did some acupuncture with the red light to relax her (worked great!) and then about 30 mins later I loaded her again. She was fine - not scared or worried. I took my time and loaded her respecting her thresholds the best I could. I quickly loaded Z so Tina was calmer quicker.

My abs were sore for a couple days after all that bareback riding! I probably rode bareback for 6 hours in the 2 days. Pretty cool! I'm excited to start jumping bareback. Z was awesome the whole time. She was relaxed and sensitive and paying attention. She was a great partner most of the time. Tina was calm and her ground work looked fantastic! We're working on a straight backup to 22' away and she's doing great.

Enjoyed my time at Nancy's immensely!

Day 1 with Kime

Bareback - once with Kime, once alone, getting much more fluid. With Kime, she has the 22' line and she's asking Z over cavalettis, in tight circles, quick transitions between gaits, etc... It's much harder than riding Z bareback alone. I also did a lot of zone 5 driving with Z. Her turn to the outside needs a little more work, but she was able to stay pretty far ahead. We were driving from zone 5 with the 45 so I was able to get 20-30 ft behind her. However, the turn to the outside was tough if it was away from the barn and the other horses. I'd creep close, make the turn, then move back. We'll keep practicing.

Tina: we worked on playing over obstacles, loading into trailer (large and small), standing on pedestal, change of direction, she is so much calmer and better!! Is it the sessions of not riding or is it the magnesium? Or both??

She was awesome. She was a horse that I'd ride - calm and thinking.

Day 6 - Dave Ellis

Hard, hard day. We finished the day with a rodier. The 5 of us huddled around the cattle and held them while one of us at a time would go in and sort a cow. Each time I got a turn, I had to do more. First was just separating a cow out of the herd. Then separating a smaller, more agile cow. Next, separating a smaller more agile cow and getting them to be 100 yards or more from the herd. Whooo - the small ones are fast!

Dave wanted Z and I to do a better job of tracking the cow by staying light in front and rocking back on the hind. Z's fore was heavy though and she wanted to turn her whole body, not just the fore. I was struggling with helping her do the task correctly. She then resorted to backing really fast. It was avoidance, I know. She was confused and decided to try something that's pleased me in the past. She also stopped moving the hind for me. It was a mess at the end and I got flustered as Dave was barking at me to get it together. I felt defeated and tried to finish the task but in all honesty, I needed a break to gather myself and try again. Our first two attempts went beautifully. It all fell apart on the third attempt.

I also spent some good time with Tina and she got a 2nd ride by Dave's ranch manager. It was slightly better than the first - meaning she was slightly more comfortable with the idea of a rider on her back while she cantered around.

I started off the day with Dave's young Freisian. Dave wanted me to feel the draft horse and see what I thought. What a kept thinking was, wow - this horse moves slowly. Everything was slow motion. I missed my Anglo-arab right away. We played with collected, precise riding and patterns in the large arena. It was interesting, but I definitely felt that I wouldn't want a horse like this of my own. In the beginning of our ride, he bucked when I asked for a canter. It tickled me that his buck was so slow and easy to sit! He bucked a few times and it was very easy to ride. Perhaps he would be a safe horse for newer riders with his slow movement. He also could easily develop brace, though.

Main points of the day:

The promise of pressure is often greater than the pressure itself

Rhythmic motion vs rhythmic pressure. Friendly game vs Driving game.

Phase 1 should always be getting lighter!

Set it up for Zarah to find the answer, work hard on not always spoon-feeding her the answer

Fix disengagement with Z - she got confused during the rodier

Inside rein and cow side rein always higher

Buy colt starting saddle - to give me a better edge

First rides with brace and rigidity, develop softness over time

Develop bend in Z's hock! Hill work, lots of backing, etc... Help her find the strength behind.

Day 3 with Dave Lichman

Today, we got our groove back! We were finally back in action and I was so thrilled. Our warm up was fantastic - Z was right with me all the way. Today, Dave wanted the advanced group doing Spotlights. Ugh! I didn't want to do one!!

Z and I were able to try the question box exercise with counter cantering and we got a wonderful lead change! She changed in the front and then in the back, but it was a blast. Her canter departs were fine and we stayed in large circles.

He showed the L2/3 students how to ride the falling leaf. He talked about teaching the horse to put their head down in a scary situation and beginning to discuss the 8 ways to bend (moving the hind and fore with the head into the turn and away from the turn).

Dave talked about overuse, misuse and underuse of tools - the 3 ways to dull tools.

We should teach our horses to trot sideways with their head down. There are many reasons to drop their heads: eat, because they've been trained to, they're ready to buck, submission and to stretch. Practice head down with controlled catastrophe! Have someone stimulate with scary things while you ask the horse to drop their head.

Check out Jec Aristotle Ballou.

Dave talked about things to do with obstacles, like a barrel: push it, jump it, 1/2 jump it, stop at it.

He talked about the importance of learning to straddle a ditch. We went out into the pasture and all practiced. Z and I did it mounted with no issues. Dave told the story of how they had to straddle a ditch every single day at the study center during a 3 month training stay until the horse would stop and ask every day - do you want me to straddle the ditch?

Day 2 - Clinic with David Lichman

I finished Day 2 of a 4-day clinic with David Lichman today. It's a L3/4 clinic and the most advanced clinic I've ever done. Z and I are doing our best of course, but I feel that we're struggling a bit in our relationship. She's not happy. Day 2 was better than day 1. She's had 3+ weeks off due to her leg injury and I don't know if that's the problem. She's telling me she doesn't want to do things. David thinks I'm fluctuating between being too soft in my ask and then being effective enough in my phase 4. She was much better under saddle than on the ground, but still - not very happy.

Her sweat pattern on her back looked off with a dry spot on the left by the withers and ruffled hairs. I believe my shimming needs a look and I'll do that before riding on day 3. Otherwise, I'm working on making things more interesting for her - and being more provocative myself. Her draw is amazing, her drive is snotty. David was actually quite perplexed by us.

Anyway, it's a big learning curve and we'll keep figuring it out. More, I'll keep figuring Z out.

What I've learned...

He had us doing question box patterns with counter canters in an effort to get easy flc's. Z and I didn't have a good enough canter depart to get it done. I knew something was wrong with her and at the end of the day, I really think I discovered saddle fit as the problem.

We watched videos in the basement in the morning and one of them had music by Jennifer Warnes that was lovely.

We talked about playing all 7 games with the head down and teaching a horse to be that relaxed always. Z could do a few things that way (circle was pretty good right away).

We develop our horses in this order: Mind, Weight, Flexion, Feet. First get the MIND!

Sandy had the Craig Cameron headstall and I loved it. I want one.

We talked about haunches in at the trot being very similar to a canter depart request. Make sure you are clear with your horse between the two asks.

We worked on developing the spin. Dave taught us how to do it with a line by looping it once over the horse's neck. Tip: Don't hurry into the spin, don't hurry during the spin, hurry OUT of the spin. I got in Z's way at the end of the spin - we've only ever done that at liberty.

Test ourselves by riding with no reins and getting head low, going slow, transitions, move the hind and fore, 8 bends, figure 8 and canter circles.

The horse should do nearly all of it's work with the poll at or below the withers.

Dave showed a video of Katja doing a circus act with 7 horses at liberty called "Arabian Nights". She had the horses all rearing, doing spins, going in opposite directions of each other. It was simply beautiful.

My homework was to practice cantering in the open pasture and build canter departs. I felt that I had a different problem to fix so I didn't do my homework.

Day 1 with David Lichman

This was a tough day for Z and I. I had a bit of an attitude and was struggling with not feeling like the best student in the class. There were a few students who were L4/5 and I was having ego-issues. LOL. Once I admitted it to myself, I could address it. Emotional fitness, Tia!! I went home after the first day and really put myself in check. I'd paid for the clinic, I had the time off from work, it was up to me to get the most from the 4 days. It was entirely up to me.

The first day, we talked in the basement, watched some videos and then headed out to do ground work. The 12 students were split into 2 groups - L2/3 and the advanced group - L3/4/5. I was in the advanced group. A couple of the students are working on L5 stuff, so quite advanced. We started with figure 8's on the ground and Z was having a hard time driving away from me. She could come into me just fine, but driving away was a challenge. We were the only ones with that problem. Typically the problem is with the draw, not the drive. Dave had Z and I work on the S-pattern to fix our figure 8. We went out into the pasture and built the S-pattern. It was going nicely after about 30 minutes. I was very pleased.

With the L2/3 group, he worked on the Touch It game (target training). He talked a lot about reinforcement and using a 50/50 schedule so the horse is always wondering when he'll get rewarded versus expecting it every time.

Some other notes I took:

The first pattern is touch it. Why? Because it teaches FOCUS! The human learns to focus and the horse learns to read the humans focus. Use positive reinforcement so they're motivated to follow our focus.

When Dave lays a horse down, he gets the bow, but then he holds the leg up and tucked until the horse goes down for comfort. I'm going to try that with Rain and then Z. They can both bow nicely, but I haven't ventured to the lay down yet. It's time to do that.

We discussed the 6 methods of teaching: mimicking, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, manipulation, scan and capture and ?? (shoot, missing the last one). Positive reinforcement uses bridging and target training.

Dave made a great point - you should be able to drive from zone 3 and play touch it before you ever ride a horse. I'll be working on that with Tina next. I also think Chrissy could really benefit. Dave had the early students using treats to enforce the touch it game. The treat on the object they were headed so the horse started to like the game.

Dave showed us sideways on the circle to get the horse thinking about the human. He demonstrated teaching the horse to circle with their eyes on their human. He disengaged the hind everytime the horse looked away and after a very short time, the horse (Ray's horse) was circling him in a nice curved way with her eyes always on Dave.

He talked about bonding exercises such as letting the horse rest the front of their face on the humans belly. He also talked about teaching the horse to rest it's jaw bone on their humans shoulder.

For teaching target training, hold the treat in 1 hand closed. If they touch the target, open the hand and present the treat. If they dont touch the target, keep the hand closed. They will learn quickly to seek the target!

Dave talked about clicker training and the problem with it: the click is terminal. This means that when you click, the behavior should end and the horse is rewarded. How do you encourage the try with clicker training?

Dave does a ton of voice command training and he also uses voice to encourage try. I do that as well and I know my horses respond.

Dave made a big deal about teaching horses their names. He also talked about how to teach a horse what his name is NOT. This way, you can single a horse out when playing with multiples. He said you need a group name, too - like ALL. Each horse has two names, their own and the group name.

He praised Alexander kurlin's book on clicker training and he talked a lot of the sea lion training done by a group in Florida (google: Slewths).

It was an interesting first day.

Riding with Dave Ellis

This is my first time riding in a clinic with Dave Ellis. I've heard for years how great he is and how much he helps people. I finished Day 3 of his clinic today with one more day to go. I'm having a blast and I hate to think that there's only 1 day left. I'd like to ride with him for many more days. I'm making big changes in my attitude, my feel, my relationship with my horse, my skills... the whole picture is changing.

Here's some important points from the clinic:
1. When turning the fore, if the inside hind moves it shows the horse is submissing. If the outside hind moves it shows that the horse has not let loose.

2. New technique: if a horse isn't going back, bet really big with your stick. Whip it around high in the air and slam it into the ground. Also, take the string across zone 1 forcefully.

3. Attitude: Don't move your horse away from you. Instead convince your horse that there's a better place to be. Help the horse understand that you won't make your horse move, but cause him the move by helping him understand that there's a better place to be.

4. Technique: Hold the rope in the lead hand with the thumb down and the palm facing the direction of travel for the circle game. The turn the palm up to allow the horse to circle.

5. Swing the fore to and fro in the circle game - new circle game transition. Use body language!!

6.


Day 4 -

A fantastic day for Z and me. We had our private with Dave which was quite challenging. We worked on circles at the trot and making a serpentine through the middle. Then we worked at the canter and that was super hard! I was losing my balance and losing my stirrups a lot! I rode english and it was good for me to realize that I need to ride english more often and develop my skills in the english saddle. After privates, we did formation riding which was a blast!! My horse seemed to really love it. Was it because I had a purpose for us? Or was it because she loved the patterns? The morning was focused on haunches in and developing suppleness in our horses with leg yields and disengaging the hind. We learned to ask our horses to move the hind with the head tipped left, right and straight. We also learned to look in the direction that the hind was moving instead of looking at the end and pushing the hind away from our focus. That was brand new for me. That's a leg yield where a disengagement is when you look toward the hind to move it away.

I learned a ton in 4 days and I would definitely ride with Dave again. I'm considering going to his ranch and learning with him over the winter. We'll see if I can pull that together.

My horsemanship really grew this weekend. My relationship with Z is better than ever, also. She loaded into the trailer with so much respect and obedience - I was shocked. She wasn't afraid or worried.

Now back to work... Yuck.

Dennis Clinic, Saturday August 23rd

I hosted Dennis Paschal for a 1-day clinic. He's been a great new mentor for me the past few months and I want to share new knowledge with my people every chance I get. I think I'm a share-aholic. I digress...

So, we started out on the ground (duh!). We took turns trying different games on the ground in the playground area. Everyone got a turn on the hot seat with the others watching. Dennis had the watchers helping the lucky bastard in the middle by giving hints or saying where the human could better help the horse. I've done a similar format with the mini-clinics I've given. He had an audience of varying skills so I think it helped keep things interesting. He had us sit in a chair and play circle game with our horses. If that wasn't too challenging, he had us doing change of direction. At one of my turns, he took Gemini from me and kept him for a while. That's not my favorite thing at all. I want to work with my own horse. It doesn't help me if the instructor takes my horse. He kept him for quite a while, too. Grrr...

We started to gear up for riding around 11:30am. Since I'd chosen Gemini, I had to go through our bucking routine. I put the saddle on, cinch it up with the rear cinch a little tight, then send him on the circle. Invariably thus far, Gemini will offer some good bucks. When he does, I immediately let him rest when he's done bucking. It's an interesting game and Gemini hasn't tired of it yet. After 10 mins or so, he's ready to be ridden! Seems crazy, but... well, it's a little crazy. That horse has somehow wiggled his way into my heart and I'm determined to get to a great place with him over time. By "time", I mean probably 3 more years. HA!

Dennis left Nancy out a few times and I don't know why. Maybe it was because he didn't know her (or Amy). At least twice, we had to remind him that Nancy was still waiting for her turn when he was moving on to something else. I think that made her feel bad and rightfully so.

So, the riding was ok. We worked on Dennis' way of backing the horse, doing things around each other, circling the arena and eventually canter departs. I blew it with the canter departs. Gemini had been great the whole day but with the canter departs, something we've never done together, I asked with too much force and he went to buckin'. A couple humps later and I was on the ground. Darn it all! I got back on and got a little extra attention from Dennis. He had us do some canter transitions and lead changes. I know I just asked Gemini too hard and I learned a great lesson. I really got up asking myself what I could have done better. I patted myself on the back for that.

Pat and Marcy audited most of the day and afterwards, several of us drank wine in my barn. That was the highlight of the day, for sure! We gabbed about the clinic and about my experiences at the ISC. Girls talking about horses - the perfect way to end it.