Gaited Horse Clinic
26 & 27 July 2008
Clinic Report
(written by Yvonne Lehey - posted on "the click that teaches" list)
We held a gaited riding clinic last weekend on my friend and work partner Christiane's place last weekend. Participants came from King Island (an island in the Tasman Sea), Tasmania, New Zealand and from around the corner here in Victoria (Australia). We had 5 riders and one auditor (wife of one of the riders), so fairly small and easy to handle for the two instructors (Chris and me).
We started the Saturday with a welcome, introduction and Chris gave some overall explanations about gaited horses and how to ride them. Then we went out and got started right away.
I had brought over two of my horses the night before, Don Carlos (Andalusian-Paso Fino cross) and Lady (Saddlebred). Carlos was pretty grumpy and sulked with me for having separated him from his beloved little sister Samba and exposed him yet again to be ridden by a bunch of strangers. He showed his discomfort by snatching at me from time to time, which really isn't his usual gentle self, but he eventually settled in and cooperated well during the clinic.
Chris brought in Flamenca and Reina (both PP), as well as Glimmer (Icelandic), who is currently with us for starting under saddle and still very green (he had less than 10 rides under his belt). He was absolutely brilliant and behaved like a pro during the whole clinic, despite all the whirling around of strange horses, being ridden by people he didn't know under circumstances unfamiliar to him. Hurray for Iceys!
Bill and Jenny had brought their young Icey Nattfari in for being started under saddle and you could see how hard this was for Jenny to part (temporarily) with her beloved boy. She asked me to look after him and let her know how he was going, which I promised.
For the first go, we saddled Flamenca, Reina and Glimmer, and each participant rode each horse for about 10 to 15 minutes, in order to get familiar with them and have a first feel of the difference in them. Everybody did very well, so the path was free for more advanced work in the afternoon.
After lunch, Chris had to go the the airport to pick up Brigid who came from NZ, so I gave a demo about working on the "invisible lead rope". Carlos served as demo horse, as we had done a bit of this together in the past. First I took him briefly on the lead rope and showed people how to do things with rope handling. Carlos walked on the big, bright-yellow cardboard, sideways over a cone and stepped on a small plastic square. Then I took the lead off and explained on how I handled the imaginary rope just the same way and got the same results. He performed eagerly, placed his foot wherever I wanted it, did lovely shoulder-ins at the walk and then at the trot, went sideways over the cone etc. Then I invited my audience to have a try, and everygody had his turn. Len didn't feel game to do it yet, as this was so completely new to him, he preferred to watch. Bill was very brave, despite the fact that he never had seen something like this either, but he tried and got beautiful results. Nele also bravely stepped on the new territory, as well as Brigid, and had the same success and fun. Finally Laurel had her turn. She is an experienced clicker trainer, so went into some more depth and experimented, together with Carlos, on energy levels while leading. Everybody was fascinated and thrilled, and Len and Bill said they just loved clicker training and wanted to learn about it. Jenny leant back in her chair and smiled. I think she tried to get her Bill hooked on CT before and he wasn't too interested, but now that he had seen what can be done, it was a different picture ;-)
It turned out that I showed a bit about bone rotation as well, and everybody was blown away how easily you can move your "horse". When it came to Len to be the horse, you could literally see how he was determined to stand his ground, but petite Lene, who weighs about half what he weighs, effortlessly "pulled him off his feet" and brought him to her side!!! ;-)
Then came the riding part. Len had brought his young Paso gelding Monty. They had come to our place in the past to take riding lessons, as both are still fairly green. Monty felt his master's inner tension and was quite wound-up in the beginning, but both settled down really quickly and became quiet and happy and competent in their work together.
We had five horses in the arena and the "tölt oval" which we had set up around the arena. It was really handy to have it, as everybody used it all the time and very eagerly. Chris and I had all our hands and eyes and ears full to keep everybody in our focus and control and lend a helping hand wherever it was needed. Every participant rode every horse and was thus able to collect a lot of various info on a lot of different horses.
Nele and Brigid whirled around the oval right from the beginning. Lene has done a lot of riding in the past and Brigid has a lot of experience with her dressage and hunting background. With the others, we did the sucessful small-steps approach and gradually guided them towards being able to gait around in the big oval. After the arena work, we took them out, first lead them around on a rope, then unhooked them, and I asked them to come towards me from one end, and gradually made the space bigger and finally "set them free" to go on their own completely.
Flamenca and Reina were, of course, the "pro's" of the group, being very advanced riding horses. They still are very different from each other in their way of moving and reacting. Carlos is still fairly green and we just started him with the gait training (frankly, he sits in my paddock most of the time, as we are so busy training our clients' youngsters), so it is more of a challenge to get "gait" from him, especially for an inexperienced rider.
Everybody had a ball, whizzing around the arena and the oval. Len rode his Monty, after trying the others, and it was a pleasure to see them both floating around in gait. Then Monty learned to quietly stand on a slack rein under his rider and wait for his turn. We had some time left at the end, so Chris saddled her gaited SB stallion Max and gave a short ridden demo. http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/photos/Photos.php?size=tiny&dirdate=20080726
In the evening we all had a nice curry dinner that Greg (my husband) had cooked for us, then went to bed early.
Sunday morning, a shower came down, so we went into the shed and Chris did a saddle fit demo on her SB mare Melody and on Flamenca. Then tried a treeless Sensation saddle on Nattfari which Jenny and Bill had brought for this purpose. Nat had never had a saddle on his back, but he patiently and happily stood there and wasn't the slightest bit bothered by all the fumbling and all those pieces of gear thrown on his back. What a good boy!
By that time, the weather had cleared up, so we saddled the horses again. We started with only two riders together, so we could do some serious work and coach our students effectively. Again, everbody rode each horse during the session. Each participant kept his ears pricked eagerly, in order not to miss out on all the hints and put them into practice.
Nele and Bill and Brigid got some advice on softness, especially of the hands and visibly put it into work very nicely. Laurel worked on loosing her reserves about picking up rein contact, Len looked for the best body posture. Well, everybody did a lot of everything, really, and it was amazing to see the progress in just that short time. http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/photos/Photos.php?size=tiny&dirdate=20080727
We started the afternoon with starting Len's Monty with targeting and clicker training, as everybody had showed so much interest in it. I quickly demonstrated the technique. Monty was in a yard and behind a rope which was across the door. When I turned my back on him to explain something, he quickly ducked under the rope and ran free in the arena. Everybody had a good laugh and then we put him back into "jail". Each participant had a go with the targeting and food delivery, and very soon, smart Monty had learned to step back for his treat!
Then riding time again. We also saddled Melody and Lady, as Brigid loves SBs and wanted to try them out. Lene took up the opportunity and had a ride on Melody as well, but she clearly prefers the smaller ones (she breeds Icelandics). By the afternoon the horses started to have a bit enough and it was clearly more difficult to get them into gait, so another great opportunity to practise and collect valuable experience. Glimmer piggy-paced along, and Reina was huffing and puffing (she is in foal). Lady, after not having been ridden for months (Chris and I didn't have time to give her a ride before the clinic), was a bit unwilling on the edges in the beginning, but Brigid managed to soften her up pretty quickly and then they went well together. Melody, still pretty green, was very good and coped with everything very nicely. Glimmer accepted rider after rider and did his best, going around arena and oval without every blinking. Carlos had overcome his grumpiness and walked and trotted and gaited for his various riders.
In the last session, Laurel only got trot out of Flamenca, despite all her efforts (sign of fatigue in the horse), so I briefly hopped on to test whether she was still able to do her paso llano. Yep, she immediatly went into it and graciously floated around the oval. Comment from the auditors: Wow! Have they done this before?! Chris drily said: Well yes, once or twice...
Bill and Jenny and Len left in the evening, but the others wanted to have a little trail ride next morning, so we saddled up a bunch and went out: http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/photos/Photos.php?size=tiny&dirdate=20080728
Laurel and I stopped at my house and unsaddled Carlos and Lady. Boy, were they happy to be back with their herd! Chris carried on with Nele and Brigid, and we joined them back at Narrawin a while later (going by car). Laurel mentioned how nicely Carlos had taken care of her and how he kept giving her little hints during the ride, which she followed and things improved consequently. She practised all the things we had done during the clinic on the ride and said to me "look I am bending my elbows!" :-))
We were all a bit washed out by then, so went and visited Chris' horses in the paddock (there are a lot of them to see!), then did a bit of groundwork playing with Marti, the young Arab mare we have here for training. Marti was a bit wound-up, as she had spent 3 days locked in the yard, but she settled down, so Laurel and Nele could practise their longeing and leading skills with her.
So, here we go! Today is quiet, after everybody left for the airport, I am catching up on my email, and now will go over to Chris and give the Iceys and Marti a bit of training. Have a nice day all of you! Yvonne
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