Clinic Day 3

Today we started with a bit of theory and some safety tips, then Jonathan talked a bit about saddles and tack. We practiced saddling the fence until we got pretty good at setting the saddles gently. Then on to saddling our horses and once again practicing the groundwork exercises to see if they respond the same with their saddles on.

It was after lunch before we resaddled and mounted. Jonathan had said we would practice the same exercises in the saddle that we had practiced from the ground and sure enough we did.

None of his teaching was really very different from what we have learned from others. Thank goodness. If we had to start over teaching our horses completely new ways of doing things every time we went to study under a new person we would soon quit going to clinics. I am really looking for more “tools” for working with my horses and I find that different clinicians have different ways to express ideas and show us variations that give us more things to try when we do run into a stalemate or problem.

But riding by oneself does let one develop bad habits without even knowing it and it is really helpful to have someone remind you that your hands are out of position or help improve consistency. We all have different things we need help with and Jonathan was very good at noticing our learning opportunities and helping each of us out.

We all rode in halters instead of bridles. I have always ridden Keeper with a snaffle bit. It was interesting how much she noticed the lack of a bit and how much she was looking for it.

It was an interesting day. Nice and quiet. No scary moments. We have been working on our exercises at the walk and trot so haven’t had to deal with the “Will she or will she not do her burst ahead and fall down lope departure?”.  I still don’t quite understand why she thinks that is a good idea.

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