Clinic Day 4

My brain is getting full. We have been given a nice selection of new resources to use when working with our horses.

When you draw that circle in the sand and decide to teach your horse to do various things while she stays out of your circle but you stay in it, you have to broaden your ability to communicate. It really was easier to just walk along with her backing up and moving to either side and asking her to get over. I had to develop a whole new language that included a stick and string to get it done from my circle.

I had a brief introduction to the stick and string some years ago but nobody showed me how well it could be used to reward the spot that it previously was used to move so it didn’t work that well for me. Now I want to practice even more with it so I can use it with accuracy and with exactly how much pressure or caress I want.

We had lots of little projects to practice on in the arena. While we were teaching them to step up to a mounting block that we were standing on or practicing one rein stops or teaching them “responsibility circles” the minutes sped away.

Jonathan had asked me a couple of times if I wanted to try loping and I realized I really didn’t want to. I really thought there was a problem that needed to be addressed before this old woman wanted to give it another try but I certainly didn’t hesitate to hand him the halter shank when he offered to give it a try. I have no doubt that he has more agility and skills than I and that she is much less likely to fall with him.

I was fully prepared to hear that Keeper’s lope departure problem was just a figment in this old woman’s imagination; I was really, really  happy when Jonathan told me he saw a problem too and that some further preparation on the ground would very likely be the safest route for me to go.

I was so grateful that he didn’t put more pressure on me to just go ahead and do it. I’m not sure it is always easy for young, strong men to know just how far to push old women who have became aware of the fact that to fall off (or to fall with) a horse anymore is much more traumatic and harder to recover from than it was when we were young and agile.  Being pressured into doing something I really felt was unsafe for me was my biggest fear of coming to this clinic.

It is no wonder Jonathan Field is so good with horses. Heck, he even understands women.

The drive home was filled with thoughts and emotions. It is quite an experience to really care about a horse – and to venture out in the search of new learning with the hope that you won’t lose anything that you have already worked so hard to achieve.

But in the end really it always comes down to learning more about yourself. To make a change in your horse, you have to make a change in you.

When we got home I turned Keeper out into a big pasture with her buddies. I was apprehensive about how she was going to greet me in the morning after being taken from her herd and exposed to a new environment with me changing some of the rules of our previous communication.

I went up to the end of the laneway and called. She  walked straight up. If anything she is even more interested in me. I might have to live to be 100  just to make it as a decent leader in my horse relationships but I do try hard and I’m lucky they are so forgiving.

I can see why there is so much interest in clinics. The many requests for help finding clinics and clinicians is why we started the new “Clinics” section on Northernhorse.com. That is our most requested addition to Northernhorse.com ever.

Now it is your turn. Let us know what clinics you take and perhaps a tidbit of what you learned. Just click on the “comments” link below and share your experiences and “little gems” with us.

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