A Review: Horsemanship Workshop

FEBRUARY’S HORSEMANSHIP WORKSHOP

The day started well before 6:00am. Lots of manual labor to prepare the riding area for the workshop, signs to be posted, horses fed, lesson plans reviewed, lunch prep (lunch was some darn tasty Ranch House Chili, cornbread muffins and some wonder side dish contributions) and registration set up. By the time the participants rolled in we already had a great workout!

Everyone gathered up and we went over the CONCEPT FOCUSES of the day:

• ·         “Be a Student!”
• ·         “Listen to LEARN, not just listen to REPLY.”
• ·         “Quiet Conversation.”
• ·         “Clarity, Patience and Release.”
• ·         “What you TOLERATE, you ENCOURAGE.”
• ·         “The Three C’s of Horsemanship = Communication, Control & Confidence.”
• ·         “Returning to Softness.”

Then, we all got to work.

The BIG FOCUS is always what the horses and the participants need the most. This “need” usually comes to light pretty quickly. In short order it became very clear that the humans needed real assistance with COMMUNICATION and being clear in what the “message” was to the horse. This is an area of horsemanship that seems to be overlooked by SO MANY horse-people. Even those “who understand” the concept seem to gloss over it or simply not clear in their communication and then “tolerate” the poor response from the horse. Yes, the struggle is real. We spent quite a bit of time on getting the COMMUNICATION clear while practicing C.P.R in the round pen before we moved on.

·         Everyone did the following in the Round Pen:

• ·         Practiced Body Language (Active and Passive).
• ·         Practiced Body Position to promote movement, stops and direction/gait changes.
• ·         Got a consistent gait and direction.
• ·         Got some semblance of “two eyes.”
• ·         Worked on lateral flexion and “changing sides.”

Then we moved on to lead line work which included:

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• ·         Respectful Lunging
• ·         Backing to Rhythmic and Steady Pressure
• ·         Hindquarter Yields with Rhythmic and Steady Pressure
• ·         Ground School Circles
• ·         Leadership Walk with Obstacles.
• ·         Worked on lateral flexion and “changing sides” again too.

Then…it was TIME TO EAT! Ranch House Chili, Cornbread Muffins, Salad and Apple – Cranberry Cobbler for dessert! We had coffee, two types of lemonade and water available too. Conversation and lots of laughter helped make the meal even better.

After lunch we saddled up! We covered the following exercises:

• ·         Lateral flexion.
• ·         Hindquarter Yields.
• ·         Backing with Softness
• ·         Introduction to the One Rein Stop
• ·         “Quiet Control”
• ·         Riding the 8.

Once everyone felt good about those exercises we took to the trail and obstacle course for some fun. We wrapped up with more one-on-one coaching to help with any challenges or questions that the participants had.

Folks had a FULL DAY filled with wins, discovered interesting things about their horsemanship, laughed, made friends and enjoyed good food and better fellowship. March 25^th is our next Horsemanship Workshop, We will be building on the skills learned in THIS workshop and will take things to a new level! Should, as always, be FUN!

CEARRA’S DAY – Miss C worked with a new person who was interested in possibly being her new Human. She got groomed by this person and tacked up when it was time. She hung out by the person’s trailer pretty calmly (she did investigate the trailer a little bit). The Human had some different ways of communicating (from what we do and demonstrated throughout the day) that took Cearra a few moments in the round pen to figure out (the Human also kept speaking over the instructor of the workshop several times which was not well received by the participants). Once Cearra got it things went well from our perspective. She performed all the exercises noted above. On the ground she did well, even when her Human was a bit unclear or a bit “loud”. This says –at least to us – that she has a willing spirit. Under saddle it appeared that things went well from our observations. There were two moments in our minds that stuck out as a “negative” though. Once was that the Human continued to insist that Cearra cross the large puddle while under saddle which we repeatedly said we had not yet done with her. She did cross it and stand in it when her person was on the ground but the unfamiliar (to her) Human insisting she cross the water made her unsure. To us, this is normal young horse behavior. So Ronan showed her it was all good and together they crossed the water twice. To us that is a win and you move on. The Human went back to the water again. Sigh. It got better but never got completed. Then Cearaa got a little grumpy with another mare who got REALLY close to her. She postured a threat to kick. This made the Human “nervous” and they decided to get off. Now, for us we would have simply moved Cearra out of the area and did some work to redirect the mind and energy. Seems this was not the Human’s solution. The person got off and rode another horse that they brought. Hmmn. This insistence to do something after a win instead of resting or doing something else and the “quitting in a less than good behavior” in the manner that was done, frankly, turned us off. We think Cearra did really well ALL DAY LONG with this new person but that this person is not the best fit. We are not expecting a call back. If it happens we will be surprised.

We were VERY PROUD of Cearra.

(Since this is Cearra’s journal we only have pictures of her in this post.)