Thursday, April 21, 2011
SHV Clinic 3/6/11
Just thought I'd put this up if anyone found it interesting. I will say though that Greta has made a total turn-around and it certainly reflects under saddle! Still constantly updating though haha!
Janet Manley is a BHS II (British horse Society Level II instructor, for all you "yanks" haha) teaching at HyCourt Farm. She is awesome, and we have worked with her before we did this clinic. As you can tell, Greta has grown on her a bit!
At first I felt bad about disciplining her, but when I saw how happy and relaxed she looked and that she was no longer crawling all over me, I didn't feel so bad!
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Janet is spot-on about having Greta stay out of your space and getting you to be the leader. That will make a huge difference when you're working her under saddle too!
ReplyDeleteAlso, LOVE the comment about "I'm not very friendly, I'm British." Teehee!
This training is invaluable for making your horse a safe, upstanding citizen for you and others to handle. It irks me to no end when I lead a new horse and the animal wants to walk on top of me. I make it clear that this is not allowed. Even a gentle horse that crowds can hurt a human; we are very delicate compared to them!
ReplyDeleteWe all laughed when she said that!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think groundwork is super important. There's been a couple horses come and go at the bar who would bolt away from when you turned them out (you had to leave the halter lest you wanted the horse to jump on top of you) or do other unacceptable things. The former would take a while to untrain, yes, but I wish I could've spent some time retraining him. It was dangerous, even if it was his only fault!
Proper and fair discipline is healthy. No need to feel bad.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't feel bad about it anymore!
ReplyDeleteWell, obedient or not, Greta is the most beautifully loved horse I've ever seen. So obvious the way she'll pick on commands quickly from Janet and then stand her ground; then make the same response to you except as soon as she had performed as commanded, she comes right back to her bestest friend. Almost as if to say, "hey, I can do it, now gimme some love!"
ReplyDeleteAs others have mentioned, I love the "I'm not friendly, I'm British" comment! I'm not British, but I wish I had that excuse for not being friendly... I do have one that I borrowed from a political science professor I had long ago: "This is America... Arm's length! I should be able to spin in place with my arms wide without touching anyone."
ReplyDeleteI have some crowding issues with my thoroughbred. Obviously this is something we work on, but it's also difficult since it's kind of a confidence issue on his part. He likes to "hide" behind me when he gets nervous, and he likes to have a part of me in smelling distance at all times when we're walking. He's gotten a lot better (haven't gotten my foot stepped on in QUITE some time), but I took him on a tour of a local barn recently and he was quite a handful. The owner was trying to show me all of their amenities, but I was mostly distracted making sure my horse wasn't going to accidentally trample the owner (an already crippled looking old lady who seemed blissfully unaware of the gigantic giraffe attached to my lead rope).