Adventures with Merrida!

Well- last night I had my first really challenging play with Merrida. I have been constantly doing little things to try to increase her emotional fitness as I know that is something I need with my horses. They travel with me, they have constant environmental changes, herd changes, etc etc. I really want horses that are confident, stable and relaxed emotionally. 

So! I often do little things to stretch her. There is a round pen near her pen, and adjacent to a small arena that is used for turnout. So I turned her out in the round pen and a young LBE that I have been riding for a client out in the small arena. They played over the fence and hung out while I walked Damo, and prepared feed, etc. 

Then I returned Jaden to his stall, but left Merrida in the round pen.... Knowing that this feeling of being "left" is tough for her. Sure enough she ran, and bucked and paced the fence. Recently while assisting at a Dave Ellis clinic he talked about what he says when a student asks him, "why do you allow the horse to do that?" He said, "that horse could literally do ANYTHING he wants right now, and he is choosing to do that. This is natural horsemanship.... I'm allowing him to do what feels natural." 

Now- there are often ways we can help horses to have the tools or the emotional stability to be able to just relax in situations that they are finding stressful. However! Not letting them experience this, is not the way! That's what Pat says is being an "avoid-a-holic." 

So- Merrida lost her marbles and ran around for a while. I continued to go about my business, then when she made a slightt change I went over to see if she would connect with me. It took her a little while, but she came over, then followed me to the middle of the round pen and allowed me to halter her. We had a great play on the 22'.

In the spirit of "observe, remember and compare," I now can see where she hadn't come ALL the way off the adrenaline, I didn't get a true blow out, or a shake or those other signs I should have looked for. And, she was connected and soft and focused. 

We have only had about 4 rides, all of witch have been very progressive, so I decided that last night I wanted to just remind her that this is going to be a journey about both of us... So I thought I would just sit on her, bend a little, maybe walk around, and then get off and we would be done. Who can see where my mind set had slipped back into a right-brain horse? Bad idea!! Lol! 

We have also been playing a lot with her "go" button, which has been pretty sticky. Turns out I have fixed that problem too! Last night we had PLENTY of go! And I unfortunately did not have the confidence to ride it! So we did some bending, and walking.... And a bit of hopping :). I focused on preserving my confidence, in balance with attempting to do the right thing by her... And we found a couple of good walk steps and a bend to a stop. Phew!! Never a dull moment! 

Next week she goes to Rhett Fincher for four rides over the holidays :)! So excited I have made this choice to invest in her and my relationship.... By making sure she has one of the best in the colt-starting business to help her through these pivotal first few real rides! 

2014/2015 Schedule!

Hey everyone!

Here is my schedule of clinics, workshops, lesson days between now and As far as I know! I have availability in most of my clinics and lots of flexibility to travel to places near by to where I am teaching during that time as well! So wouldn't you like to join me if I'm coming to an area near you!?

Please contact me if you are interested in  TRANSFORMING your horsemanship in the upcoming year.... Would love to help you achieve your dream and attend a clinic!

I also travel NATIONALLY AND INTERnationally, so contact me if you are interested in setting something up. I'm excited about creating a curriculum that fits with you, your horse and/or your group! 

Schedule- 2015

Jan 23-25 FreeStyle &Finesse Clinic w/ Ryan Pfouts (South Jordan, UT)

Jan 26 - Session 2 of Spotlight Series, Boulder, CO
Jan 29 - Private Lessons, South Jordan, UT (AM) Erda, UT (PM)

Jan 30 - Winter Inspiration #6 (South Jordan, UT)
Jan 31 - Private Lessons, South Jordan, UT

Feb 3 - Winter Inspiration #7 (Heber, UT)
Feb 5 - Private Lessons, Tooele, UT

Feb 6 - Winter Inspiration #8 (South Jordan, UT)

Feb 9 - Session 3 of Spotlight Series, Boulder, CO
Feb 11-18 - Lessons & Workshops, Northern California

Feb 20 - Private Lessons, Ramona, CA

Feb 21-22 - Ride Well Clinic, San Diego, CA

Feb 24 - Session 4 of Spotlight Series, Boulder, CO

Feb 26 - Winter Inspiration #9 (South Jordan, UT)

Feb 27-28 - Level 1 Clinic, South Jordan, UT

Mar 1 - Winter Inspiration #10 (Heber, UT)

Mar 3 - Session 5 of Spotlight Series, Boulder, CO
Mar 5 - Private Lessons, Tooele, UT

March 6-7 Level 1 Clinic South Jordan, UT
Mar 12 - Private Lessons, Tooele, UT

Mar 20-22- Utah Horse Expo, South Jordan, UT

March 27-28 Level 1 Clinic South Jordan, UT
April 9-11- Special Workshops on FEEL - South Jordan, UT
April 13 - Private Lessons, Albion, ID
April 14 - Private Lessons, Mountain Home, ID
April 15 - Private Lessons, Boise, ID

Apr 17-19 - Idaho State Horse Expo, Nampa, ID

April 24-26- 10 Qualities of a Horseman to Practice, Oregon City, OR

April 27- Private Lessons, Oregon City, OR

May 2-5- 10 Qualities of a Horseman to Practice Clinic, Reno, NV

May 22-25 - 10 Qualities of a Horseman to Practice Clinic, Belton, SC
June 5-7 - 10 Qualities of a Horseman to Practice Clinic, Mountain Home, ID

June 12-14 - Western States Horse Expo, Sacramento, CA

Sept 11 - 13 -Savvy Summit, Colorado

Nov 24-28 - Savvy Dunking with Carmen Smith, Adelaide, South Australia 

Hoof Handling: Developing Politeness and Confidence

I thought I would take a few moments to share some strategies that I have been playing with in order to develop my new horses politeness and tolerance with her Hoof Handling. Any of you that have studied with me, know the reverence that I place on positive behavior with hoof handling. Our horses feet are BOTH their mechanism for fight and for flight ... so the more polite, and confident they get with allowing us to take away their devices for safety the BETTER your relationship will get in every other way!

 So, just like with everything equine... the challenges that we have are one of two things... either we don't have enough respect, or we don't have enough rapport ... Its a confidence challenge or a dominance challenge ... or in our lingo ... its Right Brain, or its Left Brain.

To use another Pat'ism ... "Pressure motivates, and its the release that teaches." So with this, with hoof handling, the challenge is that sometimes horses pull their hoof away and then get a release, at the wrong time. So what can we do as horse trainers to help prevent that? Well here are some of my thoughts!

First of all... remember that safety is our NUMBER one priority in this program. Why is your carrot stick the length that it is? Well because that is about the same length as a horses hind leg. This means that you can safely play friendly game with your stick with out putting yourself in a dangerous situation. And that is the best place to start. Before you worry about picking up hooves, you need to be able to pet and rub all up and down them.

After that, here is the piece that I find some people forget, especially with young horses ... The first thing they have to be able to do, is stand with their weight on three feet for AT LEAST 60 seconds (I build my horses up to 5-10 minutes). Before I even worry about ME trying to hold their foot (plus I tend to try to follow Pat's Laziest horseman of the world idea ...) ... I use my carrot stick and savvy string around their leg, like below:

If they go to put their weight on the foot again I just slowing apply pressure with the stick and string until they take their weight off... We gradually build up the time they can maintain this:). And I do both the front feet and the hind.

Once this is going well, then I begin to pick the foot up, BUT I LEAVE THE STICK AND STRING AROUND THEIR LEG! That way ... if they begin to struggle to take their hoof away ... I don't struggle with them, I just retreat myself, and apply pressure with the stick and string so that they DO NOT GET A RELEASE for taking away their hoof. BUT I stay safe :), and I don't get into an argument.

This brings me back to the Confidence vs. Dominance conversation. Horses that lack confidence, need more friendly game ... horses that are bing dominant need more respect. Either way ... its the release that teaches them what the appropriate behavior is. And I find this a great technique to keep the "pressure" (aka, you need to not have your weight on this foot) .... on until you get the response that you would like!