It is good to be back home again after another short trip to the USA. Lola and I both agree that the highlight of the trip was without a doubt riding in the Buck Brannaman clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado. For me it confirmed that combining an excellent foundation in horsemanship with classical principles in mind is the way I want to develop my horses.
Amongst the many things covered in the clinic I was reminded of the importance of riding with your seat/legs and then reins right from the first ride. Having the horse understand your seat and leg aids and the horse following through with the correct movement for what you were asking; so that is the right bend, flexion, speed etc. This is opposed to having the horse travel in the general direction of travel often causing them to brace mentally and physically and which is often seen when people ride without reins. Of course what we ask with our seat/legs and what is the appropriate response has to be in line with the horses level of training. In saying that nothing works in isolation so the reins are not excluded from this picture, they are just not the focus.
So needless to say I have been having some fun this week riding horses at all different levels refining my seat/leg connection and developing my horses so they are soft and with me from the first step.
focusing on seat connection. Always important to revisit...
These are 2 little Spanish horses that I have started recently. Arte the bay was born here and has had about 20 rides. He is understading basic aids well and is confident and happy to walk, trot and canter under saddle. Tea has had about 6mths work over the last year or so and is coming along very nicely. She is confident with the rider and what is being asked of her; she is becoming balanced mentally and physically. I always enjoy working with young horses and finding the right balance for each individual horse to make sure they develop confidence and trust in the human while developing the skills they need for a solid foundation as a riding horse. I am looking forward to taking them out and about over the next few months and expanding their horizons!
Andalusian gelding with 20 rides under saddle
Tea Spanish mare after 6 months work finding mental and physical balance with the rider
Many of these beautiful photos were taken by Claudia Bietz
Photos from the 6 day clinic at Barroco Andalusians, Dalgety NSW October 2014. It was a huge 6 days with a lot of hard work, a load of fun and fabulous outcomes for everyone! We had such great feedback that we are doing another 6 day clinic over Easter 2014 at Banyandah, Naturally Holwong, NSW and again in October 2014 at Barroco Andalusians Dalgety, NSW. Please contact us for more information.
I have been enjoying putting together timelines for each of my horses to specifically following their training progress. The first is Snippet my TB/arabian/warmblood 15.2hh mare with a big personality; she was once described to me as being stubborn with a dry sense of humour. Snippet has always been more willing in her groundwork than under sadddle where she objected to any aids from the rider. A big part of the training process for her has been ensuring that she understood to relax to pressure through yields. With this has come the confidence and self carriage necessary to working in the arena successfully. It is exciting for me to see her really start to relax, trust and enjoy her training.
While we certainly went to the US to ski it was fun to take some time to catch up with fellow student from the 10 week dressage, naturally clinic in 2010 and horse trainer Shelley Candelario. I was fortunate to meet some of her students and learn from Shelley, we visited some amazing horses properties and even played with a few beautiful horses. I feel really lucky to have such a good friend who lives in a beautiful part of the country, Humboldt County. Above are a few of pictures from our travels.
Photos of Tea taken in January 2013 So here I sit in California cooped up in our apartment with a nasty cold. The upside is that I am going through the hundreds of photos of our horses that we have taken over the last few years with the goal of being able to track their […]
This is a short video of Rowley and myself playing with developing our groundwork. I am trying to keep a short progress video of the horses as their training continues and in this one I was so happy with how hard he is trying and how happily he interacts with me I thought I would […]
