Friday night we brought Cash and Tex to team sorting practice to try out Cash and see if we liked the way he moved at sorting. We're still trying him out to see if we want to buy him. He has one heck of a sweet disposition, and doesn't seem to have any mean bones in him. He's a little slow to move off, just like Tex, but he seems to know how to move correctly. He did OK at sorting, but he's so fat right now that it's hard for him to move fast at anything. I think he needs either a little work or a refresher course at moving when I say "move."
Saturday morning (after only about 4-5 hours of sleep) I got up and Tex and I drove 2.25 hours to Rayne, LA to Daniel Dauphin's horsemanship intermediate clinic. I've only been to one other horse clinic in my life with Taz, Josh's Arabian/Paint/Quarter Horse, back in 2008. That was an experience to say the least- a disastrous, discouraging one. That will have to be another story. So, I was a little nervous that my horse would be the greenest one at Daniel's clinic, and that I would be the worst rider there. I tried hard to set my expectations low so that I'd be nothing but pleased, and even called Daniel to warn him about us both being a little green.
We arrived just before start time, quickly saddled up, and got started. We began "the purposeful circle," energetically, symmetrically, and curvy moving around in a tight circle. I began by riding with the bosal. Tex was his normal self- not picking up his feet, not moving with energy, and leaning on my hands. Daniel immediately helped me address the sticky feet and leaning nose by increasing my level of energy I used to motivate Tex. I was probably asking him at a 2 energy level, when Tex needed a 4 or 5 to get motivated and finally move off of my spur.
We made a little progress there. Next we did the serpentine pattern, which was nothing but cones set up sort of like a pole bending pattern. We had to pretty much do half-circles around them, similar to pole bending but perfectly round instead of cutting in. Tex still was doing the same thing- heavy, heavy nose and feet. Daniel once again encouraged me to give stronger cues sooner. Pretty soon, (and unbelievably for me) Tex began moving off MUCH faster and lighter. I learned to pick up the reins and "pick up his shoulder" to help him figure out what I was wanting. Within the morning, he was paying attention the first time I asked him to go, paying attention to my spurs a little better, and moving much more fluidly without trying to stop every step or two.
We then added some counterbending (Daniel called it a counterarc) into our serpentine pattern. It wasn't easy, but we got the hang of it. By the end of the day on Saturday, Tex could move his shoulders over pretty willingly and quickly, and he was moving his feet more energetically than I've ever seen.
We later did the "hips first" in the serpentine pattern. Tex wasn't so good at that one. Perhaps that's because we've been working so hard to not let him move his hips, because he was so heavy on the front end. Regardless, he picked it up. He didn't do as well with that as the shoulers over.
Today we did the serpentine pattern round, with shoulders (counterbending), and with hips leading. We worked on departures, which are asking the horse to go from a stop to a lope in no time. Apparently I was a little overzealous with that one, because by the end of the activity Daniel told me that I may want to try to elicit that "going" response a little softer.
Tex earned the nickname "Mighty Mouse" and Daniel offered up to $85 for him. The price went up and down depending on his performance. Ha ha.
Some of my favorite quotes from the weekend:
"Your horse is giving you the finger. You need to tell her "No Ma'am."
"We can just go around stimulating each other's horses."
"A bit is only as harsh as the hands holding it."
"Most horses need to be asked a level 1, and progress to a 2 or 3. Your horse may need to start at a 4,5,6 level of energy to get him going." (by the end of the weekend, the 1,2 worked just fine, but the 4,5,6 moments made that happen.)
My confessions:
1. I'm a little bit competitive, and wanted to be the person who made the most progress this weekend.
2. I'm stinking proud of my little horse's progress this weekend.
3. My placement of my weight still pretty much sucks.
4. I tend to overcue with my reins and have too much slack.
5. As much as I try to convince myself that selling Tex is the wisest thing to do, I still don't want to do it. I was afraid that might happen after this weekend.
Some specific things I learned:
1. Pulling reins toward the horn brings a bend, whereas pulling reins outward is to cue a turn.
2. It's OK to put your leg onto the inside of a turn to get the ribs moving out and around your leg
3. How much to push Tex.
4. The faster I get firm with him, the faster he gets lighter about doing what I want.
5. My weight goes on the outside, driving the horse's ribs/shoulder/hips in the direction I want them to go.
6. My horse has a great stop. (I sort-of knew that, but haven't ever gotten it that consistently.)
7. My horse CAN move after all.
8. I needed to be SO much more aggressive with my feet- not forever, but for a little while.
9. A thin spur has less surface area, so it's harsher.
10. How to ask for my horse's hip to come over.
11. Counterbending is cued a lot by where your weight is.
12. I got a lot better with cuing with my reins.
13. The "purchase" is the part of a bit that's above the mouthpiece.
14. Some bits work on the palate of the horse's mouth! Ouch!
15. Photographers don't end up with very many good pictures of themselves.
When I got home and told the husband about all we had done and what I'd learned, he said "Sounds like I could've saved you the money if you'd just listened to me." I knew he would say that. But as most wives know, sometimes the people we're closest too are the people we're least willing to listen to or learn from. It really helped to have step-by-step instructions, visual obstacles, other people doing the activities, a set time to practice, and someone encouraging and correcting along the way.
This experience took Tex and myself further in two days than we would've gotten in four, maybe six, months of guesswork and simple circles in the arena. I'm so glad I went.
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