Post by frenchie on Mar 31, 2011 14:23:11 GMT
Kas and I had a great( if freezing! )couple of days up at KingdomHorse in Bromsgrove, Birmingham last weekend.
We met some really nice people including a young lady from just down the road to Kas!
Honza did not disappoint, we both came home full of enthusiasm and itching to work with our own horses. He encouraged relaxation throughout, also simplifying what we ask of the horse and to be observant and thankful for any tries from the horse to any new requests. He was very quick to stop people nagging, chasing, crowding or micro-managing their horses. When asking for something he always offered lightness first, but if this didn't get a response then went to what was effective, he said that this was something that would be different with each horse and you would need to work this out between you. He said it was important to have a clear intention of what you wanted, that it had to come from within or the horse would know!
This was put to good use in some leading work, both from the side and in front(facing) of the horse, in both walk and trot. (useful tip - when facing your horse with the intention of leading towards you have the rope short enough that you can touch the shoulder with the end of the stick, this means when casting the string it will reach the top of the horses rump!)
He worked on asking for lateral and vertical flexion on the ground in both walk and trot and this was then extended into asking for some shoulder-in.
(2nd useful tip - Honza got people to feel along the length of the shoulder blade, almost slipping the fingers underneath the bone, giving you a better idea of finding the spot on the shoulder that was most sensitive to an ask and also helping to free up any tight bits - this was gentley done and the horses seemed to enjoy it. )The hand could then be placed in the right spot to help in asking for the shoulder-in, this was demonstrated in both walk and trot.
A couple of people were leading their horses from the front on a shorter rein( but not pulling it forward) and moving the horses shoulder from one rein to the other in both walk and trot, one was a bit exuberant overtaking his owner, he suggested that she catch this before it became a problem, maybe just asking for a few good steps and saying 'thank you', or backing up a few steps and asking again.
I have since tried this exercise with my mature chap (he doesn't like the old word), and it worked very well with him, you do need to have good control of the shoulders but is a great suppling exercise and really gets the horse tuned in to you.
The ground work shoulder-in then developed onto a circle with the horses showing some beautifully soft and round outlines.
One young man was working his horse in trot shoulder-in(by the way don't trot yourself- you walk and horse trots!) and Honza suggested he gently tap the stick under the girth area to help elevate the front end, then allow the horse to flow onto a small cirle, soft and round but also up in front which he did beautifully.
Another young man worked his horse both days bridleless, he showed some pretty impressive stuff! he had obviously put a huge amount of work into his relationship with his horse and it certainly paid off. Honza was in particular trying to get him to do less with the two sticks he rode with he was quick to stop him micro-managing his horse as he felt he really didn't need to.
This paid off in some nice forward walk work, flowing into a little sideways, which before especially on one rein started to look stilted. Honza had observed that this wasn't the case when the horse was worked from the ground and didn't want the rider getting in the way of the horse when ridden, the rider was able to feel the difference in this and it obviously answered a few questions for him.
A young lady was looking to teach her horse canter changes and Honza had some interesting exercises to help prepare the horse and rider. He asked her to canter her horse in true canter and then ask for true canter again, he got her to call out when she was asking so he could see if the horse took a bigger stride at that point. When the horse was responding, he asked her to go into counter canter, then a simple change through walk to true canter then asking again for true canter looking for that bigger step each time she asked. Eventually they built up to asking for counter canter and then asking for a flying change to true canter. The preparatory work seemed to help the horse really understand what was being asked, however he did get a bit bunched and Honza suggested she do some work on 'western counter canter figure of eight' in other words it was long/low and quite fast! He said that this could upset things a bit so then just go back to something simple to get horse and rider confidence back to finish on a good note.
Another young man had a problem with his horse really tucking his head behind the vertical if he took up any contact on the reins. Honza had him riding on the buckle to encourage relaxation, then asking with the lightest of feels for lateral and vertical flexion without the horse disappearing behind the vertical, he said he would have to experiment with to find what the horse could tolerate
He also showed him very clearly and gentley how to lift his hands a little forward and up to encourage the horse to follow the contact rather than drop behind it, this seemed to work well for him and the horse looked much happier with it. He also encouraged the rider to work on his seat because he was tipping forward in the saddle and this was unbalancing his horse and contributing to the problem.
I am sure I have left out all sorts of important facts, if Kas sees any glaring ommissions I hope she will chip in! All in all we really enjoyed the clinic and from what I saw certainly blends along well with our Silversand work, however just like Steve, Honza tends to take the scenic route so might not be for everyone.
What I have taken from seeing Honza is to keep working for relaxation, which is so important to be able to come back to at any time and not to micro manage in otherwords no nagging your horse!
We met some really nice people including a young lady from just down the road to Kas!
Honza did not disappoint, we both came home full of enthusiasm and itching to work with our own horses. He encouraged relaxation throughout, also simplifying what we ask of the horse and to be observant and thankful for any tries from the horse to any new requests. He was very quick to stop people nagging, chasing, crowding or micro-managing their horses. When asking for something he always offered lightness first, but if this didn't get a response then went to what was effective, he said that this was something that would be different with each horse and you would need to work this out between you. He said it was important to have a clear intention of what you wanted, that it had to come from within or the horse would know!
This was put to good use in some leading work, both from the side and in front(facing) of the horse, in both walk and trot. (useful tip - when facing your horse with the intention of leading towards you have the rope short enough that you can touch the shoulder with the end of the stick, this means when casting the string it will reach the top of the horses rump!)
He worked on asking for lateral and vertical flexion on the ground in both walk and trot and this was then extended into asking for some shoulder-in.
(2nd useful tip - Honza got people to feel along the length of the shoulder blade, almost slipping the fingers underneath the bone, giving you a better idea of finding the spot on the shoulder that was most sensitive to an ask and also helping to free up any tight bits - this was gentley done and the horses seemed to enjoy it. )The hand could then be placed in the right spot to help in asking for the shoulder-in, this was demonstrated in both walk and trot.
A couple of people were leading their horses from the front on a shorter rein( but not pulling it forward) and moving the horses shoulder from one rein to the other in both walk and trot, one was a bit exuberant overtaking his owner, he suggested that she catch this before it became a problem, maybe just asking for a few good steps and saying 'thank you', or backing up a few steps and asking again.
I have since tried this exercise with my mature chap (he doesn't like the old word), and it worked very well with him, you do need to have good control of the shoulders but is a great suppling exercise and really gets the horse tuned in to you.
The ground work shoulder-in then developed onto a circle with the horses showing some beautifully soft and round outlines.
One young man was working his horse in trot shoulder-in(by the way don't trot yourself- you walk and horse trots!) and Honza suggested he gently tap the stick under the girth area to help elevate the front end, then allow the horse to flow onto a small cirle, soft and round but also up in front which he did beautifully.
Another young man worked his horse both days bridleless, he showed some pretty impressive stuff! he had obviously put a huge amount of work into his relationship with his horse and it certainly paid off. Honza was in particular trying to get him to do less with the two sticks he rode with he was quick to stop him micro-managing his horse as he felt he really didn't need to.
This paid off in some nice forward walk work, flowing into a little sideways, which before especially on one rein started to look stilted. Honza had observed that this wasn't the case when the horse was worked from the ground and didn't want the rider getting in the way of the horse when ridden, the rider was able to feel the difference in this and it obviously answered a few questions for him.
A young lady was looking to teach her horse canter changes and Honza had some interesting exercises to help prepare the horse and rider. He asked her to canter her horse in true canter and then ask for true canter again, he got her to call out when she was asking so he could see if the horse took a bigger stride at that point. When the horse was responding, he asked her to go into counter canter, then a simple change through walk to true canter then asking again for true canter looking for that bigger step each time she asked. Eventually they built up to asking for counter canter and then asking for a flying change to true canter. The preparatory work seemed to help the horse really understand what was being asked, however he did get a bit bunched and Honza suggested she do some work on 'western counter canter figure of eight' in other words it was long/low and quite fast! He said that this could upset things a bit so then just go back to something simple to get horse and rider confidence back to finish on a good note.
Another young man had a problem with his horse really tucking his head behind the vertical if he took up any contact on the reins. Honza had him riding on the buckle to encourage relaxation, then asking with the lightest of feels for lateral and vertical flexion without the horse disappearing behind the vertical, he said he would have to experiment with to find what the horse could tolerate
He also showed him very clearly and gentley how to lift his hands a little forward and up to encourage the horse to follow the contact rather than drop behind it, this seemed to work well for him and the horse looked much happier with it. He also encouraged the rider to work on his seat because he was tipping forward in the saddle and this was unbalancing his horse and contributing to the problem.
I am sure I have left out all sorts of important facts, if Kas sees any glaring ommissions I hope she will chip in! All in all we really enjoyed the clinic and from what I saw certainly blends along well with our Silversand work, however just like Steve, Honza tends to take the scenic route so might not be for everyone.
What I have taken from seeing Honza is to keep working for relaxation, which is so important to be able to come back to at any time and not to micro manage in otherwords no nagging your horse!
