Post by kas on Sept 6, 2010 19:17:29 GMT
We can add photos later as people download them. 
At the start of Day 1 Steve asked us all what our goals were. I was just very pleased to have my horse at the clinic and to be looking forward to being able to ride. I was hoping that he’d cope with the environment and that we could just have time being out with other horses and friends. At home we’d been doing some quite nice work with soft lateral flexion, and a little bit of lateral work, but my backup had gone a bit haywire, so I was interested in looking at vertical flexion. Also, trying out a bosal. I needed to look at vertical flexion, backup and shifting balance before I could even start to think about lightness. Steve and I agreed that we weren’t intending on pushing Celebrity too hard physically, because he hadn’t done a lot of work so he wasn’t really fit enough for that. Also, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to work any faster than a walk as my dodgy knee still needed to be treated with care.
In the field, it soon became apparent that everything changed for little Celeb when he was surrounded by other horses. He lost all his lateral flexion, and instead of pivoting at C1 and curving his head softly, he was twisting his head and tense. Steve did some slow work on-line with him, showing how instead of trying to ask him to flex while he was working on a circle, I might just stop him as soon as he started to twist and then set him off again. This started to work for Steve, but he felt that Celeb was going to need quite a lot of help with this. I tried, but couldn’t quite get the timing right. So I tried some simple walk work, dropping back a little to encourage Celeb to soften towards me, and a little lateral walk work asking him to step across with finger pressure on his side. It wasn’t great, so I didn’t push it, there’s no point in practising bad lateral work without proper flexion. All of this works fine at home, but was very hard for him in the field with company. We finished up with some simple ridden work at a walk, just steering him around with an open rein and trying to help him to get used to the environment.
Day 2
We did some more in the field with the other horses. This time I asked Celeb if he could give me soft lateral bend to take a piece of apple from my hand. He couldn’t. It seems there is a lot going on in his head when he finds himself in a big grassy field with some other horses. Remembering back to his first reaction in that situation, he is much improved. At least he no longer runs about madly wondering which show pose is required of him, but obviously some of that feeling remains. When the time came to ride, Ben helped me to fit Celeb up with his bosal, and we tried riding in that. Celeb could definitely feel a difference, and it helped him to flex down from C1, we also started to see some softer and more relaxed lateral flexion. Ben had a little ride as well, and agreed that things did feel a bit more promising. However, I’m not in the market for a good quality bosal at the moment, so next day we’d go back to the bridle.
Day 3
Having slept on things, I had a feeling that not only was Celeb feeling tense about the environment, but also I sensed that my position wasn’t as it used to be before the operation. I wondered if that was also restricting his movement when I was riding. Lou was going to have a session with Karen in the arena, so that she could do some fancy stuff with the wonderful Sheik, so I asked if I could join them. Celeb had been very happy in the arena at Tom’s clinic in May, but then he’d been there alone, or with just one other horse.
Immediately things were different. I could ride around without Celeb getting tense, and could start to ask him to flex softly to the side, without putting weight into my hands. It was a much nicer picture, and Celeb was visibly happier. Then Karen gave me a little session on my position. She confirmed that my thighs were tight and so were my hips, in fact most of my body was tight. She worked on helping me to relax my legs, stretch down through the back of my calves and into my heels. Think “up and forward” and allow my hips to widen (excruciating at first!). I rode around a bit with my feet out of the stirrups, and every time Karen reminded me “up” I relaxed up and forward and Celeb moved more freely. He could then start to give a little soft bend. With my stirrup leathers 3 HOLES longer I rode down through the big field with Lou and Small to join the others. Who would have thought a year ago that Celeb would be able to confidently stride out ahead across that open space? Brilliant.
In the field Steve showed me to ask Celeb to flex with the tiniest of give and takes on the reins, just a tiny flex of my little finger, and to relax when I could just see a tiny bit of his eye. That worked. So we rode straight lines asking for tiny flexes left and right, then relaxed riding round using an open rein. A much more heartening day.
Day 4
We started off in the field with the group, but immediately Celeb was tense and “twisty”, so Lou and I went back up the hill for a play in the arena. As before, this really helped, and at last some of the soft work that we’d seen on Tom’s clinics when Celeb was alone started to return. Just to check if all this slow stuff would lose us our “forwards” I went for a bit of a trot, then a canter. I couldn’t balance myself well as I felt as if my knee had lost it’s shock absorbers, but we certainly proved that losing forwards was the least of my worries! We rode back down the hill to join the group.
Again, the session in the school had helped Celeb to settle. The group were working on some great stuff, but we weren’t ready for that, so I concentrated on “up and forward” and finally we started to see some glimpses of “soft” in company. (“Light” will have to wait for later). I also had some impressive results in slowing and speeding the walk without using the reins, although we were a bit easily influenced if an interesting horse came near… We did some work on consistency in maintaining gait and speed, by asking Celeb to go forward with my leg, but not working my leg too hard to constantly nag him, rather flapping my string around my body when he slowed, and slowing him from the leg when he rushed. When I decided he was tired because he wasn’t speeding up going downhill I called a very happy end to proceedings. Then, on the way back to the pen I realised I had been very dense, because he had stopped speeding up downhill because… he was maintaining his gait and speed. Duh. Brilliant Celeb.
So, some lessons learnt, mainly about just keeping trying different things until I find the right solution for the individual horse. Something that is key in the way Steve teaches, but very hard for us to process sometimes, as it means that we don't always have the answers set out for us. Also, a big one about how much our bodies influence and sometimes restrict what our horses can do. None of us can be perfect, but it's something to be aware of. Karen's Alexander work was invaluable with this. Probably lots of other things that I'll think of and add later!
Best quotes from Steve that I will treasure from this clinic:
“I try not to say things like this but… your horse is so darn cute Karen!”.
“You were doing some good work out there”.
At the start of Day 1 Steve asked us all what our goals were. I was just very pleased to have my horse at the clinic and to be looking forward to being able to ride. I was hoping that he’d cope with the environment and that we could just have time being out with other horses and friends. At home we’d been doing some quite nice work with soft lateral flexion, and a little bit of lateral work, but my backup had gone a bit haywire, so I was interested in looking at vertical flexion. Also, trying out a bosal. I needed to look at vertical flexion, backup and shifting balance before I could even start to think about lightness. Steve and I agreed that we weren’t intending on pushing Celebrity too hard physically, because he hadn’t done a lot of work so he wasn’t really fit enough for that. Also, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to work any faster than a walk as my dodgy knee still needed to be treated with care.
In the field, it soon became apparent that everything changed for little Celeb when he was surrounded by other horses. He lost all his lateral flexion, and instead of pivoting at C1 and curving his head softly, he was twisting his head and tense. Steve did some slow work on-line with him, showing how instead of trying to ask him to flex while he was working on a circle, I might just stop him as soon as he started to twist and then set him off again. This started to work for Steve, but he felt that Celeb was going to need quite a lot of help with this. I tried, but couldn’t quite get the timing right. So I tried some simple walk work, dropping back a little to encourage Celeb to soften towards me, and a little lateral walk work asking him to step across with finger pressure on his side. It wasn’t great, so I didn’t push it, there’s no point in practising bad lateral work without proper flexion. All of this works fine at home, but was very hard for him in the field with company. We finished up with some simple ridden work at a walk, just steering him around with an open rein and trying to help him to get used to the environment.
Day 2
We did some more in the field with the other horses. This time I asked Celeb if he could give me soft lateral bend to take a piece of apple from my hand. He couldn’t. It seems there is a lot going on in his head when he finds himself in a big grassy field with some other horses. Remembering back to his first reaction in that situation, he is much improved. At least he no longer runs about madly wondering which show pose is required of him, but obviously some of that feeling remains. When the time came to ride, Ben helped me to fit Celeb up with his bosal, and we tried riding in that. Celeb could definitely feel a difference, and it helped him to flex down from C1, we also started to see some softer and more relaxed lateral flexion. Ben had a little ride as well, and agreed that things did feel a bit more promising. However, I’m not in the market for a good quality bosal at the moment, so next day we’d go back to the bridle.
Day 3
Having slept on things, I had a feeling that not only was Celeb feeling tense about the environment, but also I sensed that my position wasn’t as it used to be before the operation. I wondered if that was also restricting his movement when I was riding. Lou was going to have a session with Karen in the arena, so that she could do some fancy stuff with the wonderful Sheik, so I asked if I could join them. Celeb had been very happy in the arena at Tom’s clinic in May, but then he’d been there alone, or with just one other horse.
Immediately things were different. I could ride around without Celeb getting tense, and could start to ask him to flex softly to the side, without putting weight into my hands. It was a much nicer picture, and Celeb was visibly happier. Then Karen gave me a little session on my position. She confirmed that my thighs were tight and so were my hips, in fact most of my body was tight. She worked on helping me to relax my legs, stretch down through the back of my calves and into my heels. Think “up and forward” and allow my hips to widen (excruciating at first!). I rode around a bit with my feet out of the stirrups, and every time Karen reminded me “up” I relaxed up and forward and Celeb moved more freely. He could then start to give a little soft bend. With my stirrup leathers 3 HOLES longer I rode down through the big field with Lou and Small to join the others. Who would have thought a year ago that Celeb would be able to confidently stride out ahead across that open space? Brilliant.
In the field Steve showed me to ask Celeb to flex with the tiniest of give and takes on the reins, just a tiny flex of my little finger, and to relax when I could just see a tiny bit of his eye. That worked. So we rode straight lines asking for tiny flexes left and right, then relaxed riding round using an open rein. A much more heartening day.
Day 4
We started off in the field with the group, but immediately Celeb was tense and “twisty”, so Lou and I went back up the hill for a play in the arena. As before, this really helped, and at last some of the soft work that we’d seen on Tom’s clinics when Celeb was alone started to return. Just to check if all this slow stuff would lose us our “forwards” I went for a bit of a trot, then a canter. I couldn’t balance myself well as I felt as if my knee had lost it’s shock absorbers, but we certainly proved that losing forwards was the least of my worries! We rode back down the hill to join the group.
Again, the session in the school had helped Celeb to settle. The group were working on some great stuff, but we weren’t ready for that, so I concentrated on “up and forward” and finally we started to see some glimpses of “soft” in company. (“Light” will have to wait for later). I also had some impressive results in slowing and speeding the walk without using the reins, although we were a bit easily influenced if an interesting horse came near… We did some work on consistency in maintaining gait and speed, by asking Celeb to go forward with my leg, but not working my leg too hard to constantly nag him, rather flapping my string around my body when he slowed, and slowing him from the leg when he rushed. When I decided he was tired because he wasn’t speeding up going downhill I called a very happy end to proceedings. Then, on the way back to the pen I realised I had been very dense, because he had stopped speeding up downhill because… he was maintaining his gait and speed. Duh. Brilliant Celeb.
So, some lessons learnt, mainly about just keeping trying different things until I find the right solution for the individual horse. Something that is key in the way Steve teaches, but very hard for us to process sometimes, as it means that we don't always have the answers set out for us. Also, a big one about how much our bodies influence and sometimes restrict what our horses can do. None of us can be perfect, but it's something to be aware of. Karen's Alexander work was invaluable with this. Probably lots of other things that I'll think of and add later!
Best quotes from Steve that I will treasure from this clinic:
“I try not to say things like this but… your horse is so darn cute Karen!”.
“You were doing some good work out there”.
AND HUGE THANKS to madcatlady for her fab place again.
....... Thats what I like about cliics like steves........ you might discuss objectives like x and Y each morning but its not obligatory to stick to them if you find out what you actually need to do is Z ;D