Silversand report

[Karon]

My first ever Silversand clinic report Where do I start?

Things I learnt:

1. Don't take two horses.......
2. Take a chair!
3. If ignoring (1), stay in a B&B......
4. The A49 is incredibly boring to drive up and down 4 times on 4 days
5. The SAS had it in for us - loads of shooting going on, and more helicopters than were really necessary taking off and landing

More importantly, things I learnt with the horses are: don't pull; don't step back from them if they're walking into you - make them move themselves away; having a soft feel; how to get my energy up more effectively; don't just work in my comfort zone as I won't progress at all with them. I'm sure there's loads more that I'll remember as I type this!

Day one:

Working in the field where the horses' pens were, I got Shantih out first and left Rash in the pen watching. Shantih was over-excited and bounced out of the pen, tried to run me over and I spent a few minutes basically walking backwards away from her while she bounded around me generally being a pain. Steve took her off me, and she tried to flatten him too. I think she got a bit of a surprise when Steve didn't move back - there followed what seemed like ages but probably wasn't where Shantih kept trying to do what she wanted (ie, tank around, wound up completely) while Steve stopped her and tried to show her where she'd be comfortable (ie standing quietly, or moving her feet and yielding softly where he wanted her to go). I have never seen Shantih like this - probably because I work in my comfort zone with her all the time and don't ask for much from her. She was really having a go - trying to bite Steve, rearing a bit, and generally being pretty aggressive. She did start to calm down once she realised Steve wasn't going to let her have her own way, but had to keep her feet moving all the time otherwise she got stressed again.

Back to me, and I know now I still kept stepping backwards and not being effective enough in asking her to keep away from me, but I think I was starting to get it by the end of the morning session and was getting Shantih to yield to me a bit more - she was starting to settle and realise that if she was going to move her feet she had to do it my way, not hers. She was also very wary of the other horses so again, I took the easy way out and went off across the field - and was then brought back to work close to the others so Shantih started to get used to them around her. She has only just started hacking out with another horse, and is quite aggressive with her so I did expect her to be difficult, but over the 3 days having other horses working around her did make a huge difference.

Rash, meanwhile, not to be left out was taken out by Tricia who did a bit with her - I'm not sure what she was doing as I was concentrating on Shantih but was aware that Rash was being asked to do bits and seemed to be pretty well behaved.

We also worked on getting them to follow a feel, which after a lot of practise I was able to get the hang of with both of them - it was me who needed the work there, not them - and it did help me realise just how little pressure Shantih needed to get her to soften and yield. Too much and she got upset, her head came up and she rushed. I learnt a lot from her with the groundwork, particularly on being softer myself but also clearer and more consistent with what I'm asking (and how I ask them).

In the afternoon, it was indoors to do some ridden work, after some more ground work. Again, Shantih was quite excited and had to keep moving her feet - she caught on much more quickly that if she was soft and moved around as asked, she had an easier time and was better behaved this time. Rash was brought in to the indoor school too, so I think having her there settled Shantih more. I was nervous about getting on Shantih - how ridiculous, really, as I've done nothing but ride her while I've been out of work! Steve got on her, and she stood pretty well straight away - as if she thought "ah, this is what I normally do". Once I got on, she had to keep moving so I worked on trying to slow her walk down, counting the strides and stopping after 10, 9, 8 etc strides. Everyone else was working on walk 10 strides, back up 10, walk 9, back up 9 etc but Shantih was rushing back with her head up so rather than ruin what softness I had, I just concentrated on slowing the walk and getting a half-decent halt.

Incidentally, while Steve was holding her he got her doing a lovely piaffe in hand, as she just had to keep moving her feet!

Tiricia did some work with Rash, who was being very well behaved and then she held Shantih while I took over Rash. I didn't ride her but worked her in hand, doing hind quarter yields, getting her to move her front end and basically getting her listening to me. One thing I did notice was they both napped back to each other, so although I was working very much in our comfort zone they still weren't 100% with me.

By the end of Day One, Shantih was starting to settle down and would actually stand with her head low, without fussing. Rash couldn't care less, TBH - totally unconcerned with everything.

After the best part of 6 hours working them though, I was exhausted! They weren't, but they'd had to spend a lot more time thinking than I'd ask of them at home so I think mentally, they were quite tired. I was starting to get more of an idea of what Steve meant with some phrases and the movements we were asking the horses to do, too, so wasn't feeling quite so left behind as I was at the start of the day.

That's it for Day One - will start on Day Two in a bit! Someone remind me what I've missed out

[tazzle]

Wow you have done well to remember it all ...... I am still in oooeerrr I must write down some of this stuff while I remember it mode.... talked it through with friend kate which helped brain process it though.

I was working with taz while you were also working so only saw the bits where we stopped for a rest


considering all the distractions ( you forgot to add several of the livery equines having a hooley in the next field !!!!) and that the novelty of the situation for your two .... and that it was your first clinic

so thing no 6 ....... how to focus when alll around is noise and distraction

[Karon]

Oh yes, the youngsters going mental - I suppose we're a bit more used to that as I've been trying to work in the field when Sham and Ash have been, errrrrr, having a rather fun time Now that is distracting for the horses

[tazzle]

ah but these were different horses in a different environment

;D


oooooeeeeeeerrrrrr


just re read your post and realised just what was happening that was distracting

yes..... just a little !



not that I would be...... I was walking slowly up the field some years ago leading Taz on a loose rope when it sorta went slowly less slak then tight .. I heard laughing from people I was looking towards and when I looked bahind me Taz and a rather enamoured gelding were ....... ahem ... otherwise engaged

[Karon]

Day Two

Kas had a bright idea today as we were working indoors (what happened to summer??) - take Rash into the stables and leave her there beside another horse while I work Shantih, then leave her in over lunch ready to come out and do her turn. I was worried about leaving her - mine live out and she's not used to being in - but needlessly as it turned out as, once left alone, she stopped shouting and demolished a full net of hay

It did mean Shantih was more unsettled than the previous afternoon, as she didn't have her friend with her but it did her good I think. No napping towards Rash, for one thing

Groundwork was starting off where we were on the previous day, and getting her to yield her forehand to a feel which I found hard to get right on my timing. Plus Shantih kept turning her quarters towards me, rather than pivoting on the outside hind. I got a few good steps (not all at once!) which I was pleased with - this was a good exercise for my timing as much as anything. And, with something different to think about, Shantih settled down quite quickly this time. By the end of the groundwork, she was actually standing quietly I think this was also where we started working on getting her to yield her forehand from energy/suggestion once she'd got it from a feel which, again, I found hard to do initially but we were starting to get the hang of it after a while.

This time I wasn't so nervous about getting on her - she was much calmer, head lower, thinking and listening to me - and she didn't try to rush off straight away. On day one Steve had said about doing 10 good bends to each side before setting off, which I tried this time (no chance the day before as Shantih would have just gone up, I think) and I found that she really can be nice and soft particularly to the left. Again, once moving I worked on counting her strides and slowing her down, and as she was much more responsive this time Steve had us working with hindquarter yields, step back and move the forehand round which gave Shantih more to think about, too. With something to occupy her mind, she started to settle more with the two other horses in the school (Taz and a pony) and although she was still pulling faces, I felt most of the time that she wasn't going to follow through with teeth bared.

I was also working on getting a nice soft bend on circles - a reasonable walk without her rushing off with her head up and just gently bumping the rein with each stride to get her to bring her nose in and bend her neck without tension. To the left rein she was pretty good at this and I was able to bring in the quarter/forehand yields to change direction, too, without getting her tense and shortening her frame. To the right rein she was stiffer but, considering sometimes at home I can't even get her to go to the right for more than a few strides, the circling we were doing was a huge improvement on our home sessions.

I think that was more or less it for Shantih for the second day, the main thing was she started the day in a completely different place to where she left off on day one - a much calmer horse who was in the right frame of mind to start working straight away.

Rash's turn in the afternoon, and again on the groundwork I was working with the same sort of thing and trying to get her nice and soft. I was starting, I think, to get the idea of pushing her round rather than pulling but don't think I got it that well until day three and I know it's something I'm really going to have to concentrate on.,

Another thing I remember - don't release on a brace, always release on a yield or a try. It's something I know, but have to consciously think about or I forget and start just thinking "oh that'll do" when it really isn't a good time to release.

I was worried about getting on Rash on day two, as she came into the school shouting a lot and bouncing a bit (proving she really is alive!) and although she calmed down with the groundwork, I wasn't sure she'd stay that way with me on board. So Steve got on her for me first, and was doing some bending with her, then rode her round for a while doing hindquarter yields and some rein back. Being so green she struggled with these but was trying really hard.

Then it was my turn, it was the first time even that I'd got on her from a normal height mounting block as my one at home means I can almost just step onto her! So that was the first slight panic - needless to say she just stood there without batting an eyelid I tried to just walk round with her, doing some yielding and trying to get the feel of her moving her quarters. Mostly she just shuffled round but I had the odd good step, I think - certainly her walk was starting to go forwards a bit more and I was getting her going in the directions I wanted rather than, as we have been doing at home, wandering about with no real aim. She did start to get tired after about half an hour of me riding her and started to resist, backing up and putting her head down - nothing drastic but Steve said it would be a good time to get off. I don't think there's a problem there, just that I've only been riding her for 15 - 20 minutes at a time at most and that ridden session was getting on for an hour.

We stood by the wall quietly for about an hour after that, watching the others working which was very interesting, especially as they were far more advanced than we are so it's good to have an idea of where others are having problems and what they want to work on. Rash stood nicely, but with hindsight perhaps I should have taken her back to the field then come back to the school to watch. However she was fine, and I did think perhaps I'll have another walk round but decided not to as Steve was working one of the others and I didn't want to get in the way or start having issues. Anyway Rash has done enough, really.

Day three

Again Shantih was first - my transport was supposed to arrive just after 5 so I thought it best to do a short session with Rash in the afternoon, so I'd have them ready (as it turned out, transport didn't arrive till 6 anyway!). We did the same thing with Rash in the stable while Shantih worked, and she shut up quite quickly this time. It helped that I wasn't worried about leaving her either

We were working on the forehand/quarter yield to change direction more today, trying to push Shantih round/show her where I wanted to go rather than pulling which I know I was doing. When Steve explained how to guide the horse, rather than holding your arm out and pulling on the rope, I then tried to work on that and think I sort of got it - not consistently though which I know I have to carry on working on. With practise, Shantih was starting to get the forehand yields (something I've really struggled with at home with her) and doing them nicely and she was positively light and dancing round compared to a couple of days ago. Then she started anticipating what I was going to ask, so Steve got me changing what I was asking - instead of a change of direction every time, do a forehand yield then go back the way we were. That kept Shantih wondering what on earth I was going to ask her next which really helped.

She was calm again today, I honestly can't believe the difference in her after just 2 days. I know she doesn't get that worked up at home anyway, but if ever I do find myself in a situation where she's starting to lose it I know how to get control of her feet and get into her mind. Another thing that was a constant theme of the 3 days, that - get to the mind to get to the feet and vice versa. The reverse of that was really shown with Shantih when, keeping her feet moving, she finally started to come back down to earth.

Riding, she was rather livelier than the previous day and, instead of trying to do 10 good flexes to each side I just had to let her keep moving her feet for about 5 - 10 minutes. Then I was able to persuade her to stand still and soften to my request that she flexed. I was trying to get her to bring her nose round, as she will do a good impression of turning her neck inside out while still turning it in the direction I've asked! She was getting better at that, and it's something I'm going to have to remember to do at home rather than get on and let her wander off. Dreadful habit, that, and one I am going to break now - it's just sheer laziness on my part not making her stand and wait anyway and having the flexing to do will give her a reason for standing.

Once I got that, I tried working on much the same things as the past two days - circling with her nose to the inside and a soft neck, me not pulling back (I was doing it again ), yielding quarters and forehand and I also started doing the 10 strides, 10 strides of rein back, 9 strides forwards, etc this time as she was getting softer and more responsive. Trying not to have her shortening her frame and raising her head, but keeping her head low while she went backwards was my main aim - difficult on her as her natural tendency is to get shorter and shorter but I think I managed a few decent strides of rein back. One thing that I did have to try to remember was not just to do the 10/9/8 strides backwards but to make sure she's doing it in the right outline so I did carry on past the number of strides to make sure I finished on a good(ish) note.

I think that's the main things we covered, which don't sound like much (wish I'd got Shantih on video the first day, then it would be more obvious just how far we got!) but she was starting to keep in a nice outline, head lowered, not leaning, me not pulling (too much....), and in tune with each other far more than 2 days previously. Mainly the focus was on keeping the energy down - I don't think getting her energy up again is ever going to be a problem with her - so she was able to move wherever I asked without a fight and without me getting run over (groundwork) or run off with (ridden).

I'm so pleased with Shantih I've got loads to work on with her and one huge thing I learnt was not just to stay in my comfort zone but to work her in other places (and with other horses too if I can find someone to work with) - so I will now go and use the little school my YO has (20m x 20m so not too bad) rather than thinking "Oh, I can't ride her in there, she'll go daft". I have tools to deal with her energy and to bring it down to a controllable level now, so not only can we do more with our hacking out but I can actually school her

Day three afternoon, and Rash's turn still in the indoor school.

She was a lot less shouty this time, a couple of yells and me moving her around a bit and she shut up which was good One thing that did make working her easy was she wasn't bothered at all about the other horses even when they were right up beside her - so much easier than Shantih!

Similar groundwork with Rash to start with, then Steve decided to make life difficult First, two poles on the ground (just right for me to fall over.....!) - I had to stay one side, get Rash to walk the other side, yield quarters to stop then move forehand over to change direction without stepping over the poles or past the end of them. Harder than it sounds I think I more or less got it right after a few goes - trying so hard not to pull but to show her the way and push her over rather than pull on the halter. Then, once we'd mastered that (oh, OK, once I had mastered it!) Steve set up two cones (complete with flowers in one!!) a short distance apart for me to get Rash doing a figure of eight between. While I was still behind the poles

I could not see a way of doing it - to start with I was trying to get her to go away from me to turn which, once I was shown the right way, was just so obviously wrong I could have kicked myself! I blame all the driving for frying my brain The idea was to bring her towards me past the first one then send her away from me to get round the second one, yield her quarters to stop and turn then go back the other way. That was really hard, but eventually we got it (I'm sure Rash just cottoned on to what I was asking ) and she did some good figure eights

Then back to riding, and this time I was positively looking forward to getting on her I got some half decent flexing from her, she's pretty stiff so I was mainly getting her nose round without tension in her neck - not sure I got the flexing at C1 but I'll work on that. I can get it on Ash easily (poor Ash is going to get practised on ) so I know what I'm aiming for having had a couple of goes with Ash in hand

This time, I worked on getting Rash's walk going forwards more without putting in too many HQ yields but still doing a few - she got a half decent walk going for quite a lot of the time, and I was to gently bump on the rein - outwards not pulling back (my bad habit) to get her to turn her nose in. Once I got my timing right - again something I can practise with Ash and on Shantih - she was starting to have a good bend on each rein, still keeping a reasonable walk going. To start with the walk wasn't gong anywhere, but Steve pointed out I'm pulling back to get her to turn and that's stopping her - not unreasonably she sees the pulling back as me telling her to stop - hence me bumping the rein outwards Then we had to do a figure 8 between two cones under saddle, doing a HQ yield to stop at each end and FQ yield to bring her round - a couple of times she felt as if she was starting to flow round and actually move her back legs under her, crossing them over correctly. Not much, again, compared to what the others were doing but bear in mind how little work Rash has had and how I was having trouble getting her moving at all.

Then I just walked her round for a while, by now I'd done about 45 minutes with her and was just thinking perhaps it was time to quit (she'd done nearly 2 hours groundwork and ridden in total by then, of course with a lot of breaks) as she was starting to get tired. She did start to dip a bit, and resist, so I walked her on for a short way then finished on that.

Once she was back in the field I was able to watch the last hour or so of the other two working - the first chance I'd really had to watch without worrying what my horse was doing!! It was good that the transport wasn't going to arrive till 6 as it not only gave me time to get the horses sorted but I could also watch the others a bit.

Overall, I'm so pleased with how my two girls were - and the compliments they were getting (especially Rash!) has made my year I hadn't really got a clue what to expect with the clinic, despite watching last year, and am very glad I went. Of course, if I get a place on next year's clinic I have to decide which one to take..... I do think they have improved in huge leaps over just 3 days - as have I - and the changes in them both are enormous. Shantih in particular became a different horse over the clinic, and although she'll always have that aggressive edge to her I can handle it now (it's more with other horses anyway, she doesn't do anything towards me). I have tools to cope with her when she gets overexcited, and to get her feet moving so I can start to get her listening to me.

With Rash, I know now that she can walk out better without losing her balance or getting excited and I can work from there to start to control the walk speed - up as well as down - before I start to trot her. Steve also said to take her out and about away from traffic (easy near us, we can ride for hours without seeing a car anyway and have 4 bridleways within half a mile of the yard so I can lead to them then get on and ride her out a bit) to give her something interesting to do. That way I think the faster walk will come on, too.

I'm sure I've forgotten stuff that we did, but hope I can remember it all when I come to do some work with them!

I'm totally, utterly worn out - the hour and a quarter drive to Hereford and then home again in the evening each day was as hard as the clinic I think - but I would do it again tomorrow. As long as I'm staying there overnight I could certainly have done with a 5 day course instead of 3!

Massive thanks to Kas for organising it (and for lunch ) and to Laura (Tazzle) for all your help, too - I had help from several people so I could cope with two horses there which did make the overall experience easier to handle, too.

That's it, I'm off to sleep now

[Karon]

Jul 17, 2010 9:48:53 GMT tazzle said:

ah but these were different horses in a different environment

;D


oooooeeeeeeerrrrrr


just re read your post and realised just what was happening that was distracting

yes..... just a little !



not that I would be...... I was walking slowly up the field some years ago leading Taz on a loose rope when it sorta went slowly less slak then tight .. I heard laughing from people I was looking towards and when I looked bahind me Taz and a rather enamoured gelding were ....... ahem ... otherwise engaged

PMSL! I would never have believes such behaviour from Taz

Oooh, incidentally, Ash was due back in season yesterday and so far, nothing Fingers crossed she's not just late...... And Shef has still shown no signs of being in season, although I think she's probably just thinking "I'm having nothing to do with that bay thing again" rather than being in foal

[Karon]

Just thought of another thing - to stop me pulling back, just using one finger under the rein to get Shantih to turn. That worked really well and made me concentrate on what my hand was doing so I wasn't pulling

[jennyb]

Sounds like you had a fab time with your neddies and learned loads, well done!

Re the comfort zone thing, Francois has a nice phrase which sums this up. When doing something new, you try it and he says "Today, that was your best. Tomorrow, it will be your worst!" Nicely sums the need to constantly ask a little more from our horses. "Ask a lot, accept a little, reward lavishly."

[Karon]

Thanks Jenny I like those two phrases, and the first is very true of our work at the clinic.

[breakfast]

Great write-up, thanks Karon!

[beksnjake]

Lovely write up karon - sounds like you had a fantastic time. It is really tiring - all the mental and physical energy! I think you were brilliant working 2 horses - I'm shattered just working Jake at a clinic and I stay there!

[Karon]

LOL, I was so worried about how I'd cope but in the end I had such a great time that I wasn't half as tired as I thought I'd be. I was on Friday when I had a chance to relax but didn't think about it too much during the clinic. But that drive is soooooo boring

[el]

thanks for the writeup, sounds like you got on great.

[nicxf]

cor; a really thorough write-up. Well done for remembering so much - it sounds like you had an exhausting, though productive, time.

[louisec]

It's a shame you couldn't stay nearer - but sounds like you had a great time - fantastic write up!