"It was a good day for me. Carlos taught us to use one rein for control (and two for collection). I was able to use this technique with Willow to disengage his hindquarters and feel confident that I could manage scary situations."
Anna & Willow

•  Clinic  

So, do you know what your horse really thinks of you?

The easiest way to find out is by simply leading him (or her). If he walks over you or past you, the answer is – not much. But there is much you can learn to change what he thinks of you and improve the level of trust you have in each other.

That was just the foundation of what we worked on at the last clinic on 20 November 2005, which included horses between ages 3 and 9 and a spread of human handler skills as well.

By the end of the morning, our groundwork was sensational. Not only were we leading at a trot (and our horses were 'reading our feet') through a curtain of streamers, but our horses were yielding softly, giving to rope pressure, flexing and 'giving' us that little bit more. We were learning that how we moved around our horses had a big impact on the success of our desensitizing activities and developed enough trust so they were able to cope with the cracking of a stockwhip and scary bags and ropes all over their bodies.

After lunch we tackled control – in a flexible (and bitless) way. We built on the flex we had developed in our ground work to develop a one rein flex and stop at walk, trot and canter, which can be used to stop prevents problems from escalating and comes in handy for spooks. We also applied this one rein approach to speed control, while riding on a loose rein, and to prevent falling in or drifting out.

We topped it off with a bout of an Argentinian ring game, putting into play everything we had worked on, and more before a well-deserved feed for the horses and a hot coffee for the humans.

Marty (23 November 2005)