Excited! Going to a clinic!

Oh, sounds like fun.

Now if possible get someone to man the camera!

Enjoy and once home if no one took photos while at the clinic you can do them and present your accomplishments...


...I'll settle for this right now.
I actually slid off my saddle yesterday morning...
Pants I was wearing are so slippery horse went one direction and I did a ungraceful dismount {not hurt} laughed so hard at his expression...
NEVER will I wear those pants riding again...

That sounds like a lot of fun. i love teaching my horses things that help bond and make them more fun to be around. i taught my stallion to fetch a stick. brush my hair when i was grooming him. and to bow. and yawn on command.

oh and he was an arabian stallion that is supposed to be all fire with eyes wide and glaring. lol smileys-dogs-642861   

Slippery pants!  Hey, I am totally paranoid about that.  It may be funny now but hey, that ground is hard!!!
I taught Peaches how to (kinda) play soccer.  It involves a lot of corn   It is a really good way to bond and relate to the horse on a more one-to-one basis, like there are less herd dynamics involved or something.  Maybe its only because the safety pressure isn't so pervasive.  A friend of mine taught her horse to play basket ball, it is so darn cute to watch.

Wow Good for you!!!  I would love to do something like that with Reno.. He has done the Mounted Police Bomb Proofing Clinic and did it with honors!..
You will have to tell us all the tips on how to train them..

Yes Pics are a must!!

Yeah, that sure is expensive, but it doesn't stop you, just slows you down, but that's dedication for you, quite impressive.

We had a blast today! Pretty sure Lucy was the trainer's favorite horse of the day. She was by far the best behaved and well mannered.

There were 12 people altogether, so she split us into 3 groups of 4 and worked with one group at a time. So, the downside was there was a lot of waiting around while the other groups went. The good news was the horses got a break between their sessions.

To start, she wanted to see our ground control, so asked us to lead our horses, then turn them around. We were standing on the left of the horses, so of course everyone just turn to the left and pulled their horse after them, so she explained that was basically inviting the horse into our space which could cause issues, so we should do a turn on the haunches. Then she had us trot individually around, and halt when she told us.

The first group that went was a group of 4 girls all under age 10 who just had NO clue about horse handling. So that took FOREVER just to get them handling the horses safely. The next group was an older guy with a mule, 2 teenagers who were sisters to the younger girls and an older lady with a just turned 3 year old. Again, the basic groundwork was a disaster, but at least it went faster than the first group.

Finally it was my groups turn. We were walking along, last in the line and the trainer was telling each person what was wrong. She turned to watch Lucy and I and her exact words were "Beautiful! That's what I want to see!" Go Lucy! We were last to do the turn on the haunches so got to see everyone having issues. Then our turn - and we did a perfect turn on the haunches! Then we did our trot & halt. Perfect! Lucy will just stop when I stop. Trainer was just beaming at us by that point.

We started teaching "Smile" by holding up a treat and giving out signal and trying to get them to lift their upper lip. Lucy would move her lip but not hold it, so we will have to work on that. But she was trying.

Next we did "Touch target" We each had an item we could hold up to the horse. Since the horses are naturally curious and will go in to check it out, and as they go in we said "Touch" as the cue and rewarded as soon as their nose touched. Lucy totally rocked this trick! I had a flag on a stick as a target and was holding it above her head, on the ground, to each side. She loved it. Very food motivated! LOL

Next we did "Step up on a pedestal" This started out as a 2 person job. I lifted her front left and placed it on the pedestal and rewarded her having her foot there. Then the trainer lifted her right front and put it on the pedestal and we praised the heck out of her and gave her treats. Then we backed her off and then set her up again. After the second time, I was able to just put her one leg on and then ask her to move forward and bring her other leg up. This was definitely her best trick of the day!

We tried wave next, but had some issues. The cue was tapping the whip on the back of her front leg, trying to get her to lift it up and forward. The problem is, she's been so desensitized, the whip didn't really bother her. We got her to lift her leg a few times, but she started getting frustrated. Then we tried cuing her in front of the pedestal so she would lift her leg up and forward as if stepping up on the pedestal again. She was a bit better at that, but once the trainer left to help the next person, I screwed up and asked her to move forward and she jumped right back up on the pedestal. After that, if I had her in front of the pedestal and just tapped behind her leg with the whip, she walked right up on the pedestal. So that will be the cue for that going forward. Trainer said if the whip wasn't working to get her to do the wave, we could try a hobble where we'd have a bit more control of where her leg goes.

Next we did "Hug" - we stood next to their necks and wrapped one arm under her neck. The cue was tapping on the offside while holding a treat in front of her and then moving it so her head/neck would follow and wrap around in front of us. Lucy rocked this one too. Very little work for a treat LOL

When we came back after our last break, the trainer was working with one of the minis that was there and teaching him to bow. We went back in and did pedestal a few times and hug, and tried smile again. Trainer asked if there was anything else we wanted to learn, and since no one spoke up, I said "Bow!" Trainer did this one, but used Lucy (I'd left my gloves in the car and I've never used a hobble, so wasn't too confident using one). She made "reins" by tying tossing the lead line over Lucy's neck and tying it on the other side, then put the hobble on, lifted her foot for about 2 seconds, then dropped it and rewarded her. Did that a few times, holding her foot up longer each time. Then she lifted her foot and asked her to back using the reins. As soon as Lucy rocked back, she dropped her foot and rewarded her. Each time she tried to get her to lean back further, trying to get her to drop down on her knee. As she went lower, Lucy did start to wonder what was happening, and tried to crow-hop away, but she just held her foot up and kept asking. After maybe 10 minutes, she got Lucy to drop down to her knee in a bow! Super huge fussing and treats followed! I was so proud of her!

The trainer even said afterwards to one of the girls who wanted to try bow "Are you sure? You haven't had the best day with your horse and he's said no to you a lot today. If you start this, you have to finish. That mare over there (pointing to Lucy) has been perfect and listening all day, and even she wasn't so sure about what we were asking." Definitely nice to hear someone say Lucy has been perfect!

So, all in all, we had a pretty good day! Got to get hubby to make a pedestal so we can keep practicing! And maybe pick up a hobble so we can work on bow some more!

I posted the pic on Facebook and tagged the trainer and she wrote "You and your mare were fantastic! Superstars for sure. Thank you so much for coming and sharing her with us!" apple

Congrats on a good first try!!! Lucy is smart so you shouldn't have too much in problems getting her to do things. She is also a pretty girl.

That is amazing that she was able to learn so much in a day!   It sounds like a wonderful time. 


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