Last weekend was epic on many levels. James Roberts ran a two day clinic for all the people who had been on at least a two week course with him over the last year. This ensured a high level of horsemanship for all involved and thus allowed him to progress them quickly secure in the knowledge that they would cope.
Knowing this Ritchie was a little nervous as to what James was going to have them all doing, to say the least. The briefing on the Saturday morning gave an idea as to what was coming, but we weren't sure if he was pulling our leg or not. We should have known better, James rarely makes jokes about such things ! The ultimate goal of the weekend was cow herding, brideless and halterless. Thus the training was centered on arriving at the skills needed to achieve this aim.
Day 1 Morning
As they were going to be riding brideless and cow cutting James asked what skills might be needed. The suggestions were a good draw, a good sideways game, good YoYo game and all the above at Liberty. Thus the morning was spent initially online practising all those skills. As this was to be ridden bridleless there was particular emphasis on getting them done using porcupine rather than the driving game. The only driving that was really necessary was in zone one to allow the use of carrot sticks to direct the horse should "eyes, belly button, and legs" not have the desired result.
It was amazing to see 20 horses all being played with at Liberty with very few leaving their human. There was one that did have a problem with this and James had an interesting solution. He got all the participants and their horses to form a circle around the errant horse and its owner. This is actually called a Rodeo. Whenever the horse approached the edge of the circle it was gently driven back towards its owner, who just sat on the ground. Thus the horse found that the only place of safety and comfort was in the middle near its owner. This quickly established the desired bond.
The afternoon was devoted to riding. To start he had all 20 horse just trot the rail, but try to use the reins as little as possible. Then as each of them looked calm and confident he asked them into the middle and quietly removed the halter/bridle, asked them to do some patterns such as figure 8 and sent them back on the rail. Soon nearly all were bridleless and quietly trotting the rail.
The evening was PARTY TIME. And some partied long and hard. I believe 5 in the morning was the latest ! The fact that there was a fairground broncing horse added to the entertainment and several sore muscles in the morning.
Day 2
Late start the next day with the morning being basically more of the same. 20 brideless horses trotting the rail and doing "straight lines and circles" for 15 minutes on each rein was an unforgettable sight. What was interesting was the change in demeanour of a lot of the horses. When given trust you could tell they were going to respond in kind. There was not a single problem for the whole session. To grow that trust James had them do all sorts of other gymkhana type games such as round the world, half scissors, crawling under the horses belly and through its front legs.
For several the focus of the day was to get through the riding without to much pain as a result of the previous nights entertainment. Josh looked particularly fragile which prompted lots of goading from James.
The afternoon was devoted to Cow penning as promised, except the cows were us spectators dressed up with cardboard horns ! To start with the aim was just to drive as all around and get us into a Rodeo. Then they had to split us into fast and slow cows. With my bad hip I was a slow one of course. We were then corralled into two corners of the school, and the real games could begin. Each horse and rider selected a cow and had to drive us to the opposite corner of the school. This was done individually. The rules for the cow were that they could go across the school or down the school towards the penning corner, but not back towards the herd. The rider and horse had to manoeuvre such that the cow had no choice but to progress towards the penning corner. All this had to be done brideleless of course. Again there was an interesting transformation in the horse and rider. They were no longer individuals but started acting as a real team. In terms of precision positioning of themselves it almost seemed better than with the bridles on. The horses rapidly understood the game and locked onto their cow turning almost without being asked in some cases. What is more they seemed to love the game. As for the riders it was noticeable that those that had been initially nervous about riding without headgear on their horses soon forgot those nerves when they had something to focus strongly on. I am sure they were not even thinking about the "driving" or "porcupine" games, they were just instinctively working with the horse to get to the required position to get that cow to move on. Everyone succeeded in the task, some quicker than others, but speed was not the objective. Team work was.
Special mention must be made of a demo from Kim. Kim has worked as an apprentice for James for the last year, and this was her last weekend. To show what she had learnt in that time she put on a demonstration with her friends Becka and Josh. It was very very impressive, with some synchronised work with all three, just two together and finally Kim solo. Again lots of it was bridleless, but you would hardly have known. James loss is our gain however as Kim is moving to work about 30 minutes from our house so we look forward to seeing her even more than in the past.
Knowing this Ritchie was a little nervous as to what James was going to have them all doing, to say the least. The briefing on the Saturday morning gave an idea as to what was coming, but we weren't sure if he was pulling our leg or not. We should have known better, James rarely makes jokes about such things ! The ultimate goal of the weekend was cow herding, brideless and halterless. Thus the training was centered on arriving at the skills needed to achieve this aim.
Day 1 Morning
As they were going to be riding brideless and cow cutting James asked what skills might be needed. The suggestions were a good draw, a good sideways game, good YoYo game and all the above at Liberty. Thus the morning was spent initially online practising all those skills. As this was to be ridden bridleless there was particular emphasis on getting them done using porcupine rather than the driving game. The only driving that was really necessary was in zone one to allow the use of carrot sticks to direct the horse should "eyes, belly button, and legs" not have the desired result.
It was amazing to see 20 horses all being played with at Liberty with very few leaving their human. There was one that did have a problem with this and James had an interesting solution. He got all the participants and their horses to form a circle around the errant horse and its owner. This is actually called a Rodeo. Whenever the horse approached the edge of the circle it was gently driven back towards its owner, who just sat on the ground. Thus the horse found that the only place of safety and comfort was in the middle near its owner. This quickly established the desired bond.
The afternoon was devoted to riding. To start he had all 20 horse just trot the rail, but try to use the reins as little as possible. Then as each of them looked calm and confident he asked them into the middle and quietly removed the halter/bridle, asked them to do some patterns such as figure 8 and sent them back on the rail. Soon nearly all were bridleless and quietly trotting the rail.
The evening was PARTY TIME. And some partied long and hard. I believe 5 in the morning was the latest ! The fact that there was a fairground broncing horse added to the entertainment and several sore muscles in the morning.
Day 2
Late start the next day with the morning being basically more of the same. 20 brideless horses trotting the rail and doing "straight lines and circles" for 15 minutes on each rein was an unforgettable sight. What was interesting was the change in demeanour of a lot of the horses. When given trust you could tell they were going to respond in kind. There was not a single problem for the whole session. To grow that trust James had them do all sorts of other gymkhana type games such as round the world, half scissors, crawling under the horses belly and through its front legs.
For several the focus of the day was to get through the riding without to much pain as a result of the previous nights entertainment. Josh looked particularly fragile which prompted lots of goading from James.
The afternoon was devoted to Cow penning as promised, except the cows were us spectators dressed up with cardboard horns ! To start with the aim was just to drive as all around and get us into a Rodeo. Then they had to split us into fast and slow cows. With my bad hip I was a slow one of course. We were then corralled into two corners of the school, and the real games could begin. Each horse and rider selected a cow and had to drive us to the opposite corner of the school. This was done individually. The rules for the cow were that they could go across the school or down the school towards the penning corner, but not back towards the herd. The rider and horse had to manoeuvre such that the cow had no choice but to progress towards the penning corner. All this had to be done brideleless of course. Again there was an interesting transformation in the horse and rider. They were no longer individuals but started acting as a real team. In terms of precision positioning of themselves it almost seemed better than with the bridles on. The horses rapidly understood the game and locked onto their cow turning almost without being asked in some cases. What is more they seemed to love the game. As for the riders it was noticeable that those that had been initially nervous about riding without headgear on their horses soon forgot those nerves when they had something to focus strongly on. I am sure they were not even thinking about the "driving" or "porcupine" games, they were just instinctively working with the horse to get to the required position to get that cow to move on. Everyone succeeded in the task, some quicker than others, but speed was not the objective. Team work was.
Special mention must be made of a demo from Kim. Kim has worked as an apprentice for James for the last year, and this was her last weekend. To show what she had learnt in that time she put on a demonstration with her friends Becka and Josh. It was very very impressive, with some synchronised work with all three, just two together and finally Kim solo. Again lots of it was bridleless, but you would hardly have known. James loss is our gain however as Kim is moving to work about 30 minutes from our house so we look forward to seeing her even more than in the past.
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