Ritchie and I managed to get some last minute tickets to go to the Parelli Horse and Soul tour event in Aintree Equestrian Center at Aintree race course.
It also gave me a chance to see what Filly is missing out on as we parked next to the race course itself. The jumps did not look that big and impressive when I think of the controversy of the Grand National. That's before I learnt that the Grand National fences are not left up all year round as they are regularly burnt down by protesters.
The venue was small compared to previous events at the NEC in Birmingham, but I liked the more intimate feel. There were around 2500 people there and the seating was no more than 4 or 5 deep. Being a smaller crowd they were likely to consist of more hardened NH supporters so the show could afford to show more advanced topics without making anyone feel left out.
The event started with Neil Pye, the announcer, dedicating the event to the memory of James Roberts. For this he got a standing ovation showing the strength of support James had in the UK. Brought a tear to the eye of many people, including me.
Then the demos started. I cannot possibly describe all the demos that were performed, so will concentrate of the highlights for me.
One of the first day demos was on horsenalities and how to use the techniques in a real life situation. This was lead by Linda and involved for folks and there horses, each representing a specific horsenality type. Once we had all had a chance to see the reactions of each horse to the crowd environment the horses were broadly classified as one of the four key types. For once this worked like a charm, all four really did display archetypal behaviour, this had not been the case at the last show in Birmingham !
Then each horse was played with in turn to get them calm and mentally collected and connected whilst in front of a large audience. Being a knowledgeable audience there was no clapping at inopportune times which was nice to see. What I did like is that if a horse crossed, temporarily, into a different horsenality this was pointed out and the correct strategy used for the horse that was there this second. Personally I get really fed up with folks who label there horses once and for all then don't play with the horse in front of them. It was great to see Linda trying to correct this trait.
There was a very cute spotlight (just a demo with little teaching element to it) where a Parelli professional and her six year old son played with their horse and pony. Very good for his first spotlight.
On both days there was a training session with Collen Kelly http://colleenkellyriderbiomechanics.com/ working with 4 top Parelli professionals highlighting horse and rider biomechanics. Collen is an Australian dressage specialist who is both a top judge and has been long listed for the Australian Olympic team. She has also trained with the head trainer of the Spanish Riding School. She is probably one of the most highly qualified horseman I have ever met. We were so impressed by her that we immediately booked onto a clinic she was giving near us yesterday. More about this in a later post.
Of Pats' demos the one that made the biggest impression was helping a rider with canter lead changes. Pat rode a beautiful young grey horse who belonged to one of the UK Parelli instructors. This was a horse under development and so we could not only watch Pat helping the rider, but also developing the grey.
He quickly assessed the problem areas for the lead changes and set to work on improving them. It basically involved the ridden sideways game. He wanted the rider to get her horse much much more responsive much more impulsion sideways. He helped by positioning the grey and using a stick to drive the horse sideways. The result was nice figure of 8 canter patterns with a flying lead change on each change of direction.
On occasion there were hints of Pats legendary toughness as an instructor showing through, but he has enough instructor savvy not to put too much pressure on the rider in front of a large audience.
But for me the absolute highlight was after hours on day 1 when most of the audience were leaving. Pat was on the grey again, just playing with it as he would back home with any young horse. Oblivious of the folks around him, just connected to the grey. He had a big green Parelli ball that he was getting the grey to put its' nose on and push around. But this was a dynamic play. Very little rest, just go go go. The ball gave Pat and the horse a focus for all the little sideways, backup and forwards aids Pat was using. And he played for a long time at this one game. I later heard that he had ridden the grey on the Friday before the event and played just the corner game for 4 hours ! That is a level of consistency in training that I have never reached.
I would give a lot to spend a week with Pat in the same way I used to with James. Just sitting and watching him work with no pre-planned lesson plan, just Pat doing his job (and hopefully the odd explanation !)
The Saturday evening we had dinner with many of our Parelli friends. In a way this social side is a big reason to go to an event like this. It gives a chance to chat to like minded people. Most yards are a bit of a dessert when it comes to being able to talk about NH. We're a little luckier with 3 of us being actively involved and several others interested.
My only criticism of the weekend is that there could have been fewer demos aimed at complete beginners. This was clearly a very knowledgeable audience and more higher level demos could have been incorporated. However if you watch close enough you can always get something out of every demo.
For example the last demo was a trailer loading demo, of which we have all seen many episodes before, both live and on DVD. This one had a twist however. Pat was coaching a young 13 yr old girl through the process, with what started as a horse she loved, but could barely control. For those of us who love to pass this knowledge on it was interesting to see how he taught this young girl. No isolation of the seven games, just getting the horse to move around naturally. Of course she used all seven games in the process without realising it, and maybe this is the best way to teach beginners the rudiments of NH.
It also gave me a chance to see what Filly is missing out on as we parked next to the race course itself. The jumps did not look that big and impressive when I think of the controversy of the Grand National. That's before I learnt that the Grand National fences are not left up all year round as they are regularly burnt down by protesters.
The venue was small compared to previous events at the NEC in Birmingham, but I liked the more intimate feel. There were around 2500 people there and the seating was no more than 4 or 5 deep. Being a smaller crowd they were likely to consist of more hardened NH supporters so the show could afford to show more advanced topics without making anyone feel left out.
The event started with Neil Pye, the announcer, dedicating the event to the memory of James Roberts. For this he got a standing ovation showing the strength of support James had in the UK. Brought a tear to the eye of many people, including me.
Then the demos started. I cannot possibly describe all the demos that were performed, so will concentrate of the highlights for me.
One of the first day demos was on horsenalities and how to use the techniques in a real life situation. This was lead by Linda and involved for folks and there horses, each representing a specific horsenality type. Once we had all had a chance to see the reactions of each horse to the crowd environment the horses were broadly classified as one of the four key types. For once this worked like a charm, all four really did display archetypal behaviour, this had not been the case at the last show in Birmingham !
Then each horse was played with in turn to get them calm and mentally collected and connected whilst in front of a large audience. Being a knowledgeable audience there was no clapping at inopportune times which was nice to see. What I did like is that if a horse crossed, temporarily, into a different horsenality this was pointed out and the correct strategy used for the horse that was there this second. Personally I get really fed up with folks who label there horses once and for all then don't play with the horse in front of them. It was great to see Linda trying to correct this trait.
There was a very cute spotlight (just a demo with little teaching element to it) where a Parelli professional and her six year old son played with their horse and pony. Very good for his first spotlight.
On both days there was a training session with Collen Kelly http://colleenkellyriderbiomechanics.com/ working with 4 top Parelli professionals highlighting horse and rider biomechanics. Collen is an Australian dressage specialist who is both a top judge and has been long listed for the Australian Olympic team. She has also trained with the head trainer of the Spanish Riding School. She is probably one of the most highly qualified horseman I have ever met. We were so impressed by her that we immediately booked onto a clinic she was giving near us yesterday. More about this in a later post.
Of Pats' demos the one that made the biggest impression was helping a rider with canter lead changes. Pat rode a beautiful young grey horse who belonged to one of the UK Parelli instructors. This was a horse under development and so we could not only watch Pat helping the rider, but also developing the grey.
He quickly assessed the problem areas for the lead changes and set to work on improving them. It basically involved the ridden sideways game. He wanted the rider to get her horse much much more responsive much more impulsion sideways. He helped by positioning the grey and using a stick to drive the horse sideways. The result was nice figure of 8 canter patterns with a flying lead change on each change of direction.
On occasion there were hints of Pats legendary toughness as an instructor showing through, but he has enough instructor savvy not to put too much pressure on the rider in front of a large audience.
But for me the absolute highlight was after hours on day 1 when most of the audience were leaving. Pat was on the grey again, just playing with it as he would back home with any young horse. Oblivious of the folks around him, just connected to the grey. He had a big green Parelli ball that he was getting the grey to put its' nose on and push around. But this was a dynamic play. Very little rest, just go go go. The ball gave Pat and the horse a focus for all the little sideways, backup and forwards aids Pat was using. And he played for a long time at this one game. I later heard that he had ridden the grey on the Friday before the event and played just the corner game for 4 hours ! That is a level of consistency in training that I have never reached.
I would give a lot to spend a week with Pat in the same way I used to with James. Just sitting and watching him work with no pre-planned lesson plan, just Pat doing his job (and hopefully the odd explanation !)
The Saturday evening we had dinner with many of our Parelli friends. In a way this social side is a big reason to go to an event like this. It gives a chance to chat to like minded people. Most yards are a bit of a dessert when it comes to being able to talk about NH. We're a little luckier with 3 of us being actively involved and several others interested.
My only criticism of the weekend is that there could have been fewer demos aimed at complete beginners. This was clearly a very knowledgeable audience and more higher level demos could have been incorporated. However if you watch close enough you can always get something out of every demo.
For example the last demo was a trailer loading demo, of which we have all seen many episodes before, both live and on DVD. This one had a twist however. Pat was coaching a young 13 yr old girl through the process, with what started as a horse she loved, but could barely control. For those of us who love to pass this knowledge on it was interesting to see how he taught this young girl. No isolation of the seven games, just getting the horse to move around naturally. Of course she used all seven games in the process without realising it, and maybe this is the best way to teach beginners the rudiments of NH.
No comments:
Post a Comment