Post by jeni17 on Nov 13, 2013 13:04:32 GMT
Was very interesting.
Arrived slightly late as the traffic was awful.
Started off on a four year old bay mare. Very, very lightly built. Worked her on the flat. When working his horses he goes from walk to trot then back to walk. When he goes on to cantering, they go from walk and don't trot again. That way he isn't constantly nagging them to stay in canter. And when introducing changes, he slows them right down so they aren't anticipating and rushing.
He then went onto doing poles on the ground, gradually making the last into a fence which very quickly got quite large. Then taking the poles away. He also doesn't turn the corner at the end of the school if they are rushing. If that is the case he brings them back to halt. Once they jump sensibly he will canter on around the arena.
He then had the next horse brought in, and as the previous one left this one reared up and got away from the groom and bogged off across the school. It was caught again and walked round while he spoke for bit, but did look on its toes. Apparently she had been bought by an investment company to make money. He thought she would triple her value in three months. So he got legged on, it walked a couple of strides, then went up again and fell over! But it settled again, he got back on and carried on like nothing had happened. Was a very nice five year old mare. Smart type. She has only been with him five weeks and has had a foal previously. He did a little on the flat explaining she can get quite upright when jumping. Started off with a single bounce and then adding more, but only using alternate raised poles, giving her more room to allow her to use her shoulders. He jumped some related then adding arrowhead poles onto a fence again to encourage her to drop her shoulders.
And next his horse was an eight year old Chestnut gelding. Again a very nice type. Apparently he has one more upright front foot. He moved quite close behind so wore extended fetlock boots. And can sometimes down tools partway through a session. He used a fan of raised poles to get lift in front. Very clearly better on the left than right. Then he walked the course, then hoped back on and went through and explained how he warms up. Then jumped the course making it look really pretty easy. Then took questions but kept the horse there to help explain some of his points, including how he works with poles to help people to see a stride.
All in all a very enjoyable demo. He certainly calls a spade a spade!
Arrived slightly late as the traffic was awful.
Started off on a four year old bay mare. Very, very lightly built. Worked her on the flat. When working his horses he goes from walk to trot then back to walk. When he goes on to cantering, they go from walk and don't trot again. That way he isn't constantly nagging them to stay in canter. And when introducing changes, he slows them right down so they aren't anticipating and rushing.
He then went onto doing poles on the ground, gradually making the last into a fence which very quickly got quite large. Then taking the poles away. He also doesn't turn the corner at the end of the school if they are rushing. If that is the case he brings them back to halt. Once they jump sensibly he will canter on around the arena.
He then had the next horse brought in, and as the previous one left this one reared up and got away from the groom and bogged off across the school. It was caught again and walked round while he spoke for bit, but did look on its toes. Apparently she had been bought by an investment company to make money. He thought she would triple her value in three months. So he got legged on, it walked a couple of strides, then went up again and fell over! But it settled again, he got back on and carried on like nothing had happened. Was a very nice five year old mare. Smart type. She has only been with him five weeks and has had a foal previously. He did a little on the flat explaining she can get quite upright when jumping. Started off with a single bounce and then adding more, but only using alternate raised poles, giving her more room to allow her to use her shoulders. He jumped some related then adding arrowhead poles onto a fence again to encourage her to drop her shoulders.
And next his horse was an eight year old Chestnut gelding. Again a very nice type. Apparently he has one more upright front foot. He moved quite close behind so wore extended fetlock boots. And can sometimes down tools partway through a session. He used a fan of raised poles to get lift in front. Very clearly better on the left than right. Then he walked the course, then hoped back on and went through and explained how he warms up. Then jumped the course making it look really pretty easy. Then took questions but kept the horse there to help explain some of his points, including how he works with poles to help people to see a stride.
All in all a very enjoyable demo. He certainly calls a spade a spade!
