Level 3/4 Clinic with Rob McAuliffe DAY 4

Thoughts of the day:  

1. Can't do too much friendly. Take it to another level.
2. Get to your horses' mind. Where their mind is, their feel will follow. 
3. Pay attention to what you can do: for instance don't go saying my horse can't do 8 circles. Say instead, my horse can do 2 circles, how can I help him build on this.
4. Once you start riding in a bridle, ride in a bridle even free style to teach your horse self carriage. 
5. When you stand still, sitting on your horse, you are doing nothing else that follow the rail at a stand still. If you feel your horse's mind going somewhere else like to the grass, do something before it's gone. Like shift your weight or ask for 1 step back. Pat does it all the time when he sit on his horse talking. Hanging out like this in the saddle is good for the relationship.

I can't expect my horse's mind to be with me I my mind is not with him! This should be second nature and applied to everything not just when we are playing. As my horse's leader, he is my responsibility so I need to be aware of what's going on at all time. That's what Pat means when he says: " think like a horse". I need to be as aware as a horse would be. Again it comes to getting their mind. Do what it takes to get that connection going before you do anything with your horse. This may mean to just ask him to back up a few step or disengage his HQ before rugging or  grooming.

Debrief at the end of the day

I applied this in our last online session. Started as soon as we made eye contact and search for the mental connection b4 I groom him. This meant moving him around his yard till he was happy to stand still. This changed the quality of everything we did. When playing online we had a few teenage moments where he said: I can't then I won't so I held his hand (so to speak) and showed him the way to straightness and mental connection. Then we had some lovely moments of softness. Finished the session by teaching Cisco to take the contact when doing 2 reins driving from zone 5. You take the contact with 1 rein to ask your horse to move one of his front feet, on the side where you have taken the contact. Very similar to the game of contact. It took a while for Cisco to understand this concept and not to barge through the pressure.

My big lesson for today is not to stop too soon, and make sure my horse understand the task properly, not just the physical result. 

I need to start building a clear picture in my mind of what I want my horse to do because if I don't understand it then my horse wont' either!

Bottom row: Ashleigh Rowland, Elle Byers, Doll, Christine, Helen Adam, Louise' dog, Me. Top row: Lisa, Sarah Pitcher, Natalie Jones, Jane Bennet, Peter Jones, Louise Attkison, Natalie Warnes, Marylin Souther.