April 20th 2010

The past five days have been great, great fun. We have looked at faces, necks, backs, bottoms (!), hindquarters, legs, ears, ribs, and tails. We have observed horses on the move and under saddle. We have led horses over patterns of poles, balanced riders in the saddle, and continued with the body work once the horses are under saddle. We have used body work techniques to free up tight muscles and relax tense horses. All the horses have completely changed, some beyond recognition, and I am so, so sad that it is over.

Koedoe, a rare Nooitgedacht horse owned by Heine, did a wonderful demonstration of how the neck ring can dramatically improve the balance of both the horse and the rider and the tension in the lumbar area that Koedoe arrived with had completely disappeared by the end of the week. Koedoe was also suspicious about strangers when we first met him but on the last morning of the bridleless riding work, he took full advantage of the neck ring to beetle off with Heine and head towards the group of spectators so that he could get some more bodywork. It was very funny and very sweet.

Skarumba, a lovely chestnut Arab endurance mare, changed through her whole body. She was a little flighty and fidgety at the beginning of the week and had some muscle wastage through the back, but as her top line and balance improved, so did her behaviour. Her owner, Gerhard, also reported that he usually struggles to catch her but by the middle of the week she was happily walking over to him. This is something I see over and over as TTEAM improves a horse’s willingness to work.

Bob has changed beyond measure and Powder Rock, a stunning palomino Quarter Horse has also been a total star. His owner, Andrea, was a little reticent about riding without a bridle, but Powder Rock is a wonderful horse and they both enjoyed the experience so much that we couldn’t get Andrea off her horse.

I was also extremely proud of Laura and her little horse LG. LG has had some back issues in the past and is prone to bucking when in the company of other horses. Lindy has been working with Laura to improve her balance and it certainly paid off on the clinic. Finding neutral pelvis and using a small rotation left and right helps to free up both the horse and rider as it helps them to engage core muscles thus reducing the need to brace and carry tension through the body. As LG put his head down and bronc’d Laura up the middle of the arena I just kept reminding her to rotate left then right. Her new body position that Lindy had been working on for a few weeks beforehand ensured that Laura sat what were some pretty huge bucks, and as she remembered the little left and right movements LG gradually settled and was actually able to make it from one end of the school without flying through the air. So… all in all a brilliant and productive week and whilst I am looking forward to the week ahead I will miss everyone. I may just have to come back in October.

This entry was posted on 28. April 2010 at 16:13 and is filed under Sarah Fisher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.