Just got home from day 1 of my hackamore clinic with Garrick Pasini. I’d never heard of him, he’s not a big-name guy, but the clinic was structured very well, he had good exercises, and everyone made progress.
In the morning when we were doing groundwork, the clinician used Mac to show how changing your energy can change a horse’s energy, as Mac is very sensitive and can be reactive if someone comes on too strong, but if they calm down, then he’ll calm down. Mac was a bit fresh in the morning, as it has been raining a lot here and we haven’t gotten out much in the past couple of weeks (although I did make sure to ride him Thursday at least!) - that and there were MARES around. Have I ever mentioned how much he loves the ladies?! Anyway, we started off with some chit-chat in the morning, then groundwork exercises, then saddled up with our regular bridle that we work in, then we switched to the hackamores. He gave me the thumbs-up for how my bosal fit Mac and for the horsehair mecate I got, so that was good.
We did basic exercises - big circles, small circles, figures of 8, changes across the diagonal, transitions within gait and between gait, backing, rollbacks, etc. One fun exercise was “rocking” the horse’s balance back and front without taking a step.
When we did some regulating of tempo at the trot, it was hard for me because Mac’s slow trot/jog is like their big trot and his big trot is like a bigger horse’s slow trot. I kept lapping people, which I’m sure wouldn’t have been the case if I were in a h/j clinic!
The clinician’s wife took some pictures so I’m hoping they’ll send them out after this weekend. I really loved working in the hackamore - Mac was so sensitive and responsive. :yes:
