Just Got Back from the Buck Brannaman Clinic

[wildlifer]

@Fillabeana;7069825

I think far to many riders depend on their instructor or clinician to puppet them through maneuvers, and make things happen, and then the rider leaves, thinking he knows how to leg yield now, but can’t on his own at home.

The timing of this is rather funny – I just got home from a clinic with Irish event rider Eric Smiley. He has somewhat of a similar approach. He is not going to tell you, “outside rein, now inside butt cheek, now outside rein again, now look left…” There is no hand holding or step by step.

But what he does is ask you questions to break it down to what your goal really is. He says, you’ve always heard ‘inside leg to outside rein, forget all that nonsense, what are you trying to DO??’ He asks what does forward really mean, what does half halt really mean, what are you asking when you use your leg. And he’s looking for a rider to understand that you are asking the horse to take more weight on his hind end, you are asking him to step under with his inside leg to take weight of his forehand, etc. By understanding the heart of the concept, you can then exercise it more thoughtfully and skillfully.

However, as you noted, this ONLY works if the rider is willing to step up and meet him in the learning process. We all know there are plenty of people who pay thousands to take clinics but have no intention of actually changing anything or seemingly even listening, they just want to say they were there. Eric was patient and an extremely gifted teacher and was able to connect with even the latter group to some extent, but he was working with groups of 2-4 at a time, so that makes for a different dynamic. And those people in that exasperating group will not be able to carry over the work to their own time, but there is only so much a teacher can do.

Anyway, I’m not sure what my point is other than thinking out loud. I’d love to audit one of Buck’s clinics to watch the dynamic in person. Large groups are very difficult, I did a clinic once with a group of about 10. The clinician managed it well, but it was a slow process.

I guess what I am reading is that it’s like university or other such endeavors – you get out what you put in. But there’s that added complication of the horse.

Looking forward to more accounts!!

[Pocket_Pony]

I love, love, love BB and I am now a huge fan and would follow him all over the world if I could. To me, he’s a great teacher and breaks things down into such simple steps that his teachings are easy to follow. But, I’ve also ridden for 30+ years, so I may have a different understanding of things than a beginner does.

With regard to using the hand differently for the 180/180 exercise, using your hand in different places affects how the rest of your body responds as well. Our bodies parts do not exist in a vacuum, and bringing your hand to your hip, for example, puts your body in a different position than using an opening rein to the inside. So it is about more than just the hand . . . if you have time and patience to really break it down, practice the exercise and see what happens to your seat and the rest of your body when you make those different half circles.

I went to a clinic last weekend (not a BB clinic) and I was pretty disappointed. It showed me how great of a teacher BB is - how patient, how kind to the horses, how he really breaks things down into understandable chunks, then puts the chunks back together so you can understand the whole. The clinician last weekend would have left me head-scratching if I didn’t already understand timing and feel and horse biomechanics.

[Pocket_Pony]

Oh, and the BB clinic I rode in had almost 30 people so it was quite busy. He didn’t really give someone personal attention unless they appeared to be really in trouble, or unless they asked for it.

My clinic report can be found in my blog link in my sig line.

[mvp]

Today, I figured out why Brannaman (and maybe reiners or cattleman) want to plant the outside hind leg during a turn on the haunches. They do want the same thing that dressagers hope to get via a pirouette, at least as far as engagement of the inside hind. But wow, what a different way to explain it and accomplish it. Also, it has to do with working cattle.

Another difference is in the way English horses who are taught to be ridden “inside leg to outside hand” use the outside rein or what Brannaman calls the “supporting rein.”

IMO, and from my experience with my hunter yesterday, I’m convinced that the horse who is taught to hear the outside rein ends up figuring out neck reining a hell of a lot faster than does the horse who had everything taught to him via the inside rein. I’m over-simplifying Brannaman’s position with respect to what he says you should be doing with the outside rein while using a snaffle (at least in some movements). But he doesn’t use the shoulder fore (a movement that does a lot to teach a horse how to use the outside rein), and I’m convinced that had my English horse been trainer in a way that was very, very “alternate universe,” he wouldn’t have been able to back in a circle as a total virgin.