I was hoping to hear about this one, or read it on your blog.
If it is already on your blog, I’ll read it there.
Did you go?
I thought she did have a post about it on her blog?
Oh, hey! I did go but I did not blog about it as extensively as the Buck clinics because I was staying at a friend’s house and didn’t bring my computer.
It was very different from BB’s clinics - all the instruction is 1/1 and you are expected to watch everyone else’s go. There were between 6 and 8 riders on any given day (some only did two days) and maybe an equal number of auditors (excluding the other riders) so it was a nice intimate atmosphere where as a rider I got a lot of attention and as an auditor I could also have any questions answered.
All work was done in a nice large round pen. The first day we only did ground work in hand and Mac put on quite a show being a bit explosive. I feel like we’ve got a good handle on the exercises BB does in his clinics, but when pushed outside of that zone to do something else, new learning opportunities appeared and I got to see some things about Mac that I had looked over. For example, I’ve always thought he was sensitive and especially to other people and strangers he doesn’t know/trust. Like earlier in the year I went to a BB clinic and went to the inside of the arena where Buck was to ask him a question. Buck was standing on the ground and came up to me and Mac was like, “whoa there, Buddy, who are you?” and gave him the hairy eyeball and backed away from him a bit. Buck wasn’t rude or aggressive toward Mac, but he does have a lot of energy that emanates from him and it was a lot for Mac.
Okay, so back to what I noticed. In knowing this about Mac, I’ve always tried to keep my energy soft. Of course sometimes I ramp it up and let my emotions get the best of me if he’s not paying attention, but for the most part I try to keep an even keel. Just about every clinician that I’ve worked with has a lot of energy and some more than others. And some have stepped in with Mac and ramped up the energy even more, which I don’t like (and haven’t gone back to them). So here I thought I was being soft with Mac and trying to be non-reactive . . . and Harry had me dial it down even more! Wow! A first! And when I looked at it from his perspective (with him looking at it from Mac’s perspective), my soft still wasn’t soft enough.
The second day we worked at liberty in the round pen for most of the session. I don’t have a round pen at home so I really wanted to use the opportunity to get some tools for doing something new. Again Harry helped me with body positioning, timing, energy, etc. In the beginning when Mac was running about, Harry had me do nothing. Don’t walk with him, don’t try to make him keep going until he got tired, don’t try to stop him. Just let him get it out. Then I was to make my move, slowly and methodically - literally one step at a time. The idea was to get Mac focused on me but without driving him. Make a step. See what happens. Make another step. Make a movement (like jump up and down). See if I get any sort of acknowledgment from Mac, like an ear twitch, a change in body position, a quick glance. Continue from there.
Harry’s whole thing (or at least what I got from it) is to have the horse focus on you and work with you coming from a place of relaxation and softness. That was great because that’s what I’d love to get from Mac - he usually comes from a place of “no.”
Each day we spent less time on the ground and more time in the saddle. I brought my hackamore because I thought it would be good to get some 1/1 instruction in that. Mostly what I got from the clinic is that even though I think I’m being soft, I can be even softer.
This is more than what I wrote about it on my blog, but there are a couple pictures there: http://mymustangadventures.blogspot.com/
Another thing that I took from it, in addition to what my new dressage coach is telling me, is that I spend too much time on doing one thing and I need to change it up more. That is true and I know that about myself, so just another thing to work on!
One funny observation about the clinic was to watch the other people, too. Each person/horse combination had a lot of similarities in the way they did things, or their attitude about things. Whether it was projection on the rider/handler’s part or learned responses on the horse’s part, it was a very true observation on the comment “show me your horse and I’ll tell you who you are” - of course I was no exception! Like when I say “no” is usually Mac’s first response . . . well it is mine, too! :D:lol::eek:
I’d love to take my filly to Harry next year for a colt-starting clinic. I think the 1/1 approach would be great vs. going to a larger colt-starting clinic where there are a bunch of people at various levels of experience who may have different expectations. We’ll see.
Thanks for asking!
Pocket Pony,
Do you know when the next Buck clinics are? I would love to go to one.
Look on his website, I’m sure they are there. Where are you? The ones I’ve been to are in Red Bluff, CA. It has already been announced for next year but I’m not going to ride in it again. I may audit, but Mac’s done it twice now and my filly won’t be ready yet so this time I’ll just watch.
He’s going to Red Bluff May 8-11 and then to Corning May 15-18.
Pocket, thanks for the reply.
I’ve been out of the loop a while, a dear friend passed away over Thanksgiving.
I’ve really got a lot out of my Mom’s time with Harry Whitney- she audits or rides, and tells me about it, and I think about it and can fill in a few of her questions…and the thinking and filling in, and reading Tom Moates’ extraordinary books about Harry’s teachings, have been a huge part of my horsemanship endeavors, so I was excited to hear about your experience.
OP, if Whitney could show you how to get quieter than your rendition of quiet, that was a huge gift.
I had a gal teach me that in high school. She told me, “You know how to ride from 50% to 100%. You have no idea how to ride from 0 to 50.”
That was such a clear way to put it. I had ridden relatively untrained horses with relatively untrained people. So all of my interactions with horses were effective and well-intentioned, but coarse. And neither the horses nor I knew how to fix it.
Just the clue she gave me…. that there’s probably a lower energy way to get things done…Always… was helpful. Now I know to look for it.
I make a point of teaching that to other people, too. The command to “lower your energy” can be pretty abstract. But I tell people to pretend they have been standing in line for tickets for 3 hours. I tell them to put their body in the position it would be in if they had been waiting in that line. Then we “take inventory” of what various body parts are doing and how that feels. Whatever they feel or however they would describe it, that is a good rendition of “having lower energy.”
This stuff is a sport. You have to figure out how to have words and ideas connect to the kinesthetic.
