I am going to try to capture my thoughts on the Buck
Clinic. A few Kudos to me… which I want
to remember, is how much Shayne and Buck thought I did quality work with
Sofie. That made me feel good. Secondly, there was praise on the riding and
forward going I was doing… I heard my name more then once!
At one time I stopped Emma from a trot and we rolled back a
few stops and he said
“ Now that’s a pretty stop”
I remember when Marshal went to roll and by the time I
noticed it, the crowd, oh that crowd was holloring at him and whistling, and I
ignored them. Then Buck looked up and
said to them :
“Do you think she does not know what is going on”
And then he said to them how it is good for horses when they
let down to roll, how vulnerable they are, and how some people, would kick a
horse when he finally relaxed and how wrong that was…
Right on..
Then he looked over to me and said quietly,
“Catch that sooner “
And went on with the clinic…
I worked my ass off. No doubt. Two classes in clinics back to
back.. I worked.
The first day up in Red Bluff it was hard on Emma. The area
is surrounded by a cement covered building, and the grand stands echo in there
like no ones business. People come in
and out, doors bang along the sides and there were dogs running around. Not to mention inside that there are at least
3 or 4 pairs of pigeons flying around, landing in the arena floor and then
flying off and then the huge roll up door.
You want to get a horse really frightened, put them against a roll up
door, complete with rattling chain and crinkling metal… Oh right, and the
crowd.. Do you know what a crowd of 400 people sound like when they clap, or
laugh together …
While the arena appeared big on the first day, on 3 days
there were 39 riders… Everytime you turned around someone was in front of you,
beside you or behind you.
The first day Emma was hot, she could not stand still, and I
was thinking, and my gawd, I have to ride her in this…
So I climb aboard, and did the deal. I turned her in more little serpintines then
I ever did before… Turn on the hind, come through on the front, go straight,
stop, back up, soft feel, go forward with a soft feel, turn on the hind, turn
on the front… Buck mentioned also trying to hold the soft feel through the half
circle.. remember that.
There are differences between the half circle exercise, and
the teardrop exercise, and the turn on the hind, turn on the front… So I guess
you could go from the circle, to the half circle, through the tear drop down to
the turn on the hind, back up again…
He also mentioned something about starting the teardrop and
then going back across to something…. So it would be like changing eyes and
body shape.
So here is some of what I heard through the last 8 days.
Walk out with life, soft feel, stop with a soft feel, walk
and hold a soft feel, short serptines, half circles, circles, turn on the hind,
out on the front, walk trot canter transitions, ride with a flag, ride with a
tarp. Ground work, ground work ground
work…
Soft!! Measure how much weight is on the riens.. Try to get
softer, use more leg, higher up, and less heel..
Your sofisitication is shown in how little you do, and only
a rough hand uses the heel.
Try to release for the right leg, know where the feet are
at, so you are asking at the right time…
Do lots of riding without reins to let you know how much leg
control you have…
Don’t thump harder with the leg if you lose it, just pick up
the rein.
Try things… Different things…
Its like with Emma, day one we worked hard, then day 2 I
tried to get her so she would let down with things… She did pretty good, but
then while we were standing there listening to Buck she started to get hepped
up.. She started sweating, pawing, stretching, tossing her head.. Just really
looking annoyed… By the time I rode her she was feeling pretty good, but then
after I trotted her out a couple times, she just kinda stopped.. And I was like
utoh…
Now here is the full story.. When I was working her, some
press on pink nail lady waved me over to the grandstands… And I was like, uh?
She says to me
“ Your horse is colic’ing”
I just stared at her.. Like what?
I said no, she is a hepped up girl, and she tosses her head
and stretches when she is annoyed…
But then the seed was planted..
So when I am riding her and she went to stop, and started to
act like she wanted to lay down… I was like.. hmm..
So I asked Buck..
He said “ Yeah, maybe she got a tummy ache “ and said I
should take her out..
So there happened to be a Vet there, a really nice guy and
he met me outside…
( after they rolled up the door of death )
And the press on nail lady came out…
“ she has a elevated heart rate “ she says..
I and the Doctor, look at her.. and we just say thanks and
walk off..
The minute, I mean the minute, I got the saddle off her, she
settled down, ate a bran bucket and looked like grandma’s horse…
The vet thought she would make it..
When I told him to tell the press on nail lady that the
horse had died..
He said
“ yah, and then I will tell her if she would have only said
something sooner we could have saved her!”
Love it!
So the third day, I took a different tack with Emma. I got
up early, and fed ( 6am) and then got back to the stable at 7am. Then I took her out and did a little ground
work with her in the big arena, and she was by herself. No issues really. So then after the first
class, I saddled her up and took her to the outside arena and rode her.
When I first asked for the canter, she took off like a red
bullet. She was so fast she almost blew
off my hat!!! She went tearing around,
spooking at everything and I just rode her… Then she settled a bit, and I got
off and we met up with everyone else in the big arena.
The rest of the day she was pretty good, and I was able to
get down to the feet… Very little head tossing…
By day 4 I had done the same thing, and she was awesome! Not
one spook!
In the colt starting a young lady by the name of Patty was working her mustang,
and the damn thing would not come up to the fence so she could mount. So I was
out there working with her… Nice gal.
Well a bunch of yahoo’s were hollering down from the stands telling her
what to do and I said..
“ Unless they are down here in the arena, then you don’t pay
them any mind”
She just smiled at me and said ok!
She did great! Spunky rider! And inspiring to me.
At the Gilroy clinic I was lucky enough to get some round
pen time with Buck, Sofie had a major melt down when the horses left the round
pen and he told me to hang out with him.
Which was cool.
He flagged us one way, then another and worked out the kinks
in her, but he never took us up to canter.. We did walk, trot transitions.
I watched him work with Bonnie on a colt that had turned too
quickly, and dropped its rider, and not only did he flag her, but her loped her
out, and then roped that horses back feet.
It was awesome.
But then I realized how much farther I have to go in my
confidence. How much more I need to
ride.. So that he would feel ok doing that type of stuff to my horse, knowing
that I could ride whatever came up…
Yup..
I thought it was great when he said that he thought what
would help many of us, is if we just got on our horses and rode out crashing
across the landscape. I agree.
More cantering, more moving out fast, more knowing and
understanding how to ride, how to move with the horse… That athletic stance…
I think from these clinics I was also focused highly on the
parameters. The parameters of my hands, how to manage the reins, against the
horses neck, the softness, the leading rein, the supporting rein, how they work
together with my body position, leaning back, turning my body… The like. It seems to me, this in conjunction with
everything else is what makes this type of horsemanship work.
I was a hawk when Buck was riding, watching everything, and
trying to mimic what he was doing while I was waiting, ok, he is holding the reins
and his body is like this, and so I while he was riding I was working to mimic
the same thing, poorly I am sure…
Soft, light, timing, asking, telling, moving, dancing..
together…
Yeah.. thats horsemanship…
Ok so a few comments about the venue’s..
Gilroy Gaits is huge.. Big ol’ Turkey barns turned into
stables.. Ok sure.. Nice wash areas, grooming areas and tons of paddocks..
The issues I had with it was that there was no where to turn
your horses out, I mean no where, and you could not even use the round pens… I
mean no one was using them, but they had signs all over boarders only…
The pens were nice!
What a waste.. It made it tough when you wanted to work with
your horse.. Plus some guy Warwick Schiller peppered everyone rig with his horsemanship
handout.. I mean please, how tacky!!!
The arena was nice, I mean it is huge, and the foot was ok..
for some reason it wanted to ball up under the horses feet.. Not sure if it is
the type of sand and the amount of water…
The venue in Red Bluff was a little more country, metal
covered barns, no hoses!, but they did have a nice arena to work in
outside. Plus they had the arena open
all night, so you could work in there anytime.
The Gilroy arena was closed the minute you were done working in it for
the classes.
The one thing that bummed me out in both clinics is they
pulled the round pen down. Would be nice to have them up.
This weekend I am off to watch Joe Wolters. Looking forward
to that!
Hi Ho
L
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