When my step-sister Laura and good friend, Mary decided to come out for this year's groundwork and riding "clinic" I decided to open the door to friends and neighbors. Our intensive, yet informal clinic consisted of ten-days of groundwork using the round pen as well as halter-lead rope "games" and line driving. Participants also benefitted from centered riding lessons taught by Mary.
Pippen's little girl, Alyssa, came to take a riding-courage lesson from Mary.
Mary helped Laura learn ways to feel balanced when riding Ganny. The day after they worked on riding up and down hills, we took the horses on a photoshoot up Whiskey Mountain. Laura practiced using all of the tools Mary had given her and had a successful ride.
Almost every one of our herd of eight had some time training. Here Mary assesses Ellie, our 20 year-old "3-bell" mule, to see if she is ready to drive.
We often had other horses tied to the outside of the round pen while working with one of the other horses. Stormy finds this work absolutely fascinating. At first she was quite puzzled by the actions of the people, but when she caught on to the games, she would stand in her place coaching green humans with her eyes and weight shifts: "Get behind the shoulder!" she'd say, or "You're cutting him off; give him room to get by!"
With patience from Mary, Ellie offered a quiet yield.
Stormy voiced her approval with quiet eyes.
Stormy voiced her approval with quiet eyes.
After carefull assessment of Mary's horse's progress in long lines, we put him to cart. Carefully at first, we left a halter on him and led him, one human on each side. The cart did not ruffle him. Mary got in and Laura and I continued to spot him. Finally we put Pippen in his cart and took a little trip through the neighbor's alfalfa fields and orchard. Chaco did very well on all of his nightly jaunts through fields and orchards. He never even snatched an apple from the trees as Ganny is prone to do!
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