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glenatronLast weekend was our Silversand clinic with Steve Halfpenny for the year. He stayed back in Australia last year, so this was the first time I have been able to ride with him for some time- although I took Cash to a clinic in 2012 he wasn't ridable so last time I actually spent much time horseback with Steve was three years ago.
One of the things that is interesting about Steve is that he never stands still - he is always working to improve his own horsemanship and recently he has been learning with Jeff Sanders and Manolo Mendez which has helped him develop into even more refinement. The great thing is that having ridden with these top level riders, Steve has the skills to see exactly what they are doing ( which is not always the same as what people say, or even believe, they are doing ) and the ability to translate that into a version that is comprehensible to us mere mortals.
If you look back through my clinics tag you will notice that I used to do epic write-ups of clinics going through the work we did and the progress we made in great detail.
I'm afraid I don't do that as much these days, partly because it is immensely time consuming and I don't know that many people read them, but also because these days I am mostly exploring a feeling, which isn't necessarily something I can express in a meaningful way. So instead maybe I'll share some pictures and talk a little about them.
We had sunshine and heat for the clinic! In fact it was almost too hot to work some of the time.
Steve has been working a lot on riding one-handed and keeping his cues as small as possible- here he's using the lariat to put a little more energy into Baccanal rather than making his physical cues louder. The focus of the clinic was largely around lateral work and connecting our balance closely to the horse.
For contrast Jan was having great fun with Charlie, a classic Dartmoor pony.
Steve found himself a grey horse to ride. He said my horse doesn't lean! Coming from him that is an amazingly big deal. She still gets anxious and braces a little, but we're on the right path and as she gets braver I think we have a long and exciting way to go together.
You can't always judge these things from pictures and a lot of people are very quick to point out the flaws in everything, so I'll just observe that Janet and Finn were showing true collection on a loose rein. He was looking a lot like the Connemara pony most likely to audition for the Spanish Riding School by the end of the clinic.
Having got Ferrum to a good place, Steve suggest people have a sit on him to get a feeling of where he was at. The interesting thing was how differently Ferrum responded to everyone- it was very informative about the different riders.
Iris did so well this clinic. As I got more careful in my aids and worked hard on getting results without trying ( Iris and I both tend to try really hard, which means we end up getting in each other's way ) Iris started to come through really beautifully. We started to get some consistent moments of softness in walk and trot and doing some reflective work with Steve I got some changes of direction that felt absolutely fluid.
The difficult thing is that I am writing this in words and if you ride and you haven't felt how smooth this stuff is then you would probably think you have experienced something like it, but I doubt there is a rider in ten thousand that has. It's on a different level to anything I have experienced with horses in any other setting. You use the words and people think they understand them but the limits of language and expression mean that you can't adequately communicate the most important things. It is very frustrating.
Kerin's mare Lottie was so happy to come out of retirement that she offered some beautiful work.
This was our last clinic at this venue, which we have been using since 2008, and I think it was the best one too. I have ridden with some excellent trainers over the years and I have watched a lot of others at work, Steve Halfpenny is the best trainer I have ever seen. This was a brilliant and inspiring clinic and has really opened the door to a lot of new opportunities to go deeper into this whole thing that comes of having given oneself to horses.
One of the things that is interesting about Steve is that he never stands still - he is always working to improve his own horsemanship and recently he has been learning with Jeff Sanders and Manolo Mendez which has helped him develop into even more refinement. The great thing is that having ridden with these top level riders, Steve has the skills to see exactly what they are doing ( which is not always the same as what people say, or even believe, they are doing ) and the ability to translate that into a version that is comprehensible to us mere mortals.
If you look back through my clinics tag you will notice that I used to do epic write-ups of clinics going through the work we did and the progress we made in great detail.
I'm afraid I don't do that as much these days, partly because it is immensely time consuming and I don't know that many people read them, but also because these days I am mostly exploring a feeling, which isn't necessarily something I can express in a meaningful way. So instead maybe I'll share some pictures and talk a little about them.
We had sunshine and heat for the clinic! In fact it was almost too hot to work some of the time.
Steve has been working a lot on riding one-handed and keeping his cues as small as possible- here he's using the lariat to put a little more energy into Baccanal rather than making his physical cues louder. The focus of the clinic was largely around lateral work and connecting our balance closely to the horse.
For contrast Jan was having great fun with Charlie, a classic Dartmoor pony.
Steve found himself a grey horse to ride. He said my horse doesn't lean! Coming from him that is an amazingly big deal. She still gets anxious and braces a little, but we're on the right path and as she gets braver I think we have a long and exciting way to go together.
You can't always judge these things from pictures and a lot of people are very quick to point out the flaws in everything, so I'll just observe that Janet and Finn were showing true collection on a loose rein. He was looking a lot like the Connemara pony most likely to audition for the Spanish Riding School by the end of the clinic.
Having got Ferrum to a good place, Steve suggest people have a sit on him to get a feeling of where he was at. The interesting thing was how differently Ferrum responded to everyone- it was very informative about the different riders.
Iris did so well this clinic. As I got more careful in my aids and worked hard on getting results without trying ( Iris and I both tend to try really hard, which means we end up getting in each other's way ) Iris started to come through really beautifully. We started to get some consistent moments of softness in walk and trot and doing some reflective work with Steve I got some changes of direction that felt absolutely fluid.
The difficult thing is that I am writing this in words and if you ride and you haven't felt how smooth this stuff is then you would probably think you have experienced something like it, but I doubt there is a rider in ten thousand that has. It's on a different level to anything I have experienced with horses in any other setting. You use the words and people think they understand them but the limits of language and expression mean that you can't adequately communicate the most important things. It is very frustrating.
Kerin's mare Lottie was so happy to come out of retirement that she offered some beautiful work.
This was our last clinic at this venue, which we have been using since 2008, and I think it was the best one too. I have ridden with some excellent trainers over the years and I have watched a lot of others at work, Steve Halfpenny is the best trainer I have ever seen. This was a brilliant and inspiring clinic and has really opened the door to a lot of new opportunities to go deeper into this whole thing that comes of having given oneself to horses.
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no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 02:04 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 07:09 (UTC)I am riding another clinic at the start of next week ( pure coincidence that they popped up at nearly the same time ) but I am planning to ride to that one because it's super-nearby.
no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 02:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 07:10 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 19:26 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 13:32 (UTC)I thought that Connemara was a Lusitano!
I do think I experienced 'classical' moments with Charm... moments of such lightness and precision, such connection with not just the horse but with the earth beneath us... Almost a religious experience. Though mostly, of course, we just ambled and ate stuff.
no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 22:24 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 18:35 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 22:26 (UTC)I feel so inspired now, it has totally reminded me that horses are what I need to focus on.
no subject
Date: 25 Jul 2014 14:27 (UTC)I love walking away from a clinic or lesson inspired. It does so much for your connection to your horses.
no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 19:24 (UTC)Jed, the Percheron gelding we had for a couple years, had a trot that felt like he would keep forever as if you set the cruise control and it also felt like he had power steering in that gait, just the coolest thing, all fluid and grace without a single change in speed or tempo.
no subject
Date: 24 Jul 2014 22:27 (UTC)no subject
Date: 25 Jul 2014 16:29 (UTC)I have audited a few, the last one being Parelli (I don't know whether to call it a clinic or "event") a little over a year ago. There always informative, even just for seeing different horse and handler pairs working together.
no subject
Date: 30 Jul 2014 21:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Aug 2014 00:09 (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 Jul 2014 15:23 (UTC)So glad all the woes evaporated into nothingness and everything went so well!