Thanks guys and I LOVE this forum, cos we are all soooo nice to each other!!!
I do feel okay about this...I don't really like the whole riding school, showing thing at all and therefore just stay away from all those kinds of events. However if I do happen to be anywhere near them, I fail to be able to get away from someone who has a question and then wants to know more. I am seen as a little odd, because I am doing something totally different with my horse. There are very few people here (compared to other parts of the world) that have had access to other ways of thinking/working. So there is definitely a gap. Overseas trainers/clinicians visiting are few and far between. I was amazed when I heard Josepha was coming. It's a long way, a funny unknown african country
and with our rand being so pathetic, it's really not worth the trip. Of course when they get here they love the country and always come back but from a business point of view it isn't particularly lucrative! So we are a little starved of anything recent in terms of where the horse world is headed and I really believe all of us here are 21st century thinkers, wanting more and not prepared to just follow blindly....
Parelli had a huge following here and the lady that introduced it to SA is still making a great living today. It caught on hard and fast as it was so different and so much kinder than what people were doing before.
Clicker training is not a particularly new concept here, but clicker for horses is. As for body language and communication between horse and rider we have had kelly marks and frank bell, both of which I attended to be horribly disappointed. I am sure there have been others but mainly traditional types. I am excited that Philip Karl is sending an instructor this year for students who want to do an intense 2 year course with a visit to him later, but the expense to attend is prohibitive but to a few. What concerns me most is the amount of hard earned money these horse lovers are prepared to pay to watch something that really is going to be no use to them when they get home. It's all about following a system or set of patterns and as we know, no 2 horses or handlers are the same.
I want to promote the idea of the horse being the teacher, I may have a small target market and hope my students outgrow what I can teach them because I know if I can achieve that they will be happy owners and send me onto the next client.
I am fortunate that I don't need to make money my focus for this business, but if that is what happens...well it would be truly great.
I want to open the door for owners to seek other ideas/methods and to start thinking for themselves based on a better understanding of the horse as an organism....after all isn't that what we are all doing as the newcomers arrive here with their questions?
The fact that this site has so many active members and they are still here a year or two later speaks volumes for where this type of horse interaction is going.
So Glen...spread the word exactly!
And the best part...I know I have backup here to be able to bounce any problems and find a solution should I get stuck. I would never dream of doing this by myself, but I don't feel like I am, and from the response already I know I have a whole family of friends to help.
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