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PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:26 pm 
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- Our off-topic forum about all the good things in life! -

so here I can write all the good things inmy life??!!

Then I must let you all know that the last sunday was so a good thing!!!

To meet you all and learn new things and to see that Romeo is a really a lovely Boy when he is in a new ambiance :D

thanks a lot for the beautiful day :!:

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:33 pm 
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Can someone tell us a little bit more about what has happened on Sunday at the first AND clinic ever? Has anyone taken pics? I would love to have a detailed report, please... 8) :D


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:18 pm 
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Oh no, that's all top-secret... :twisted: :wink:

I had a great time too, and this being the first AND clinic ever to be given, I really liked giving it, even better than any tricktraining clinic I have given! Having a powerpoint for the theory with all the great pictures from this forum of course was a big part of the fun too. :D


The essence of the clinic was that we first had 1,5 hours of theory and then a very nice lunch. After that, we went to work with the horses:

First Percella, the Arabian mare of Samantha (Percella on this forum): she had just recovered from a long term injury and was now starting to train again. What we did was place the ramener on a new cue (lifting the cordeo instead of pointing to her chin) and start to incorporate that ramener into movement (walk instead of just halt). We also deviced a new cue for halt, as that was a problem with Percella. And the greatest thing was that we then tried the first sideways/stepping under/shoulder in movement, and she did great! She actually in the end took three shoulder-in steps in a row! We all were really proud of her. :D

Then came Owen with Josepha: his problem was that after he recovered from his injury about a month ago, he had discovered rearing as an exercise, and now only wanted to rear and do nothing else; not chase the tiger, no cordeo work, no walking or running. When we came into the paddock, he was already starting to make himself big, lifting himself on one frontleg and rearing in levades a few times. So we started right from the first second to reward him when he had four legs on the ground. Well, you have to start at the basis. 8) Then we taught him to lower his head to the ground on the cue 'Hooo'(halt), still with four legs on the ground. We also discovered why up untill now he responded to each cue by rearing: it was because the cues for halt, rear, back up, stay and Spanish walk were very similar (raising a hand in front of him) and therefore all triggered the rear. So when after fifteen minutes Owen really was starting to get relaxed while standing on four legs again, we started to delearn the rearing cue, by relearning him to touch our hand on cue, and then lift our hand in front of him and ask him to just touch it with his nose. He did wonderfully. Then Josepha rewarded him with a couple of minutes of chase the tiger and he did that really great, without rearing and in a big trot with a nice and outstretched neck. In the end he even backed up for the tiger!
Another important part in teaching him to become calmer during training sessions, was that we went out of the arena, leaving him, as soon as he started to grunt (which preceded the rearing all the time) or became too high-strung. We then just stood on the other side of the fence and still worked with him (touching hands and rewarding), but as he really wanted us to be with him inside, we only had to do that two or three times. In the end he was totally relaxed and even tried a couple of shoulder-in steps. Not that they worked, ;) but he was really focusing on the groundwork again, and seemed less stressed and very relaxed, and very happy to chase tigers with Josepha again! He even started developing the back crunch all on his own when we were just asking for a low head!
It was quite interesting: we had a very aroused, rearing and actually a bit scary horse to be around when we started, and just by adjusting his training system and our cues, without punishing him or physically trying to dominate him, he became his old, gentle self again. Such a great horse!

Then last but not least came Romeo (from Skrill of course 8) ), and he was a real gentleman. He had a very interesting lesson to teach us too, because after really showing off his arabian blood for ten minutes, he totally ignored us and just walked through the paddock, sniffing at corners with grass, not wanting to come and ignoring us. We then grabbed the tiger and just walked through the paddock on our own, ignoring him. The funny thing was that within a minute or two he started to get interested and turned towards us from whatever he was doing, and then lost his interest as soon as we then looked at him or called him. So we ignored him further and that really cought his interest. We then worked on touching our hands on cue, on the halt in the cordeo, and started to teach him the ramener, which he picked up really fast! We also tried a bit of sideways movements, and he gave us two or three sideways steps, which was a really nice result. And of course he showed us his tricks, like the rear, the bow and other nice things. But what struck me most, is what a strong character he is: he is quite introvert (a bit like Blacky) and will walk away if you annoy or try to place pressure on him. And you really need to prove to him that you won't do that before he believes it. The 'proving' we did by rewarding him whenever he came to us (combined with the 'touch my hand'), then ask two or three exercises and then walk away ourselves again. That really hooked him on and at the end he stayed with us much longer, and whenever he went away, he came back very soon too.

It was great to see three such different horse characters, and to work with three owners who didn't want to suppress those characters in order to get exercises, but instead keep their horse in the center of the training. Very inspiring for me too! And I found a really cool cordeo, so it just couldn't be any better for me. 8)


That at least was my experience of everything, I love to hear about how others experienced it too and what they learned from the horses or have taking home with them for their own training. And the best thing was: it didn't rain, and it only stormed a little! Very rare over there. 8)


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:56 pm 
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Oh, it sounds so WONDERFUL!!!! I wish I could have "beamed" myself there, for a day. Thank you for the detailed description! I can't wait to hear from everyone else that was there. Lovely!


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:49 pm 
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I was so happy to see everyone.. and the lovely Romeo, which had enchanted me immediately! And I learned so much of all 3 demo's, To see Owen who loves to be with Josepha so much, she can turn him in to another horse just wanting her to be proud of him, he really makes himself so beautiful for her... And Percella, such a smart horse, you can just see it in her eyes that AND is the way to handle her!
I was so fascinated and learned so much that I had a bit of a brain overload, I had planned to talk to everyone a bit, but there just wasn't enough time.. or I couldn't think normal, I was too into the whole thing :oops:
And the presentation was of course great, and I'm not only saying that because I saw my pony on it (which I'm very proud of), but also because I had the idea that AND was really getting to some people, it made them think and I hope they choose to take this path!
sigh...


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:31 am 
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:wink: Thank you Barbara :oops: he is a lovely boy 8)

I hope it was not the last AND clinic this year!

I would like to come to the garrocha clinic and of course the next AND clinic with Miriam

I just like her way to show me what I can do with Romeo ... it´s easy and it works :D

Please tell me when the next clinic is, so I can save money for the clinic :wink:

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:19 am 
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Hi all!

Oh it was wonderful, being with such a group of AND trainers, I can not express, it felt like being with family, being cosy all together in my living room :)
Normally we have the clinics outside in a tent, but the storm prooved to be a real tent killer and as Miriam needed the Tele to show her Excellent presentation on we went inside.

Next time we hopefully have a real life cinema for that with huge silver screen, which we are building in the attic and we will have finally the licence for a storm proof veranda that is going to be build for theory lessons.

Then I want to thank Ralph for an excellent lunch and beverage care all day :chef:

And I hope you liked my special home made soup which I made fresh with fresh vegetables that early morning at 8 :)

And of course Ralph and I hoped that you liked our shop! 8)

Unfortunatly I did not see a lot of Percella and Romeo for I was busy, but what striked me so much is the fact that ussually in all my twenty years of normal riding before I came to the path of AND I noticed that the hugest problem with horses at a clinic were that they had eye for everything but what their rider was doing.
It is always a lot of stress getting your horse to have attention for what you are doing.

This clinic however this was not the case at all, on the contrary.
We had stallions and mares mixed and close together.

But when the horses entered the arena, Percella for instance showed no sign that she even saw Inocencio in the paddock next to her, going about like a mancia trying to win her attention.
Eventhough she knew Inocencio very well having stayed with us 2 months two year ago.

No strings of reins attached to Percella, nothing around her head even, no on trying to lure her, no, she was totally focussed at being with and working with Samantha and Miriam.
And I know how very difficult the attention of the grand daughter of Abdullah and alpha mare is obtain.

The same with Owen, (and it always amazes me) how he can have eyes for nothing but me, even with strange horses on his courtyard...
The bound we share is very hard to explaine but I think people who were there must have seen a glimpse of it.

Romeo stole my heart also and he was the perfect husband for Percella even though Owen and Percella shared some romance earlyer ha ha !

I am sure the most wonderful horse-baby Romeo and Percella would have.
Maybe we should change Percella's name to Juliette. :flower:

About me training, I really needed Miriam.
You see, it was not Owen's feet who needed to land on the ground, it were mine.
For I must admit I got a huge kick out of Owen jumping all around me in 2 legs... :drunk: I felled like Mr. Nevzorov himself and maybe I watched his movie to often ha ha !
Miriam helped Owen and me to get away from getting high on adrenaline so we can get some actually work done again :study:

Although I must admit, the rearing period of Owen (I view it as his rearing periode in the same respect as Picasso had his red periode ) made Owen feel so powerful :king: that the troubles with Inocencio being the rebel seized right that week.

So I am not sure I am going to wait half a year with the rearing... I just have to be more clear about the cue.
But for now, we are going to work on shoulder in, the crunch Owen himself invented and chasing the tiger in canter. (And for me learning to turn the other way around as well :roll: ).

At the end of the day, Jamie was really sulky in his paddock, turning his buttocks towards us and not peeping one glance at us.
Of course I knew what was bothering him... He did nt receive any attention and he hates that.
So I ask the audience if they would do me a favour.
I was going to let Jamie in to the arena and I asked them to applaude to whatever he did. (I knew for sure he was going to give a show to demonstrate his excellent HE skills :) )
And so he did, he gave an excellent show and I do not think the auditors had to fake loving it!


Looking forward to the next clinic!

Josepha

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:34 am 
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Josepha wrote:
Although I must admit, the rearing period of Owen (I view it as his rearing periode in the same respect as Picasso had his red periode ) made Owen feel so powerful :king: that the troubles with Inocencio being the rebel seized right that week.

So I am not sure I am going to wait half a year with the rearing... I just have to be more clear about the cue.


Well, you shouldn't wait that long either!
Just think really hard about a good rearing cue (preferably a combination of movement AND a good word), and then slowly incorporate that in your training again: first you ask it one time right in the middle of the session, after which you reward him and then immediately go back to down, low and relaxed exercises for the rest of that day, and the touch my hand in order to teach him that that rear-cue isn't meant to be for a rear if you don't combine it with that voice cue either.

It's really important that he detaches the rear from the aroused and very stressed feelings he showed now. And once he stays calm and sees rearing just as another exercise, you can ask more of it again, and work on it (with in between lots of calm work of course).

So there's no need to wait for half a year: just keep in mind that the relaxed attitude he had at the end of our demo, is something he should also learn to have during the rear. Because if he's stressed, he won't be able to learn about it, and you won't be able to work with that rear either.

And of course there's going to be a new AND clinic! :D
We haven't set a date yet, but the last idea was to do it in the summer, at Bianca's place (which is near Josepha) so that her horses can join too. 8)


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:09 pm 
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>Then I want to thank Ralph for an excellent lunch and beverage care all day

And I hope you liked my special home made soup which I made fresh with fresh vegetables that early morning at 8

And of course Ralph and I hoped that you liked our shop! <

please thanks Ralph a lot for his help - he bring us coffee, tea, crackers, and and and ... :thumright: Josepha if you don´t need him anymore, I´ll take him :mrgreen:

and your soup ... delicious :!:

and for the next time I must save my money for your shop!!! I see a lot of things I need :wink:

a next cilinc in summer will be good! I like it warm und sunny :arrow: without wind and dark sky :roll:

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:28 pm 
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skril wrote:
>
Josepha if you don´t need him anymore, I´ll take him :mrgreen:


You'll have to get in line then :mrgreen:
But I am pretty sure I'll keep needing him 8) :lol:

Quote:
and your soup ... delicious :!:

YES and thank you, she said proudly :lol:

Quote:
and for the next time I must save my money for your shop!!! I see a lot of things I need :wink:

No objections there of course :wink:

Quote:
a next cilinc in summer will be good! I like it warm und sunny :arrow: without wind and dark sky :roll:


Oh, yes... who doesn't.
It is snowing now,it is soooo cold and I hate going outside to do stable work now! :(
Oh spring, please just come already!

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:26 pm 
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hmmm yeah, the soup... that was so good, I can still taste it!
and Ralph indeed never left us thirsty or hungry!
you are great hosts!

maybe I can bring Beau next time :)


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:00 pm 
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I didn't have soup... :roll:

Well, another excuse to go and do it again. ;)


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:35 am 
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1. question:

what is about a clinic in germany?

is it possible? how many people you need???

there are people here from germany who are interested?

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:21 am 
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Sorry I missed it :cry:

It sounds like a day with lots of inspiration, learning and nice food :applause:

The Owen rearing thing sounds so familiar.......I always enjoy Timber when she is so proud and powerfull on her hind legs but maybe sometimes in training not ask that much standing on hind legs :wink:

And indeed it is hard to find a good cue....yesterday I had the tiger and I did not want Timber to rear just go around me....but tiger means rearing :oops:

Hope there will be a clinic nearby soon again 8)

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:00 am 
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Frances where you life in Netherlands?

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