Big Changes

Well about 3 hours ago we pulled into our farm and unloaded the horses from our trip. My overall experience at this camp could be summarized with one word: WOW. Honestly, the concepts and ideas I was exposed to, and the changes in the horses people worked with using those concepts was absolutely phenomenal. Harry Whitney is one amazing horseman, and boy did he help a lot of people and a lot of horses.
The whole week was such a wonderful learning experience, and I am on brain overload. Woody made incredible changes, specifically in his riding. We played on the ground quite a bit, and we worked on getting him focused, responsive, and listening to me, and most importantly feeling good about it. I would walk around the round pen in the middle, and he would be expected to walk with me, I would speed up, he would speed up, etc. Basically, a moving more connected version of the Circle Game. This whole concept of moving WITH your horse has really caught my attention and makes me question the "standing in neutral" instruction for the Circle Game. It seems that if we are all striving for our horses to stay connected, listen to our body language and as the Fluidity system says "doing in your body what you want your horse to do in his body", then why are we not moving with them and encourage them to listen to our body language? Interesting thought that I intend to speak to Parelli about.
Anyways, the first day I played and rode to show Harry Woody's inclination of not following my feel in the reins, not listening or wanting to go with me, and this results in him pushing through pressure that ultimately has resulted in him running off a few times. He made the observation that doing that doesn't feel good to him, and therefore I needed to provide clarity in my riding to allow him to feel ok with what was happening. So, everytime I wanted him to turn, I needed to hold me rein, focus, everything involving the turn until he stopped resisting the turn, turned his head, and let go of his thought to make the turn. What it boils down to is a horse's thought is what controls their feet. Basically, if your horse isn't going where you want him to go, its because his brain isn't going that way either, and you need to get that thought to change from whatever is distracting them or they are worried about to what you are trying to do. In that, they are giving to the pressure both mentally and physically, and when you show them that doing that was not bad and it could feel good to them to work together and LET GO OF THAT THOUGHT, they release tension, anxienty, restistance, or anything else holding them back. That whole concept is HUGE for me to grasp and I feel will really change Woody and I's relationship.
So, that day I practiced turning him, and when I could sense or feel resistance in his body, I knew it was because he had another thought that was blocking his ability to respond to me. Therefore, I would hold until I felt a change, and release, showing that he can feel good following my thoughts. Harry rode Woody once to show "how good it can be" and show me how to develop him to be more willing to listen, more responsive, and softer along with lighter. He did a great job maitaining his focus while riding, and this is because he also "rode witha purpose." This is big for us because especially for Woody, if I am not strong enough or focused enough, he will make his own plans and "be in charge." So, I need to ride with a purpose, because he will detect it and know that there a purpose to what we are doing (motivation for him).
Halfway through the week Woody was riding great: he was responsive, soft, and when he did have a moment of pushing through I was able to sense that, wait until it passed, and move on. So, on Terry's suggestion, I asked Harry if he could help us with our cantering. He went in the pen, got him listening and asked for the canter on the line. First, though, he did things to a) show he could be ok b) relax him because he wouldn't be ok to canter with tension (not a good experience). He then asked, and Woody had his head up and tense and speedy. Harry just asked him for a bigger trot, and a bigger trot, until it was convinient for Woody to canter, therefore making it his idea to canter. It worked well, and once he had gone around with some pretty good transitions and more relaxed, he got on and asked. Then, I got on and asked with Harry's help encouraging with the flag (Woody puts forth minimal effort). It was GREAT!! I cantered my pony! The next day, yesterday, me and another girl my age rode our ponies in the arena together, and Mom rode some too. Me and Arielle took turns cantering our ponies, and once again I just asked him for a big trot, and once he got big, I'd let him walk. Then again. We got a HUGE trot, but no canter, I was worn out, and Harry said "that is one commited little pony" because he wouldn't let go of the thought he had of "trot trot trot trot" and think it would be easier to canter. Harry came in with the flag and helped again with his motivation, and when he got a good transition, he could stop. Then I was able to ask him by myself for it and viola! he went into it fairly easy.
There were many other breakthroughs for everybody at the clinic. A lady who hadn't ridden her horse for a year and a half had her first ride, on a relaxed pony. Another guy got his horse who was very tense and worried in the canter transition to canter softly and willingly. One person was unable to work with her horse due to medical problems, so Harry worked with her. This horse, Cookie, besides being able to pass as my old horse Sassy's twin in black form, was actually Woody's girlfriend. He was transfixed on her all week. Watching her when she was working, running into a ditch staring at her, and when she left this morning he got worried about her going. However, due to frequent comments on Woody's weight we muzzled him one day (stupid idea to diet in a new environment) and that night put him in a stall next to her. She had hay, he didn't, he was hungry, there was a new gelding on the other side of Cookie "flirting" with her, and he ended up jumping onto his back legs with his fronts over her stall (pipe fencing) and bit her (looks like a stallion bite). It was interesting. She is ok now, but it swelled up rather large.
Also, my mom had some big breakthroughs with Charlotte. Harry played with her, and he got her really listening, attentive, and VERY responsive (but not reactive). Normally Charlotte is very lazy and calm, but it turns out she was just ignoring Mom and tuning her out because of her lack of clarity. They worked on it all week, and she has really livened up and has shown she wants to be with her because when she is she is ok.
A misconception I had about your horse finding he is "ok" is that Harry would get big and such with theh orse, but I always thought it was because he wanted the horse to realize that the stuff he went through out away from Harry was terrible and consequently it would be better to be with Harry. This is not all together true. Rather, when your horse is ignoring you and your suggestions and "has another thought" Harry would do something to remind the horse of his prescence and he would "interrupt or block his thought." An example is with this quarter horse that came. He really loved putting his nose in the dirt and more or less he used this as a way to tune his owner out. Harry worked with him and when he would put his nose down and zone out, he would make a commotion as if to say "that's not the right answer" and "I'm still here, that doesn't work." It was so interesting, because once the horse realized that didn't help him find the right thing, he quit. He realized being with Harry was correct and that made him feel ok. Basically, his playing in the dirt was a displaced behavior. Charlotte displayed this when in the round pen, she was always focused on the fence panels and sniffing them. When she did, Harry would make commotion, interrupt that thought and remind her he was there. Finally, she stopped doing that and using that as a way of coping and came into Harry with a big release.
Another thing I heard alot this week was the phrase "that doesn't have to be." Harry would say that with a horse that had developed a habit that was negative. An example would be this horse Junior who had all his life lived with his head held high in the air braced, even in the pasture. Harry had such huge breakthroughs with this horse and he showed how he could use the horse's body to get to his brain and thoughts, and the direct relationship of the physical to the mental. This horse by the end of the week was soft, responsive, and VERY ok, and didn't feel the need to keep his head up. He was walking beside his owner with his head level with his back. Harry had to get big to get this horse to respond because the habit was so engrained in this horse. Once he got the horse to relax his mind and listen to Harry his neck followed. It was incredible.
I had such a great time at camp, and I really learned alot about horses and how their feet are directly tied to their thought (their feet are always working to go where their mind is). I have a lot to think about and use with Woody. Harry's thoughts and philosophy are very different from what I thought they were, and many of them are similar to what Parelli teaches, but on a deeper level. However, there are some things that conflict and I will have to figure out which works for us and go from there. I am sure I will write more about my experience later, but for now that is all. I will post pictures soon (I have to sort through 1900 of them to find some to share).
~Eden