Parelli Clinic - Day Two

Sunday, day two of The Future of Horsemanship tour was equally as good as the first day, if not better in some ways.

The first session of the day was about the elements of performance, something that I hadn't heard or learned about before. A good part of this session focused on being barn or gate sour. The horse has to learn to find relief from you and not from the gate or the barn and this is usually done by creating other sweet spots in the arena.

• When passing the gate, ask for more speed, or more effort.
• Head towards the gate, but turn away and ask for more speed.
• Go past or turn away from the gate and then stop or give relief.
• The middle of the arena is a good sweet spot to have.

Super awesome performance demonstration  in between sessions.

Other points that I took home:

• The horse has to yield to pressure not only with his head and neck, but also with his feet. No brace anywhere.
• The horse should yield without a change in rhythm or energy, especially when yielding from the rider's leg.

Linda came out to do the second session with her gorgeous horse Highland. This horse has an amazing story. He has had major issues from past training experiences and is just super talented, especially in jumping.

He still gets worried sometimes, but is so adorable now. He jumped just about everything in the arena. The session with him was a lot of demonstration about how to get rid of tension and keeping the horse connected to you at shows or in show-like environments.

In between, Pat came out and did the most beautiful spotlight with his son Caton. The two of them had just come in from the Quarter Horse Congress and both were in top form. Tear-jerking indeed.

Love these dogs of Linda's!  So cute :D

It's been years since I got a picture.  Happy now :)

The last session of the day was quite amusing. They brought out a bunch of scary stuff and worked with a whole group of horses on bringing up confidence.

My pictures are horrible, but you get the idea.

These zebras. Absolutely the best thing ever. I Want One!

Working with a tarp.

Teeter-totter!

Some takeaways from this session (besides really seeing approach and retreat in action):

• Turn the tail away from what scares the horse.
• Allow curiosity.
• Don't allow bad experiences. Let the horse try and set it up for success.
• Confidence training is not the same as desensitization.

Lots of great things over the weekend.  I've got one more post about one of Saturday's sessions to write yet, and its very relatable, so stay tuned.  :)