Soft Touch

Soft is strong, clear is kind~ Nikki Porter

This weekend Carmen and I headed out for our first big event of the season- an 'Ultimate Trail Clinic' by Mike and Nikki Porter. This is the third one of these I have done (recaps here and here). I quite enjoy doing these and so does Carmen.

This time it was Murphy's stable. I had never been there but it turned out to be a lovely place- nicely laid out and easy to navigate. I was impressed with her stall. As a bonus, I got to stay with Paula who audited some of it as well. We arrived friday late afternoon and I got her settled. Part of which included walking her around and doing some ground work in the indoor.

Carmen: why am I here?what's going on? Do you have carrots?

As always we started the clinic with telling our horse's 'story' and our goals for the clinic. There were a lot of people who had done this before and some who show regularly. It was fun to watch them. My goals were quite simple: I wanted Carmen be calm and confident in this new environment. The arena was a coverall with an opening at the far end. Something that she really struggles with. It was also raining. I was excited by all this because it would give me a chance to work her through these things in a supportive way.

I started with Carmen at the far end and we worked on our ground work to get her relaxed and settled. I was super impressed how it well it worked for her in this new place. She was doing really well keeping her focus on me despite the many other horses, people and things going on outside. I was playing with her being tuned into my body by backing, yielding hindquarters and forequarters depending on my language. It felt like a waltz. Once, I was asking her to back and she was distracted by something outside. I asked soft, then a bit harder and then I gave her a sharp tug on the halter and she backed up. Nikki came over (I didn't even know she was watching) and said 'was that a fair increase in pressure? 
Yes I answered.
Why?
Because she was paying no attention to me at all, just going through the motions. I increased up high and then dropped right back. If she had been worried about things behind her or unsure, I wouldn't have been so sharp but she was choosing to focus on outside. I think of it like calling her name. 

That makes sense. Most times I ask people and they don't even know how quickly they escalated. 

Fair, I said, look at Carmen and she wasn't worried that I was unfair. (Carmen was standing there quietly, looking at me).

This is one of the things I love about Mike and Nikki. They have tons of knowledge and share it in an open and inclusive manner. They will listen to you and take into account your knowledge (and knowledge of your horse). I hate when clinicians act like you know nothing. They do not, even if it's true that you know nothing.

Carmen: I've totally got this

In the afternoon they set up the obstacles for us to practice in hand. Carmen clearly remembered what was required of her.  She was super cute with the swinging doors. When she went through pushing them open on her own she looked quite pleased with herself. She was also a hit with some of the spectators who thought she was beautiful (clearly people with good taste).

In between the sessions I made sure to take Carmen out to walk her around and eat some grass. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about her gut health. I had brought some pre and pro biotic, aloe vera juice and some bi carbonate. I have no idea if any of my things worked but she seemed to be okay.

The next morning I brought her into the arena before anyone was there to let her stretch her legs.

Carmen: you can't see me. 

She wove in and around the obstacles. Funny story: in the video below  you can see the moving platform. At one point, she looked at me, picked up a trot and sailed over it with lovely jumping form. She then trotted off looking really pleased with herself. I laughed 'wrong kind of clinic darling'

We started at 8:30 in the morning with the horses tacked up but in halters. Everyone was to work with their horse from the ground and then get on when they felt ready.  Carmen felt ready pretty quickly. Nikki came up to me and said We know that she likes and understands the obstacles. From what you said it seems to me that the 'work' for you is schooling around them and getting her to listen, using the obstacles as the reward. Which was awesome because that was my thought as well.

As soon as I mounted Carmen turned from self-confident to worried. I am no longer bummed by this. It is simply a transition point for us and what I'm working on. Tristan does talk about this quite explicitly. He says that horses that have a long history of spooking under saddle can take a while before they have the same confidence as with the ground work (or something like that).

Anyway, as soon as we started riding around it was clear that Carmen was most worried about a tarp bag in one corner, the observation lounge, a board leaning against the wall and what was going on outside. It sounds like a lot, I know but it wasn't too bad.

I just worked her through it, helping her to walk up and past things that were 'worrisome' and rewarding her when she did. I gave her rein to stretch into and, while I did use my aids, I didn't try to hold her super tight or strong.

A young woman (I forget her name) was practicing roping and Carmen was like 'oh my god'. She said 'sorry' and I said, 'no, keep going. this is why we're here'. Carmen watched and when she asked to go forward to check it out I let her.  The woman was really nice and dragged it letting Carmen 'chase' it. After that she felt a lot more confident.

Carmen: 'are you going to rope me lady?'
Also, look at my free rein. 

The narrow platform to the octagon caused the most difficulty. She wanted to hurry over it. A woman named Lorraine came and asked if she could help me (see how lovely everyone is?). I welcomed her assistance and she coached us through going one step at a time. This is valuable for us because Carmen and I both tend to rush though things that we're not confident about. 

Carmen: I don't know what you're talking about,
I'm doing it perfectly

We went through the water trough a couple times and then she marched right up to the large tarp bag in the corner and stuck her nose on it. It's interesting how these things make her brave. 

The car is her favourite:

At the end, Nikki was admiring how well Carmen was doing and I asked her if she wanted to try Carmen out. She hopped on without much persuading and both of them looked lovely together. And that is where we left it. 

I was really happy with how Carmen handled the distractions of the clinic. As I watched other people my thoughts kept percolating about the best thing to do. You see we were supposed to ride again in the afternoon in a 'mock show'.  But it felt to me that Carmen had done everything I asked of her and that we really had nothing more to prove. My goals were to have her stay calm and have a good experience. We had that. If I rode int he afternoon I worried that she might feel overwhelmed and tired. 

 I let that thought work it's way around my brain for a while. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't because I was tired.But it stayed with me so at lunch I approached Nikki and told her that we wouldn't be riding in the afternoon. I explained why and she agreed with me. She would have supported me to ride again but I think she wanted to support me in making decisions in terms of Carmen's well-being.

So, instead of riding I cleaned everything up and we headed out early. Carmen was quite happy to be home and in her field. It's easy to second guess decisions but I am not going to do that this year (or not much). My goal is to have Carmen confident and relaxed and that is going to be the lens I use in making decisions.

For our first overnight outing, I'm calling this a success.