Last Day of the Clinic

The last day of the clinic started 2 hours early to try and beat the brutal heat. I realized late at night that I had left Apollo's halter on and had let him stay outside where he seemed much happier. Of course I was totally freaked, imagining every horrible story I've heard of, even though it was a breakaway and it was a pasture without trees, etc and the fence was well electrified and he knew it, so was staying clear. So I was up and out of the hotel at 4:45, and sitting in Dunkin Donuts parking lot at 4:57 waiting impatiently for them to open!

It was still cool and there was ground fog, making everything appear and disappear in the cool mist. Apollo was fine, but had rubbed the halter over one ear. I brought him in so others that had left their horses in could turn them out. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but half of the clinic participants were from Maine! Its so great to have a growing pool of people throughout the state with the same training philosophies. I also got to visit with Sue from Maine. Good stuff happening in New England! I also had several people come up and offer to buy Apollo if I was ever interested in selling him!

I had the opportunity of having Apollo's teeth floated by a visiting dentist that Tim H. has used for years and knows well, Spencer LaFlure. Mark & Crissi had watched him work and had him do their horses too. He does a performance float and has a DVD that explains all about how teeth alignment affect your horse's body and health. Spencer also floats Olympic rider's horses and the Parelli's. He travels world-wide and they are talking about coordinating his visits to NE with Mark's clinics again next year. Since Apollo was due this fall, I figured why not?!

                                     
When my turn came, I decided to ask Mark to help me see the problems in the hind end he observed in Apollo. He showed me how little movement his hips have and how he has little to no spring when pressing down on his hip bones. I asked if he was just stiff or in pain, and he said just stiff. I also had him check out saddle fit, which was fine. Pheww! So I mounted up from the block. Apollo lined right up for me and stood nicely til I was settled, mostly! I took so long getting my right stirrup,  he wandered off, but I immediately circled him and it was taken care of. So we walked out and he softened nicely. He was so willing to try, but was fussy with the bit. I did stay on and so did the saddle, so that was a nice change, LOL! We practised stopping straight, but Apollo's head kept bobbing around. After two tries, Mark finally uttered 10 magic words, "Your head and his head should face the same way". Or something to that effect. For some reason, that just clicked it for me and we nailed it from then on! When I was very clear about where his head should be, he put it there. I was really very pleased with how well we progressed as Mark coached us. My lessons with Tara and Charmaine were such a good foundation for riding with Mark and I've been trying to ride with the tools I've gathered from auditing Mark for years too. I believe it makes it so much easier because I'm not trying to replace another way of riding. We're kind of an empty slate with a basic outline sketched on it, and adding in the details is easier than having to pick and choose, or think about which way I'm supoosed to do something. So we were able to progress to trotting with softness.

When Mark and the others saw the movement Apollo has at the trot, they were very impressed! Mark said his stride increases by 8 inches and it is effortless for him. Crissi later told me that dressage people work for years to get the kind of movement that he offers naturally. He floats with a huge trot. When I got him gathered up, people were commenting on how beautiful he looked! I had to work out the rein length and the amount of contact needed to ask him for softness. Mark would tell me to shorten the reins and I would, then straighten my arms to make them longer, effectively keeping the same distance! I finally had an AHA moment when he talked about boundaries, how my hands had to set the boundary consistantly for Apollo to rely on and be able to find the soft spot. After that, it was much easier. BUT, even when we got those moments of connection and softness and Mark would say we had it, it still felt difficult. When he wasn't softening, it was downright ugly and I couldn't ride it. I was thrown all over and was so discouraged because I take bareback lessons and know I can have a better seat than that. I asked Mark what I could change in me that would sort it out, and he said not to worry about it. He needed me to get the soft feel to take home and the rest would come. If he told me all the things I could work on, I would get muddled and we would get bogged down. So it was a good lesson, he said I did good work and we did get a lot done.

After lunch, Crissi and I worked on my breathing and the trot some more. Again, even when it looked like we had it, there was a disconnection and I felt like I was riding all over the place. It was so hard, it wasn't coming easily and I felt like it shouldn't be that hard. So when we had 10 minutes left, I asked if we could try the Rocking S Ported Snaffle on him again, since Mark had said he didn't think I had the right bit and I wanted to see what size I should get if it made a difference. I got a new horse! Crissi said she wished she had a camera for a before and after picture, that he looked like a different horse. He sure felt like one! All that bad energy and worry just disappeared after a couple of minutes of his getting used to it again, and this time we really did float softly around in the trot. And it was easy peasy. Some people noticed and told me later the difference was so striking. I will be ordering the bit since Crissi didn't have one with her. I at first regretted not using the bit the whole time, I think we would've maybe gotten so much further, but now I know what riding that bad energy and worry feels like and can trust myself to recognize when something is off. Crissi told me I hit the jackpot when I found Apollo, she really liked him. Tim said he liked him so much because he reminded him of his mustang, Tico. I felt like crying hearing all of that, because its been such a long road! Of course, Apollo is not for sale, and I just love him because of his kind and willing nature. All the rest is icing on the cake. This clinic experience was so wonderful, and just as I imagined it to be. There's a lot more to write about, especially stories of the other riders and how well they all did. The funny thing was that I was one of two Pam's riding, I was Pam before lunch and the other was Pam after lunch. The first day she provided the entertainment when her horse was struggling and then my dismount was the entertainment the second day! Luckily, everything smoothed out and we all did well on the third, but geez, LOL! I am getting on the list to ride in a week-long next year, Rick and Lasell said it was phenominal! Next year, the 3 day clinics will be for people who haven't had a chance to ride with Mark yet, the waiting list is so long they are trying to be more fair.