Introduction to Roping!
The August club day had Daniel Gorman teach us how to rope!! Starting on the ground learning how to handle the rope by itself and then learning how to handle it from the horse, and then ride the horse and throw the rope at the same time. It's a lot harder than it looks!!!!
Daniel Gorman Weekend Clinic
In february Dan held a weekend clinic at his training centre in Uralla, NSW. The weekend focused on ridden work and learning to ride with other horses about in open environments. it was a fun start to the new year and challenged us all to discover where our holes were!
Bodywork Basics with Jane Clothier
Our May 2014 meeting involved a bodywork and biomechanics demo by Jane Clothier (http://www.balancedhorse.com.au/). With the assistance of two horses, a pelvis and skull, Jane showed us simple techniques to assess our horse's flexibility, and look for muscle tensions and discomfort. Hot Shot modeled for the assessment phase - both standing, and then in motion. Jane then showed us some basic bodywork moves that can help to release these tensions - and Stewie responded admirably. Almost as soon as Jane touched him, he gave an enormous yawn, and after about half an hour, he looked ready to fall asleep! It was a fascinating day - Jane is an excellent speaker, and so engaged in her subject that a proposed 2 hour session, once we all started asking questions and chipping in, became a 3-4 hour session!
Our May 2014 meeting involved a bodywork and biomechanics demo by Jane Clothier (http://www.balancedhorse.com.au/). With the assistance of two horses, a pelvis and skull, Jane showed us simple techniques to assess our horse's flexibility, and look for muscle tensions and discomfort. Hot Shot modeled for the assessment phase - both standing, and then in motion. Jane then showed us some basic bodywork moves that can help to release these tensions - and Stewie responded admirably. Almost as soon as Jane touched him, he gave an enormous yawn, and after about half an hour, he looked ready to fall asleep! It was a fascinating day - Jane is an excellent speaker, and so engaged in her subject that a proposed 2 hour session, once we all started asking questions and chipping in, became a 3-4 hour session!
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CHRISTMAS PARTY - RIDE TO MUSIC
Our December Social Day started with Riding To Music. This is great fun - can you and your horse find a natural rhythm at all paces? What music suits your horse's natural rhythm? Do you and your horse have similar tastes in music? Having found our rhythm, can we lengthen and shorten stride, staying in time with the music, and maintaining balance? And apart from being fun, it's actually really good training for all sorts of disciplines.
Lunch was a Barbecue feast, the meat beautifully cooked by John, and a range of great salads and desserts. Surprisingly, after lunch, most of us managed to ride again, although an afternoon nap might have been nice too!
Our December Social Day started with Riding To Music. This is great fun - can you and your horse find a natural rhythm at all paces? What music suits your horse's natural rhythm? Do you and your horse have similar tastes in music? Having found our rhythm, can we lengthen and shorten stride, staying in time with the music, and maintaining balance? And apart from being fun, it's actually really good training for all sorts of disciplines.
Lunch was a Barbecue feast, the meat beautifully cooked by John, and a range of great salads and desserts. Surprisingly, after lunch, most of us managed to ride again, although an afternoon nap might have been nice too!
Trainee Parelli Instructors
In September we had Margaret and Kathryn Love come to give us all free lessons so that they could practice on us for teaching experience. We all had a great day and no matter how long we had been working/playing with our horses all of us learnt something new.
STEVE BYRNE - CATTLE DAY
Even though some of the members took the scenic route to the property everyone was up and ready to go by 9am.
We started by learning the basic maneuvers that we would be needing for working the cattle and then we headed straight up to the mechanical cow to put it into practice. Many of the horses were pretty nervous of the ‘cow’ but after a few confidence exercises everyone was able to get their horses relaxed and focused.
After lunch Steve demonstrated what working a real cow should look like and then we all proceeded to prove that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.
A team penning competition was held at the end of the day in which brought out the ‘cowboys’ in all of us. It was noted that as we speeded up we lost most of our horsemanship principles, but we had a lot of fun anyway!
Everyone certainly learnt something new and we hope to do another day again. Keep watching this space.....
We started by learning the basic maneuvers that we would be needing for working the cattle and then we headed straight up to the mechanical cow to put it into practice. Many of the horses were pretty nervous of the ‘cow’ but after a few confidence exercises everyone was able to get their horses relaxed and focused.
After lunch Steve demonstrated what working a real cow should look like and then we all proceeded to prove that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.
A team penning competition was held at the end of the day in which brought out the ‘cowboys’ in all of us. It was noted that as we speeded up we lost most of our horsemanship principles, but we had a lot of fun anyway!
Everyone certainly learnt something new and we hope to do another day again. Keep watching this space.....
