well I have just returned from Hartpury, the penultimate location, a wonderfull airy arena and venue for the demo.
The format for the demo was generaly much the same as the others starting with the members bit ( which we unfortunatley missed due to me , in my drug induced stupor... dont worry folk just painkillers for my injured back
.... directing my friend down the wrong shortcut !!!!!!)
A lovely piebald called Domino faced the dreaded plastic ( oh boy did he leap out of his skin
) , pirhanas and crocodles and made his transformation journey with Monty to conquer the lake.
Kelly and Pie demonstrated admirably their trec skills ...... and being rather honest here, for those of us used to seeing this, or having horses that have "been through the process" so to speak and do some of this stuff (although not to as high a standard obviously as Kelly
) I at first fell into the trap of .... OK very good , but surely one should be able to do this sort of thing with all horses that we take out hacking
. Well OK maybe not the run in to put the dually on or through the "fire"
..... and I have never see the need to jump over picnicers
However I was brought back to the reality of what many horse owners are missing / are ignorant of when I overheard the comments of some others sitting near me and hearing some of the issues that "learning to ride" did not prepare them for , how they struggled with some issues , or just put up with them !!!!
The impression I got from them was its never been taught, or expected, that every horse / human CAN develop these skills. They thought it was the preserve of "magical horses /people" or "lucky people"..... rather than everyday people that learn and apply knowledge, perseverance and consistancy .......
There are several complex issues / messages given if the impression is given that "anyone and everyone" can deal with problems (I have seen some really bad "join ups" done for example) and there are times when an RA seeing the individuals in question is vital) .... but could there be some way of getting over some of the stories of "ordinary" people who have used RA's or IH methods to work with their horses to develop that horse that people comment on and say " aren't you *lucky* (s)he is so quiet"
I did enjoy seeing Monty and Archie .....aren't the both perfect showmen
An update on Ascot Mews that huge dressage horse all done up just so for the dressage to music. ;D ;D Some people forgot about the phobia of applause and started to clap ....
ooooppppppppppsssssss, we caught a weee glipmpe of the issue MOnty had described. I was quite shocked that a horse trained to such a high competitve standard had somehow such a severe problem ( maybe I missed something in the introduction and it was a recent reaction to a bad experience and if I have I apologise) that had not been dealt with till now
The work has been apparently ongoing over several demos and the work done tonight was ..
.. Ascot Mews apprently deals with noises better while in motion so as he cantered around the arena monty counted out 1, 2 ,3 clap and audience ONE QUIET clap. He repeated this several times till AM settled. A CD of aplause was started quietly and increased in increments as AM continued to canter...... doing this he managed to put the applause sooooooo loud I could not hear Monty speaking
AM then joined in with Archie, and Pie to do demos on changes of lead etc ........ and the Fire came in ........ AM left and the demo followed its usual schedule to the end.
the last demo horse for the loading was Red, an ex Racehorse, that usually got two feet on the ramp ..... then left .... did not matter whether on four feet or two!!!!!!
MOnty told us of this "almost failure" with a rather large clydesdale with feet sooooooo large ( bit like the fishermans fish, gets bigger each venue
....... where Pie saved the day by demonstrating to the big fella about the big dark cave being a pushover for an iclke fella so ..... get on with it
Needless to say after doing apparently "very little" to the uninitated eye , chatting all the time while still working Red, MOnty demonstrated yet again how to get a horse to actaully trot on board....... much to the astonishment of his owner
So what I admired about the demo was that there was something for all levels .... it is VERY hard to pitch a demo with such a HUGE range of experiences in the audience and leave everyone feeling that they have seen something new or learnt something ... if its too technical some people dont understand, if its too simple the experienced may not get much from it ! ( being a tutor I REALLY appreciate how difficult it is so great going folks ;D ;D ;D)
OK better sign off now ..... will re read this after some sleep.... may need to edit for typos and errors