3-D Clinic 1 Recap: On the Ground

Our team would like to congratulate the participants of the first clinic of our 3-D mini series, On the Ground, on their outstanding and engaged participation. We thought this clinic proved to be very fun and rewarding for all involved, including the instructors. As our second segment, Equitation, approaches, we hope you are looking forward to more of the same - fun, fellowship and the improvement of old skills and the discovery of new ones.

We focused on the following skills:

• leading exercises
• control of the horse’s body parts
• roundpenning
• ground driving
• advance and retreat technique - obstacles and desensitizing
• building a connection with our horses

We also demonstrated our color code program relating to our newsletter article What Color is Your Horse Really? We talked about the color wheel being broken into four parts, with every person and horse falling into one or more of the following personality types: Sorrel, Roan, Gray or Palomino. We learned through ground training and round pen demonstrations that each color has its own set of strengths and limitations, which can be applied to every person and every horse. From this portion of the clinic, the key take home message is that as we work in our strengths and on our limitations, our personal growth gives us the ability to grow in our relationships.

Another part of the clinic focused on individual discoveries, coined “ah ha! moments.” As trainers and instructors, we would like to share some of these as examples of what can be accomplished during this progressive series. We are very impressed with the growth in horsemanship skills that we have seen in our clinic attendees. We learn as much from each person’s “ah ha!” moments as they do, and we love to see that light bulb go on. The desire to learn and improve was strong in the air at this clinic, and that attitude makes it a real joy to instruct. We appreciate each participant’s willingness to connect with each other and with us as instructors to make this clinic such a rewarding experience. Here are a few examples of the “ah ha!” moments in this clinic:

• “I realized I had to focus on the positive: What she did give me, not what she didn’t.” ~Carolyn
• “Poor Rosie…I took her to marriage counseling; she didn’t even know we had a problem!” ~Carolyn
• “I walked over and stood at Rosie’s shoulder and she connected on HER OWN, no prompting. I wouldn’t have recognized this before.” ~Carolyn
• “Curly is blue roan, I’m yellow palomino-we have a problem with consistency.” ~Suz
• “I’m learning to be with my horse, not at my horse.” ~Terry
• “The 6 P’s: Prior - Proper - Planning - Prevents - Poor - Performance” ~Tom
• “Just because the horse seems reliable and easy to ride does not mean that he will easily ‘connect’ with you in the round pen.” ~Charlotte
• “Lift toward the hip to move the shoulder over.”
• “Don’t expect perfect results immediately. I have to remember when working with my baby (Rhythm) that she doesn’t know what Bart knows.” ~Kori
• “Lena has gone from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan.” ~Marcie

We hope this synopsis has synthesized and reinforced the heart of our 3-D program, enhancing life’s relationships through connection, which transfers equally across horsemanship and every day life. We are so looking forward to presenting our next program, Equitation, scheduled for April 23 and 24. We hope to see you all there!