3-D Clinic 3 Recap: Training Under Saddle

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 10:00 AM
MM Training and Consulting in 3D Rider, ah ha, testimony, training under saddle, updates

Our team would like to congratulate the participants on their outstanding and engaged participation in the third of our 3-D mini series, Training Under Saddle. Following is a recap of the content of the Training Under Saddle clinic.

We focused on the following skills:

• establishing warm up and reward rituals with the horse as part of the training process
• lunging in small circles
• riding small circles using only one rein - teaching the horse to follow its nose
• stopping exercises
• control of the horse’s body parts
• turns on forehand and haunch
• half passes
• roll backs
• counter flex
• counter canter
• canter departures
• consistency in all gaits
• pattern work
• diagonal reverse
• circles
• timing for up and down transitions

Here are a few examples of the “ah ha!” moments from this clinic:

• “I need to let it get ugly to reach another level.” – Barbie Miller
• “All this time I thought the box was around the saddle horn. Today I realized that it (the box) is in front of the pommel. Duh! Putting my hands in the real box…what a difference!” – Marcie King
• “Raising the reins to lower the head. My horse is so smart!”
• “When the horse knows what to do, they are the best teacher – IF YOU LISTEN!” – Carolyn
• “If the horse ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” – Carolyn
• “The roll-back cue is like the square turn. And I have an awesome horse!!! Do I owe a brag buck?”
• “In the 8 years that Hunter and I have been together we had never connected. The 2 clinics we have been to here did more for us as a team than the 8 years before.” – Sue Wyatt

Article originally appeared on MM Training and Consulting (http://www.mm-horsetraining.com/).