The CD clinic and some ground work

Saturday, I headed down to the Cowboy Dressage clinic. I could only go the one day, as I couldn't get someone to look after my dogs both days.
Jenni Grimmet was the teacher; she doesn't claim to be an expert but she is happy to share what she has learned from Eitan Beth- Halachmy . There were 10 riders in the clinic, just right so that everyone got plenty of individual attention.

The morning session was groundwork, getting your horse to be with you and using your energy to do transitions, not relying on your cues; cue, then use your energy- or focus, if that makes more sense. Her saying is: "Thou shalt not dwell on rein or leg" .  Ask with an aid if you need to, but don't keep applying the aid. Ask, then use your energy, if he doesn't get it then ask again. Also, punishing the horse is out of the question; if he doesn't get it, don't get after him, just find a way to make it easy for him to understand.
Since CD is all about soft feel and the connection with your horse, it makes sense that you have to start on the ground- just as you do with any discipline. So- no dragging your horse along with the leadline, or pulling him into a stop. So, for example, if you stop, and you prepare your horse for the stop with your body slowing and an exhaled breath, your horse should stop with you. If he doesn't, you don't move your feet; you stay stopped and use your lead line or stick to reposition his body to where he should have stopped- right beside you with your shoulder between his jaw and withers. It took some of the horses a few tries, but most of them had it figured fairly quickly once their handlers realized that they actually could reposition them without moving their feet!
Sounds like pretty simple stuff and pretty much in line with all the natural horsemanship gurus out there.

Jenni demonstration leading with a soft feel and using energy to speed up the horse

When it was riding time, that's when the holes in the ground work show up.  So if a particular horse was lagging behind during the ground work, sure enough he was pokey and disinterested under saddle. Or a horse that was too forward on the ground was too forward under saddle. It was interesting to see how Jenni worked with each person to get them through each issue and by the end of the day, there was lots of improvement.

This horse was really interesting- he is gaited, kind of a singlefoot gait when he speeds up, although he does trot too. Here you can see the rider with her energy up- but a tight rein.

And here, she has exhaled, and dropped her energy level - and loosened the rein- and the horse just relaxed down with her.

The Cowboy Dressage Court is perfect for helping a rider focus on where and when to do a transition- much like a traditional dressage court but with a few more elements like the octagon in the middle, and ground poles at certain points. It is 20 meters wide and 60 meters long. Here is a link to their Rules and Guidelines.
This clinic only scratched the surface of what I have yet to learn about this discipline. Wish I could have gone back for the second day as they covered working over the ground poles and riding a test. But- she only lives an hour and a half away, so I could get my paperwork in order and haul down there a few times this summer for instruction.
I did come home with some things to work on with Coulee. I did the basic leading, and there are plenty of holes in that! She tends to walk with her shoulder at my shoulder- kind of taking charge. Then she also tends to lag behind if she isn't sure of where I am going, so we worked on her position today. Also worked on her stopping square with me; I only had to fix that twice. Coulee hasn't been out of her pen for a few days, so I figured she would be a little wound up. I did some in hand bending work, (stuff from the clinic) and she is starting to loosen up much better in the neck, flexing both ways. I took her halter off and sent her out; we were in the round pen, moving her out at the trot and lope. as I figured, there was a little bit of bucking as she broke into a lope- nothing serious, more like she was flipping me the bird for not having taken her out of her dry pen for 3 days. She settled in after a round or two.
After that, I did some flag work with her. I had previously seen that she was nervous about the flag;sure would like to know more about her past training. I think they did a lot of free longeing because she is good at that but not much in hand work.
Anyway, she was giving it the hairy eyeball when I picked up the flag, so I just led her around as per our earlier lesson only this time I was taking the flag out in front of me, swishing it back and forth on the ground. Horses will be more curious than afraid if it's something they are following rather than something that is coming at them. Then I picked it up and walked with it in the air- and it was interesting to see where her comfort level was with that. At or above eye level was better than below eye level.  I did several other things to get her  to look with curiosity rather than fear, and my goal was to be able to rub it on her neck while she stood still. As you watch this video, notice how she is more comfortable with the flag at eye level. See how much she backs up as I hold it just below eye level, and how she stops and accept it when she can see all of it? Just as I was shutting the camera off, she was licking and chewing. I think she will be better with it tomorrow.

It's also interesting that she is more reluctant on her right side, that is also the side she is the stiffest on. Teeth being done on Tuesday- should make a difference and I am finally going to get on her this week!