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Hi all,
I just came back from attending a week long clinic named the Horse Gathering
in Estes Park Colorado.  A quick summary just in case some of you don't want
to read this whole thing or because it's off topic:  This was the best money
I have ever spent.  It was well worth the vacation time and every penny.  If
you didn't go this year, you really missed out on something special.  If you
don't go next year, I'm sure you'll be missing out on something even better.

The presenters included:  Mark Rashid, Harry Whitney, Jessica Jahiel, Dave
Genadek (saddlefit), Dave Siemans (chiro), Susan Crawford (cranio-sacral),
Vic Thomas (adult learning), Linda Bertani (marketing), Dave Abbas
(computers), Todd Williams (dental), Chris Ryan (legal issues), Stuart
Greenberg (farrier) and Deb Bennett.

There were 8 demo horses to help the presenters show different problems and
approaches.  My mare, Venesza was one of them.  For those of you that
haven't heard about her - she is a very high energy horse that exhausts me
to hold back and will rush through obstacles with her eyes closed
(figuratively).  It took us 20 minutes to get her into the stall when we
arrived.

The first day began at the conference room at the hotel.  First up after
introductions was Vic Thomas.  He really set the tone for the entire
conference - that the whole purpose was to keep everyone in the best
possible learning mode.  He introduced the term "learning hook", which means
anything that distracts you from the goal of learning something new.  Almost
all of the other presenters used terms and concepts he used throughout the
week, which really helped us retain information better.

Next Dr. Deb Bennett gave a presentation on biomechanics.  She had brought
Woody along with her to demonstrate how most horses lean.
Then Harry and Mark talked for a little while about their approaches -
similarities and differences.  Jessica Jahiel then spoke about her teaching
approach.

I then went back to the barn for a quick ride, trying to figure out what I
was going to do the next day for my riding session with Mark.  The previous
week I had attended a 2 day clinic with Venesza and Mark - the goal being to
learn to back over a log.  We spent 2 hours fighting just to go forward over
the log.  I was really upset with myself at how much I had to crank on the
reins and that I had no ability to keep her from avoiding things.  So I
thought we'd work on lateral stuff, turn on forehand, haunches, maybe even
get to sidepass. In the practice arena, I found a pole and was quite pleased
that the work from the previous weekend seemed to help - only one refusal.

The next morning, Tuesday, we started with Harry Whitney doing a colt
starting session.  The subject was a 2.5 yr old palomino.  I got the
impression the horse had been rescued, but didn't hear any details, so not
sure.  The owner definitely lived for her horse and had been reluctant to
even come and risk letting someone else hurt her horse.  He had been
saddled, but didn't like anyone or thing over his head or back.  They
started out just by seeing how the horse reacted and got him to fairly
calmly accept saddling.  But you could see that he still wasn't happy with
life.

Next I went to a session with Dr. Dave Siemans, chiropractor.  I didn't have
my horse for this session, but I already knew Dave.  He worked on Venesza
earlier in the year when we went through a major saddle fit and sore back
problem.  Dave had brought a horse carcass so we could really see what he
was working on.  Dave is very calm and relaxed, which really helps the horse
as he does the adjustments.

Then there was a session with Jessica working with a lady that I got to be
good friends with and her very lovely thoroughbred.  They worked on
increasing the speed of the walk with the horse - he's an ex-racehorse and
walks fast on the trail, but very slow in the arena.  Jessica ended up
working more on the seat of the rider.  She looked really nice, but was a
little stiff and kept her reins too loose.  Jessica felt it was more
important to work on those areas first before they'd have success with the
stride of the horse.

Then I went to the farrier session.  I love Stuart Greenberg!  I have never
seen a farrier work so nicely with a horse.  I didn't have Venesza in that
session, but I talked to him the night before since we'd had to do an
emergency de-shoing prior to driving to Estes.  I had planned on removing
shoes anyhow, but still wasn't comfortable with paring the frogs and didn't
have the best tools for dealing with bars and soles.  Stuart walked up to
the mare and petted her before even asking to touch a foot.  He let her pick
her foot up to the level she wanted, rather than yanking it up and then set
it down nicely.  Venesza likes to tuck her hind foot up and forward before
letting someone bring it farther back - and he figured that out right away.
Stuart had lots of feet and bone samples and just did an awesome job of
explaining hoof mechanism.  He is also a great believer in keeping horses
barefoot - as long as it works for the horse and his specific job and
environment.

Next was my session with Mark.  That morning I had hopped on Venesza
bareback while she was grazing in a ditch.  So I thought an additional thing
to work on would be to soften my cues and really improve my communication
with her.  I went into the round pen bareback with halter and lead rope and
explained what I wanted to do.  Mark wasn't real sure this would be a good
thing - main point was that tack doesn't matter, we could do this just as
well with tack.  I explained that it would be a mental thing for me - if I
thought I didn't have a bit to haul back on, I would have to figure out
something else.

Mark asked me to show how I would do a turn on the haunches, so I did my
best from my image of how it's done (never really had a good lesson there)
and what do you know, it didn't work.  So Mark had me back up and just work
on turning.  In just a few minutes we were turning almost just by thinking
about the turn.  I didn't have to use reins and just a teeny amount of leg,
sometimes.  It was really soft and amazing.  Then we did the same thing for
the back.  I started to back and he asked me on a scale of 1-10, how much
pressure was I using.  We had already softened things a lot, so honestly, I
was only using about a 3 on my scale that covered me trying to control her
on the trail - but still a  LOT.  Soon, I was using about a 0.5 for a lovely
calm back.  At one point, we were just starting to back and Mark said look
over there, and wow, there went a turn on the haunches!  Turn on the
forehand was almost as easy, but I do need to keep working on not letting
her walk off.

Later than night we had a round table discussion which turned all teary as
Mark asked us how we deal with saying goodbye (both loss and selling).  That
was pretty tough as I had just lost my cat the day I drove to Estes.  But
people had some very poignant stories.  Someone asked Dr. Deb and Stuart if
they knew anything about Hiltrud Strasser and they didn't really comment
there, but both did say that barefoot was better in the right circumstances.
Dr. Deb did stress that all these "Natural" approaches (shoeing, trimming,
training, whatever) make no logical sense because virtually no one's horse
is in a natural situation.

Wednesday started with Mark working with the lady and the thoroughbred, when
they continued where Jessica had left off on increasing stride length.  It
was really nice to see both horse and rider respond to Mark's suggestions
and become really comfortable with each other.

Then I took Venesza to a biomechanics session with Deb Bennett.  I don't
think we discussed biomechanics.  But she did provide an excellent example
of a learning hook.

After Dr. Deb's session, I had another session with Vic Thomas in adult
learning.  He has been a teacher at a police academy and really has
excellent communication skills.  It was really neat how he was able to link
learning in lecture situations to learning in horse clinics.  I have been
applying the things he talked about with the people I work with and it has
already made a huge difference.

The next session was Legal issues with Chris Ryan.  He talked about
contracts for selling, buying, training.  And what you need to think about
if you have a business involving horses.  He is a member of a very large
riding club in California and has also worked with insurance companies for
their events.

Later was another colt breaking session with the palomino.  Harry decided to
back off and just see where this horse's mind was.  He worked both on foot
and from the back of his horse, using a flag.  All the time stressing that
he doesn't want us running off and using flags.  He's doing what works for
him in a specific situation and he know how to use the flag safely.  He got
to the point where he was able to saddle the horse again, and a little more
calmly.  However, right after most everyone left for the end of the day, the
horse just lost it, it was too much for him and he ran bucking around.  I
had come back through a little later riding my horse and caught a little bit
of that.  Harry addressed that in that 3rd session with this horse.

That night there was a banquet at the hotel and it was a lot of fun.  Lots
of stories and Jeff Abbas (also a DJ and chef) was the MC.  He made of some
spoofs on possible alternative lives the presenters could have lived - very
funny.  Mark was prodded to tell a very funny story about his son roping
pigs.  Then Mark and a band called the Elktones performed while others got
to show off some very fancy footwork.

Thursday started with Harry working with the palomino again.  He told people
what had happened the night before and said they were really going to start
from the beginning with this horse.  Again he worked from foot and
horseback, just trying to get the horse comfortable with moving around,
especially with someone over his head level.  Eventually Harry was able to
sit on the fence and get the horse to move from one side to the other of
him, calmly and accepting.

After that was a marketing session with Linda Bertani.  She was one of the
people that help organize the whole thing and is also married to Vic Thomas.
She is an excellent communicator.  She talked a lot about promoting clinics
and how to get your business out there.  Really good ideas like writing
something up for local publications and signing with your name and business.
Donate to 4-H your products or your time.  It was a really fun session.

Next I had a riding session with Jessica.  The night before she had
complimented me and Venesza on our session with Mark and loaned me a spirit
bridle (bitless) to try.  It worked very well, no transition time and I was
able to keep everything soft and easy like in Mark's session.  We had even
opened a gate with me mounted the night before.  We worked on the same
things I'd done with Mark, with a focus more on my seat and hands.  I didn't
ride around a whole lot, Jessica did a lot of talking and she is just great
to listen to.

Then I had a computer session with Jeff Abbas.  It started with people just
talking about what computers to use, what software and ISPs to use.  Then we
talked about those of us having businesses where we wanted a web site
presence.  This was great info for me since I'm going to start selling some
tack.

Later I had a session with Venesza and Susan Crawford on cranio-sacral
issues.  We actually started the session with the palomino from Harry's
session because they'd tried to work with him earlier but a nasty rainstorm
really bothered him.  Susan thinks of things in terms of energy and
blockages and releases.  She thought that the horse had probably been
separated from his mother early and had also probably had a pretty bad
accident as there seemed to be major issues on one shoulder and in the neck
and head.  The horse went from being fairly intolerant to actually coming
right up to Susan and almost asking for work in specific areas.  Venesza
didn't have any major problems (things we already knew about as she gets a
monthly chiro visit).  Susan showed me a technique of rocking, both at the
hips and shoulders that helps the horse loosen up.

Then Mark started working a 4 yr old Walker mare.  She hadn't had much done
with her (so no real problems) but she wasn't used to ropes.  He taught her
to longe on a line and worked toward ground driving.  It was really amazing
watching this mare think.  She was quite confused when she could hear Mark's
voice right next to her, but even louder out of the loudspeaker.  But she is
very smart and figure things out and progressed quite smoothly.  I think
this is a place where most people might make mistakes (myself for sure) and
move too fast.  She learned so quickly it would be tempting to just keep
going and ride her right away.  But I think Mark makes the right decisions
to go slowly and really make sure the horse is comfortable before
progressing.  I will always try to keep this session in mind when I work
with the young guys or the horses that I'm trying to help through something
new.

They decided to hold another impromptu question and answer session.  We were
all in tears again as the owner of the palomino talked about what she was
getting from the clinic and her hopes for the horse.  Someone asked the
panel how they are able to translate their desire to helping horses to
communicating to people.  Dr. Deb explained that she doesn't care about her
communication abilities and that she knows when we're upset, but that it's
so much more important that we all know that we're wrong so that the horse
can be saved.  Mark followed that up with a really awesome story of how he
wrecked the old man's sulky cart and that the old man turned it into a
learning session (how to repair tack, wheels, carts, tend to horse wounds)
and never once yelled at him.  Mark said that always thinks of that
experience when trying to help people learn to think about and for their
horses.

Friday came too quick.  It started with another session with the palomino.
This time Harry started with the horse and quickly got him back to where he
was from the previous day, dealing with someone sitting on the fence.  Then
the owner came in and worked with him and was able to do the same things,
even though she didn't get to use the flag.  I know everyone at the clinic
will want to know how things work out with this horse, but they will have a
long slow road ahead.  I think Harry and Mark had a great impact on the
owner and have helped her decide to best path to help this horse with his
problems.

Then Mark worked with the Walker again and finished up the ground driving
work.  She is off to an excellent start and her owner is really pleased.  I
talked to him a bit since our horses were stabled near each other.  He also
had a walker mule there.  He knows quite a bit about finishing horses, but
had never started one from ground zero.  (I think he's done more than he
thinks because those session wouldn't have been so clear and obvious to see
the mare thinking if he hadn't laid some decent ground work.)

Next was a dental session with Todd Williams.  He seems like a really great
guy and showed us some things to help us determine when we need to get a
dentist out or when our vet is not doing correct dental work.  One of the
things he mentioned was a horse that doesn't chew on both side of it's
mouth.  The demo horse was the thoroughbred from Mark and Jessica's sessions
and he had this problem.  The horse was also blind in one eye (Uveitis sp?)
and that ordeal might have even contributed to the problem.  But what you
could see was that the front teeth did not line up and the muscles in the
forehead were not evenly developed.  The owner was a little upset, not
realizing that these problems had existed, but also happy to find out that
they might be able to fix the issue, which would probably translate to even
better success riding.

Later was a saddle fit session with Dave Genedek.  We had quite a delay as
there was an incredible rain storm.  We started outside a little barn but
soon had to squish in - including my horse.  She wasn't real happy, but
dealt pretty well as long as she could see out the door.  I had already gone
to one of Dave's clinics, so I knew what he would say about my saddles.
Dave is a really good clinician, able to demonstrate things clearly and even
though he makes wonderful saddles, he doesn't push them on you.  Rather he
tries to help each person fix their saddle.  I had 2 with me.  First was my
endurance saddle, a Di Pietra Synergist.  Dave does not like the ralide
tree, nor the in-skirt rigging system.  The stirrups could be a little
further back toward the deepest part of the seat.  And he would prefer that
the girth rigging be moved back a little and angled a little differently to
keep the back of the saddle from wiggling all over.  This would also help
with the girth problems I've had with the neoprene girth.  I did find out
that Dave is working on a trail type saddle, with Valerie Kanavy.  They are
having problems with the tree supplier, so I don't know what it will look
like or when it will be out, but I'm standing in line for one.  I don't know
how many of you have sat in one of Dave's saddles.  But even though I hate
the bulk of a western saddle, the saddle just puts you in the right spot,
completely level.  It feels great.  My other saddle was a dressage saddle
and the girth rigging was also too far forward and stirrups as well.  His
solution for this type of saddle is what he calls a bra, that covers the
cantle and hooks into the girth.  It's a pretty low use saddle for me, so I
probably won't do this.

Finally was a final roundtable discussion and each presenter talked about
what the clinic had meant to them.  Although we were all tired and our
brains were full, I don't think anyone really wanted to leave.

Final notes about our experience.  I mentioned that it took 20 minutes to
get Venesza into her stall the first day.  Each time later that day was
better and better, but after the session with Mark, she just walked in, with
nothing other than a look, asking "again?"  Another issue in our past is
trailer loading.  When I first got this mare, I didn't have a trailer and
she was delivered to me.  I eventually got a stock type trailer and started
trailer loading 101.  Eventually we found what worked - lunge her into the
trailer and let her turn around and travel loose.  Then about 2 months ago
we got a new slant load trailer.  She walked right in and then panicked and
ran out.  We had to remove the rear tack and open both doors and finally my
husband got so he could load her.  At the previous Mark Rashid clinic, I had
to load by myself.  It took a while and I had to open both doors (hubby was
down to one) but it was the first successful loading for me.  At the end of
this week, we packed up and hubby decided to go get some dinner before we
drove off.  It started raining and I thought I'd try to load her.  I opened
both door and she just calmly walked right in, one foot after the other.
Even with my husbands success, she always jumped in.  Two days later we went
on a ride and she did the same thing with only one door open.  I had never
seen her so calm about a trailer before - it was almost magical.

One other thing - they need to put a warning label on clinics like this.  If
you get so that everything you do with your horse is soft with just teeny
amounts of asking - you might have problems driving afterwards!  I couldn't
convince myself to really push on the gas pedal or breaks for most of the 3
hour drive home.  Oh yeah and the empathy you start feeling for other
animals with issues will get you in trouble too.  The day after I got back,
we went to a cat adoption place to replace the one we'd lost and against the
advice of my mom and husband, I was determined to get the cat they couldn't
adopt because every time someone opened her cage she'd attack and bite them.
Thank god no claws!  She'd been abused by some little kids.  But now she is
ruling our house (and 3 other cats and a dog) with no fear.  She still plays
a little rough, but my husband can now see why I wanted her.

I made some great friends during this week.  I have several e-mail addresses
to keep in touch and even have riding plans with one person that lives close
by.  I met lots of people who are into keeping their horses barefoot,
several CTR people from all over the country, a lady who's daughter just did
Tevis and someone who may be moving into my area one day.  Everyone was
friendly and kind all shared in the wonderful learning environment that was
created by all the incredible presenters.

I know I forgot lots of stuff, so please feel free to ask me any questions.
And find a way to go this next year.  I'll be there, but I won't bring my
horse - I want to make sure others get to enjoy the transformation possible
with their horse too.

Marlene




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