ridecamp@endurance.net: Ron Mclaughlin Clinic

Ron Mclaughlin Clinic

WarholNW@ccmail.apldbio.com
Mon, 26 Jun 95 10:37:44 PDT


Hi everyone! I want to report on what I did this past weekend with my
new horse. My riding instructor (Donna Synder-Smith) suggested I take
my young Arab Shatta to a 3 day riding clinic put on by a cowboy named
Ron McLaughlin. OH yeah? 3 days of chasing cows? Are you nuts? I
have nothing against cowboys, reining, cattle work, and the like, I
just have no desire to actually do it. She assured me that was not
what it was all about. Ron is a horseman, and is a good teacher on
all aspects of horsemanship. My new guy needs to learn how to slow
down a bit, and to pay more attention to me. She told me this clinic
is just the thing for us. I trust her, so I went, and brought along a
stable friend so we would not be the only non-Quarterhorse there.

We got to the covered area in Brentwood, Ca, on the hottest weekend on
record in a long time. At least it was covered, and there was a
swimming pool at the house. A stable worker stood by the arena fence
for 3 days and hosed us off! What a great sport! I was shocked to
see 21 horses in the arena! That's Twenty-one horses and riders! I
was upset at first, since it was like trying to ride on a New York
sidewalk.

I was wrong about the clientele as well. There were 4 endurance
riders, a few dressage types (with those HUGE horses), some trail
riders, some jumpers, and a few cow horses. It was a nice mix of
riders and animals.

I never realized how much hard work you can do in an arena! The group
rode around the arena, doing whatever Ron commanded. Here is an
example:

Everyone Walk your horses at a nice, easy walk. Now go into a
collected trot. small circle left, big circle left, roll-away left,
360 to the left, with a roll-away on top, 2 big circles to the left,
reverse to the right, large circle to the left, roll-away left, roll
away right, canter, roll-away right, roll-away left, posting trot,
etc, etc, etc. We would go for what seemed like 30 minutes at a time.
Ron was evaluating all the horses and riders for what he felt we
should all work on. We would all then stop, and go sit on our horses
at the end of the arena. Ron would then pull out one, two, or three
riders and have them do special things, depending on how he feels
about the horse and rider. Those breaks were wonderful! And one of
the things Shatta needs to learn is how to park. He was standing like
a statue by the end of the second day. I love it!

I have never done as much cantering in my entire arena life as I did
during those 3 days! My horse was in a hurry at the beginning of day
one, and I was riding "to tight" according to Ron. He made me work on
loosening up by riding with my elbows straight out (for an hour at a
time), and by keeping my legs off the horse. We did these really
neat "Blue Angels" group patterns, individual patterns by memory, we
learned how to do flying lead changes, and believe it or not, I
learned how to do 360 degree spins. Just like those cowboys. And you
know what else? IT WAS FUN! Shatta is a real athlete, and learned
how to spin in about 10 minutes. Its a kick to come cantering up the
rail, and canter into a 360 spin, and come flying out at the same
canter! Now I can do a 360 at the start of a 50 miler and impress the
heck out of everyone! (yeah, right!) The best thing was I taught my
horse how to do a bunch of things that made us both much better
together. One thing Ron had me do for 30 minutes straight was to go
do tight trotting 360s in both directions. Tight like the horses head
is on his shoulder! At first he hated it, at the end he was trotting
smoothly all the way through.

I was real surprised at how I felt at the end. All those damn horses
on the first day are one of the best training devices I have ever
used. You learn how to keep your head, not to panic, and how to
control your horse in all the traffic. The only thing I hated was
trotting without stirrups! OUCH! I don't have that one down yet.
Besides, Shatta can trot the entire length of the huge Arena in 15
strides! (we did a lot of stride counting. Walk across the arena and
count your steps, then do the same thing with 5 less and 5 more steps.
It's not easy! Even harder at the trot)


I made a huge connection with my horse, and was so happy with the way
he responded I can hardly contain myself. I will be going back as
soon as he holds another one in my area. For $200, we rode about 6-7
hours a day for 3 days. It's a shame it was so hot, but we would just
jump off the horse and into the pool while our team members would keep
the horses hosed off.

If anyone is interested, let me know and I will send you his phone
number.

Nick Warhol and my new "Cow Pony" Shatta, the 15.2 hand Spanish Arab.