AhD and I attended a Parelli groundwork clinic instructed by “Dancing Pete” on Monday. 
I tried to be as sponge-like as possible to soak it all in. AhD was a good boy and a good representative of the breed. He did make sure he had a good roll – both sides now – before the instructor showed up. Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork, groundwork….it is very good for us. Dancing Pete has thousands of hours of groundwork on his horse, and that is all well and good for someone who does that for a living, but that is not possible for me and AhD, so I choose to live with the consequences and enjoy what time I have to spend with my Curly.
I rode AhD home the day after the clinic, and we made lightning speed getting back before dark. He was friggin’ AWESOME! Harold would be pleased to know I was a western rider, with tack borrowed from my friend Audrey. Audrey is long and lean and lanky, and I am very un-lanky, so she will be surprised when she next sits in her saddle, he-he. And wait until she tries to buckle her helmet on... :)We rode up, up, up the mountain at a good fast clip via paved road, and down, down, down the other side via dirt road and rocky trail.
Lots of water, even when we reached The Sandpit and level ground.
AhD was still exhuberant, so we sailed up over the last section of trail to arrive at the barn. Both of us were really glad to get home. I felt GREAT after such a wonderful experience - both the ride and the clinic. ~Susan and AhD in Maine~
What an awsome adventure Susan!!! Your picts of your view from Prince Didders back reminds me so much of the the view I had from KAllie-girls back before she retired ~ such WONDERFUL memories!!!!! Love reading your posts....Im still giggling at the lanky versus unlanky..... Hugs to you and AhD!!!
ReplyDeleteawesome time Susan !! good job :)
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the lanky and un-lanky comments!! Love it!! : ) That's cool to have a clinic so close to you. How did he do during the clinic?
ReplyDeletewow, what a great post! AHD's mane looks AWESOME TOO!!
ReplyDeleteI think the best part of the clinic was when we all led our horses back and forth and swung a carrot stick out in front of us to keep them out of our space. AhD very quickly learned that I WAS NOT going to move out of his space, and he'd better skidaddle out of mine or he'd get plonked by the carrot stick. I could see him thinking about it. But my favorite part was how when I was ignoring AhD and listening to Pete explain things, AhD would nuzzle me as if to say, "Pay attention to me; I love you today!" It was cute. It really does us a world of good to do a behavior clinic once in a while, because if I give AhD an inch he will take a mile, so I have to be reminded to be a good leader to keep Didder on his best behavior. Oh, another precious piece of advice I learned about confidence - DON'T DO IT IF YOU ARE SCARED - whatever "it" is. Stop BEFORE you get scared,and you will get farther on your confidence journey than if you push yourself too hard.
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