MARK RASHID Clinic - Changed My Perception of Horsemanship

By Rick W. Roll

I have waited awhile to post this clinic report so that others could give the nuts and bolts stuff.Here is my impression of Marks four days in Beaver, Oregon.

Clinic Format:

Each person receives a one-hour private lesson that focuses on what Mark believes is necessary to bring the person and the horse closer to that elusive unity Nothing goes unseen. No one is lost in the crowd or left behind in the middle of a clinic exercise agenda.

Mark is also a real gentleman. Although the clinic was audited and most of the instruction could be heard over the house PA., there were times when it was intensely personal and private and the mic would go off for Mark and the rider to address those issues. Everyone understood and appreciated that, especially those scheduled to ride later. There was never a cross word to any rider or auditor. There was never a disparaging word about any clinician or method.

Results with horses and people:

The lucky folks spent four one-hour sessions with Mark. The change in both horse and rider was startling, after that four days. One rider was finally able to move her gaited horses (Fox Trotters) through all the gaits and tell which gait she had going. One rider came with an energetic horse which was taking over and left with a horse that was responsive to the slightest shift of weight in the saddle beautiful transitions and some joyful tears. Another rider came with a horse that was unresponsive to the point of being lost and left with a horse that was very aware of its human and on the way to becoming light on the ground and in the saddle. One person came with a huge (as in Godzilla's brother-in-law) TWH. She was afraid to ride the big guy, because of some bad experiences they both had. After a few days of ground work and a gentle restart, she left with a horse that was ready to ride, when she was ready. Mark rode that one and helped the owner gain enough confidence to ride a little in the pen. It was a perfectly uneventful ride and a very emotional experience for all of us.

Technique vs. Feel:

Mark warned us not to think too much. He wanted us to feel the horse and feel what we were doing on the horse. He showed us all how we did not trust our horses to do the right thing. Sure, most of us knew about "lightness" and most of us knew what to do to stop a horse. But, what most of us didn't know was that the horse was already in the process of stopping about 3 to 5 seconds before we released, Trusting the horse to stop, or to make a transition, means to ask and then release when the horse is processing that thought. By the end of the clinic, those fortunate enough to ride with Mark all four days, were moving through transitions with imperceptible shifts of seat, no leg cues and very subtle rein cues. I kept asking myself what it would be like to spend 30 days with this guy. Mark was trying to teach us all to feel our horses thinking that they were going to stop

Mark showed us repeatedly that our horses were not moving at a constant speed at the walk or trot, there were little changes in speed from time to time. He taught us how to feel them and how to use them to help communicate with our horses. What a great idea to ask the horse to slow or stop, while the horse was already slowing down. Not just making our idea his idea, we were letting the horse have his idea and making it ours. The converse was true also, why not ask the horse to transition when it was in the process of a transition on its own. As horse and rider became more united, it became easier for the horse to make the rider's idea its own. I could see each horse and rider pair coming closer to that unity of thought that we all want. I have never seen that at any clinic. It has always been technique, technique, technique. I have seen those "results" at a lot of clinics. And there has been a lot of talk about feel, but I have not seen it taught this clearly anywhere else.

Personal Changes:

I was ready to give it up. I have made a lot of progress and have learned a lot of positive stuff from my teachers and from my own mistakes. But, it was my impression that, the more "results" I wanted the more physical I had to be. Whack, whack, whack. Raise the phase. The message was be gentle to teach, but after the horse has learned the task, get after him if he doesn't do it with gusto. I had reached the point where I had it with that approach and was not going to do it. I was losing my horse. I have been on a two year search for another way.

I took two horses to Mark. One was a palomino gelding who was not taking to the saddle very well. I just wanted Mark to look at him. The vet saw nothing and offered no treatment. Still he bucked and bucked when saddled. I stopped, because I did not want to torture the poor guy. Mark put him in the pen and we just walked him around on the end of the lead. Mark suggested that he may have some joint problems and suggested that a chiropractor have a look at him. I am working on that now. Mark also gave me some ways to look at horses to see those kinds of problems.

My other horse is a good sized QH gelding. I was watching what little relationship I had with him go down the toilet, due to my approach. Thank God, I was alert enough to see it. I didn't know what to do about it, other than to stop what I had been doing.

Mark did not say any of the following things to me. He set me up to find them out for myself

Mark was never critical of any clinician or method. He is too much of a gentleman for that and he has his own thing going very well. But this is what occurred to me while I saddled my horse. This whole thing took about 5 minutes and it shook me to the core.

I got the saddle. My horse looked around and started to move, Mark asked me a question

I though about it and decided, ok, if my horse wants to move I'll move him around a little. I did.

I tried to saddle and he moved again.

Mark asked another question. I thought about it again and started wondering if there wasn't a reason he was moving. Maybe the saddle didn't fit. Maybe he was sore. Maybe he was trying to tell me something. Then I decided that I had been a fool to think that he was just moving. He was moving FOR A REASON. Up to that point, I had been content to chase him around and threaten him with the popper, until he held still. So much for communication.

Mark didn't have to ask another question. It was a saddle fit problem.

I learned that horsemanship is easy for me when I tune the horse out just force the results that

I want. Oh, shoot, I am doing surface work. For the longest time I didn't know what that was.

What a surprise to find out that I am a shining example.

As Jan Leitschuh wrote in this month's TTLT, I discovered that "I was sliding over that soft spot into a hard spot, and "making" the horse do something instead of asking for it."

In the 40 hours of horsemanship done in Beaver, Mark never shook a lead rope, never hit a horse with a popper, rope, stick or string and never had a cross word for any horse or rider. He tugged the halter rope one time on the dull horse. He never kicked or whacked a horse he rode. instead, he would say occasionally of a horse, "Ok, I'll give him that, I was out of position."

He never said that any of those things were wrong. He did say there might be a place for more pressure, depending on the situation. But I saw that he didn't need it I don't want it. I am back to questioning everything I am doing, right down to the equipment that I am using. I learned that there is a different way of doing horsemanship I want to do it that way, not the way ! am doing it now. I got a glimpse of the real thing.

I don't know how I am going to get there, but "No, thank you," Mark, for opening that next door for me and making me want to try.