MARK RASHID

by Shorty

I have made three attempts in two days to wnte about what I saw, heard and felt and the recent Mark Rashid clinic that I attended, only to come up inadequately short. I need to fly out to Salt Lake later today and did want to try and post something before I did, and while it is still relatively fresh.

First, let me just say that Mark is extremely quiet and respectful to horses, riders, and spectators. He also seems genuinely shy and unassuming on a one-on-one basis. Almost to a fault

As far as the horses go and how he handled them, there were three instances that particularly stuck out for me (although the entire clinic was an eye-opening experience).

Before I start however, I do need to say that I have never seen anyone who could pinpoint a problem with a horse faster, or with more accuracy than Mark. Case in point. A TB mare was brought into the round pen unsaddled and being led by her owner. Mark asked the owner what they were going to do with the mare, and the owner came back with a litany of problems that the mare had been slowly developing over the past nine months, which now included bucking and rearing. While still leading the mare, Mark began to ask her what seemed to be unrelated questions about the mare. These questions included, "How well does this mare walk down hill?" "Had she had any injuries to her legs in the past year or so?" "Does she seem upset when she is saddled, and if so when did that behavior start?" "is she turned out in a pasture or is she in a stall. "And then the most interesting question of all, "Did she cast herself in her stall just prior to the starting of the unwanted behavior?"

The answers to the questions were, The mare prefers NOT to walk downhill and when she does, can't seem to hold her hind quarters up. She had not had any leg injuries over the past four years, but a great deal of corrective shoeing had been done recently in order to solve the "bucking problem". The mare HAD becoming increasingly difficult to saddle. She was kept in a stall when she wasn't working, and yes, she did cast herself in her stall just a few months before the unwanted behavior started. IN fact, while being cast, the mare had thrashed around to the point where she had fractured her cheek bone.

At that point, Mark asked the owner, as well as the rest of us, to watch the mares hips as she walked. He pointed out that in most healthy horses the hips drop evenly as the horse walks. This mare's hips however, were very stiff and had little movement at all, In fact, he went over and placed his hand on the point of her hip, then pushed down in an attempt to get some movement but there was none to be had. He told us that when we push down on the point of the hip, the hip should bounce like a spring. Her hips had no bounce at all. He then showed the owner how to test for this movement by placing her hand on the joint and asking her to try and get some movement.

He also showed this to a woman from the audience who was showing great interest. He also showed us how, when he did put pressure on the joint, the mare's hind leg would buckle. All things that had escaped most of us initially.

He told the owner that she didn't have a training problem, but rather a physical problem. He said that he could spend an hour or two working on fixing all of the behavioral issues, and they would more than likely seem like they had been solved. However by mid week all of the problems would come back and probably be worse when they did. He also said that if he did work with the mare, she would be very defensive and things would probably not go well during the session.

Instead of putting her through all of that, he simply suggested having the horse looked at by an equine chiropractor, having the soreness worked on, and see if the behavioral issues don't just go away on their own. (A side not here. The owner had the mare worked on by a chiropractor/vet later that day. The vet said that the mare was SO sore that it was a wonder that she hadn't killed someone.) Another interesting note. Mark offered to give her back her money from the clinic due to the fact that he "wasn't able to help her'' She refused.

In another case, a large Morgan from the Pittsburgh Mounted Patrol was brought in. His problem was he wouldn't stand still under saddle, had trouble focusing on the task at hand, and had trouble stopping.

Mark worked him at liberty in the round pen for a short time, (using VERY little pressure of any kind other than an occasional hand clap) then began pointing things out to the owner. The horse would lose his focus, then stare off into space. Mark would kiss to him in order to try and regain the horses attention. Nothing would happen. He would then move some dirt with his foot, again nothing from the horse. Finally, he would clap his hands together one time and the horse would come to life, moving around the round pen before finally trying to refocus on Mark. This would last only a short time before the horse would be gazing off into space once again.

Then the questions from Mark began. Is this horse pushy on the ground (bad ground manners)? The answer, yes. Is he pretty independent, and does he not pay much attention to you in the saddle. The answer, yes, he ignores the person in the saddle, Do things such as traffic, loud noises, crowds of people etc not seem to bother him. The answer, nothing really bothers him with the exception of water puddles. Then the real interesting question came. Was this horse an orphan? The owner seemed surprised at the question, but interestingly enough, the answer was yes, he had been orphaned.

Mark then went on to explain that he was showing classic signs of an orphaned horse. Lack of ability to pay attention and keep focused, pushy from the ground, independent nature and lack of responsiveness from the saddle. His lack of focus was also being added to by an over abundance of nervous energy. Was he getting grain? The answer, yes.

Mark then showed the owner a number of exercises that she could do with the horse to help him regain focus a little quicker, but also suggested something that I had never heard of before. A magnetic halter. He suggested that on Sunday, they put the horse in the halter a half hour or so before working with him and see if it didn't help him to relax a little more while being worked. He said that sometimes in a case such as this, all the horse needs is just a little help relaxing so that he can focus better. (Evidently the magnetic halter releases endorphins which is the horses natural calming agent within the body ) On Sunday, the horse had a completely different look to him. He was soft, quiet and willing. He was able to pay attention, stand quietly under saddle, respond to cues, and focus his attention. Mark mentioned that the horse's change in attitude had to do with the halter. It had just helped him to quiet himself internally, which in turn helped him to focus and respond. As time goes on and the horse begins to rely on his rider, the halter would no longer need to be used (Another note here. Mark does not sell these halters. In fact, he doesn't sell anything - not even his own books )

The third thing that I wanted to mention about Mark and this clinic was how positive the entire weekend was. Never once did I ever hear Mark say "Don't do that," or "That's the wrong way," or "That will never work" or any other comment spoken with a negative tone. Instead, he would use phrases like "Let's try that a little differently," "Is there another way that could be done?" and in one case where the owner was using too much leg to get his horse to move forward, "What would be a way to get your horse to go forward if you didn't have any legs?"

Mark's attention and focus throughout the weekend was amazing. He never took a break, and was as patient with the last rider on Sunday as he was with the first one on Saturday. He said several times that he wanted to do whatever was going to be easiest on the horse. To that end, I never saw him chase any horses around the round pen and in fact, never even saw him twirl his lead rope. He always took as much time with each individual horse and rider as was warranted. And before looking for a solution to a horse's problem, he first looked for the cause. I expect that he could of pulled all kinds of techniques out of his bag of tricks to "fix" the horses that were brought to him, but he didn't do that. He was genuinely concerned for each horse's well being and always put that a head of even/thing else. He allowed the riders to work with the tack that they brought on the first day, then in some cases suggested a switch in tack on the second so that the rider would have something to compare it to. (A drastic switch from "you can only use a snaffle bit")

What did I learn from watching him work? I learned that inside every horse there is a living breathing individual who is trying to communicate with us in every way they know how. Unfortunately, I never paid enough attention to that and so have been missing all of the sublets that are so important to true communication between us humans and our horses

Are Mark's methods and ideas for everyone? Probably not. They're too simple, and they take the horse into consideration too much for some folks. I believe there will be, if there aren't already, some pretty strong detractors so what, how and why he does the things he does. Those who have bought into the "normal" NH styles of training are probably not going to be interested in what he has to say. He is simply too quiet and there really don't seem to be many stressful situations for either horse or rider.

Without stress, there is no conflict and without conflict there is no excitement.

One last thing, then I need to go. After giving the weekend a great deal of thought, one more thing has come to mind. I overheard a fello spectator comment that there weren't really any really "rank" horses at this clinic and that it would be interesting to see if Mark's methods would be effective on something with a little more "fire".

After giving that some thought, I think it has finally come to me that Mark seemed to make things look very easy. Too easy maybe, There were horses at this clinic that certainly could have been encouraged to have a little more "fire" had they been handled differently. What I mean by that is that Mark never got the homes excited, or the people excited. He never pushed a horse into a "reaction" that would make the horse (or his techniques) appear flashy. Because of that, I would not be surprised if in the future his methods are dismissed by some as ineffective on "truly rank" horses simply because he doesn't allow them to become "truly rank".

In closing I will say that if you get a chance to go see Mark in person, take the time to do so. He isn't flashy and he isn't fancy, but he is extremely effective. It was also very rewarding to watch a trainer in a clinic setting who kept the horses best interest in mind at all times, regardless of the consequences or the clock. It was a shining light, at least for me, that said "if he can do it with horses he doesn't even know, surely I can do it with my horse who I've known for most of his life".