HARRY WHITNEY REPORT

by Rae Langfield

This last weekend, my horse and I attended a Harry Whitney clinic in Melbourne. the clinic was organised by Ross Jacobs, a Melbourne horse trainer, and was held in Clematis. The clinic was fully booked with riders, and there was a large group of auditors throughout the weekend.

The first thing I noticed about Harry Whitney is his smile. It raely left his face throughout the clinic. This was somewhat reassuring, since I was hysterically nervous and my horse is a little sensitive. This was the first clinic I had ever ridden in, with a horse I'm still getting to know. I had asked to ride in the 8:00am session, since I wanted plenty of time beforehand to ensure we were calm and prepared. Harry started by asking each of the three participants about themselves and what they would like to work on. I wanted to work on bridling and mounting. Harry showed me where my timing was off, and I was releasing the pressure too early. He explained his philosophy of C.P.R. which stands for Cue, Pressure, Release/Reward.

My release of pressure was either too early, or too late. He showed me how to ask my horse to place his head closer to me, by placing a finger on the other side of his face. Every time Badger gave to the pressure, he moved his head closer to me. Within a few minutes, I was able to ask him for his head and bridle him in a more co-operative way. These little things really matter to my horse.

The next thing we worked on was mounting. Badger has a tendency to swing his hind end out away from you when about to mount. Unfortunately for my horse, I'm not the most agile of riders, so I really do need him to wait for me. Harry showed me how to help my horse to stand still and find a good moment, when he was solid and ready for me to mount. We then walked and trotted quietly, becoming more comfortable in a large arena. by the end of our session, we were able to walk and trot around the other two participants calmly.

The following day, I felt much calmer and more focussed. I asked Harry to ride Badge for me. I wanted him to feel how worked up Badge becomes if asked to do transitions. I had had other riding instructors look at this issue, and had been unhappy with the result. Either they say that thoroughbreds are very forward, or they can't see how tense Badger becomes until he feels ready to explode

Harry started out at a walk, then moved into trot. Badge immediately dived his nose to the ground, wanting the rider to carry his head for him. Badge was asked to carry himself. Once Badge understood what was being asked of him, he became a lot calmer. Then harry worked on transitions, up and down. Badge was offered a "good deal" with every request: he had a moment to respond. If he ignored the request, then Harry made it much harder for Badge to tune him out. Badge became much calmer, and more focussed on the rider. He began to get much softer with his transitions. Harry explained that horses do not like any grey areas in their lives. They prefer things to be black and white. He demonstrated this with Badger. When Badge knew with certainly what was being asked of him, he worried a lot less and focussed on the rider.

I mounted and rode my horse around the arena. He was much more responsive. I simply started walking with my body, and we were walking. Think trot, and we were trotting. Then I noticed that to stop or slow down, I simply had to breathe out deeply, from the bottom of the diaphragm. Feeling intrigued, I tried breathing in deeply at a walk and sitting up a bit strighter. We floated off into a trot. We played around with this, and Badger was consistently able to halt, walk and trot softly and calmly with a straightening of my body and a slight change in breathing. We became so focussed on the job we were doing that we were not bothered by the other riders and the audience.

Badger and I have a lot of things to think about and to play with. I think my horse and I benefited from the clinic, and am now much clearer on the cause of some of our problems, as well as some ways of working through them. We went away with a clearer understanding of softness and rein contact.

I had the clearest, calmest riding lesson on my horse that I have ever had, and am very happy with the results. I learned how tiny a cue my horse is capable of responding to, and am truly awed. At one stage on Sunday, when working on our own, I looked across the arena at a point and thought to myself "let's trot over there". As soon as the thought occurred, we were trotting towards where my attention was focussed. Imagine how wonderful it must be to ride a horse that soft and focussed all the time. The real work begins at home, with making these changes consistent at the walk and trot, then trying it at the canter.

I do not believe there are many riding instructors in Melbourne who could show me how much was possible with my horse in such a short space of time. Luckily for me, Badger is being ridden by a friend this coming weekend at the Whitney clinic in Echunga, near Adelaide. I'm sure I'll enjoy this clinic as much as the Melbourne one!

I won't write about the rest of the Melbourne clinic, since I'm not sure there is much point. Many of the Australian NH list members were there, and many asked Harry questions. His responses were often prefaced with "do what works for you" and "it depends". Instead, I would urge you to attend a Harry Whitney clinic and ask your oun questions about your horse, your groundwork and your riding.