HARRY WHITNEY REPORT

by Rae Langfield

The Adelaide clinic began for Badger and I when we rode over to the indoor arena with Yvonne and her Peruvian Paso mare, Magia. It was our first trail ride together, and it went very well. We rode at a walk for most of the journey.

Badger was calm and really walked with a big stride. Harry had said that horses will often work with a bigger gait than normal when out on the trail. This was because the ride had a purpose and both horse and rider were focussed on going somewhere. It is in the arena that problems with straightness and focus will be amplified. It was my first chance since the Melbourne clinic to practise some of the things we had learned, and I was very pleased with the results. One of the things I learned was the importance of maintaining my focus on my horse, no matter what else may be happening. We worked on this whilst riding, and we stayed fairly focussed throughout. We did have a few small trots, and I was pleased to see that he came down to a walk much better.

Badger and I went in to the indoor arena, and I was pleasantly surprised. The horse facilities were excellent, with stalls clearly visible from the arena.

The clinic proper began on Saturday morning. Badger was being ridden by a friend, so I had plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the weekend. Harry helped the rider work on improving Badger's circle work on the ground. Harry maintained his overall emphasis on riding. He explained that once you have achieved a change in your horse with your groundwork, you should move on to something else before you bore the horse. This approach really requires the rider to think carefuly about what they wish to achieve with the ground work, and to recognise and accept the changes in the horse.

The rider saddled up my handsome beastie and rode off at a walk. Harry helped her to work on strightness, with some very pleasing results.

During the Sunday session. the rider worked on asking Badger to back up straight. Harry had the rider try a couple of different approaches. The first was to place Badge with the arena wall at his side, and ask the horse to back one step at a time, and you might back a horse 30 steps. But to back the horse a certain distance without a release was wrong. It all came down to whether you were focussing and using C.P.R. for each step, or focussed on the overall distances.

Badger was still not backing up as promptly or as straight as Harry wanted, so Harry took the lead and asked for a prompter response. Badge stuck his nose in the air with his offended look and got a great deal quicker in his response. I do not believe Badger reacted from fear at any stage during the clinics. Harry then suggested that asking Badger to back up, but keeping the pressure on until his hind end broke free and straigtened up might work better for him. This may sound contradictory, but it's all in the timing. Badger knew the difference.

Having achieved the changes in the groundwork, the rider saddled up and rode Badger at a walk and trot. They worked on bending, one rein stops Harry style, and transitions. The bending did not require the horse be bent to a stop, but focussed more on doing the first half of a one rein stop, then focussing on opening a space for the horse to walk through, guiding him through it. To me, it looked much softer then a one rein stop. Harry explained that a one rein stop done without the horse softening his body was useless. If the horse is braced, it doesn't matter that the feet are correct. Many of the riders worked on this, and some nice bends were seen. For those people who wish to attend a Harry Whitney clinic in the future, I'd definitely ask him to demonstrate both the bending and the one rein stops.

Overall, I thought Harry did a lot less exploding in the Adelaide clinic. He was much quieter in his methods, and really emphasised softness in the horse. Reading the recent discussions on Harry's use of explosions and fear, I can only say that Badge was never frightened. Whenever Harry did get a little bigger, it made sense to the horse and dare I say, it empowered the horse. The horse was able to make decisions, afterall, that was the purpose of the clinic "From the Horses Point of View".