Let me tell you, this was my best clinic yet, with Liz!! If you've ever been to one of her clinics and think you don't need to go again - THINK AGAIN! She is so full of information, I learn something new every time. Plus, the more you learn and mature in your horsemanship journey, the more things "click" and make more sense.
To start with, Liz asked who was interested in the conformation part. She didn't want to do it if no one was interested. Just about everyone was. Everyone with a horse in the clinic got to "dot" their own horse, and Liz went over every point and what it meant. I foung out that my horse is built to reach in front, but has enough moderation in her rear end to be able to do the racking gaits. (more on that later). "Dotting up" my own horse made me realize what she is physically capable of, and I can't wait to dot everyone else at my house next. Unless you know what your horse is physically capable of, how on earth can you ask the horse to perform a certain gait??? A foxtrotter doesn't necessarily do a fox trot, and a walker doesn't necessarily walk, etc... My horse has enough "moderate" angles that she is capable of just about any gait. Liz is seeing more and more moderate angles and proportions that is producing more multi-gaited horses. While these horses are fun to some, they may not be the best choice for someone who wants to get on and just ride like a passanger. And if that is what you want, that is fine, know your conformation and buy a horse that is conformed to do the gait you want without having to be a horseman (my personal opinion, not Liz's!!!). At least I know the basics and what points to mark, now I will still have to go back and put the pieces together on my other horses. I will have to go check Liz's website to see if she has a conformation DVD, because, if so, I just HAVE to have it. Especially now that is makes sense to me! On to the individual gait work. What she wanted to see first, was how the rider and horse worked together, then helped the individual teams work toward their own goals. With myself and Whisper, when we started gaiting, Liz helped me identify her step pace, and she has a natural saddle rack. I thought her step pace was a fox trot because it morphs into a trot so easily, but I was wrong. I also thought her saddle rack was a fox rack for the same reason. But Liz thought Whisper was capable of both the fox trot and fox rack, so she helped me find them! To get the fox trot, I just asked Whisper to lower her head from the step pace (the same method the step pacing foxtrotters used). I then felt the fox trot for the first time in my life! WAY COOL!!! It has a very distinct feel, sort of like the horse's rear end pushes your crotch to the pommel of the saddle. So your butt goes forward and back in the saddle, instead of swaying side to side in the step pace. Then we worked on getting Whisper to fox rack. For this gait, we started in a hard trot, and then I went from posting to sitting while at the same time, LIFTING my hands up to elevate her front, and VOILA, I had a fox rack. It is the LIFTING of the hands (exaggerated at first, to teach, then you refine as you go) not PULLING BACK as so many Icelandic riders do. This just cranks and crams the horse, when what you want to do is CONTAIN the horse. So to get the rack, LIFT! Now to clarify, a regular rack has even, lateral pick up with an even 4 beat put down of the hooves. So pick up looks like a pace, but set down is even 4 beat. In a fox rack, the horse has an even DIAGONAL pick up (like a trot), but with an even 4 beat put down of the hooves. WAY COOL! It was exciting to find these 2 other gaits in Whisper, and now to be able to identify all the gaits from the saddle is even better. Now I just have to work on refining my cues for these gaits, and it gives me more gaits to use in endurance to alternate which muscle groups she uses while on an endurance ride. The pics I have are not that great. Unfortunately, the one of Whisper fox racking is missing a leg, but I think you will be able to see most of it... Susan in NV Happy High Desert Trails Susan in NV Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
