Everyone who came seemed to enjoy it too, but what really surprised me was how easily ALL of the horses and ponies took to the obstacles. We had a huge variety of horses and ponies, different sizes, different ages, different temperaments. One would expect at least a few of them to act a little bit "spooky" with at least one or two of the obstacles! But no, everyone was having fun and quite active, but a tremendous sense of calm across the arena. Now maybe being Indoors helped, no wind to make things flap about, no distractions as there might be with an outdoor arena. I think that may have had some impact (we shall see in the summer!). But I don't think that was the main reason. I think the main reason was the human participants on the clinic. I think that Horse Agility attracts people who already do a significant amount of groundwork with their horse, plus those to whom having a relationship with their horse that goes way beyond just riding is very important. As a result, we had group after group of people who were calm and quiet around their horses, who were willing to take the time to let their horse sniff, investigate and think about the obstacle before going over or through it. The course was certainly not boring. We had flags, bunting, tarpaulins, narrow gaps, things for horses to carry, even things for horses to pull. People (and horses :-) were smiling and having fun and yet a tremendous sense of calm pervaded the arena at the same time. Calm breeds calm, across humans and horses :-)
I had great fun running a series of Intro to Horse Agility sessions on Saturday and it absolutely wasn't too early for the Xmas themed course! :-)
Everyone who came seemed to enjoy it too, but what really surprised me was how easily ALL of the horses and ponies took to the obstacles. We had a huge variety of horses and ponies, different sizes, different ages, different temperaments. One would expect at least a few of them to act a little bit "spooky" with at least one or two of the obstacles! But no, everyone was having fun and quite active, but a tremendous sense of calm across the arena. Now maybe being Indoors helped, no wind to make things flap about, no distractions as there might be with an outdoor arena. I think that may have had some impact (we shall see in the summer!). But I don't think that was the main reason. I think the main reason was the human participants on the clinic. I think that Horse Agility attracts people who already do a significant amount of groundwork with their horse, plus those to whom having a relationship with their horse that goes way beyond just riding is very important. As a result, we had group after group of people who were calm and quiet around their horses, who were willing to take the time to let their horse sniff, investigate and think about the obstacle before going over or through it. The course was certainly not boring. We had flags, bunting, tarpaulins, narrow gaps, things for horses to carry, even things for horses to pull. People (and horses :-) were smiling and having fun and yet a tremendous sense of calm pervaded the arena at the same time. Calm breeds calm, across humans and horses :-)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About meI started Horse Agility as a way of making groundwork more fun. It was something I could do with my semi-retired old boy and his small, cheeky, pony companion. What amazed me was how much it improved the ponies' general confidence in the process. I compete at Advanced 1 star level on line and at liberty. Archives
December 2016
Categories
All
|