Amanda Barton clinic

Saturday I attended a clinic by Amanda Barton, a Mark Rashid student trainer from the UK. I was thrilled that the clinic woudl be in English. Sure enough, I was the only native English speaker in the audience, so I didn't have to deal with that frustration of not quite getting everything.


On my way there I got turned around a bit and found this streetsign and had to take a picture.

Horse # 1 - 4 year old Lusitano mare

When I arrived at the DQHA breeding facility, she had already begun and was helping a lady lunge her  brownish grey Lusitano . Amanda was trying to help the lady regulate the mare's trot - slowing it down, then speeding it up. She wasn't having much luck, I think the lady was afraid to energize her spirited mare more than necessary.

The mare was hyperalert, but responsive on the lunge. Amanda kept saying, "There's more (gears) in there...." until finally something spooked the mare and she flew into a lofty extended trot - gorgeous! But scared herself doing so, so the lady pulled her around and stopped her and let her stand and calm down.

Amanda said that the horse needs to be allowed to "fall into" a canter, because the mare was holding her breath and the canter encourages breathing. Apparently she didn't want the lady to force the horse to canter, just allow it to happen. Eventually it did a few times, when the lady was able to push the mare a little faster. The mare decided a canter might be easier. That was what she'd been waiting for, and the mare was allowed to stop and relax a bit.

I was getting quite bored because they were going so slowly, but ironically this was the one horse that matched what I have at home. Overstimulated, unable to breathe.

Then Amanda asked the lady to show us how she introduces the saddle. The lady had only ridden the horse once, during the test ride, and bought her only 3 months ago.

The lady put a plush new lambswool blanket on her, and then tried to get the big Western saddle up there too. The lady was very small, and the horse was tall, so that didn't work out. The girth and stirrup got stuck under the saddle, apparently the lady didn't know how to get that stuff tucked out of the way.

Amanda showed her how to put the stirrup on the horn, and she said when you place the saddle on the horse's back, you should exhale on that movement, and hover it up there a moment before setting it very softly down.

The lady tried and tried to do it gently, but she was simply too short I think. How humiliating to have to be shown how to saddle your horse in public!

About this horse, later I talked to Amanda. I said I understand that the canter on the lunge can help with breathing, but I don't agree with doing much lunging at all - maybe 15 minutes. Amanda said it's a balancing act - you want the horse to breathe, but you don't want to hurt the joints by too much lunging - you just have to decide what is more important at the time.

Horse #2 - bald faced chestnut QH mare

The man riding "Kermit" was kind of new to riding, but very brave. He wanted to ride more accurately, so Amanda showed him how to "make an opening" with his mind where he wanted the mare to go - in this case, not cut corners in the arena.

This mare was so slow moving it looked like it took all she had to simply lift a hoof off the ground.

I saw mostly Quarter Horses that day and was amazed at how it appears gravity has a stronger hold on them. They almost all gave me the impression they'd prefer jobs in life acting as statues, and not the kind where a horse is frozen mid-prance. But I'm sure they gallop at play just like any other horse. How comforting for newbies to be on such horses.

I noticed that all the horses were calm and willing, if not resigned to their jobs. There was very little jerking and almost no spurring at all. The level of calm in that arena would have been very helpful for my horse!

Amanda had the man place a pair of therapy balls under his seat bones. Each ball is about 4 inches in diameter, and when you ride with them, you learn what your seatbones do with the horse's movement. After 10 minutes or so, when you remove the balls, you get to experience a truly deep seat, sometimes for the first time.

Something interesting that Amanda said during this session - "Often problems are caused by doing too much. Usually you can solve it by taking something away that you're doing."

Horse #3 - bay Rollkur Hannoverian gelding

A very talented, very chic dressage rider was warming up in the other half of the arena and I was amazed - her horse's chin was almost at its chest most of the time she rode. I was excited to hear what Amanda would say about that.

Well Mark and Amanda don't teach technique, really, they teach centered riding and a form of mystical mind work that I'm not able to say much about because I missed the opening day.

So Amanda just worked with this riding-catalog-ready rider on breathing.(You should have seen her boots - they were classic tall riding boots - in brown! She also had a fur-lined long riding jacket to match.)

One of the most helpful things she taught that day - count how many steps the horse takes when you inhale, and then when you exhale. The number you get for the exhale (usually between 4 and 10), try to increase it, so you're exhaling deeper than you normally would.

She says Mark in Denver exhales 12 steps. Obviously this depends on the rhythm of your particular horse.

She said to always ask for transitions during an exhale. She had the lady do transitions over a ground pole.

She said also we should try to imagine that we're exhaling through drinking straws. That didn't make much sense to me until I tried it while riding. Then it was perfect.

More visualization tips - picture your shoulder blades - your trapezius muscles - sliding down over your rib cage in your back, with hot oil. Imagine a ribbon with a weight on it, pulling those muscles down. I notice when I do this, my chest opens up.

She started to address the horse leaning on the bit and let the lady feel, on the ground with a rope, how to ask for a give. She said pulling back is not the answer, and releasing is not the answer, but sending an invitation to give is the key. I asked her later to explain this "invitation" in words but she said she could not.

That Hannoverian chomped his bit nonstop, a lot like Mara, but worse, but Amanda said to just ignore that.

She had the lady ride around at the trot and tell us when the horse had its head in a position she liked, even if it's a split second. That was tricky - the horse was almost always behind. She said they'd work more on that the next day. I'm glad they were going to address that.

Trail Lesson

After lunch a lady wanted a private lesson on the trail. I said, "Awesome" cuz this is where I do most of my riding! I followed along on foot, feeling like an idiot, but I paid for this entire day (it was way more than what Mark Rashid himself charges so I was kind of put out about that!).

As I tromped through the mud in the misty rain, I tried not to affect their ride, only listen and be there.

The lady who wanted the trail lesson, Ursula, was quite fearful and needed support. Amanda said, "Oh, nothing's gonna go wrong out here. No worries."

At which I piped in, "Your horse's ears are below his withers, that's how we know not to worry."

Then I realized the entire purpose of this lesson was just to calm the lady down - the horse was fine with everything out there.

I was amazed that someone could be afraid on a horse with its head so low. But fear is not usually rational.

Finally they wanted to do some trotting, so I had to turn around and go back. I felt kind of stupid for even attempting to come along and learn on foot, but oh well.

Horse # 4 - 4 year old buckskin QH gelding

This was interesting - it was an older gentleman who didn't look anything like a rider, but I learned this was his 4th ride on his new young horse. That horse had a face just like Baasha, I cannot explain it - long and narrow with peaceful, kind eyes.

She told him to imagine he's connected to the ground, not just the horse. She also used something I'd heard on mugwump's blog. "Imagine a track in front of you that you are following. Only not a track, cuz that will make you look down. Imagine a corridor that you are riding through. Imagine what it looks like - is it made of trees? How high? Or, imagine a cord of elastic coming out of your chest and pulling you forward."

"Or, imagine you are following a bird, or any other item that might be a pleasant image to you. One guy imagined following a beer!"

This young QH would do perfect turns on the haunches and forehand - all 360 degrees, beautifully. However Amanda felt the man didn't have precise control over the feet, so she asked him to do one step at a time, haunches, forehand, haunches, forehand, and that was way more difficult for him and the horse.

During questions time I commented on how interesting that was - she said this precise control is more difficult and it's important.

Horse # 5 - older black QH mare

This one was kind of boring so I went for a walk. The girl riding this very advanced horse was taught about soft eyes (Sally Swift) and breathing, and the riding improved dramatically.

Final session - group

At the final hour of the day, 5 teenage girls who worked at the QH farm wanted to improve their teaching skills. Apparently these kids teach. Amanda asked them all what they wanted to learn that day, and would give them 10 minutes each, a little snippet of a lesson. The thing was, it was enough to really help.

One girl's horse was "too lazy" so Amanda told the girl to swat the horse with the end of the rein after cueing the horse, but pay very close attention to the speed to know when to apply that again.

Another girl's horse was afraid of things, so she had the audience do "the wave" - to no effect - the horse wasn't acting spooky that day I guess. Although I could see a distince difference in that horse compared to the other 4. As Amanda moved obstacles and cones around the arena, setting up a pattern for the girl, that was the only horse that paid attention. Big wide-open eyes, pricked ears, this horse thought he was doomed, and his buddies all around him were dozing.

Two of the girls wanted to work on transitions and this was one of the most amazing things I've seen.

Amanda said, "Cues, aids, those are man-made. Rhythm is horse-made. All horses are born knowing the different rhythms of the gaits. Instead of thinking "Trot" we need to think "1, 2" and so on.

She had the girls trot around and count out loud, "1, 2, 1, 2" and then in the corner, precisely there, think, "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3" and then 5 meters later, cue for the canter.

At first the horses ignored the counting and only responded to the cue.

Then, amazingly, the horse would start cantering between the corner and the cue spot - so 2 meters in advance of the cue.

Then, the horse would start cantering at the corner itself, when the girl thought, "1, 2, 3."

This happened over and over, with every horse that tried it, as if they had practiced it. It was eye-opening.

The last girl just wanted to help her students with their riding posture.

Amanda said, "In all the years I've worked with Mark, I never saw him correct someone's position. He says it's just a matter of breathing and centering, and dropping your core deep within you."

So she had the girl breathe (counting exhale steps and trying to increase them), and then imagine the purple plastic ball inside her belly, and let it drop lower in her abdomen. She said kids get this right away - they can all imagine a ball of the color of their choosing in their bellies.

All the girls were exhilerated after their short snippet lessons, and they even worked on each other's lessons simultaneously.

That was the end, so I thanked Amanda and went home.

Oh but I have to mention that I talked to the farm owner and asked about Quarter Horses in Germany and HYPP. She said, "Oh, it doesn't exist here. Carriers of that disease are now allowed to breed here, so it simply doesn't exist here."

Cool.