(1) Kelly collects her prize at the Windsor Show (2) Kelly, Hilary, Zoe, Caesar and Pie discuss details at the Masterclass. (2) Horses outside Wellington's indoor school can't quite believe their eyes.
It was a day of highs, lows, hi's and byes yesterday. The vet, Martin Peaty came to see Rosie and to check that her foot was okay. Rosie trotted up sound and can go home as soon as she has has front shoes on. It was left to Jenny to explain to Martin why we don't do patting - as he drove her across the field she demonstrated her best lovely rub (!) and told him what a good vet he was and he looked very taken with her. Next second, he almost crashed the car as she bashed him hard on the arm and shouted "Good vet!!" in true Badminton winner style. I hope he got the point.
There is a real dilemma for Rosie's owner with the vet and her barefoot trimmer having diametrically opposed views. The vet, who has taken a good chunk of foot away in order to expose and root out the whole infection, is keen for Rosie to have front shoes on and no filler so that the site of the infection can be kept clean and there is no chance of any anaerobic bacteria setting up again. The barefoot trimmer would have been more conservative in her original trim, less concerned about it tracking up to the coronet and is advocating no shoes and plenty of antimicrobial filler.
Next, Fern went home. She loaded like an angel and was soon trundling off down the track. had a little cry about her going and then went to work with Jack. Jack accepted the headcollar again today but this time in the paddock rather than the pound. He also followed me about the field at walk and trot and was quite playful. I have been quite exacting with his clicker training and am deeply impressed with how much progress he continues to make each day. Having offered to keep him at cost as a working livery, I am pleased to say that his owner has accepted and he will be staying put until the two of us are satisfied that the perfect home with a knowledgeable owner has been found. In the meantime he will give wild pony lessons to people who want to learn about techniques for older ponies, clicker training or simple body language.
Then it was off to the first Kelly Marks' May Masterclass at Wellington Equestrian Centre. Until last weekend, Kelly had been preparing for the Pro-Am Le Trec Competition at Windsor Show which incidentally she won. As a result she donated £1,000 in prize money to the Lambourn Riding for the Disabled Group. This meant that there were some last second planning sessions for the ridden part of her demo. These all came off - and so did Rosie (Jones) when Caesar got rather excited and bucked.
Quick synopsis - beautiful coloured horse for starting. A Warmblood cross Cob called Rio. She seemed very chilled and accepting and could have lulled anyone into thinking she was fine about everything and into making a grave mistake. In fact she was quite worried about things on her right hand side and she did buck with the saddle on. Kelly and Rosie (who is so light and balanced over the horse even when she hasn't got her body in the saddle) used systematic desensitisation to calmly ask her to accept things on her right. The session was completed with Rosie quietly walking round the round pen on this lovely little horse.
Next was the ridden session with valuable snippets of information on topics as varied as how to ask your horse to walk fast and to canter slowly, how to encourage a horse to approach jumps with confidence and how to slow down a horse that rushes its fences.
The next little horse was fascinating and educational. An ex-racehorse only six weeks out of racing, he was very fit and lean. His owners described how he wouldn't stand still to be mounted and how they wanted to get some more weight on him. While Kelly did a finely tuned Join-Up with him, Ian explained how racehorses are always mounted on the move and asked to go straight away but not only that, this horse was over at the knee, and therefore conformationally programmed to keep moving forward. His owners confirmed that he was fidgety in the horsebox and just found it very difficult to stand still at all. Ian went on to explain about quick release and low release energy and how products containing molasses and barley can cause a horse to be high energy themselves. He pointed the owners at Simple Systems who were there with their trade stand. At the end of the Join-Up, during which the horse became much more connected, the horse stood quietly with Kelly.
The last horse was a non-loader and Kelly worked directly with the owner throughout this session to help her find pressure and release; her yes and her no. She asked her to turn her hand over so that it was a "motorbike hand" and to give the horse a "smile in the line" so that he could find the release. It's hard to stand back like this and not to take over but within no time the horse was loading for the owner time after time. I'm always grateful to owners like this who are prepared to be taught in front of a large audience as it means that we get to hear as well as see every detail.
I have recently been described as fiercely loyal to IH (I'm not sure it was intended as a compliment!) but demos like this just reinforce this for me. Kelly does nothing but give, give, give - I know of no other trainer that is so generous with their information.
