I hope this blog finds you all well and your holidays were excellent! I trust last year moved you forward on your journey with your horse(s) and this year will continue to do so. I have lots of cool things to share!
First, I like to ask everyone to participate in reflecting on their journey over the year and how they feel about the things they have successfully achieved (horsey, personal or otherwise) over the last year and two, What you would like to start walking towards over the next year? Where would you like to be at the end of the next year? Can you see you and your horse doing something, feeling something or embodying something? If you feel like sharing in the comments section what you might be proud of or what you might be working towards, That would be awesome! I would also like to invite blog submissions from any of you if you would like to share any experiences you might have had this past year that you are really proud of.
I would like to share a few things I did that were highlights of my year. I continued working towards the vision I have for Ohana Farm by assembling a team of exceptional practitioners to help me with the horses that come to Ohana for help. People are catching on to what we are building here and they want to be a part of it.
I helped some horses this year that were very misunderstood and in need of my help physically and emotionally bloom into great horses that their people are enjoying again instead of struggling with. Not surprisingly, the horses who find there way to Ohana and in some case came with Ohana, are big characters with a lot to say and some physical issues they needed help with as well as some re-education. When a horse is in residence here I am able to apply my Whole Approach to each horse and make much progress. I did my first Live streaming demo from Ohana which was super cool! I also continued to make big improvements to the farm.
One of the biggest highlights was working with my dad Live with Mercury for the first time ever. My God brother Matthew Garrison surprised me by sitting in on our Sounds of Liberty Improv project. We performed it at the Annual Equine Equine Equine art festival which in addition to showcasing a Training demo, showcased my personal living art project. It was loads of fun and people loved it! Can’t wait to do it again!
and now onto the class. For those of you participating in the Natural Outline Class, here is your first assignment:
Liberty Fundamentals: Work done at Liberty
Evaluation: What is your horse’s Conformation, natural posture (muscle memory), movement and outline generally? Are they Laterally, Longitudinally blocked or both?
At the walk trot and canter on both directions, evaluate your horse’s current outline and posture at Liberty. This is the starting point for Integrating your horse’s technical and Liberty training. It is how we will know how to proceed for each individual horses approach. Make notes of what you see on both directions without judgement. Submit Video and or photographs your horse for the class if you would like to share or get help with evaluating. Remember you are asking your horse questions and getting answers. This is not about doing anything “Right” it is about getting information from your horse and training your eye to “see” things. Compare all things in both directions and don’t force your horse to do anything that gets a lot of resistance from him. Look for things like:
- Harder to get to go in one direction
- Gaits have a slow, medium or fast tempo (compare Left and Right)
- Has difficulty walking, trotting or cantering in either direction (including wrong leads)
- Holding posture dramatically differently in one direction.
- Very resistant to changing direction (which one?)
- Limbs not tracking up or over tracking in relationship to the front hoofprint
- Any outright lameness
- Excessive stretching down (nose on the ground while moving)
The Complete first assignment is up at this link along with your progress journals you will be using during the class Natural Outline class
There’s still time to join here! All video and demos are archived for you to reference in your own time and work at your own pace Register Here
